One Perfect Summer

by Brenda Novak

  “Lorelei, please. Come home. This trip is obviously making things worse instead of better.”

  She peeled off a piece of tree bark. “Do you honestly think it’s the trip?”

  “Look.” His voice dropped lower. “I’ve admitted that I’m to blame. And I’ve said I’m sorry at least a dozen times. What more can I do? Tell me, and I’ll do it. If I could go back and change the past, I would. I’m not happy about the baby. I wish Francine would... I wish she’d get an abortion. There, I’ve said it.”

  “Have you told her that?”

  “You want me to be that cruel?”

  “To her? Yes. I hate knowing that she’s happy about what she’s done to me.”

  “She’s not happy. Francine is just as upset as you are. She loves you, hopes to salvage your relationship.”

  “That will never happen,” she said vehemently. “At this point, I’m not even sure we can salvage our relationship.”

  “Don’t say that, babe. We can get through this.”

  She gripped the phone tighter, remembering Reagan sending in her resignation despite how badly it hurt. “Maybe, maybe not. I’ll decide in September.”

  “Why September?”

  She could hear the fresh alarm in his reaction. “Because I’m staying here for the rest of the summer.”

  “What? The summer hasn’t even started yet!”

  “I know, but June is close, and I like it here. I need some time to think, to find myself. And this place...you should see it. Being here is almost like a religious experience.”

  “Lorelei, please. You can find yourself here at home, where you belong.”

  “No, I can’t,” she stated firmly. “Not when I’m around you. I’ve tried to be everything you could want for so long it’s a habit now. And I’m even wondering if it’s the fact that I’ve always tried so hard that’s making you stray. You don’t respect me enough to treat me fairly in return.”

  “You did nothing that made me stray. I was an idiot, that’s all. But I was a good husband before that, wasn’t I? Does none of that matter? It was...it was a one-time thing—a simple mistake!”

  His words sounded desperate, but they lacked conviction. “Are you really going to stick by that story?”

  “What do you mean? We’ve talked about this!”

  “Yes, and I’ve tried to believe it. But I can’t. You’re lying about your...affair being a one-time thing, aren’t you?”

  Silence.

  Lorelei’s chest grew ever tighter, so tight she could barely breathe. “Right. I knew it. I just didn’t want to face it.”

  “It was a short, whirlwind kind of affair, which is almost the same thing,” he explained. “I just got...swept away for a while. But the pregnancy has woken me up, Lorelei. I mean it. Nothing like that will ever happen again. I swear it.”

  “The way you swore to be faithful to me in our wedding vows?”

  Silence.

  “We’ll talk about it in September,” she went on. “When I return.”

  “What about Lucy?” he asked.

  “She likes it here, too.”

  “But I have the right to see her.”

  “You can visit whenever you’d like. There are cabins you can rent all over the area, but it’s a popular place, so be sure to book well in advance.”

  “Visit. Rent a cabin to see my own wife and child. This is crazy. I should never have let you leave in the first place.”

  “Let me?” she echoed. “It wasn’t up to you.”

  “You wouldn’t have been able to go if I hadn’t paid for it.”

  Stunned, Lorelei steadied herself by putting one hand against the tree she’d been picking at. “How dare you. You wanted me to quit my job. You preferred I stay home with Lucy. You understood what that would mean financially. And yet...now you resent me for not earning money of my own?”

  He was obviously struggling to reel in his emotions. “I don’t resent you, no,” he said. “I’m just trying to hang on to you—with everything I’ve got.”

  “And you think siphoning money from our joint account is the answer?”

  “I don’t want you to leave!”

  “You don’t want me to leave? Or you want to be sure you get the bulk of the money if we split?”

  “If we don’t split, we won’t have to worry about it.”

  “You know what?”

  He waited.

  “You should move in with Francine while I’m gone, or have her move into our house. Just throw all of my stuff in boxes and shove it in the garage. That’s what she’d like, isn’t it? To take my place? She’ll be happier, and maybe you will be, too. It’s certainly worth a try.”

  “Oh, God,” he said. “This is going too far. I don’t want to be with Francine!”

  “Yeah, well, maybe you should’ve thought of that before,” she said and disconnected.

  Because she had to be so stoic in front of Lucy and, for once, Lucy couldn’t see or hear her, Lorelei allowed herself to cry out and slug the tree.

  It felt so good, she hit it again. But once she’d started venting the anguish inside her, she couldn’t seem to stop. She punched the tree until she was sobbing uncontrollably, her knuckles were scraped and she was so exhausted she could hardly stay on her feet.

  “Hey, what’s going on? Are you okay?”

  As soon as she heard the voice behind her, she turned, blinked rapidly and sniffed, trying to pull all that emotion back inside. But it was too late. She could see the concern on Finn’s face as he hurried over.

  “What is it?” he asked. “What’s happened?”

  “It—it’s nothing,” she tried to say, but she choked on the words before she could get them out, and the next thing she knew he was holding her as she cried, rubbing her back and telling her everything was going to be okay.

