Sundered Hearts

by Anna J. McIntyre

  “Well, he knows where I live,” Susan said aloud. Smiling, she laid back on the mattress, feeling deliciously alive and satisfied—and just a little bit sore. She knew it was stupid to have unprotected sex, especially with a guy she barely knew and had found hanging out at a notorious pickup bar, but she pushed that thought from her mind, choosing instead to savor the sensual memories from the previous night.

  It was never like that with Sam, she thought.

  Chapter Seven

  “Did you hear John got a new job and is moving to Texas?” Linda told Susan the following week when they met for lunch.

  “Texas? No, I hadn’t heard, but I haven’t talked to Debbie this week. What kind of a job? Is it in construction?”

  “No. It’s some sort of sales job in the educational field. He starts next week. I guess he won’t be pestering you anymore.”

  “Wow, that was sudden. I hope it works out for him. I’m going to look for a new job when school’s out this summer.”

  “You won’t miss summers off?” Linda asked while glancing over the menu.

  “I suppose so, but I need to make more money, and I only took the job because Sam wanted to go to real estate school.”

  “Hey, speaking of real estate, did Sam know that Realtor who was killed the other day?”

  “I don’t know. I haven’t talked to him. But I didn’t recognize his name.”

  “Kevin Landon, the paper said. It’s so sad. He was married, had a little girl. Scum killed him for what, twenty bucks?”

  “At least they caught the guy.”

  “I hope they fry him… You look really good, by the way.”

  “Thanks, I feel great.” Susan grinned.

  “You seeing anyone?”

  “Sort of.”

  “Anyone I know?”

  “Not exactly.”

  “Sort of… Not exactly… Come on girl, what’s going on?” Linda urged.

  “I sort of hooked up with Brandon.”

  “Brandon the hot surfer dude?”

  “I don’t even know if he surfs.” Susan laughed. “But yeah, Friday night. He… umm… he spent the night with me.”

  “Wow. So, when are you seeing him again?”

  “He said he would call me.”

  “You know, you can call him.”

  “That would be easier if I actually had his number.” Or knew his last name.

  “You really like this guy?”

  “To be honest, I don’t really know him that well. But yeah, I like what I know so far.”

  “Hey, remember what we told you.”

  “What?” Susan wondered if Linda was going to remind her to wear a condom again—and she certainly wasn’t about to admit she had been foolish enough to have sex three times, without a condom.

  “Don’t be too trusting.”

  “Oh, that. Yeah, I know.”

  “What do you know about him?”

  “He’s a framer… never went to college. His parents are dead. He has a sister. He’s a great kisser…”

  “Is he married?”

  “Married? Why would you ask that? I wouldn’t go out with a married guy.”

  “Did you ask him?”

  “Ask him? No. But he wasn’t wearing a wedding ring.”

  “So? Construction workers rarely wear wedding rings; it’s too dangerous,” Linda insisted.

  “I didn’t ask him if he was married. I just assumed he wasn’t.”

  “Why, because he hit on you?”

  “If I’m honest, I hit on him… He really didn’t hit on me.” At least, not that night.

  “Hmmm…”

  “Hmmm what, Linda?”

  “How many married guys would turn down someone who looked like you?”

  “Linda, he was not married.”

  “Hey, I’m just saying you need to figure out those things up front. Look what happened to Debbie last year. Dated that guy for a couple months.”

  “Oh, I forgot about that. She ran into him at Toys-R-Us when she was shopping for her nephew’s birthday.”

  “Exactly. She had no clue he was married. But there he was with his pregnant wife and their little girl, shopping for tricycles. He was damn lucky she didn’t expose him for what a cheating lying creep he was.”

  “I don’t think I’m going to run into Brandon in the toy section with his pregnant wife.”

  “No, but you need to be careful before you give your heart to some guy.”

  “I haven’t given Brandon my heart.”

  “Well, you’ve given him something.”

  “Oh… shut up.”

