by L. B. Dunbar
“How can I get the sun to set at the right time when the wedding’s at six o’clock?”
“It can only happen in the movies,” I laughed, and then a thought occurred to me. The barn was basically a blank canvas, an empty warehouse, or a bare stage. It could become anything Emily wanted with the right director.
“I can help,” I said confidently.
“What?” my dad said doubtfully at the same time Jess asked, “How?”
“Let me talk to Emily, okay? See if I can imagine her vision as well, and I can tell you what to do to make it close to what she wants. It will be just like the movies.” I smiled at my oldest friend.
My father snorted. “The movies,” he mumbled as he walked over to the pile of wood to talk with the man instructing the cleaning crew. However, the wheels were spinning for Jess and he agreed to let me help in any way I could.
Jess called Emily, explaining that I was willing to help make it what she wanted, and she arrived within fifteen minutes. She jumped at me when she saw me.
“I love you,” she sighed as she pulled back from the powerful hug.
“Hey,” Jess said firmly.
“Of course, I love you more,” she reached for him and hugged him as well, lingering longer in his arms before pulling back to kiss him deeply, not caring who saw them.
I turned away. It was too intimate to watch, even if I had seen things like this acted out all the time by actors for movies. This wasn’t acting, though. This was life.
I coughed to remind them that I was waiting, and Emily slowly pulled back before looking at me.
“Sorry,” she said and blushed slightly. “So here’s what I’m thinking…” She went into dramatic details using her hands for emphasis, describing her vision for seating, dining tables, and the bar area. The backdrop for the ceremony, the dance floor arrangement, and the continual view from the barn all started to take shape in my mind. I had some work to do to make it happen.
Take 26
Under the Moonlight
I was happy for the distraction of helping with Jess and Emily’s wedding. While most of the preliminary work was done: caterer, table rentals, bartenders, etc; it was the final touches where Emily needed help. I wasn’t into set design, usually leaving that to the professionals, but I had taken a set design class as an elective course at UCLA. I remembered things like proportions and dimensions. I had to have some knowledge of these things for directing and using the camera for perception.
When Monday morning arrived, I took another long run to help me think. In my head, I organized what I needed for the barn and tried to do the same with my thoughts of Britton and Gee. Today would be my first time alone with them. At the premiere after-party, it was a party. At the fireworks, it was a party. I hadn’t had that much time alone with them. I was nervous, though I didn’t know why. I was good with people, but there was something about the two of them that was exciting and frightening at the same time.
When I returned from my run, I showered and headed for the front door with a bag of stuff when I saw Ethan and Ella loading the old truck with bags.
“What are you two doing today?” I asked, walking through the screen door.
“Headed for the boat,” Ethan smiled at Ella.
“What? No, I’m using the boat today.”
“I already asked Dad,” Ethan whined.
“So did I.”
“What do you need it for? Got a date?” Ethan laughed.
I thought about it for a moment.
“As a matter of fact, I do.”
It was Ella who turned to smile at me. She was looking at my face, as if she could read on it what I was thinking and feeling.
“Let him have the boat,” she said to Ethan, still looking at me.
“What? No way,” Ethan whined, then added with a growl, “we can be alone today.”
“Ethan,” she whispered. He hung his head and faked banging it on the top of the truck. It was the way she said his name. Britton seemed to have the same power over me.
“You guys could come with us, I guess.” I let out my breath.
“We’ll find something else to do,” Ella assured me.
Ethan punched the truck door closed and stalked off to the house. Ella and I followed his walk with our eyes, and I noticed Mum standing on the front porch with a mug of coffee in her hand and a huge smile on her face. She patted Ethan on the shoulder as he passed her, going into the house with a slam of the front screen door.
I looked at Ella apologetically.
“I’m sorry. We could share it, I guess. I could call you later and pick you guys up?”
“It’s fine. We’ll go see Pam and Jacob, and kayak instead.” She turned to follow Ethan into the house.
“Good luck today,” Mum called from the porch with her broad smile again. She looked good this morning, I thought. She had bright eyes and was dressed in real clothes instead of her nightgown.
“Thanks,” I replied hesitantly as I closed the trunk of the rental and opened the door to the driver’s side. Her words reminded me of when I was younger and had a test or a big game, but somehow I felt like she was wishing me more than luck.
Britton and Gee met me at the harbor in town. It was easier, although I would have preferred to pick her up, but then we would have had the long drive back to Elk Rapids.
“What a beautiful day,” she said, looking up at the clear blue sky.
“Hi, Gavin,” Gee said, bouncing down the dock. I noticed he had on a small life jacket that looked like a miniature jet-ski vest. I hadn’t thought about it, but Gee would have had to wear one in the boat. There were life jackets under the seats for older teens and adults, but I never thought about the fact that those wouldn’t fit a child. Gee would fall right out of one and drown. I felt my pulse increase for a moment. It was a horrible thought, and I needed extra air for a few seconds.
“Glad to see you have a life vest. I don’t even know if this boat has child size ones.” I looked at Britton apologetically.
