“I don’t believe this.” Rebecca shook her head as if to underline her point. “Dina chose to live with you and Susan, okay, but you can’t just move her to another continent like this.”
“Well, she’s still planning to study in Italy soon, so—”
“No. Not the same.”
“I know that, okay? She could visit an international school there if she wants to, but that’s why I’m here. I had no idea you were having a party!”
“Well, sorry about that,” Rebecca said dryly. “This is what we’re going to do. Obviously, we need to have this conversation right now. I don’t want to have it in the doorway, and we should include Dina in it too.”
“Include me in what?”
All of a sudden, Callie wasn’t sure whether she should stay any longer, as she realized that whatever decision David and Rebecca made, it had the potential to impact her as well, in case Dina didn’t go to Hong Kong with David and Susan. However, they still had a house full of guests to entertain. This was a good moment to check on them, and hope everyone would remain civil. Leave it to David to drop a surprise on them on a day like this. Spa day better had a lot to offer.
In the living room, Callie found Mona and Betty in companionable conversation.
“More champagne?”
* * * *
Dina was giving them both an incredulous look. “This sucks,” she said with conviction. “You say you’re giving me a choice—which is, I have two weeks to decide whether or not I go to Hong Kong with you? Give me a break.”
Rebecca couldn’t blame her. She was stunned about the development, but she also felt sorry for David. He was used to, still, doing his job and leaving the rest to the woman in the family—except Susan was careful not to cross too many boundaries where Dina was concerned. Rebecca was sure she appreciated the move.
“A year ago it would have been cool, but you know all my friends are here, and I have plans for next year too. Tomaso might come to study in New York.”
“I’m sorry, Dina. I came here to talk to the two of you as soon as I knew for sure.”
“You could have warned me!”
“Dina,” he said, reaching out to touch her shoulder, but she turned away angrily. “You don’t have to come. That’s why we’re having this talk with you.”
Her eyes welled up. “Where am I gonna live?”
A couple of seconds ticked by before Rebecca realized this was her cue. Silly of her to think that on her birthday, she could have a couple of drinks without worrying about the next drama. This mattered though.
“Of course you’d stay with us. You could even stay in the same school if you don’t mind getting up a bit earlier in the morning.”
At this moment, Dina looked a lot younger than her fifteen years, and it was obvious the commute was the last problem on her mind. “Basically, I have to choose which one of you I’m not going to see for the next few years. That’s great. Thank you so much for messing up my life—again.”
She jumped to her feet, about to leave.
“Dina, come on now!”
“Let her,” Rebecca said. “She needs a moment by herself. Frankly, I can sympathize.”
“Yes, because it’s all so easy, right? Well, maybe it was for you. You didn’t have to go looking for a new place to live, and you can get by with selling a few pretty designs every now and then. Not everyone lives in that world.”
She resented the spiteful tone in David’s voice, tempting her into a kind of dialogue she didn’t want to have with him, not now, not ever. “So all this time you kept telling me what a great job I did as a wife and mother, you thought I was just really lazy? Never mind. I don’t want to argue with you.”
“I never thought you were lazy,” he said, irritated. “Now what? Were you serious about Dina staying here?”
“I can’t believe you’re even asking that.” Of course, it would be an organizational challenge, school, living arrangements, not to mention that she couldn’t make this decision without Callie…
Rebecca had accepted the status so far, because she had to. Dina wanted to live closer to her friends, with her father, and so far, she’d been happy with David and Susan. Rebecca had felt guilty for unleashing a barrage of changes on her daughters, so she’d gone with Dina’s wishes. The thought that Dina might return filled her with hope and longing. Come to think of it, David was giving her an amazing birthday present.
“She could make new friends in Hong Kong. It would be a huge opportunity for her too.”
“Why don’t we give her a few hours to weigh the pros and cons? I mean…I didn’t even know your firm had an office that far away. I also understand that a chance like this won’t come every day, maybe never again.” Decisions come with consequences, always.
