Everything around Tiffany was bright, loud and full or energy. From up here on the Ferris wheel, one hundred feet above the carnival below, she could see the bright lights of the games and the rides. She could see young kids carrying big sticks of cotton candy and clutching tightly to balloons. She could see parents clapping and cheering as their children won games and laughed excitedly as they went around and around on rides.

Music was blasting from a tiny stage where a local band was playing covers of all the popular songs and the hillside in front of the stage was full of people dancing or sitting around in lawn chairs or on blankets. Lovers holding each other and mothers rocking their children to the beat of the music.

Tiffany felt her heart breaking apart in her chest as she looked at Lance out of the corner of her eye and saw him picking at his jeans uncomfortably. She let her gaze travel up to his sad face. He was looking out into the dark night, staring at the stars. His normally smiling face was pale and drawn tight. His lips were drawn in a thin line and his blue eyes were red and wet though he had yet to let any of those tears fall.

Tiffany wiped her hand quickly across her own wet cheeks and then dried it on her denim shorts. She heard Lance sigh.

"Please don't cry, Tiffany. We both knew the summer was going to end." he said quietly, the warmth of his deep voice and southern accent washing over her body and causing her heart to speed up the way it always did.

"I know." her words came out as little more than a choked sob. Lance reached out and took her hand.

"You always knew I wasn't going to stay, Tiffany. I've got dreams that I've gotta chase, sweetheart." Tiffany covered her stomach with her hand and she took several deep breaths to fight the nausea that came over her.

'What about my dreams?' She wanted to scream at him. 'What about the fact that in about eight months I'm going to have your baby?' Tiffany did not say any of this out loud. Lance did not know about the life growing inside of her and she was not about to tell him. Not when it would destroy any chance he had of happiness.

Lance had been dreaming since he had learned to talk of being a country star. He had been on his way to Nashville when his truck had broken down in this tiny eastern Kentucky town and since Lance was only nineteen and had no way of paying for the repairs her father had done, he had agreed to spend the summer working off the debt in her fathers garage.

The two of them falling in love had not been a part of Lance's plans. It hadn't been a part of Tiffany's plans either. She was nineteen and had dreams of becoming an author and publishing books that would be read by thousands. She could easily fit Lance into her plans for the future but she knew that his future had no room for her or for their baby.

If she tried to tie him down with the baby he would resent her for it and he would always feel trapped. She did not want that for him. She loved him too much to tie him down to her and squash his dreams.

"Even though I knew this was coming…." Tiffany paused to sniff and swipe her hand quickly across her cheek again. "It doesn't make it any easier." Lance helped her out of the car as they came to a stop at the bottom and then they stood face to face under the glow of the Ferris wheel lights.

"I'll come back for you, once I've made it big. I'll….." Tiffany shook her head and smiled a sad ghost of a smile.

"Don't do that, Lance. Don't make me promises that you won't keep." she begged. She could tell that her words made him angry when she saw the color in his cheeks.

"You don't know that I wouldn't keep it." he said. Tiffany sighed and laid her hand on his arm. She had to end this now and get away from him before she broke down completely.

"Just go live your life, Lance. Be happy."

"You live your life and be happy." he replied smoothing some of her dark blond hair from her face. Tiffany caught the scent of honeysuckle on the breeze and was reminded of all the nights they had spent together camping under the stars at the tiny pond hidden out in the mountains.

They had held each other tight those nights whispering words of love on the warm summer breeze. Why oh why did summer have to end? Why couldn't Tiffany just go back in time to one of those nights and live it forever. Why did life have to change?

"Who knows…." Lance said pulling her from her thoughts. "Maybe one day people will be able to walk into a store and buy one of my CD's and one of your books at the same time." Tiffany forced another smile and she could tell by the look in his eyes that he knew it was fake.

"I'll miss you, Tiff." Lance said and she heard his voice break for the first time. She wasn't sure where she found the strength but somehow she managed to look into his sad blue eyes.

"I'll miss you too." she replied.

"I'm leaving in the morning." he added. Tiffany bit the inside of her lip and nodded.

"Be careful and good luck." she said.

"Good luck to you too, sweetheart. Your life is going to be incredible." He bent slightly and laid a gentle kiss to her forehead before turning and walking quickly away.

Tiffany watched his back until he disappeared into the crowd. She covered her stomach with her arm and began to sob. She leaned against the metal platform of the Ferris wheel for support as the tears fell. There went the boy that had her whole heart. He had walked away from her and never even looked back.

"Tiffany." Tiffany heard her best friend Erin's voice and looked up to see her looking down at her with concern. Erin didn't say anything else just held her arms out and Tiffany went to her and let her best friend wrap her in a tight hug. Erin held her gently for a long time while Tiffany cried into her thick red curls. Finally when Tiffany felt like the worst of the tears had passed she pulled away dried her face the best she could with her hands.

"So Lance left?" Erin asked gently. Tiffany took a deep shuddering breath and nodded. "Did you tell him?" Erin asked looking down at Tiffany's stomach and then back into her eyes.

"No." Tiffany replied quickly. "No one knows other than you."

"You should have told him." Erin scolded. "He loves you. He would have stayed. Did you even ask him to stay with you?"

"No." Tiffany said kicking at a clump of mud with her sandal. "I am not going to be the one responsible for getting in the way of his dreams."

"Dreams change." Erin said. "And now you need a pedicure." she added looking at the mud on Tiffany's foot.

"I don't want to talk about this." Tiffany said stubbornly.

"He deserves to know that he's going to be a dad." Erin said in her best stern authority figure imitation. She wasn't very good at being the responsible one but she was trying.

"I didn't want him to stay because he felt obligated to. I wanted him to stay with me because he wanted to. Obviously he didn't want to. He's gone now and I will be fine. This baby will be fine."

"Okay. I've used up the grown up part of my brain for the night." Erin said wrapping her arm tight around Tiffany's shoulder. "You want to stay with me tonight?" she asked. Tiffany nodded. Erin had her own place in the apartment complex in town and Tiffany did not feel like dealing with her well meaning but nosy parents tonight.

"Yes. Thank you." she said. Erin just shrugged and started leading Tiffany back toward the field that was serving as a parking lot while the carnival was in town.

"What are best friends for?" she asked. "And I am going to be one hot aunt." she added and Tiffany smiled her first real smile of the night.

888

Lance punched the steering wheel for the tenth time that morning as daydreams of Tiffany again caused him to drift into the wrong lane of the highway and nearly crash into oncoming traffic.

He didn't know why leaving her was so hard. Why had he let himself fall in love with her when he knew he wasn't going to stay? He had dreams. Dreams that had meant everything to him for as long as he could remember and still did.

But now his heart wasn't in it as he drove toward Nashville. His heart was still back in Hardan County with that blond haired angel he'd left behind. If only she had asked him to stay. But then again what would he have done if she had? Would he have stayed? He wasn't sure but he thought the answer was yes.

But she hadn't asked and he hadn't offered so here he was, broken heart and all, with his guitar in the passenger seat of his beat up Chevy truck, headed for Nashville. He took a deep breath and squared his shoulders.

A part of him would always love that girl but life had to go on. He was going to make a name for himself and become a star and one day maybe he'd make his way back to Hardan County to check on Tiffany. He knew she'd have a good life. She was going to be a famous author one day. He had read her stories and though he had always hated books, he had loved every word she had written.

Lance nodded as he turned the radio up and rolled his window down the rest of the way to fight the early September heat. He and Tiffany would both be just fine. And they would have the memories of the incredible summer they'd shared together to carry with them forever.