Blue Heaven (Blue Lake)

  “What would Marcus do?” She wondered. They’d had plenty of experience with going over budget on a campaign and he’d always found a creative way to solve problems.

  One thing she knew for sure is that he would not let his confidence waver for one second. All she needed was confidence in the plan unfolding as it should. Her vacationers would come, they would pay, she would be solvent. Maybe she should take that on faith and pay a couple of these cards off with her emergency savings. She’d already dipped into it for the party. 18% would add up quickly over the winter months, when she had no revenue coming in.

  She went online and transferred her savings to checking, but held off writing the checks. She still had a little bit of cash in there and some time before the bills came due. Everything would be fine. She would have faith in herself and in the universe. What could go wrong now with less than a week until opening day of the new Blue Heaven?

  ****

  The morning of the Open House, Eva arranged the finishing touches in the addition. Happy and excited, she also felt a little ache inside she couldn’t quite place. Probably just pre-party nerves. There would be so many people she didn’t know. She knew Meg and Luke and the rest of the people from Eddie’s. She knew the guys on the renovation crew, Lois the vet, plus Eddie from the bar and the lady who owned the antique store. She was beginning to feel part of a community, even if she couldn’t remember everyone’s name.

  The mantel had been bare while the stain dried, but now she arranged family photos there. She missed her folks. Even though she spoke to her mom on the phone every week, it wasn’t the same. She admired her walls, their golden yellow paint cheered her. A light green sectional with clean lines that could easily seat twelve reflected the leaves of the trees outside the many windows. She didn’t have anything covering the windows at all, because Daniel had done such an incredible job on the wood framing them and the view from every angle of nature was better than any textile could provide.

  Daniel. How would they behave today around the entire town? As a couple or still remain quietly seeing each other? She knew he wanted them to be open about their relationship and realized, as she moved a picture frame an inch to the left, that she wanted that, too.

  The room looked perfect to her eyes but what would other people think? She picked up and rearranged a fat aqua urn, set a large bowl of oranges on the coffee table. Her eyes rested on Mama, taking a well-deserved break from the kittens on a rust-colored throw puddled on a chaise lounge. Eva angled a guitar she’d bought for $5 next to the cat. A perfect still life.

  Maybe too perfect. She took one orange out of the bowl and set it next to a pair of candlesticks holding tall amber colored candles. No more fussing. That was it. Everything was done. If she was nervous today, what would it be like when the magazine came knocking? Daniel had given her the news yesterday. A writer and photographer would be arriving next week on Monday to do a feature on Bryman and Blue Lake. It was a dream come true for Daniel, and from a marketing standpoint, for her business, too.

  She took one final glance around the room, hoping Daniel liked her finishing touches. If he approved, it almost didn’t matter what anybody else thought. He had not seen it since he’d helped her, Bob, and Lily arrange the heavy pieces delivered yesterday. She’d practically lived up here since then.

  Daniel had done so much for her, she wished she’d thought of a really good surprise for him. Her wheels were turning as she went downstairs to make sure everything there was okay. Her showplace rooms were the office with the new curving bannister and the living room. The kitchen still looked the same, tiny but cheery. She’d have to show her bedroom, but had installed a baby gate so people knew not to go into it, just take a peek at the cavorting kittens. They were her excuse for the baby gate, a bit of advice from Jane, who said she’d have people sitting all over her bed unless she made it off limits.

  Eva sorted out the house as best she could, and even came up with what she hoped would be a neat surprise for Daniel. She thought about it as she cleaned up after herself in the bathroom. She thought about it as she put on jeans and a casual tunic. She didn’t think she’d get cold, but because of the plan, she changed from her white tunic to a deep blue one. How would she fit the surprise into the constant activity of hostess? She knew Daniel’s surprise would not make her cold, but she hung a sweater over her office chair just to be safe.

  She checked the computer. A few more RSVPs. Another reservation for fall.

  Jane and Daniel came in together while Eva was still in the office.

  “Looks like rain,” Jane said.

  Eva winked at Daniel. That was it for now. But later, after the guests arrived…well, she just hoped he’d be happy.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  “No way.” Eva put her sexy plan out of her mind to disagree with Jane about the rain, pointing to the patch of sunshine on her patterned rug. She clicked off her website and shut the computer down. She took the various papers all over her desk and gathered them up into a tidy sheaf before stashing them in a drawer. Then she came out from behind the registration counter to join her friends.

  “If it rains, people can use the tent. We’ll control the number of folks touring the place.”

  “Nobody’s going in MY cottage or my room.” Lily carried a baby gate as she stomped in behind Bob.

  Eva shrugged. Lily was entitled to her privacy, while Bob had been stoic about returning to live with Daniel.

  Things were changing. First the noisy crew left, now Bob would be leaving tonight, and Lily would officially move into the bungalow with Eva. Then the guests would descend. The new idea she’d come up with to surprise Daniel in the midst of all these strangers terrified and elated her at the same time.

