A Summer in Sonoma

by Robyn Carr

  “No. Yes. I don’t know…” She put her forehead in her hand. “It’s a mess. I found out he’s been lying to me. I was pretty upset, till you trumped him with Beth.”

  “Lying to you?” Marty whispered, scooting forward a little. “About what?”

  “He’s not a bike mechanic… He let me think that. For months! The whole time he was trying to win me over, just ever so patiently, giving me all the time in the world to fall for a complete fraud.”

  “Oh, God,” Marty said, sitting back. “He’s a Hells Angel!”

  “Shh,” Cassie shushed. “He’s not a Hells Angel! He’s a millionaire.”

  Complete silence answered her. Finally Julie said, “Well. Bummer.”

  “Wait a minute—he’s a millionaire? Pretending to be a biker?”

  “No, he’s a biker. Sort of. I mean, he doesn’t just work at the bike shop. He owns it. He owns four of them and is in the middle of buying a fifth one. He let me think he was this dirt-poor grease monkey. He teased me about being afraid of how my friends would take to someone like him—he looks like such a hood.”

  Again, there was silence. “Um, Cass, you’re not happy to find out he’s not just a biker? What’s up with that?”

  “Don’t you get it? He was holding out on me, probably to be sure I wouldn’t fall for the money, the title…”

  “What title?”

  “Chairman of the Board. CEO. President. All of them, I guess.”

  “Well, I mean, that’s very nice,” Julie said, “but isn’t it a small company? Are you sure he’s a millionaire?”

  “Oh, yeah, I asked. He admitted it. I don’t know how big his company is, but I went home and researched his family. His parents—they’re richer than God, invested in everything. Arneson Limited. Arneson family holdings. Arneson this, Arneson that. And here I was, afraid of sweating in the leather jacket he let me use on rides. He can probably afford to wipe his butt with leather jackets. He must have been laughing behind his fist the whole time.”

  “But he finally told you the truth?”

  “No, I caught him! I went by the store to entice him out to lunch. I was going to get out of him what he’d like for Christmas.” She laughed a little and her eyes welled up with tears. “I thought I’d go crazy, spend a hundred dollars on him. Maybe two hundred. I found him in a shirt and tie, in the middle of a board meeting. A shirt and tie? Jesus.”

  “What did he say?”

  She sighed and a big tear rolled out. “He said that he thought I’d take it as good news.”

  “Why can’t something like that ever happen to me?” Julie asked wearily. “I’d be a much better sport about it.”

  “Don’t you get it?” Cassie said. “I’ve been holding back for months! I liked him right off, but I didn’t want to get hooked up with some loser biker who’d never make anything of himself! The whole time I was thinking he wasn’t quite good enough for me, he was making sure I was good enough for him!”

  There was sound from the living room and all three women jumped up and hurried there. Beth had propped herself up on the couch pillows a little bit and was laughing softly, weakly. “You’re better than vitamin B-12. Bring that gossip in here.”

  “You should be resting,” Cassie said, sitting on the end of the sofa.

  “Through this?” she said, amused. “He’s a millionaire? Did I hear that right?”

  “Man, do you have good ears. We were whispering.”

  “I have cancer, I’m not deaf. Besides, I’m more likely to strain to hear whispering.”

  Cassie sighed. “How’s your stomach? Any nausea?”

  “Not anymore. I’m past that and on to fatigue. I’m sorry for all the trouble.”

  “You’re less trouble than some people,” Cassie said. “I’m getting you a glass of orange juice.” When she came back from the kitchen with a full glass in her hand, Julie was helping Beth sit up a little more.

  Beth took a sip and said, “Really, you’re the only person I know who’d be upset to find out her boyfriend is stinking rich. Don’t you ever get tired of being so screwed up?”

  “I was just thinking, I could probably learn to live with that,” Marty said. “Is he tidy? Clean?”

  “Very,” Cassie said. “He looks like he should be a wreck, but he’s not. He even gets manicures to keep his nails and hands nice after working on bikes. Apparently he really does work on bikes. But he lied to me.”

