Summer by the Sea

by Cathryn Parry

  “I’m making room in the house for Lucy. I can’t keep this in the house with a kid,” he said helplessly.

  “Sure you can,” she replied calmly.

  He shook his head. “No. I want to be a good father to Lucy.”

  “My father had the occasional beer after work, and he was a great father. What’s wrong with beer in your refrigerator?” She peered at him. “Are you an alcoholic, Sam?”

  “No,” he said, looking insulted. But then he reddened, shaking his head. “I remember being a young teen, is all. My older brother and I used to sneak beers and experiment with being more grown-up than we really were. A time or two we got into trouble because of it. I want to be a better parent to Lucy than mine were to me, is all.”

  This touched Sarah to her heart, which irritated her, frankly. Sam shouldn’t matter that much to her.

  Really, she was here to ask about his daughter only because Lucy’s situation hit so close to home.

  “Just take the box and say thank-you,” Sam said, an edge in his voice again.

  She sat down at his table and made herself comfortable, instead, drinking the bottle of Lifeguard Lager. He sighed, put the box on a corner of the porch and straightened, crossing his arms. Yes, she could tell when she’d irritated someone, but she’d never been bothered when people disliked her. She was not an “eager to please” person.

  She’d come over for a reason. “I’ve been thinking, Sam.” And she had. Though Sarah was never going to admit that her banishment had been right or fair, Lucy’s situation had shown Sarah a new perspective. As had dealing with Cassandra’s perfidy, yet again.

  “What have you been thinking about, Sarah?” And then Sam turned away and flipped his steak over on the grill. This made it easier for her to say what she needed to, because she wouldn’t have to look into his probing blue eyes.

  She took a breath. “Actually, I came over here to check on your daughter, to see how she was doing. And to apologize to you.” She took another breath. “I was rude yesterday. I’ll admit that. You did save me from the ocean, and I’m grateful.” She took another sip of the beer.

  His back seemed to stiffen. She almost wished he had his lifeguard outfit on and not his casual clothes, because then she would have had the pleasure of seeing his back muscles ripple.

  Warily, he turned to her. “Really? You’re serious about apologizing to me?”

  “I am,” she said softly. “How is Lucy?”

  “She’s fine. In fact, she’d like to see you.” His voice had turned hard. “But since she and I are about to eat dinner, I’d prefer you come back to see her in an hour.”

  It was clear that Sam was giving her the brush-off. Fine. She understood. In fact, she was hungry, too. His steaks sizzling on the barbecue smelled so good. Sam was obviously a much better cook than she was.

  “Do you mind if I ask you a favor?” she asked impulsively. “May I bring over a steak for you to grill for me? I went shopping today. Actual car-in-the-parking-lot-walk-into-the-store shopping.” She shuddered. She’d been so irritated that she couldn’t use her grocery delivery app because it didn’t work in Wallis Point. “But I’m not used to cooking, because I have a personal chef at home. I would’ve eaten at one of those nearby diners, but...” Sarah shuddered again.

  “Really, Sarah? I ask you to leave, and you respond by asking me to cook for you?” Sam shook his head, appearing as if he was trying hard not to laugh. “You are something. How do you know I’m up to your fine standards?”

  She ignored the sarcasm and instead eyed the steaks he was putting onto a plate. They smelled and looked so good that her stomach growled. “Because I know quality when I see it. And you look like you have good hygiene,” she added.

  He barked out a laugh.

  She grinned at him.

  “And I was so determined not to like you,” he said, shaking his head as he set the plate down and sank into an Adirondack chair bedside her. He laughed again. He laid his head back on the edge of the Adirondack chair and kept on laughing.

  “Excellent,” she said cheerfully. “Let me go get the steak I bought.” She rose. “I can bring over a salad for you and Lucy to share if you’d like.”

  “No, I already made one. But tell me.” He leveled his gaze at her, suddenly serious. “Why should I even do this? All you seem to do is insult people, and frankly, I’m not up for that when it comes to my family.”

  “But... I apologized to you,” she said.