  Frank was the first guest after her friends to arrive. His wife smiled so wide her face almost cracked as she handed Eva a huge Tupperware container of fruit salad. His kids, teenagers, were drawn immediately to the beach. Eva and Jane had been right about the weather. It was still warm and sunny, but there were dark clouds on the horizon.

  Maybe people would notice the impending showers and show up earlier rather than later.

  A guy from the crew came next, with his wife, who carried a Bible in her hand.

  “Vera here wants to say a blessing over your place,” he said, eyeing the keg of beer that Eddie was priming.

  He left Eva alone with Vera, even though Eva could see that she was not going to be alone, not really, for many more hours. People were pouring into her property like they poured out of church on Sunday morning.

  “I do hope you’ll succeed here,” Vera said piously, “even though I’m unsure whether the Lord really approves of the name of this place.”

  “That was the name it had before I owned it,” Eva said.

  “I know,” said Vera, pointedly. But then someone else came up, a guy from the cottage crew. He introduced his wife and kids and cousins and uncle.

  A few hours later, which had passed like minutes, Eva was weary but relieved. Her new neighbors had welcomed her and she felt good about that. She just had a minute to sneak into the bathroom and call her mother. She’d figured out what was missing in her perfect house. Her family.

  “Mom, you have to come up here and see this place,” Eva said, for the hundredth time.

  “I saw it online, honey. Your cousin Marcie sent me the link.”

  “Marcie!” Eva let that go for the moment. “I didn’t know you had a computer!”

  “I had to get one. My friend Ernst has one with a little camera and he talks to his grandkids that way.”

  “Oh, a webcam. Good idea. Let’s do that. Who is Ernst?”

  “He’s my neighbor, dear. We’re not having sex, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

  Eva hadn’t been thinking any such thing. She looked in the mirror and realized she’d forgotten to put on make up this morning. Which is probably why all the women were so friendly. She was for sure no competition. She grabbed a mascara wand from the b
asket of make up under the sink, hesitated, and snagged her blusher, too.

  “Okay, well, Mom. Back to Marcie. I didn’t know you talked to her.”

  “Yes, that was your father’s fight. When he died, the fight died with him, bless his heart.”

  Eva felt a sense of calm she’d been missing since she’d started this project. She’d gotten a couple of her cousins’ email addresses off the internet and sent them the link to Blue Heaven. Just in case they might be interested in seeing their childhood summer home again. She hadn’t heard back from any of them, and that stung, but apparently at least Marcie had seen the website.

  Someone knocked on the door. “Mom, I have to go. I’m having a party.”

  “Oh, I’m glad you’re making friends, dear.”

  Eva was glad, too. This was a small town and she intended to spend the rest of her life here, so it would be good if she liked the people.

  She opened the door. Jane stood there.

  “Oh, hey you.”

  “Hey you, too.” They grinned at each other like fools. She’d never have been able to do any of this without Jane’s help. From the first day, Jane had been there for her, even way back when Daniel wasn’t.

  “Thank you,” she told Jane.

  “For what? Putting ranch dressing in plastic shot glasses and sticking in a few raw veggies?”

  “No, for this. For everything. You are the person who started everything in motion. I can’t thank you enough.”

  “It was nothing,” Jane said. “Wait for me, I want to ask you something.”

  So Eva went into the kitchen and talked with people until Jane joined her.

  “Let’s go sit on the porch,” Eva said. Jane laughed, and in a minute Eva knew why. The big covered porch was strictly standing room only. But that was okay.

  “What did you want to ask?” Eva said, going outside, heading for the shed, where her plan for Daniel was ready to spring.

  “Just, well. I wondered about you and Daniel.” God, the girl had ESP.

  “Not much to tell. We’re taking it slow.” Eva wasn’t going to tell anyone, not even Jane, what she had planned.

  “I know, I know, but I keep getting a bad vibe.”

  Eva shook her head no. “You worry too much.”

  Just then Daniel came up behind her and Eva figured it was now or never. She took him by the hand, pulled him closer to the shed, looked back at Jane, and winked.

  “What? Where are we going? I wanted to introduce you to…”

  She pulled open the shed door a crack with the stealth of a top notch sleuth. She went in sideways, pulling Daniel after her. It was dark, but she didn’t turn on the light. Daniel stopped protesting even before she kissed him.

  She relaxed into an embrace that had become her main source of comfort. Even joy. It felt like an old song her mother had loved, something about fading into your lover. Not that he was yet. And this was not the place for that. But soon.

  After their skin had connected through their clothes and it truly felt as if she’d fade into him, Daniel moved his lip an inch from her own. “What are you up to?”

  “Nothing,” she answered back. “Just kissing you.” And she did. She planned to kiss him until someone noticed one or both of them were missing from the party. If things went her way, that would be at least an hour from now.

  The shed door banged. Damn. Way too soon.

  “What are you guys doing in there?” Jane whispered.

  “Shhh. Nothing. Kissing.” Eva laid her head on Daniel’s flannel shirted shoulder. “Go away for awhile.”