  • • • •

  When Friday rolled around again, Susan had not yet heard from Brandon. Feeling like an anxious high school girl with a new crush, she hung around her apartment all weekend, hoping he would stop by since he didn’t have her phone number. He didn’t.

  The following weekend, she found herself cruising by After Sundown’s parking lot, but she didn’t see Brandon’s red pickup truck. Had she seen it she wouldn’t have stopped—but she would have taken it to mean their encounter had definitely been nothing more than a one-night stand to him. If she was brutally honest with herself, she couldn’t fault him. After all, she had thrown herself at him, and he had made no promises. Well, he had made one promise. He said he would call, which was an empty promise since he didn’t have her number.

  Four Saturdays after finding Brandon’s note on her pillow, Susan went shopping with her mother and sister. She’d finally accepted the fact Brandon was not interested in her, and she was no longer waiting for him to show up on her doorstep.

  Their final stop was the grocery store to pick up last minute items for dinner. Susan’s birthday was in a few days, and her mother was preparing an early birthday dinner for her that evening. Susan opted to wait in the car as her mother and sister went into the store. Her mother left the driver’s window down so she could get some fresh air.

  Alone in the back seat of her mother’s vehicle, sitting on the driver’s side, Susan’s heart seemed to stop when a red pickup truck pulled into a space to the left of her mother’s car. An empty parking space separated Brandon’s truck and Susan’s mother’s vehicle.

  Speechless, Susan watched as Brandon got out of the truck. For a moment, she thought he had seen her because he walked toward the passenger side of the truck where her mother’s car was parked. To her surprise, he turned his back to her and opened the passenger door of the truck, revealing a car seat with a small child.

  Scooting down, wanting to disappear, Susan’s eyes remained fixed on the car seat while her left hand partially shielded her face. She watched as Brandon lifted a blonde little girl from the truck, setting the child on her feet in the parking lot.

  The little girl looked directly at Susan—through blue eyes identical to Brandon’s. Even her face was a girlish miniature of Brandon’s.

  “Daddy,” the child said, looking up at Brandon her arms outstretched.

  “You want me to carry you, Sarah? Okay, it would probably be faster. We don’t want to be late for the dinner your mommy is fixing us!”

  Brandon lifted the child up in his arms and gave her a little kiss before shutting his truck door and making his way to the grocery store. He never noticed Susan sitting in the nearby vehicle.

  Oh my god. Susan felt sick. Closing her eyes, she covered her face with her open palms. Shame washed over her. I’ve slept with a married man. I threw myself at another woman’s husband! I’m no better than Loretta! No, I am worse… Brandon and his wife have a child!

  • • • •

  “Mom, remember when you said I could stay with you and Dad for a while in your spare bedroom?” Susan asked an hour later, as she watched her mother prepare dinner.

  “Sure, honey. Isn’t your apartment working out?”

  “It’s just that… well, I made a decision today.”

  “What kind of decision?”

  “I’m really sick of my job.”

  “I know yo
u said you were going to start looking for a new one when school’s out.”

  “I sort of need to get away for a while. I was thinking about giving Carol a call, see if they need any help this summer at the camp.”

  “What about your apartment?”

  “That’s why I asked about staying here. When I moved into my apartment, my neighbor mentioned her sister was going to rent my unit, but I had already signed the lease. I know she hasn’t gotten anything yet, so I’m pretty sure she’d take over my lease with no problem. If I stay at the apartment until summer, I may not get anyone to take it over, and I won’t be able to get out of it until next November unless I want to lose my deposit. If I’m not tied down to an apartment, I can spend the summer up at Shipley.”

  “Spend the summer at Camp Shipley? Are you sure you want to do that?”

  “Yes, I do. It’s a good place to get a fresh perspective on life.”

  • • • •

  By the following weekend, Susan had moved out of her apartment and was staying at her parents’. She never told Linda what she had learned about Brandon—she felt too foolish. She didn’t need her friends to know she’d once again picked the wrong guy. Instead, she led Linda to believe she’d made the decision to cool it with Brandon—that he just wasn’t what she was looking for.

