by Jill Barnett
Kathryn just smiled and rolled the last section of wall. “I love the new color.”
“See, Mom? Take a lesson from this.” Annalisa held up a sponge roller. “People can still change even when they’re old.”
“What?” Kathryn said as both she and Laurel turned. “Just kidding.”
Kathryn threw an old roller at her and missed. “You there, with all that milky youth. Watch it. Life can still bite you, kiddo.” Kathryn knew she had a lifetime of bite wounds. She was still recovering, but she and Laurel no longer tiptoed around each other. There were no more hurt feelings and long silences. Their moments together, like this weekend, were more precious to her than all the lost years. The past was just that—past. Kathryn had learned to live in the now. “Let’s clean this mess up.
“That’s right,” Annalisa said. “Those brownies are waiting in the kitchen. I need chocolate.” She left the room.
“God, that child can eat.” Kathryn folded up the tarp. “She always amazes me.”
“She has her father’s metabolism,” Laurel said, and took the paint can to the back porch.
They sat together at the kitchen table, eating brownies while Annalisa talked about what they could eat for dinner and they made plans to return to the mainland.
“I have to take the early boat,” Laurel said. “I need to pack.”
“I forgot,” Annalisa said. “You’re going with Jud to Vegas Monday. Your first trip together.”
Laurel smiled and Kathryn understood that her daughter was finally happy. She stood. “I almost forgot.” Kathryn took a grocery bag from the counter and handed it to Annalisa. “Here. I bought you something.”
“Is it chocolate?”
“You haven’t had enough?” Laurel asked.
Annalisa groaned. “Mamie . . .Brides magazine. Again?”
“Someone in this family has to have a traditional wedding. I’m counting on you, dear.”
“Matthew and I are too new. You could do something foreign and put yourself out there. Go on dates. Then you could have the wedding.”
“Me? I’m too old.”
“Match.com,” Annalisa said and wiped the chocolate off her fingers. “Look at this.” She opened her laptop and showed them the dating site. She’d already pulled up prospects for Kathryn, who watched patiently, but thought privately she would rather have her skin flayed inch by inch than try Internet dating at over sixty-five retirement age. But she listened patiently, promised to think about it, then herded them into the living room to rehang the freshly painted display shelves.
When they finished, one shelf in the center of the wall was still empty. Annalisa stepped back. “What can we put on that one?”
“Something special. Wait here.” Kathryn left and came back a few minutes later with a white vase, simple in design, fluid, innocent, perfect.
“That’s my vase, Mother,” Laurel said. “The one you made years ago that I love. You took it from my bedroom?”
Kathryn set the vase on the shelf and stood away from it. “No. I made it a few days ago.”
Epilogue
Cale found his passion for the fragile, elusive art of healing again. He had originally devoted himself to it with an unyielding drive that came from betrayal so deep and painful he could hardly live with it. So young, with a heart broken by a girl who was destined, even then, for his brother. Funny, how a broken heart would send him to find his calling in medicine that healed the deepest passages of the heart.
And Cale wasn’t certain he would be where he was today if she hadn’t hurt him so long ago. He’d come to terms with Victor. His father was dead and he could never say to him what he wanted to say, ask him what he wanted to ask.
His early life was filled with tragedy, and later, losing his Robyn was the most tragic of all. He had always thought he never understood his calling. But looking back on it, perhaps he wanted to save lives because he learned of death so young. Some say life prepares you for its tough times, and perhaps he had lost those he loved because he needed to understand what death was. Perhaps medicine, surgery, and his need to perform it was, and always would be, his way of balancing things.
Less than an hour ago, he’d finished a thirteen-hour surgery, repaired the heart of a seventeen-year-old girl who wanted to go to med school. Cale took off his surgical cap and tossed it on the desk, then signed his name to the patient’s surgery chart and finished making his notes.
For just an instant, he glanced back at the operating room, where he had spent those hours under the hot lamps, holding that girl’s heart in his hands, a miracle in itself. In his own way, he was saying, You’re not taking this one. We’re keeping her. And in every surgery he fought back with a strength he believed was taught him by his brother. Cale didn’t always win, but he fought like hell not to lose.
He heard the call buzzer from CCU, where his patient was recovering. The green light was on, but not flashing an emergency. The internal phone line rang a second later.
“She’s awake, Doctor.”
“I’ll be right there.” He sat back, stretching, because his back was sore and his muscles ached. A good ache. He understood he was given a gift. Medicine, lives, people were no longer part of a game where he fixed the dice so he could always win.
Cale thought about his father again, the man who wanted to control everything. Poor Victor. Cale understood that he was the living, breathing reminder of Victor’s mistakes, of his weaknesses, and for all his power and need to control, Victor was not a man who was strong enough to face that. It must have been terribly hard for a man of his immense pride to look at his son and see what he hated about himself. He was a success in the eyes of the business world, a dismal failure as a father and as a human being, and he knew it. Cale could forgive him for it, because he knew he wasn’t Victor, although there were times in his life when he started down the same roads, driven by emotion and pain and self-doubt.
