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Authors: Billie Rae

Tags: #romance, #teen, #summer, #teen chick lit, #teen romance, #fling, #teen dating fiction

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BOOK: Summer Fling
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She lifted him once again into her arms
and carried him back to the kitchen. He squeezed his eyes closed
under the bright light and buried his head in her shoulder.

“I think he’s hungry,” she said to
Tracey.

Scott moved to the microwave and pulled
out a small bottle filled with milk. As he passed it to Lorraine,
their hands met around the warm plastic and Lorraine looked up into
his soft brown eyes.

Toby began to protest again, so Lorraine
pulled away quickly, taking a seat next to Tracey to give him his
bottle.

She watched the baby as he drank, little
bubbles of air making soft noises as Toby suckled. She tried not to
look at Scott, who spoke to his sister in soft tones. She felt like
an intruder. But on the inside, she felt relief. The other night
she had thought Tracey was a love interest. To find out that she
was Scott’s sister put him in a different light.

And not only that, but he had wanted her
to come with him; to share this moment that he knew would be drama
in his life.

Poor Tracey.

Lorraine stole a glance at the pair. No
matter what this was they had, or whether it was just a holiday
fling, it wasn’t important anymore. Scott would never use or abuse
her. She knew it by the way he touched Tracey’s face and by the
concern so obviously etched on his features.

If she just had this one moment with
Scott, or these next few days, she would make the most of it. If
this was destined to be a summer fling, she would just relax and
enjoy it.

Chapter
Four

 

 

The next few days were very enjoyable
for the two girls.

Scott and Tony took them ice skating, to
the movies, to the beach, into town, ten pin bowling, and when it
came time for them to go home, Lorraine accepted the fact that she
had seen the last of Scott Travers.

The words that Tony had spoken rang
clearly through her mind.

Scotty hasn’t got a girlfriend. He
doesn’t believe in them. But if you treat him nicely he’ll give you
a bloody good time while you’re in Christchurch.

So there was nothing else she could do
but face up to the fact that Scott wasn’t interested in her. At
least not the way she was interested in him. He knew she was only
there for a little while, and she guessed that had been the
attraction. It was nice while it lasted, but they both came from
different worlds and soon enough it was time to go back to where
she belonged.

 

* * * *

 

School held no interest for Lorraine
anymore and she was determined to leave, despite the fact her
father didn’t approve.

“Dad, I’m eighteen. There’s a job going
in town for secretarial work. I think I’d like to apply for
it.”

“What about your plans to do social
work?” he asked over the newspaper he had been so intent on
reading.

She shrugged. “I can always take that up
later if I still want to. There’s no age limit for training you
know.”

“I don’t want you to rush into
anything,” her father warned. “But if there’s one thing I’ve
learned, it’s that you shouldn’t get in the way when a woman’s
determined to do something.” He grinned. “If it’s something you
want, then go ahead and arrange an interview and we’ll see what
happens.”

“Thanks, Dad.” Lorraine kissed her
father before running upstairs to telephone for an interview.

She dressed carefully on Monday morning,
taking care to look her best.

A caramel dress with a black stretch
belt and black high heels completed her ensemble. She didn’t put on
too much makeup, rather just enough to make her look
respectable.

Her father drove her into town.

“Good luck,” he said, kissing her softly
on the cheek.

The interview went well and that night,
she rang Donna.

“I got the job!” she said.

“Well done,” Donna said, her voice
ringing with obvious pleasure. “When do you start?”

“Next week. God, I can’t wait.”

“I guess you’ll be sticking around in
Blenheim for a while then.”

Lorraine frowned. “What do you
mean?”

“I’m leaving,” Donna blurted.

“School?” Lorraine asked. She had no
idea that Donna had been considering leaving school as well.

“And Blenheim.”

Lorraine sat up on her bed. “Why?”

“Tony wants me to go and live with
him.”

Lorraine tried to hide the
disappointment from her voice. “That’s great, Donna. What will you
do for a job?”

“I don’t know,” Donna said. “I think
I’ll just go on the dole.”

