The girls have all been seated, the waiter from Bohanan’s now walks up, and begins to take their order.  “What will you lovely ladies be having today?”

Cassie immediately answers, “I will have the lobster roll, a small salad and glass of sweet tea with lemon, please.”  It had been the same meal every time she ordered here since she was ten years old.

Lily, still looking at the menu, “Give me one second please.”  She reads all the fancy words, not fully understanding what everything was.  She was a simple girl, not accustomed to the same expensive pallet as those of her company.  “I will get the hamburger with some French fries and a water.”  Lily closes the menu, placing it down upon the table.  Summer notices her awkwardness and begins to step in.

“Lily, do you like bacon?”  She nods.  “How about cheddar cheese?”  Again, Lily nods.

 

“She will have the Wagyu burger with the candied bacon, smoked cheddar and…”  She looks to Lily.  “You want the works? Lily looked a bit confused.  “Lettuce, tomato, mayo..?”  Lily nods her head and smiles.

 

“Give her the works on that burger as well.”  She winks to Lily, hoping that eases her mind a bit.

 

“I will take the shrimp cocktail, some pecan crusted fried brie and a glass of red wine.”  She folds the menu and politely hands it to the waiter.

 

“Very well, I will have your items out to you shortly.”  He steps away with a nod of his head.

 

While waiting for their drinks, Summer looks across the table to both girls, she smiles as neither of them can look up from their cell phones.

 

“It’s nice to always be connected to them, isn’t it?”  Both girls looked up confused to what Summer was saying.

 

“Knowing you’re but a fingertip away from a conversation.”  Summer takes out her cell phone, places it upon the table face down and lets out a small sigh.  “Back when I was your age, we did not have that luxury.  We either had to rely on pen and paper, or…”  She pauses. “The means of travel.”

 

“What are you talking about, Mom?”  Cassie looks confused.

“Cas, I can see the way you look at Damon, I can see that even with the circumstances, he is still a huge part of your life.  I may not know everything you are feeling, but I see love in your eyes every time he looks at you. A love like that is undeniable.”  Lily smiles, as she herself knows the feeling.  The waiter now steps in holding three drinks on a tray.  He begins to set the glass of water in front of Lily, the sweet tea with lemon to Cassie and with a smile, he places the glass of wine in front of Summer.  

“Here you are, ladies.  Your entrees should be out shortly.”  Again, with a nod to his head, he smiles at Summer as he walks away.

 

“I think he likes you, Mom.”  Cassie and Lily begin to laugh.  Summer smiles and just shakes her head.

 

“I am going to tell you girls a little story about my first love.”  Lily looks at Cassie with wide eyes, as she expects this to be about her father.  The excitement in her eyes leads Summer to believe Lily’s assumptions are in fact about Hunter and her thoughts go directly onto Colton.

 

“Mom, no offence, but we really don’t want to hear about your torrid love affair with Dad.  We see it every day.”  Lily nudges Cassie in the side to quiet her.  “Yes, we do!” Lily replies.

 

Summer smiles, shakes her head, and takes a sip of her red wine.  “No, girls, this is not about your father, Cassie.”  She pauses. “It’s about a boy named Kirk Visconty.”  Cassie begins to squint her eyes as she tilts her head to the side.  “Why do I know that name?”  She looks at her mother.

 

“He was in the same circuit with your Uncle Gyon, Johnny Hawke, your father, and me.  It was ages ago.”  She takes another sip of wine.

 

“You mean you were dating dad and that guy at the same time?”  Cassie had a stern look upon her face as she took a drink of her tea.

 

Lily’s face looked a bit shocked.  She felt a little out of place at that moment.  That conversation seemed to be a family only matter and she quietly tries to excuse herself from the conversation.

 

“Ya, I’m about to go to the ladies’ room, I shouldn’t be in on this.”  Lily begins to stand and Summer politely grabs her arm.

 

“Lily, sit down.  You are apart of this family, and I have no secrets to hide.”  Lily looks at Summer, nods her head and begins to sit back down.

 

“No, Cassie, I was not dating your father and Kirk at the same time.  Kirk was your Uncle Elijah’s friend.  He was not always a wrestler.  We met back when I was just sixteen years old.  Kirk was twenty – one.  He was in the modeling career, adult modeling to be exact.”  Both girls look at each other and raise an eyebrow to Summer.

