Where Have All the Days of Our Summers Gone

The story is set in the 1960s, a time unencumbered by lightning quick global changes and cellphones. It was a time where most people lived their entire life in the same home, town or city. Patrick and Harold had been friends since elementary school. Over the years they had spent many hours together and have many things in common. With time their friendship matched the relationship of brothers. In good times and in bad times they stood side by side. After their children had grown into adulthood each of them lost their wife to cancer. It left them alone in their house filled with memories. The love each one had for their spouse and the commitment they had made the woman they loved, had kept them from opening their wounded heart up and taking fully part in their community's social events. Concentrating their energies on acquiring business opportunities, they tried to find contentment among their friends and grandchildren. But as the years passed, love came knocking at their heart's door and tiptoed into their days. With it, feelings of guilt crept in their thoughts and threatened to keep them alone and lonely. Unlike the battles the two friends faced, Patrick's youngest son encountered no fences when he met a young lady who quickly began to dominate his thoughts and dreams. Few were the obstacle in his way to opening his heart to love her without reservations. Their romance blossomed quickly. With each day their love for each other deepened. Confidently they looked forward to the future, and joyfully they made wedding plans. In time both Patrick and Harold found that love is not easily denied at any age. The circumstances are few that have the power to shut love out for long. By providence both Patrick and Harold met ladies who like them spent their evenings alone. They awakened feelings within them long left lying dormant. Harold kept bumping into Sofia by chance encounters. At his son's engagement party Patrick met Emily, whom he had briefly dated as a young man. But the battles that had kept the two friends on the sidelines did not end with the appearance of these two women. Serena, Sofia's sister, threatened to undo the love Harold thought he had for Sofia. It was his friend who helped him see the road ahead more clearly. Patrick had never fully dealt with his grief of losing the woman he loved with all his being. His struggles with guilt and the sudden appearance of Emily's ex-husband kept him from opening his heart fully to Emily until the promise Lizbeth had asked him to make at the end of her life freed him to commit to Emily.