by A. J. Wells
Maria and I meet in the bathroom, she misses Shay and Bob and I miss Steve. “Sher, are ya in love with Steve?”
“Steve explained love to me the other night, but I still don’t know. I feel all the things he said love is, but I still can’t say I’m in love with him. Yet, I don’t want anyone else. Maybe, I have commitment issues. What about you? I wondered if ya said yes to Bob because ya felt pressured to.”
“No. I love Bob, but I still don’t know him well enough to marry him. I need to know I can trust him to be good to me and Shay. And that includes not leaving us.”
“I made Steve mad at me because I asked him about those things. He says Bob loves you two and he’ll stay. Since he wanted to come home and his wife wouldn’t come with him, he divorced her. I think he’s head strong, and determined when he knows what he wants. Can ya handle that?”
“As long as Shay and I are what he wants, yes.”
“I asked Steve if maybe Bob was anxious for a kid of his own. He said Bob hadn’t wanted kids ‘til he met you. I guess that means he’s gonna stay, don’t you?”
“Sounds like it, but I want to be sure. I was fed a lotta crap before and believed it. But I’m not that naïve anymore. I want time to be sure.”
“Take all the time ya need. Ya have to be sure in your own mind and heart. I plan to.”
“Sher, no man has ever made me feel what Bob does, ya know what I mean. When he kisses me I can hardly breathe and I don’t want to stop, but I’m not a tramp. Shay can’t see those things. He’s already said a few things about Bob being his Dad. I had to tell him Bob’s only a friend. I don’t know what I’m going to tell him about the ring when he notices it. I don’t want to tell him about it yet. Not to hurt Bob, but so as not to hurt Shay if it doesn’t work out.”
“Will Bob understand that?” Maria shrugs. “Then maybe ya need to talk to him about it, or talk to Miss Lili about it. She knows the guys pretty well, maybe she can help ya. How about we talk to her tomorrow?” Maria agrees and we go to bed.
I hear Maria in the bathroom and look at the clock, eleven o’clock. I get up to go to the bathroom. When I knock on the door, Maria says I can come in. She’s going out the other door as I’m coming in. We say good morning and I ask her if she’s going to get a shower. She’s had her shower, so I can have the bathroom.
After my shower, I dress in shorts and a tank top, leaving my hair to air dry. I want to take a look around the island, if I can. Maria and I meet in the hallway and head down the stairs to the living room and on to the kitchen. Mandy’s there making Miss Lili’s lunch. She tells us to help ourselves to coffee, tea, or whatever we want. We grab a cup of coffee and follow her to Miss Lili.
Miss Lili’s sitting next to the pool in a cover up. “Good morning girls.” We return her greeting and join her at the table. “Why aren’t you girls in your bathing suits? When I’m here I, usually, swim every morning. Then I tend to business in the afternoon, unless something comes up. I sleep ‘til eight at home, but here I sleep ‘til ten as often as possible.”
“It’s so quiet, how could you not sleep late?” I sip my coffee and try to keep the glare from the pool outta my eyes.
“Miss Lili, how much of the island can we explore? And how big is it?” Maria has the same idea I do. We want to do some trekking around the island.
“Well girls, you’ll need to take the cart if you’re going to explore, or would you rather have a guide? I can arrange it.” Miss Lili is eating lunch. “You girls have lunch and I’ll have everything ready when you’re finished. Once ya know the island, then ya can take off on your own.”
Mandy comes out with our lunch as Miss Lili gets up to go in to arrange our tour. When we’re finished eating, there’s a cart sitting at the end of the veranda. Maria and I go over to it. A man’s standing with Miss Lili, and they’re having a disagreement. We come closer and they stop arguing. “Maria, Sheralynn, this is Al. He’ll be taking us around the island, since he won’t let me drive.” She’s a little miffed about his insistence that he drive.
