The Summer of Me: A Novel

by Angela Benson

  “I’ll miss you, too, baby,” she said. “But you’re going to have a great time. Just make sure to take time out of your busy schedule to call your old mom.”

  “I will,” the young girl said.

  “Okay, gang, let’s head off.” Kenneth pointed to the security line. “That line is calling our names.”

  While Kenneth was busy with the kids, Mary Margaret stepped closer to Destiny. “We’ll take good care of them, Destiny,” she said. “They’re going to miss you, of course, but we’ll try to make the trip a fun and educational time for them.”

  Destiny took a deep breath. Though he was engaged with the kids, she could sense that Kenneth was waiting to hear how she would respond. “I know you will, Mary Margaret,” she said, and felt Kenneth relax. “And if they give you any trouble, I’m just a phone call away.”

  “I’m sure it won’t come to that,” Mary Margaret said. “I’m looking forward to having the time with them. I enjoy having them around. They’re good kids.”

  Given that Mary Margaret and Kenneth wanted the kids to spend more time with them by living with them full-time during the school year, Destiny wasn’t sure how to take that comment. “Well, you can enjoy them for the summer,” she said, using what she hoped was a light tone to restate her own case. “Just be sure to bring them back to me.”

  Chapter 6

  DESTINY HAD STAYED AT THE AIRPORT UNTIL THE flight to Los Angeles departed. Though she didn’t accompany her kids to the concourse, she took comfort in sitting in the airport until she knew they were safely off the ground and en route to their destination. While she waited, she’d changed out of her dress and heels into a pair of form-fitting jeans more suited for a cookout and sandals that showed off her recently painted toenails. She was dressed more casually, but she knew she still looked good.

  By the time she pulled into Natalie’s driveway, three things had become very obvious to her. First, she had to keep herself busy or she’d go crazy worrying about her kids; second, there was no way she was going to go the entire summer without seeing them; third, now that she’d told them about the surprise, she had to make the move to Gwinnett happen or come up with something equally exciting.

  As she checked her face in the rearview mirror, Destiny acknowledged that making Mary Margaret uncomfortable wasn’t the only reason she’d taken special care with her appearance today. She also wanted to make a good impression on this Daniel character that Natalie was so high on her meeting. She hadn’t really dated since before the kids were born, so this was all new to her, new and a bit uncomfortable. The guy had better be worth the anxiety she was feeling. If it turned out he wasn’t, she’d make Natalie promise to give up on her matchmaking efforts. She didn’t think she could go through this again and again. Her emotions couldn’t take it.

  Satisfied with how she looked, Destiny climbed out of the car and followed the sounds of laughter, chatter, and music to the back of the house.

  “Destiny,” Natalie called out, as soon as she rounded the corner. “I’m glad you came.” She leaned in and gave her friend a brief hug. “Did your kids get off all right?”

  Destiny nodded. “I came here straight from the airport.”

  Natalie rubbed her hand down Destiny’s arm. “How are you holding up?”

  “Let’s just say I’m glad I had somewhere to go after leaving the airport. Returning to that empty and much-too-quiet townhouse would be a bit much right now.”

  Putting an arm around her shoulder, Natalie said, “Come on then. There are some folks I want you to meet.”

  Destiny chuckled. “Some folks, huh?”

  Natalie rocked her hip against Destiny’s side. “Okay, one person first, but I promise there’ll be other folks later.” Natalie stopped when she reached her apron-wearing husband and an attractive bronze-skinned man in jeans and a pale blue polo shirt. “Food ready?” Natalie asked to get her husband’s attention.

  When Gavin looked up and saw them, he said, “Speak of the devil.”

  “You two are the only devils I see here,” Natalie said, grinning. “What have you been saying about me?”

  Gavin inclined his head toward Destiny. “Not you. We were talking about Destiny.”

  “All good, I hope,” Destiny said, meeting Daniel’s gaze. He was a tall guy, about six feet two, with a killer smile. So far so good. If he passed the conversation test, she’d have to tell Natalie she’d done a good job.

  Gavin leaned over and kissed Destiny’s check. “What else could it be?” he asked. “I was just telling Daniel here that he needed to be on his A game if he wanted any chance at winning your heart.”

  “My heart?” Destiny repeated, glancing again at Daniel. “I’m thinking of keeping my heart to myself.”

  Gavin turned to the man next to him. “She’s everything I said she was, isn’t she?”

  Daniel extended his hand to Destiny. “I’m Daniel Thomas,” he said. “You’ll have to forgive my buddy here.”

  “I feel your pain,” she said, taking his hand. “My girl here is just as bad.”

  “Well,” Natalie said, with fake upset, “I guess that’s our cue to leave, Gavin. These two seem like they were made for each other.”

  “I’m right behind you, babe.” He winked at Destiny as he passed her. “I can tell where I’m not needed or wanted.”

  Destiny chuckled. “They mean well.”

  Daniel laughed. “I know, but haven’t they heard of subtlety?”

  Destiny laughed with him. “Apparently not.”

  “Despite all their plotting and scheming,” Daniel said, “I’m glad to finally meet the mysterious Destiny.”

  “Mysterious?”