  * * *

  finn

  Finn could feel Lorelei trembling in his arms. “What is it?” he murmured. “Has someone been hurt?”

  Eventually, she managed to pull herself together enough to step away and wipe her face. “No. I’m sorry. I...I don’t know what got into me.”

  He was surprised she’d allowed him to comfort her. The way she’d behaved yesterday suggested she wasn’t someone who opened up about her problems. “Obviously, something’s happened.”

  “It’s nothing for you to worry about. With your brother’s accident, you have enough to deal with. What Davis is going through—that’s a real problem. This is...this is just a cliché.” She tried to laugh as she wiped her nose with her forearm. “Have you heard from Davis today? Is his temperature back to normal?”

  He noticed her attempt to swing the conversation back to him and his interests and suspected it was her way of dodging uncomfortable questions. “What kind of cliché?” he asked instead of answering.

  When her smile wobbled, he could tell she’d expected him to take advantage of the opportunity to talk about himself instead. “Oh, you know, the typical cheating husband. Mine happened to have an affair with my best friend, which is even more of a cliché.”

  He immediately felt protective of her. There was a fragile quality about Lorelei. She seemed determined not to lower her guard, not to let herself be hurt, which was why he felt so bad that her husband had managed to hurt her so deeply. “Whether it’s a cliché or not doesn’t make it any less painful. Is this the first time your husband’s been unfaithful?”

  “I don’t know. I’d like to say yes, but it’s possible he only told me about Francine because she’s pregnant.”

  “Holy shit.” Finn had been able to tell that something wasn’t right in Lorelei’s marriage. He’d caught on to that yesterday when they’d all been talking about staying for the summer. Now he understood the extent of it.

  “It’ll be okay.” She attempted a shrug. “I can’t believe you
caught me throwing a tantrum like a child. It’s embarrassing.”

  He bent his head to catch her eye. “You don’t have anything to apologize for. Life is messy. For all of us. And you would’ve had the privacy you thought you did, except I was coming over to see if you, your sisters and Lucy would like to go sledding before all the snow melts. I came across some sleds in the storage under the cabin and figured we could enjoy a few hours before it’s too late.”

  She infused her voice with more energy. “Thank you. That sounds like fun.”

  He scowled at her.

  “What?”

  “Will you stop being so polite? Makes it hard to get to know you.”

  “Yeah, well, I don’t know myself right now.”

  Considering her background, he could understand why. “It’s okay that you feel like shit. We don’t have to go sledding. So we miss the snow for this season—no big deal.”

  “Not going sledding won’t fix anything,” she said. “Besides, I have a daughter to think about. And she’d love to do that.”

  Hoping to cheer her up, he grinned. “Great. Let’s go see if everyone else is interested.”

  She’d just started to trudge to the cabin alongside him when he said, “Has your friend decided what she’s going to do with the baby?”

  “She’s keeping it, of course. She made that clear from the start. Her ex refused to entertain even the possibility of children, which was what caused a lot of the fights between them. So...I guess this is her way of getting a child.”

  Catching her left hand, he lifted it to look at her hurt knuckles and noticed that she’d been doing a bit of damage to her cuticles, too. “When did you find out?”

  She pulled her hand away. “I’ve known for about three weeks.”

  “Then it was time you let loose and really vented. Maybe now you’ll give your poor hands a break.”

  They walked in silence for a few minutes and rounded the cabin before she spoke again. “I just told Mark that I’m staying for the whole summer.”

  He studied the thick fringe of her eyelashes as she watched the ground ahead of them, since she wouldn’t look up. “And? How’d that go?”

  “He’s not happy about it.”

  Finn felt kind of bad since he was the one who’d suggested they all stay longer. “Can he force you to come back?”

  “I doubt it. We’re not divorced, so there’s no legal agreement between us—you know, as far as custody and visitation. And I’ve told him he can come see Lucy whenever he wants. He’ll hate spending his vacation days traipsing across the country because I won’t come home, but...”

  “What would he rather be doing?” Finn asked.

  “Hunting or fishing with his friends.”

  They were almost at the front door when she grabbed his arm, pulled him to a stop and gave him an earnest look. “Am I being unreasonable? Should I go back to Florida, so he doesn’t have to spend the time or money to come here?”

  “It sounds like he has the money and time to visit, if it’s important enough to him. What about you? Do you feel better here? Happier?”

  “I do. I’ve never had any siblings—or parents, for that matter, so having a chance to get to know my sisters means a lot to me.”

  “Then I think you have every right to stay,” he said, and was rewarded with the first genuine smile he’d seen on her face today.

  They climbed the steps to the porch, but as she reached for the door handle, Reagan came charging out.

  “There you are!” she said as soon as she saw Lorelei. “I was just coming to see if everything was okay.”

  “It’s fine,” Lorelei said.

  Reagan shot him a tentative look. Obviously, she could tell Lorelei had been crying. Although Lorelei was careful to keep Reagan from seeing her hands, there was nothing she could do to hide the puffiness of her eyes.