“There’s not a lot of time to decide,” David reminded her.
“Okay. Give her at least one night to sleep on it. We’ll talk. I promise.” Rebecca felt hopeful that Dina wasn’t thrilled at the idea to go—but she wasn’t thrilled at living that far from one of her parents either. “We can’t give her the impression it’s all on her, and she has to choose between either one of us.”
“I have to go now. I’ll just go tell her, and we’ll talk tomorrow.”
“Yeah.”
“I’m really sorry for crashing your party,” he said ruefully. “Looks a lot like the old days.”
“Callie and the girls did a great job.” Actually, it was nothing like the old days. Back then, every single detail of organizing festivities had fallen on Rebecca, but she didn’t think it was necessary to mention that at this moment. “I know I’ll probably see you a few more times, but…I wish you good luck. This is a big deal. You deserve it.”
“Thank you,” David said after a moment of hesitation, obviously gauging the sincerity of her statement, and realizing she was honest. “I wish there was a better way to do it.”
It wasn’t easy putting your own dreams first, even if the alternative meant to live a life of regret.
Dina and Sara sat together in the backyard with big plates of lasagna and salad, the sight making Rebecca’s stomach growl, reminding her that she’d only had a small bite so far. Dina’s stormy mood had passed for the moment. “I don’t want to talk about this any more. Let’s just enjoy Mom’s party today.”
“I can’t stay. I’ll come get you on Sunday?”
“That’s fine, Dad. Bye.”
Rebecca thought she shouldn’t have felt this relieved, but she did. It was a nice change of pace to be in the good graces of both of her children again. David let himself out. She turned to Dina to see the thoughtful look on her face.
“I’m not saying I made up my mind, but you think Callie would be okay with me living here? There’s not a lot of space.”
“We could put you in the attic,” Rebecca joked, happy to see a smile from Dina. “Yes, I’m sure she’d be okay, but of course I’ll ask her first. Are you okay?”
“My choices are either coming back to Autumn Leaves, or going to Hong Kong. I’m not sure I am.”
“Well, I don’t mean to be a downer,” Sara said, “but having two parents who want you seems pretty cool to me.”
“I guess so.” Dina sighed. “Mom, can we have a glass of champagne?”
“I hope that’s not a test.”
“I’ll be fine,” Dina assured her. “It’s just one hell of a surprise, you know?”
No kidding. “You’re right about that. Okay. I’ll see where I can find Callie, and maybe I can finally have some of that great food everyone is talking about.”
It was a perfect coincidence when they met in the hallway, no one else near. Rebecca pulled her close and kissed her, the surreal feeling of the past hour or so finally vanishing. Callie leaned back against the wall, a happy surprised smile on her face. “I take it you don’t hate the party. I’m glad.”
“Oh no, it’s great. I just needed this. I’m feeling a little lightheaded.”
“You should eat something,” Callie a
dvised, then paused, the unspoken question in the room.
“I know we’ll have to think carefully about how and if this is going to work, but—”
“Dina is welcome, of course. I don’t want her—or you—to have any doubts.”
“I know this wasn’t what we planned.”
Callie laid a finger on her lips. “It’s okay. We’ll sit down and talk this through as soon as we have the house to ourselves again. Besides, we’ll all be together for a few weeks in Italy. If it doesn’t work out, we can still ship her to Hong Kong,” she said with a wink. “Come on. It will be okay.” Rebecca leaned into her, all of a sudden tired. “This is hard for David and Dina. It’s a lot to for us to consider too.”
“You’re hoping that she wants to stay,” Callie finished softly. “I understand.”
Rebecca would have loved to stay in her embrace for much longer, preferably the rest of the evening, but the ringing doorbell required her to postpone those plans.
“More champagne for everyone.” She sighed. “I’ll go. Could you get me a plate with a bit of everything?”
