That's how I'd describe the summer that I turned eighteen.
Cody and I spent every day we could together. Swimming in the pond at his ranch, the pool, grilling out with his family or making love in his room when my parents thought I was spending the night with Georgia.
Georgia had even come to terms with the relationship that had developed between Cody and me. A rarity according to Cody who said she'd cut off every other friendship in her life once they developed feelings for him or Wilder. Cody claimed it was because Georgia could tell that I was different to him. That the thing between us was built for lasting and in my young heart, I hoped to heavens that was true.
I was grateful, because my friendship with Georgia meant a lot to me and despite Cody's pleas to spend every moment with me, I always found time to develop and maintain the relationship I’d built with her because she was special to me too.
August had approached and we both knew that our days spent at the rodeo would be ending soon before school started back up. On one particular day when we didn't have work, my parents were supposed to be out of town in the capitol with some of their wealthy political friends, so I invited Cody over to my home in San Angelo instead. Itwas the first time he'd been to my parents' property, and we spent the day exploring the estate and then in my room fooling around.
That was until my parents arrived home six hours earlier than expected.
“What the hell is going on in here?” my mom shouts as she flings open my bedroom door to find Cody on top of me in the bed.
“Mom!” I scream as I scramble to stand up and pull down my shirt.
“Emerson, you might want to come in here!” she shouts out to my father.
"Who is this, Mae?" My dad asks as he enters my room. He looks about as exhausted as my mom looks angry. Thankfully, Cody is still fully clothed.
"Cody Cameron," Cody says as he steps forward to offer his hand to my father. "I apologize that this is the way we're meeting. We shouldn't have been here without you being home."
My father looks down at his hand and eventually shakes it while my mom huffs next to him.
"Well, this is the first and last time we'll be seeing you with our daughter, Cody Cameron." My mom says, pointing towards my bedroom door as if she's dismissing him.
“Cody is my boyfriend, mom." I say, starting to panic. "He’s going to be around.”
"Not anymore he's not," my mom snaps back as Cody looks between the two of us, unsure what to do. Finally, he steps towards the doorway.
"No! Don't make him go," I cry out.
“Let it go, Mae. You’re wasting your time with him.”
“I love him!” I scream back.
“You don’t know what love is,” my mother spits back at me as she clutches my arm, keeping me in place. I shake off her grip and head towards the door where Cody is already halfway down the stairsnow.
How could he walk away from us? Why is he leaving?
“I’m eighteen now. I don’t have to listen to you and do what you say!” I shout back at my mother.
She lets out a hauntingly bitter laugh. “You’re right. You don’t. But if you don't, you lose everything, Mae. Your line of credit to the Beaumont family disappears. You still have another year of high school to finish and what about college? Are you really willing to throw that all away for a cowboy who has no future but to stay in Lonestar Junction, working on a run-down ranch?” she presses, her lips together forming a thin angry line.
My eyes shift to my dads who won’t meet mine. He shakes his head at the ground as if he doesn’t want to get in the middle of it then follows after Cody.
“Wait!” I scream, “Please, just let me say goodbye to him.”
“Make sure you realize it’s goodbye for forever!” my mom shouts from behind me.
I spin around. “What do you mean?! School starts in two weeks. I'll see him then.”
“You’re not going to Lonestar Junction Highschool anymore. I’m re-enrolling you in San Angelo High.”
“You can’t do that!” I scream back at my mom. I'm panicking now as I realize just how far she is willing to take this to keep Cody and I apart.
I sprint down the steps to where Cody is now standing outside with my father. He won’t even look me in the eyes, yet I can see tears are pricking at the corner of his as he shakes his head.
"I apologize again, sir,” he mumbles to my father who nods in response.