We get in the cart and Al takes us to the path to the beach. We ride on a black top path thru trees that umbrella the path and there’s brush just a few feet away. White birds fly up out of the tree tops as we go. Maria and I are looking up to catch a glimpse of them when Miss Lili says, “They’re the usual sea birds, cranes, sea gulls, the occasional pelican, shags, and the usual birds, sparrows, wrens and black birds. We don’t get many scissor-tails or orioles.” We continue to creep along at five miles an hour and go around a curve to come out of the trees onto a vacant beach with white sand. Al stops the cart so we can get out and stroll along the beach, gather some shells and watch crabs scurrying along the water’s edge. Our shoes are on the cart and Al keeps up with us. The sand’s hot so we walk in the edge of the water. Here the surf ripples onto the beach. We see a point and continue toward it and the surf gets rougher as we go. Al hollers, “Dolphins,” and points out into the water.
They’re close to shore so we watch them ‘til they move away. They’re bigger than I’d imagined. The sun reflecting off their gray skin reflects making them shine like silver and give them a fantasy look. One second they’re there and shining and the next they’re gone and then they’re back. It’s like they’re sea fairies, or fire flies from the ocean, only much bigger than insects.
Al has us get back on the cart for the ride to the point. The surf is hitting harder, throwing up spray off the rocks that make up the point. There’s a lookout built there so we stand on it to look out over the Gulf of Mexico. We’re getting wet, but watching the boats and barges creep by is fascinating. Al has to call us back so we can continue our tour. On around the coast of the island we see boats moored in inlets, Al says are all natural. The island is occupied, but kept natural, except for the houses and yards to keep the critters back a ways. We go by a house that’s bigger than Miss Lili’s and she tells us a New York real estate mogul built the house ten years ago, against the island’s building codes. It’s almost three thousand square feet bigger than is legally allowed on the island. We’re on the beach down from the house and it’s not as nice as the first one we were on. This beach has a lot of debris washed up on it and has rock showing through the sand. We putt-putt on around the island and with information from Miss Lili and Al we find out the differences of the surf and beaches on the island. The east side of the island faces the Gulf and has rougher surf and more debris, while the west side of the island is more protected since it faces Texas. We notice the differences in the vegetation, too. The west side is more lush than the east side, because the east side gets more wind and salt spray. We notice the brush and trees tilt inland from the beach there and is less lush.
Then Al cuts inland to get us outta the sun. Miss Lili, even with her huge brimmed hat, is starting to show signs of being pink. When I look at Maria I notice she’s showing signs of sunburn. That makes me wonder what I look like since Maria’s darker than I am. Miss Lili made us wear a hat like hers and we still didn’t dodge the burn. In the shade of the trees I notice a stinging on my skin and Maria seems to be stinging, too. She’s wiping at her shoulders like there’s bugs on them. Miss Lili says we didn’t miss much, just a bluff on the northeast end of the island. The sun bouncing off the water intensifies the sun and will have us in tea baths tonight. Maria and I look at each other. “Tea baths, Miss Lili?” Maria likes homeopathic cures.
“Mandy has the greatest sunburn cure. It’s some kinda tea or teas with other things in it. She fills the tub with it and ya soak in it for about an hour. When ya get out the stingin’ and burnin’ is gone. She won’t tell me what’s in it, so I can’t tell ya.”
Al lets us off at the veranda and we go in to find Mandy waiting for us. “Did ya enjoy the tour?”
“Yes, the island is beautiful, jungle like.” I say.
“Well, your tubs are ready for ya. The sooner ya soak those sunburns the sooner they’ll clear up. One of you young ladies will have to soak in Bob’s and
Steve’s tub. They’re all set up and they’re tepid, so by the time ya get out it’ll be cold. It’s good for the heat of the burn.”
Maria took the guys bathroom and after the soak and the rinse, she came over to get me. “Sher, come look at this.” I go with her and we explore the bathroom that’s set up with the guys’ soaps, colognes and after shaves. We look through the drawers and then go into the bedrooms to explore. We don’t find anything unusual, except tuxedos in the closet. Miss Lili finds us in the rooms and we’re embarrassed. “Curious about the guys? Well, let’s look around, but it’ll have to be our secret.” Miss Lili is the best. She looks with us. We find pictures and Miss Lili explains them. We find shells, rocks, string, fish hooks, marbles and a lotta other “boy” stuff. We look in their jewelry boxes and find crosses, watches, rings, a few strange coins and belt buckles. The drawers are full of clothes to be worn here. Bob likes briefs and Steve likes boxers and they both like shorts and tee shirts. They have five pair of sandals, two pair of dress shoes and two pair of sneakers. We didn’t really discover anything unusual or unique about them. They’re just regular guys, doing regular things and liking regular things.
