When August Ends

by Penelope Ward

  Heather licked her lips. “I’m going to talk to a realtor tomorrow, to get the process started, find out what things I need to do to put this place on the market.”

  My heart beat faster. I wasn’t sure why. I was the one encouraging her to sell this place, but something about her really going through with it put me on edge. I knew she would miss it here and would probably never be ready to leave it behind. Heck, I would miss it here, and I hadn’t grown up here.

  “I think that’s a good idea,” I said, ignoring all my conflicted thoughts.

  “The other thing is…I’ve been thinking a lot about some of the stuff we’ve been talking about—how precious these years are. There’s something I haven’t mentioned, but I didn’t think I could make it a reality until recently…”

  “Okay…”

  “I applied to the University of Vermont. I got into their nursing program, but it would be for the spring semester. I applied knowing I might not be able to go, but I got accepted anyway. I think I’m going to do it.”

  Wow.

  As much as I’d hoped for this outcome for her, I wasn’t expecting it to happen so soon.

  “Heather, that’s awesome. Truly. I’m so happy you’re gonna finally do it.”

  Why does my chest hurt so badly, then?

  “I just have to figure out the situation with my mother. I don’t want her living alone. I want to talk to my aunt who lives outside of Boston to see if she would be willing to move here, or take Mom in, or at least look out for her. There’s a lot to figure out before I can make this happen.”

  “Does Alice know about Vermont?”

  “Not yet. I haven’t told her, because I want to be completely sure it’s going to happen first. Part of that is seeing what the realtor has to say about how easily she thinks we can sell the property. Summer is a good time to put it on the market, and I’ll need that money to fund school. So, if she doesn’t think it will sell, then—”

  “Don’t let that stop you.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean…I’ll lend you the money to start school.”

  Offering Heather help was a no-brainer. I’d always been smart with my funds, even when I was traveling. I’d often stay in hostels instead of fancy hotels. The bottom line was, I could easily afford to lend it to her.

  “I can’t let you do that.”

  “I have a good amount of savings. It wouldn’t be an issue to lend you whatever you need to get started. You could always pay me back when the sale goes through. It’s not a big deal.”

  “What if the house doesn’t sell?”

  “It will.”

  Her mouth hung open. “Well, I don’t even know what to say. I’m not too proud to accept your generosity if it comes to that, and I’m completely blown away that you would offer. Seriously, thank you.”

  “It’s no skin off my back. The money is just sitting in the bank doing nothing.”

  “I hope I don’t have to take advantage of it, but I really appreciate it.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  A mix of emotions ran through me. I was so incredibly proud of her for taking this step. I was envious of all of the people who had yet to meet her, envious of the lucky bastard she would choose to spend her time with there. Most of all, I knew I would miss her. I’d miss her smile. I’d miss talking to her. I’d miss everything about her and this place.

  After her news, things were quiet for a while as we returned to work. Then Heather snapped me out of my thoughts.

  “Hey, can we take a quick ride?” she asked, checking her phone for the time. “I didn’t realize how late it was, and I need your truck for something.”

  “You need to pick something up?”

  “Yes. I need you to take me to the pet store. I don’t have room in my car for everything.”

  “Everything?”

  “I’m sort of rescuing a couple of guinea pigs. They come with a lot of baggage.”

  Chuckling, I said, “Guinea pigs have baggage?”

  “Well, their cage is really big.”

  “You’re seriously bringing them back here?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you think that’s a good idea if you’re gonna be leaving for school at some point?”

  “We don’t have a choice. The pet store is closing tomorrow for good, and my friend Trish says if no one takes them, they could end up being euthanized. I’ll figure something out. But this will buy them more time.”

  “There’s no one else who can take them in?”

  “She said she can’t find anyone. Trish already has three of them at home.”

  Heather’s life was about to be in limbo. She needed this like a hole in the head, but she had a heart of gold, and I knew there would be no talking her out of this.

  Brushing the dirt off my hands, I said, “Okay, let’s go rescue some guinea pigs.”

  ***

  An hour later, I was thinking I needed my head examined for agreeing to this. Those pigs took up way more space than I’d ever imagined.

  I’d helped her bring the animals upstairs and set up their massive cage in the corner of her room.

  It was my first time inside Heather’s bedroom, and it was just as soft and feminine as I’d imagined it to be. I was as tense being in here as I’d imagined I’d be, too.

  My eyes wandered to the top shelf in her closet. There were bags upon bags of stacked candy corn packages.

  “I take it you like candy corn?”

  “Well, you have to stock up, otherwise you can’t find them all year. I can’t live without them. So I hit the sales at the end of Halloween.”

  “And buy out the whole store?”

  “Pretty much.” She laughed. “I never told you Halloween was my favorite holiday?”

  “No. Although based on your penchant for horror movies, I should’ve known.”

  She was clicking away on her laptop, trying to find information about caring for her new pets. Neither one of us knew a thing about guinea pigs.

  “There’s so much I have to learn. It’s overwhelming.”

  “Like what?”

