by Davis, SJ
“I love you, too,” Alex said.
The door slammed closed. She buckled her seatbelt and pulled from the driveway with a quick glance at the rearview mirror. Alex stood in the front yard, watching as she rounded the corner. A wave of sadness took her by surprise and then it was gone, replaced by the euphoria of being out on her own on an adventure. The camp on Blackwater Pond was finally hers, the papers signed, and deed exchanged. She had six weeks of time on her own to make it perfect.
Westport, New Haven, New London, and Providence flashed by the window as she headed north. Finally she was through Boston and the heavy traffic thinned. The cars and trucks on the highway became far and few between. It took her eight and a half hours to reach the Newport exit where she gassed up and walked the dog before continuing. By two in the afternoon, she was on the outskirts of Monson.
Lena slowed as she neared the Blanchard turn-off then continued on through town. There was no point in going up to the camp until the morning. She couldn’t stay there until the garbage was gone and it was equipped with the basics for housekeeping and that couldn’t happen without a helping hand. Foot heavy on the accelerator, she continued on to Greenville to look for Jake Morris.
Cresting the hill on the outskirts of town, she slowed. It was busier than it had been on her last trip north. Tourists strolled along the sidewalks and perused the shop windows. She crept past the Black Swan and accelerated, passing the high school and hospital before taking a left onto Wood’s End Lane.
At the end of the road, she pulled into a driveway and parked. The little farmhouse where she’d spent her childhood looked sad and neglected without her fathers loving hand. No one had mowed the lawn or planted the annuals. No one came to greet her on the steps. She grabbed her bag and the keys and reached over to let the dog out. Although she’d spent eighteen years in the house on Wood’s End Lane, it was the first time that she’d ever stayed there alone.
Zephyr bounded from the Suburban with his usual enthusiasm. He traced the edges of the driveway with his nose and headed toward the back field. Lena placed her bag inside and followed him around the side of the building, then retreated, followed by a swarm of tiny biting insects. Back in the car, she dug beneath the seat and emerged with a can of OFF. Annie and Marge had been right; it was peak black fly season. Even paradise had its downfalls.
Cloaked in DEET, she again attempted the great outdoors. This time, it was better. She held a hand over Zephyr’s eyes, sprayed his golden coat thoroughly, and the swarm retreated, hovering optimistically two feet away. After a quick perusal of the yard and garden, she returned to the house.
Inside, it still smelled like her dad. Lena didn’t know how that could be; Walter had died in the fall and a whole winter had passed without his feet on the wide board floors or the linoleum in the kitchen, but there it was. She sniffed the air and wandered through the rooms, picking up objects and replacing them. A picture of her with Annie sat on the bookcase encased in a frame of cardboard and macaroni that she’d made in kindergarten. A calendar from the year 2002 hung on the wall, displaying the month of April in Yosemite Park. Her mom and Walter had vacationed there while she was a freshman in college. She remembered being jealous of their trip.
Upstairs, her bedroom remained the haven of a teen-age girl: dark purple bedspread and curtains, John Bon Jovi poster on the wall, and a pile of stuffed animals. Forgotten jeans and blouses, too small and hopelessly out of date, still hung in the closet. Alex had teased her mercilessly the first time he’d spent the night there and she’d taken the poster down, but after their departure, her dad had re-hung it in exactly the same place. The next time they’d visited, she’d taken the teasing with good grace but left the room alone, a shrine to her adolescence. She wondered why her father had never cleared it out and reclaimed it for himself.
Her trip down memory lane complete, Lena retreated and closed the door, opting to sleep in the guest room at the end of the hall instead. Inoffensively neutral, the bed was covered in a quilt of yellow and green that complemented the pattern of vines on the wallpaper. She placed her suitcase on the bed and stood by the window. It felt like a lifetime had passed since she’d lived in the house. For all intents and purposes, it had.
