Susan rolled down the window and called after her. “Megan, call me or Caroline when you’re ready to leave! Megan…!” She shook her head, because Megan was already disappearing into the holiday crowd.
“I’m sure she heard you, Mom,” Caroline said as she unfastened her seatbelt and opened the back door. Allie was already bounding out of the other backseat door, cell phone pressed to her ear.
The hot, cloudless day was perfect for the Independence Day Festival and the parade set to start at noon on Main Street, in the middle of Historic Old Town Belford. With the Belford High School marching band, civic leaders in convertibles, various floats, clowns, and school clubs with matching t-shirts carrying banners, the parade was always exciting and usually stretched into the early afternoon.
“What’s the plan, ladies?” Susan squinted in the bright sunlight and pulled her sunglasses out of her handbag. “Allie?”
“I’m off to find Mark.” Allie started visually searching the crowd.
“Do you even know if he’s going to be here?” Caroline asked her.
Allie pulled a face. “No, but everyone in town’s here, so I’m sure I’ll run into him if he can sneak away from his family. I sent him a text but haven’t gotten an answer yet.”
“Well, call me if you don’t find him, and you can join Mom and me.”
Caroline watched Allie as she hurried away, her fingers flying over the keypad of her phone. “Do you think he’s really going to meet her, Mom? He’s not answering her messages.”
Susan was beginning to be as doubtful of Allie’s relationship with Mark as Caroline was. “I wish I knew, Car.” She thought Allie might have a difficult time locating Mark today, even if he did respond to her texts, since it appeared the whole town had turned out. Families strolled through the town square, hordes of teens sat on the edge of the fountain dipping their toes in, and off in the distance faint strains of music drew crowds. There was nothing she or Caroline could do about Allie and Mark right now anyway, so she took a deep breath and said, “I say we just enjoy the day. What shall we do? Go watch the parade or listen to the band—under a shade tree?” Susan fanned herself her with her hand, and Caroline laughed as they walked in the direction of the gazebo.
Two hours later, the sun was directly overhead and the day had gotten extremely hot. Caroline stretched herself after sitting for too long on a cement bench. “I wonder if Allie found Mark and if Megan met up with her Willowby friends,” she said.
“I hope so.” And Susan hoped one or both of her other daughters would text once they were happily situated with friends. “I’m dying of thirst. Lemonade?”
“Sounds great. It must be over ninety degrees out here,” Caroline said, sweat glistening on her brow.
Booths were scattered all around the town square, some selling souvenirs and others offering food or cold drinks. “Whoever owns this stand is probably making a fortune,” Susan remarked as they drew near the lemonade stand. “Look how long the line is.”
While they waited in the queue, Caroline scouted out the crowd. “Uh-oh. There’s trouble.”
Susan followed Caroline’s gaze. Off in the distance she spotted Daniel, dressed in khaki shorts and a golf shirt, and Sharlene, way overdressed for the outdoor event in a polished cotton sundress and high-heeled sandals. Her oversized hat nearly dwarfed her head, and a designer handbag was slung over one shoulder.
“Do you think they saw us?” Caroline asked, quickly turning her head away.
But before Susan could answer, a voice behind them caught them both off guard. Caroline turned to see Richard and Misty standing in the lemonade line behind her.
Richard pulled off his sunglasses and smiled at them. “Great to see you, Caroline, and Susan, too, of course.”
Susan watched Caroline alternately blush and fumble for words. Her daughter was so obviously pining for this man who was unavailable, and it broke her heart. “Nice event, isn’t it?” Susan said.
“It’s too hot,” Misty complained, “and now we have to stand in this stupid line just to get something to drink. Richard, I told you this was a bad idea!”
Richard turned to her impatiently. “It’s July, Misty, and you knew it would be hot outside. If you like, I can take you home.”
“No, just get me the lemonade. I’ll be waiting over there under that shade tree.” Misty fanned herself with a cardboard advertising fan one of the vendors was handing out, and made a big show of brushing leaves off the bench before sitting down under the sprawling oak.
Caroline visibly relaxed once Misty was out of earshot. “I guess the heat makes some people cranky.”
