Summer by the Lake

by Mandy Baggot

  ‘Absolutely not,’ Wade said, wetting his hair.

  ‘So Cole, I guess getting on the score sheet makes you an official Panther,’ Mickey said, splashing him with water.

  ‘I can’t believe it went in. I caught it all wrong,’ Cole said with a laugh.

  ‘Speaks the pro! Who cares? We won! We beat Reading. Did you see their faces, man? They were freaked,’ Mickey said.

  ‘What the hell is this?’ Brad asked, picking up Cole’s shower gel and holding it up for all to see.

  ‘Oh man, come on, it isn’t mine. I picked up the wrong one, it’s Robyn’s,’ Cole tried to explain.

  ‘It’s purple and it’s called Exfoliation. Is that even a proper word? And it’s got grapefruit and guava in it. Interesting,’ Brad teased.

  ‘It is very purple,’ Wes commented.

  ‘Give it here,’ Cole said and he made a lunge for it, knocking it out of Brad’s hands.

  The bottle fell out of the shower and onto the floor. Cole got out of the shower and bent down to pick it up just as Robyn walked past on her way out.

  She looked straight at him. There was no hiding his nakedness, and she found herself immediately reddening and not knowing what to do. She couldn’t turn away; she couldn’t stop looking at him. If ever there was an advertisement for the perfect man the image before her would be what they would use. He was toned and molded in all the right places and he was hot and wet from the combination of the game and the shower. She chewed on her thumb and closed her eyes as soon as she remembered she should.

  ‘Sorry,’ Cole said hurriedly, turning his back to her and returning to the shower.

  ‘Hey, Boss! Get your kit off and get in the shower! We freaking won!’ Mickey yelled, and he leaned back and howled the loudest howl he could manage.

  ‘Jesus! Man!’ Wes exclaimed, holding his hands over his ears.

  ‘Woman in locker room is not right,’ Henrik said, covering his private parts with a lather of soap.

  ‘Listen up! I just wanted to say something before you all disappear to the bar and start celebrating. First off, training tomorrow at twelve, don’t be late. We may have won today, but we need to keep up the momentum. And second—well—I am so goddamn proud of you!’ Robyn exclaimed, clenching her fist and gesturing it at them.

  The team let out a group cheer and started singing the Portage Panthers’ team song as they linked arms and swayed in time under the showers like a group of kids.

  ‘Where’s Grant?’ Brad questioned when the singing had finished.

  ‘Grant and Bob are in charge of the kitty for the celebration drinks. They’re getting them as we speak. But listen, before we get all excited about more freebies, club funds are all but gone and I have a limit on my finances. I won’t be doing this every time you win, which I expect every game now,’ Robyn explained.

  She still couldn’t keep her eyes off Cole. He was showering, rinsing off the shower gel, water running through his hair and down his face, along his chest, and over his buttocks…

  ‘Okay, so, one other thing. Barbecue tomorrow at Cole’s place. 3540 Woodhams Avenue. From after training ‘til the last person passes out. My treat for you doing so awesome today. They’re predicting record September temperatures so bring your trunks,’ Robyn informed them.

  ‘3540 Woodhams? Isn’t that one of the million-dollar houses? Man, are you loaded or something?’ Mickey asked of him.

  ‘I’m renting,’ Cole replied.

  ‘I love party!’ Henrik said, slapping Cole on the back and grinning widely.

  ‘Great, right, so, I’ll just go and give my commiserations to the poor, dejected, rather useless Reading manager and let you all get decent,’ Robyn said, backing toward the door.

  ‘I want to smile right in the face of Gillies. The tool,’ Wade said, speaking of the Reading enforcer.

  ‘Just let Mickey do the wolf howl in the bar, that will be enough to piss off everybody,’ Brad told them.

  ‘Okay, so, I’ll see you in the bar,’ Robyn said, still looking at Cole as he grabbed a towel and began to dry himself off.

  ‘Tradition that the boss gets in the shower after a win,’ Brad called to her.

  ‘Since when?’

  ‘We had Eddie in here last season,’ Mickey informed her.

  Robyn bolted from the room. She slammed the door shut and leaned against it, trying to get the image of Cole’s nude body out of her mind. They were all supposed to be asexual to her here, even her fiancé.

  Twenty-Five

  ‘Dad? Can you hear me? Dad?’