When Zephyr was fed and watered, she walked the mile and a half into town, anticipating her reunion with Annie. It had been six long weeks since she’d been in touch and Lena was a little put out. Annie, true to form, had left her emails unreturned and her phone calls unanswered. The lack of response was annoying but not surprising; keeping in touch had never been one of Annie’s strong points.
She reached The Black Swan as dusk was falling and entered to the tinkle of the bell. Inside, the bar was chaotic. Every seat was occupied with all eyes glued to the three television screens. The shiny slab of burnished cherry that served as the bar top was covered with empties as Len struggled to keep up with his hard-drinking customers. He poured a draft and wiped a bead of sweat away with the back of his hand without looking up as she approached. There was none of Annie’s speedy efficiency in his movements, none of her grace and agility.
“Hey, Len, you’re a little out of your element, aren’t you?” Lena said, squeezing between two stools before him. “What’re you doing back there? Where’s Annie?”
The old man scowled as he loaded dirty glasses into the washer. “Don’t get me started on that one. What can I get you?”
“Scotch and soda, please.” She tapped her fingers on the bar while he filled a glass and poured a healthy slug of Johnny Walker Red over ice, adding a splash of soda water. It was a man’s drink, one to put hair on your chest. Lena took a sip and coughed.
“Really, Len, where is she? Sick?”
“She up and quit on me, again,” he muttered, turning back to the tap.
“Excuse me?”
“She quit!” he shouted. “After twelve years at The Swan, she up and left me high and dry.”
Lena frowned. “What happened? Did you have a fight?”
The old man shook his head as he uncapped a Bass Ale. Lena watched as it slid down the bar where it passed between hands to its intended recipient. Although his technique was unconventional, she had to hand it to him; Len had a certain flare for service.
“I don’t know,” he said, leaning against the bar and breathing heavily. “One day I came in and there was no sign of her. She just didn’t come to work! No excuse, no explanation, no apology, no nothing. That was about six or seven weeks ago…just after you were here last, as a matter of fact. I haven’t seen her since.”
Lena shook her head. “But she loved this job!”
“I thought so too, but as it turned out, she didn’t love it all that much. I went over to that rat hole she rents on Highland Street but she was gone. All her things were packed up. The house was empty except for her crappy sofa, her bed, and a dresser.” He scooped ice into a glass and added rum. “Chrissakes, Lena, she sure picked her moment this time…just as the season was swinging into gear, with us already short a bartender!”
“But I called her just after I got home and she never mentioned quitting,” Lena said. “Is she still in town?”
Lenny shrugged and nodded down the bar. “If she is, no one’s seen her. Ask Jake. If he hasn’t been in touch, you can bet no one else has, either.” He threw his arms up in mock despair. “That dad-blamed fool of a woman picks the damnedest times to run off! I don’t know why I always take her back.”
Lena tossed a ten on the bar and made her way through the crowd to the far end of the room where her childhood friend sat staring into his half-empty pint glass. “Hey there, stranger,” she said, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Long time, no see.”
The man in question was lean and blond, dressed in the standard-issue uniform of Greenville’s working class: dirt-crusted t-shirt, jeans, and Timberland boots. “Hi Lena,” he mumbled. “I saw you come in. What’s going on?”
She had to lean close to hear him above the noise from the raucous crowd. When
he finally turned to meet her gaze she pulled back, shocked. Jake Morris was pale, his hollow cheeks capped with dark circles around his eyes. His hair, as grimy as his shirt, fell in tangles around his hunched shoulders. “You tell me, Jake,” she stammered. “Where’s Annie? Why did she quit?”
“Your guess is as good as mine. Didn’t she tell you?”
The seat next to him opened up and Lena slid into it, pushing away a line-up of empty Busch bottles. “Not a word. I was up here in April and she never mentioned leaving. In fact, I thought she seemed quite happy.”
Jake Morris finished his beer and spun his empty glass between work-rough hands. “Well, you know Annie, Lena. She’s not the most reliable woman on the planet. One minute she’s happy, the next she’s not. And when she’s not, she switches things up.”
