Cottage by the Creek

by Elizabeth Bromke

  Frowning, he rounded the table and stood behind his seat. Between them, a plate of crackers and cheese and one with sliced fruit and vegetables sat waiting. Chips and salsa took up one corner, and a bowl of salad with plastic wrap pinched around stainless tongs took up another. In a small cooler next to the table, its lid propped open, were water bottles and cans of Arizona Iced Tea. It was a hodge-podge of a meal—maybe Mercy had planned it out, too (no real main course, just snacks), but Clara realized if it were any fancier, she might need to expect a proposal.

  “What have I done?” Jake asked.

  “You’ve set the bar,” Clara replied. “I pity the fool who has to follow this.” She spread her hand across their table and out to the sunset-kissed water.

  “Well, maybe there won’t be one,” he replied, grinning mischievously.

  “Won’t be one what?” she asked.

  “A fool who has to follow?” he winced, but she glowed inside, laughing with him at the lame joke but inwardly taken.

  Sitting back down, she propped her chin in one hand and let her eyes follow him. “Maybe you’re right.”

  It was unusual for Clara to date at all, much less go out with a slightly older man with a daughter. And one as good looking as Jake. Even so, she felt immediately comfortable in his presence. Protected. Safe. Despite the fact they were teetering on the upper deck of the Birch Bell.

  He sat too, shaking his head. “It’s nothing, really. I mean, I basically brought you to my job.”

  His backtracking was adorable, and Clara realized that was as good an ice-breaker conversation as any. She answered, “Tell me about it.”

  “My job?”

  “Yes,” she replied. “Like, what is the craziest thing you’ve seen out here?”

  Chapter 14—Kate

  When Matt arrived back at the Inn, the girls had just left for the beach, arm in arm, their relationship rejuvenated. Kate wasn’t certain this was a good thing, after all.

  “I had an odd interaction with Vivi,” she said to him as she poured two glasses of wine.

  “What happened?” he asked, accepting his glass and following her to the back porch. It had become their routine. A drink with a view of the lake each night. Sometimes, her guests would be out there, too. If that were the case, she and Matt would move down to the shoreline and walk together, offering themselves and the visitors more privacy.

  She answered lightly. “Oh, I don’t know. I might have been imagining it.” Maybe she was. After all, Sarah didn’t much seem to mind Vivi’s implication that she had a crush on Jake. Then again, Jake Hennings was quite a looker. Maybe any girl in Birch Harbor would admit to having a harmless crush on him.

  Maybe he was that dad. The hot one. Lately, tunnel vision on Matt had set in. He was the only hot dad in her life. Maybe she’d better open her eyes a little. If not for her own benefit, for Clara and Sarah’s.

  But it wasn’t only Vivi’s implication that Sarah had a crush on Jake that rubbed Kate wrong. It was also Vivi’s implication that Kate and her sisters were only around to swoop in on local men. As if they were black widows.

  “What was it?” Matt pressed, lowering his glass once they were seated, alone, on the outdoor loveseat.

  Kate set her gaze on the water, debating whether she ought to stick her nose into Matt’s parenting. Would she have wanted that? If one of the boys was exhibiting such behavior, would Kate want a close friend to speak up? She liked to think so. She raised her hands. “Okay, well, this is just my observation. I might be way off base.”

  “I can handle it,” Matt answered.

  Kate eyed him, then pushed on. “Okay, first thing’s first. Vivi is so smart, Matt. Very smart. And she’s beautiful. And I know she has a good heart.”

  “Cut to the chase, Kate. What happened?”

  Blinking, Kate answered point blank, “She has a problem with you and me being together.” Matt took a deep breath and crossed his arms. She added quickly, “But I expected that, of course.” Matt started to reply, but Kate held up her hand and lowered her chin, focusing on him with as serious and calm an expression as she could muster. “It’s not just with me, though. She said something along the lines of, all you Hannigan women do is chase men.”

  Matt’s face fell into a deep frown, and Kate pressed her mouth into a thin line. Maybe she shouldn’t have said anything. What good would it do?

