Summer by the Lake

by Kay Gordon

  “I figured you’d need a pick me up this early in the morning.”

  I accepted it gratefully. “Thank you.”

  “Oh, baby girl.” She wrapped her arms around me and squeezed me so tight that it almost hurt. “I’m sorry for deceiving you but I hope you know it wasn’t done maliciously. That boy is head over heels in love with you. Your sister would want you both to be happy.”

  “I love you, May,” was all I could reply but she didn’t push for more. She just hugged me even tighter.

  “I love you, too. We’ll see you soon, okay?”

  Howard got in behind the steering wheel while May stepped backwards, waving in the dark as we pulled away. I settled in my seat and glanced over at the man who’d grown up as my uncle.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  He sighed, glancing over at me briefly before refocusing on the road. “I didn’t realize that you weren’t aware they were one and the same, honestly. I saw you two together and thought the flirting and fighting was old feelings making their reappearance. I mean, Drew’s liked you since you were thirteen after all.”

  “Drew was with my sister, Howard,” I said with a scoff as I focused on the dark, passing scenery. “For years. I won’t be a stand-in for Kira.”

  “Sweet Shaylee, you sound like a broken record. I won’t deny the fact that he loved your sister but he didn’t love her like he does you. That boy has been a fool over you for years.” He chuckled softly. “Every phone call I have with that boy, he ends it by asking how Shaylee is.”

  I frowned and studied Howard’s profile. “He lost his first love, Howard. I’m the closest thing to Kira left so of course he’s going to ask. I won’t be her replacement.”

  He released a frustrated breath and reached over for my hand. “I think you’re making a mistake, but I won’t harp on your about it. You’re a grown woman.”

  The rest of the drive to the airport was quiet and the sun was just starting to come up when he parked the SUV along the curb in the unloading zone. Once we had my bags on the curb next to the vehicle, Howard enveloped me in another tight embrace.

  “There’s always a spot here for you as a counselor and there’s always a bed for you during the other seasons, too. You’re forever welcome here.”

  “Thank you,” I murmured, holding him as tight as I could. “I love you, guys.”

  He grinned when we parted. “You’ll see us soon. Your mama has been trying to talk May into Thanksgiving in the desert. We’ll see.”

  One hug and a kiss to my forehead later and Howard Holcomb was pulling away from the curb, honking twice as he did. I stood watching until his taillights were gone and then I finally picked up my bags.

  The airport was quiet and calm. There wasn’t a line at the ticket counter so I was able to drop off my bags and make it through security in less than fifteen minutes. My gate area was deserted, too, and I sat in the corner with my phone while I waited for time to tick by.

  Luckily the flight wasn’t full so I wasn’t subjected to a middle seat again. I stared out the window as we took off, not allowing myself to cry again. I felt like shit. Regardless of everything that went down, I was leaving my heart in Maine.

  No matter how many miles I put between us, I knew getting over Andrew Moore wouldn’t be easy.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  The connecting flight from Minneapolis to Phoenix was worse than my first leg thanks to a full airplane. I ended up back in the middle again and was restless the entire flight, annoying the people on either side of me.

  No one hindered my attempt to grab my bag from the luggage carousel, something that should have made me happy but was depressing instead, and I set out for the exit once I had both pieces of luggage.

  The hundred degree heat hit me the second the doors opened and I welcome the dry air into my lungs. I’d barely stepped onto the sidewalk when I heard my name being called.

  I turned my head and found Bri easily, despite the fact that she was only a few inches over five-feet. She was standing next to her small Toyota with a grin on her face. Her golden-blonde hair was shorter than it’d been when I left, now barely falling to her chin, and it had electric blue streaks highlighted throughout.

  “Finally!” She launched herself at me once I was close enough and we hugged so tight that I was amazed either of us could breathe. We stood like that for a moment and she shook her head when we pulled apart. “Were you pumping iron over the past two months? You have some muscle action going on here.”

  “You’d never survive summer camp, Bri. It’s way too physical for you.”

  She laughed and popped the trunk so I could put my bags in. “I don’t doubt that. The only physical exertion I need is sex, otherwise count me out.”

  “Uh huh,” I replied as I slid into the passenger seat. “If you didn’t have that magical metabolism and you couldn’t eat whatever you wanted without gaining an ounce, you’d be singing a different tune. I still hate you and your siblings for it. It will wear off eventually, you know.”

  She pat her flat stomach lovingly and shrugged. “True. Until I see my sisters’ start to wear off, I’m going to keep up my ban on exercise. Now, we need comfort food so you can tell me what the hell happened. At least tell me the good stuff while I drive.”

  We stopped to grab lunch and I told her about Hannah and the other girls. She grumbled that she hated Hannah already because she sounded so amazing and made threats that I could never replace her as my best friend. It wasn’t until we had food in front of us that I told her about Drew.

  Briana stared at me from across the booth, her mouth gaped open and a forgotten fry in her hand. She finally shook her head in disbelief and dropped the fry.

  “Wow.”

  I laughed bitterly. “Yeah.”

