All Summer Long

by Melody Carlson

  As they walked, they talked about the boat, discussing what they’d accomplished and what they hoped to get done after lunch. “I’m impressed with what a hard worker you are,” he said when they reached the tiny restaurant.

  “Thanks. I was thinking the same about you.” Tia looked up at the limited menu painted on the side of the small shack. “I’m going to stick with the fish and chips,” she said as they stepped up to the window to place their orders.

  Before long, they were seated at an outside picnic table that was splattered with seagull droppings and sticky from the previous diners’ meals, but as Tia bit into her crusty piece of halibut, she really didn’t mind. “This is fabulous,” she said as she sprinkled some malt vinegar onto her fries. “I know it has about a million calories, and I don’t even care.”

  “That’s my kind of girl,” Leo said.

  Tia tried to hide her irritation as she bit into a fry. She knew he was simply trying to be nice. He probably couldn’t help it. His mama had brought him up right. But she wished he could be a little bit rude, self-centered, or arrogant.

  “I always thought sea captains were supposed to be kind of curmudgeons, you know? Crusty old cusses. Growling at their crew to swab the decks.”

  “Make ’em walk the plank if they don’t toe the line?” he teased. “Sounds more like pirates to me.”

  She took a sip of her lemonade. “Maybe so.”

  “Besides, I’m still young. I’ll probably turn into a crusty curmudgeon later on.” He held up his hand. “Maybe I’ll have a hook by then.”

  She frowned. “Hopefully not.”

  “Hello there,” called a voice from behind Tia.

  “Natalie.” Leo stood with a surprised expression.

  Tia turned to see Natalie striding toward them. Dressed in white capri pants, cork-soled sandals, a blue-and-white striped shirt, and a chic straw hat, she looked like an ad for the Ralph Lauren nautical line. Like she should be posing on the deck of a fabulous yacht.

  “What are you doing here?” Leo asked as he went to meet her.

  “Looking for you.” She smiled at Tia. “Nice to see you again.”

  “You too.” Tia suppressed the urge to smooth her messy ponytail—especially since she knew it was pointless.

  “Do you want some lunch?” Leo asked her. “I can go place an—”

  “No, no,” she told him. “I don’t want to interrupt your meal. I’ll just go grab a Diet Coke.”

  While she was ordering her drink, Leo used his napkin to wipe the seat next to him, and when Natalie returned he warned her that the table was a little sticky.

  “No problem,” she said lightly as she gingerly sat down on the bench. She pointed at Tia’s half-eaten meal. “You’re a brave woman.”

  “It’s actually really good.”

  “Oh, I’m sure it is. But if I ate that it would probably go straight to my hips.” She laughed.

  Tia wanted to point out that Natalie was thin enough that it probably wouldn’t matter, but instead she just looked down at her food.

  “Well, Tia’s working so hard that she’ll probably burn that off in a couple of hours,” Leo said.

  “I saw all the junk on the dock.” Natalie wrinkled her nose. “What a mess, huh?”

  “We’re making good progress,” Leo told her.

  “I’m starting to get a vision for it,” Tia added. “It’s going to be really lovely when it’s finished.”

  “I guess I’ll have to see it to believe it.” Natalie took a sip of her drink. “Leo, I came over here to talk to you about the wedding.”

  “The wedding?” Leo’s brow creased as he chewed.

  “Yes.” Natalie nodded firmly. “I’ve decided that we should have a short engagement.”

  Leo stopped chewing with a slightly perplexed expression. “Really?”

  “I know, baby.” She reached over to rub his back. “It probably sounds a little crazy, huh?”

  “I don’t know . . . What do you consider a short engagement?”

  “I—uh—maybe I should go,” Tia said uncomfortably. “I mean, this seems like a conversation you should have in private.”

  “Oh, no,” Natalie assured her. “It’s okay.” She turned to Leo. “That is, if it’s okay with you.”

  “Yeah, I don’t care. But a short engagement? What do you mean?”

  “I think we should get married before the end of the summer.”

  “Wow, that is short.” He frowned. “But I thought you wanted some big huge wedding.”

