Eva wasn’t sure why she was becoming so upset with the Daniel/Bob version of events. It was just that men were so, what was the word, so obvious in their single-minded quest for sex?
Daniel was quiet for a minute after Eva’s outburst.
“Okay, now I suppose you think I have issues too?”
He went over and picked up his camera. “We all have issues. I didn’t mean to criticize Lily. It’s just…she’s more than a handful. I don’t want Bob to have to deal with all her drama. If that sounds cold, well, it’s also realistic. Bob’s a simple guy. He wouldn’t hurt her. I don’t want him to be hurt, because, let’s face it, he’s the one who’s interested. She’s not. So, he should just back off. That’s all I was saying.”
He started up the steps. Eva followed.
“Okay, I see your point,” she said. “You’re trying to protect him.”
“I dated Jane. I know about girls with issues. They are so not worth the trouble they bring.”
Eva didn’t want to get angry at Daniel. She saw that he cared about his brother. But she cared about Lily. And Jane. Daniel, in her opinion, was giving both of them a raw deal.
She sighed. This was not the time to talk to Daniel about Lily. He likely didn’t even mean the word the way it sounded, as if Lily’s intrinsic worth was wrapped up in her inability to be sexual with Bob. She didn’t want to get into the Jane thing. Daniel and Jane obviously had different perceptions of their earlier relationship, but the important thing was that they’d let it go, they’d moved on, they were friends. Eva admired that.
“You’re probably right,” she finally said. “Bob should keep his distance. And I should talk to Lily to see if I can figure out a way to help her—if there’s more wrong than the simple fact that she’s just not that into Bob.”
“Ouch,” Daniel said.
Eva walked toward the lakefront door, leaving Daniel to walk to his car alone.
Inside, Lily sat watching television. Eva tried to talk to her.
“You okay?”
“Sure. Just bored. There’s nothing on television.”
Okay, so Lily was a bit of a brat. After a day of driving around, eating ice cream, and enjoying dinner downtown, she was still bored. Teenagers were tough. Eva didn’t know how Daniel had done it with Bob, and at such a young age.
Lily’s feet were bare, as they had been down at the beach. Eva didn’t know how she could walk on the rocky shoreline without shoes, but Lily said when you grew up on the lake, you got used to it. She wondered if Lily had been down at the lake looking for her own coastal town.
“So whereabouts on the lake are you from?”
“Not too far from here,” Lily said.
“Really? What town?”
“Why does that matter?” Lily shut down again.
“I guess it doesn’t,” Eva said. But she knew something was really bothering Lily. She wished she knew what it was.
“Let’s celebrate,” Eva said. It was an impulse, but her instincts were all she had when it came to Lily.
Lily looked up from a rerun of an old sitcom.
“Why?”
“Well, maybe celebrate is not the exact word. Just have a free day.”
“Wasn’t that what today was supposed to be?”
“Nope. We were working. And you deserve a bonus for doing all that filming.”
Eva had gotten the idea from looking at Lily’s bare feet.
“We should have a spa day. Get our hair cut, mani-pedi, whatever.”
“You mean it?”
“Yeah. We can get the laundry going tonight and finish it in the morning, and then take the afternoon off for pampering.”
Lily held up her hand. Her pretty manicure had been destroyed by all the work she’d done. Her fingernails had tones of peach, blue, and yellow.
“I could use a facial,” Lily said.
“Let me call some salons in Port Huron and see if I can book us appointments.”
“When do you think Daniel will have the video posted?”
“He’s going to work on it tonight. Maybe later.”
“I can’t wait to see it!”
Eva went to load a heap of towels, while Lily gathered up shopping bags of sheets and toted them into the laundry room behind Eva.
“Why do we have to wash these when we bought them new from the store?” Lily pulled the linens out of their packaging, snipping tags as she went along.
Eva hoped the video would bring in more business. So far, July and part of August were booked, but she needed customers in June if she didn’t want to use all her emergency funds paying her bank loan.