  “Oh, boy!” He gave her a mock cheer.

  “Look, I never apologize, Sam! Apologies admit weakness. That’s what my first mentor always told me. So this is a first in the history of the world for me—be flattered.”

  “You’re quite self-centered.” Sam paused and grinned at her wickedly. “And I never insult people—be flattered.”

  Were they flirting? How strange for her. But she really kind of liked it.

  “A first in the history of the world?” she asked him cheerfully.

  Sam barked out another laugh. His grin stayed on his face, and she felt this was a genuine grin, one he really felt.

  She could be a loveable person. She’d always known this, but not many people seemed to see that side of her. The problem she hadn’t been able to articulate to Richard Lee was that he just hadn’t hired the right people, who understood her, to staff up their company. The company was her. If he hired people who didn’t think like her, who abhorred her or who were frightened of her personal style or just plain didn’t like her, then how was that supposed to work for Sarah?

  Was she was supposed to learn how to be a different person just so the underlings he’d hired would like her? No. It didn’t make sense.

  But Richard had all the power. Just as Cassandra had held all the power when Sarah was young.

  She gazed at Sam. “We really should think of each other as two people on common ground—we were both hit upside the head by my aunt. As was Lucy. I came to see how she was doing. May I see her now, Sam?”

  “As I said, we’re about to eat. In fact, you’re making our food cold. Go.” He made a shooing motion with his hand. “Go get your steak.”

  “Thank you.” She smiled brilliantly at him. “I’ll be right back.” Before he could respond, she stood and literally ran back to Cassandra’s refrigerator, where she scooped up the uncooked steak, still packaged, and plopped it onto one of Cassandra’s dinner plates.

  When she returned to Sam’s outdoor table, he was sitting across from the seat she’d just vacated and drinking the Belgian beer she’d brought over. His expression seemed distant again. And thoughtful.

  “Caught you,” she said to him, sitting beside him. “The beer I chose is good, too, isn’t it?”

  “It’s an ale,” he replied. “Completely different from what I make. But, yes, it’s pretty good.” He eyed her. “Did you bring this to try and sway me into cooking your steaks for you?”

  “Oh, I would never do that.” She handed him the plate from Cassandra’s kitchen containing the steak she’d bought.

  “Sure you would.” He hefted the plate. “And this is a better cut than mine.”

  “Well, then you can have it if you want. I’ll take one of the steaks that you cooked already.”

  “Still trying to sway me.” He smirked at her. “No, those two are for Lucy and me.” Then he just looked sad again.

  “Yes, I figured,” She took a breath. Something was wrong. Here was where she was taking a chance, because it was obvious he wasn’t especially keen on having Lucy meet her. Not that it bothered Sarah that Sam felt that way, but the note the girl had left her had been so sweet.

  “Is Lucy okay, Sam?” she asked in a soft voice. “Honestly, I’ve been worried about her.”

  “Yeah. Me, too.” He closed his eyes and sighed. “Physically, she’s fine. I found her in the town library sitting safely with her
iPad. But emotionally...” He shook his head.

  Sarah felt bad for him. Maybe it would help to see his daughter’s note to her. Sarah took it from her back pocket, smoothed out the creases and showed it to him.

  His face seemed to crumple. The girlish handwriting was sweet and innocent. “She idolizes you,” he said. “She talks of nothing other than you. She’s up in her room, mad that I wouldn’t let her go knock on your door to say hi.”

  And Sarah was painfully aware that it was hurtful to him that his daughter preferred to meet Sarah, a stranger, over spending time with her own father.

  Sarah expelled a breath. She owed Sam. For agreeing to cook her dinner. For saving her from the ocean yesterday. “Well, here’s an idea,” she said cheerfully. “How about if I bring Lucy up her dinner? I’ll talk with her and...” She glanced at him. “You’re a good person, Sam. I’ll do what I can for you. And for her.” She paused. This was more than she’d wanted to admit to anyone, but she would make an exception here. This was important to her. Besides, it wasn’t like she was going to see either Sam or Lucy ever again after tomorrow. “And because Lucy and I were both treated similarly by Cassandra when we were about the same age, I want to help her, in particular.”

