“Want to see a picture of her?”

“Shut up! You have a picture already?”

I unlocked my phone and scrolled to the picture of us on Majestic.

“That’s her. That’s Amelia.” I said as I handed Julia my phone.

“She’s so pretty, Collin. Are you horseback riding?”

“Yes. It was her first time and she was a little nervous, so I told her to ride with me.”

“Aw, you’re so sweet.” She smiled as she put her hands on her heart.

“Stop it, Julia. We’re friends.”

“Did you have sex?”

“NO! I would never.”

She rolled her eyes at me. “Really, Collin? You have sex with any woman that looks at you.”

“Not her. She’s different. I haven’t even kissed her yet.”

Julia’s eyes widened. “Wow. You must really like this girl a lot.”

“I do. More than I want to admit. I completely forgot to tell you, Hailey called me and then sent me a text message.”

“Why? What did she want?”

“Who the hell knows?” I said as I got up from my desk. “She wanted to know how I was. As if she even cares.”

Julia got up from the chair and clasped my shoulders. “Listen, follow your heart. Don’t look back at the past.”

I smiled at her as she walked out of my office. I couldn’t stop thinking about Amelia and the worst part was, I think I missed her. Oh boy, what the hell was I going to do? I walked back to my dad’s office and stepped inside.

“What can I do for you, son?” he asked.

“I need you to buy a house.”

He looked up at me from his paperwork and just stared. “You need me to do what?”

“Dad, listen. The beach house was Amelia’s parents’ and she needs it to sell because she’s almost out of money. I’m afraid that it’s going to take too long to sell. Could you just buy it and then put it back on the market?”

My dad gave me the look that he used to when I was child. I used to call it the “explanation” look. He had the same facial expression right before he would begin to explain things to me.

“Collin, my son, listen. I know you want to help this girl out. I don’t blame you. But there comes a point when you have to realize that you can’t save everybody. I just can’t go and buy her house because she needs the money.”

“Why not? You have a shitload of it.”

“That’s not the point, son. Okay, I’ll make you a deal. If the house doesn’t sell in three months, I’ll buy it.”

“Three months is too long, Dad.”

“And what happens if things don’t work out and you’re not with her in three months?”

“Fine. Three months,” I said.

****

A couple of days passed and I didn’t hear anything from Amelia. I didn’t call her or text her because I was afraid that she’d reject me now that we were back in New York. The fact that she didn’t call or text me gave me a real insecure feeling. I dropped by Jacob’s house and we played some Xbox. He was coughing more than usual. Diana said that the doctor had changed his medication and it wasn’t working.

“So, you gotta girl yet?” Jacob asked.

“There may be someone I’m interested in.”

“Like in serious or just a casual fling?”

I couldn’t help but laugh when he said that. “I don’t know yet. I just met her, but she’s not the casual fling type.”

“Cool. Have you gone out yet?”

“Just a couple of times in the Hamptons. I haven’t talked to her since we got back to the city.”

“Oh. Well, I hope things work out.”

“Thanks, bro.”

“No problem. My mom likes some guy. I met him. I don’t like him.”

“Why don’t you like him?”

“Cause I don’t.”

“But if he makes your mom happy, that’s all that matters.”

“I don’t care. I don’t want him around.”

I could hear the anger in Jacob’s voice when he talked about it. I suspected he didn’t like the guy because he wasn’t his dad. When we finished our game, he looked at me.

“I think you should call her and ask her out.”

“I think you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Seriously, dude. Call her. She might surprise you,” he said as he began to cough.

“I’m sorry. How old are you again?”

“Just do it. Are you a scaredy cat?”

“No!”

“Oh, that’s right, you’re a chicken,” he said as he walked around the room making chicken noises and flapping his arms.

“You little shit. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Then call her. Right now.”

“Fine, I will!” I said as I pulled my phone from my pocket.

I dialed her number and Jacob sat on the bed.

“Hi, Collin,” she answered.

God, it was so good to hear her voice. “Hi, Amelia. How are you?”

“I’m okay. How are you?”

“I’m okay. Hey, would you like to go out to dinner tomorrow night?”

“Sure. I’d love to. But I can’t be out too late, I have a lot of studying to do.”

“No problem. I’ll make sure you’re home early. How about I pick you up around six?”

“Six sounds great. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Bye, Amelia.”

I looked at Jacob as he sat on the bed, holding his thumb up in the air. “Thanks, bro.”

“No problem.” He smiled.

After I left Jacob’s house, I went straight home. My mom was in the living room, working on one of her paintings, and my dad was sitting on the couch with his laptop when I walked in.

“Hi, Collin. Did you and Jacob have fun?” my mom asked.

I walked over to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Yeah, we had fun.”

“How’s he doing?” my dad asked.

“He wasn’t all that great tonight. Diana said the doctor changed his meds.”

“Damn, I wish there was something more we could do for him,” my dad said.

“On another note, I called Amelia and we’re having dinner tomorrow night.”

“Oh good, you can bring her to family dinner.” My mom smiled.

“Um. I forgot that was tomorrow night. Mom—”