  Susan felt compelled to sever all imaginary ties to Brandon—which was one reason she wanted to move out of her apartment. While she didn’t think he was going to come looking for her, she would prefer he not be able to find her if he did. She took comfort in the fact that John had moved to Texas, thus severing that connection.

  A week after she moved into her parents’ house, Susan passed Brandon’s red truck on the road. Her stomach did a little flip flop when she realized who she had just passed. Glancing up in her rearview mirror, she let out a little gasp when Brandon made a hasty U-turn and was now driving in her direction. She wasn’t certain, but it appeared he had recognized her car and for some reason wanted to catch up to her.

  Without thought, Susan made a right turn, and then another, in an attempt to lose Brandon. When she spied his truck driving down the other street, it confirmed her suspicion that he was trying to catch up to her.

  • • • •

  “You bought a new car?” her father asked later that night when Susan returned to her parents’ home.

  “It’s my birthday present to myself.”

  Chapter Eight

  “It’s great to have you here,” Carol Martin told Susan, who sat across the desk from her in the cluttered log cabin office at Camp Shipley. A cool breeze made its way into the open window behind Susan, filling the room with the scent of pine.

  “I’m just glad you had a place for me. I was afraid you’d already be fully staffed for the summer, but I just figured I’d give it a shot.” Susan glanced around the office. It had been six years since she’d worked at Camp Shipley, yet little had changed. Even Carol looked just as Susan remembered; she never seemed to age.

  “Like I mentioned on the phone, one of the counselors cancelled at the last minute—some family emergency. I was really glad you called. But I was sorry to hear about you and Sam.”

  Susan shrugged and then said, “Well, I suppose it’s for the best. I’m just ready to move on.”

  “Move on? Can I ask you something, Susan?”

  “Sure.”

  “Now, don’t take this wrong. I’m thrilled to have you back, but returning to your old summer job that you had back in college… Well, I was wondering why you’d want to return if you say you’re moving on.”

  “Still my old counselor, Carol?” Susan chuckled.

  “Some habits are hard to kick. You mentioned on the phone you gave notice at your school district job.”

  “Yes, I thought it was about time I figured out what I want to do with my life. I never intended to stay at the school district that long. I suppose I just got comfortable there. I had summers off with Sam—with his job, it was convenient. Seemed perfect at the time.”

  “So why come back here for the summer if you plan to move forward and find a new job? I would think you’d be out pounding the pavement.”

  “Isn’t that obvious? I don’t know what I want to do. I need to regroup, take a breather. This place was always good for putting life in perspective.”

  “I guess I can understand that. Your indecision is Camp Shipley’s gain.” Carol opened her desk file drawer and pulled out a folder. She reached across the oak desk and handed it to Susan.

  “These are your girls,” Carol explained.

  “Still six girls to a cabin?” Susan asked as she took the folder and opened it.

  “Yes. You’ll be in Cabin Five this summer.”

  “Fourteen-year-olds,” Susan commented as she shuffled through the papers in the file, learning a bit about the six girls assigned to her care.

  “All veterans but two. Elizabeth and Kate—this is their first summer.”

  “How do the four veterans get along?”

  “Well, to be honest, I was tempted to break them up.”

  “What do you mean?” Susan closed the folder and set it on her lap as she looked at Carol.

  “Don’t get me wrong, they’re good girls and fast friends. But remember Claudia and Rachel, back when you went to camp here—before you started working with us?”

  “Claudia and Rachel—oh, yes. Who could forget? They were here two summers. What a blast. Those girls came up with the most outrageous pranks. My favorite was when they got us to sneak over to the church camp and tip the bell upside down and fill it with water. It was priceless when that guy, all dressed in silk robes, went to ring the bell and got drenched.” Susan laughed at the memory.

  “Yes, I can see how that would be funny for a fourteen-year-old—but it also caused a camp rivalry that continues today.”

