That Summer

by Joan Wolf

  “She called me yesterday.”

  “Ah.”

  “What's ‘ah’? Is there something wrong in her inviting me?”

  “I'm surprised your parents let you come.”

  “Daddy is picking me up at eleven.”

  “Liam.” It was Leslie herself. She wore jean shorts and a white shirt, which she had tied to expose her perfect midriff. Her golden hair hung loose around her shoulders and her eyes were a brilliant green. She was stunning.

  Liam gave her a long, silent look. Then he said, “How's it going, Leslie?”

  She linked her arm in his. “Come along with me. There's something I want to show you.”

  I watched them walk away feeling like the little match girl with her nose pressed up against the windows of the rich. I wished I hadn't come.

  “How about a soda?” I turned and it was Andy Bartholomew. “Your father doesn't approve of beer, but I can offer you a Coke, or a Sprite.”

  I blushed. “I don't want to be a trouble, Mr. Bartholomew. “

  “Not at all. Come with me and we'll fix you up.”

  Andy Bartholomew had been a halfback for the New York Giants and a few years after retirement, he had bought this property in Virginia and built a home and a stable. He was a very large man and whenever I had met him he had always been genial. My dad had once said he was the perfect conversational partner; his two topics were horses and football.

  I accepted a Sprite from the table where the soda was being kept and he said, “If you want to go home early, Anne, just let me know. I'll be happy to take you.”

  Did I look that out of place?

  “Thank you,” I said dismally.

  I was standing there feeling very lonely when Kevin came in. I was about to go over to him when Leslie appeared out of nowhere and went to his side. In an almost exact replica of her greeting Liam, she put her hand on Kevin's arm.

  “There you are, Annie.” It was Liam, coming up behind me. “What are you doing, trying to get some pointers from Leslie?“

  “I thought that Justin was her boyfriend.”

  “That's right. He was.”

  “They broke up?”

  “That's what I heard. He's not here tonight, if you notice.”

  He was holding a glass in his hand that wasn't beer. “What's that?” I asked.

  “Scotch.”

  “Where did you get it?” I asked suspiciously. “There's only beer and soda out here. “

  He smiled. “Leslie has a secret stash.”

  Leslie was leading Kevin in our direction. “Liam, Anne,” she said. “Are you hungry? My dad is going to grill hamburgers.”

  Everyone gathered around the grill and Mr. Bartholomew joked with the crowd of boys. When he had finished grilling and gone inside, Leslie rolled a couple of joints and passed them around.

  They went from hand to hand and finally one came to me.

  My parents would kill me if they ever found out that I had smoked marijuana. I lifted the joint to my lips, then someone snatched it out of my hand.

  It was Liam. “Your father would murder me if he found out that I allowed you to smoke pot,” he said. “Stick to the soda, Annie.”

  “Oh, don't be such a spoilsport,” Leslie said.

  I was secretly relieved, but I made a token protest. “I'm not a baby, Liam.”

  “Don't smoke pot, Annie.”

  “You do.”

  “Yes, but you're better than me. Come on, I'm going to take you home.”

  “Are you serious?” Leslie asked.

  “Yes. Why did you invite her? She's too young.”

  “She's always hanging around you. I thought she'd like to come to the party if you were here.”

  I felt like I was two years old, being talked about like this.

  Liam said, “Come on, Annie.” He turned to go.

  “Liam,” Leslie said sharply, “Are you coming back?”

  I waited, hoping that he would say no.

  He said over his shoulder, “I'll be back.” Then, to me, “Now let's get going, brat.”

  I had come because I had wanted to be near Liam, but I couldn't have been happier to leave. “I'm sorry to be such a nuisance,” I said when I was inside his new BMW convertible, a graduation present from his parents.

  “Leslie shouldn't have invited you. That's not your kind of crowd, Annie.”

  “Is it your kind of crowd?”

  “I fit in a lot better than you do.”

