A Summer in Sonoma

by Robyn Carr

  Now that she’d taken the plunge into a relationship with him, she was learning that the bike dealership demanded a lot; this was a man who put in long hours. Seldom did a weekend go by that he didn’t at least stop by to see if he was needed. That was good; he never seemed worn out and he clearly loved it. Plus, he liked to spend his money so he had to be about the business of making it! Walt was not afraid of hard work. And being a hard-working girl herself, that impressed Cassie. He was a rare bird.

  When Cassie was on her way to his store, she wondered if he’d told anyone at work about her, about them. It was possible some of his coworkers knew and she was glad she wore her most expensive jeans, heeled boots, turtleneck sweater and dark wool jacket. Her hair was shiny and straight down her back, just the way he liked it. Walt loved scrunching her hair up in his big hands.

  She hadn’t been by there in a long time, but she recognized the same salesman on the showroom floor from months before. “Hi,” she said. “Do you know if Walt Arneson is here today?”

  “He sure is, I saw him,” the guy said. “Let me ask about him.”

  He went to a phone on the sales counter, called someone and went back to her. “Someone’s coming out to talk to you.”

  “Oh. Great,” she said.

  A woman in her fifties or so came out onto the floor. The salesman indicated Cassie and the woman approached her. “Hello,” she said. “How can I help you?”

  “I was looking for Walt Arneson,” she said. “He’s not expecting me. I thought I’d surprise him. Is that okay?”

  “I’ll have to know your name,” she said, somewhat frostily.

  Cassie immediately thought, Uh-oh. I’m going to get him in trouble. “Cassie Rasmussen,” she said. “Really, I don’t want to interrupt his schedule…I just thought if he could see me for a minute…”

  “I’ll check. Stay right here.”

  The woman whirled away and was gone. Cassie approached the salesman again and asked, “Excuse me. Who was that woman?”

  “That would be Clarice, Walt’s gatekeeper. Secretary.” He smiled.

  “He has a secretary?” she asked, totally shocked.

  “Oh, yeah, and look out. She is a lioness. I don’t think Walt loves it, but it works, you know? Everyone wants to talk to Walt personally. And he wants to talk to everyone personally, even if he doesn’t have the time.”

  She remembered about the cell phone number he didn’t give out too much. People liked to get his expertise over the phone, save themselves a trip into the shop. “Is that so?” she said.

  “You looking for a bike? I’d be glad to help.”

  “No, thanks. I was just looking for Walt. But I didn’t call ahead, so if he’s tied up, I guess I’ll have to…I could just leave,” she said reluctantly.

  “Wanna sit on a couple of new models while you wait?” he asked, grinning.

  “Yeah, why not?”

  So the salesman propped her up on several bikes in the showroom, showed her a very entertaining Harley Davidson video, gave her some statistics and when he started talking about their financing programs she looked at her watch and saw that forty-five minutes had lapsed.

  “Thanks, but if I need any advice about Harley financing, I’ll just ask Walt. I guess he can’t break away. I’ll let you get back to—”

  “Cassie!” she heard Walt say. He came around the counter and approached her and she nearly fainted. It was Walt all right—ponytail, long sideburns, moustache and all, but he was also wearing a starched long-sleeved shirt and a tie with his pleated slacks and dress boots. He walked right up to her, put his hands on her shoulders and leaned down to kiss her briefly on the lips. “Is anything wrong, honey?”

  “No. I thought I’d surprise you and take you out to coffee or even lunch, but…” She lifted the tie off his chest. “You weren’t wearing this when you left this morning.”

  “I swung by the house and changed. I had to be a little more formal today.”

  “I think I caught you in the middle of things. This is odd….”

  He looked a bit uncomfortable. He fidgeted, then took her elbow and said, “Come with me, honey. Come on,” he said.

  He pulled her through the break in the counter, back into an area that seemed to be made up of small offices. He stopped in front of Clarice. She scowled up at him unhappily. “Clarice,” he said, “this is Cassie, my girlfriend. She never waits, all right? Never. Got that?”

