“Reenie Starr?”
I turned and found myself face to face with Donna Struthers from school. She was smiling at me, but there was nothing friendly about it. With her were Laura Jones, Maryanne Black and Kitty Palister.
I faked a smile right back at her. “Donna! How are you?”
“I’m just fine, Reenie. Wow, I never thought I’d see you here.”
Kitty sniggered, but I ignored her. I thought of Bo’s performance and Ray’s arm brushing mine, and I got such a rush of excitement that there wasn’t any room for anxiety.
“Why should Bo have all the fun?” I said lightly.
“You look different,” Donna said, walking forward to get a better look at me. I raised my chin and looked as bored as I could.
“Oh?”
“I love those shorts.”
“Thanks.”
It was now or never. Like it or not, I knew that if Donna Struthers was coming to a party, everyone would come. As mean as she was, she was one of the “right kind of people” Gwen was talking about. I needed her to get the word out.
“If you liked tonight’s show, you should come to the party we’re having in a couple of weeks.”
“You’re having a party?” Laura said. She smiled encouragingly, and I wondered if maybe the two of us could be friends.
“You mean like those campfires your parents have?” Donna said, her voice dripping with condescension.
“No, more like a concert. Wide Mouth Bass is going to play, plus a few other acts.” I had their attention now. I felt powerful. “And then there’s the special guest …” I trailed off, enjoying the hungry looks on their faces.
Kitty narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean, special guest?” she asked.
“You’ve heard of Johnny Skins, right?”
Maryanne gasped and clasped Laura’s hand. She looked genuinely excited. “Really? I love him!”
Kitty laughed. “You’ve got to be kidding. Johnny Skins would never play at Smelly Shores.”
“Why not?” I said, ignoring the Smelly Shores bit. “He has to go on vacation sometime. Why not here? It’s the perfect hideaway. No one would think to look for a rock star in Orillia, especially at a family resort.”
Kitty rolled her eyes and turned to leave. “Come on, Donna, let’s go. She’s lying.”
I returned Kitty’s glare, not backing down even a little bit. “Fine. Don’t come. You can hear about it secondhand. I just thought you’d want to know.”
“Wait,” Donna said, shaking off Kitty’s hand. “I believe you.”
Kitty looked shocked. “But, Donna—” she whined.
“Think about it. If he doesn’t come, not only would everyone know what a liar she is, but she’d be a total laughingstock.”
I shrugged, clenching my teeth so hard my jaw ached. “She’s right,” I said. “So are you coming? I wouldn’t want you to miss out.”
Just then, Ray appeared. I knew he was there before he spoke, because the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
“Miss what?” he asked.
“The party at Sandy Shores,” I said.
“The party I’m helping promote?” Ray asked.
“That’s the one.”
I wanted to take a picture of Donna and Kitty’s faces so I could remember this moment forever. It was shock incarnate. I couldn’t wait to tell Gwen.
“So what about it, you ladies coming?” Ray asked, casually draping an arm around my shoulder.
Kitty managed to close her mouth, and Laura played with the end of her ponytail, giggling nervously. Only Donna was able to recover with any dignity.
“Sure, why not? Reenie and I go way back, don’t we? I can’t wait to see your family campsite in the summer,” she said.
“Resort,” Ray said, giving her a funny look. “It’s a resort. I thought everyone knew that.”
I could have kissed him right there.
* * *
It took a lot of effort to creep through the door and sneak up the stairs, when all I wanted to do was run and shout at the top of my lungs.
I paused at Gwen’s door, listening for any signs that she might be awake. Bo frowned and pointed at my bedroom, mouthing “tomorrow.” But it was past two in the morning — it already was tomorrow! I had never been up this late in my life. I wanted the sun to come up and the day to be here so I could tell Gwen all about my night. I wanted to comb through her records and find the songs that captured what was going on in my heart and my head.