Richard folded his arms and frowned. “Some people don’t need heat to get cranky.”
Caroline bit her lip as she and Susan exchanged amused glances. “Is everything okay?” she asked him.
Before he could answer, a voice called out, “Yoo hoo! Richard!” It was Sharlene, walking over to join them, her arm linked through Daniel’s. “Richard, where’s Misty? I know I just saw her.” She shaded her eyes and looked around. “Oh, there she is, under the tree. Don’t forget you two are coming over this evening for the barbecue cookout.”
Daniel gave Caroline a quick hug, then spoke awkwardly to Susan. “Are you enjoying the holiday?”
“Very much, thank you,” Susan responded, and was relieved that it was finally her turn to order lemonade. She stepped up to the window, Caroline right behind her, attempting to make polite conversation with her father and his trophy wife. Susan again felt the injustice of it all.
“A party tonight?” Caroline asked her father. “Does that mean the house reno is done?”
“We’re, uh, having some people over this evening,” Daniel mumbled. “We would have invited you girls…”
“Uh-huh,” Caroline said, with a barely perceptible lifted eyebrow. “Mom’s grilling burgers this evening, and we’ve got some friends coming over, so even if Allie, Megan and I had been invited…”
“That’s lovely, dear,” Sharlene interrupted. “It works out well for everyone.”
Daniel frowned at his wife but turned back to Caroline. “Friends? Anyone I know?”
“Oh, Daniel, darling, of course not,” Sharlene said.
“Brandon Phillips, friend of Emily’s.” Caroline turned to Sharlene, hands on her hips. “He’s a music professor at Bradley University, and Allie’s been using his piano this summer, since hers has been covered with a tarp for weeks. And Brandon’s bringing a colleague.”
Sharlene dismissed Caroline with the wave of her hand. “I never was very interested in academia, dear. However, some of Daniel’s business and social contacts…”
Susan held up the two cups of lemonade like prizes and she and Caroline walked off, leaving Sharlene in mid-sentence.
****
“Daniel, wait!” Sharlene called after her husband.
Daniel strode toward the shade tree near the gazebo stage, where they’d left a blanket and cooler on the grass. He sat down in disgust, rummaged in the cooler for a beer, twisted off the lid, and gulped half the bottle in one swallow. Sharlene trailed behind him, breathlessly trying to keep up in the heat. She would have cursed herself for wearing these high-heeled sandals if they weren’t so cute, not to mention expensive, but they certainly made walking in the grass difficult. She eventually caught up to him and plopped herself down next to him, seductively rearranging her low-cut sundress.
“My goodness, Daniel, why the rush? It’s too hot out here to do all this running.” She rummaged in the cooler and pulled out a chilled bottle of water.
Daniel glanced sideways at his wife. “Once again, Sharlene,” he said as he lowered the beer bottle from his lips, “you’ve snubbed my daughters.”
“Snubbed? How?” Sharlene plastered an innocent look on her face, hoping he’d buy that she hadn’t deliberately left his daughters out.
Daniel took another long pull from the bottle. “By not including them in the barbecue you’re having tonight. And by discus
sing it in front of Caroline. That was rude, Sharlene.”
“I’m having? You mean we!”
“No, I mean you. You never consult me when you decide to have one of these parties.” Daniel finished off his beer and opened another one.
Sharlene smiled sweetly and took a dainty sip of her water. “Well, darling, I didn’t invite them because I just didn’t think they’d fit in. It’s going to be all adults, you know.”
“Caroline and Allie are adults,” Daniel reminded her in exasperation, “and I see very little of my daughters as it is. It’s time you realized the divorce was from Susan, not them!”
Sharlene patted Daniel’s hand. “Daniel, darling, as you pointed out, it would be rude to invite them now, but perhaps we can have them over for dinner later this month.”
Daniel glared at his wife as he twisted the cold beer bottle between his fingers. “You keep saying that, but…” He shook his head, stared off into the distance, and sipped his drink.