  ‘I’m here! Jeez, Max, quit with the barking for Christ’s sake! Robyn’s on the phone. He’s coughing his guts up again. That’s what you get for smoking sixty Marlboro a day since time began,’ Eddie replied.

  ‘We won, Dad, we beat Reading,’ Robyn said, holding the phone closer to her ear.

  She was smiling as she looked at her team sitting together drinking pitchers of beer and filling the jukebox up with tunes of glory.

  ‘I know, Buttercup, I heard every goddamn second on the radio. I wish I could have been there. What was it like? Was it a big crowd?’ Eddie asked.

  ‘The biggest all season, so Grant said. It was almost like the old days. There were families there and two of the local school football teams came. There was probably almost three thousand,’ Robyn told him.

  ‘And how did it feel when Cole hit the back of the net? The commentator went crazy, said he’d never seen a goal like it. Did he look every inch Wolves material?’

  ‘He was awesome, Dad. The goal was awesome but so was the whole team. They really played as a unit. They supported each other after the equalizer and they never gave up—not once,’ Robyn continued.

  ‘That’s because of you, Buttercup.’

  ‘They’re your team, Dad, and I told them to do it for you.’

  ‘Did they get you in the shower?’

  ‘I’m still a fast runner,’ Robyn said, grinning.

  ‘Max, can I tell Robyn about your bet? Okay, Max doesn’t want you to know, but he backed the Panthers… won a grand,’ Eddie said with a hearty laugh.

  ‘I knew he wouldn’t dare bet against us! You can tell him I won five,’ Robyn replied.

  ‘Five what?’

  ‘Five grand.’

  ‘What? How much did you lay out?’

  ‘A hundred bucks. I got good odds.’

  ‘Jeez, Robyn, a hundred dollars! Where did you get that sort of money to spend on gambling?’

  ‘That’s my business.’

  ‘Is it illegal?’

  ‘No, Dad. Listen, I’d better go, I’ll come see you tomorrow,’ Robyn said.

  ‘Okay, well, you can bring Cole if you like; I want to hear about the goal from the guy who scored it,’ Eddie said.

  ‘Sure. Now, listen, eat all your dinner and no staying up too late watching boxing. Tell Max the same.’

  ‘You’re sounding old, Buttercup. Max, no boxing,’ Eddie called to his bedmate.

  She could hear Max grumbling in between coughs and she ended the call.

  Brad came over to her and handed her a glass of beer.

  ‘Was that Eddie?’ he questioned.

  ‘Yeah, he’s excited over the win, but he wishes he could have seen it,’ Robyn said with a sigh, taking a swig of the drink.

  ‘When’s his operation?’

  ‘Wednesday, if all goes as planned. If he keeps his blood pressure down, if his sugar levels are stable, if there are no other more urgent cases, if the wind’s blowing in the right direction, you know, that sort of thing.’

  ‘And when does the roadhouse reopen?’

  ‘Friday! Don’t remind me about that, it’s gonna be a disaster. I haven’t got a band and Nancy thinks all the kids will be freaked out by the clowns I’ve booked to do balloon animals and plate spinning. The chef needs some special sort of cheese I’ve never heard of to make the new roadhouse signature dish, and I’m so stressed I’m eating my way through the dill pickles I bought for t
he stock room and having to replenish them almost every day,’ Robyn exclaimed.

  ‘Hey, if they’re the only things you have to worry about, it sounds like you got it covered,’ Brad replied, touching her arm.

  ‘Yeah, well, then there’s Jason.’

  ‘He hasn’t been near you again?’ Brad asked, his body tensing.

  ‘No. but he’s dragging it all back up again. He’s hired a lawyer to get the case reopened. If the police do reopen the case, they’ll want to talk to everyone again, talk to me again, make me relive it all over again. I can’t do that,’ Robyn said.

  ‘It’s never gonna happen. It was an open and shut case. There’s no way they’ll reopen anything without good cause, like new evidence or something,’ Brad reassured her.

  ‘Well, what if he has some or he gets some?’

  ‘Did he say he had some?’

  ‘Well, no but…’

  ‘Then stop worrying. I’m telling you, nothing’s gonna come of it. Anyway, you think my daddy’s going to let him reopen the case? He worked hard on that case; he made sure justice was done for you, Robyn,’ Brad reminded her.

  ‘I know, but you said he was retiring.’

  ‘Not yet. And definitely not if Jason’s back in town,’ Brad assured her.