  “Well, for one…I don’t think we have enough hay. This says if they don’t have enough of it, it can lead to malocclusion.”

  “Malo-what?”

  “It’s a misalignment of their teeth. Without hay, their digestive tract also shuts down. They could die.” She buried her head in her hands. “Holy crap. What did I get myself into?” She seemed to be panicking. “They eat lettuce and kale? I don’t have any of that in the house. I assumed the pellets she gave us were their food. These guys are supposed to be eating good stuff.” She went back to the screen for a moment. “Crap. It says you need a lid for the cage if you have other pets. What if Teddy tries something? What if he accidentally murders them?”

  As if on cue, the dog entered the room and began barking at the cage. The guinea pigs trembled. This wasn’t good.

  “No, Teddy!” Heather shouted, steering the dog away from the cage. “I can’t believe I never thought this through.”

  “You didn’t know how Fathead was going to react.”

  She shook her head. “This was a mistake. I won’t be able to sleep tonight.”

  Heather led the dog downstairs before returning to the room and sitting down on the bed.

  She continued scrolling for information. “Their toenails have to be trimmed from time to time. It says here you could break a blood vessel doing it.” She kept reading, seeming unable to look away.

  I must have been out of my mind, but I said, “Tell you what, I’ll take them over to the boathouse for tonight. That will solve the dog issue until we can get a top for the cage. I think I have a little romaine lettuce, too, that I use for my sandwiches.”

  “I feel awful making you do that. We just set everything up here and—”

  “It’s really no problem. I’ll move everything over. Tomorrow we can get more hay and buy some greens and stuff. They’ll be fine.”

  Heather
looked like I’d lifted a huge load off of her chest. “Seriously…I don’t know what I would do without you this summer. You’ve done more for me in the six weeks you’ve been here than my father has in my entire life. I feel like you keep saving my ass. I owe you so much.”

  Saving her ass wasn’t exactly where my mind had been lately.

  She stood up, walked over, and wrapped her arms around my neck. It caught me off guard, and my body stiffened. But rather than continue to tense up, I closed my eyes and let myself experience the comfort that holding her brought me. Nothing had felt this damn good in a long time. With my nose buried in her hair, I took a deep breath in. She smelled so good it was almost too much to bear. I knew she had to have felt my heart beating. Christ. Now I could feel my cock stiffening. This wasn’t good.

  I pulled back. “I’d better get everything packed up.”

  ***

  After I returned to the boathouse and got the guinea pigs settled in their cage on my floor, I decided to wash up after the long day of working outside.

  I jerked off in the shower and came in a matter of seconds, proving how much I really needed to get laid. If that was going to happen, it sure as fuck couldn’t be with Heather, so I’d better figure out a plan B. Holding her tonight had felt way better than it should have. I almost wished she’d never touched me. I hated that my mind wouldn’t focus on anything besides her beautiful face and body while I beat myself off.

  The guinea pigs—who had yet to be named—stared at me as I walked out of the bathroom. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought they were judging me.

  “What are you looking at?” I chuckled.

  Their little mouths moved in sync as they chomped on some hay. It seemed I now had an audience.

  “Don’t be so judgey.”

  After I got dressed, I realized I still had a basket of laundry to put away from, like, a week ago. Heather had surprised me by folding it, and I’d forgotten to thank her for doing that.

  As I put things away in my drawers, I stopped short when my fingers landed on black lace.

  Well, this definitely isn’t mine.

  The shock of realizing I was holding Heather’s panties caused my fingers to spring open. Like a hot potato, the underwear fell to the ground.

  I bent down to pick it up, holding it in my hands while my dick swelled against my jeans. My fists closed over the material as I willed myself to throw them back into the basket.

  Don’t do it.

  Against my better judgment, I gave in to the need to smell them. Bringing them to my nose, I breathed in the hint of her scent that remained.

  I’m so fucked.

  CHAPTER NINE

  * * *

  HEATHER

  It was set to be a busy day, so I got up earlier than usual to get things done before I had to go to the realtor’s office later in the morning.

  As I sat by my bedroom window, sipping my coffee, I noticed someone walking onto the porch of the boathouse.

  It was my slutty neighbor, Kira Shaw.

  My heart nearly stopped.

  Then she disappeared inside.

  It felt like all of the blood in my body rushed to my head.

  No.

  He never let anyone in the boathouse.

  Unless…

  I paced for a while, unsure of what to do.

  You can’t control what he does, Heather.

  You’re just friends.

  He can fuck anyone he wants.

  He can do whatever he wants with his life, and it’s none of your business.

  What part of that don’t you understand?

  He’s a man. He has needs. What do you expect? Like Mom said, men are weak.

  My imagination ran wild. I pictured him pulling her inside before they started going at it on his bed.

  Did you really expect him to be celibate the entire summer?

  Oh my God. I was going to be sick.

  I had to know. I had to know if it was true. No way could I go about my day like I hadn’t seen her enter the boathouse.