  “Are you in love with Leslie?”

  He laughed. “Not yet, but I'm working on it.”

  We pulled up outside my house.

  “I don't like Leslie,” I said.

  “Then why did you go to her party?”

  Because you were going to be there. But what I said was, “I thought it would be rude to refuse.”

  “Come on,” he said. “Out of the car. Your father will be glad I saved him a trip.”

  Reluctantly, I climbed out of the car and began to walk toward my front door. He stayed until I was safely into the house.

  Thinking back now, from the vantage point of age twenty-six, I could see that that barbeque was the start of the rivalry between Liam and Kevin over Leslie. It was a rivalry that went on all summer and culminated in Leslie's disappearance on August 15. The only clue to her vanishing was the bloody baseball bat that had been found in the summerhouse that stood at the far end of the lawn at Wellington.

  I leaned back in my wicker chair, stared over the porch rail, and let my mind return to the day when I had heard the news of her disappearance.

  I had been out at the training track watching my father work with a pair of yearlings in the starting gate when my mother came up to me.

  “Lesley's gone missing,” she said. “Do you have any idea where she could be?”

  I looked at her blankly. “Missing? What do you mean missing?”

  “She didn't come home last night and no one can find her.”

  “You mean she didn't come home after the Hunt Ball?”

  “That's right. Apparently, she told her parents that either Liam or Kevin would take her home, so they left without her. They didn't miss her until this morning, when her mother looked in her room and found the bed unslept in.”

  “Oh my God. Did either Kevin or Liam take her home?”

  “No. She went missing from the ball itself.”

  “Have the Bartholomews called the police?”

  “Yes. Technically they're supposed to wait twenty-four hours before they start searching, but Andy persuaded them to start immediately. It isn't like Leslie not to come home.”

  The police found the baseball bat in the summerhouse when they searched it late in the afternoon. It had been stained with blood and DNA tests showed that the blood belonged to Leslie. But they had never found a body.

  I was still thinking about all of this when my mother pulled into the driveway. She came up on the porch, put down her books, sat in the second wicker chair, and began to sob.

  “Oh Mom,” I said helplessly. “Oh Mom.”

  “I've been crying all the way home in the car. I can't seem to stop. I just miss him so much, Anne. There's this great chasm in my life where he used to be.”

  “I know,” I said. I put my hand over hers where it rested on the table.

  She continued to cry. I kept my hand where it was until her sobs began to abate. “Can you get me another tissue?” she asked.

  I went into the house and came out with a box of Kleenex. She blew her nose. “I'm sorry, honey.”

  “There's nothing to be sorry about. And there's nothing I can say to make it better. You're just going to have to go through the grieving, Mom. There's no way around it.”

  “I know.”

  “How about a cup of tea?”

  “Okay.”

  We both went into the kitchen and I set the kettle on the stove to heat up. We had just sat down at the table to wait when someone knocked on the front door.

  It was Liam's father.
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  “Hello, Senator,” I said.

  He gave me a warm smile. “Hello Anne. Is your mother around?”

  “Yes, come in, please.”

  “Who is it?” my mother called from the kitchen.

  The senator walked through the short hall and stepped into the kitchen. “It's just me, Nancy. I came to see how you were doing.”

  “Senator Wellington. How nice of you to come. “ Mom's eyes were still red.

  “I wish there was something I could do to help you. “

  “Thank you, but there's nothing. “

  “Don't worry about the house. You can stay for as long as you like. “

  “Thank you. Liam said that as well. But I'm going to look for a house in town.”

  “Would you like a cup of tea, Senator?” I asked.

  “That would be very nice.”

  “Sit down then, and you sit down as well, Mom. I'll make the tea.”

  I listened to the two of them talking as I put three teabags in the teapot and waited for the water to boil.