  “So, what has that to do with the four girls assigned to me?”

  “Let’s just say they have real Claudia and Rachel potential. Of course, that was last year. Yet, I’m afraid if I break them up, they’ll simply commandeer their new roomies to join in their antics. I can also foresee a competition if the four are separated, each trying to see if their cabin of bunkmates can outdo their friends.”

  “So you want to keep them together and dump them all on me?” Susan chuckled.

  Carol flashed a smile and said, “Something like that. But, like I said, they’re good girls.”

  “Hmm…” Susan opened the folder again and shuffled through the pages it contained. “It says here one of the girls caused a dorm fire at her last camp and was sent home.”

  “That would be Lexi, Lexi Beaumont. She’s really a sweet girl.”

  “Carol, are you going soft? Since when do pyro tendencies get a pass from you?”

  “Lexi started coming to us the following summer; she was eleven back then. Her grandfather is Ethan Beaumont.”

  “The Ethan Beaumont?” Susan arched her brow.

  “The very one.”

  “So you couldn’t turn away all that money?” Susan asked with a chuckle.

  “It had nothing to do with his money.”

  “I was just teasing.”

  “Lexi’s parents were killed when she was ten, and she went to live with her grandfather. The fire incident happened that first summer after her parents were killed. One of the counselors from that camp used to work for us—she gave me a call, wanted to give me the heads up about Lexi because she’d recommended Camp Shipley to Lexi’s grandfather.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Apparently Lexi was pretty withdrawn that first summer, getting over the shock of losing her parents and moving in with a man she didn’t know.”

  “She didn’t know her grandfather?”

  “No. Ethan Beaumont was estranged from his son—her father. A lot of that was in the paper back when he was going for custody. I remember reading about it. The first time she met him was after her parents were killed in the accident. He shipped her off tha
t first summer, and I’m afraid he didn’t really check out the camp very well. Lots of rich kids—spoiled rich kids—and Lexi didn’t fit in.”

  “So what happened with the fire?”

  “Some sort of a prank the other kids played on her. Technically speaking, she started the fire but it was an accident, and no one was hurt, but she caught the blame since no one wanted to cross the other kids involved because of who their parents were—the camp sent her home.”

  “Yes, but her grandfather is Ethan Beaumont.”

  “True. But when he dropped her off at camp, he made it very clear that she was not to get special treatment, and when the incident happened, he never took the time to get Lexi’s side. That’s why my friend called me and went out of her way to suggest our camp. I guess she tried to talk to Beaumont on behalf of Lexi, but he wasn’t interested. She figured Lexi would be happier someplace like Camp Shipley, so she didn’t pursue it with her employer.”

  “How did Lexi fit in here the first summer?”

  “She didn’t have a problem. Of course we don’t put up with the hazing crap, so she didn’t have to endure that here like at the first camp. Lexi is a resilient kid. Not the type to hold grudges. She’s more of a problem solver. Self-reliant.”

  “And the other girls?”

  “Barbara’s been coming here the longest. First summer was a couple years before Lexi. Like Lexi, she’s being raised by a grandparent—more accurately—grandparents. Her mother’s a drug addict, in and out of jail, and her father has never been in the picture. Last summer, she was pretty boy crazy.”

  “Boy crazy at thirteen? Look out.”

  “Colleen’s been coming here for two summers. A bright kid. Comes from a pretty conservative Christian family. I was a little surprised they chose us instead of the church camp. The fourth of the veterans is Andrea. I think she and Lexi originally bonded from their love of horses. Like Colleen, she’s being raised in a home with both her parents. But I get the impression the parents fight a great deal. I haven’t met Elizabeth and Kate, your two new girls. Elizabeth is also being raised by both her parents, and she has an older brother. This is her first year at camp. Kate’s being raised by her father—and Camp Shipley is her fifth summer camp. Yet, there is nothing in her record that indicates she was ever a problem at the other camps.”