  He folded his arms. “Your idea of help makes me nervous. Lucy is eleven and she admires you. I can handle it when you’re blunt and forthright, but I’m not sure she can.”

  “Well...of course I’ll be kind to her. That goes without saying.”

  He snorted.

  “What happened to the friendly lifeguard?” she asked.

  “He’s resigning from his job on Monday in order to take better care of his daughter.”

  “What?”

  “Go inside and get the roll of aluminum foil on the counter for me,” he directed. “My steak is getting cold because of you. We’ll talk as I wrap it up to keep it warm.”

  Normally, she didn’t like being ordered around, but she made an exception because he was cooking her dinner. So far, her stay in Wallis Point had been all about exceptions.

  Sarah went into his kitchen and grabbed the roll of foil off the counter.

  But when she came back, she saw that Sam had a visitor. Another lifeguard with the distinctive orange shorts and a bare chest. He’d driven up beside the porch and now sat astride the small ATV that Sam had commandeered the day before.

  From the gray streaks in this lifeguard’s close-cropped hair and the crease marks around his eyes, Sarah judged him to be older than Sam. Maybe another manager.

  She walked right up to her former spot at the table across from Sam and sat down, too. The manager glanced over at her, nodding, but kept right on talking to Sam.

  “I heard you called in sick today, is that right?” he asked Sam.

  “Yep, I did,” Sam said tightly.

  “Are you okay now?”

  “I’m fine, Duke,” Sam answered.

  “You’ve haven’t missed a day from as far back as I can remember.” Duke waited, but Sam didn’t reply.

  “I was gonna stop by at lunch and check on you,” Duke continued, “but then I figured I’d wait until now.” Another pause as Duke studied Sam’s face. “You look okay. Are you sure everything’s good?”

  Sam darted a look at Sarah. She’d made herself comfortable by drinking from the Lifeguard Lager he’d served her. He was cooking her dinner, after all.

  Sam swiped his hand through his hair. He wasn’t polite, and he didn’t introduce her, but she didn’t much care about that. Sam would get to her when he was ready, and besides, Sarah got the chance to eavesdrop this way. Something else was going on with Lucy. Sam hadn’t told her all of it.

  “My daughter is here for the summer,” Sam was saying to Duke. “Did I tell you that?”

  “That’s great, Sam. No, you didn’t tell me Lucy was here.”

  “Yeah, well, I thought I had childcare lined up. It fell through in a big way, though.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  Sam gave a long sigh. “I was gonna see you on Monday to tell you, but... I’ll need to take the summer off.”

  “Seriously?” Duke asked.

  “Sorry to spring it on you like this.”

  “Have you thought about working part-time?” Duke suggested. “You could work in the morning and spend afternoons with Lucy.” He shifted in his seat. The engine on the ATV surged, so the rest of his sentence was drowned out and Sarah missed it.

  “Look...” Sam turned and stared at Sarah. She waggled her brows at him and lifted her beer bottle to her mouth. Sam sighed, but he turned back to the squat lifeguard in his orange shorts. “I’ll have to get back to you. We’ll talk more on Monday morning.”

  “Right. We’ll figure something out. We can’t lose you entirely, Sam. You’re too important around here.” The older lifeguard gave his head one more shake and then motored off.

  Sam put his hands on his hips and faced her. “Do you have a habit of listening to people’s conversations?”

  She smiled up at him. “Why, yes, I do. How else would I learn anything?”

  “You see, this is exactly why I’m hesitant to have you meet my daughter. You have bad manners.”

  “I’m practical. Please, Sam, I’d like to try talking with her now.” In a lowered voice, she added, “I won’t hurt her. And I understand Cassandra very well, so maybe I can help with that.”

  Sam lifted his hands. “Fine. I suppose if I send you away, then Lucy will be more upset with me than she already is.”

  He brought the tinfoil-covered plate into the kitchen. She followed him, grabbing the edge of the screen door and pushing it wider so he could pass through.