  Lawrence Wellington was in his mid-fifties and looked younger. He was tall and lean and tan and fit, with blond, gray-streaked hair and gray eyes. He had Liam's arrogant nose. He had been born to wealth and position and both of those things hung about him like an aura. You knew you were in the presence of someone very high up in the world when you were with Lawrence Wellington.

  The kettle whistled and I filled the teapot and put it on the table, then I put out cups and saucers, foregoing our usual mugs. Mom poured the tea while I unearthed some cookies from the pantry and laid them on a plate.

  When I sat down, the senator was talking about Daddy. “He was one of the most highly respected men in Midville,” he told my mother. “His word was like gold.”

  I felt tears sting my own eyes. It was true. Diogenes would have found his honest man if he had found my father.

  “And you, Anne,” he said, turning to me. “You've grown into a beauty.”

  “Thank you.”

  “It's hard to believe that you were once that skinny little girl who followed Liam around like a puppy.”

  I winced at his description of me. It matched everyone else's.

  “Anne is a veterinarian now, Senator,” my mother said proudly.

  “So I have heard. That's quite an accomplishment.” He smiled. “I understand vet school is just as hard, if not harder, than medical school.”

  “It was hard enough,” I said.

  “Are you practicing yet?”

  “Yes, I'm in an equine practice in Maryland. I took the month off to help Mom find a new place and to move.”

  He increased the wattage of his smile. When Lawrence Wellington turned the full force of his magnetic personality on you, you felt it. “How thoughtful of you, “ he said. “Your dad was terribly proud of you, you know.”

  “I was proud of him too.”

  “He was a good man. There aren't many men I can say that about as wholeheartedly as I can say it about your father.”

  My mother said, “Thank you, Senator. The flowers you sent were just beautiful.”

  He finished his tea and stood up. “I must be off. Remember, if you have any needs don't hesitate to ask. Pete was like family to us.”

  “Thank you,” my mother said again.

  The senator went out.

  My mother said, “How sweet of him to stop by that way.”

  “That's two votes he just put in his pocket,” I returned.

  “Anne! What a mean-spirited thing to say.”

  “Sorry, Mom.”

  “Don't you like the senator?”

  In fact, I did not like the senator. Liam didn't like him either. I said, “Did Liam get a chance to tell you about that house he saw for rent in town?”

  “Yes. I was just going to tell you about it, as a matter of fact.”

  I said, “Do you want to take a look at it?”

  “Yes. Yes, I do. Perhaps I can go after school tomorrow.”

  I said, “We'll ring Liam later and find out the details. I have to talk to him anyway about the yearlings he wants me to break.”

  “I didn't know you were going to help with the yearlings, “ Mom said.

  “He asked me to. Daddy's absence leaves a big hole in the farm operation. The yearlings have to be prepped for the July sale and Daddy had just started working with them.”

  “That's kind of you, honey.”

  I shrugged.

  “Well, I have some papers to grade. I think I'll put an hour in on them before dinner.”

  I looked at her. She was a pretty woman, my mother, with soft blond hair and large brown eyes. I had inherited her eyes, but my hair was brown, like my dad's. I went over to her, put my arms around her and held her tight. “I love you, Mommy,” I said.

  “I love you too, honey.”

  We both sniffled a little, then she went out to the porch to gather up her books and I looked in the refrigerator for something to make for dinner.

  CHAPTER 4

  There are a number of ways to break a young thoroughbred. The aim of breaking is to teach the horse to carry weight on its back, to steer with bridle and bit, and to travel in the company of other horses. Daddy always took his time with this, and as a result he turned out calm, self-confident horses who were a pleasure for the next trainer to deal with.

  Liam told me that Daddy had already started the horses long reining, which entailed putting a light harness with a bit on the young horse and attaching long reins. The trainer then walked behind the youngster, holding the reins and teaching the colt or filly to go left when pressure was put on the left rein and right when pressure was put on the right rein.

  There were twenty-five yearlings to be broken this spring. Jacko Scott had helped my father for years and he took me around too, commenting on each horse's progress and temperament.