  “I do. But I’ve always imagined getting married in the summer, ever since I was a little girl.” She glanced at Tia. “I’ll bet you understand that. A girl has certain dreams for her wedding. Guys just don’t get it.”

  Tia just nodded, taking a small bite of her fish, which now tasted more like deep-fried cardboard than halibut.

  “Anyway, I don’t want to wait another whole year,” she continued. “So I think we should tie the knot this summer.” She beamed at Leo. “What do you think, baby?”

  “I, uh, I don’t know.”

  “Well, I already told my mom and she’s told your mom and they both think it’s an excellent idea.”

  “They do?” He took a long, slow sip of his lemonade.

  “The biggest challenge will be securing the venue.”

  “Uh-huh . . . ?” Leo picked up a fry with what seemed disinterest.

  “I really want an outdoor wedding, but most of the best spots are already booked for this summer.”

  Leo’s eyes lit up as he turned to look at Natalie. “What about the boat?”

  “What boat?” Natalie cocked her head to one side.

  “The Pacific Pearl,” he said with genuine enthusiasm.

  “You mean the Minnow?” Natalie snickered.

  “The what?” Tia looked lost.

  “Ever seen Gilligan’s Island?” Leo asked her.

  “Of course.”

  “Well, Nat thinks the Pacific Pearl looks like a large version of the boat on that show. It was called the Minnow.”

  “Oh.” Tia suspected that was not a compliment.

  “The Pearl will be completely renovated and operable by mid-July. If we set a date for, say, mid-August, we could have a really fun wedding on the water.”

  “On the water . . .” Her brow creased. “Really?”

  “Yeah,” he continued eagerly. “I’m a captain. Getting married aboard a boat? Can you imagine how cool that would be?”

  “I, uh, I don’t know.”

  Tia felt her spirit shriveling. It was bad enough they were discussing their wedding plans in front of her, but hearing Leo suggest a boat wedding and Natalie obviously hating the idea . . . well, it was just more than she could stomach.

  “I think I’m done here.” Tia picked up her lunch things and stood. “I’ll be at the boat.” Before they could dissuade her, she dumped her trash and took off. As she hurried down the dock, she fought back the lump forming in her throat. Put on your big girl pants, she told herself. Don’t be such a big baby!

  She took in a bunch of deep breaths, gazing out over the bay as she walked, and by the time she got to the boat, she felt better. She was pleasantly surprised to see that several of the pieces of furniture had disappeared. That was progress. Relieved that Leo and Natalie hadn’t followed her, she went aboard and opened the windows in the stuffy cabin, then started up the steamer and went to work stripping paper.

  It felt good to have a task to focus on. Carefully using the broad knife just like Leo had shown her, she gently worked the damp paper from the wall without gouging the handsome mahogany. All in all, it was a rewarding process. Maybe it was because she felt a satisfying sense of control. Something that seemed missing from her personal life right now.

  “Ahoy there, mate,” Leo called as he boarded the boat.

  “Ahoy, Captain,” she called back as she moved the steamer over a strip of the hideous wallpaper.

  “Wow, you’ve already made some good headway,”
he told her.

  “What a mess,” Natalie said as she stepped over a trash bag.

  “Yeah,” Tia said lightly. “Sometimes you gotta get messy in order to clean up.”

  Leo chuckled. “That’s true.”

  “Well, as much as I’d love to stick around and help.” Natalie laughed. “Not! I have some wedding errands to run in town.” She kissed Leo good-bye. “See you later, baby.” She waved to Tia and took off.

  The cabin grew quiet as they worked together, taking turns with the steamer and broad knife. While one steamed, the other peeled paper. For quite some time, neither of them spoke. Finally, tired of the silence and slightly curious, Tia spoke up. “Sounds like you guys worked things out.”

  “I guess you could say that.”

  “Did you decide on a venue for the wedding?” Tia used the broad knife to carefully remove a nice long piece of flowery paper, tossing it onto the growing pile.

  “Not exactly.”

  “I love your boat idea,” she said with enthusiasm, then regretted it. When would she learn to keep her mouth shut and her thoughts to herself?

  “You do?” He sounded surprised.