“Sure.” Callie leaned in for a brief tender kiss before she went back outside while Rebecca opened the door. When she saw who the unexpected visitor was, she wanted to close it right away. Her fingers twitched with the impulse.
“No. I’m sorry. I can’t deal with you today.”
“Please,” Andy cried. “I didn’t know where else to go.”
Given their relationship, that said everything. Rebecca considered her options, and the irony of who was coming for her opinion and advice today.
“Come on in,” she said. Maybe she could get her daughter back, and show Andy a way out of the trap she was in, all in one day?
Yeah, right, St. Rebecca.
Chapter Five
Callie nearly dropped the plate when she saw whom Rebecca brought in. Rebecca took it from her and shrugged.
“Give her something to eat, or drink, I don’t care. Whatever it takes to make her go away.”
Andy was a mess, not counting in her usual state of mind. Her clothes, jeans and a shirt, had seen better days, and her hair hung limply as if she hadn’t bothered drying it after her shower. She’d been crying. Callie could have almost felt for her, but then she remembered those long nights, time after time, when Maggie couldn’t sleep for a few hours without nightmares. The time it had taken for them to find out, what, who was behind them. Everyone else Andy had targeted.
“Is this some sort of joke?” Callie asked. “You and your buddies can throw us out of church for all I care, but this is our home. Do you even understand that?”
“I need your help. I…I ran away. This time, for real.”
“Now I’ve seen everything,” Rebecca commented. “I don’t want Eric to come here and yell again, scare the hell out of everybody. You figure it out between the two of you. Guess what, I still have his number on my cell phone, because he wouldn’t stop bothering me.”
Andy looked scared. She shook her head. Callie wanted nothing but to shut the door in her face, not even so much for intruding on their property and day, but more for bringing up memories of Nicole she preferred to be locked away.
“Did he hit you?” She had to ask. Rebecca got to her feet abruptly and left the room, before Andy answered with a barely audible “No.”
“It’s not like that. Ever since he heard…I can’t live like this anymore. I can’t stand the way he’s looking at me. He hates me now.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, but what are you expecting of us?” Callie asked.
“If it wasn’t for you, he would have never found out!”
In a way, it was remarkable how Andy could go from the demeanor of a helpless child to someone deeply malicious.
“He would have found out anyway at some point, don’t you think? I imagine that wasn’t the first time you took a timeout from your marriage.”
“I can’t do this. I can’t be like you, and I don’t want to. I don’t want any of this! They’d promised me it would go away.”
“Well, someone told you a load of BS,” Callie heard Betty say. She and Mona had been talking together in the dining room, obviously wanting to give the family space earlier. Callie was fairly relieved to have them join her and Andy, as she felt inadequate to come up with anything that would ease Andy’s mind. Evil or not, all the worries both she and Rebecca had had while Andy had been missing the first time, were flaring up.
“What do you know about this?” Andy scoffed.
“Nothing really about being gay,” Betty said. “I do know more than I care to admit about being a bitch that almost lost her friend because she wasn’t able to look past her own prejudice.”
“No.” Andy kept shaking her head. “You keep talking about tolerance, but you’re never on the side of those who try. You have no idea how hard I tried, and prayed, to get rid of this sickness. It’s always a step ahead. I’m giving up. It won.”
“Why don’t we sit down and talk about this?” Betty suggested, casting Callie a look as if asking for permission to take over. Callie shrugged in return. She couldn’t be more grateful.
“I thought it was wrong too,” Betty continued, addressing Andy. “Well, I still believe that cheating is wrong, but that is beside the point right now. You’re not sick. I’m not condoning sleeping around, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not worse to do it with women.”
Andy cringed, making Callie wonder if this was, while an interesting approach, also the right one.
