Page 64 of Make You Love Me

Hope blooms in my chest at the thought of her staying close by for college. Especially the fact that it sounds like that’s what she wants to do. “Holy shit, it’s so beautiful here, Greyson.”

I love watching her see things for the first time. Not taking my eyes off her, I say, “Yes, so beautiful.”Yep, I’m officially one of those guys.

Pink cheeks smile back at me as I ask, “Why were you looking it up yesterday? Thinking about applying?”Please say yes.

She nods, “Yes, they have a great biology department, which would be perfect for my undergrad studies since I’ve decided I want to do clinical research for Leukemia.”

“Wow, that's awesome. Your mom would be so proud. That sounds like the perfect job for you. I think it’ll be very rewarding for you to see your work help others who you can relate to.”

She smiles softly. “I think so too. I’m super excited. I really love North Carolina and I’m now the owner of some land on the outskirts of Richmond Hills. Something else I inherited after my grandfather’s passing. Land I didn’t even know he owned. In a weird way, I think I feel closer to my mother here.”

“I’m glad you’re loving it. I’m partial to it, especially now that you are here too.”

She gives me a quick kiss and says, “Yes there are several perks to living here.”

This girl.

“You know this is where Berkley got her early acceptance to. You should reach out to her.”

By the smile on her face that excites her. “Oooo really? I need to text her. She reached out to check on me after everything, but I ignored her because I honestly didn’t know what to say.”

“She won’t hold that against you. You know she isn’t like that. Nathan’s kinda freaking out because he committed to play football at NC State his junior year, but Berkley was waitlisted there.”

“If anyone can make it work long distance, it's those two.”

I nod my head. “That’s what I told him.”

I grab her into a hug. “I think we could have too. But I don’t ever want to find out. I’ll follow you to the ends of the earth if you’ll let me, Lottie Richmond.” Kissing the top of her head, she gives me an extra squeeze.

I pull back. “Okay, we better go so we don’t miss seeing our sunset baby.”

Twenty minutes later we make it to the spot that overlooks Fontain Lake. The leaves are turning, showing the early signs of fall. The sun is setting off in the distance, painting the sky above the lake with orange and pink. It's exactly what I wanted Lottie to experience.

In awe she says, “Damn I thought I had never seen anything more beautiful than a Nori Beach sunset… but I think this takes the cake.” I pull her back into my front and hold her as we stand there taking it all in.

“I knew you would love it. I took a ride up this way last fall with my dad, Gunnar, and Frankie on our bikes. This spot was my favorite view. It was the first time I had really paid attention to the true beauty of the leaves turning before they die and start fresh. I guess as a kid those are things you don’t care about as much.”

“Autumn has always been my favorite, so this spot is beyond perfect to me.” She lifts my hand up to her lips and kisses my palm before she continues. “I loved watching football on the weekends with my Papa, going upstate to the apple orchards and pumpkin farms with Ashley and her family. Halloween too, of course.” She stops and gives me a wink. “You know how much Ashley likes to design outfits and dress us up.”

Licking my lips, I think back to that sexy little bunny costume from this summer. “Yes. Oh yes, I do.” She shakes her head and continues, “Gigi was always baking more during that time of year too. She even got us matching ‘pumpkin spice and everything nice’ aprons. I’ll have to make you her famous pumpkin cheesecake.”

“Yes, I’ll eat anything you make, but cheesecake is one of my major weaknesses.”

She smiles at me. “I didn’t know that. But I guess this summer we mainly ate our weight in ice cream and cookies. I could definitely go for a scoop from Beaches and Cream right about now too.”

We had so many good days on that boardwalk...just hanging out, enjoying each other, eating ice cream. I’m excited to make new memories with her though.

“Speaking of cooking. How do you feel about coming to a cookout with me next Saturday at the clubhouse?” That question brings back the memory of her rejection the last time I asked her, but I believe her when she says Ethel isn’t controlling her life anymore.

She looks up at me with remorseful eyes, most likely able to read my thoughts, and says, “Yeah Grey, I would love that. I’m excited to meet them. Does your dad hate me after what happened at the end of the summer though?”

I shake my head. “No baby, I honestly didn’t want to talk about it so I kind of just blamed it on the long distance and asked him not to bring it up. This week he did notice the change in me and asked about things. I told him we were taking it slow but you had actually moved to North Carolina and we were hanging out again. I promised to bring you around to meet him when you were ready, so he is far from hating you. He’s looking forward to it. In his words ‘I’m excited to meet the girl who makes you less of an asshole.’”

“Okay then, it's a date. I’ll be there.”

“Perfect. It smells like rain, I don’t see a cloud yet but just in case let's get going. I want to show you one more spot a little further up the mountain.”

She reaches into her pocket for her phone. “Okay I just want to take a few pictures of this view.” Lottie snaps some pictures and then asks me to take a selfie of us together in front of the beautiful backdrop.

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