  “Sure. The Pacific Pearl is going to be a great wedding venue. It would be truly memorable.”

  “That’s what I thought too. But Nat is definitely not on board.” He chuckled. “Pun not intended.”

  “Why not?” Tia picked up the steamer. “Is she worried it won’t look nice enough? Because I can just imagine it all finished. You could have strings of lights and garlands of flowers along the railings, maybe a string quartet on the upper deck, drinks and appetizers . . . It would be delightful.”

  “She says the Pearl is too small. She wants a really big wedding. Like four or five hundred guests. I told her she should just rent Oakland Coliseum.”

  “Oh.” Tia nodded. “I hadn’t thought about that.”

  “I asked her why we need to have such a humungous wedding. I mean, this boat could probably handle a hundred guests. Not for a sit-down dinner, but that’s not necessary, is it?”

  “I, uh, I really don’t know.” She wished she could think of a gracious way to change the subject that she’d so stupidly brought up.

  “Why do we need more than a hundred guests anyway? I’d prefer to have just the people I really know. Close friends and family, you know?”

  “Uh-huh.” She set the steamer down, reaching for the broad knife.

  “I just don’t get it.”

  “Get what?” She said absently as she peeled the paper from the wall.

  “Why the guy doesn’t have an equal say. I mean, it’s my wedding too, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah, sure. Of course.”

  “So why is the guy always pushed out of the wedding plans?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe it’s because most guys don’t care. They just let the girl handle everything.”

  “And this whole idea of a short engagement.” He reached for the steamer. “Where did that come from?”

  “She told you. She wants a summer wedding,” Tia said in a flat tone. Really, did they have to keep talking about this? He obviously didn’t know he was torturing her. Just then she realized something: perhaps this was like taking medicine or getting vaccinated—it felt lousy at first but made you feel better afterward. Maybe talking about Leo and Natalie’s big fat wedding would inoculate her against feeling so miserable later on. Maybe it was time to take the bitter pill. “If you don’t have your wedding this summer, you’ll have to wait a whole year or more. Natalie said she doesn’t want to wait that long. What’s not clear about that?” She snatched the steamer from him.

  “Some of my friends were engaged for a couple of years. One friend has been engaged for three or four years and they still haven’t set a date. What’s the big deal?”

  “I don’t know,” she said. “But to be honest, I think I agree with Natalie on this.”

  “Seriously?” He threw a strip of paper on the pile, then came over to stare curiously at her. “Why?”

  She set down the steamer, then reached for the broad knife, focusing her eyes on the paper as she talked. “Well, I think if you truly love someone, if you know you want to marry them, you know you want to spend the rest of your life with them, why would you want to wait? Wouldn’t you be eager to begin your life together?” She turned to look at him as she dropped the strip of soggy paper onto the pile. “Well, wouldn’t you?”

  Leo’s face was blank, and instead of responding, he picked up the steamer and went back to work. She knew she’d probably stepped over some line as they continued stripping paper together, neither of them speaking. The only sounds that broke the silence were their tools, occasional noises from people on the dock, the slap-slap-slap of the water against the side of the boat, and the random cries of seagulls flying overhead.

  It was actually quite peaceful, except that Tia’s mind was waging a huge war over the cause of Leo’s silence. On one hand, she might’ve struck a chord with him. Perhaps he really was unsure about his feelings toward Natalie. Maybe he needed more time to think this whole thing over. But more than likely, he’d recognized the sensibility in Tia’s suggestion. He may have realized she was right—if you really love someone, why delay a wedding? Thanks to Tia’s big mouth, he was probably getting ready to give Natalie the green light for her dream wedding. Well, fine—the sooner the better. At least Tia would be able to move on with her life.

  8

  They were just taking out the last load of ugly plum carpeting when Tia paused to survey the mishmash of furnishings still piled around the Dumpster. “Didn’t you say these things had to be gone by the end of the day?” she asked as she brushed grit off her jeans.

  “My friend Jake’s coming by to get them. Promised to be here by 5:00.” He glanced at his watch. “Guess he’s running late.” He reached over to pluck a piece of carpet scrap from her hair.