I paused in my doorway, wanting to thank Bo, but what could I possibly say? All I could do was keep on grinning that same goofy grin, the one I had never smiled until this night. It was like Ray had pulled an entirely new smile from inside me. It was a Ray smile. The thought was so ridiculous, and so true, that it made me smile even harder. My cheeks were beginning to hurt. Bo rolled his eyes.
“Don’t think this is going to be a habit. It was a one-time thing,” he muttered, heading toward the stairs.
I didn’t answer; I just continued smiling.
If he wouldn’t take me, I’d find a way.
Secrets and Lies
I managed to get some rest, but sleep or no sleep I was bright and full of energy come morning.
At breakfast, I ate quickly and carefully, watching for signs that Mimi suspected anything about my nighttime adventures. But she just chattered about the party and whether or not she needed a new dress.
“What about me, do I need a new dress?” Scarlett piped up.
“You have so many pretty ones, sweet pea, but maybe a haircut.” She reached out and twirled a section of Scarlett’s hair, almost white from the sun, around her finger. “I swear your hair grows an inch a day.”
“Has anyone seen Gwen this morning?” I interrupted.
“It’s only eight o’clock. How often do we see her before ten?” Mimi said.
“I’m going to wait for her in the studio.”
“Brush your teeth first!” Mimi called.
I rinsed the orange juice out of my mouth with a glass of water and ran all the way to the studio, breathing in the deep, spicy scent of the pine trees and wondering if anything had ever smelled so sweet.
“Well, well, well, you’re awfully chipper this morning!” Daddy smiled at me. He was on his way to the dock, a fishing rod in one hand and his old tackle box in the other. “I’m going fishing. Want to keep me company? You can tell me what’s got you smiling so big.”
I barely stopped, calling over my shoulder, “No thanks, Daddy! I’m meeting Gwen for a lesson!”
There was a time when all I wanted to do was go fishing with my dad, but today I had too much on my mind. I couldn’t wait to talk to Gwen about last night.
“You two are certainly getting along.”
“Yep! Like a house on fire,” I said, using one of his own corny sayings. “‘Bye, Daddy!”
I knew it would be a while before Gwen made an appearance, but I was so wound up that I swept the entire mess hall, dusted the record player and flung open all the windows to let in the sweet smelling breeze. I found the album I was looking for and played “Maybe” by The Chantels over and over again, carefully moving the needle and then dropping it back into the right groove. I felt a little crazy, but it was a wonderful kind of crazy, like I was a top that someone had set spinning across a table.
“It is too early in the morning for that,” Gwen said. She was standing in the doorway, hand on her hip, hugging a steaming mug of coffee to her chest, but she was smiling. “I take it everything went well?”
“It went better than well!”
Gwen hoisted herself onto the stage and sat beside me. “Go on, then. You’ve got something to spill, so spill. But first, can we please change the record? You’ve played that sappy song enough times for one morning.”
“You heard?”
Gwen rolled her eyes. “The whole resort heard.”
“I don’t care!” I said recklessly.
Gwen squinted at me. “Is this about a boy?
” she asked.
“How did you know?”
Gwen sighed. “Now you really have to tell me everything.”
I started with meeting Ray and ended with us standing together, staring down Donna. I left out the part where I happened to tell Donna that Johnny Skins would be making an appearance.
“You should have seen the look on her face,” I gushed. “I can honestly say I’ve never wanted to kiss a boy before, but now …”
Gwen shook her head. “I never should have let you wear those shorts.”
I laughed, but it was short lived. One quick look at Gwen’s face and I realized she wasn’t joking.
“Why? This is a good thing.”
“It always feels like a good thing in the beginning, but then it gets … complicated.”
“I thought you would be excited for me.”
“I am. I just think you should take it easy, be careful. Look before you leap, you know?”
Irritation prickled my skin like heat rash. “All I said was I met a boy. I didn’t say I was in love.”
Gwen tried to pinch my cheek, but I dodged her hand, scooting further away from her.