  “Got it,” Clarice said. “You have board members in the—”

  “Get them lunch. Order in and tell them I’ll be right back. Come here, honey,” he said, pulling her into another office. It was small but classy, lots of models, pictures of Harleys, trophies and awards decorated the shelves and walls. The desk was huge, cluttered with paperwork, stacks of files, and there was a window into a boardroom, a long table around which mostly middle-aged and older men sat, all wearing ties.

  “What’s up, Cassie?” he asked.

  “What’s up?” she repeated, looking through the window. “I should ask you that.”

  “Board meeting. I’m sorry, I had no idea you’d be stopping by today. I’m locked into this—it’s important.”

  “Walt,” she said, confused, “why in the world…”

  “Honey, I didn’t mean to tell you this way, but here it is—this is my store. It’s my company. We’re going to buy a store in Reno. They’re board members and financiers. Bankers. It’s going to be a long day. I’m sorry. I don’t think I can get away.”

  She swallowed. “Your…company?”

  “Yeah. Well, I have investors.”

  She looked through the glass again and saw Walt’s father, Dick. Dick smiled and waved at her. She waved back weakly.

  “He didn’t buy it for me,” Walt said quickly. “It was like I said—I went to work for a store, did what I could do, but then the owners wanted to sell. So I rounded up some investors, was in hock for a little while, got myself out of debt and bought another store and… Just like my dad did with the grocery stores—I had good training. I work on bikes, Cassie. I sell ’em, I take care of customers, I do a little of everything.”

  Cassie caught her breath. “You own this store?”

  “Well, it’s a franchise. There are four stores. Reno would be the fifth. But, yeah, I own ’em. And they own me.”

  “Do you have a title? What’s your title?”

  “Titles,” he said. “They don’t really mean any—”

  “What?” she insisted.

  “Chairman of the Board of Riders, Inc., CEO and President. It’s a Harley franchise, a Riders, Inc., chain. It’s a nice little business.”

  “Walt, it doesn’t sound little.”

  “It’s doing great,” he admitted.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” she demanded. “You were talking about how you’d work as hard as you had to and… Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Cassie, I kept telling you I had plenty of money. I’m sorry, honey. It was weird. Right away you started talking about how I was just a mechanic. Just a bike mechanic who shouldn’t be spending his money. Honey, if we were going to fall in love, I wanted you to fall for Walt the bike mechanic, not Walt the…”

  “The what?”

  “The guy who owned a company. Now come on, nothing’s different except you don’t have to worry so much about me spending money on you. That’s all that’s different.”

  “But you misled me,” she said quietly, disbelievingly, shaking her head.

  “No, I really didn’t. I’m still this,” he said, his hands on his chest. “I like to work on bikes, take long rides, visit with the customers. I have a ponytail, a naked lady on my arm and I dress funny. That’s the guy I am, Cassie, and even if I had ten stores, I’m still going to be this guy. I don’t care about the other stuff. I care about the store. The people—the ones who come here to shop or for maintenance, and the ones who work for me. I like motorcycles. I don’t want to shave or cut my hair. I thought it was worth the gamble.” He eyes sp
arkled. “Was it worth the gamble?”

  “Walt, you should have told me.”

  “At first, I just didn’t want to make myself…I don’t know…more acceptable. More presentable. I wanted you to go for me the way I am. Then I decided I’d save the details for when we were sure of each other, had talked about the future a little. I’m sorry, maybe that wasn’t a good idea, but you held me off a long time. I never—”

  “Was your family in on it? Did everyone know I thought you were a dirt-poor motorcycle wrench and plot with you to keep the truth from me?”

  “No,” he insisted. “No, I never said anything about anything. This—it’s just between you and me. Ironing out the details.”

  “What if it had come up? What if your dad asked you about the company when I was around?”

  “Well, he did, a couple of times, but I don’t think you even noticed. So did my brother, when we were with them. If it had come up sooner, if you had questions, I wouldn’t have lied about it. But you had this idea about me…”

  “Yeah,” she said in a breath. “You must have thought it was pretty funny—me going on about how we might have to tighten up, about how I could work more overtime if I needed to….”