Sharlene knew how to bring her husband to heel. She batted her eyelashes and cooed, “Well, darling, I’ve been giving this some thought. What if I ask one of the girls to be a bridesmaid in Richard and Misty’s wedding? It can’t be Caroline, of course, since she’s so obviously smitten with my brother, and Allie is probably too busy with her music, so I could ask Megan. What do you say, Daniel? Won’t she look adorable in one of those dresses Misty picked out? I’ll speak to her right away.”
Daniel shrugged in resignation, finished the beer, and tossed the bottle in the grass.
****
Megan ran across the Belford town square, threw herself into Susan’s arms, and burst into tears. “I hate those girls!”
Susan was totally taken by surprise. She held Megan at arm’s length and looked her in the face. “Who? What happened?”
“My so-called friends! At first it was great, seeing everyone again. But when I told them where I was going to school next year, they acted like I was, I don’t know, contaminated or something. Then they just went off and left me.” Megan sobbed even louder.
Megan had loved going to Willowby Hall, especially in elementary school. But in sixth grade when her parents divorced, Susan knew Megan felt like a pariah in a school where hardly anyone’s parents ever split up. In eighth grade Megan began getting into arguments with her teachers, fights with her peers, and her grades plummeted. The Headmaster of Willowby Hall called Susan into his office and threatened to expel Megan, who sat slumped in a chair, a scowl on her face.
“Mrs. Benedict, Megan cannot continue in this fashion,” Dr. Miller had said. “She’s disrupting the educational process, and it’s completely unacceptable. Perhaps public school…”
At the time, that idea caused Susan to blanch. “Please, Dr. Miller, Megan’s never been in any school except this one. It’s true she’s having a hard time adjusting to the divorce, but I’m sure she can do better.”
Megan had stomped a foot on the floor. “I’m sitting right here, Mom.”
Dr. Miller was firm. “Unfortunately, today has seen yet another outburst of Megan’s temper in class.”
Susan had wanted to slide under the chair. Neither of her other two daughters had ever caused a single problem at that school, but she was now a frequent visitor to the offices of administrators and guidance counselors, thanks to her high-strung youngest.
“Megan,” Susan had said, “do you want to stay here at Willowby? Because if you don’t stop these arguments, you’re going to have to go to Belford Middle School.”
“But I like the art program here!” Megan had whined.
“I’ll give you one last chance, Megan,” Dr. Miller told her. “You are now on probation until the end of the semester. One more disruption and you’ll be expelled. If you prove yourself worthy, Willowby will then be pleased to invite you to stay on for high school.”
So Megan had attempted to improve herself by focusing on her art classes, and she made an even bigger effort to ignore the teenage whispering about her family. Unfortunately, Willowby was a small school, gossip was hard to avoid, and Megan continued to get into scrapes with her peers. Miraculously, Willowby had allowed her to enroll in high school on a probationary status. It didn’t hurt that her father was CEO of a large corporation and paid the tuition in cash.
Now Susan was drowning in guilt, her heart bleeding for Megan, knowing how she’d looked forward to attending the July Fourth festivities in Belford, and getting to spend time with girls she previously thought of as friends. However, she couldn’t help but hope that Megan would soon have an opportunity to meet new kids in a new school, and experience more diversity than she would ever see at Willowby. “Megs, I’m sorry you were treated badly.” Susan gave her shoulders a squeeze. “It’s time for us to head home now anyway. Our dinner guests are coming at seven.”
“But it’s so unfair!”
“It is. But hey! Remember, tomorrow we’re going to pick out a dog.” Susan hoped that letting Megan choose the long sought-after pet would help cheer her up.
“Yeah, I guess. Anyway, I’m beyond ready. Let’s go.”
****
Dinner was almost ready. Susan flipped the burgers off the grill onto a serving platter with the warmed buns. Potato salad and coleslaw were chilling in the fridge, and Megan had baked the brownies last night. Caroline began bringing out the food to the picnic table in the backyard. It was cheerfully set with a red-and-white checkered plastic-backed tablecloth, and Susan had bought festive Fourth of July decorative paper plates and matching napkins.
The doorbell rang just as Caroline was taking the salads out of the fridge. “Mom, my hands are full. Can you get the door?”
