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Dad really wanted to just bring ree, but I was deter a similar problem with his parents His dad wanted Kyle to follow in his footsteps and intern in Washington, pull so Kyle wanted to stay in the athletic world Play college ball, try to go pro, and barring that, get into coaching It was a sore spot, but Kyle was like s his oay
I kneasn’t willing to ask Kyle to coree I wanted at a lot of different colleges, and I kneeen Mr Calloway and e I wanted
I loved Kyle enough to shiftthe best offers He had a wealth of them choose from, so I wasn’t worried about that asKyle idly stru I had to decide Did I follow Kyle for love? Or did I follow my plan for the future?
Little did I know, that choice would soon be stripped away from me
Saturday was a lazy day spent on the pontoon boat, drinking beer and eating sandwiches,to music on my iPod We avoided heavy conversation and just enjoyed each other, enjoyed the rippling blue of the lake, the pale expanse of the clear sky, and the lack of expectations on each other
Back hoe of our parents My dad was considering running for the mayorship of our town Kyle especially had to be careful of what he did, now With his father angling for a presidential nomination, every facet of the Calloway faular basis by the ht in any co to cast doubt on Mr Calloway
Here, up north, no such expectations existed It was just us
Sunday was stor movies We went for an early dinner to the only nice restaurant within an hour’s drive, a fairly swank Italian place where the Calloell known Kyle was greeted by na vacationers
It was another nice but slightly aard dinner, with the co on us both I knew I had to send my official acceptance to Syracuse soon, or have our dads start pulling strings to getout We’d put this off for too long, to the chagrin of both of our parents, and now the ti their acade it up several times, but Kyle always seemed to head me off, as if he knehat I was about to say We drove home in a tense silence Kyle had his hand in the pocket of his Dockers while he drove, and he kept glancing at me, a deep, inscrutable expression on his face We pulled up to the cabin and sat for afat drops of rain splatter on the windshield, listening to the wind howling outside The huge pine trees surrounding the cabin were bending and swaying in the winds, which were approaching gale force, it see as one tree in particular seeusts, and I foundfor the moment when it would snap and fall With the direction the as blowing, if it did break, it would hit the house and the car we sat in
Kyle looked at me, and I noticed beads of sweat on his face, despite the coolness in the car His hand gripped the steering wheel and sesture he onlyhe’d speak up when he was ready
He glanced at ain, took a deep breath, and withdrew his hand from his pocket My heart pounded in od He was about to propose No, no I wasn’t ready for that
He opened his hand, and sure enough, there was a black box, Kay Jewelers written in gold thread across the top I bit my lip and tried not to hyperventilate
“Kyle? I—”
“Nell, I love you” His hand tre a half-carat princess cut dia “I don’t want to spend a e or football or anything All I care about is you We can figure out the future together”
He withdrew the ring and held it out to er Rain blatted on the windshield, and the wind howled like a banshee, gusting so hard the car rocked on its suspension Why noondered Why here? In a car, in a rainstor dinner? Not out at the firepit where we had so many , sight wavering and blurring My lip hurt and I tasted the tang of blood I forced h it
“Nell? Will you od, Kyle” I choked out the words, forced the rest out “I love you, I do But…now? I don’t—I don’t know I can’t…we’re barely eighteen I love you, and I was going to tell you I’d follow you to Stanford Dad can get me in last ainst the confused hurt in Kyle’s eyes
“Wait…” he shook his head, withdrawing the ring slightly “Are you saying no?”
“It’s too soon, Kyle It’s not that I don’t love you, it’s just…” Doubts assailed me
I’d never dated anyone else It wasn’t that I wanted to, necessarily But I felt so young, sometimes I’d never been away from my parents for more than a week I’d never left hoone somewhere without therow up a bit I wasn’t ready to be et any of this out of my mouth All I could do was shakethe rain I pushed the car door open and stu Kyle’s shouts to wait I was drenched to the skin infro and digging into the wet gravel
“I don’t understand, Nell” His voice was thick and rough with emotion, but the rain on his face obscured his features so I couldn’t tell if he was crying or not “I thought…I thought this was the next step, for us”