  My best friend shook her head again causing her hair to bounce slightly. Her pale blue eyes focused on me and her brows furrowed, cluing me into the fact that she holding back.

  “Just say it, Bri.”

  “I just don’t get it,” she replied, shrugging her shoulders. “I mean, I understand being upset because he lied but it sounds like he tried to tell you quite a few times, Shay. And, so what if he and Kira were a thing eight years ago? Are you expecting him to stay alone for the rest of his life?”

  I groaned and shook my head. “Of course not but I’m her freakin’ sister, Briana. Hell, I could be her twin or, better yet, her clone. How would I ever know if he loved me for me and not as a substitute for that love he lost?”

  “How do we ever know if anyone loves us for the right reasons?” she countered with a serious expression. “Where would I be if I had your lack of trust? I probably wouldn’t be wearing this ring right now, would I?”

  As she gestured to the gorgeous engagement ring she was wearing, I knew exactly what she meant. Briana had met her fiancé during our freshman year of college. Marco Romano came from a very traditional and strict Italian family. Briana Gibson, on the other hand, came from a family that had a wonderful mesh of German, Scottish, and Irish roots and they made their own rules and traditions. Her blonde haired and blue-eyed parents had produced four blonde haired and blue-eyed children that didn’t fit into any WASPy social circles. Where Marco’s family was full of devout Catholics, Briana’s was about as far from religious as one could be. It was a very mismatched union in the Romano’s eyes.

  After a year of dating, Marco admitted to Bri that he’d only asked her out as a way to piss off his parents. He was rebelling against the way they wanted him to live and Briana had been the perfect candidate for the job. He never meant to fall in love with her but did and he felt like he owed her the truth.

  When he told her, she’d been crushed and broken up with him. It had taken almost six months for Briana to believe Marco when he said he was completely head over heels in love with her, although it had been blatantly obvious to anyone who saw them together. They finally rekindled their relationship and he proposed to h
er just a few months before.

  “It’s not the same,” I mumbled, pushing my plate away petulantly. “You guys had a lot of history under your belts to act as proof of your love. Besides, it took you months to trust him again.”

  “And Drew won’t even get that chance because you’ve cut him out of your life completely. I think you’re going to regret this, Lee, and I really wish you’d rethink it.” She sighed and I knew that she wasn’t going to press anymore. “I’m glad you’re home.”

  “So am I.” I managed a small smile and waved off Bri when she tried to take the check from the server. “I got this. Thanks for picking me up.”

  After I’d placed some cash onto the table, we both stood and Briana linked her arm through mine before dropping her head against my shoulder. “I missed your face. It was lonely at home so I’ve spent a lot of time at Marco’s. He’s probably sick of me.”

  I chuckled and shook my head. “I doubt that. Besides, it’s good practice for when you’re married, right?”

  “True.”

  We got into her car and drove out where our apartment was in Tempe. Bri parked in her reserved spot and met me at the trunk of my car. As she pulled my suitcase out of the trunk, she groaned under its weight.

  “Jesus. I forgot how much crap you packed.”

  I laughed and reached for my duffel bag. A small smile hit my lips when I remembered Drew grabbing it the first day I was in Maine. “Everyone had smart ass comments to make about how much I packed.”

  Our apartment was on the first floor and it was a blast of familiarity when we walked inside. It was a small space, with a tiny kitchen connected to the living room, two small bedrooms, and just one bathroom but it had worked for us for the past two years.

  “Want to watch a movie?” Bri plopped down onto our couch and tucked her legs underneath her. “I grabbed three different ones in celebration of your homecoming. I figured we could have a lazy Sunday afternoon”

  “As long as they are rated as least PG-13 or higher. I’ve watched way too many PG movies over the past two and half months. I need cussing and sex scenes.”

  “Perfect.” She stood and grabbed some discs from the coffee table. “I have the new Eleanor Gray movie and it supposedly has a lot of angst and plenty of sex. There’s also some comedy with The Rock, so we have eye candy, too.”

  It took us twice as much time to get through the first movie because one of us kept pausing it to chat with the other or remember some sort of tidbit that had to be shared. We had just finished the movie when Marco showed up. I opened the front door and the six-foot-tall Italian dreamboat instantly swept me into his arms, hugging me to him tightly.

  “We missed you, Butler.”

  I chuckled and hugged him back. “I missed you guys, too.”

  “Well.” He stepped back and evaluated me with a quick nod. “You look unscathed. How was camp?”

  Briana laughed when I let out a long sigh. “I’ve been interrogating her all afternoon. Maybe you should go run while there’s daylight left and I’ll order some pizza for dinner. I’ll fill Marco in, too. It might be nice to have a man’s point of view.”

  “Okay.” I pinched his shoulder and went to my bedroom to throw on some running clothes. Once I was ready, I waved at them both and headed out the door.

  Running at home was not like running at camp. I was reminded of all of the differences just minutes into my run. Gone was the safe, serene environment I’d been in and I was transported back to reality. A reality where I’d forgotten my earbuds, water bottle, and pepper spray. The city noise was distracting, and the hundred degree weather had me feeling like death after just a mile. I was also leered at by several college-aged guys and ended up taking a shortcut back home way sooner than I wanted to.

