Thank you to everybody who read the first chapter. I honestly did not think that anybody would be reading this, so I am thrilled and am so grateful for the reviews. I am trying to move the story more or less contemporary while keeping something of that 80's feel (innocence? Corniness?). I think that Matt is a pretty private person (it runs with the Hawkes men) so his real feelings are really for him alone, but what he feels would be deep and probably intense. Just a minor tweek to the descriptions - Matt has brown eyes.
Toni's heart was still racing even as she pulled out of the darkened parking lot. She watched the young Ranger in her rear view mirror until she needed to make th.e turn. He just stood there and did not move the whole time she could see – it was almost as if he was watching her too.
Of all the people to run into...Matt Hawkes. She felt a warm feeling bubble up in her belly. Those eyes. Many things changed, but his eyes...those amazing blue eyes...the eyes she remembered from that summer on the lake. Toni sighed and smiled to herself. She did not often think of Matt, but when she did it was with great fondness. That summer that she and her mother had spent in that cabin on the lake had been idyllic. Toni snorted at herself. She was beginning to sound like a romance novel. Summer love...seriously?
And yet...if she was completely honest with herself the few relationships that she had had since that time seven years ago...how successful had any of them really been? The boys, and later the young men, were all perfectly nice, but she had found them all lacking. She had never admitted this to herself before, but now, sitting under the lights in the parking lot of her hotel, she came face to face with a truth – there was nothing wrong with all those guys...except...except that they were not Matt Hawkes.
Toni got out of her car, and opened the door to the hotel room that had been her home for the last couple of days as she had worked and looked for an apartment. Toni headed to her jewelry box – a gift from her grandmother. She did not have a lot of valuable jewelry – mostly items of sentimental value: a set of pearls from her grandmother...a ring from her mom, the earrings her dad had given her mom on the day of their wedding. These were her treasures; the dearest things to her: not worth a lot of money, but worth the world to her.
Toni lifted the one of the internal sections up and out. There, on the faded red velvet lay an old photograph. Despite the fact that it had been handled a great deal over the years, it was pristine due to how carefully she had always treated it. Toni lifted it out and looked at it again. The picture was of two teenagers. They were on the beach by a lake. The girl with the thick rope of Auburn hair, was wearing a bikini top and shorts and the boy with the eyes that danced with life and laughter was in swim trunks. He had his arms around her shoulders and hers were wrapped around his waist. They were both laughing as if the photographer had just told them a joke.
She looked at the photo of her and Matt taken a few weeks before they both started college – she at the University of Colorado and Matt at UC Berkeley. She turned the photo over and looked at the inscription; she could just read it even though it was faded with age. "Thank you for the best summer of my life. Love always, Matt."
"Love, always, Matt," Toni whispered to herself. After all this time. Was it even possible? Toni permitted herself a cynical smile – her life was anything but a fairy tale, so why would she expect this particular happy ending. Toni pulled off her hat and the curly auburn hair – not quite red and not quite brown, tumbled around her shoulders in a messy cloud. She undressed, hanging up her jacket and scarf. Stripping off the sweat soaked clothes and headed to the shower...she had the early shift tomorrow and it promised to be a long day.
Matt was completely lost in his own thoughts when he walked into the station. He vaguely waved in the direction of the Hart and Cutler who yelled their greetings.
"Did you get that rogue skier," Robin asked.
For a moment Matt looked at her blankly. He shook his head, "Sorry, Robin. What'd you say?"
"I asked about the rogue skier that you had gone after," Robin repeated. Then with a concerned look, she followed up. "Are you OK? You seem a million miles away?"
"Yeah. I'm fine," Matt answered, smiling. "I was not a million miles away," he thought to himself, "I was seven years away."
"I did find that skier and escorted her down the mountain." Matt reported, his mind again going back to those hazel eyes which had seemed to change color from brown to green to gray depending on how the light caught them.
"Her?" Izzy could not help but quip and tease Matt. Although Matt attempted to look exasperated, but the team noted the slight flush creeping up his neck and onto his cheeks. The Rangers exchanged knowing, slightly amused looks; was it possible – had a woman finally caught Matthew Hawkes' eye?
Matt did not miss their looks. "Alright, you guys," he said gruffly letting amusement seep into his voice. "That's enough."
"So who is she?" Hart persisted.
Seeing that he was not going to be able to avoid the conversation, Matt replied, "Her name is Antonia Philips – she's the daughter of my dad's friend. "And that," thought Matt, "is about all the information that you're going to get. Friends or no."
