Page 30 of The Summer of Us

“Good.” I cleared my throat of the lump that had grown as Michael spoke. He had lost so much in his life, and I wanted to do something to help him. I would have to figure out what I could do.

“Do you have pictures of your kids?”

A genuine smile crossed his face, and he spent the next ten minutes showing me the pictures he had on his phone. Baby and toddler pictures. Family photos. Jesse and Jenny growing up. Michael and Molly, young on their wedding day and maturing over the years. One of Molly and the kids, her illness evident, but the smile on her face still bright and filled with love.

“That was about three weeks before she died,” he explained. “She spent as much time with the kids as she could.”

I handed him back the phone. “I’m sure they miss her. I’m sure you do as well.”

“Every second of every day.”

“Your kids are lucky to have you.”

He scrubbed a hand over his face. “I try to be the dad I need to be for them. A mom too.” He smiled ruefully. “I don’t think I’ll ever get the hair thing right for Jenny, but god knows I try.” He mimicked making a ponytail in the air. “I never seem to get it in the right place, and my hair clips fall out.” He grinned. “Luckily, Sunny’s place is across the street, and she often steps in and helps.”

I felt unease drip into my chest. Did Michael have feelings for Sunny? He spoke of her with great affection.

How close, I wondered, was she to his family?

To him?

Sunny had a life. An entire life I knew nothing about. Ten years of memories I wasn’t a part of.

Had my arrival back in town, in her life, been a mistake? Was I robbing someone else of their happiness by trying to seek my own? I opened my mouth to ask when my phone beeped, and I glanced at the screen. Seeing the message, I stood.

“Sorry, Michael—” I grabbed my messenger bag “—I have to get going. I have someone I need to meet at the house.” I extended my hand. “Good to see you. We’ll catch up more later.”

“Yeah, later, for sure. We need to catch up.”

I glanced at the kitchen door. I could hear Sunny talking on the phone, her voice confident and sure as she spoke slowly and clearly, making sure her point was made. I hesitated.

“I’ll tell Sunny you had to go.”

Given our history, I didn’t want to leave without telling her. I had no reason to think Michael wouldn’t tell her, but still, I didn’t like it.

“I should tell her myself.”

The kitchen door opened and Shannon came through, carrying a stack of gleaming trays. I approached her with a smile. “Can I interrupt Sunny?”

She grimaced. “I wouldn’t. She’s on a rampage with a supplier.”

“Okay. Tell her Linc had to go to a meeting up the hill. Ask her to call me, please.”

“Sure, Linc. I’ll tell her.”

With a wave to the bemused-looking Michael, I hurried from the bakery. My thoughts were chaotic, my questions endless. Once again, I realized I knew nothing of Sunny’s life for the last ten years. Whom she had been with. Cared for—loved, even. I knew there was something still strong and powerful between us, but it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that at some point she had loved someone else. That, possibly, after Molly died, Michael had begun to look at their friendship in a new light. Perhaps they were in the early stages of discovering something. Maybe my sudden appearance had come at a bad time.

Except, as I slid behind the wheel and drove the short distance to the house, one thought permeated my brain.

I wasn’t giving Sunny up without a fight.

And this time, I wasn’t above fighting dirty.

9

Linc

I pulled up my car beside the bright-pink SUV in the driveway of my father’s house. He would have been horrified at the sight of it—and the woman who slipped from behind the wheel, her high-top sneakers hitting the pavement with a loud thump.