  “God, a chairman of the board who actually works on the bikes. I like him better all the time,” Marty said.

  “But I feel like a fool,” Cassie said. “It’s humiliating.”

  “Now why would you feel that way? It’s not your fault he didn’t tell you!”

  “Because. He was right. I had to be strung along like that. I’m always looking for the wrong things in men—that’s why I never find the real good ones. I look at the car and not the driver, which is how I find these jerks who look like they have potential, but they’re worthless. I think he knew that about me. I think I told him that about me! So, to be sure I was seeing the man without seeing the fat wallet, he just let me believe he was a big nobody.” She sniffed and wiped at her nose. “He’s not a loser, though, and I don’t mean the money. I mean, as a man, he’s an exceptional man.”

  “Well, there’s the real bottom line,” Julie said.

  “Lucky you,” Beth said. “No more jerks and losers. If you can just find a way to suffer under the strain of having money for a change, you should be able to soldier on.”

  The doorbell rang and Julie jumped up. Jarod hurried into the room carrying his medical bag, closely followed by a uniformed messenger. He knelt beside Beth, kissed her forehead and opened his bag, pulling out a stethoscope. “Miss me?” he asked.

  “I’m sorry about this,” she said. “It was an overreaction. It’s completely unnecessary.”

  “I doubt that,” he said, listening to her heart. He sat her up and listened to her back. “Deep breath. Nice. Once more.” Then he let her lie back down. “I’m going to get some blood work. I’m having it delivered to the lab by messenger with a stat order.”

  “I don’t think I have any to spare,” she said. “This is probably just normal. Though I don’t remember fatigue and weakness this intense the last time.”

  “The treatment this time is more aggressive,” he said, getting out his blood-draw supplies. He slipped a full tube into an envelope, handed it to the messenger, then pulled out an IV setup.

  “Oh, you’re going way overboard….”

  “Are you milking this cow?” he asked. “I thought I was the doctor and you were the patient.” He got the IV started. “You should be in the hospital…”

  “I doubt it,” she said.

  “It would have saved me a messenger and I could get the results faster. It would have been more convenient. I see you gathered the troops…”

  “I was just looking for a ride….”

  “That so?” he asked. “You’re done working now, until you complete your treatment and get a little stronger. I’ll stay with you tonight, then I’ll take you back to San Francisco. I’m turning you over to my partner—I’m sure you’ll like him fine. I doubt he’ll change anything. You’ll stay with me where I can keep an eye on you.”

  “My parents will have a fit about that.”

  “Right. But you didn’t want them trying to take care of you, anyway—they just get anxious and create more havoc than help. They’re well-suited for having a fit. Besides, it’s time I met them, don’t you think?”

  “I don’t want you to take care of me,” she said. “It’ll ruin our relationship.”

  “You being so far away from me while you’re going through this is more likely to ruin our relationship. Don’t argue—I’m good at this. I’m going to get you through this so we can have a life.”

  She put a hand against his cheek and said, “How did I find you?”

  He smiled and put his hand over hers. “The hard way.”

  Walt pull
ed up to Billy and Julie’s in his truck. His shirt-sleeves were rolled up, collar open and the tie lay on the front seat. Billy was in the driveway, looking under the hood of one of the cars when he saw Walt walk toward him.

  “Got a problem there, Bill?”

  “Yeah. I hope it’s the battery, but it won’t jump. Could be many things.”

  “Want me to have a look?”

  “Ah, you seem to be a little dressed up there, Walt.”

  “Nah. Here, let me. I was hoping to find Cassie here, but I don’t see her car….”

  “They’re all over at Beth’s. She passed out at work and Julie went to pick her up, take her home.”

  “Oh, man,” he said. “She all right?”

  “Yeah. Julie called. She said Jerod came right away, did some blood work, checked her over, started an IV. She’s coming around. Jerod says it’s side effects from the chemo and he’s bringing her home with him, where he can take care of her. The girls are probably just getting in the way by now.”

  “Damn,” Walt said. “Cassie’s having a real bad day.” He bent to look through Billy’s toolbox, then went to the back of his truck and got his own. He opened it up on the driveway, selected a wrench and got back under the hood.

