One Perfect Summer

by Brenda Novak

“You have to eat, honey,” Lorelei said.

  “But you’ll walk with me?” Mark asked.

  “I have to get dressed,” Lorelei said dully.

  He nodded. “I’ll wait for you.”

  “What about me, Momma?” Lucy wasn’t convinced she should eat instead. But as much as Lorelei hated to disappoint her, if Lucy was with them, all the things that needed to be said wouldn’t get said.

  She motioned her daughter over to her. “Come get dressed. You can eat with your aunts, and then after that, Daddy and I will take you down to the lake, okay?”

  “Okay,” she said, obviously relieved that they weren’t going to disappear on her.

  Reagan caught Lorelei’s arm as she and Lucy passed her on the stairs. “You go ahead.” She took Lucy’s hand. “I’ve got her.”

  With a nod, Lorelei relinquished her daughter and finished hurrying up the stairs.

  Once she’d put on some clothes, she washed her face, brushed her teeth and tied her hair back before heading down the stairs. It made her feel slightly better that she could hear Reagan making a game out of getting Lucy dressed. Reagan was purposely drawing it out, using up as much time as possible, and Lorelei was grateful.

  Mark looked up as she descended the stairs, and she wondered what he was thinking. Why had he come?

  As soon as she’d realized Francine was sleeping in her bed, she’d blocked them both. She’d told herself she was done with them forever, but because she had a legal tie to Mark, she knew she’d have to deal with him at some point, if only to divvy up their assets and figure out visitation and custody of Lucy.

  She wasn’t expecting to have to deal with him quite this soon, however. “I only have a couple of hours,” she told him as they stepped outside. “I have to get ready for work at ten, and I promised we’d take Lucy to the lake before that.”

  “Can’t you call your boss—Finn or whatever his name is? Tell him you need some extra time today?”

  “I work at a restaurant now. The pay’s better.”

  “Got it.” He seemed relieved, was probably hoping something had come between them. “This shouldn’t take too long. I just... I had to see you.”

  “Why?”

  “I’ve been worried about you.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “What about the nightmares? Are you still having those?”

  He’d known about the nightmares because they had started up again while she was home. “I’ve had only one since I’ve been here. I’m hoping I won’t have another.”

  “Why do you think they’re back?”

  She slanted him an accusing look. “I wonder,” she said sarcastically and stopped to face him. “Why are you really here, Mark?”

  He grabbed her hand beseechingly. “Because I still love you, and I need you to know that. You’re the one I want.”

  She yanked her hand away. “How could that be true? Everything you’ve done says otherwise.”

  “Not everything—”

  “Francine was in bed with you when I called you the last time!”

  He pressed three fingers to his forehead. “I know. And I regret that. I was angry. If you weren’t willing to forgive me, I was going to move on without you. I realize now how stupid I was, that I only made things worse.”

  Although they were supposed to be walking, their conversation was too animated for that. They stood out by the road a short distance from the house, but at least they could talk without worrying about anyone overhearing them.

  “Mark, I can’t believe you love me, and if I can’t believe it, it doesn’t matter if you do. That’s what kept me going all the years we were married. I believed you cared about me and Lucy and would never hurt us.”

  A pained expression settled on his face. “Haven’t you ever made such a big mistake that you freaked out and made things even worse? I’m just as upset by Francine’s pregnancy as you are. And now she’s at me all the time, demanding this and that, claiming I cost her her best friend. I’m torn in two! Don’t you understand? There’s no way I can keep you both happy!”

  “That’s just it,” she said. “Now we have to take her into consideration and we’ll have to do that forever. It breaks my heart to stay with you, and it breaks my heart to give up on our marriage.”

  “Come here.” He pulled her to him as though he’d longed to have her in his arms again. “Please. Can’t we get beyond this?”

  She tried to allow the embrace, tried to let it soothe the hurt. Was she willing to make the concessions that staying with Mark would require? Was she capable of making those concessions?

  The only way it could work was if she welcomed Francine back into her life, loved her as she had before and accepted her baby.

  But every time she tried to talk herself into going in that direction, some elemental part of her rebelled. It was futile. She couldn’t fix what he’d broken, no matter how hard she tried. If she’d learned anything from coming to Tahoe this summer, it was that.

  She was trying to figure out the best way to explain. She didn’t want to be unnecessarily hurtful, not when Mark had come so far. Although she’d never cheated on him, she understood what it was like to make mistakes, to feel regret.

  Before she could find the words she wanted to use, however, she heard a car engine and looked over to see Finn behind the wheel of his Jeep. He was just about to pull into the driveway of the cabin next door, but instead of doing that, he stopped in the middle of the road the instant he saw them.

  “Is that him?” Mark asked. “The guy you’ve been seeing?”

  Finn finally looked away and drove into the garage. As she heard the door go down, she said, “I haven’t been seeing him. We’re...friends, that’s all.”

  “Do you think he’ll make a better husband than me?”