“I can’t believe she’d quit the Swan without notice,” Lena said.
Jake shrugged. “Dad told me you and Alex were looking at that place up on Blackwater Pond,” he said. “Did you buy it?”
“We closed a couple of days ago,” Lena told him. “I was going to call you, actually.”
“What for?”
“I need a good carpenter with a pick-up truck for about a month. When I was here in April, Annie said you might be interested in helping me out. I can pay you $25 an hour.”
“When are you thinking about getting started?”
Lena fiddled with the straw in her scotch. “I already got the permits,” she said. “So tomorrow…or as soon as you’re available.”
“I don’t have anything better going on, I guess.” Jake pushed his glass away and signaled for a refill. “I’ve been sitting here for the better part of a month hoping she’ll come back, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen any time soon.”
Lena placed her hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, Jake. I know you always hoped it would work out between you. To tell you the truth, I hoped so too.”
Jake turned to regard her. She could see defeat in his blue eyes. “I don’t understand it, Lena. We weren’t together, but I thought we were still friends.” He picked up the glass and rubbed it between his hands as though, through motion, it would fill. “Annie left. She just up and left…she didn’t even say goodbye.”
Lena remained silent; there was nothing she could think of to say.
“She didn’t tell you she was going, either?” Jake said at last.
She shook her head. “No. She never does.”
“You’re her best friend, she always talks to you. I’d have thought she’d confide in someone before making a move like this.”
Lena debated the merits of telling him what little she knew. In the end, she decided not to. She’d sworn to keep her best friend’s secret. Besides, she told herself, with the shape Jake was currently in, the knowledge would be cruel. “I’m sorry,” she said, instead. “Listen, it’s getting late. I’d better head back to my dad’s place. Why don’t I meet you at the Cozy Nook for breakfast? Say about seven? We can talk about my project and take a ride up there. If you want it, the job’s yours.”
“Sounds good, Lena.” Jake downed his refill, reached for his wallet, and pulled out a couple of twenties. “Hold up a minute. I’ll walk you out.”
***
Lena passed the ice cream stand and Sal’s pizza with Jake beside her. The cool evening air felt good to her after the heat inside the crowded bar. “You’re not driving,” she said when they reached his silver pick-up.
“Hell yeah, I am,” he said, fumbling with the lock. “It’s over two miles to my place.”
“Uh-uh. Give me those.” She held her hand out, tapping her foot against the curb until Jake surrendered the keys. “Now get in and I’ll drive you home. Have you got anything to eat at the house?”
He shook his head.
“I didn’t think so. Wait right here, I’ll be back in a minute.”
She left him sitting in the passenger’s seat and entered the pizza shop. When she returned ten minutes later, he was asleep.
Lena sighed and put the truck into gear. At the edge of town, she passed her dad’s turn-off and continued on, taking a right a half-mile later. Jake’s cottage sat just off the road, far enough from the lake to make it an undesirable summer rental but close enough to make it a great year-round score. He’d been living there for the better part of a decade and she knew the place well. She pulled in, parked, and jostled his shoulder. “Wake up, sleepy head. We’re home.”
Stumbling from the truck, Jake headed inside. “Did you get the food?” he asked.
She nodded and waved a large paper bag as she pushed through the front door. In the tiny living room, she stopped, shaking her head. The place was an utter disaster. “Jesus, Jake,” she said. “You’ve got to get it together.”
He pushed aside a basket of dirty laundry and slumped into an armchair, closing his eyes. “I know. Sorry about the mess.”
Clearing the coffee table of dirty dishes, Lena deposited the bag of sandwiches before him. “Sausage and meatball subs,” she said, handing one over and unwrapping another for herself.
“Want a plate?” he asked.
“I don’t think so.”
She took a bite and watched as Jake wolfed his down and reached for another. In a matter of minutes, he’d devoured the rest of the bag’s contents.
“Feel any better?” she asked when he’d swallowed the last of it.
“Yeah,” he said. “Thanks. I can’t remember the last time I ate.”
