Indian Summer

by lanie love

  “That goes without saying. The thought never entered my mind.”

  “I’m relieved to hear it.”

  “My mother is quite taken with you, by the way.”

  “I’m very fond of her as well.” She says, reemerging. “Ready to go?”

  ****

  The drive to Beverly Hills is usually a long one, but tonight it was all too quick. I’ve never known a woman that can match me in conversation. I swear I was throwing words and phrases at her about subjects that I would have bet my company she wouldn’t have picked up on, and damn if I wouldn’t be broke by now.

  “Michael, Jane, how lovely to see you both.” Mom greets us with a sly smile. “Look at the two of you together."

  “Mother.” I warn her.

  “Come on in we are just about to sit down.” She takes the dessert and the wine that Jane and I brought for dinner.

  “Is this your peach pie, Jane?” Mom asks, smelling it.

  “It sure is. I promised Jimmy Junior I would make it for him.”

  She promised Jimmy Junior. She’s making him pies? And when did they get so chummy enough to where she gets to call him Junior? No one at work calls him Junior. Speaking of the devil, he and Dad are waiting in the dining room and they both get up to greet Jane.

  “Yeah, nice to see you both too.” I say to them, pretending my feelings are hurt from being ignored. Jimmy goes so far as to take her by the hand and sit her down next to him.

  “Jane, honey. Did you make my pie?” He asks her.

  Jane, honey? This is just terrific. She’s dating my brother.

  “When did it become just your pie, Junior?” Dad chimes in.

  “I’m the one who asked her to make it. Therefore, it’s rightfully mine.”

  “Will you two please not bicker.” Mom says.

  Have I missed something here? Jimmy gives me a shit-faced grin and I want to punch his lights out. Why is Jane making him pies?

  “Leave it to you, Jane, to finally drag my hermit brother out to have dinner with us.” Junior teases.

  “We hermits have to stick together and it’s the least I can do after ruining his new car.”

  That gets everyone’s attention. She and I explain how we met. They all got a kick out of her confusing Kyle with me.

  “My darling, I hope you no longer drive that car of yours?” Dad says, worried that she’s putting herself at risk.

  “Oh, no, I’m allowed to use a company car until I can get my own. They say it’s part of my job package.”

  “Is it?” Mom says. Her voice is high-pitched and her smile is sweet as sugar as she glances my way. I’m so busted.

  “How long have you all known Jane?” I change the subject.

  “I first met her at your mom’s bake sale two weeks ago. She made the best peach pie I ever put in my mouth.” Dad says. “I told your brother about it—”

  “And when I heard she was coming over today, I asked her to make me one.” Jimmy says.

  “For all of us.” Dad tells him.

  Jane and Mom go off in the next room to discuss the plans for her upcoming event, while Dad goes off to catch the last of the ballgame he was watching, leaving me alone with Jimmy Junior.

  “Hey, what’s the deal with you and Mary Jane?” He asks, handing me a beer.

  “Nothing. She just works for us. You know that.”

  “That’s as far as it goes? You don’t want to get it on with her?”

  “I don’t date my employees.”

  “That’s not what I asked you, big brother.”

  “No, I’m not interested in her.”

  “Okay, cool, so you won’t mind if I make a move on her?”

  “Knock yourself out.”

  Damn it, I’m about to be cockblocked by my own brother.

  ****

  At the end of the night, I walk Jane back to her door. “Thank you again for driving me.”

  “It was my pleasure. My family really likes you. My brother, especially.” I eye her to gauge her interest in Jimmy.

  “He seems to like all women he’s not related to.” She laughs. “He’s a big flirt, but I don’t think he means any harm. I like him very much.”

  “Would you like to have dinner with me without my family one night?” No dating employees be damned. I’m not going to stand by while Jimmy Junior gets her.

  “You mean like a date?”

  “I suppose you could call it a date, yes.” I tell her, although I’ve never been on one before, I’m willing to make an exception.

  “No.”

  “No?” I’m sure I didn’t hear her right.