 

“You were dating a porn star?”  Lily gasps as Cassie nearly spits out her drink.  Summer laughed.

 

“Well…I guess I kinda was, now that you mentioned it.”  

 

The waiter now brings the food to the table.  He places each dish in front of the correct person, he slides the round try underneath his left arm.  “Anything else I can get for you ladies, perhaps more wine, Miss?”  Summer nods and Cassie speaks up.  “You may as well just bring the entire bottle; we may be here for a while.” 

 

The waiter looked to Summer for approval, she smiled and nodded her head, and he stepped away to the back.

 

The girls begin to dig in, Lily, looking at the elaborate set up of the burger and fries she ordered, takes a fry into her hand. Cassie takes a huge bite of her lobster roll and looks up as both Lily and Summer stare at her.

 

“What..I’m hungry!”  The girls laughed.

“Do continue, Ms. Summer, this is getting good.”  Lily says before taking a bite of her burger.

 

“Please, Lily..call me Mom.  You’ve earned it.”  Lily’s face lights up with a smile, and she nods.

 

“I was just starting out in modeling.  Your Uncle Elijah had introduced me to an agency that strictly dealt with teens and Kirk had just been in his office that day.”  Summer now begins to take a bite of her meal and washes it down with the wine.

 

“We’re you ever in a film with him, Mom?”   Cassie looked a bit disturbed.  Summer smiled.

 

“No, Cassie, your mother was never a porn star.”  Lily laughed.

 

“It wasn’t then that Kirk and I started dating, it would be several months later. Your Grandpa Max would have never allowed me to date then, neither would your uncles.”

“So how did you start dating then?”  Cassie asked.

“Well, I had just gotten my first huge contract with Sports Illustrated for their summer swimsuit edition and your Uncle Elijah was writing up the contract for the Whitehaven Beach in Australia.  I didn’t know it at the time, but Kirk was also filming at Whitehaven.”  Summer takes another sip of wine.

 

“Did Uncle Elijah know Kirk was there?”  Cassie asked.

 

“He swears to this day, especially to your grandpa that he didn’t.  But I think he knew.” 

“Did you hook up with him while you were there?  Did you get to see him in action."  Lily asks with a smile on her face.  Summer laughed.

 

“Yes, we hooked up, as you call it, but no, I never saw Kirk in action.  He always had a stunt double come in and do the explicit scenes.  He was never the type to just hand himself out there like that, you could say.  He got down to his skibbies,” she smiled as the girls looked confused.  “his underwear.”  She explained as the girls smiled. “And his double would perform the act.” 

 

The three manage to finish their meals, they seem to be having a good time just chatting and enjoying the peacefulness of the day.  The waiter walks up and begins to gather up all the dirty dishes from the table.  Summer picks her plate up and proceeds to hand it to the waiter.  His hand gently cups over her hand, and slowly pulls away in a sensual manner.  Cassie takes notice and is not at all amused.

 

“Dude, get your hands off my mother.  She is a very happily married woman, in fact, I could introduce you to her husband with just one phone call.  If you like working with your hands, I suggest you step away, bring us all refills to drink and our damn check.”  Cassie looks at him with a stern look.

 

“Cassie, he is only trying to get a big tip..calm down.”  Summer reacts.  “I got a tip for him, he better listen to what I say, you know damn well I will call Dad and he won’t make it out of here in one piece.”  The waiter steps back nodding his head to Cassie and goes towards the kitchen.

 

Lily seems to be enjoying things.  The atmosphere was quite different to what she’s used to with her family.  Colton’s family not only stood up for one another, it was apparent that they also loved each other with everything inside them.  She knew Sammy was in the best of hands. 

 

“So, Su…Mom, what else happened between you and Kirk, how did it all end between you two?”  Lily asked while taking a drink of water.

 

“It’s rather funny now really.  After about a two-year courtship, I was finally eighteen, ready to be on my own, and to do things I wanted to do with my life and career.  Kirk was getting tired of the modeling scene, he wanted to venture out with things.  He had a close friend in the wrestling circuit, Lupin was his name.”  Cassie looked at her mother surprisingly.