  “That’s offensive,” Matt replied simply. “I’ll talk to her.”

  “No, no. I don’t want you to talk to her, I just… I just wanted to air it out, I guess.”

  “No, I’m going to talk to her, Kate. She has no right to be rude.”

  Kate felt herself backtracking involuntarily, rationalizing what she’d just reported. “She’s uncomfortable. Her dad is dating again, and that’s awkward for any girl. Especially a teenager. Talking to her will make it worse,” Kate reasoned.

  “But she can’t get away with treating people like that,” Matt replied. “Especially you.”

  “Well, can we let this one slide? I really only mentioned it to vent. You know? Anyway, teenage girls can be like that, Matt. Trust me, I know.”

  He seemed to consider this point, taking a long sip of his drink and remaining quiet for a few moments. Kate thought back to when Ben and Will were in high school. How different it was to see the experience of a teenage boy compared to her own experience with sisters and girlfriends. And now the interactions of the next generation of Birch Harbor teen queens.

  “I know, too,” he muttered, letting out a long sigh. “I know, too.”

  Kate debated whether to press him, but it was a hard decision. Maybe he had something he wanted to air out, too?

  “Do you want to talk about it?” she asked, her voice soft. Open.

  Matt flicked a glance to Kate, then pulled a face. “Well, okay.”

  Kate shifted her weight away from him and opened her shoulders, setting her glass down on the table and resting her hands in her lap. “I’m all ears.” Maybe they’d stay ahead of the drama. Maybe she was right to mention Vivi’s comment and open the door to discussing how things might go as Matt and Kate’s relationship grew more and more serious.

  He uncrossed his arms and ran his hands down the thighs of his shorts, meeting her gaze at last. “Vivi had some friend trouble when she lived with her mom. Nothing too serious, at first. Teasing, mostly. She seemed to find a fault with everyone and point it out. Even when she was little. Her mom didn’t want to deal with it. When Vivi was in sixth grade, she revealed one of her best friend’s secrets to a whole group of boys. I don’t even know the secret. It was something stupid that happened at a sleepover. Like the poor girl burped or laughed so hard, soda blew out of her nose.”

  Kate winced. For the girl and for Matt. Even for Vivi.

  “Anyway, the girl’s mom made a big fuss about bullying, and Vivi’s mom just, well, gave up.” Matt lifted his hands and dropped them in his lap. “So, the next year, I decided Vivi would live with me. Vivi took this to mean that her mom was kicking her out, but that’s not true. She just didn’t know what to do about it. Didn’t have time. Work, social life—those things got in the way of my ex’s ability to raise Vivi the right way, I guess. Now it’s been over two years since she came to Heirloom, but I’m still trying to undo the past fourteen.”

  “It’s not your fault her mom let her become a mean girl,” Kate interjected.

  “Of course, it’s my fault.” A shadow crossed his face, and Kate almost felt him glare at her. “It’s my fault that I didn’t make it work with Vivi’s mom. It’s my fault I didn’t see her tendencies earlier and clamp down. You know, before the divorce, I mean.”

  Kate shook her head. “Matt, you’re doing the best you can now. That’s what matters. She has four years left here. At least. You can do a lot with those four years.”

  “What were you girls like?”

  “Hmm?” she asked, lifting her glass to her lips.

  “You and your sisters? I never remember you o
r Amelia being cruel to other girls. Did Megan turn out that way? What about Clara?”

  In his question, she read a subtle accusation. As though some insidious quality was a trait passed down through the Hannigan family lines. After all, Nora was known for having a cutting way about her. An insincerity despite her magnetic personality. Or because of it.

  “What are you saying?” Kate asked, frowning.

  “Nothing.” Matt shook his head. “I’m sorry. Nothing about you or your family. Not at all. I just want to better understand women, I guess. And my role with Viv. You know?”

  Kate considered this. “Well, you knew me. That wasn’t my style. I was always too afraid of getting in trouble to be mean to anyone.” She laughed lightly. “And I think Clara was the same.”

  At that, Matt grinned. “She took after both of us, I guess. I hope?”