Unlike Victor, he loved his sons and they knew it. He didn’t use them as pawns in his life. They were all men in the same family who loved one another openly, in the same way they loved the women in their lives.
Cale stood up, stretched once more, and left the room, heading down the bustling hallways of the cardiac wing. As he walked, he was struck by a memory of Victor, white-haired, his face tanned, walking toward him all those years ago, tall, confident, the power in his steps, the sheer image of him as a man, and the impression he made.
His young patient with her dream waited for him, and like his son, she might be part of a new generation of doctors. He wished for them an easier time of it. So Cale walked a little faster, stood a little taller, a man who had learned to stand on his own, but chose to stand with those who loved him. He paused outside the room for an instant, then pushed open the doors, because he knew he had somewhere important to go.
Acknowledgments
Over the years, I’ve heard authors talk about books that come easily, like gifts from God. Someday I’d like to find one. This was not it. A thank you to Linda Goodman at the Avalon library and to those islanders who shared their memories of Catalina. For her medical knowledge and expertise, and especially her time, I thank Dr. Barbara Snyder, the wonderful Katherine Stone.
Her friendship and generosity are a great gift to me and I owe so much to Meryl Sawyer, who opened her incomparable Newport Beach home to me and showed me the ins and outs of the isles. For her unflagging belief in this book and my ability to write it, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Marcy Posner.
For your understanding, patience, and love, bless you, Kassandra Corinne Stadler, Jan Barnett, Kelly Walker, and Linda Crone. A special thanks to Kasey for her keen eye and nod of approval when I was mired in my late-night searches for the right language. You always have been and always will be my greatest gift.
And finally, to every woman who lives with her choice to give up a child. There are no words eloquent enough to thank you. But know that we, the women who received your gift, understand better than anyone how str
ong you are.
Reading Group Guide
By Jill Barnett
Questions and Topics for Discussion
1. The Bannings and Peytons are the real victims of the automobile crash that killed Rudy, Rachel, and Jimmy. Victor’s grandsons come to live with him and he makes a concerted effort to drive them apart. What is it about Victor that makes him believe in his motives? Do you understand or agree with his reasons? Kathryn moves in with Jimmy’s mother for Laurel’s sake. Why do you think she really made the move? What is it about Kathryn that does not allow her to separate herself from Jimmy’s death? Does this make her pitiable or sympathetic? Why?
2. A recurring theme in the book is about the mistakes we make in the name of love. Describe each character’s failure at love and their capacity for understanding what love is.
Which characters change? How? Which characters don’t change? Name a scene that tells you they cannot change. What does the characters’ ability or inability to change say about the nature of love, family, and loyalty?
Victor writes Cale off as irresponsible and too easily distracted by women, and believes there is no potential for greatness within him. Do you think his perception impacts Cale positively or negatively or both? Why?
3. How does Laurel both exacerbate and heal the wounds between Cale and Jud? Do you think she ultimately has a positive or negative effect on their lives? Why or why not? How are Cale and Jud different from Victor? In what ways do they exemplify the lessons he taught them? How does the next generation reflect a growth and change in male relationships?
4. A prominent part of the book describes the experience of young love and burgeoning sexuality. Laurel misunderstands sexual thrill as love and pays a terrible price for it. Is her response believable? Does her failure to love and understand love make her more or less sympathetic? How does a woman know or learn the difference? Do you believe that Laurel’s love was true in Part Two? Did you feel differently in Part Three and by the end of the book? Why?
5. Many of the main characters have histories that haunt them. How does the past become an influential part of the present? Discuss the points at which memory and mistakes affect a character’s actions or change how a moment is played out. Do any of the characters ever fully escape their individual and collective pasts?
6. What motivates Jud to pursue Laurel? Were Jud and Laurel meant to be? Should Cale and Laurel have been the destined lovers?
7. Kathryn’s grief over the loss of her husband colors everything, including her interactions with her daughter. Do you understand her reaction? Kathryn fears the Bannings will continue to destroy them. When she warns Laurel away from Cale, then Jud both at the cost of her relationship with her daughter—was she right? Was her intention to save her daughter worth the ultimate damage to their relationship? Do you believe she is a good mother?
8. In Part Three, we come to see who these characters have become after thirty years. How much did the turbulence, the social and sexual influences of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s affect the earlier decisions of the characters? Discuss how their decisions would have been different if they were facing the same problems today.
9. Laurel’s secret about Greg O’Hanlon haunts her for years. How do you feel about her original decision? Even in 1970, was it justified? When she finally seeks him out, should she have told him the truth? Should she have told Jud and Cale?
10. Victor spends years collecting artwork. What drives him to do it? Why does he hide the pieces away? What does that say about Victor? Is he a man capable of love? How does his relationship with Kathryn in Part Three change or further your opinion of him? How did you feel about Victor by the end of the book?