  Running in the dark at camp where bears lurked in the trees felt safer than running in the broad daylight at home. Getting readjusted was going to take some time.

  My tank top was drenched in sweat and I was panting like an overexerted dog when I walked through our apartment door. I didn’t speak to Marco or Briana as I headed right for the kitchen to chug some cold water.

  “Hot out?” Briana asked, a grin on her face, and I just glared at her as I held my cool glass to my forehead.

  “I forgot to take my water with me. And my pepper spray.”

  “Damn, Shay.” Marco shook his head and leveled me with a serious look. “You’re not in Maine anymore. You need to be more careful.”

  I smiled at my best friend’s fiancé. “I love you, too, Marco.”

  After I showered off grime from running and traveling, I headed back out to the living room where both of my friends were waiting expectantly with a box of pizza on the coffee table. Marco was sitting on the middle cushion and he pat the spot opposite of Bri. He immediately wrapped his arm around me when I sat down, pulling me closer to his side.

  “Do you love this guy, Shaylee?”

  “Wow,” I muttered, burrowing myself into his chest a little more. I was really lucky that Briana was okay with me cuddling up to her boyfriend. “Right to the point, aren’t you?”

  “I told you she’d be evasive,” Bri remarked from his other side and I reached out blindly until I was able to poke her thigh.

  “Shut up, Gibson. I just don’t know how to answer that. I mean, I thought I did but…” I paused and stared at the shoes Marco was wearing. “I do. I love him. And that just makes me even angrier.” I sat up so I could look at both of my friends. “I feel stupid, like when I found out my mom had cheated on my dad. She let him love her, let me love them as my parents, and it turns out she was lying about something life changing.”

  “You feel like they all deceived you,” Briana said simply and I nodded my head.

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, we can’t fault you for that.” Marco ruffled my wet hair. “But you forgave your parents, specifically your mother, eventually, right? Because you love her.”

  “Mom and Drew are not the same, Marco. One person gave me life and another person gave me a few good weeks.”

  He smiled and reached for the remote control. “Don’t downplay what you had with this guy, Shay.”

  As he started the second movie, giving me an out from the conversation, I leaned back and stared at the screen. Even The Rock couldn’t distract me from my thoughts, though. Not for the first time since the night I’d found out, I wondered if I’d made a mistake.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  The following few days were a blur. I called my parents to let them know I was home but didn’t have a chance to get over there. I had less than a week before I needed to be back at work on and on campus and stress was starting to settle over me.

  Hannah and I hadn’t spoken but we text almost every day. She and Chloe had both made it home and it sounded like she and Jordan were settling into their long distance relationship okay. I was happy for her, happy for them, but jealousy and bitterness soured my stomach.

  Those same feelings kept me isolated from Bri and Marco. When they were together, I made excuses to be in my room. I loved them both so much but my own pain was still too raw to witness their blinding love.

  I hung out with Bri when Marco was at work, though. He was an intern at a marketing firm in town and it kept him busy during the week. Bri’s job was on campus so, like me, she wasn’t due back until classes started the following week. The two of us bought new clothes for work and school, supplies we’d need, and spent a lot of time being completely lazy.

  Friday came quickly and Briana left to go spend the night at Marco’s. I didn’t even need to say anything but she knew I needed my space. I was grateful every day that I had a best friend like Briana Gibson.

  I picked up some groceries from the store Friday afternoon and headed across town to Scottsdale. My father still lived in the same house I’d grown up in and he was off work early on Fridays. I figured I could cook dinner and spend the evening with him and then spend Saturday afte
rnoon with my mother.

  When I pulled up along the curb of the house, sadness overcame me. It had been six years since my mom had moved out and eight since the last time Kira had been inside those walls. It had been a long time since being at that house made me feel down and it irritated me that the dark cloud had chosen right then to make its appearance.

  My dad’s truck was in the open garage so I got out with my bags in hand and went in through the kitchen rather than going to the front. I dropped the bags off on the dining room table and went to the front room where I knew he’d be.

  “Dad?”

  “Hi, honey.” My dad grinned happily when he caught sight of me from his favorite lounge chair.

  Neal Butler was a handsome man and always had been. My dark brown hair was inherited directly from him, as well as my nose, lips, and sense of humor. He loved to say that he passed on all of his best qualities, especially his nose, to his daughters but that we were just like our mother.

  Time had been kind to my father and he didn’t look like a man nearing his fifties for the most part. His face held a large amount of sadness that appeared when Kira had become sick and had only become worse as he proceeded to lose the woman he’d loved since high school. That sadness was completely gone when he looked at me that moment, though. He smiled like I was the best thing he’d seen in ages.

  He immediately set down the remote control and opened his arms. I stepped into them quickly, ready and willing to admit how much I needed a hug from my father. He hold was tight and it took everything I had in me not to cry. I didn’t fool him, though.

  “What’s wrong, Lee?”

  I shook my head, keeping my face tucked into his shoulder. He smelled like old spice and coffee, two things that only went together when I was around him.