  Kate smiled back and took his hand. “Somehow, I think so.”

  “Are we always going to be stuck in limbo with Clara? Will she ever want to… get to know me?”

  “Oh, I think she’ll come around, yes. In fact, Clara needs to get to know you. It’s the one thing that will help her move away from her past, if that even makes sense.”

  “Was it hard on her?”

  “Growing up with Nora for a mother?”

  He shook his head. “Growing up without a dad.”

  “I think both were hard. But Clara is who she is despite that. She likes her quiet life. She likes her job. Her little house, of course. I think she’s in a better place now. I think she’ll come to you in time. I really do. Especially now that—” Kate’s words fell away as the lights from the Birch Bell caught her eye out in the distance on the lake. “Wow,” she breathed. “I’ve never seen it lit up like that.”

  Matt followed her gaze. “Oh, that’s right.” His eyes brightening.

  “What?” she asked. “Matt.” Kate gave him a look. “Fess up.”

  “I wasn’t supposed to tell,” he replied, the corner of his mouth lifting. “But Vivi told me that Jake Hennings planned to take his date out on the ferry tonight.”

  “Clara is his date,” Kate answered, confused.

  “I know.” Matt laughed, then added, “Vivi doesn’t know I know that part. She just told me that he asked Mercy and Vivi to help him plan it. She wouldn’t tell me who he was taking, but I already knew, of course. Good for them. Good for him.”

  Kate returned her gaze to the boat, a rush of warmth flooding her heart. “Vivi helped him plan it?”

  If that was true, then maybe Kate’s suspicions were all wrong. Maybe she was being sensitive. Maybe Vivi wasn’t a mean girl, just a sad one. A jealous one, even. And maybe Clara was having the time of her life out there on the water with the handsome Jake Hennings.

  “Yep, that’s what she said.”

  “Well, if she shared that with you, Matt, then I’d say you’re on top of the whole ‘raising a teen girl’ thing.”

  He grinned and settled back into the loveseat. “You think so?”

  “I know so,” Kate answered, taking his hand again, as they resumed their normal. A relaxing conversation, free of all the drama that Kate so desperately hoped wouldn’t consume her as summer turned to fall and things shifted again in Birch Harbor.

  “So, you never told me. What was Megan like when she was in high school?”

  Kate sighed. “Megan was a bit of a rebel, I think. But only at home. She wore black when Mom wanted her to wear white. She cut her hair when Mom wanted it long. But at school, she kept her head down and followed directions. She dated a lot. I know that. She loved to go on dates. They never amounted to anything, which cracked me up. It’s like she enjoyed the thrill of it but not the hard work. Of course, that was high school. Once she met Brian, well… I think they’ve figured it out. You know?”

  Matt nodded. “He’s a good guy. Smart. They’re going to be successful.”

  “I agree,” Kate said. They would, too. Especially since they were going to build a second space to house winter events. Things would go well for Megan and Brian. It would take time. And it would be hard, but they’d pull it off. Kate knew they would.

  “And Amelia? I’ll always have this picture of her as a kid among adults, sort of elbowing her way into the heart of things. She liked to be seen.”

  “Yes, she did. Still does, I think.”

  “That was your mom. I see it in Vivi, too. A need for… attention, I guess?”

  “From men, especially.” Even as Kate said it, she felt like she was betraying Amelia. She added quickly, “Amelia always put family first, though. I remember back then—when I got… pregnant—” Saying the word now somehow felt crude, and Kate tried in vain to shake it, pushing ahead. “She was bound and determined to save me. Fiercely protective. Almost like she would risk everything just for me.”

  Chapter 15—Amelia

  1992

  It was May. The school musical was weeks away, and Amelia already knew all of her lines. The drama teacher, Mrs. Finch, was still scavenging for props.

  Kate had recently dropped the bomb about her pregnancy, and plans were in motion to whisk her away to another state so that Amelia and Megan could go on living their lives and enjoying their summer on the lake.