She stood and tossed him his keys. “I’m going to take off. Will you be all right?”
He nodded.
“Don’t go back out tonight…you won’t be any good to me if you get an OUI.”
“How will you get home?”
Lena laughed. “The same way I always do. I’ll walk. See you tomorrow, Jake. The Cozy Nook…seven o’clock. Will you remember or should I write it down?”
“I’ll remember,” he said stretching out on the couch. “And Lena? Thanks.”
Chapter 10.
Jake remembered. He showed up at exactly seven o’clock and tossed back two cups of coffee before his omelet arrived - ham and cheese with home fries, toast, and a side of pancakes. Finished with breakfast, he pushed his plate aside.
“I see you got your appetite back,” Lena said, downing the last of her coffee. “Ready?”
He nodded and she paid the tab.
“Do you know the way?”
“I’ll follow you, I guess,” he said. “It’s been a while since I’ve been up on the ridge. Are we going by way of Shirley or Monson?”
“Monson,” she said. “I don’t know if the road still goes through from Shirley.”
“If it does, it’s a little quicker. I’ll check out the new Gazeteer to see if it’s passable, though, before we try it.”
Lena smiled. “That’s why I hired you. You’re as good with a map as you are with a beer and a hammer. You’re a handy man to have around.”
Jake’s lips curled. For a moment, he looked like his old self. She waited until the street was clear and pulled out. An hour later, they were parked at the entrance to the camp.
“That’s quite a drive,” Jake said as he climbed from the driver’s seat.
“Put yourself down for an hour each way, paid windshield time.”
He grinned and shook his head. “That’s okay. I have to commute almost every day, anyway. It’s part of the job. Besides, it takes longer than this to get up to Toe of the Boot.”
Lena shrugged. “Suit yourself, but remember…I’ve got the money and I need the help. You should take advantage of me.”
Jake chuckled. “Okay, boss, but how about we talk work first? I’ll take advantage of you later…after lunch, maybe.”
Lena smiled. She doused herself with OFF and offered him the pump spray but he shook his head.
“I never use that stuff. It’s poison.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me! You drink like a savage and smoke like a fiend and you’re worried ab
out a little DEET?”
“I have my priorities and repellent’s not one of them. Pot either,” he added. “I quit smoking a couple of years ago.”
“Really? I don’t believe it.”
“It’s the truth. Drink’s my only vice these days.”
“Maybe you should add DEET to the list. The black flies will eat you alive, otherwise.”
Jake shook his head. “They don’t seem to like me much. Mosquitos, yes…black flies, no.”
“You’re lucky. They sure as hell like me.” She turned to follow Zephyr who was already around the first bend.
“Who doesn’t?” Jake said. His tone was light, almost joking.
She stopped and looked back. “What did you say?”
“Nothing,” he said. “Just teasing you, is all.”
Lena wasn’t so sure. There’d been a time when it had been true…a time before he’d discovered Annie. A time before she’d met Alex. But that had been years ago, and it hadn’t amounted to much more than a kiss or two and some groping. They’d been little more than kids back then, barely fifteen at the time. It was so long ago, in fact, she barely ever thought of it. Barely.
Jake seemed unperturbed by her silence. She bent to retrieve a stick and whipped it into the woods as she put his comments from her mind. At the edge of the trees, she stopped and turned to him, gesturing at the clearing. With spring’s renewal, the vista was more stunning than before. A shaggy carpet of green waved softly in the light breeze, interspersed with tiny flowers of white and purple.
“What do you think?” she asked.
He gave a long low whistle. “Holy shit Lena, you and Alex picked a beauty.” He squatted and pushed the grass to one side. “Strawberries and violets. Daisies, too. In another week, this field will be a meadow of flowers if you don’t mow it down.”
Lena smiled. “In that case, I’ll let it grow. We’ll just mow a small area around the cabin for a yard and cut through a couple of paths to the dock and the driveway. It’s less maintenance, anyway. Ready to see the interior?”