One Summer

Chapter 1

"My... You've all grown so much. So nice to see you Jesse," She greeted, looking over each of us in turn. Her eyes rested on me, and her smile seemed to reach her eyes as she murmured, "You've grown into a beautiful young lady"

"If only she acted like one," Matt said, hiding it with a cough. I turned and smacked his shoulder, but sent him a look of relief for breaking the awkwardness.

"I see you haven't changed a bit Matthew, now how is my little boy?" She asked, turning her attention to the toddler in my arms. He was silently taking her in with wide eyes, I wasn't sure what his reaction would be. He could easily be shy and hide from her or greet her with his big smile and toddler laugh. Slowly, Sam reached out with his small little hands and touched her cheek. Without moving his hand, he looked back at me, almost as if for reassurance and I nodded at him to go ahead. He turned back to our mom and smiled, reaching out of my arms to give her a big hug.

"Okay, I gotta admit. That's adorable," Jesse said, breaking the moment. Matthew and I started laughing and soon, even my mom joined in.

"Alright kids, we have a 2 hour drive ahead of us so we should get going," She announced, turning and leading us away from where we were standing. I remembered something about how Briarwood didn't have an airport, so the closest town that did was two hours away. She took us up to a black SUV, opening up the back of the car and piled our suitcases in.

It was silent once all of our luggage was piled in the car and we were on the road. Matthew sat shotgun, so Jesse, Sam, and I had the back. After a few minutes of silence, I decided no one was going to talk so I put in my earphones and let the amazing voices of Nickelback fill my ears. I stared out the window and watched as trees flew by and I let my thoughts take me away.

I lost track of time as my thoughts drifted about, thinking about anything and everything and before I knew it, we were pulling up in front of a huge beautiful lake house. Except this beautiful wasn't like perfect, the dark wooden house looked quite old, and it probably wouldn't last to the next decade. It looked to be a two story house, and a huge patio took up the front of the house, where it overlooked the huge lake in front of us. Along the back of the house was a balcony with a few chairs and tables. That would be a perfect spot to sit and draw. We parked on the side of the house and carried all our bags to the patio. For a moment I was mesmerized by the sound of the water and the beauty of it all. It was definitely different from New York.

"Do you like it?" My mom asked me, momentarily setting the bags down and standing next to me.

"I'll manage," I shrugged. I was almost disappointed in myself for not telling her the truth, maybe I just wasn't ready to let her know that it was ok for us to be good again. I needed time.

"What's that over there?" Matt asked, pointing over my shoulder, and into the distance. I turned around and also noticed the lights coming from edge of lakeside, it almost looked like there was a ferris wheel.

"Oh, its one of those one night fair things, you see them every so often around here," My mom answered, picking up the bags and carrying them inside.

"We should check it out, see if we can meet some people," Jesse suggested, standing beside us. Matt gave him a doubtful look but I shrugged.

"I think we should give it a try, even if we don't meet anyone, Sam will enjoy it," I said, picking up my bag and heading inside, throwing over my shoulder, "I'm changing and getting Sam and we'll go"

I trudged up the stairs, taking in the creakiness of the 5th step and the rustic sense the house had to it. I expected it to be empty and looking like no one lived there but I almost forgot that my mom was an artist. Paintings and drawings covered the walls downstairs, while the upstairs only had few. They were good paintings, but I always knew that my mom was a good artist. I hesitated at the top of the stairs, realizing I didn't know which room was mine. There were four rooms total. Two on each side of the hallway and then glass doors at the end of the hallway, leading out to the balcony.