  Still, even as a solution developed between their parents and Kate, tensions were high at the Hannigan household, and Amelia spent every last moment at school, hanging around in the theater with her friends, making them laugh, practicing scenes, finding a good hallway alcove in which to sing at the top of her lungs to catch that perfect reverberation she’d need to pull off Sister Sarah Brown.

  Yes.

  Freshman phenom Amelia Hannigan was starring as Sarah Brown in Guys and Dolls.

  It was the role of a lifetime, she was certain. And Mrs. Finch was desperate to make it perfect. After all, the woman was retiring that June after a forty-year career teaching young thespians.

  They had most of the set underway. Now it was time to pull together the last of the minor props and start dress rehearsals.

  But there were other things going on at school, too. Ever since the party at the house on the harbor, no one knew where they were going to get together every weekend.

  And that was the essence of teenage life in Birch Harbor—weekend parties.

  In the summer, it was easy enough—everyone just met on the beach.

  During the school year, they stuck to indoor gatherings as much as possible since the temps dropped so much. Now, summer was upon them again, but no one dared host a party on the beach before Memorial Day Weekend. It was tradition, after all.

  Amelia begged her parents to reconsider their blanket ban on having any friends over to the house, but that fight was futile. And anyway, she was just a ninth grader. She had no ability to plan a large-scale high school party.

  With the star quarterback, Matt Fiorillo, also grounded, it left a whole school full of kids without anywhere to go. Without anywhere to dance and play music and find a love connection for the weekend—or the semester.

  Normally, such a monumental responsibility wouldn’t fall on the shoulders of a ninth-grade drama geek. But with rumors circulating about her older sister (unbeknownst to frantic Nora), Amelia knew she needed to clear the air and set the record straight. She had a chance to prove that the Hannigan sisters were still cool. Still normal. Definitely not pregnant. And she was going to see to it that she and Kate would sneak out and show up at a party the very next weekend—flat stomachs and happy smiles. She would do it for her sister. Before things went too far.

  So, that’s when Amelia turned to the upper-classman boy who sat behind her in the history elective. He was a jock-scholar who hung around the periphery of the popular crowd. Somewhat disinterested and indifferent enough to maintain a stable social status, despite his leanings toward geekery.

  Amelia, whose interest was split between drama and an eighteen-year-old guitarist who played gigs at the Village every Thursday night, had a feeling that the brooding history class boy mi
ght have liked her. At least, he was always offering to help her with homework or study together for quizzes. And Amelia identified as something of a nerd anyway—a drama nerd, which was a little different than a history nerd, but still.

  One day, out of the blue, in the middle of a video about the moon landing, she tore a corner from her notebook page and scrawled out a note.

  What are you doing this weekend?

  She balled it up, pretended to yawn, twisted left, and popped the little wad of paper onto his desk.

  And the very next weekend, there she was. At a big, fancy house in Harbor Hills.

  She couldn’t remember seeing much of the boy that night. Mainly, she stuck with her drama friends. But at one point, one of them unearthed this gangster-movie-style gun. In the library, where they weren’t supposed to be, in some nook or cranny—Amelia didn’t know where he found it. She hadn’t been watching. The weapon obviously belonged to the boy’s dad, and it even seemed more like a relic than a weapon. But still.

  “We can use it for that scene in the play!” one of them cheered, swinging it around dangerously.

  Amelia grew nervous. “Dude, put it back. We could get in trouble.”

  “No way. It’s perfect for Guys and Dolls. Don’t you think?” He swung it again, rattling off his lines just as the door to the library opened.

  Scared to death they would be found out, Amelia grabbed the gun and tucked it into the back of her jeans on a whim.

  Sure enough, there he stood at the door.

  The boy.

  Michael Matuszewski.

  There was no chance to return the gun anywhere in the library, and the boy watched Amelia and her friends like a hawk for the rest of the party. She wound up leaving early, backing through the door like a cartoon character or something. If she’d been a little smarter, she’d have dropped it in a flowerpot on her way out. Or she’d have shipped it. But even then, Michael would know. He sensed something about her. Amelia knew it.

  What happened next sent Amelia into a week-long illness, vacillating between headaches and nausea like she was the pregnant one in the family.