  “No, honey, that wasn’t funny, it was sweet. I wasn’t making fun of you.”

  “There were a dozen times you could’ve stopped me and said, ‘Don’t worry about the big check, Cassie—I’m loaded.’ How about that first ride—the seven-hundred-dollar jacket?” She shook her head and tears came into her eyes. “You have no idea how much I worried I was going to sweat in it or get makeup on it.” She swallowed convulsively. “You could’ve said right then that it was your jacket. That the whole thing is yours.”

  “Cassie, listen, I thought when I laid it out for you, it would be good news.”

  “Walt, tell me the truth now—are you a millionaire?”

  He shrugged. “Maybe on paper…”

  “Just on paper?”

  “Okay, probably. I’m not strapped for cash, all right? I’m pretty much set.”

  “Were you afraid if I found out you’re rich, I’d fall in love with your money? Is that it? And then you’d never be sure…”

  “Aw, Cassie, no,” he said, reaching for her.

  And what if I had? she asked herself. She skittered out of his reach. “What a hoot,” she said, her voice shaky. “I trusted you a lot quicker than you trusted me.”

  “That’s not—”

  “Yeah, it’s true. For months I’ve been worrying about how you’re getting by, whether taking me out so much was going to put a strain on your paycheck, since you wouldn’t even split the cost of a meal. A while back I even thought about not seeing you anymore if you were going to spend so much of your hard-earned money on things that…Things that didn’t matter that much. Like wine that cost a hundred dollars.” She shook her head. “Do you know how many hours I have to work for something like that?” she asked, a tear spilling down her cheek.

  “This is all wrong,” he said. “This wasn’t supposed to happen like this. I knew you worried about things like that, but then I thought you’d be relieved to know that I’m not…”

  “Not what, Walt? Not honest?”

  “Honey… Cassie, I never meant for this to hurt you. I wanted it to make you feel better about things. It made me feel so proud that you couldn’t stop from loving me even when you thought I didn’t have a pot to piss in. It wasn’t to keep you from falling in love with the money—I don’t care about that. It was more about not changing who I am to try to fit some idea of what you’d find most acceptable. It’s the same as not shaving so your friends would like me better.”

  “Sure,” she said quietly. “Listen, you’re tied up. Go back to your meeting. We’ll connect later, okay?” She smiled tremulously. “I should’ve called ahead. I just didn’t realize…who you were.”

  “Cassie, come on. It wasn’t a game. It just wasn’t the most important part about us. Don’t hold this against me. I didn’t want to sidetrack you with…stuff. What we have—”

  “I’m going to go, Walt. I might need to think about this a little bit. I’ll talk to you later. Get back to your…board.”

  She turned away from him and made fast tracks past Clarice, past the salesman and to her car, where she put her hands over her eyes and cried. It was only seconds before her cell phone rang. She plucked it out of her purse and there he was, on the caller ID. Well, she just couldn’t deal with him now—she had to think. She turned off the phone.

  Cassie drove to the river where she liked to walk Steve. She parked and cried. He knew, she thought. The whole time he knew I was trying not to get involved with him, that he just wasn’t the kind of guy I saw myself with. It wasn’t as though he had to guess—eventually she told him! And the truth really stung. If she’d found out five months ago he was a millionaire, it might’ve changed her whole perspective. There’s a great deal of difference between an eccentric and a loser. She’d had trouble seeing he was neither; it had taken her months! For a girl who’d been searching for that forever man, that perfect partner, he might have been too much to resist if she’d known the truth about him. Of course it didn’t hurt that he was also wonderful, but wonderful or not, she’d been held back by a tattoo and a ponytail for a real long time.

  Julie had said so. What if he shaved, cut his hair and had a stethoscope hanging around his neck? Would you worry about us meeting him then? Of course she wouldn’t! This biker dude’s presentation was weird and extreme, at least in the circles she moved in. She remembered her absolute surprise to find he was delightful and that almost everyone seemed to like him.