Chapter Fifteen
Eva’s phone rang. She checked caller ID. Daniel.
“Hi.” She walked toward the office and her laptop. Maybe he had the video up already.
But no, he told her, he’d given the hours of footage to a friend from high school who was going to whittle it down to a couple of minutes.
“It seems a shame to waste it all,” Eva commented.
“And it’s really good. Lily has a gift for shooting.”
“I’ll tell her you said that.” Eva was just relieved that Daniel had warmed back up to the girl.
“I was thinking…” Daniel said hesitating.
“What?”
“Do you think maybe we could make a movie of the town, you know, for the museum? Or maybe I could get a website built?”
“Of course.” Eva wished she’d thought of it first. “I’ve been so busy with my own marketing, but I’ll have time this summer to get something online for the museum. And it should have a name. Bryman House?”
“I like it,” Daniel said, his voice warm.
“Good.” Eva liked collaborating with Daniel this way. If only it was always this easy.
“So I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said.
“Maybe for a bit,” she replied. “I’ve made some appointments for Lily and myself in Port Huron. Girl stuff.”
“Oh? Well, after you girls get your hair done, or whatever it is you’re up to, why don’t you meet Bob and me for dinner and a movie?” Daniel said.
Eva had learned that going to Port Huron in Blue Lake was a major event. And she would have stayed in Blue Lake, but they didn’t have a day spa. Or a movie theater.
“That might be fun.” Lily had mentioned something about a vampire movie.
“Let’s do it for the kids,” he said.
“Well, sure, okay. For the kids,” she said.
Eva hung up, her spirits buoyed. She immediately began justifying her happiness. This wasn’t a date. It was for the kids. And it would be a shame to waste a professional blow dry. Her hair, naturally curly, got absolutely frizzy living so near the water.
She went to find Lily, to ask about the movie project. Actually, since he was going to be using her work publicly, Eva would talk to Daniel about paying Lily for her filming.
Lily stood at the washer, wearing a baggy pair of sweatpants that Eva was sure must belong to Bob, loading several pair of jeans into the machine.
Eva hadn’t realized she’d been on the phone with Daniel through an entire cycle of laundry. But the neat stack of towels on the folding table told the story. And there was another story here in this room, too.
“Could you loan me, like, a robe or some pajamas?”
Eva felt saddened that she hadn’t paid much attention to Lily’s lack of wardrobe before. She’d given the girl the hoodie she’d appropriated on her first day at Blue Heaven, plus a few old shirts for layering, but that had been the extent of her generosity. Lily had probably been sleeping in T-shirts. And after today’s episode with Bob, she’d be feeling vulnerable.
“Of course. Why don’t you go take a bath? It’s been a long day.”
She’d find Lily some pajamas, make her another hot chocolate, and tell her the good news about the footage she’d shot today. And the movie tomorrow would be the cherry on top.
Lily left the room, holding the sweatpants up so they didn’t
fall to her feet.
Eva went into her room and found some yoga pants, a terry cloth robe that was way too long for her, and a couple pair of camisole and brushed cotton pajamas, one with shorts and one with long bottoms. Lord knew she had more than enough to spare Lily a few things.
The bathroom door was closed. She could hear the water running in the tub. She put the stack of clothes on the hallway table, knocked on the door. “Use the lavender bubble bath,” she said. “It’s super relaxing. And I’ve got your robe and things out here on the hall table.
“Thanks,” Lily called.
Eva again wondered whose child she was and if her folks were worried that she’d left. Eighteen or twenty-eight, Lily would always be somebody’s child. Eva remembered the fluffy bunny slippers her mom had brought her for Easter. She’d been busy getting ready to move to Florida, but had taken the time to fill a basket for her only child, as she did every year. The slippers had been cute but too small. They were somewhere in the back of her closet. Maybe they’d fit Lily.
After she put the slippers next to the pile of clothes, she went to switch the jeans from washer to dryer and fold the new cottage linens. One less job for Lily to do.