Susan walked through the living room and opened the front door. There stood Brandon Phillips, a bottle of chilled sparkling cider in his hand, and beside him was a very handsome man. Of course Susan knew Brandon was bringing a colleague, but she’d expected a stodgy old professor, not someone so dashing. For a moment she forgot to speak. “Oh, sorry, please come in.”
“Susan, thanks for asking me,” Brandon said, stepping inside. “I’d like you to meet Patrick Williams. He teaches classic literature at Bradley.”
Patrick didn’t look like a college professor, or Susan’s image of one anyway—bearded, pipe in his mouth, wearing a blazer with elbow patches. She shook that cliché right out of her head. Patrick was medium height, dark-haired with streaks of gray, late forties, and dressed in jeans and an Old Navy July Fourth t-shirt. He shook her hand and smiled, and she liked him immediately.
“Literature? It so happens I’m a high school English teacher.” Susan nervously pushed a stray hair out of her face. “Or I will be, once school starts next month.”
Patrick grinned. “Thanks for letting me tag along, Susan. All my family lives in Texas except for a sister who lives in Louisville, so I’m sort of on my own for most holidays.”
Susan couldn’t help noticing his marked Texas drawl. “Texas? I’m from Oklahoma, practically neighbors.” She led them through the kitchen and out into the backyard, where Caroline was putting serving spoons into the potato salad and baked beans.
“So how’d you end up in Indiana?” Patrick asked, sitting in the folding chair Susan indicated for him.
She found the sound of his voice soothing, like being with someone from back home. “Sort of roundabout, I guess. After I graduated from college, my husband took a job in Belford, and I’ve been a Hoosier ever since.” Susan blushed as Patrick smiled at her, and his drawl felt like home.
“Where’s your family now?” Patrick asked her.
Susan sat down in a lawn chair and pulled it up closer to Patrick. “My parents moved to Boca Raton, Florida, a couple of years after I moved to Indiana.”
“Do you see them often?” Patrick leaned in closer.
Susan wasn’t sure if it was really hot out this evening or if she was blushing in the presence of this fascinating man. “I usually take the girls to visit my parents in the winter. It’s too hot to go to Fl
orida this time of year.”
Patrick grinned. “Same reason I don’t visit Texas in the summer!”
“But what about you?” Susan asked. “Indiana’s a big change of scenery from Texas.”
“My wife was from Terre Haute and all her family’s still there, so moving to Indiana after grad school was a given.”
Susan didn’t know about a wife. In fact, she knew very little about Patrick Williams other than he and Brandon were colleagues. Was Patrick married? She didn’t see a wedding ring, but some men didn’t wear them. Just in case, she scooted her chair back a safe distance. “I didn’t know you had a wife, or I certainly would’ve invited her…”
Patrick moved his chair closer to where Susan had just moved. “She had breast cancer. It’s been nearly two years now.” He shook off the somber mood. “Since then I’ve tried to make her death count for something, so I’ve gotten involved with breast cancer fundraising events.”
Susan was surprised that Patrick was a widower, and such a young one. “I’m so sorry for your loss, but I’ve actually volunteered at some of those events myself. I even walked in the 5K race last April.”
“There were about eight thousand people participating, but if I’d known you were there…” Patrick didn’t finish his sentence.
Susan blushed again.
Caroline stepped out the back door, her cell phone to her ear. “Okay, Allie, I’ll tell Mom, but Brandon’s going to be disappointed. And you’re missing out on Mom’s famous potato salad. Yeah, we’ll save you some. Bye. Hey, Mom,” she called out, “Allie’s not coming. She still hasn’t met up with Mark, but they have a date to watch fireworks at ten, so she’s staying up in Belford. I guess he’ll bring her home.”
****
Megan and Caroline went for a late-evening walk on the Monon Trail after dinner. The hiking and biking trail stretched for miles along an abandoned railroad line, both north of Rosslyn Village to Belford, and south all the way to downtown Indianapolis. As the sun set, a warm pleasant breeze felt refreshing after the heat of the day. The trail was full of walkers, joggers and bike-riders. Caroline had invited Susan, Brandon, and Patrick to join them, but the three of them had preferred to stay in the backyard and talk.
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