Page 1 of Endless Summer

Norah

Norah Waters wasn’t about to go down the crazy romance road just because her two best friends had. They were badgering her to get with the program and ask Colter out on a date, but she didn’t want what they had both found. Telling them that usually ended with them laughing at her. They could see right through her, and honestly, they were right. She was a big, fat liar, but there was no way that she’d admit that to them.

Norah had always been more involved with her career than she ever was with guys. She’d date, here and there, but nothing serious. Hell, she was probably one of the oldest virgins around, but she wasn’t about to have sex with a guy just to check that to-do box off her list. No, she had time to figure that all out later, but for now, she was going to remain a twenty-five-year-old virgin.

Savannah and Ginger knew her secret and for some strange reason, they seemed to take this summer vacation as a challenge to get her laid, and since Colter was the last single man out of the group, they had chosen him to do the job. If only the poor guy knew what her two best friends were plotting, he’d run all the way back to DC, leaving her and the rest of her crazy friends in his dust.

Her only saving grace was that she had a work trip coming up for the next week that would take her to New York—her favorite place on earth. She had visited there often with her grandmother when growing up. NASA didn’t send her on many trips, so the fact that she actually had to take time out of her summer to go on this one wasn’t a hardship. She was looking forward to it and the reprieve that it gave her from her friend’s prodding into her life.

She was packing her suitcase when Ginger popped her head into the room. “When do you leave?” she asked. Her friend knew exactly when she was leaving since she and Savannah had done everything in their power to stop her from going.

“In about two hours, why?” she asked. Norah was sure that she was going to get the same song and dance about sticking around so that she could get to know Colter better. The gang was all hoping that Norah and Colter would fall in love like the rest of them had paired off, and they could be one big, happy family. But how could she do that to him? Norah wasn’t ready to settle down and trapping Colter into helping her to lose her virginity wasn’t fair to him.

“I thought you might change your mind and stick around. We only have four more weeks here,” Ginger said. “You’re going to be gone for a whole week.”

“I’m aware, but we also agreed that if any of us needed to travel for work or personal reasons, we’d be supportive. When Savannah went home to take care of her father, after he fell, you didn’t try to stop her from going home. In fact, you helped her pack.”

“Are you saying that you need help packing?” Ginger asked.

“No, I’m just saying that you’ve got quite the double standard going on, my friend,” Norah sassed.

“We just thought that you’d find a reason to stick around, you know?” Ginger almost whispered.

“You mean, you all were hoping that I’d fall for Colter and want to never leave his side? Oh, let’s not forget that you were all hoping that I’d find a way to trap him into sleeping with me to take care of my little virginity problem. I won’t do that to him. Colter and I are friends; that’s it. If you guys can’t accept that, then maybe I shouldn’t come back here after my trip is over. I can just go back home.”

“No,” Ginger shouted. “You can’t just give up on our girl’s trip. The summer isn’t over.”

“Right, and if you haven’t noticed, this isn’t really a girl’s trip anymore, is it? You guys have all paired off and while I’m happy that you and Savannah have found your happy-ever-after, you two need to realize that mine might not look the same as yours. I’m happy with my career and I’m not looking for a man to fulfill me. I’m already enough on my own.”

“Oh, you’re enough all right,” Ginger grumbled.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Norah snapped.

“It means that you’re fighting this way too hard. You keep saying that you’re happy on your own, but you obviously aren’t. You flit from one relationship to another, making excuses about the guys you’re dating not being good enough, not being attentive, and my personal favorite, not being smart enough. I’m wondering if you’ll ever find anyone who can measure up to your standards, Norah.”

Norah’s gasp filled the room. It felt as though Ginger had personally attacked her rather than stating obvious facts. “There is nothing wrong with having standards” Norah spat. “It’s something that was taught to me at a very early age, and I won’t shove them all aside now just because you and Savannah want me to settle for Colter.”

Sure, she sounded like a snob, and maybe she was one. After her parents died in a car accident, when Norah was just two, she was sent to live with her wealthy grandmother. She used to feel like the luckiest kid on the block growing up the way that she did. She never wanted anything, but all her bobbles and trinkets bestowed upon her by her grandmother came with a price. Each one carried a lesson and the very first one that Norah learned was never to settle. Norah guessed that lesson had carried over to her dating life, and maybe that made her a little bit choosey about whom she dated, but there was nothing wrong with that.

“Your grandmother was wrong to teach you that, Norah. She taught you never to waver in anything and sometimes, that makes you pretty tough to take. You can’t ever be wrong and that makes the rest of us feel like we’re always wrong. It’s hard to be your friend sometimes, Norah. Maybe while you’re away this week, you should think about that.” Norah didn’t get another word out before Ginger stormed out of the room. She hated leaving things with her friend that way, but she had a plane to catch, and sometimes, it was just better to leave things unsaid.

Colter

Colter McAdams wasn’t sure how he was the one to get roped into the job of driving Norah to the airport, but here he was. She was quiet most of the ride, and he was sure that had everything to do with the conversation that he overheard between Ginger and her. It was one that he wished he hadn’t overheard. Was she really a virgin? The only way to find out for sure was to ask her, but that was the last thing he really wanted to do.

“I have a small confession,” Colter admitted. He wasn’t sure if he should even bring up the fact that he had overheard their conversation or the fact that he heard Norah say that she wasn’t going to “Settle” for him. Honestly, overhearing her say that was a bit hard for his ego to take.

“What’s that?” she asked, not bothering to look at him. She had kept her eyes trained on the scenery as they drove through the little beach town that would eventually lead to the highway that would take them to the airport. It was about an hour’s drive, and they were more than halfway there, giving Colter the perfect window of opportunity to ask her about her conversation with Ginger. If it didn’t pan out well for him, he would only have thirty more minutes in the car with Norah.

“I overheard your conversation with Ginger,” he admitted.

“How could you not?” she asked. Norah’s sigh filled the car. “We were pretty loud. I’m sorry if anything I said upset you, I’m just sick of them all trying to fix us up. Just because they have all paired off doesn’t mean that we have to.”

“Agreed,” he said, although, if he was being completely honest with her, he’d admit that the thought had crossed his mind on more than one occasion. “But that’s not all that I overheard. Um, are you really a virgin?” he asked.

“Oh God,” she breathed.

“You know what—forget that I asked. It doesn’t matter,” he quickly covered.

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