  “No, thank you. I don’t date, Mr. Mason. Goodnight.”.

  I’m left speechless on her doorstep, mouth hanging open, and wondering what the hell just happened. Did she just turn me down? I’m Michael Mason. No one turns me down.

  I don’t know what she’s playing at, but game on.

  Ohhhhh, game on, Miss Winters.

  ****

  Beth

  The old Edsel fills with my laughter at finally getting to the bottom of how those two started out.

  “There you are.” Grandpa says, opening the car door and scaring the life out of me. I almost drop the diary. “Grandma’s made you breakfast. Best not to keep her waiting.”

  “I’m coming.”

  “And bring that in with you.” He says of the diary.

  I lock up the Edsel, but the cover back on her, and hang the key on its hook.

  “Come and eat your oatmeal before it gets cold.” She says. I join them at the place she already set for me and put her diary down between us. “Ohhh, my old friend.” She says about it. Her smile is warm and sentimental. “That brings back so many memories. We had a few good ones that year didn’t we, Michael?”

  “We sure did, Sweetheart. It seems like it was only yesterday.”

  “I, uh… I read how you two met.” I confess my snooping. “Grandpa, you were terrible to tease her that way.”

  “He sure was. I was mortified when I found out he was the owner of the Estabrook.”

  “And you’ve given me hell for it ever since, and rightly so. But you know I was wrapped around your finger, even then.” I look away when he leans over and kisses her. “Where did that fellow of yours take off to so early this morning? I got wind of him leaving when I was getting water to pour on your grandma.”

  “He was called into work early.”

  “That one works like your father.” Grandma says.

  “Who still isn’t talking to me, by the way. Why is he acting so shocked about me not wanting to work at the hotels? He knows I went to dental school. He even paid for it.”

  “Your father has a stick up his ass. He’s always been that way since he was little and he sure as hell didn’t get it from me.”

  “Me either.” Grandpa says, and I laugh at the look she gives him.

  “He’ll come around.” She says.

  “He needs a swift kick in the butt.” Grandpa says. “I left him the hotels because he showed a real passion for them. Otherwise, I could have left them to your Aunt Rose or better yet, hired some hot shot CEO to take over. Your father can do the same. No need in trying to saddle you with a company you don’t want.”

  “It’s not easy for him.” Grandma says to me in Dad’s defense. “Part of the reason is your mother leaving us much too soon.” I nod. I know he still misses Mom, but so do I. “I wasn’t the most stable force in his life when he was younger.”

  “Oh, now, Janie—”

  “No, it’s true, Michael.” She tells him before turning back to me. “Thank God, for your Grandpa. I would have been so lost without him. I don’t know what I would do without him now.”

  “You never have to find that out, my Sweetheart.” Looking at the two of them makes me wonder if love like that still exists. “Now, enough of this.” He says, getting up. “We still have a lot of memories to re-live. This is shaping up to be the best Indian Summer yet.”

  I hand grandm
a back the diary before she goes.

  “Hang on to it for me.” She says, patting me on my hand. “I better catch up to your grandpa. He’s been on about this Indian Summer all year. I laugh at her hurrying off to keep him out of trouble. This is the first Indian Summer since those two met and they are both determined to make the best of it.

  My cell phone is ringing and I see Kim making a duck face at me, so I answer her call. “Hey.”

  “You, me, Beau, Island, Clint.” She says. I roll my head as well as my eyes at her. She has been trying to make this damn, “sexcapade,” as she calls it, happen for a whole month now.

  “Give it up will you, please.” I tell her. “And you do know that Clint and Island are brothers. How gross is that?”

  “Oh my God, it’s not like they are going to be doing each other. When did you get to be such a prude anyway? You’re like an old married lady. I knew moving back into your parent’s place would do you in.”

  “Oh, shut up. I take the phone away from my ear to look at the time. “Shit, I have to go. I’m late.”

  I hang up on her and race through the living room, cursing as I bump into one of Beau’s boxes. I hear something break when it topples to the floor. I kick off my slippers and slide my feet into my heels. I’m about to run out the door, but I stop myself. It’s now or never, Mary Beth.