Waiting for Lily, she checked reservations on the website again. A few more had trickled in, but by now she should really be fully booked. Then Lily walked in, freshly scrubbed and wearing the bunny slippers and robe.
“Video up yet?”
Eva closed the computer and shook her head. “But Daniel loved your footage.” She walked with Lily into the kitchen and got out the milk for hot chocolate, happy when she noticed the can of fake whipped cream on the shelf. Bob liked to point the can at his mouth and squirt, so Eva never knew if there would be any left. She’d gotten into the habit of buying a can a week.
Lily sat at the tiny kitchen table, the moon shining in through the little window, waiting for her hot chocolate.
“This won’t be as good at the one you had at Sanchez’s,” Eva warned, scooping the powdered cocoa into the pan with the milk.
“We were kissing,” Lily said.
Eva already knew that, but she didn’t say so. Lily would hate it if she knew they’d been talking about her.
“And he kinda put his hands…well, I panicked.”
“That’s okay. You’re entitled to feel your feelings any time a boy does anything to make you feel uncomfortable.”
Eva poured the hot drink into two mugs and sat down across from Lily.
“Everything okay now?”
Lily nodded, sipping her chocolate.
“Good,” Eva said, and then told Lily about dinner and the movie.
Lily put her mug down. “It’s weird,” she said.
Eva waited. This was the longest conversation about something personal she and Lily had ever had.
“I’m, you know, attracted to him. But it’s just no good.”
Eva knew exactly what Lily meant. She was not going to press Lily on the details. If Lily wanted to talk, she knew Eva was there to listen.
“Bob understands,” Eva said. “He saw how upset you were. He won’t kiss you again.”
“This is so hard,” Lily said.
“I know, honey.”
“Thanks for the pajamas.”
“If we have time tomorrow, we’ll go shopping. You probably need a few things.”
“I could use some undies,” Lily said, then giggled. Then she yawned.
“It’s been a long day. I’ll fold the jeans for you.”
Still, Lily sat at the table.
“Do you want to sleep in here tonight?” Eva said.
“I wouldn’t mind,” Lily admitted. “But it might hurt Bob’s feelings.”
“Well, if he noticed, we could say you fell asleep watching television.”
Eva usually kicked the kids out at 11 p.m.
“I’ll get some sheets and make up the sofa. You’ll be the first one to use the pull-out.”
“Okay,” Lily said.
When Eva brought sheets and blankets into the living room, Lily had lowered all the bamboo shades. Eva went over and locked the door. Lily’s spine visibly sagged. Relief, Eva sensed. She wasn’t sure what was going on, but for whatever reason, Lily had not felt safe tonight, even though she had seemed perfectly at ease with Bob all day. And worried about what he’d think tonight.
“I’m going to lock the office door tonight, too,” Eva usually left it open for Lily or Bob. Mostly Lily, who liked her baths and Eva’s beauty products. “Just in case we want to sleep in. We don’t need any of the crew busting in on us.”
They made up the sofa bed together.
“You know, we could get your room in here ready, if you want. It might be easier to get the cottage sorted for guests if you had another place to sleep.”
“Okay,” Lily said, clicking on the remote, but turning the volume low and programming it to turn off in thirty minutes.
“ ’Night,” Lily said, her eyes half shut.
Eva wasn’t tired at all. She decided to start fooling around with a website for Bryman House. It felt good to begin to pay Daniel back for all the free work he was doing here at Blue Heaven.
Chapter Sixteen
The next morning, she showed Daniel the temporary website for his museum.
“This is what we see, but if anyone Googles ‘Bryman House’ they’ll see this.” Eva clicked over to the “Under Construction” icon she’d posted and then back to the temporary site that needed to be filled with info and photos and the video.
“Excellent,” Daniel said.
Eva agreed. She hadn’t slept much last night, and she’d heard Lily tossing and turning, too. But they’d made it through, and later, they’d relax at the spa.
