Vacancy: A Love Story

by Tracy Ewens

  Her parents and Annabelle had arrived. Hollis could hear them from inside the cabin, but she stayed put because she wasn’t exactly ready for the whole team and the looks of concern. It had been almost over a month since she’d seen Middle Two. Technically, Hollis had two middle sisters, so when they were little, she declared them Middle One and Middle Two after reading Cat in the Hat one afternoon. Eyes still closed, Hollis could hear Anna’s flowery calm voice as everyone greeted each other and caught up. If Hollis was the megaphone of the Jeffries family, Middle Two was certainly the whisper, so when she joined her outside and gave her a big hug, Hollis held on a little tighter than normal. She’d missed Anna, needed her without even knowing.

  “How are you?” her sister asked, still holding on.

  Hollis nodded and gave no response. She squeezed her one last time. Anna would understand. She was the most emotionally available of all of them. The youngest tenured professor in the English department, she taught nothing but Shakespeare and was forever trying to convince their family and anyone else who would listen that Shakespeare was “totally accessible” and “really not that difficult at all.” That was crap because everyone who wasn’t holed up with dusty and musty leather tomes of “jibber jabber,” as their father liked to tease, knew Shakespeare was a better-left-at-high-school pain in the ass.

  “My heart is ever at your service,” Anna said as they pulled apart, and Hollis looked into her sister’s dark eyes. All the Jeffries girls had some version of their father’s silver-gray eyes, but Annabelle’s were the darkest, almost the color of wet concrete, which was ironic because she was the most fairy like. Gentle and often in her head unless she was quoting something or humming a song no one recognized, Annabelle Jeffries was the closest to magical Hollis had ever been.

  “Honestly? Bill even has a quote for your sister’s latest crash and burn?” Hollis asked, smarting a little as she used Matt’s words from the Party on the Pier.

  Annabelle nodded. “Bill, or Will as I like to tell my students, understood every facet of the human experience.”

  “Great. Maybe I should read Taming of the Shrew while I’m here at summer detox.”

  “Maybe The Tempest.”

  “Isn’t that the one on the island? The one you took me to with the guy from Star Trek?”

  Anna chuckled. “Patrick Stewart, who is a classically trained and phenomenal actor.”

  “And… also from Star Trek.”

  “Yes, I suppose. You are correct. We did see The Tempest in the city. You fell asleep right after intermission.”

  “That’s because you wouldn’t let me get an espresso at the break. All those waves and tinkling music without caffeine.” Hollis leaned on the white railing of the patio.

  Anna pulled off the overnight bag still on her shoulder and set it on one of the Adirondack chairs. “So, Garrett seems nice.”

  “He is. She’s in love. He’s in love. It’s all good.”

  “And how are you?”

  “Well, he is a great guy, but I don’t think they’re looking for a third wheel.”

  “Not what I meant.” Anna leaned shoulder to shoulder with Hollis and looked out over the bay too.

  “I know. I’m fine, good. I even painted this railing, fence, whatever it’s called. I painted it… well, some of it.” Hollis nodded and extended her hands in a gesture of presentation. “You guys missed Party on the Pier. Don’t worry, it was the same as usual. Everything here stays the same, doesn’t it?”

  “I don’t know. You tell me. Is he here?”

  “Who?”

  Annabelle gave her a “don’t be daft” look, and Hollis lost the ability to pretend.

  “Yes. He works at his parents’ coffee shop. He’s married.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Appears so. Well, he left Stanford, remember?”

  “I do. None of that ever made any sense. I thought for sure you two would get married. You were inseparable and then… you weren’t.”

  “Married? Oh Lord, that would have never happened. I’m not exactly marriage material. It was college and we were—” Hollis was unsure how to finish what felt like an awkward defense, something a person might put up to try to get out of a speeding ticket. She could tell Anna wasn’t buying it, so she stopped.

  “Hollis, you were completely in love with him and the few times we saw him, he appeared to feel the same.”

