"I had just turned seventeen and Deven was nineteen. He had been in college for a year but had decided to drop out during the summer. When he came home to visit things between us were different. I had always been head over heels for him. I mean you've seen the guy on billboards from his modeling days, right?" They both nod eagerly in answer to my question.

"When you told me you knew him, remember how I freaked out? I wanted you to introduce me to the famous hottie. I had no idea he was your ex." Susie says in shock. Her mouth hangs wide open as she gapes at me,

"No one knew, that was the problem. We dated that whole entire summer but we didn't want anybody to know. He was my older brother's best friend and I was still in high school. By the end of the summer, I wanted people to know, specifically my family. I hated keeping my relationship a secret. When I brought it up to him he decided that it would be better to end things instead of telling them. I don't know if he was too embarrassed or if he had plans to leave because by the end of the week he was gone. I hadn't heard from him until today. It has been four years since I've seen him or heard his voice."

It isn't a long story but by the time I'm finished my drink is almost done. A slight buzz spreads through my limbs warming the pit of my stomach and my cheeks. It helps loosen me up and feel less upset about the whole situation.

"Now that we have the background, what happened this afternoon?" Rye questions as he takes a sip from his sparkly pink straw.

"This afternoon my lunch meeting turned out to be with him. To make matters worse he chose one of my favorite restaurants that is now tarnished with this memory. Anyway, what he wants is ridiculous. He asked me to be the model for his work that he'll be selling at his next gallery. He offered fifteen percent of all work sold with me in it and said he would do two photoshoots for Mixed for free." I re-explain the whole conversation I had earlier with Devin. It sounds even sillier coming out of my mouth.

They both sit there sipping their drinks and thinking. Susie looks as if she's very deep in thought trying to answer the questions of the universe while Rye looks way too amused. I don't trust the look on his face. Nothing good ever follows up that look.

Grabbing the pitcher off the island, I refill my empty glass and top off each of theirs. The growing silence surrounds us and I shift my weight from one foot to the next nervously. "Will you guys say something! The silence is killing me. I should turn him down, right?"

"You can look at this from two perspectives," Susie begins. She pushes her glass to the side and holds up a finger. "One is from a personal standpoint," She then raised another finger, "Two is from a professional viewpoint. Let's start with the personal." Rye rolls his eyes at her and cuts her off.

"Susie you are making this way more complicated than it needs to be. Say yes, you can make all the lists you want but in the end, the better option is to accept his offer." He says matter of factly.

"She can't give an answer without thinking through all the angels. Yes, it is a fantastic offer but Scarlett needs to think about more than the company, she needs to think about herself. This guy broke her heart then just disappeared. Not a goodbye and not a peep for years. A lot was left unspoken between those two. If she models for him they're going to be spending tons of time together, probably alone. I see this going one of two ways. One it ends horrifically because they can't stand being around each other or two they get back together." I choke on the sip I was taking and quickly try to swallow the rest before I spit it all over the place. Once it's all down, I pound on my chest to cough up whatever was stuck in there.

"I will never get back together with that man. That would just be asking to get my heart broken again. No thank you." I scoff.

"You and your options," Rye mumbles under his breath at Susie, "you're going to kill the girl if you keep this up. Look, Scarlett is a big girl. If she can handle running a company, building it from the ground up, and dealing with her four insane brothers then she can handle this one guy no problem. She's stronger than she gives herself credit for." I reach across the smooth granite and give his hand a firm squeeze. He squeezes my hand back and winks at me.

Susie gives her full attention to Rye and starts arguing with him about her options being the most plausible path to happen. Rolling my eyes at those two, I let them continue arguing as I think this through. No one can make this decision but me. My friends and family could give me all the advice in the world but in the end, it's my yes or no that matters.

This is something I really need to think about. Susie is right, it's me that will end up spending all this time with him. I guess what I need to ask myself is if I can forgive him for what he did to me. We were both pretty young and I can admit that I was dumb when everything happened. The two of us were far from mature. We both had so much going on that adding a relationship to the mix probably wasn't the best idea but I couldn't resist.

I mean, who could have. The guy that I had been crushing on for years had finally noticed me. It felt as if my heart was going to explode when he finally kissed me. At first, we both agreed that it was best if things stayed between the two of us. We didn't want to wreck the relationship he had with my two older brothers. They had basically grown up together. The rest of our family members were also really close. Adding our relationship to the mix would have just created unnecessary drama.

When I finally had said enough and wanted to tell people three months had passed. Some might have called me naive but I knew I was in love with Devin. He had my heart wrapped around his finger and I don't even think he knew it. As soon as I brought up the subject of telling everyone he immediately turned me down. 'Things are great just the way they are." He told me. "Why should we ruin them." When I told him how unhappy it was to be his dirty little secret he tried to play it off as if that wasn't the issue but I knew it was. He didn't want anyone to know he was with me.