  She wasn’t sure what was harder—the thought that he’d found her resistance funny, knowing he could snag her quickly with the bottom line. Or was it the fact that poor, simple, penny-pinching Cassie worried about his spending on her, giving her things she’d never be able to afford to give herself? Or maybe it amused him just observing her—the way she slowly had to come to terms with her feelings, lowering her standards to accept an undereducated, low-paid bike mechanic.

  She felt humiliated. And then something occurred to her as she drove home. Of course, the message light was flashing wildly; he was going to try to make this little mistake of not revealing himself sooner just go away. She ignored it, not listening to the messages. Instead, she got on the computer, researching Richard Arneson. And, oh, my Lord—of course it wasn’t just Walt who’d made good. It was first his father. The Arnesons were wealthy; they gave money to more charities than she knew existed.

  He knew—they probably all knew—in the back of her mind she was thinking he wasn’t good enough for her when it was she—the poor girl who’d been on her own since the age of fourteen—who probably wasn’t good enough for him.

  The phone rang and she looked at the caller ID before picking up. It was Jules. She answered tearfully.

  “Thank God—I’ve been looking for you! You haven’t answered any phones!”

  “I had a little…problem….”

  “Well, your problem can wait. We’re at Beth’s. She collapsed at work. I brought her home and Marty came over. She’s bad, Cassie. I don’t know what’s wrong.”

  She sniffed back tears. “I’m on my way.”

  Cassie tapped quietly at Beth’s front door and Julie let her in, a finger to her lips. “She’s sleeping. On the couch.”

  “What happened?” Cassie said, coming inside.

  “I’m not sure,” Julie said. “She collapsed at the clinic and didn’t come to right away, but she wouldn’t be admitted. She called me to come and pick her up. Cassie, she couldn’t walk to the car! I had to take her in a wheelchair. I called Jerod. He’s on his way over from the Bay Area. He’s called twice from the car to see if she’s all right.”

  “Let me see her,” Cassie said, shedding her jacket and handing it to Julie. She went immediately to the small living room where Beth lay pale and still on the sofa. She knelt beside her, touched her brow, took her pul
se, which was weak and kind of thready.

  Beth turned her head, looked at Cassie and said, “I’m just weak from chemo,” she said. “I just need to rest. Nothing to get excited about.”

  “You shouldn’t be this weak,” Cassie said.

  “I just wanted some attention,” Beth said with a small smile.

  “Oh, you’ll get plenty—Julie called Jerod and he’s on his way.”

  “Oh, God, she shouldn’t have done that. He has patients. He’s two hours away.”

  “Be still—you know he’d expect to be called. Do you have any pain? Anywhere?”

  “No. I’m just bone tired, that’s all. And light-headed. The fatigue can be unbelievable.”

  “Your breathing is okay?”

  “It’s not an embolism,” Beth said. “Just fatigue and weakness.”

  “Close your eyes. Rest. We’ll be right in the kitchen.”

  Cassie rose and herded Marty and Julie out of the room. “Let’s let her sleep. How long before Jerod gets here?”

  Julie looked at her watch. “Within a half hour, I would think.”

  “Come on. We’ll leave her alone and I’ll check on her every five minutes.”

  They went to the adjacent kitchen where Marty had brewed a pot of coffee. She got herself a refill and went to the table where Julie sat behind her own cup. “When did this happen?” Cassie asked, going to the cupboard for a cup.

  “A couple of hours ago, I guess. She’s not…you know…”

  “What?” Cassie asked.

  “She’s not…” Julie mouthed the word dying.

  “Dying?” Cassie whispered. “Oh, God, no! I mean, she’s gotten real thin and her pulse is kind of weak, but she’s been sleeping.” Cassie joined them at the table. “Jerod will know what to do. I bet he puts her right in the hospital….”

  “Where were you?” Julie whispered furiously. “I couldn’t find you! I was scared to death. I didn’t know what to do with her!”

  “Sorry,” she said. “I turned off my phone. Walt’s been calling and calling.”

  “Why didn’t you answer? Are you fighting or something?”