11. Thematically, what is the purpose of the third generation? How are they like their parents and grandparents? How are they different?
12. Which character learns the most by the end of the book? Which character has changed the most? How did Victor and Kathryn’s weaknesses, strengths, and actions influence the biggest changes?
13. At its heart, The Days of Summer is about characters who must face difficult choices, terrible pain, and betrayal. This is certainly what makes the characters seem so damaged, yet allows for their dramatic rise to grace. Do you believe the characters are victims of their own self perceptions, choices, and realities? Is there one character you would like to have seen change more? If so, who and why?
A Conversation with the Author
Q: Was there a particular place that inspired the idea for you to write The Days of Summer?
A: I was born and raised in Southern California, a very idyllic area along the coast, and spent time on Catalina Island, quite a magical place. I remember the first time I went there and saw the flying fish. Amazing. When I was thinking about certain years for the expanse of my idea, I remembered my time on the island in 1970. It is quite wonderful to write about a place you know in your bones. I know California, how the lantana grows each spring and what the air smells and tastes like, the weather patterns and how the state has changed over the forty plus years I was there. But as with any story, once the characters exist inside any place, real or fictional, creative imagination takes over and the setting becomes a place unique to those characters and their lives.
Q: Where do your ideas come from?
A: Every book comes to me from a different place or in a different way. Sometimes something visual will spark an idea—you see something on the news or read an article and suddenly a thought becomes “what if?”
Q: Do you write about your own experiences?
A: Not really. I write fiction. Like most writers I do often write what I know, yet there is a definite line between the imagined and experience. The characters lead you down an imagined path, one that exists inside actual human experience. But the revelation of story comes to me from the craft of writing itself. My stories have themes tied to my vision because I always have something important to say about relationships, the complications associated with love, human nature, and my favorite topic, inhuman nature—the things we do to mess up our lives.
Q: You write about Kathryn and her daughter Laurel, whose lives are changed forever by a single moment of tragedy. Why a widow and her child?
A: I just said I didn’t write about my own experiences, didn’t I? Well, remember I write fiction and get to lie for a living. Here’s my experience: a few years ago, I said goodbye to my husband one morning and that night a policeman stood at my door to tell me he was dead. I know what Kathryn had to face. While her story is fictional, made up completely inside my head, I lived with the same kind of fear, especially when it came to raising our daughter.
Q: The secrets of the characters’ pasts and their effect in the present are throughout the book. Why this theme in this book?
A: I write family dramas and all families have secrets. We all make mistakes in the name of love or let feeling color our decisions. Our heads and hearts guide us. While some secrets are born from shame and fear of humiliation, most come from love. Within families and in life, the absolute truth can damage and hurt people. Often the reason to keep a secret is to not hurt someone you care about.
Q: Destiny is an important part of how the Banning and Peyton families are bound together and keep crossing paths throughout the years. Do you believe in coincidence?
A: I believe there is no such thing as coincidence. Certainly not in my experience. Everything in human life is cause and effect. There has to be some grand plan, one that is for some people very complicated. Often in my life I’ve seen things that disprove coincidence. You move a thousand miles away and meet an old friend on the street. You have a dream about someone you haven’t seen in twenty years and the next day they call. I believe all love is destined.
Q: What comes more easily to you, writing the beginning or the end of a book?
A: That’s easy. The end. I often know very early in the process what line will be the last in a book. So often about halfway through a book, the last page has come to me quite
suddenly and seemingly out of the blue. Emotion is difficult to nail sometimes, particularly in the first draft or when the characters have yet to reveal themselves. So I always write an emotional scene the moment it comes to me because emotion is most honest when in its first pure form.
Q: What’s next?
A: I’m working on another California-set book, Northern California this time, about a woman’s struggle to keep her family together and about women’s relationships with their children and with men. I have something to say about how our society treats women of different ages, something I think all women will relate to. I know the book is like a gift to me. I’ve never had a story come to me the wonderful way this book is coming. It’s great to be a writer.
Praise for the novels of Jill Barnett
“[Jill Barnett] soars to new heights of storytelling.”
Book Page
Praise for Dark Places In The Heart
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“Fast-paced and provocative . . .Dark Places In The Heart is a powerful novel about destiny, choices, family ties, and the way they’re all connected in our lives.”—Kristin Hannah, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of The Nightingale
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“Jill Barnett takes readers on a lushly written, deeply emotional journey into the darker recesses of the human heart.”—Susan Elizabeth Philips, New York Times Bestselling Author of Call Me Irresistible
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Tragedy, vengeance, love, and obsession are forces at work in this captivating page-turner. Full of fascinating unforgettable characters and unruly passions that readers will be talking about long after they finish the book.”—Megan Chance, Critically Acclaimed, Award-Winning Author of A Drop of Ink