Summer's place

November 2079 - Sophie Phoenix is 58, Micah is 57, Hayden and Rhianna are 30, Summer is 15, Ryanne is 9. (Tyler and Beau Jackson are 16)

* note: box of tissues warning! *

Summer Phoenix and Tyler Jackson have been having very important conversations lately, but nothing has happened just yet. And nothing will happen at Tyler's house, any time soon, since Tyler's dad is some big socialite now, he works nights and is home all day, every day...

But Tyler charms her anyway, because you know, he's just smooth like that. Charm is something Tyler knows a lot about.

It's unseasonably cold for November this year, and there's a coat of frost on everything. Tyler and Beau have their drivers licenses this year, which means that Summer and Tyler get to see a lot more of each other without having to beg for rides from their parents. Beau's girlfriend lives in Lake City and she invites them all out to go ice skating at City Park.

"Eeew! Not here!" she says. "You're crazy!"

Leave it to Tyler to propose they have their first time on a park bench, with people around!

"I wasn't serious," he says.

Summer and her sister, Ryanne stay over at their grandparents' house some weekends (Sophie and Micah Phoenix), and that means that Tyler stays for dinner too, since he and Summer are just about joined at the hip these days. Summer wants to hold his hand at dinner, and he is nothing less than disgusted at the idea - not of holding her hand, but of holding her hand in front of her grandparents!!!

Anyway, there is nothing going on here either. "Say goodnight, Summer," Micah says. It's not that he doesn't like Tyler, because he does. But her grandparents enforce very strict rules here too, since they were the ones who helped raise Summer while Hayden and Rhianna finished high school. And Micah is good at enforcing things, you know, being a cop and all.

After Tyler goes home, the girls hang out in their pajamas. Ryanne is a very smart little girl, and spunky too, and doesn't really buy Grandma Sophie's stories about their grandfather playing sports when he was younger. But he did, for a while, before he became a cop.

Summer likes the stories though. Maybe just because Tyler is into soccer too - Summer knows Tyler is trying to get into college on a soccer scholarship, and she also knows the reason Tyler became interested in soccer in the first place. Summer doesn't feel too threatened by it though. Tyler hasn't said much at all about Stephanie Nova since she left.

And whoa! Young grandfathers are fun too, since they're still strong enough to pick you up and whip you around!

Summer helps out a little at her grandmother's catering business when she's in town for the weekends. Her grandmother says work experience will look good on her college applications. Summer hasn't really decided if she'll go to college yet. She's supposed to be on sales, but really she just spends her time at the cash register talking to Dallas.

Summer has a lot of friends, and she wonders why she's not already friends with Dallas? She should be friends with Dallas! She should invite him to one of her parties sometime. He must be a pretty cool guy, since he's just about all Lucy ever talks about...

Anyway, these weekends give their parents a little much needed time to themselves too. It's amazing how crazy these two are about each other still, after all this time. Hayden and Rhianna met and quickly fell in love when they were just exactly the age Summer is now.

They also had Summer, when they were just about the age Summer is now, so they're especially vigilant about their daughter and her eager young romance. They know exactly what goes on with those teenage hormones.

Hayden looks like he'd like to forget sometimes, as Rhianna brings up the topic of losing one's virginity over pancakes. "You can never give them too much information," is Rhianna's motto. Sure, the girls need to know this stuff, but maybe not over pancakes?

Summer says, "It's okay, Dad, I love him. "

Hayden isn't sure that helps any.

So the Phoenix family might think this morning in November is just some ordinary morning, except with no talk of virginity, and except that Summer is getting D's in her freshman year of high school (but that isn't really earth-shattering news), and except for the unusual early snowfall. But they would be wrong, because they don't know all of their lives are about to change. Summer and Ryanne get on the school bus. Rhianna goes off to their shop to sell some toys. And Hayden is just hanging around the house until his night shift as a patrol officer.

It's been unseasonably cold this November, first snow of the year and an early freeze. Nobody was really prepared for it. Micah Phoenix gets his first call as the new Captain of Police, which is weird because it's for a car accident, and there are car accidents every day, especially when it snows early like it did this year, and they don't exactly need the attention of the captain of police. But they said, "Micah, I think you'll want to handle this one yourself."

The news is earth-shattering, in every sense of the word. And Micah goes to tell the family personally, because it's his own family too.

Micah doesn't even know how to say it, so he just says it. "I'm sorry, Son - Rhianna's been in an accident. The van slid into Hunter's Lake. She was trapped in there. They couldn't get her out in time."

And then they tell Summer...

And a few hours later, Ryanne comes home from school to hear the tragic news.

It's to be expected probably that Hayden isn't really in a sound mind, but he means it later that night when he proposes that Summer takes over her mother's toy store.

Summer says, "Are you serious???"

"Well, it's got your name on it," Hayden says, and he gives Summer the deed to Summer's Place. "I can't go there. I don't want anything to do with it." Even if his state of mind might be compromised, he does mean this. He and Rhianna built that place together, and he can't bear to ever set foot in it again.

"I'm fifteen," she says. "What am I going to do with a business?"

"You'll figure something out when you're ready," he says.

Hayden goes to sleep early that night, and Ryanne crawls into bed with her daddy.

And Summer just wants to see Tyler. So he makes the drive out for her. And a hug from her boyfriend is just what she needs right now.

But then she starts to cry, because you know how easy it is to cry in front of that one person you feel most comfortable with in the world. In between sobs, she's telling Tyler all about how she's too young to know what to do with a business, and she doesn't even know how to make toys. And Tyler doesn't really know what to do - charm he might be good with, but crying girls are a whole different story!

He doesn't know what to do to make her feel better, but he has his license now, and he's proud to take her there if she wants. "Do you want me to take you to see it? The store?"

He isn't sure if it was a good suggestion or not, but she stops crying long enough to say, "Yeah, okay."

No one is really paying them much mind when they leave. The roads are still cold, but he drives slowly, and gets her there in one safe piece. Here they are, at Summer's Place, which really is her place now.

"What am I supposed to do with it?" she says.

"I don't know," he says.

So they just sit down for a little while, in the dark, not even really talking much. And it doesn't even cross either of their minds that they're finally alone together.

*****

notes: Rest in peace, Rhianna Phoenix. Rhianna was a devoted wife and mother, and is survived by her husband Hayden, of 13 years, and her two beautiful daughters Summer and Ryanne. She was only 30 years old :(

This was the last random event for this round, the one I've been putting off for so long because I didn't know how I would do it. Hayden rolled to have his greatest fear realized, and that was that Rhianna might die. While this is not the first death ever in Lakeside Heights, it is the first since I've been blogging about it :(

The worst part is that there may be more tragedy yet to come for this poor family... a knock-on effect of Rhianna's death, and ack! I have to decide if/how it happens or not. *sigh*