“We got it yesterday,” Gee bragged. “I’ve never had my own before.” He smoothed his little hand over the black straps and clasps, proud of his appearance. I had to smile. Kids could be happy over the damnedest things.
I reached up to the dock, picking Gee up under his arms and setting him in the boat. It rocked a little and caused Gee to stumble. I grabbed him by the vest.
“Separate your feet more for balance,” I suggested. “You’ve got sea legs.”
“Does that mean I’ll be a lobster?” Gee giggled, and I shook my head to hold my laughter.
I turned to hold up a hand for Britton and she handed me two bags. I had no idea how she could have so much stuff for two small people, but after my experience with Zoe I should have remembered that women never travelled lightly.
“Snacks,” she said as if answering my question. “Towels, change of clothes.”
I nodded, placing the bags on a seat, and reached for her hand again. I felt that burning sensation the moment she placed her small hand in mine. The one that shot up my arm as if we were connected and I could not let her go. I held onto her after she was in the boat until Gee’s voice broke the connection.
“Are we going or what?” he asked gleefully.
“We’re going, captain,” I pronounced, and moved to the driver’s seat.
I didn’t have a plan for the day, so I started out slowly, exiting the harbor and traveling through the no wake zone. I followed a path along the outer edge of the lake, pointing out large homes and old friends’ houses that Britton might remember. As I eventually sped up, an idea came to me and I headed for the middle of the lake. After the long week of Harbor Days, the lake was quiet for a Monday. The town was sleepy and recovering from the excitement and the visitors. A small town of one thousand could expand five times over the culminating weekend, but now the atmosphere felt like a balloon that had suddenly lost its air.
I cut the engine to a purr in the middle of the lake and turned to Gee.
Gee looked at me, and then at his mother. “Can I?”
Britton glanced at me and wrinkled her forehead. “I don’t know.”
“He’ll be fine,” I said and then added, “Come here,” to Gee.
Gee crawled between my legs and I stood so my thighs were on either side of him, supporting him as he leaned back against me. I told Gee to remain standing so he could see where he was going as I increased the throttle, telling him to hold the wheel. My hands covered Gee’s for a bit to help him keep the boat steady. We travelled at a slow pace, but the lake was empty. We were at no real risk of running into anyone or of having anyone coming close to us.
Slowly, I released one hand from over Gee’s and then the other. He held onto the wheel tightly, his concentration focused. I looked over at Britton to smile, and saw a look I didn’t recognize on her face. It wasn’t the panic I occasionally saw, but it wasn’t the smile I expected at her son’s accomplishment. It looked like she was battling with herself; as if she questioned something or had something to say, but was holding back. She smiled softly, raising only one side of her mouth, and the look slowly melted away. Her bright eyes sparkled at me, and I wanted this moment to never end.
“Look Mommy, I’m driving.”
I returned my eyes to the water ahead of us as the boat swerved. Gee was looking at his mom, and I covered his hands with mine again to straighten the wheel.
“Whoa, killer. Eyes on the water, not the pretty lady.”
Gee laughed. “Mommy’s not pretty,” he said.
I sucked in a breath. “What? Every boy should think his mom’s pretty.” I glanced at Britton and winked.
“Mommy’s not pretty. She’s beautiful,” Gee said with confidence, and I knew he was right. She wasn’t just pretty; she was beautiful. I looked over at her as she beamed a smile of pure love and happiness at her son. She turned slightly pinker than the sunburn on her face, and I had an overwhelming desire to kiss her.
We travelled a small distance before I asked if anyone was hungry. I wanted to take them to lunch at the burger place where I could pull up and order from the boat. It was the same place I had seen Britton a week ago. Had it only been seven days? Suddenly, time was passing too quickly for me. I remembered I only had one more week until I left again. I didn’t want to think about it at the moment.
I told Britton about the disagreement this morning with Ethan over the boat, and she suggested I call them to meet us for lunch. I didn’t really want to share my time with Britton with them, but I agreed after asking her several times if she was really certain she was okay with the idea.
Ella answered Ethan’s phone and asked the same thing twice: Are you sure? It was all so high school, just like the scene in the driveway this morning, and I suddenly knew why my mum was smiling. Mum was happily recalling her boys fighting.
When we pulled up to the dock, Ethan and Ella were standing there waiting.
“Why don’t you let them take the boat for an hour and they can come back to get us?” Britton whispered to me, and I looked at her in surprise.
“Come on, surely you can remember being young and in love?” she whispered, dropping her tone lower with her last words.
How could she not see that I did remember? I was remembering more and more what it felt like and how much I missed it.
“If you’re sure you don’t mind?”
“Stop asking me that.” She placed her warm hand on my arm, and I felt the spark between us again.
I handed Gee to Ethan on the dock, who seemed much more comfortable with little kids than I remembered. He squatted down to be level with Gee to ask him about the boat ride as I helped Britton out of the Criss Craft. Ella turned to walk up the dock with Britton and then stopped. She came back to Ethan and placed her hand on his shoulder. He kissed it and stood up. I stepped up on the dock and handed Ethan the key to the boat.
“What’s this?” Ethan questioned looking from me to Ella.