  ‘I’m sorry, I shouldn’t even be bringing any of this up now, I mean, hell! We have a victory to celebrate!’ Robyn said, leading the way back to the group.

  *

  He smiled as he watched her mount a chair with Mickey and sway in time to ‘We Are the Champions.’ He’d seen the way she looked at him when she’d caught him in the shower. And her seeing him had affected him, too. His groin had reacted, and he’d had to clamp down on that feeling before it had gotten out of control.

  Last night, after he’d proposed and they’d lain in bed together, he couldn’t go back to sleep. He’d feigned fatigue, closed his eyes and waited for her to drop off just so he could have a moment looking at her. He loved her. It was four days since he’d met her, and he loved her. That’s why he’d asked her to marry him. That depth of feeling couldn’t be ignored, but he knew she wasn’t ready for anything physical. He was okay with that. It seemed secondary somehow. This was different from anything else he’d had before—so different. He still couldn’t quite believe it. How did something like that just happen?

  Twenty-Six

  ‘When is pig ready? I need pig, I have much hungry,’ Henrik stated, swigging from a bottle of beer.

  ‘The pig’s been cooking all day, just about to reach optimum succulence, apparently. Have some chips,’ Robyn said, offering him the plate she was carrying.

  There were over thirty people in Cole’s garden the following day. They had trained earlier, despite most of the team being hungover from the victory celebrations that had lasted late into the night. Now they were drinking, chatting, and dancing to the music coming from the outside surround sound while eating chips, dips, and steaks from the barbecue Bob was happily tending to. Everyone was enjoying the Indian summer heat and the previous night’s game was still being relived.

  Mickey let out a loud werewolf howl and Sarah slapped his arm.

  ‘Stop doing that! No one thinks it’s funny and you sound ridiculous,’ she told him, taking a sip of her white wine.

  ‘Oh, lighten up Sar, it’s a party! You know… fun,’ Mickey snapped, downing his bottle of beer.

  ‘Yes, I vaguely remember fun. It’s what we used to have before you were out with the boys all the time,’ Sarah told him.

  ‘Hey, come on you two, Robyn’s gone to a lot of effort here, let’s enjoy it,’ Brad ordered them, handing Sarah another glass of wine.

  ‘Oh, thank you, Brad. I didn’t really need another one but…’ Sarah blushed slightly.

  ‘This house is amazing, have you seen the size of the TV?’ Mickey asked Brad.

  ‘Yeah, and the Jacuzzi’s almost as big as a pool, Henrik’s dying to get in it,’ Brad said.

  ‘What’s stopping him?’ Cole asked as he joined the group.

  ‘Can we use it?’ Mickey asked, his eyes wide with excitement.

  ‘Sure. You got trunks, right? Robyn told you to bring trunks.’

  ‘Henrik isn’t gonna care about trunks,’ Brad said with a laugh.

  ‘No, you know what those Danes are like,’ Mickey replied, taking another beer from the cooler filled with bottles and ice.

  ‘Danes? I thought he was Icelandic,’ Cole remarked.

  ‘I thought he was German,’ Sarah admitted.

  ‘He’s Swedish,’ Robyn insisted as she joined the group, holding a plate of chips out to everyone.

  ‘I thought the twins were supposed to be waitressing,’ Sarah said, taking a chip from Robyn’s plate.

  ‘They are. Pam’s getting them into outfits,’ Robyn said with a snicker.

  ‘No way! They’re gonna hate that!’ Sarah exclaimed.

  ‘Yeah, I know. There’s no telling her though, is there? Cole, lend the guys some trunks if they haven’t got any. Sarah, come up with me, I’ll show you the house and you can borrow a bikini,’ Robyn said, taking one of the glasses of wine from her friend and grabbing her hand.

  ‘Hey, Robyn! How many pairs of trunks d’you think I have?’ Cole called after her.

  ‘He has at least three pairs, I found them when I was rifling through his drawers checking out his T-shirt collection,’ Robyn whispered to Sarah.

  *

  ‘Has everyone had some pig? Sienna and Sierra, the ones in the maid outfits, have some plated up if anyone wants any more!’ Robyn called from the Jacuzzi. She shared the water with Sarah, Mickey, Henrik, Brad, and Cole.

  ‘Pig was good,’ Henrik said with a nod, drinking from a shot glass and grimacing as the burn hit his throat.

  ‘Yeah, the pig was great, Robyn,’ Brad told her.