  “I’m glad you stopped by. I was gonna try to find you at work. I have to tell you something.”

  “What’s that?” Walt asked from under the hood.

  “Me and Joe—we went to see Ken Baxter, captain over at that northwest firehouse. I told him.” Walt lifted his head and glared at Billy through narrowed eyes. “I thought he should know one of his boys used his name to pick up a girl, then attacked her. I gave him the details. He was pretty pissed.”

  Walt stared him down for a long moment, then got back under the hood.

  “Then we ran into Perkins on the way out. I asked him if he remembered Cassie, and he played dumb. Couldn’t place her, he said. So I said, ‘You know, front seat of your car, rescued by a big biker, broken window, et cetera.’ He didn’t respond at all, but he got it. And I told him she’d been one of my best friends for about fifteen years and he should know we’re all watching him real close. No one knows what kind of creep he is, but I bet he doesn’t use his captain’s name to pick up girls anymore.”

  Walt dug around a little bit more under the hood, then said, “Try to start the engine, would you?”

  “Sure.” Billy got in his car, but it wouldn’t turn over. He got back out.

  Walt put the hood down and picked up a rag to wipe his hands on. “You tell him about me?”

  “I didn’t name you, if you’re worried about that…”

  “Why would I worry? He should come looking for me. That would be fun.”

  Billy laughed. “I told him we’d gotten real cozy with the biker who broke his window. He went a little pale. The important thing is, it won’t come back on Cassie, not with a witness, with a bunch of F.D. knowing what he did. He wouldn’t dare.”

  “The police also know. I gave them all the information. Did I mention my brother is a cop?”

  “Jeez, Walt, you’re just full of surprises,” Billy said.

  “Yeah, you don’t know the half of it. So my brother, he said they were looking into this guy. If anyone else had reported him or someone who fits his description for something like that, it should have turned up by now. I told my brother if they ever need witnesses, I’d be there for him, and I was pretty sure Cassie would be, too. I guess it doesn’t hurt that people know about him. He’ll either straighten up or get caught. Either way, he’s not getting away with it.” He handed Billy the rag. “It’s the starter. I’ll get a new one, bring it out tomorrow or the next day. I get parts practically free. You need a car?”

  “No, we’re okay with the other one. Gee, that’s awful nice of you, Walt. I hate to take advantage of you.”

  “You’re not. I like this stuff. Glad to help. I have to find Cassie.” He started to walk away. Then he turned back. “Listen, I got in a little trouble with Cassie and I don’t want to be in the same place with you. What I told you—I work on bikes and do a lot of other things at the stores—that’s true. But one of the other roles I play is owner. I’m the owner.”

  “Of the bike store?” Billy asked. “You own a Harley franchise?”

  “Five of them,” he said. “Almost. Number five won’t close for two months.”

  “Well, holy shit, Walt! Didn’t you think that was important?”

  “To tell the truth, I didn’t,” he said. “It has a funny effect on some people. It had a real strange effect on Cassie, as a matter of fact. She wants to kill me right now. She thinks I was tricking her. I wasn’t. I wasn’t real smart about it, though. I guess I should’ve told her a lot sooner than I did.” He put his hands in his pockets. “Do I need to apologize to you, too?”

  “Hell, no,” Billy laughed. “Good for you, man. Does that mean I have the manager putting in a starter for me?”

  “No,” he said. “The chairman. President. I have eight managers, three directors and two hundred employees, give or take.”

  Billy grinned and shook his head. “Unreal. Um, Walt? You got a little grease on your good shirt there.”

  Walt looked down. “It’s okay. I have another one.”

  While Marty and Julie went home to their families, Cassie stayed at Beth’s for a long time. She and Jerod put together a light supper and visited while Beth slept. It was the first time they’d ever had a long conversation, just the two of them, and he convinced her that no matter how it appeared at the moment, barring unforeseeable complications, Beth was going to pull through this with an excellent prognosis. Cassie knew what those complications were—embolisms, allergic reactions, aplastic anemia—all unusual, all best watched for in the hands of a physician.