  “We made good progress.” She knelt down to examine a round coffee table that was partially buried in chair cushions. “This actually looks like it might be a nice piece,” she said absently. “I mean, if someone removed this ugly whitewash paint.” She attempted to scratch it with her fingernail.

  Leo removed the chair cushions, then tipped the table up to see beneath it. “Hey, you’re right. This looks like solid teak.”

  “I’ll bet it would be pretty if it was stripped and refinished.” She frowned. “If I had a real place to live, I’d salvage it myself.”

  “Do you think Julie would want it?”

  Tia considered this. “Probably not. I mean, you’ve seen her house. And I doubt there’ll be room for a coffee table this size in the restaurant. Dining space will be at a premium.”

  “But you’re right,” he said. “It does seem like a quality piece. Maybe I’ll keep it.”

  Tia started poking around some more. “I wonder if there’s anything else in here worth saving.”

  Leo chuckled. “Sounds like you’re a good scavenger.”

  She held up a table lamp. “I do believe in reusing and recycling. Even if I don’t like this stuff, it seems wrong to let it become landfill. Someone would like it.”

  “I know. Jake is taking it all to a nonprofit thrift store that helps support a local homeless shelter.”

  “Oh, that’s great.” She set the lamp down, then pointed up the dock. “Here comes your fiancée.” She waved as she watched Natalie strolling toward them. She’d exchanged her nautical clothes for a chic sleeveless white dress paired with tan pumps and matching bag. She looked classic and stylish—and totally out of place on the rustic dock.

  “Hey, kids,” Natalie said with a slightly creased brow. “Still working?”

  “Just finishing up,” Leo told her. “You look nice.”

  “Yeah . . .” She tapped him on the chest. “I thought we had a date tonight.”

  “Oh?” Leo looked slightly blindsided.

  “Remember last night, before I left the restaurant, when I asked if we could have a proper cel
ebration? You know, for our engagement?”

  He nodded.

  “I thought you understood I meant tonight. Didn’t you get my text this afternoon? I got us reservations at Plouf.”

  “I must’ve missed that.” Leo pulled out his phone. “I wonder if Jake texted me—”

  “The only reservation I could get was kind of early. It’s for 6:30, Leo, so if you head home right now, you should have time to clean up and make it on time. If you hurry”—she stroked his cheek—“you could even shave.”

  He pointed to the junk on the dock. “But I need to stick around until Jake gets here to pick up—”

  “You’re going to blow off our celebration dinner in order to see this garbage gets picked up?” She made a pout. “Seriously?”

  “I need to help Jake load it in his pickup,” Leo told her. “Julie could get fined if we don’t get it out of here tonight.”

  “I can help your friend load it,” Tia offered.

  “I don’t want you to—”

  “Really,” she assured him. “I don’t mind. Go ahead and take off. I can probably walk back to Julie’s. I can use my phone’s GPS. I’m guessing it’s only a couple miles.”

  “Three and a half,” he told her. “Besides that, I promised to take you to the hospital to see Roland tonight.” He turned back to Natalie. “Could we celebrate our engagement tomorrow?”

  Her faced hardened.

  “I can take a taxi to the hospital,” Tia told him. “Really, just go. I helped you get this stuff out of the boat. I’m sure I can help your friend get it onto his truck.”

  Leo looked unsure. “I realize you’re pretty strong for your size, but I hate just ditching you like this.”

  “Really, it’s okay,” she told him.

  “Hey, there’s Jake’s pickup now,” Natalie exclaimed. “Problem solved!”

  Tia looked down the dock to see a dark green pickup slowly backing toward them. “I hope Jake’s good at backing up,” she said nervously. She didn’t want to admit it, but she’d probably be in the bay by now if it was her. Of course, driving was not her strong suit. She’d never owned a car and avoided being behind the wheel as much as possible. Fortunately, Leo’s friend was fine with it, and before long a tall, lanky guy with shaggy dark hair hopped out of the pickup. “Sorry I’m late, man,” he told Leo as they shook hands. “I was giving someone a landscape estimate and got stuck longer than I expected.” Jake pointed to the pile of junk. “Looks like the nineties are calling and they want their furniture back.”