 

“Lupin, wasn’t that the guy that Dad had all those battles with?”  Summer smiled.

 

“That very same one! “Summer was now into her second glass of wine as she continued with the story.

 

“Lupin had mentioned to Kirk that his boss was looking for a gimmick with a pretty boy, playboy act and told him he would fit right in.  Of course, Kirk wanted to go for it.  That’s where things kind of went south for us.  He wanted me to go with him, but my career was just lifting off good.  I was finally able to travel wherever I wanted to without having your Grandpa’s approval.  Even Uncle Elijah had to master all my contracts. So, I told him I couldn’t go, that wrestling was just a joke.  I begged him to stay with me, but he decided he wanted wrestling just a little more than me.”

 

Cassie slowly frowns, as their situation seemed a little familiar.  Lily tries to hold back the tear that was forming in her eye.

 

“So, what did you do?”  Lily asked.

 

“We spent one final night together and told each other bye, the next morning.”  Lily couldn’t hold it back anymore and the tear ran down her face.

 

“Well, how did you wind up wrestling then, if it was just a joke to you?”  Cassie asked.

 

“Well, after a year or so, I just got to missing him.  I would watch the shows that I knew he was on, and I saw how good he looked, saw how happy he was doing it.  I guess, I was just hoping he would have been just a little miserable without me, as I was without him.  So, I followed him.  I quit modeling, went traveling to all the shows Kirk was in, hiding amongst the crowds.  It wasn’t until one show that I came face to face with him.  It was after one of his matches; I was standing along ringside just as the referee was about to raise his hand and hand him the title, when a tall red head female came waltzing down the ramp.  She was a very beautiful lady.”

 

“I bet not as pretty as you though, right?” Lily asked.  Summer just laughed.

 

“Of course not!  But as she walked and slid inside the ring, she swiped the title from the referee’s hand and held it up, while Kirk grabbed her by the waist and planted a huge kiss on her.  It was then that Kirk spotted me in the crowd.  He gently pushed the girl out of the way as he stepped closer to my side of the ring.  He looked at me, I think by that time, I had tears in my eyes.  I don’t really remember much, I was shocked, I was hurt and all I wanted to do was get out of there.”

 

Summer gulps down the rest of the wine that was in her glass.  You could tell that the little trip down memory lane was beginning to upset her.  The waiter steps up with the check and places it face down upon the table.  He could tell something was upsetting Summer.  He steps away from the table and walks up to the bar.   He speaks to the bartender and points to their table.  Moments later, the bartender places down a bottle of red wine, one of the restaurant’s most expensive brands.  Summer looks confused, but the bartender explains.

 

“The gentleman that waited on your table asked that I bring this to you.  There is no charge of course.  He has paid for it already.”  Summer looks up and smiles to the waiter, she lifts her glass as a sign of thanks.  Cassie shoots him an evil look and reaches for her cell phone.  The waiter now exits the restaurant.

 

“Ok, you stalked this man for over a year, you see him face to face at an event and you’re sitting here telling us that all you wanted to do was leave? That doesn’t sound like you Mom.”  Cassie says while putting the cell phone back down.

“Of course it doesn’t Cassie.  I wasn’t always the loose cannon you know me to be.  That did not happen until I met your father.”

 

“Tell us what happened after Kirk saw you at ringside.”  Lily looks anxious to hear how the story ends.

 

“Well, as I was trying to escape the crowd, a voice shouted, Hey that’s the swimsuit model, Summer Kensington!  And suddenly, the spotlight beams down on me.  Kirk was trying to walk in my direction, the girl in the ring looked on and did not seem to like what was going on much.   I had made it to the ramp’s lower section through the crowd, and Kirk was standing there waiting for me.  He tried to explain, but I did not want to listen.”  Cassie cuts in. 

 

“Imagine that..” Lily laughs.

 

“Kirk had grabbed my arm, trying to get me to look at him, I saw an older man in the crowd and swiped the cup of whatever it was he was drinking, and I splashed it Kirk’s face.  As he wiped his face, I managed to run up the ramp and head backstage.  You could hear the crowd chanting my name and I had no idea why.  Then moments later Ol’ Johnny Hawke…” Cassie’s eyes grew, that was one name that she knew growing up could never be mentioned around her father.