“I sat down with Father Langdon,” Betty continued. “You should have heard the tirade I gave him after I found out about Rebecca. Perhaps, she could have used a little support. I had nothing better to do but to go to our minister at the time, and rant about how embarrassed I felt. Yep—classy. He asked me some hard questions that got me thinking. What’s it to you? In exactly what way are you personally impacted or hurt? We even read the Bible together, good old Leviticus. Then, he pointed out all the parts where Jesus slams hypocrisy. I can tell you, I was not having a good day. That was not how I had been brought up.”
Behind Andy’s back, Callie caught Betty’s gaze on her. Thoughtful, and apologetic. It was hard to tell if Betty’s words had any impact on Andy. She sat slumped over, still crying.
Callie suppressed a sigh, wondering where Rebecca had gone. “I’ll get you a coffee or something, but then we have to call Eric. Otherwise he’ll start putting up posters again.”
“My life is over either way,” Andy said darkly. “He’ll never let me see Pete again.”
Betty exchanged a look with Mona who simply nodded and left the room as well. “You get that coffee. I think we got it covered here.”
Callie thought it might be a generous interpretation of the situation, but she was grateful for someone taking charge. As she was getting a cup of coffee for Andy, she noticed Rebecca sitting with her parents, Maggie and Stella.
Mona was talking to Father Langdon and Reverend Cole. As both of them joined her to go back inside, Callie decided that her presence wasn’t needed at the moment. Neither was the coffee, obviously, and she found a chair, keeping the cup for herself.
“Hey. Roz told me to bring you this.” She looked up to see Dina standing in front of her, holding a plate with a cupcake. “Something tells me I should be on my best behavior, because there might be a chance I’d be homeless in a couple of weeks.”
Callie felt incredibly tired. “Oh Dina, of course you won’t be homeless. If you don’t want to go with your dad, we make room. That’s not a big deal.”
“Yeah. Mom mentioned the attic.”
“Actually, that’s not such a bad idea. There’s enough space, and we’d just have to clean out some old stuff, and paint. We could fix it up nicely for you. You’d have some privacy.”
She hoped she sounded convincing enough, and that Dina understood that her worries were more related to the imminent crisis. There was no denying Callie felt the whiplash of today’s never ending surprises, especially
since she had hardly slept the night before. When she came to Autumn Leaves last fall, which now seemed like forever ago, she had been looking for solitude, a safe space she could have all to her own. After the relationship disaster with Nicole, Callie had desperately needed it.
She hadn’t hoped to find a lover, let alone a family. It would take some time to get used to the idea of the four of them living under one roof.
“I know. I’m just getting a little tired of it, and—Hong Kong? It’s like Dad is doing this on purpose, so he doesn’t have to see Mom anymore.”
Callie didn’t know what to answer to that, or how to make it any easier on Dina.
“I’m sure that’s not the reason. It’s a big career opportunity.”
“Anyway, I guess Sara was right,” Dina concluded. “There’s always worse.”
“First it will be our trip. I bet Tomaso is thrilled to see you again.”
Dina’s face lit up, and for a moment, all her woes seemed forgotten. “Yes! He says his sister can drive us around while we’re there.”
“Hm.”
“It’s true! You don’t have to worry about anything. They’re cool. I mean, they probably won’t let us alone for a minute.” she made a face. “You’re adults, so they don’t care.”
If only it was that easy with everyone.
* * * *
Rebecca was aware her escape could only be a temporary one. This was their home, after all, and whatever the various parties decided to do, they would approach her at some point. On the bright side, the majority of guests had not even noticed what was going on. Everyone was enjoying themselves. She hoped Callie wasn’t too disappointed with how the party had been going, and not too shocked about the implications of David’s news.
On the even brighter side, she got to see her parents interact with Maggie again. When she looked at the people talking, laughing, and crowding her backyard, the tension that had gripped her earlier, started to fall away.
Her life hadn’t been falling apart over the past year, on the contrary. She’d made new friends, some unexpected, and got to value her long-term friendships even more.
Summer Wine (Callie & Rebecca Book 4) Page 7