  He gave her a tired look. Sam struck her as a man who was tired about everything.

  She felt the same way. It took a lot of energy to be angry, and at this point, she just wanted to do what it took to get back to her job and stop wasting energy raging over things she couldn’t control.

  She stood in his kitchen, waiting for him to take her to Lucy, while he took down a big plastic tray and set cutlery, a napkin and the plate piled with meat and vegetables on it—a well-balanced meal. Good dad, she thought.

  “Can you bring me in one of those cans of that orange soda you brought over?” he asked her.

  “Sure. I figured Cassandra bought them as a treat for your daughter. I don’t drink soda regularly, and she never did, either.”

  Sam just grunted.

  She went to the deck and grabbed a can from the grocery bag, along with the Lifeguard Lager that she’d started drinking earlier. She plopped the soda on Lucy’s dinner tray.

  He nodded, giving her a look as if to say, “Here goes nothing,” and then headed down a short corridor to a stairway. She climbed the stairs behind him, then followed him down the hall to the closed door of a room facing the street. Sam’s house was twice as big as Cassandra’s, which didn’t even have a second floor. Sam’s place was also a lot more modern and updated.

  He balanced the tray on one arm and knocked on Lucy’s door.

  “Leave me alone!” came a muffled voice from inside the bedroom.

  “I brought dinner,” Sam announced in his lifeguard voice.

  “I can smell it from here. Is it steak? I don’t eat animal meat. It’s horrible that you eat innocent, defenseless animals.”

  Sam sighed and shrugged at Sarah. “Something else nobody told me about,” he muttered.

  Sarah swiped the orange soda can off Lucy’s tray. “It’ll be okay, Sam. Let her get herself her own dinner later, when she’s hungry enough. I’ll go in and see her now. You and I will eat together afterward. How’s that? We can talk about your daughter and appreciate our nice meal.”

  “Not a bad idea.” Sam cocked a brow at her. “I like your way of thinking.”

  “Thank you.” Sarah knocked on Lucy’s door. “Is
this Lucy Logan I’m speaking to?” Sarah called. “Because if it is, I got your note. This is Sarah Buckley.”

  A thump sounded inside, like a girl jumping down from a bed, and then the door whipped open.

  A preteen who looked remarkably like Sam—with light brown hair that had the same cowlick in front—stood blinking at Sarah. She wore a Girls Code, Too T-shirt and pink shorts.

  “Sarah Buckley! You came to my house!” Lucy exclaimed.

  Sarah heard Sam let out a breath behind her. Maybe it made him happy that Lucy had called his house “my house.”

  “Yes,” Sarah replied calmly, “I got your note.” She patted her pocket, acknowledging that she’d kept it safe. “I brought you some orange soda from Cassandra’s stash.” She peeked inside the girl’s bedroom. “May I come in?”

  “Yes! Oh, my gosh, yes!”

  Sarah stepped inside the small bedroom, and without ceremony, Lucy shut the door in her father’s face.

  Well. Sarah bit her tongue. She couldn’t call Lucy out on that, because Sarah quite often shut her own office door in people’s faces, too.

  She hoped Sam would eavesdrop on their conversation. Sarah would, in his shoes.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  SARAH SAT ON the edge of Lucy’s bed. The girl was neat; Sarah had to give her credit for that. The sheets and coverlet were made up, and her clothes were folded and stacked on a dresser. However, the room held remnants of things Sarah was sure belonged to Sam. A treadmill in the corner. Some free weights stacked up beside it. Sam obviously used this room as a home gym when Lucy wasn’t here.

  “That your dad’s stuff?” she said to Lucy.

  Lucy snorted. “It’s his room. This summer is the first time I’ve ever slept over at his house.”

  “How come?”

  Lucy shrugged. “Because I only see him two Saturdays a month.”

  “Do you like those two Saturdays?”

  Lucy folded her arms and said nothing.

  “Well, as you know, I only just met your dad yesterday. But he was telling me he really wants you here, so that’s a good thing.”