“Look at you,” she said sadly. “I know a smitten kitten when I see one. Take it from someone who’s been there. Right now he’s all you can think about. You feel invincible, like you could jump off a building and land on your feet. But soon all you’ll be thinking is, why didn’t he call? And when he does call, he’ll be so aloof it’ll drive you crazy. The next thing you know, you’re fighting again. It’s a vicious, vicious cycle.”
Gwen was looking at me like I was just a dumb kid, but I knew plenty. I was sick of people telling me all about life, and the things I should and shouldn’t do. Wear these shorts, listen to this music. She looked so smug, lounging in my mess hall, in my resort, giving me advice about someone she had never met. This wasn’t about me, it was about her. And so I called her on it.
“Ray’s not Johnny.”
“What?”
“I know about you and Johnny Skins. He’s the one who writes you those letters. He’s the one you’ve been crying over.”
Gwen’s face hardened. She pulled herself up to her full height, hands on her hips. “I didn’t take you for the type to go through someone else’s mail,” she said, practically spitting the words at me.
I flinched. “I didn’t go through your mail. I delivered it. And he called one day and I was in the office.”
Gwen paled. “He called here?”
“You were teaching a class,” I said weakly. “I was going to tell you, but—”
“He shouldn’t be calling here.”
“I didn’t tell anybody.”
“Good.”
Gwen started pacing. It made me nervous, so I added, “I can keep a secret,” just to calm her down.
Gwen laughed, but it sounded more like a bark. “It’s not that,” she said, throwing her hands in the air. “Everyone knows. There was even a picture of us in the paper once, backstage after a show. Only they didn’t print my name. I was just another nameless backup dancer. Why do you think my mother sent me here?”
Gwen’s voice was so bitter it made me cringe. I felt like I was the one keeping her here. Suddenly it all made sense: the crying, the letters, the homesickness. This was more than Gwen just missing her boyfriend; she was being kept from him. No wonder she hated being here so much. Mimi and Gwen’s own mother were conspiring to keep them apart. I couldn’t believe that Mimi, of all people, would agree to such an arrangement. Gwen was in love with a rock ’n’ roll star and was forbidden to see him. I couldn’t imagine anything more dramatic, more glamorous.
“I didn’t know,” I breathed.
“Of course you didn’t! You weren’t supposed to know. I was supposed to forget all about him. Now what am I supposed to do?”
“Gwen, I swear I won’t tell. No one here knows; I didn’t tell anyone about the phone call.”
Or the deal I’d made, I thought. Bringing Johnny up here was supposed to be a nice surprise for Gwen, something to cheer her up. But now I wondered if maybe I had been too hasty in inviting him.
“What did he say?” she demanded.
“Nothing,” I said carefully. “He wanted to talk to you and I said you were teaching.”
Gwen sighed. “I guess that’s not so bad,” she said.
People started to filter through the back door. Gwen rubbed her eyes with her fists. It was a gesture I had seen Scarlett do a million times when she was sleepy or upset. Watching Gwen do the same thing was unsettling. For one horrible moment I wondered if she was going to cry.
Instead, she took a deep breath, thrust her shoulders back and took charge. “Find me something to warm up to,” she ordered.
* * *
Dance classes were cancelled Thursday and Friday because the mess hall was decorated and Gwen wanted time to rehearse. This was a wrinkle I hadn’t planned on. With Gwen out of the studio and lounging around the resort, it would be much harder to sneak Johnny in without her knowing.
As previously arranged, I went into the office on Thursday just before three to wait for his phone call. I told Mimi that I would watch over the office for the rest of the day if she’d like a break. Mimi was so pleasantly surprised that I felt guilty.
“Aren’t you sweet?” she said. “You are the sweetest of my children.”
“That’s not true,” I demurred. “Scarlett is the sweetest.”
“Only by virtue of her age,” Mimi said, tapping my left cheek right where it dimpled. I smiled and her finger sank into the dimple and she tickled it, took out her finger and flicked imaginary dust into the air, just like she used to do when I was little.