  “They've been long-reining for almost three weeks,” he told me. “Your Dad was going to start to pony them for conditioning. “ Ponying involved leading the youngster while riding another horse, preferably one who was bombproof.

  “Okay, “ I said. “Let's get to work.”

  I had Jacko and two other exercise riders to work with, and while Jacko and I worked with half of the youngsters with long reins, the exercise riders ponied the other half. Then we switched groups and did the same thing again.

  By the time we finished, it was three o'clock. I went back to the house, showered and was sitting on the porch with a cup of tea when Mom drove up. She had a strange look on her face as she came up the stairs.

  “What's wrong?” I asked. “Didn't you like the house?“

  “Oh, the house is fine. I told the agent I'd rent it.”

  “Then why are you looking so anxious?”

  She put her books on the table and sat down. “There's a rumor going around town that a body was found in the Stanley woods.”

  My heart jumped. “What?”

  “John Kelleher was at the police station when Frank Stanley came in to say his dog had found a body. It had been buried but evidently the heavy rain we've been having washed away a lot of the dirt.”

  My hand went to my mouth. “Oh my God. Do you think it could be Leslie?”

  Mom sat down and stared at me somberly. “I think it probably is. Who else has disappeared around here?”

  “Jesus, Mary and Joseph,” I said.

  “Amen.”

  “Has Liam heard this news?”

  She shook her head. “I don't know.”

  “It was found on the Stanley property? I thought the police searched there!”

  “They did, but she'd been buried. She was only found now because the grave became uncovered with the rain.”

  “Oh my God,” I said. “This is going to open up the whole thing all over again.”

  “If it's Leslie, it will.”

  “It has to be Leslie. Who else can it be?”

  “I hope it is her,” my mother said. “Perhaps the Bartholomews will have some kind
of closure now. It must be dreadful, the not knowing for sure what happened.”

  “I suppose that's true,” I said. Selfishly, I had been thinking about what it would mean for Liam. But for Leslie's parents .. . and for Leslie herself…

  I remembered the way she had looked the night of the Hunt Ball, the night she disappeared. She had been wearing a gold dress that matched her gold hair. Kevin had called her the Golden Girl.

  Now she was just something a dog had found.

  I shivered. It was terrible. Poor Leslie.

  My mother went into the house and I remained on the porch, staring at a pot of flowers standing on the stairs and thinking back to that night she had disappeared.

  There had been a party at Wellington for the members of the Wellington Hunt that night and I had gone with my mother and father.

  The house had looked beautiful. All of the furniture had been pushed back in the salon and a three-piece orchestra played music for dancing. The dining-room table was spread with a sumptuous array of food. All of the guests were in formal evening attire and even I wore a long dress and high-heeled sandals, my hair done in a French twist instead of my usual ponytail.

  Senator and Mrs. Wellington were standing in the front hall to greet their guests. Liam's mother looked lovely and her eyes clear as she spoke to me. “How grown up you look, Anne. That's a very pretty dress.”

  “Thank you, Mrs. Wellington.”

  My parents and I moved first into the library, where a number of people were gathered. I looked around for Liam.

  Leslie was in the corner standing in front of the Federal breakfront that held a writing desk and a collection of rare books. Kevin was with her. She saw me and signaled for me to join them.

  “I'm going to talk to Leslie and Kevin,” I told my parents and they nodded and let me move away.

  Leslie and Kevin were drinking champagne and as a waiter went by with a tray full of glasses, Kevin snagged a glass for me. I took a sip and said, “Where's Liam?”

  Leslie gave me an amused look. “He's around here somewhere.”

  Kevin grinned at me. “You look great, Anne.”

  “Thank you. So do you.”

  And it was true. Kevin in a tuxedo was something to behold. My eyes went to Leslie. She was wearing a gold dress and her hair was loose around her shoulders. She looked absolutely gorgeous.