  Hollis shook her head. “I think ‘completely in love’ is a little dramatic.”

  “So even after all these years, you’re still not discussing him. Maybe I should go get some coffee and ask him myself.”

  “Be my guest.” Hollis knew her sister would never be so bold, but the thought of it had her wondering what that scenario would look like. What would Matt say had happened to them?

  Hollis looked out over the water and again tried to chase Matt from her mind. As if sensing the effort, he was suddenly right there in the center of the bay. Dear sweet Lord! So much for clearing her mind now. He and Toro, the resident all-things-water guy, were out on paddleboards in nothing more than low-slung swim trunks. Hollis had a sudden intake of breath at all that skin, a touch familiar, but mostly new. Her sister must have noticed because she followed her line of sight and being typical Annabelle discreet, she sighed, “Oh my.”

  “Yeah, he saved you a trip. He’s right there on the water.” Hollis pointed.

  “Which one?”

  “Anna, you’re a college professor, this one should be easy. Do you remember Matt being a big dark Hawaiian guy?”

  She shook her head, still entranced, and Hollis said, “Down girl, he’s on the right.”

  “I’m not sure what went wrong, big sister, but Lord, either of those would be hard to leave behind.”

  “I need a drink.”

  “Uncle Mitch said you weren’t drinking anymore.” Anna pulled her eyes off the bay and put her bag back on her shoulder.

  Hollis shook her head. Great, the entire family now knew she’d been on a bender that might have put some frat boys to shame. This was why she didn’t share, this was why she did things on her own, Hollis rationalized and followed Anna back into the cabin. Before closing the screen door, she took one more look as Matt pushed a paddle into the glassy surface of the water, his body flexing and glistening under the afternoon sun. Oh my was right, she thought, turning to finally face her family.

  “How long will she be in Canada?” Annabelle asked hours later as the three of them sat out on the pier, legs dangling.

  “She didn’t say, but she won’t be able to make it back for the wedding.” Sage was now lying on the dock.

  “She sent a Mother’s Day card and some weird box thing that holds worry dolls, I guess.” Hollis added with a “what the hell?” face she often reserved for Meg.

  “Well, at least she thought to send something.” Sage, the nice sister, added.

  Hollis leaned back on her hands as the sun set around them and the water gently lapped against the pier. It was quiet, each of them most likely in that belonging-to-something moment sisters often shared and not for the first time, they missed Meg.

  “She’ll be home for Christmas this year, that’s what she told Mom,” Annabelle offered, breaking the silence. “I think she said she’ll even be home for the Big Game.”

  Sage, who had the misfortune of sitting between Hollis and Annabelle, rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on. Not tonight, please.”

  It was too late, Hollis already had six fingers up indicating the number of times Stanford had beat Cal in a row. Six years of undefeated victory, and Hollis took every opportunity to rub it in her sisters’ faces. All three of them attended UC Berkeley, the school of their parents, even though Hollis had paved a perfectly decent path for them by attending the rival school. She had thought at least one of them would follow in her footsteps, but they all chose Cal Berkeley, so Hollis had to be diligent any time there was mention of their house divided.

  “We didn’t lose the game, we ran out of time,
” Anna said, reaching across to pull Hollis’s fingers down.

  “Wait, that’s not Shakespeare.” Hollis giggled like they were kids.

  “I know. It’s in the faculty lounge. The new football coach put it up. It’s Vince Lombardi.”

  “What, you losers don’t have any of your own coaches to quote so you have to borrow from Vince?”

  “Hollis,” Sage warned and smirked at the same time.

  “Don’t laugh at her,” Annabelle set her half-finished glass of sangria down on the pier, probably so she wouldn’t throw it at Hollis.

  “You know what I don’t get? You don’t even like football. Every year, we watch the game and you have no idea what is going on,” Hollis said.

  “That is not true. I can follow along and even if I can’t, who cares? I don’t like to lose, and I have to represent.”

  “Oh my God, it’s too late for all of you. I’m sorry you went to the wrong school.”