  Before I lose my nerve, I rummage through my makeup drawer looking for it. I never wear it, but I know it’s here, buried underneath all the other makeup I only wear on special occasions. Yes! I see the little black cylinder. Lifting the top, I twist some out before applying it to my lips, turning them bright red. I smack them together before giving them another swipe of lipstick. Skinning my lips back, I make sure none is on my teeth before I toss the tube back in the drawer. With grandma’s diary stuffed securely in my bag for the little extra push I might need, I run out the door.

  Why did I even move all this way? I chastised myself as I inch along the freeway trying to get to Beverly Hills at a decent hour.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me.” I yell at my car when the gas light comes on. I could have sworn I filled up last week. A brand-new Lexus and the damn thing can’t even give me good gas mileage. I may as well be driving Grandma Jane’s old Edsel.

  Not wanting to chance making it all the way to the next exit and then hunt around for a gas station, I pull over and call AAA. I soon give that up when they tell me the estimated wait time is 3 hours.

  “Happy Monday.” The stupid rep had the nerve to tell me, like him being a sarcastic asshole is going to make me feel better. I call Beau, hoping he is in a place where he can answer.

  “Beau’s phone.”

  “Island?” I take my phone away from my ear and look at it before putting it back again. “I um… why are you answering Beau’s phone?”

  “I happen to be sitting at his desk. He’s in a meeting I bailed on and I saw it was you. I couldn’t very well just let it ring.”

  “Right. I appreciate that.”

  “Do you want me to give him a message?”

  “Can you tell him I’m out of gas—”

  “You’re what? Where are you?” His tone goes from completely laid back to urgent. I can almost see him sitting up arrow-straight to listen more closely to me.

  “I pulled over in the emergency lane on the 405. I’m right at the pretzel, past Main, so there’s like no place around me to get gas.”

  “What the fuck, Beth. Why the hell didn’t you say that in the first place? I’m on my way.”

  “Wait, Island.”

  I toss the phone on the seat next to me after he hangs up. Could this day get any worse? I am not prepared to see him. Not today of all days. Not today when I have on this damn bright red lipstick because I needed it to give me confidence in talking things out with Beau. But of course, it’s Island I’m going to see. I guess being alone with him the last time wasn’t hard enough to endure. Fate just wants to kick me right in the ass again and it wants to use Island’s foot to do it.

  He somehow invited himself over for dinner last Friday night. He did it on purpose, no doubt. I had been avoiding him since things went a little too far between us in the playroom. I was more like avoiding my feelings for him and he knew it. I swear that man can read me like a cheap novel. Being at the dinner table across from him had me squirming all night. Him burning holes into every inch of my skin didn’t help either.

  “So why the name Island?” I asked, trying to get through it the best I could. Calm, quiet, safe conversation is always the best bet.

  “I was born in Hawaii. Dad was filming a show there. It’s an actor thing. They like naming their kids weird shit.” He brought his nearly empty long neck beer up to his lips. I licked mine, watching him swallow. That Adam’s apple bobbing up and down had me ready to crawl across the table.

  “And Clint?” I asked about his brother’s naming. I was staring at him much too hard and he’d caught it.

  “Eastwood.” He simply said, smirking at me.

  “Makes perfect sense.” I giggled. I actually giggled at him.

  “Whelp, I need another beer.” Beau said. I’d forgotten he was in the room, even with his hand on the back of my chair. “You want one, Isle?”

  “Sure.” Island looked over at him. Apparently, he’d forgotten him as well.

  “I’ll get them. I have to bring in dessert anyway.” I said. Once in the kitchen out of sight, I leaned on the wall. “Deep breaths. Deep breaths.” I told myself, trying to stop my heart from racing. My wobbly legs got me over to the counter to get the pie I’d made.

  “Need some help?”

  Island’s strong voice had my heart racing all over again. My head swung over to where he stood with his shoulder leaning on the door frame, hands in his pants pocket, watching me.

  “Hmm, can you grab the knife from the counter.” I told him.