  The lab called Jerod’s cell phone and gave him the results of Beth’s blood workup. She was severely anemic—a combination of the chemotherapy’s power to destroy healthy blood cells and her loss of appetite. He was going to take care of that right away, but it explained Beth’s intense fatigue.

  They talked a little while about Walt’s surprise, as well. Jerod didn’t show as much humor about it as the girls had, but neither was he shocked. “I wondered if there was a little more to him than met the eye. Very sharp fellow.”

  “I can’t get over feeling he set me up, tricked me.”

  “You think that?” Jerod asked. “Maybe it’s no more fun being judged as a financial success than it is to be judged as an ordinary biker with few prospects.”

  “He shouldn’t have kept it from me, though.”

  “Perhaps not,” Jerod said. “But try to keep this in perspective, Cassie.”

  “You mean, remember that he didn’t conceal a prison record, but rather a huge success as a businessman?”

  “No, that’s not what I meant at all. Neither one of you is sick. Please, if you care about each other, give yourselves a break. It could be so much worse.”

  “God,” Cassie said. “For a smart woman, I have been really stupid lately….”

  Jerod put a gentle hand against her cheek. “Cassie, Cassie, you’re just trying to figure out who you love and why. It’s okay to be a little confused. But please, now that you’ve had a chance to see it all, weigh it all, remember your perspective. The plus side of all this is heavy.”

  “Yeah,” she said in a whisper.

  When Cassie pulled up to her small house, it was all dark. She should’ve left a light on for Steve. Then she saw someone lurking around her front door and her heart almost stopped. She quickly locked her car doors as the shadowy figure stood. She let out a sigh of relief as she recognized Walt, slowly rising from the front step. Parked not very far away from him, partially concealed by a tree and some shrubs, she saw his bike.

  She got out of the car, but stayed right by it. “What are you doing here?”

  “You won’t call me back,” he said. He lifted his hands; he was bearing gifts again. “I had to at least see you, Cassie. I wanted to sa
y I’m sorry again.”

  “How long have you been here? Waiting?”

  “I don’t know.” He shrugged. “Since five or so. What time is it?”

  “You’ve been sitting there for hours?”

  “I guess. My butt’s asleep.”

  “What have you got there?”

  “Flowers and wine. Grocery-store flowers, jug wine. No cork. I’m not a fancy guy, but I like you to have the best. You and my folks. You know.”

  She laughed a little bit. “Grocery-store flowers?”

  “They look pretty shitty to me, but if that’s what you want… I thought maybe we could put ’em in water, have a couple glasses of this bad wine and talk things over.”

  “Walt, you don’t drink wine when you’re on your bike.”

  “I could, if I…stayed awhile.”

  She slammed the car door closed and walked toward him.

  “If you give me another chance, I promise not to keep anything from you again,” he said.

  “Would you dress the naked lady?”

  “For you, I would. If I dress her, she’ll be wearing a nurse’s uniform.” He grinned largely. “And I could get Property of Cassie tattooed on my biceps.”

  He made her laugh. He always made her laugh. “I was a little upset,” she said.

  “I know. And you were right to be—I shouldn’t have done that. I never mentioned this, but women kept trying to fix me up. My mom, women in the office—they probably all think I’m hopeless. I hated it—it never worked. It was kind of fun getting to know you on my own, having you think I was, you know, just a simple guy who worked hard and would probably never amount to that much. And you went for me, anyway. It was wrong, but it was cool. Made me feel special. But I shouldn’t have…”

  “I was embarrassed,” she said. “I thought I was seeing you for exactly what you were, and it turned out I wasn’t seeing you at all. You must be brilliant, to turn a job at a bike shop into four stores. But I didn’t even see that.”

  “Five,” he said. “I got the store in Reno.”

  “Congratulations.”

  “I’m not brilliant, Cassie. I’m smart enough, but I have smarter people all around me and the smartest thing about me is I know they’re smart, and I listen. Cassie, honey, I hated having you mad at me.”