“Came up to me.  Talking about how I would make an excellent addition to his team.  How he could promise me revenge on Kirk, Piper, as he called him, and Cheri, the girl that was in the ring.  He went on and on, making everything seem just right.  He took me into his office, had contracts drawn up and everything.  Promised me the world, and all I had to do was sign on the dotted line.”

 

“So, is that when you met Dad?”  Cassie asked.

 

“Not that night, no.  He was at another event in Japan at the time.  It wasn’t until a month later at an event in Richmond, Virginia that I would meet your father, and the rest, ladies, is history.  One of the happiest days of my life.  

So, you see Cas, what I am trying to say here is that, just because someone you love distances themselves from you, and re-enters your life years later, doesn’t always mean you were meant to be with that person.  Things change, people change..life happens and just when you think things couldn’t get any worse, you realize that while standing in the middle of the storm, there’s someone standing at the end of the rainbow waiting for someone like you. “ 

Summer reaches across the table and grabs Cassie’s hand.

 

“I think I know what you’re saying Mom, but everything is just happening so fast ya know.  I don’t know what to do.  Dad hates him, you don’t seem to like him much.”  Summer cuts her off quickly.

 

“Baby girl, you don’t worry about your father and me.  All we want is for you to be happy and taken care of.  If Damon is that person for you, then you have my blessing.  I can deal with your father.  Just take things slow, one day at a time.  You re-entered each other’s life at a very difficult time.  It will take us some time to get through it, but together, you know we will!  We always do!”

 

Summer leans down and gently kisses the top of Cassie’s hand, Lily is sitting in her seat sobbing, and Cassie just smiles at her mom.  Summer looks down at the time on her phone.

 

“I sure hope those boys have that dock built.  Your father’s Anniversary gift will be arriving later this evening.  We need to get back home.”  Summer tosses her car keys across the table to Lily.

 

“Ya’ll go ahead.  Supervise those men and make sure to keep a close eye on your father for me.  I’m still worried about him.”  Lily’s eyes widen.

 

“What about you…mom?”  Summer smiles.  “Oh, don’t you worry about me, I am meeting Charlie in a bit.  Gonna buy the bar for the night.”  Cassie looks confused.

 

“Buy the bar?”  Summer smiles. 

 

“Yes, the last time your father and I were left alone at Charlie’s, things just happen to break.”  She smiles.

 

Summer begins to stand from the table.  She takes one last gulp from her wine glass, places two, one-hundred-dollar bills on the table and picks up the bottle of wine.

 

“Mom..one more question..Do you ever regret things not working out for you and Kirk?”  Summer stood quietly for a second, she looks over to Cassie with a straight face.

 

“Absolutely not! It brought your father to me, and I couldn’t have asked for a better man.”  Summer pats Lily on the shoulder and starts to walk out of the restaurant.  She turns back to the girls.  “Lily, you know Cassie still can’t drive with that hand, don’t let her con you into letting her.”  She winks and leaves the building.   

 

The two girls sit for a moment, Lily scrolling through her cell phone.

 

"Cas, look at this."  She turns her screen over to show her the image on her phone that she just pulled up.

 

"I just searched his name, isn't that your Mom?'  Cassie looks on.

 

"ya, that's her.." Cassie looked kind of funny.

 

"Damn, he's hot!"  Lily smiles.  "Ya, I guess.." Cassie replied.

 

Cassie reaches for her phone; she dials Colton's number.

 

"Hey, get everyone besides Dad together, we need to put together a surprise anniversary party for him and Mom tonight at Charlie's me and Lily are on our way."  

"OK, but where's mom?" Colton replies.  Hunter turns his head sharply in Colton's direction. 

 "She had something to do, she wanted us to go ahead and come home."  Cassie said.

 

"That's odd, but that's mom.  see you guys in a bit.  Wait..who's driving Mom's Hummer?"  Hunter now has a look of concern on his face, he knows Summer would not allow anyone to just drive her car.  He glares at Colton with a stern look. "What is going on, Boy?"  Colton shrugs his shoulders as Cassie hangs up.  Colton now sends a text to Lily.  "Is everything ok?"  She replied with "Yes."