Lily came into the office, having already erased any hint of having slept in the bungalow. The living room was back to normal and she was dressed in fresh jeans and the concert T-shirt Eva gave her the night before. It was old, from back when the band was still mostly a local Detroit act, but not beat up. Eva wasn’t really a concert T-shirt sort of person, although she always bought them when she attended shows. She had a drawerful that never got any use. Maybe Lily would like them.
“Hey,” Lily said to Daniel.
“You two see the video yet?”
They hadn’t. Eva had been so into building Daniel’s website, she hadn’t thought once about checking her reservations or to see if the video was up. She’d have to put a link on her site before they left for the spa.
Daniel typed into the keyboard and the video came up. They watched how his friend had edited their day yesterday to make a fast, fun, clip. They ran the clip a couple more times.
“I didn’t know you filmed me,” she said, looking at Lily.
“I didn’t,” Lily said.
Eva checked again. Daniel had still been filming then, because she’d been driving, her hair blowing in the wind, the sunlight catching her smile. In voiceover, Daniel said, “Meet Eva Delacroix, owner of Blue Heaven, a special vacation spot in Blue Lake, Michigan.”
“I look at you a lot when you don’t know I’m looking,” he said.
Her heart skidded.
“Lily, your footage is awesome,” Eva said, embarrassed. She tried to focus as the video panned the town, the pretty painted cottages, and the beach, with quick cuts to Frank and Sam on the roof of the bungalow.
Daniel’s film-buff friend ended the clip with the shot of the moon on the water and Daniel saying “Come see the moonlight on the sunrise side of the state. Visit Blue Heaven on beautiful Lake Huron this summer.”
Her website address flashed on the screen. She clicked on the link and her site appeared. She clicked on reservations and couldn’t believe it.
“You did it. I’m fully booked for the season.”
“Well, my friend put it together. He loved your footage, Lily. Said you’ve got raw talent.”
Lily smiled and twirled away. She’d been cleaning out the spare room she’d chosen, squeezing bags and boxes and lam
ps all into one room to make way for a bed and dresser that Eva would still have to find. She’d ordered a mattress last night online.
Lily bounced back into the room.
“I can pick out what color I want to paint my room, right?”
Daniel looked at Eva, shrugged, and walked up the staircase he’d managed to salvage from the ruin of Frank and Sam’s work.
“Sure, honey,” Eva said. She looked at the time on her computer. “We need to leave here in a half hour or so.”
“No problem,” Lily said.
Eva clicked into her email account, but Lily still hovered nearby.
“What is it, hon?”
Eva’s email box was jammed and the newsfeed had a headline about 500 Detroit advertising people out of jobs. She clicked it open, then turned to listen to Lily, who was uncharacteristically silent.
“I know I’m being a pain and all, but could I keep the cottage and the bedroom for now?”
“Well, of course. And you’re not a pain.”
“But can I sleep in the living room sometimes until my bedroom in here is done?”
Eva wondered if she should try to dig deeper into Lily’s unease. Surely Bob could not be the cause of this.
“It’s not Bob. Honest. I just,” Lily sighed, “can’t talk about it.”
“You can sleep wherever you feel comfortable,” Eva said. “At least until we get your bedroom all set.”
“So I can keep my stuff in the cottage, but, like, crash in here?”
“Yep.”
“Cool.”
Lily started to head out into the yard, but then pivoted back in. “But don’t tell Bob. He’ll feel bad. And he shouldn’t.”
“I won’t tell Bob.”
“Or Daniel.”
“Or Daniel.”
“You better get off that computer or we’re going to be late for our appointments,” Lily said.
Eva quickly read the report that her former agency had just closed their offices in Detroit. God, how much worse could it get? She spent a couple minutes answering a few emails from her closest friends still at the agency.
Even Marcus had lost his job.
Everyone had seen it coming, so they weren’t as upset as Eva had been when she’d gotten laid off. They wanted to know about her, how she was doing, if her project was on schedule, when they could visit. She knew the truth, even if they didn’t. They’d be too busy looking for work to spend time with her this summer. Still, she extended the invitation. She planned to have a guest room ready to go when she opened in June.
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