“One hour,” I growled in my big brother voice. “Don’t fuck this up for me,” I hissed quietly, covering Gee’s ears with my hands.
Ella laughed, but Ethan understood.
Scene: Sneaking out
She was sixteen; I was eighteen.
I was getting ready for my first year away at college. Britton only had another day or two before she left to go home, so I wanted to see her. I wanted my going away present to be sex with her, but I sensed it still wasn’t going to happen that summer.
I asked my fourteen-year-old brother to cover for me as I snuck out of the house, pushed the truck down the drive, and started the engine at the road. I swiftly drove the half hour or so to her uncle’s and parked down the block. I had come to her room before, the night of the apology with the music, but the distance between us made sneaking out more often impossible.
I tapped lightly on her bedroom door, which I knew was locked. She was paranoid of people coming up to the door while she slept and watching her, or an attacker coming to the door and breaking in. She claimed it was her one fear of the house with its ground level bedrooms. So when I tapped lightly, I was surprised she pulled back the curtain and wasn’t shocked to see me. She turned the lock, which sounded like gunfire in the silent night even with her hand over it, as if she could silence it before she slid the door open.
“Gavin? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I just…I had to see you.”
“Is everything alright?” she whispered as she let me in the door and then locked it again behind me.
I reached for her and held her tightly. She seemed resistant at first, but I eventually felt her relax and settle into my body, holding me in return. She wrapped her arm around my neck in that way she hugs.
“I just wanted to be close to you,” I whispered behind her ear. “Let me spend the night.” I’d hoped for sex when I left my home, but now I realized I just wanted to hold her. She willingly pulled me to her bed without a word. If sleeping next to her was all she allowed, I would be just as happy.
She climbed into the bed and moved over to the other side to allow for me. I took off my shoes and t-shirt, but left my shorts on. I slid into the bed and faced her. She looked tired. I was momentarily sorry I had woken her, but the blood pumping through me was keeping me wide awake. She slid her hand down my bare chest to the top of my shorts, and I sucked in a breath.
“We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do,” I whispered.
“I know. And it isn’t that I don’t want to, but…but I don’t think I can do it in my uncle’s house with him in the next room.”
She dipped her eyes and I touched her chin to make her look up at me.
“I understand.” I did, until I felt her hand slide into my shorts, and wrap around me.
“But I could do other things for you, if you’d like?” She slid her whole body closer to me, squeezing me tightly, and I moaned against her mouth without really kissing her.
“Britton. You drive me crazy.”
“I know,” she giggled.
I reached under her shirt for a bare breast and was rewarded with her perky nipples, peaked and excited. I was concentrating on the feel of her skin under my hand and the feel of her hand on my body. She worked at me tentatively at first and then more forcefully. If she didn’t slow down, I was going to make a mess all over her bed.
“Let go, Gavin. It’s okay,” she whispered. “I love you.”
I released into her hand. She spread it all over me at first as she slowed her rhythm, slipping me between her fingers and then covering me with her whole hand again. I closed my eyes. I loved her too, so deeply it frightened me. She climbed off the bed and disappeared for a moment, returning with a warm wet washcloth to clean myself off. I took it from her, as I couldn’t let her dangerous hands near me again.
“My turn,” I said, pulling her by the hips to me. She stopped me and looked directly into my eyes.
“Good luck in college, Gavin. Remember to reach f
or the moon.” She kissed me softly and slid her hand over my face before she pulled back. “Sleep for a while,” she said as I closed my eyes at her touch. She rolled over and fit her body into mine. Her back against my chest, her legs wrapped within mine, resting her feet on top of my feet. We fit perfectly together.
I did fall asleep and woke to the sound of my phone ringing. It was so loud it was like an alarm going off.
“What?” I whispered when I noticed Ethan’s number. I also noticed the light coming through the drawn curtains was slightly brighter than I expected for the middle of the night.
“Gavin, get home.” It was my dad’s voice.
I hung up and jumped from the bed. Ethan was supposed to set his alarm and call me at four if I wasn’t home. I was going to kill him when I got there.
Britton turned and sat upright.
“What time is it?” she said in a panic.
“Six.”
“Oh my God, Gavin. I’m so sorry. I set the alarm, but I never heard it go off.” She looked at the clock on the night stand.
“Was that Ethan?”
“My dad,” I said as I slipped my feet in my shoes. I turned for the door then stopped when I reached it.
I quickly walked back to the bed and kissed her deeply.
“Thank you. I love you. Forever,” I added, and with that I was gone. Two days later, so was she.
* * *
Gee jabbered on and on about the boat and driving as we ate on the patio at a high table outside the restaurant. I felt the irony that I should see her here and now be here with her. The breeze blew some hairs that had fallen out of the messy bun she had pulled it into, and I reached for them occasionally, tucking them behind her ear for her. I did it without thinking, and I noticed Gee watch me one time and smile before he continued talking. As we finished our meal and went to sit on the dock to wait for Ethan and Ella, I turned to Britton.
“He’s exhausting me. I don’t know how you do it alone. Aren’t you tired?”