  My heart raced as I threw on some clothes. I wouldn’t do anything, but I needed to confirm. I vowed not to embarrass myself or him by making my presence known. Those days were over. But I would see if I could tell what was going on. Then I would leave. I wouldn’t subject myself to watching anything more than necessary to get my answer. I could just peek inside the window and be on my merry way.

  Yeah right, as if it would be that easy to get over Noah fucking Kira Shaw—or anyone, for that matter. But especially her.

  This is devastating.

  A cool mist in the air and light morning fog greeted me as I stepped outside. My stomach churned as I approached the boathouse.

  What if he’d drawn the shades and I couldn’t see inside? Then what?

  As I stepped onto the porch, I made sure they wouldn’t hear me.

  To my surprise, when I peeked in the window, the bed was empty.

  Where are they?

  The only other room was the bathroom, and there was only one thing they could be doing together in there. That made me feel even sicker. Now things were almost certainly not going to go in my favor.

  My legs felt wobbly as I walked around to the bathroom window on the other side of the house.

  It was slightly open, and the shade was only lowered halfway, so I was able to peek inside.

  The water was running, and the shower curtain was closed.

  They’re showering together.

  Holy shit.

  I wanted to cry.

  But I wouldn’t.

  I needed to be strong. Maybe this was just the thing I needed to help me get over him.

  I wasn’t going to want him after he’d been with her. This was going to change everything.

  My heart palpitated as I stared at the embroidered butterflies on the white shower curtain and listened to the sound of the water.

  Then, as if the situation couldn’t get any worse, the sound of Noah’s groaning echoed through the bathroom.

  That should have been my cue to leave, but I stayed frozen at the window, consumed by curiosity. My shock had paralyzed me.

  Suddenly, out of nowhere, the shower curtain whipped open.

  The sight of a stark-naked Noah flashed before my eyes. A very naked—but alone—Noah. His body glistened, and let’s just say everything I’d imagined about his anatomy was all that and more. He was freaking huge.

  I gasped.

  I hadn’t meant to make a sound. It just came out.

  Then I ran as fast as I could back to the house.

  Had he seen me? I was certain he must have heard me, but maybe he didn’t know it was me.

  And who was he, Houdini? Where the hell was Kira?

  I’d seen her enter the boathouse. He was groaning! Yet he was alone in the shower.

  Back in my bedroom, I prayed I’d dodged a bullet, that by some miracle he hadn’t seen me running away.

  When my phone chimed a few minutes later, I got my answer.

  Noah: Something you want to tell me?

  Heather: It wasn’t what it looked like.

  Noah: Oh good. What a relief. Because it looked like you were spying on me in the shower.

  Damn it!

  Heather: I can explain.

  Noah: I’m just putting some coffee on. This outta be good.

  I took this as a hint that he wanted me to get my ass over there and explain myself, perhaps while he sat back and sipped coffee, enjoying the show of my humiliation.

  Swallowing my pride, I walked back over to the boathouse to face the music.

  As usual, he opened the door before I had the chance to knock.

  Noah’s hair was wet. He’d put on a gray T-shirt that stretched against his muscles. He wore jeans, and his feet were bare.

  He was silent. All you could hear was the sound of coffee percolating. What struck me was the lack of amusement on his face. He looked seriously concerned for my mental health.

  I couldn’t
blame him.

  I wanted to run for the hills, but instead, I came right out with it. “I saw Kira Shaw here. I was looking out my window, and I saw you open the door and let her in.”

  His brow lifted. “You did, huh?”

  “Yes, I swear.”

  “You sure you saw me open the door?”

  “Yes. At least, I think I did, but now I’m wondering if I was hallucinating.”

  The coffee made that loud bubbling sound it always does when it’s finished brewing. Noah sauntered over to the pot and poured some into a mug.

  “Cream and sugar?”

  “I’m good. I already had some. I’ve had my fill.”

  “Apparently, in your wild imagination, so have I this morning.”

  Jesus. I was truly doubting my sanity.

  “Want some quiche?” he asked.

  Quiche?

  “What?”

  “Quiche. It’s this egg pie with—”

  “I know what it is, but no, I’m not hungry.”

  “Oh, that’s too bad… Because unbeknownst to me, Kira entered my place while I was in the shower and left me an entire quiche.”

  My eyes followed as he walked over to the quiche on the other side of the counter. I hadn’t noticed it until now. There was a little note on top of the pie dish.

  He handed it to me.

  Noah,

  I knocked and there was no answer. Your door was open. Thought I’d catch you, but you’re in the shower. I considered waiting but didn’t want to startle you. I made you a spinach, tomato, and feta quiche. Figured since you haven’t taken me up on dinner, I’d bring breakfast to you. I hope you enjoy. The dinner offer still stands. Or anything else you might desire.

  xoxo

  Kira

  Noah stared at me as I looked up at him.

  Handing him the note, I said, “Okay. So, I overreacted.”

  “You think?”

  “It just seemed so real. I mean…I saw her come in. I could have sworn you let her in. I know it’s not any of my business, but I just had to know. And then I heard the shower. Then I heard you…making sounds.”