  Finn suspected Lorelei would not want to be questioned, however, so he was glad Reagan chose not to mention it. “I see you’re out causing trouble already,” she said to him.

  “That’s what I do,” he said with a lazy smile.

  “Any word on Davis? Do you know when he’ll be able to come up and join us?”

  Finn tried to keep his manner casual, but the fact that his brother’s temperature hadn’t dropped back to normal was a real concern. If infection set in, the doctor might have to remove more of Davis’s arm, and he knew how his brother would react to that. “He’ll be here in a few days,” he said as though it would all be fine, which was what he wanted to believe.

  “I can’t wait to meet him,” Reagan said.

  Finn was about to suggest they go sledding but decided he might not have a better opportunity to prep Lorelei and Reagan for when they finally met Davis. “Just so you know, I haven’t mentioned you to him. I don’t want him to think I’m suggesting that meeting three beautiful women will make a big difference to what he’s going through. He’ll get angry if he interprets it that way, which means he’ll wall himself off, won’t give you a chance. But friends and a good dose of laughter make every struggle easier, right?”

  “I’m just learning that myself,” Reagan said.

  “I want to be smart in how we approach him. I think we should act as though I’m bringing you around for no particular reason except that we’re already friends. Otherwise, if he feels you’re trying to help him, he’ll close himself off from you, like I said, just as he has with other well-meaning people.”

  “He doesn’t want to be pitied,” Lorelei supplied.

  “Exactly.”

  “Got it. We’ll treat him the same way we treat you and Nolan.” Reagan turned to Lorelei. “So...did you tell Mark that you’re staying for the summer?”

  Lorelei nodded.

  “I’m guessing he didn’t take it well.”

  “You’d be guessing right,” she said with some chagrin.

  Motioning for Finn to follow them, Reagan drew her sister into the house. “Oh, well. Forget Mark. Forget my job, too. We’re going to have fun.”

  “Speaking of fun, I think we should start by going sledding,” Finn said. “Not many people can say they’ve been sledding in California at the end of May.”

  14

  serenity

  A FULL DAY had passed since they’d dragged out their pictures and other memorabilia and yet they hadn’t even attempted to get back to their discussion on how they might be related. As Serenity sat in the living room with her computer in front of her, she couldn’t help counting the hours. She was anxious to find answers, but she kept telling herself there wasn’t any huge hurry. Not if they had all summer. The most important thing was that they take some time for themselves—to become happier, healthier people. She was glad she could provide a place for her sisters to spend a few months, especially because they seemed to appreciate it.

  Even if nothing momentous happened, at least they were getting a break from their normal lives. They’d had a blast sledding with Finn. Serenity had never laughed so hard in her life as when he decided to tackle a much steeper hill than the one they were doing because it had a lot more snow, then hit a dip at the bottom and went flying off his sled. He was willing to take more risks than they were, so his antics had kept them entertained. Fortunately, he wasn’t hurt.

  They’d decided to stop for Mexican food on the way home, and she’d seen him step off to the side to accept a call on his cell while they were waiting for a table. He hadn’t been smiling then, but when she asked if he’d received an update on Davis, he glided over her question by saying nothing had really changed.

  After dinner, they’d returned home, showered and Finn had come over to watch a movie. He’d seemed quieter than earlier in the day, which concerned her.

  “What are you doing?”

  Since the house was dark and everyone had gone to bed, Serenity was startled by the sound of R
eagan’s voice. She turned to see her holding a reusable water bottle and assumed she was going to the kitchen to fill it.

  “Trying to get my weekly blog written,” she replied but she hadn’t come up with more than the title so far. Every time she tried to get started, all she could do was drift off into memories of Sean. His kindness and his patience, especially toward children, was one of the things that had first attracted her to him. She’d always believed he’d make a great father.

  Now she saw him in an entirely different light, of course. The way he’d gravitated toward children and tried to gain their trust turned her stomach. And she’d come so close to having a family with him, still couldn’t believe they’d been married for eight years and, in all that time, she’d never suspected that his love for children was based on the wrong kind of interest.

  “Serenity?”

  She blinked. Apparently, Reagan hadn’t continued on to the kitchen. “Sorry. What’d you say?”

  “I said...we’ve been in touch for several months, and yet you’ve never mentioned you have a blog?”

  “It didn’t really come up.”

  Reagan ran her free hand through her short hair. “I guess that’s true. We didn’t talk about our daily routines. We were all shocked to have found new family members and were too busy wondering what it might mean.”

  Leave it to Reagan to go straight to the bottom line. “We were for sure tiptoeing around. But if you’d ever looked me up online, you’d know I have a blog,” she teased. “I followed you on social media.”

  “I was sort of in denial. Although, after we decided to meet, I did buy and read one of your books. It was the one where the neighbor murdered the wife of the young couple next door, and it took the police ten years to solve the case even though the murderer kept inserting himself into the investigation.”

  “What happened there was so sad. The woman he killed was sweet and loved by everyone.”

  “I’m glad they finally got him. You did a great job covering it, by the way.”

  Serenity smiled. “Thanks.”

  “So what’s the name of your blog?”