  Sage and Annabelle shook their heads.

  “I think this could be our year,” Sage said. “I read an article in the paper. We have a new receivers coach.”

  Hollis shook her head, realizing it had felt like forever since she’d even read a newspaper. “Oh, well, there you have it, Middle Two. This is the year,” she mocked.

  She and Sage looked to Annabelle, who suddenly appeared lost and ready to go in.

  “Anna?”

  “What?”

  “Receivers, care to join in the conversation?”

  Annabelle shook her head and while Sage visibly tried not to laugh, Hollis lay back on the pier and felt the same satisfaction she felt when she used to kick Annabelle’s ass in checkers. It was normal for sisters to have a healthy competitiveness, but maybe the Jeffries women were crazy. It was entirely possible, Hollis thought as she waited for Anna to strike again. It was silent, the calm before the storm. She’d made Anna blush, so this was far from over. Right as she remembered seeing Matt on that paddleboard, her sister tapped into her creepy mind-reading ability and made her move.

  “Sage, you remember Matt, don’t you?” Annabelle said in that crisp distinct professor voice Hollis hated.

  “I do. Well, I do now that Hollis and I bumped into him a couple of months ago. Is he still around?” Sage asked, now baiting Anna.

  Damn middles, they’re ganging up again.

  “He sure is. In fact, we saw him out on the water earlier today. He’s a bit more… developed than I remember him when we were growing up. Hollis, Matt’s development, do you care to join the conversation?”

  Hollis laughed—she couldn’t help it. She couldn’t decide which was funnier: her sisters’ exaggerated conversation as if they were talking to a kindergarten class or picturing the look on Matt’s face if he’d heard them calling him “developed.” Matt’s face. It occurred to her she could no longer call up his expressions or the look of him, certainly not the older him. Which was probably a good thing because she wasn’t going to be around long enough to need that information.

  Annabelle was reveling in having turned the tables, and this time, Sage joined her.

  Hollis put her hands over her head in mock surrender.

  “That’s right, give up. I win.” Annabelle was kicking her feet and doing a seated victory dance.

  She almost made it too easy. Hollis reached an arm behind Middle Two and gently but firmly pushed her into the water.

  Anna surfaced, hands flailing now for a different reason. “You… that was… shoot, you are… incorrigible!”

  “Oh, a two-point word even soaking wet. Well done, professor,” Hollis said.

  Sage reached out a hand to help her back up on the dock. Hollis would have offered, but no way she was giving Anna that opportunity. Soaked to the bone, her sister glared at her, looking little more than eight years old.

  “Now what kind of example would I be setting for my young, impressionable sisters if I gave up that easily?”

  Anna looked to Sage, who ran into the cabin to get a towel. When she returned, they sat laughing as Middle Two dried off and once again accepted defeat.

  Sage stood. “Okay, well, now that there appears to be a truce, I need to go rescue Garrett from Dad and Uncle Mitch. When I was getting the towel, they were breaking out the camping trip albums.”

  “Oh, shi—oot. Hurry before they get to the trip where you cut your own bangs. The man will run.” Hollis sat back up as Sage flipped her the pinky and walked back into the house. One night, around the dinner table, Meg had said something that started an argument—none of them could remember what it was now—but that was the first night Annabelle flipped everyone the pinky. When their mother asked her about the gesture, Anna had said it was the way people flipped each other off in Chinese. For some reason, not one of them ever fact-checked it. The gesture stuck and from that point on, anytime one of them was pissed at the other, joking or not, they flipped the pinky.

  “Do you want to tell me what happened or when you’re coming home?” Anna asked, wringing out the bottom of her blouse.

  “Do you want me to push you in again?” Hollis tried to dodge the question.

  “I’m serious. Tell me, please, so I can stop worrying.” Her eyes had a way of soliciting the truth, even rimmed in smeared mascara.

  Hollis took a deep breath and let it out slowly, as if that could somehow help her find the words. “It’s not a big deal. I’m fine. We’re having some issues with a new client. My new client.”