Lorraine felt angry that Donna would say
such a thing. How could she be so blazé about not having a job to
go to? Donna had brains, but she was also lazy. Tony was the same.
He had a good job in a factory but could easily get a job with
higher qualifications if he put his mind to it.

“Donna, I have to go,” she said. “Will
you keep in touch?”

“Of course.”

Lorraine put down the phone and stared
bitterly at the wall. Her thoughts turned to Scott. Whenever
someone mentioned Christchurch his name immediately sprung to her
lips and she would see his smiling face that day they had been at
the beach. All he had worn was a pair of black shorts as he lazed
around in the sun, getting more and more tanned. She remembered his
warm, strong arms as he carried her, screaming and thrashing, into
the waves, then his smiling face as he watched her break the
surface of the water. But when two girls walked up the beach
wearing skimpy bikinis he raved on about them for the rest of the
day. It was clear that she hadn’t even burned that much of an
impression on the tall, handsome man if he couldn’t even keep his
focus on her for more than a few hours.

Despite that, Lorraine knew she would
not forget Scott for a long time, and even then she would still
recall what it felt like to be in his arms.

 

* * * *

 

“Here’s some more files for you to type
up, Lorraine,” Mr McKay said as he approached her desk in the front
office where she worked.

“Thanks.” She looked up from her work
and smiled at her boss. “When do you want them done by?”

“There’s no rush. Just leave them on my
desk when you’ve finished. I’m going to be out for a while.”

“Okay.” Lorraine bent her head to her
work once more, continuing to fill in application forms.

It had been three months since she’d
started her new job and she was enjoying it more every day.

Soon Molly buzzed up from the downstairs
foyer.

“Yes, Molly?” Lorraine asked.

“There’s a man here who wants to come up
to Mister McKay’s office,” Molly said.

“Can you please tell him that Mister
McKay is out. Does he have an appointment?”

“No, but he insists on being allowed
up.”

“Tell him to come back in a few hours.
Can you please make an appointment for him for two o’clock?”

“Okay.”

Lorraine let the intercom button go and
returned to her work.

Half an hour later the phone interrupted
her train of thought once more.

“Hello?” she said as she continued
writing.

“Is Miss Lorraine Shasky there
please?”

“Yes, speaking,” she answered.

“Is your father Mark Shasky?”

“Yes.”

“This is the Wairau hospital, Miss
Shasky, we have your father here—”

Lorraine dropped her pen on the desk.
“What’s wrong? What’s happened?”

“There was an explosion at his work a
few hours ago. He’s been badly burned.”

“How bad?” Lorraine felt the tears prick
her eyes. Her father was all she had left. She couldn’t lose him.
They’d become a little distant since she’d come back from
Christchurch and she instantly regretted it. What if she lost
him?

The nurse’s voice cut through her
thoughts. “Could you come down and we’ll talk about it then?”

“I’ll be there in ten minutes.” Lorraine
put down the phone and buzzed down to Molly. “Can you please call
me a taxi, Molly? And please let Mister McKay know I’ve gone to the
hospital.”

“Is everything okay,” concern rang in
the woman’s voice.

“I’m not sure yet.”

Lorraine grabbed her coat and her
handbag and walked hurriedly downstairs. She quickly filled Molly
in on everything she knew before the taxi arrived.

Once at the hospital she found out where
her father was, then went to find him.

The tears she had been fighting burst
their dam when she saw him, lying back on several pillows, bandages
wrapped around his body from the waist down. His eyes were closed
but she could tell he was awake by the tense look of pain creasing
his face. A monitor beeped softly behind his bed and a drip ran
from his arm.

“Dad,” she said softly.

His eyes opened and he attempted to
smile, holding his hand out to her.

She took it carefully as she sat down
beside him.

“How are you feeling?” she asked.

“Not so bad now,” he croaked. “They’ve
given me a whole cocktail of medication. The first hour was the
worst.” He tried to sound cheerful, but Lorraine thought with a
grimace that he was making a terrible job of it.

“Not so good, huh?”

Mark smiled. “You read me like a
book.”