“Look at all that stardust,” she said.
I rubbed my cheek, half embarrassed, half pleased. She hadn’t done that in ages.
Then, Mimi took both shoulders in her hands, bent over and searched my eyes. “How are you, Reenie? Are you okay?”
I blushed under such close scrutiny. “I’m okay.”
“I’m not sure I believe you.”
I didn’t know what had brought on Mimi’s burst of concern, but it was getting close to three and I was worried Johnny would call at any second.
“I’m fine. I’ve just been busy.”
Mimi frowned. “Busy with Gwen, not busy with girls your own age. Is there anyone you want to invite on Friday? Some girls from your class? You spend too much time around here. You need to get out, enjoy life.”
“I do enjoy life,” I protested.
“I know, sweet pea. I just meant with girls your own age.”
When I didn’t answer, she went on. “Maybe I’ll just stay here and we can have a little girl talk. We haven’t done that in ages. Look at you, a half-grown woman. Pretty soon, I’m not going to recognize you.”
Mimi ran her finger down the top of my head, re-parting my hair. I brushed her hand away. This was not the time for her to be playing the doting mother.
“I don’t feel like talking, Mimi. I just want to read my book. I thought you could use the break, but if you’d rather stay here, I guess I could go read by the lake.”
Mimi pouted. “Fine. I know when I’m not wanted. I’ll leave you to your dry old pages and I’ll go have fun elsewhere.”
She sashayed out of the office, smiling and wiggling her fingers at me as she left, letting me know it was all an act, and she wasn’t mad. But I wondered if maybe I should have let her stay. Mimi’s bouts of affection were brief and few and far between. More often than not they were directed at Daddy or Scarlett, who lavished in the attention like a cat in the sun. Although there was no doubt in my mind that Mimi loved Bo and me, she was careful with us and kept her distance. It was like she knew we didn’t trust her.
Mimi was just out of sight when the phone rang. I picked it up on the first ring.
“Good afternoon, Sandy Shores. This is Maureen Starr speaking.”
“Reenie, Reenie Starr. Did anyone tell you your name is like a song?”
“Mr. Skins? Is that you?”
I heard a laugh. “Mr. Skins? That sounds just plain wrong. I told you to call me Johnny.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness it’s you.”
“Isn’t that nice to hear. Most hotels hate hearing from me.”
“We’re not a hotel, we’re a resort.”
“I know, I know. No room service, no bellhops, none of that star treatment. Well that’s just fine with me. To tell you the truth, I’m getting sick of the whole game. I need to reconnect with the people, you know? Do something real.”
“But you’re still going to play on Friday, right?”
“Of course I am! Don’t you worry your pretty little head, Reenie Starr. Johnny doesn’t go back on his word. Now how’s our girl doing?”
“Gwen? She’s fine. She’s down by the lake right now.”
“I’ll bet she’s a sight for sore eyes. You still keeping her in the dark?”
“She has no idea.”
“That girl’s going to get the surprise of her life. So what’s the plan?”
“I’ve booked you a room under the name John Smith.”
Johnny laughed. “John Smith? That’s a little … obvious, don’t you think?”
I bristled a little. “I think it’s just right. Can you be here by four o’clock on Friday?”
“You’re the boss.”
“I’ll be in the office to check you in. I’ll take you directly to your room. You can’t be seen until the party.”
“What about my band?”
“What band?”
“I have to bring my boys with me. I’m not a one-man road show.”
I gritted my teeth and glanced at the guest register. We were almost full.
“How many people is that?”
“There are four of us.”
One person I could hide away in the lodge, but four was going to be hard to explain. Somehow I knew they wouldn’t settle for rooming together, or even in pairs. All I could hope for was that Mimi and Daddy would be so distracted by the party, they wouldn’t notice a few extra bodies.
“I’ll see what I can do.”
Summer Days, Starry Nights Page 12