  “Okay. That doesn’t seem like a reason to drop everything.”

  “I didn’t. I’m still working. I needed some time.”

  “Is it helping?”

  “The time?”

  “Yes.”

  Hollis lay back on the dock and Annabelle joined her, both of them turning to face the other. “I think so, yes. It’s helping.”

  Anna took her hand and they were again quiet.

  “So, do you think paddling around on that board gave him that body?”

  Hollis smiled and was again thankful for her sister. She knew there was no point in pushing because Hollis never asked for help. Why was that?

  “I’m not sure, Anna. Did you want me to ask him?”

  “Yes. Get on that, will you?” Annabelle stood up and without a word walked toward the house.

  “Literally? Are you saying I should literally get on that?” Hollis asked, taking the upper hand again. Anna was great at eluding, so Hollis liked nothing more than being blunt to throw her off.

  “Goodnight, Hollis.”

  “Goodnight, Middle Two. I love you.”

  “I love you too. Be sure to let me know if those swim trunks have a drawstring or Velcro when you take them off,” Annabelle said quickly and closed the back door.

  “Shit,” Hollis said to no one, but still looked around like that crazy mother was going to appear to chastise her.

  Anna had gotten the last word. Hollis should have held back the “I love you.” That’s what opened it up, she thought as she gazed up at the night sky now practically dripping in starlight. The last word, last laugh, the win—that’s what it meant to share the Jeffries name. Hollis was again alone on the pier and wondered if those instincts ingrained in her had helped and hurt her in equal measure.

  Chapter Seven

  Matt and Toro paddled in right as the sun was setting and by the time they put their equipment away, the night air had turned chilly. It had been a perfect day to be on the water and it had been far too long, Matt realized. Toro Kapule, which literally translated to “the magic,” had opened the kayak and paddleboard rental near Mitchell’s Cove about seven years ago when he retired from surfing and moved to Tomales Bay. He’d taught Matt how to get the most from his board a few years ago and since Matt had been in town more lately, Toro made a point to go out with him as much as possible, as long as Matt agreed to bring the coffee. Coming from Hawaii, Toro was understandably a coffee snob, and he’d long ago dubbed the Coast Roast sold exclusively at The Bean locations to be the “Best coffee
on the planet. Period.” His name was fitting because Toro was one of the most fascinating people Matt had ever known. He remained completely focused and centered in a way Matt found next to impossible. He was a living, breathing example of every positive affirmation out there and on top of it all, he was probably twice the size of Matt and ripped like a superhero from the comic books he used to read as a kid.

  Matt pulled on sweatpants and a hoodie in the makeshift hut near the boards.

  “You bring coffee?” Toro asked on the other side of the curtain.

  “Two pounds ground for a French press and a thermos is by my bag.”

  “Aw, yeah. Time to warm from within while watching the gift of that sunset. Thank you, my friend.”

  My friend. For some reason, those words stuck out for Matt every time Toro said them. Matt wasn’t big on friends. Maybe it was the only child thing, maybe it had to do with running his own business. Whatever it was, he called very few people “friend.” Matt had never minded being alone until he realized it was because he never had to be alone. Hollis had been with him for most of his life growing up and when they went to college. She’d been his best friend and when their love story didn’t work out, he’d lost her touch and her friendship.

  Sometimes, Matt wondered which was worse, and then glancing up to see her on the pier with her sisters, he knew that it was similar to which bay he liked more. There was one kind of pain in losing a lover and another in the loss of a friend. She’d been everything he ever imagined wanting in a person, not just a woman. The passion, the laughter, the endless debates and conversation… she’d pushed him and loved him in equal measure. When that was all taken away, he must have been in some kind of daze because try as he may, he still wasn’t able to reconcile why he hadn’t fought. Why he said he wanted her happiness and let her go. What kind of a man does that?

  Matt heard a deep sigh and pulled the curtain open to see Toro with the thermos cup in his hand and his eyes closed.