“It’s burns, Dad. You’re bandaged from
the waist down. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out you’re going
to be in here for a while.”

“You’d need to ask the doctors. At the
moment they’re not telling me much.”

So Lorraine went to find a doctor.

“The truth of the matter is,” started
the attending doctor, “we’re not sure ourselves yet. We don’t even
know if he’ll walk again. It’s very touch and go at the moment, but
they got to him quickly and did all the right things, so you never
know. We’ll know more in a few days.”

Lorraine felt the tears behind her eyes.
“You mean he could be in a wheelchair for the rest of his
life?”

“We just don’t know. He’s damaged a lot
of tissue in his legs which may not be repairable.”

“If it’s that bad, why isn’t he in a lot
of pain?”

“Nerve damage and the wonder of modern
medicine,” the doctor said rather too briskly for Lorraine’s
liking.

Chapter
Five

 

 

That night Lorraine spent her time
sitting in the lounge thinking about her father.

What would happen if he couldn’t walk
again? They would have to sell the house, for he would no longer be
able to manage the stairs. He would most definitely have to leave
his job. She guessed ACC would cover his living while he was unable
to work, but it would be minimal, and Lorraine didn’t earn enough
to support both of them.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the
phone ringing in the kitchen.

She got up and went to answer it.

The cat wrapped itself around her legs
and she scooped him up into her arms, pleased to have the comfort
of another living being.

“Hello?” She assumed it would be the
hospital. Not many people phoned the house now that she had left
school and Donna had moved back to Christchurch.

“Is Lorraine there please?”

Lorraine’s fingers shook as Scott’s rich
voice echoed through her mind.

“Scott?”

“Hi.” He sounded just as pleased to hear
her voice as she was to hear his.

“Where are you calling from?” Lorraine
asked.

“America,” Scott said playfully. “I’m in
Blenheim, silly.”

“When did you arrive?”

“Late last night. I came to see you at
the office today, but—”

“Oh, God, that was you?” Lorraine
laughed. “Why didn’t you say who you were?”

“I wanted to surprise you. I came back
at two o’clock but they told me you had gone to the hospital. Is
everything okay?”

She had momentarily forgotten about her
father in her shock over hearing Scott’s voice. She bit her lip and
fought back the tears.

“Lorraine?”

“Y-yes, my father’s in hospital,” with
the words came the tears and Lorraine sobbed. “There was…an
accident at his work this morning…he was burned…badly.” She
sniffed, put down the cat and wiped at her face helplessly. “The
doctors say he might not walk again.”

“Shit, Lorraine, I’m sorry. Is there
anybody with you?”

“No.”

“You shouldn’t be alone if you’re
upset,” Scott said.

She thought about his big, welcoming
arms and the way he felt next to her and she realised how much she
had missed him.

“Scott?”

“I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

When he arrived, Lorraine went quickly
to the door. They stood awkwardly in front of each other for a few
moments before Lorraine crumpled thankfully into his arms, the
tears falling freely from her eyes. He felt very warm and
comforting and Lorraine was glad he was there with her, even if she
did look a mess.

“I bet you haven’t cried all day,” Scott
said as he pulled her hair from her face and placed it over her
shoulder.

She shook her head against his warm
body. “It didn’t really sink in until you asked me about it. My
God, he may never walk again.” She glanced up into his coffee
coloured eyes.

“Come on,” he said, taking her hand.
“I’ll make you a hot drink.”

She led him through to the kitchen then
sat down at the table to watch him. He was even more attractive
than she remembered him. It seemed strange to see him standing in
their kitchen. His hair fell over his forehead as if it had been
placed there strand by strand, and his eyes were deeper and warmer
than ever.

“How’s Tracey?” she asked, not taking
her eyes off him.

“She’s fine now. She pressed charges
against Joseph and he’s in a rehab centre.” He smiled. “She asks
about you.”

“Me?”

“You were a great help that night. She’s
very thankful.”

Lorraine bent her head and stared into
the palms of her hands.

BOOK: Summer Fling
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ads

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