  ‘Thanks, I’m hoping we can have a hog roast at the roadhouse on opening night and fireworks. Oh, and I must organize a band. Are Special Guest still around? They used to rock,’ Robyn said, stretching an arm out behind Cole.

  ‘I’m not sure. I haven’t seen them advertised anywhere lately,’ Sarah remarked.

  ‘Who is Special Guest?’ Henrik asked.

  ‘They’re an awesome band, Henrik. They did all the classics… you know, ZZ Top, The Rolling Stones, a bit of country…’ Robyn explained.

  ‘Robyn sung with them once,’ Sarah informed them.

  ‘I did not!’

  ‘She did. She was fifteen and drunk, and she grabbed the mic and belted out a Bon Jovi number. It was real bad,’ Sarah told the group.

  ‘Don’t even think about denying it, Robyn. Bob and I were there,’ Pam announced, coming over to the Jacuzzi and collecting empty bottles.

  ‘God! Who needs family?’ Robyn remarked.

  ‘You did when I was cleaning up your puke the next day,’ Pam added.

  ‘Oh man, this is so embarrassing!’

  ‘So… the party’s good and all, but what we need in the town is a proper celebration, like an engagement or something,’ Brad blurted out, looking straight at Robyn.

  She bristled immediately and pulled her ponytail forward. Why on Earth had he said that?

  ‘Can’t see that happening. Too many singletons on the team,’ Wade called from the sun lounger he was laying on.

  ‘How about you and Sarah, Mick? Isn’t it time you made an honest woman out of her? I mean, you’ve been dating like forever,’ Robyn continued, hurriedly swigging back some beer. She was still trying to find a way to make up for what a bitch she’d been to her friend the other day.

  ‘Robyn, don’t,’ Sarah begged, her eyes welling up with tears she was trying to blink back.

  ‘Yeah, sure, one day we’ll do it, won’t we?’ Mickey said, patting Sarah affectionately on the leg like she was a pet dog.

  ‘Will we?’ Sarah asked harshly, turning to look at him.

  ‘Yeah, I mean, you drag me past the jewellers so often, I’m bound to give in one day, aren’t I?’ Mickey conti
nued.

  ‘Give in,’ Sarah repeated.

  ‘I don’t think Mickey meant it like it sounded,’ Cole said.

  ‘Oh, don’t you? Well, how did you mean it, Mickey? Because giving in sounds like relenting to pressure. Is that how you see our relationship? A pressure? Something you put up with to keep me quiet?’ Sarah questioned, standing up and looking down at her boyfriend.

  ‘Shit, this is my fault. Forget I said anything,’ Brad said rapidly.

  ‘Sorry, Robyn, I’m gonna go. I don’t want to spend another minute with him right now,’ Sarah said, hoisting herself over the side of the Jacuzzi.

  ‘Sarah, don’t go. Mickey, come on, don’t let her go,’ Brad encouraged him.

  ‘I don’t know what I’ve done wrong. Is it that time of the month?’ Mickey asked, reaching across for another beer.

  ‘Man, you are an idiot,’ Brad remarked, and he leapt out of the tub and hurried after Sarah.

  ‘I’m with Brad, you’re a tool,’ Robyn said, scowling at him.

  ‘Cole, the doorbell rang and there are more guests. I invited them in,’ Pam announced, smiling at him.

  Cole looked up to greet the guests and immediately his expression darkened. A woman with long, dark hair stared over at him, tears in her eyes, one hand held protectively on her stomach. Robyn knew instinctively who this woman was and her chest tightened. The woman was perfectly presented, her hair coiled neatly onto her shoulders, and she was wearing make-up and a pink blouse. She looked so girly, so not like Robyn.

  ‘Cole,’ the woman said weakly.

  ‘What are you doing here?’ he questioned, standing up and getting out of the tub.

  ‘You won’t return my calls or my messages.’

  ‘I told you and I told Bryn I never wanted to see either of you again. How much clearer do you need me to be?’

  ‘Is this Veronica?’ Robyn checked, getting out of the Jacuzzi to join him.

  ‘Yeah, Robyn. This is Veronica.’ He flung his hand in Veronica’s direction,

  It was at that moment a middle-aged man, wearing an expensive-looking business suit, stepped out of the veranda doors and onto the decking.

  Robyn’s heart rose up into her mouth and she bit down on her tongue as their eyes met.