  Pushing himself off the door frame, he walked over to get the knife, sat it down on the counter, and stood behind me.

  “Peach Pie.” He said, looking at it from over my shoulder.

  “My grandmother’s recipe. Peach is my favorite.” I told him. A shock of electricity went through me when his hand inched around my waist. “Island, don’t—”

  “You smell so damn good.” He swept my hair to one side to smell my neck.

  “It’s the pie.” I tried to sidestep him, sliding the pie along the counter with me as I went, but his arm held me in place.

  “Perhaps, but it can’t possibly be as tasty as you.” His lips parted, allowing the tip of his tongue to ease out and run along my neck to prove his point. All on its own, my head tilted, my eyes closed, and my stomach fluttered where he still had his hand. “Mmmm. Not even close.”

  Soaking wet. Those were my panties. Soaking wet when he was finished frustrating me in the kitchen that night.

  He nearly made me come right there at the counter with that damn peach pie as a witness if it wasn’t for Beau yelling at what was taking so long. Now, he’s coming to get me and knowing him, Beau won’t know anything about it.

  “Great.” I bang the back of my head in frustration on my headrest.

  I wonder what Grandma Jane would do in a situation like this. I’m sure she would make the best of it with Grandpa. He wouldn’t have let her sit on the side of the road for very long either, that’s for sure. He is always so protective of her. No one can touch her without having to deal with him first.

  He was that way with me too when Mom died, he still is, but back then he was the best. Losing Mom was hard on me. I stopped talking for weeks after. I would just sit in my room and stare. The doctors told them all I was in shock. Dad didn’t know how to reach me, but Grandpa knew. He had a way of making me feel safe. I grab my bag and get Grandma’s diary out. I may as well read now that I’m stuck here for at least an hour

  .

  Chapter Six

  Indian Summer of 1968

  Michael

  I arrive early for the Triple H meeting in hopes
that Jane will be waiting. And sure enough, she is in the conference room alone waiting for the meeting to start.

  “Jane.” I say, feigning surprise. “I didn’t expect anyone to be here.”

  “Oh, I’ll go, if you want to be alone for a while.” She says, getting up to leave. Christ, why does everything I do keep backfiring with this girl?

  “Not at all. Please, stay. I would actually like to apologize for my behavior last night.”

  “There’s really no need. I should apologize for reacting the way that I did and leaving without giving you more of an explanation.”

  Just as she was about to explain the other committee members come in for the meeting. Taking a look at them, realization dawns that she is the only woman in the room. I wonder if this intimidates her at all.

  We sit next to each other in silence as, Dennis, the head of Triple H, rattles on about how cargo shipment costs have doubled since the last quarter. That brings me out of my Jane induced haze and now he has my full attention. He hands out his latest spreadsheet to everyone, but Jane, and I’m ticked off at the slight.

  She cranes her neck to try to see mine, so I slide it over to her and she takes it with tentative fingers. I watch her as she studies it intently. I can see the wheels turning in her head as she scrunches her brow deep in thought. She looks up at his presentation of maps and shipment routes and all the bullshit he’s using to justify his fuck up, and then back at the spreadsheet. If she were a cartoon character, I swear you would see a light bulb come on above her head to show that she’s just figured it out.

  “Jane, do you have something to add?” Everyone turns to look at her. Her eyes are now the size of saucers and it looks like it’s taking everything she has not to dig a hole into the floor and bury herself in it.

  “Uh, yes, just an observation.” She says, taking a breath and squaring her shoulders. “And thank you, Mr. Mason.” I know she’s actually telling me to go straight to hell for putting her on the spot, so I grin at her. “I was looking at the shipping routes and also the ports that are being utilized. The ports on the west coast, especially those here in San Pedro, are some of the most expensive in the country. The docking fees coupled with the tax to unload just a single container alone are excessive. If you were to change ports from the west coast to the east coast, using Maine, for example, you’ll cut your shipping and handling cost by half. The shipping route is also safer because it will lessen the threat of your ships being overtaken by pirates.”