  “I don’t think that would be hard,” she said dryly.

  He winced. “It was one mistake.”

  “But it was a catastrophic mistake,” she said. “I can’t get past it.”

  “You can,” he insisted. “You love Francine and you love me. You don’t mean what you’re saying.”

  She closed her eyes as she tried to feel her way through this morass of pain and regret. She imagined going to the restaurant, as she’d been doing the past four days, thought about how hard it would be to get back into the job market and tried to imagine what her future would entail if she let go of the past. The restaurant was slammed almost every day, especially on the weekends. It was a stressful place to be, and they didn’t pay her very well.

  But she liked the idea of having her own money, of not having to justify what she spent it on, of the freedom working would allow. There was no good path to take from here, but she hoped she could live without the anger and doubt she felt now, if she decided to go it alone. “I wish I didn’t,” she said at length. “But I’m afraid that you came all this way for nothing. I’m sorry.”

  She must’ve sounded resolute, far more resolute than she actually felt, because tears appeared in his eyes. “And Lucy?”

  “I’ll do whatever I can to facilitate your relationship with her. You know how much I love her. I would never do anything that would hurt her.”

  “You mean like I did,” he said.

  At least she hadn’t pointed that out. “I don’t know how you got involved with Francine in the first place. I can’t even pretend to understand. Maybe you were just caught up in something you couldn’t get out of, and a bigger person could take it in stride and keep our family together. But I can’t. So now we have to figure out how to go on from here.”

  “When you called, I thought... I thought I had a second chance.”

  “I thought so, too, but...” She shook her head. That call had severed the last of her loyalty and hope; that was when she knew they’d never get back together, that the past had slipped through her fingers and she
had to face the future alone, had to weather the blow and march on. “At least you’ve got Francine.”

  “She’ll never mean as much to me as you do,” he said sadly.

  * * *

  serenity

  The next few days were going to be awkward. Serenity was glad she wouldn’t be around. Mark insisted on staying in town even though Lorelei had told him it was over between them. He said he wouldn’t leave until he’d spent some time with Lucy, that he’d taken a week off of work. So when he left to get a motel room, he took Lucy with him while Lorelei hurried to get ready for work.

  Serenity guessed he was hoping he’d be able to change his wife’s mind while he was in town. He was on his best behavior, was being friendly and cooperative and oh-so-likable. Serenity wondered if he’d be this nice once Lorelei filed for divorce. The worst often came out in people during a divorce. She said as much to Reagan after Lorelei left for work, while Reagan sat on her bed, watching her pack.

  Reagan’s eyebrows lifted as she considered Serenity’s words. “I know you’re right, but Lucy is so excited to have her daddy around. Lorelei wants to let them be together as long as he’s here.”

  “Well, keep an eye on the situation while I’m gone. Her generosity might turn around and bite her in the ass, poor thing.”

  “I will,” Reagan said.

  “When are you going to tell her you’re pregnant?” Serenity asked.

  “Not while he’s here, that’s for sure.” She smoothed out the comforter. “Are you nervous about seeing your folks?”

  “A little,” Serenity admitted. “I want to see them, but I’m such a bad liar. I’m afraid I’ll say something that’ll drag this whole thing into the open, and it’ll damage their marriage.”

  “You know what’s at stake. You’ll be careful. Text me once you have his DNA.”

  “I will. I don’t know how I’m going to get him to spit in the tube, but I’ll figure something out. I’ll send it off right away, too, so that we don’t have to wait any longer than necessary.”

  “Great. This has to lead us to the answer.”

  Serenity paused while putting her hair spray into her makeup carrier. “I hope so. But my mind keeps going back to that call with Vance. He sounded sincere. Why would he try to deny that he’s your father if he thought he was talking to the one woman who would know?”

  She fell back onto her elbows. “I can’t quite work that out myself, but we can’t explain away that letter.”

  “True.” Even if Vance wasn’t their father, it would be too coincidental for him to have mentioned a baby in that letter. And how would he know Reagan’s mother? Reagan’s name? He was the only person linking Serenity to Reagan—he had to be involved in some way.

  That was likely why he wasn’t calling Serenity back. But she planned to use her mother’s phone to try to reach him again while she was in San Diego. She couldn’t impersonate Charlotte the way Reagan had tried to impersonate Rosalind, but at least she might be able to get him to pick up.

  * * *

  lorelei

  Lorelei was so harried at the restaurant she didn’t really look at the three men who walked in right at the peak of the lunch rush. In her peripheral vision she saw them speak to the hostess. Then the hostess seated them at Lorelei’s only open table, which surprised her because she was new and some of the more experienced waitresses weren’t quite as busy.

  She didn’t know it was Finn and his brothers until she approached the table to bring them water. Even if she’d been paying closer attention, she wasn’t sure she would’ve realized sooner. She never would’ve guessed that Davis would come out in public. When she was working at their place, she could barely get him to leave his room.

  She froze as soon as she recognized them.

  When Finn looked up, he nudged Davis.