"As a matter of fact," Matt continued, stubbornly refusing to look at the team, some of who were openly grinning now, "I need to radio up to the cabin." He walked to where the old radio was still set up and broke into a smile. Even today with cell phones and computers, his dad still preferred the radio. However, he had to admit that the radio was considerably more reliable in the mountains where his dad and brother lived than the cell phone and computer that he had bought for his brother. Matt chuckled as he activated the radio. "Flying Tiger to Toad, do you copy? Toad, do you copy."
"This is Ace," Matt's smile broadened as he heard his little brother respond. "Quit calling me Toad." It was an old game that the brothers had been playing for years – neither one was willing to stop.
"Cody, is dad there? I need to talk to him."
"Yeah, hold on. Is everything OK?" Cody asked, an edge of concern creeping into his voice.
"Fine. I just wanted to tell dad that I met a friend of his," Matt felt a stab of guilt. Did he really only talk to his father when there were problems? Apparently his brother thought so. He made a mental note, to go up to see Cody over the weekend."
"This is Hawkes," Matt heard his father's gruff voice. "Everything OK, Son?"
"Yeah, dad. I ran into Antonia Philips on the mountain today. She lives here now and had been trying to reach you. I told her that her letter was probably still at the post office and that I would radio you."
"Toni? Toni is here? I'll send Cody down the mountain tomorrow to get the letter," Jesse said.
"Good. Send him early and I'll take him to lunch," Matt offered.
"To Bill's Burgers?" Matt chuckled again as he heard his brother in the background. For somebody trying desperately to act like an adult, there were moments, when he really enjoyed Cody still being a kid.
"Yeah, Bill's if that what you want," Matt responded. Cody was the only person that Matt knew who could eat the entire Bill's Bacon Cheeseburger, fries and a drink and still demand a piece of pie for dessert.
Jesse spoke again, "I have not seen Toni in what? Seven years? It will be good to see her. How about you bring her up to the cabin for dinner the Friday after next?"
"I think she'd like that, dad."
Matt was about to sign off.
"See you tomorrow, Matt," he heard Cody say.
"See you, Toad," Matt said with laughter in his voice.
"See you soon, Son," Jesse gruffed. "Take care."
"You too, dad," Matt said as he turned the radio off. It was true that he and his dad had disagreements especially where Cody was concerned, but Matt had no doubts that his father loved him and was proud of him.
Matt was back at this apartment. He was lying in bed, trying to sleep, but sleep would not come. Instead, images of Toni's face floated on the inside of his eyelids. Images of what she looked like today on the slope and also how she looked the last time he had seen her the summer before college when they were both eighteen.
Matt indulged himself in the memory of that summer. Toni and her mom had come to the lake for a vacation. They rented a cabin and Matt remembered dinners and barbecues on the beach with his dad and mom and Toni and her mother. Since they were the same age, they naturally drifted together. Toni was a bookish sort and Matt remembered finding her on the beach by the lake on a towel engrossed in a book. However, he was usually able to entice her into the water or to some other activities like hiking and horseback riding. Since she was from Colorado, she had the same love of the outdoors that he had. They just seemed to have so much in common including that they would be starting college in the fall.
He recalled vividly helping up a particularly steep trail by taking her hand and then just choosing to not let go. He remembered their first kiss during the 4th of July Fireworks as they lit up the night over the lake. He remembered feeling like he could do anything when he was with her and he remembered promising that he would always love her.
They stayed in touch while in college. Sending letters, emails, texting, and calling one another. But slowly, over time, they reached out to each other less and less frequently. Not for any particular reason. They were just busy and the time grew longer and longer, it became harder to bridge that gap. Then one day, Matt turned around and realized that it had been a year since they had spoken, then two years and now it was seven.
Matt had never missed out on female companionship. There were always girls who wanted to go out with the tall handsome kid who was the class president and captain of the football team. There were still women who would love to say that they were dating the Commander of the High Mountain Rangers. Matt enjoyed their company, but he did not recall ever feeling anything as intensely as he felt when he had been with Toni. There were nice women, pretty women, and women that were quite willing to accommodate the handsome blond man that he had become. But, those connections were fun at best and meaningless at worst.
Matt sat up in bed, jarred into complete wakefulness by the conscious realization of something that he had known for a long time, but never before admitted. He had messed up and lost something immensely precious. He had been a kid then and oblivious to the possibilities. But, now he was a grown man and very aware of what could have been and, now that he was offered a second chance, what maybe...just maybe, could yet be. Matt lay back down, closed his eyes, and finally drifted off to sleep.
I wanted this to read like the typical summer romance - that first love. But sometimes that first love is the one, the true one and we do not want to lose it. I hope I managed to capture this and I hope it read true to the characters and not overly melodramatic or schlocky. Looking forward to your thoughts and thank you in advance for your reviews. I hope you enjoy