Al comes around the stair banister, looking for us, as we step out into the hall. Miss Lili is the only one dressed, Maria and I are in robes. “Lili, dinner’s ready when you ladies are.” Maria and I run into our rooms and quickly put on slacks and a blouse. We’re in a hurry so we don’t really look at what we’re putting on. We step out into the hallway and Miss Lili is standing there waiting for us. She has us go back and open the second garment bag and put something on from it and shoes to match. We have to do our hair to match the outfit. When we step out into the hallway again, Miss Lili nods, turns and walks away. She stops at the stairs so we can catch up and we talk as we go down the stairs.
In the living room Al and two men are waiting for us to have dinner. Miss Lili introduces the other men as Charles and James. One is her accountant and one is her attorney. She hasn’t explained exactly who Al is yet. We go in to dinner and the men pull out our chairs and seat us, like gentlemen do. During dinner there’s polite conversation. How do we like the island? Did we enjoy the tour? Did we find any shells we liked? And blab, blab, blab. All polite, all bland and uninteresting. Dessert and coffee will be served on the veranda in about an hour.
We go out to the veranda and they start talking business. Maria and I start to wonder off, but Miss Lili calls us back. She wants us to be there for the business discussion. Then she introduces us as her partners in the business they’re discussing. Now we’re interested. We talk around a few things and at the end, since Charles and James seem to think Miss Lili is being irresponsible with her help within the town, Miss Lili says, “It’s my money and my great, great grandfather’s town and I won’t see it go to ruin. I will keep it goin’ and my partners’ will aide me in doing that, so, while I appreciate ya lookin’ after my interests, financially and legally, my main interest is the town. Now, I see Mandy is bringing the coffee and dessert so we won’t dismiss any further business tonight.” We chat about Bob and Steve’s injuries over dessert and the men leave in the cart for the heliport.
When the men are gone Maria and I talk to Miss Lili. “Miss Lili, if your advisors don’t believe ya should be doing things to help the town, maybe ya should ease up a little. Spend or do a little less than ya have been.”
“Sher, the town is my family’s legacy and I can’t see it go to ruin. It’s something every generation of Bainyers’, now Williams has been charged with since the town was founded. I hope Bob and Steve will continue the legacy, and their wives and children. The money is managed by Charles, meaning he sees to investing the money so it continues to make money for the family and the town. James oversees the legal points of the money management. I have nice things, but not because of the Bainyer money. My husband left all the nice things and a goodly sum to me for my use. That’s how I can live well. I can’t use the Bainyer funds for anything but bettering the town. Buckley was in oil, I’m not sure exactly how it worked, but he owned several oil fields, now I own them and they’re being managed by someone he trusted. Now that’s enough business talk for tonight. You’re supposed to be resting as much as possible. There will be business and I want y’all involved so you’ll know what it’s like since we’re partners.”
Miss Lili, I don’t understand where this involves us. We’re partners only in the pet resort.” Maria is afraid Miss Lili is involving us in more than we’d expected to be involved in.
“Actually, Maria, if Bob and Steve could have traveled, you wouldn’t be here. But this involves you and Sher, because of the very reasons I explained to ya when I suggested the animal shelter and the pet resort. Because certain improvements in the town will bring in more revenue and county and state services that will help the town prosper and take less work by me to keep the town from ruin.”
Maria and I tell her we understand and talk about some of the things we saw today and let her explain more about the island. Then we go to our rooms.
Maria and I meet in the bathroom to discuss what we heard tonight and what the guys had told us about Miss Lili doing what she wanted to. We, also, discuss the tea soak. Maria wonders if she’ll be able to get the recipe for the soak from Mandy. We haven’t had any problems with the sunburns. Then we go to bed.