  “It was like pulling teeth to get any information about you. They only told me that you were wonderful, and the rest I’d have to find out on my own.”

  Destiny chuckled. “Well, that makes you the mysterious Daniel because Natalie has told me very little about you.”

  He flashed that killer smile at her. “That’s easily corrected. I’m in need of a meal companion. If you’re hungry, we can get some food and then sit and get to know each other.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Destiny said.

  After they filled their plates, Destiny followed Daniel to one of the empty tables for two. “I wonder if Gavin and Natalie set this table up just for us.”

  Destiny chuckled. “I wouldn’t put it past them.”

  He put their plates down and pulled out a chair for Destiny. After she was seated, he went to get drinks for them. When he returned, he sat in the chair next to hers. “It really is nice to finally meet you,” he said again. “Gavin and Natalie had me intrigued.”

  Destiny picked up her fork and dipped it in the potato salad on her plate. “I don’t know if I can live up to the hype.”

  Daniel smiled. “You already have.”

  Destiny met his eyes briefly before looking down at the food on her plate. If this was flirting, she liked it. It had been so long since she’d engaged in such banter that she wasn’t sure. She glanced back up at Daniel, thinking again that flirting was not bad at all.

  He gave her another smile. “So, mystery Destiny, what’s the first thing you want me to know about you?”

  She met his eyes. Since she knew he already knew about her kids, she said, “I’m the mother of six-year-old twins, KJ and Kenae.”

  “They were tighter with information than I’d guessed. I knew you had two kids but I didn’t know they were twins. Do twins run in your family?”

  She shook her head. She hadn’t wanted the conversation to turn to past relationships this early. Even though she had very little recent dating experience, she knew that talking about old flames was a big dating no-no. “That comes from Kenneth, their father. There are three sets of twins on his mother’s side of the family.”

  “Well,” Daniel said, “this is not where I wanted the conversation to go.”

  “That’s all right,” Destiny said, heartened by his sensitivity. “As the
ir father, Kenneth’s a part of their lives, which makes him a part of mine.”

  “So you two have a good relationship?”

  She considered before answering. “We make it work because we both love the kids,” she said in all honesty.

  “Good for you. With names like KJ and Kenae, I assume they’re named after him.”

  She nodded. Her kids’ names were a harsh reminder of how much she had loved Kenneth and wanted to have a life with him. “What can I say? KJ is Kenneth Junior and Kenae is a feminine version of Kenneth. It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

  “It’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” he said. “I think I’d be honored to have kids named after me—DJ and Danielle. It has a nice ring to it.”

  “Those are great names,” she said, appreciating his attempt to put her at ease. He was beginning to convince her that he was one of the good ones. “Do you have kids?”

  He shook his head. “My wife and I wanted kids but we weren’t blessed. She died a couple of years ago, breast cancer.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said, recalling what Natalie had said about Daniel suffering from heartbreak the way she was. “Breast cancer has touched my family, too. My mother is a survivor.”

  “I’m sorry to hear it but glad your mother is well,” he said. “It’s a scary disease that affects people in such different ways. I think it was scarier for me than it was for Gloria, my wife.”

  “I know what you mean,” Destiny said. She remembered how she had clung to Kenneth during that time. Even with the demands of being a scholarship college basketball student, he’d been there for her when she’d needed him. She’d already started falling in love with him but his support when her mom was sick had sealed the deal. When she looked back on it, she realized she had gotten pregnant during the time her mother had been going through her surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation treatments. A part of her still wondered if she’d done so on purpose.

  “A penny for your thoughts,” he said, bringing her attention back to him.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I was just thinking about all the folks who supported me when my mom was sick and going through various treatments. Natalie was one of them,” she said, not seeing a need to mention Kenneth again. “We go way back. We grew up together. She’s been a very good friend to me for a very long time.”

  He nodded. “It’s the same with me and Gavin. We didn’t grow up together; we met in college and became fast friends our freshman year. He and two other college friends were there for me. I don’t know if I could have made it without those guys. God never fails to put the right people in our lives.”

  “Amen to that,” she said, understanding that she knew he was including her among the right people and agreeing with him. “So you’re a minister and Daniel’s a minister. Are the other two friends you mentioned ministers as well?”

  He chuckled. “No way,” he said. “They’re good guys but they serve in other ways. Only Gavin and I chose this path. And Gavin chose it before I did.”

  “If you don’t mind me asking, how did you come to this place? Did God speak to you, like in a dream, or did you just make a decision based on your interests? I’ve always wondered, but I’ve been too much of a chicken to ask Gavin.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with asking,” he said. Then he seemed to consider her question before answering. “It was a little of both. I believe that this is the path God planned for me, but I didn’t hear His voice speaking to me the way you and I are speaking. It was more a strong feeling in my spirit that was confirmed by people I trusted, people like Gavin and, even more strongly, Gloria.”

  “Your wife?”

  He nodded. “I didn’t come to this path easily or directly. I started out in a small business with my two other buddies. It was only after Gloria became ill that I accepted this path.”

  “Do you think—” she began, but stopped herself when she realized she was about to get too personal. She’d just met the man, for goodness’ sake.