  She glanced behind her, wondering if she could get someone else to pick up this table, but the Hatch brothers had spoken to the hostess, so they must’ve requested her. That was why they were seated at one of her tables, even though she was the least capable of handling a full section.

  Remembering the unhappy expression on Finn’s face when he saw her standing on the street with Mark earlier, she took a deep breath, manufactured a smile and approached as though they were total strangers. “Here’s your water. Can I get you anything else to drink while you look over the menu?”

  Nolan cleared his throat. “Not for me. Water’s good.”

  Finn and Davis declined, too.

  “Okay. I’ll be back in a few minutes to get your order.”

  She started to walk away, but Finn called her name. “Davis has something he wants to say to you,” he said when she turned.

  Davis studied her for a moment. Then she saw his Adam’s apple move as he swallowed. “I was out of line. I’m sorry.”

  She couldn’t tell if it was said grudgingly or not. Maybe Finn had coerced him into an apology. But it would take a lot for a proud man like Davis to apologize, and he was struggling, so she wasn’t going to make his life any harder. “Thanks. I shouldn’t have said what I did, either. It wasn’t my place.”

  “It needed to be said, and if you didn’t say it, who would?” he responded.

  Surprised, she flashed him a more genuine smile before hurrying off to take care of her other tables. From there, it was all she could do to stay on top of everything; she didn’t want to look as though she couldn’t handle her new job. She didn’t have much time to talk to Finn and his brothers—she was too busy—and was sad when they left without saying goodbye.

  She still had two tables to serve, so she told herself she’d think about Davis’s apology later. But the young man who bussed her tables caught up with her in the back. “Hey, you should see the size of the tip those three guys left you!”

  She hadn’t even considered what they’d leave her. “How much is it?”

  “I don’t know exactly. I didn’t touch it. But you should get out there and grab it before someone else does.”

  Why did they leave her such a big tip? They’d already paid her what they’d owed her for working for them. Finn, or someone else, had left an envelope with her name on it in the mailbox the day after she and Davis had that falling out.

  She double-checked that the brothers were really gone before she went over. She didn’t want to look greedy or too interested in the money. But she was curious.

  Seeing a stack of bills, she grabbed the money and ducked into the back to count it.

  It came to nearly $100—far more than she could allow herself to keep.

  27

  serenity

  SERENITY HAD BEEN obsessed with the mystery surrounding her sisters. She’d been worried about the pregnancy that Reagan hadn’t yet divulged to anyone else. And now she was worried about Lorelei having to deal with Mark, especially while she was in San Diego. She was even concerned with how she’d handle herself when she got there. But all those things melted into the background as she drove to Berkeley. Then all she could think about was Sawyer.

  Was it a mistake to see him again?

  Possibly. But she’d never felt so compelled to be with someone.

  Was he going to come?

  She kept taking out her phone to text him. But, again and again, she forced herself to hold off. She didn’t want to look overeager. She’d probably be better off if he didn’t come. So she was far more relieved than she should’ve been when he texted her.

  You still going to be in Berkeley tonight?

  She pulled over so she could reply. I am. Are you coming over?

  What time will you be there?

  I’ve got another twenty minutes on the drive.

  I’ll come over after I finish the two appraisals I have to do today.

  It was barely noon on a Wednesday. She’d been so anxious about seeing him that she’d taken off right after breakfa
st. She hated that she had to wait until evening for him to arrive, but she’d expected as much. She planned to get her nails done and buy a new dress or something.

  Her phone rang.

  Because she’d just been texting with Sawyer, she thought maybe it was him. Her heart started to beat faster until her Bluetooth announced that it was her mother.

  She told it to answer and then greeted Charlotte.

  “Hi, honey,” her mother said. “I’m just calling to confirm that you’ll be spending the weekend with us.”

  “My flight leaves at eight tomorrow morning, so I’ll arrive at the airport shortly after nine.”

  “We’ll be there to get you. Where are you leaving from?”

  “Oakland.”

  “I thought you were spending the summer in Tahoe so I thought maybe you’d fly out of Reno.”

  “I’m driving home now.”

  “Got it. Can’t wait to see you.”

  “I’m looking forward to it, too.” She was about to get off the phone, but her mother stopped her before she could say goodbye.

  “You know...I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to upset you, but maybe that was the wrong decision.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Nina called us not too long ago.”

  Serenity tensed. “What did she have to say?”

  “She told me that you never really loved her son, that you were having an affair with Sawyer all along, and that’s why you put those pictures on Sean’s computer and called the police.”

  “She’s claiming I set him up?” she cried.

  “Yes! Isn’t that the craziest thing you ever heard?”

  Now that she’d slept with Sawyer, it didn’t sound quite as crazy to her as it would have otherwise—at least, the affair part. She was afraid she’d been attracted to Sawyer all along. But that hadn’t been something she could control. She’d never acted on it; she’d never even acknowledged it until now.

  “What did you say?” she asked.