The next morning Miss Lili wakes us up at nine with a knock on the door telling us we’ll be having company for lunch and to dress from the second garment bag again. We take turns showering and we go thru the garment bags to find something to wear. I notice some of the labels, these aren’t cheap clothes, not even moderately priced. I go to Maria’s room and ask her if she’d noticed the labels. She hadn’t but she looks now. She’s stunned at the amount the clothes must’ve cost. We decide we’re gonna have to talk to Miss Lili about the clothes. We’re dressed in skirts and blouses that must’ve cost a few hundred dollars. We’ll be sure to be careful of them now we know.
Miss Lili is waiting in the hallway again to inspect us. She says, “Today we’ll be meeting with the manager of my company for lunch. He wasn’t supposed to be here ‘til dinner, but he has some inspectors coming tomorrow morning so he needs to be home tonight. So I agreed to meet with him. I wasn’t supposed to have any luncheon meetings ‘til Friday.”
We get coffee and go out to the veranda to have a light breakfast of toasted English muffins and jelly and fruit. Miss Lili briefs us on what we need to know before eleven when Blaine Cavanaugh is supposed to arrive. She says he’s gonna tell how things are going and what new politics regarding the oil industries is being rumored and how it’ll effect the company. She wants us to take notes, because Saturday night there’s going to be a formal dinner with a lotta politicians attending. Maria and I look at each other like “what have we gotten ourselves into?”
We’re introduced to Blaine when he arrives. He’s a fairly young man and handsome. We talk over lunch and over dessert they talk business. Miss Lili turns to us and asks if we have any questions about the new proposed legislation and how it will affect the oil fields. We do and Blaine answers very concisely, then he has to leave to catch his plane home.
After he leaves, Maria asks Miss Lili if Saturday night we’re supposed to feel the politicians out on these proposals. Miss Lili says yes and she intends to put her thoughts on the subject into the pot, too. Okay, so maybe we need to talk to her about “her thoughts.” For the next two hours we discuss the legislation and how Miss Lili doesn’t want it to affect the oil company. We discuss what the politicians will be thinking so we can get around it. Then Miss Lili tells us we’ll be having company for dinner, relatives, and we can change into our jeans if we want to. She laughs as we run to the stairs to get out of these clothes and comfortable, again.
When we come down, we go into the kitchen to ask Mandy if we can help. She puts us to work wrapping potatoes to go on the grill. We won’t be having corn on the cob, too many dentures for that, but we will be having gri
lled fresh vegetables. So we wash asparagus, green beans and cauliflower and wrap them in foil. Miss Lili comes looking for us and sits in the kitchen folding napkins while we talk and work. Al comes in, kisses Mandy and Miss Lili on the cheek and says the grill will be ready in twenty minutes. Miss Lili catches our glances at the kisses, “Girls, didn’t I tell ya, Al’s Mandy’s husband and my little brother.” The three of them laugh at the looks on our faces, Al’s obviously thirty years younger than Lili. “My father married a much younger woman a few years before he died. I was married and living away from home and he couldn’t stand an empty house, or so he said. I think he fell in love.”
Al laughs, “He needed someone to take care of him. He was a cantankerous man as well as I can remember him. But mama loved him, so I guess it worked out okay. She was happy for those few years and he was good to her.”
“So you’re Bob and Steve’s Aunt and Uncle?” Maria’s wondering.
“I’m Steve’s Uncle, but I claim Bob, too. If Steve was around, Bob was usually with him and they both call me Uncle. Y’all can call me Al, if ya want to.”
“When are the vultures susposed to arrive?” Miss Lili asks Al.
“They said they’d be here about four thirty.”
Mandy’s seems a bit put out, “Vultures is right. They’re distant cousins and think you owe them somethin’.” Maria and I look at Mandy and then Miss Lili.
Miss Lili shrugs, “Dad made his own money and it had nothing to do with their ancestors so I guess then can ‘think’ all they want. Besides, the money’s tied up in the town. I can’t even spend any of it, not that they believe it.”
“Miss Lili, Maria and I can have dinner in our rooms, if that will help the evening.”