  “It’s all right,” he coaxed. “You can ask. If I don’t want to answer, I’ll tell you.”

  She met his eyes, and seeing the sincerity there, she asked, “Do you think you would have chosen this path if your wife hadn’t gotten sick?”

  He nodded. “That’s a question I’ve asked myself.”

  “And?”

  “I think so. If not this, something else would have led me here. Gloria often teased me about it. When she became ill, we both realized that time was not something we could count on. We had to live today, plan for tomorrow, but live today. More than anything, that’s what she taught me, both by the way she lived through the disease and how she died with it. She was incredible.”

  Destiny smiled at the way his love for his wife poured through his words and shone on his face. “You shared a special love, didn’t you?”

  He nodded. “We did. And losing her was very hard. She spent the last year preparing me for life without her. She was that kind of woman.”

  “I wish I had known her. She sounds like someone I would have liked.”

  He smiled. “I think she would have liked you, too. She didn’t really get to know Natalie that well, but she considered her a friend.”

  After a few moments of easy silence, he chuckled. “You can tell that I’m not good at this dating thing, can’t you? I don’t think I’m supposed to spend that much time talking about my wife.”

  She began shaking her head. “You’re easy to talk to,” she said. “I asked questions and you answered them. Honestly. I appreciate that. I feel that I’m getting to know you.”

  “Well, we’ve spent enough time on me. I know you’re a mother, and I suspect you’re a very good one. Do you have another calling beyond that?”

  Destiny pressed her forefinger against her chest. “A calling? Me? Not hardly.”

  “Sure you do,” he said. “We all do. Not everybody is called to be a minister in the pulpit, but we’re all called to serve in some way. You’re called to be a mother and that could be your primary calling, but there could also be something else. Do you work?”

  She nodded. “I’m the manager of the cosmetics department at a local department store. I don’t think that could be considered a calling.”

  “I don’t know,” he said. “It could be. It depends on how you approach it. It’s not what you do that makes it a calling; it’s why you do it and how you do it.”

  She smiled. “You know, you’re good at your calling.”

  “Getting too deep?”

  “Just a little,” she said.

  “Do you like sports?” he asked.

  She smiled more broadly. “Of course. I have a six-year-old son who adores his father. Did I tell you that Kenneth was a star college athlete who’s now a middle school coach?”

  Daniel laughed. “We can’t get away from our past relationships, can we?”

  “It sure does seem that way.”

  “We’ll have to try this again,” he said. “I’ve heard that practice makes perfect.”

  “Sounds like a plan to me,” she said.

  “The breast cancer walk is in two weeks. I’m planning to go with Gavin and Natalie. Will you and your mother be there?”

  Destiny nodded. “We walk with the church every year. I’ll be walking for me and my mom because she’ll be out of town that week.”

  “Good. Let’s plan to see each other there. You can show me the ropes.”

  “I’d like that,” she said.

  “So it’s a date?” he asked.

  She looked up at him. “It sure is.”

  Chapter 7

  DANIEL THOUGHT ABOUT DESTINY WHILE HE WAITED for Phil Harris to return to his office. He smiled at the realization that he was so bad at the dating game that he had not even remembered to get her phone number. He was sure he could get it from Natalie or Gavin but he preferred not to go that route. He had hoped to see her at church on Sunday so he could ask her for the number, but either she hadn’t attended or he’d missed her. H
e’d just have to wait to see her at church next Sunday or the following Saturday at the cancer walk. That was probably for the best. He was intrigued by her, attracted to her actually, but both of them were taking baby steps into the dating scene so there was no need to rush anything.

  “Sorry about that,” Phil Harris said when he returned to his office. “My meeting ran longer than I expected.”

  “No problem,” Daniel said to the man who was now his client. “You have to keep to your regular routine. Nothing should change because I’m here and nobody can know the real reason I’m here. All anybody needs to know is that I’m new in town and we’re associates from way back. Nobody in my circle knows either.”

  “I understand,” Phil said. “William and George laid out the ground rules for me. Since I don’t want to go to jail, I’m going to abide by them.”

  “Good,” Daniel said. “As you know, we have a lot of experience with these kinds of investigations.” He shook his head, marveling that Phil was again on the wrong side of the law. “How in the heck did you get yourself involved in something like this, Phil? You know better.”

  “I know, man,” Phil said with a shrug.

  “So what happened? After our last encounter, I thought you were going to stay on the straight and narrow.”

  “That was the plan,” he said, “and then I met Margo.”

  Daniel shook his head. “You’re not going to blame this on some woman, are you?”

  “You asked,” Phil said.

  “So tell me,” Daniel said.

  Phil closed his eyes as he leaned back in his chair. He sighed deeply. “She took my breath away.”

  She took more than his breath, Daniel thought, she also took his brains. What else could explain the situation in which Phil found himself? Again. GDW Investigations, the cybersecurity company that Daniel founded with his college friends, George Campbell and William Harrison, had outed Phil in an insurance fraud scam about five years ago. Luckily, the man had gotten off without being prosecuted. Unfortunately, his pledge to stay out of trouble had not lasted. “So what was the setup this time?” Daniel asked.