I never got the chance to ask him why because by the end of the week he was gone. He got a new number and a new address. I couldn't bring myself to ask his family or my brothers about him. I pretended that the whole summer never even happened. It was easier that way. The boy I had fallen in love with who had my heart had ripped it out of my chest and then threw it away as if it were nothing.

"Can I forgive him for what he did?" I ask myself aloud. My two friends stop there bickering and both turn their heads toward me.

"I don't know, Scarlett. Can you?" Rye raises one perfectly sculpted eyebrow at me. The summer memories race across my mind one after the other as if on fast forward. All good memories. All happy memories. That was the happiest I remember every being before I was able to create my company.

"Yeah," I say softly, "I think I can. He may have made a mistake but we were both young with our own issues to worry about. We had a whole summer of happiness but over the years I got caught up on that one bad memory." Admitting it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth but it's the truth.

It'll be a little difficulty switching over to this mindset but I'll work on it. I can forgive and maybe when I'm ready for the answer I can ask him why he didn't want to tell anyone about me. Until then, I can be around him and not be an uptight bitch while in his company. I'll need to be on my best behavior if I'm going to accept this gig and it's looking like that's what I'm going to do.

Since I can forgive him there's really no reason to say no. The company could always use the money. I may have paid off the loans it took to start up the business but I need more money for expanding. With the money, I save with the photoshoots and earn from the artwork selling I won't have to take out another loan or get a business partner. I've had ideas of creating a new hairline. With the earnings, I could start making that dream into a reality much sooner than I was planning.

"I'm going to accept his offer."

"Are you sure? I mean look at what happened to you today. You could barely stand being around him for five minutes." Susie has always been the most cautious out of the three of us. She's all about the numbers and the statistics. I suppose that's why she went into banking. Honestly, I wouldn't know what I'd do without her. Not only did she turn into one of my best friends but she's also a math whizz. She's helped me save a lot of money and make a lot of money. Without her, I'm sure I would still be working on paying off that loan I took out.

"I'll think about it for a few more days just to make sure it's what I want to do but I doubt I'll change my mind. Today he caught me by surprise. Next time I'll be prepared to meet with him. Besides, after really thinking about it that summer fling happened years ago. Yes, what he did definitely hurt but I've grown a lot since then. I'm sure he has too and we can handle this situation like mature adults."

"I for one am all for this." Rye grins excitedly. "Not only because you get to hang out with a total hottie but think of all the fun makeup tutorials you could come up with for the photoshoots. Those would make fantastic videos!"

"I didn't even think about that. That's a great idea and it gives me another fun idea." I chuckle to myself as I bring my straw to my lips to take another sip. Devin is going to hate this idea.

"Oh, you have to share! I want to know." Oreo's little claws click against the wooden floor as he trots into the kitchen to join us. He must have finished his treat. Susie stretched her arms out to him and he immediately goes to her to get some love.

"Nope, it's going to be a surprise but I can tell you this. If it works out you're going to love it." Rye pouts at me but I give him my best innocent smile.

"Every time I come over and get to hang out with this handsome boy it makes me want to go get a dog of my own." My little pup gives Susie kisses as she scratches his cute tiny ears.

"You should. I'll even go with you to a couple of pounds to look around if you want. Everyone needs a dog. Unless you're an old cat lady like Rye."

"I take offense to that. I need at least two more cats before I can be considered an old cat lady." We all share a laugh as Rye refills all of our glasses for us.

We sit around my island table for a bit and talk as we sip our drinks. No talk of Devin or work is brought up. Only silly stories about things we did over the week or plan to do in the future. It's nice to sit here and have a break. To not think about work or worry about the next thing that needs to be done. Everyone who knows me knows that since my company started that's had all my attention and focus but this company is my baby. It's hard for me to leave it at the end of the day or not think about the next things that need to be done but maybe that's something I need to start changing. If I don't give myself time away or any kind of break then I'll end up going crazy or in the hospital again. Lord knows mom would chain me to a bed for months if that happens for a second time.

"Alright, who's hungry guys? I never got to have lunch. I'm thinking we get something delivered and eat out back by the pool. We can enjoy the sunshine and a nice breeze." I suggest to them.

"You know me, I can always eat," Susie says as she gets up from her chair. She sets Oreo down and gives his body a shake. Rye grabs our half-empty pitcher of drinks and the two of them follow me out the sliding door to the back patio. We each take a seat at the outdoor table set I have outside with a sunshade arranged over it.

We have a brief discussion about what we want to eat. I put in a call and the food gets there in a little over forty minutes. We set up plates then start dishing it out. The rest of the night the three of us hang out.

I look between my two laughing friends. Big smiles are spread across their faces and I don't need a mirror to know I'm wearing one as well. I let out a content sigh. I could definitely use more nights like these in my future.