  Jane didn’t say anything else, but someone noticed her there and soon several voices could be heard. Busted. But that had been her plan all along. Now it just needed someone opening the door and catching them in the act. Well, the act of kissing.

  Jane was busy trying to divert people from the shed. “Nobody. It’s nothing. Let’s get you a drink!” But it didn’t work. Lily had noticed that both Eva and Daniel were missing.

  “They’re in there!”

  “What? Who?”

  “Come on, guys. Out with it or I’m coming in.” Lily again.

  Eva didn’t move from her spot in Daniel’s arms. She kissed him again. He might be confused by her willingness to be caught, but he kissed her right back just the same.

  A few minutes later a real ruckus had started outside the shed.

  “Hope you have all your clothes on!” Bob said, then opened the shed door. Eva and Daniel continued to kiss amid a chorus of glee and a few less tasteful remarks.

  “I knew you two were doing it!” Frank said.

  “Young love,” said an older woman Eva didn’t know.

  They broke off their kiss and Eva held Daniel’s hand as they faced the world. Well, at least one little piece of it.

  “Doing what?” Daniel asked. “I didn’t know there was a law against kissing a pretty girl.” They walked out of the shed and he raised the hand he held and kissed her like an old-fashioned gentleman.

  Eva looked around, but she didn’t see Jane. She hoped her friend wasn’t offended because she hadn’t clued her in on the shed secret.

  A very loud “Meow” sounded from the shed rafters as Papa cat protested the noise in his cozy abode. Bob had built him a little door so that he had free access at all times and, after jumping down from his perch, he ignored it and twisted out among the crowd, loudly meowing hellos to everyone. Papa was the talker in the cat family.

  Everyone pelted them with questions and comments all at once.

  “We’ve been seeing each other a while,” Daniel said. “Just taking it slow.”

  “Since when have you ever taken anything slow?” Luke shouted from the back of the crowd. Everyone laughed and somebody popped a champagne cork. That had not been part of her plan, but she liked it. Bob came through and handed Eva and Daniel each a glass. A real flute. Probably borrowed from Daniel’s house because Eva had no flutes. Everyone else raised their paper cups as Bob said “Here’s to Eva and Daniel for finally admitting what everybody already knew!”

  Daniel looked into her eyes as they clinked glasses. “You are really something,” he said so only she could hear.

  “I thought it was time to properly announce our being a couple.”

  “Wasn’t anything proper about that.” Daniel laughed and turned to a few of his buddies who were mercilessly teasing him.

  Eva heard a voice from her past. It couldn’t be. Lord, say it wasn’t so.

  “Peanut!” She turned around and there was Marcus, holding yet another bottle of champagne in one hand and a dozen yellow roses in the other.

  ****

  “It’s my fault. I sent out a massive email announcing the opening of Blue Heaven and he was likely on my list.” Eva whispered to Jane as the party swirled around them and Daniel, of all people, gave Marcus a tour of the house. Marcus brought the rain, which thinned the crowd somewhat, although there were still small knots of folks in the house and under the beer tent.

  Jane and Eva sat in the gazebo. Watching it rain. Jane knew the Marcus story. There was nothing to say, so they watched the rain pelt into the churning gray water of Lake Huron.

  “Guess I should go rescue Daniel,” Eva said.

  “You sure surprised everyone with that shed trick.”

  “I just wanted everyone to know we’re a couple.”

  “Everyone except me.”

  “You knew. I told you. Said we were taking it slow.”

  Jane pursed her lips.

  “Hey, sorry if you felt excluded.” Eva got up from her seat. “I need to change into dry clothes and see what the hell Marcus is up to.”

  “I’m coming.” Jane put on her game face and pulled a plastic garbage bag from her jeans pocket. They began loading it with dirty paper plates and plastic cups and napkins. By the time they made it back to the house they were both soaked, but the bag was full, they were friends again and the yard was tidy.

  The beer tent buzzed with old timers from
the bar. Not only the three wise men, whose names she could never remember, there were a dozen or so more wizened souls, elbows on picnic tables, grinning at her, saying her daddy would be proud. That she and Daniel were made for each other. She thanked them and double checked to make sure none of the kids were sneaking beer. They weren’t. No kids in the house either, which meant they’d probably left. Or maybe they were in the cottages. With alcohol.

  “If you happen to run into Marcus and Daniel, tell them I’ll be right there. I want to lock up the cottages,” Eva said to Jane.

  Nobody in Peach, Watermelon, Kiwi, or Blueberry. Eva locked up after surveying the premises. She and Lily would have to clean in the morning, but they’d expected that. No irreparable damage, which is what she’d really been worried about. The other two cottages, Cherry and Coconut were still Bob’s and Lily’s cottages, at least for tonight.

  Both were occupied, music and laughter coming from inside, so Eva decided to let them carry on. She hoped they weren’t drinking, but she was not cut out to police the world of teens, nor was she a parent. You had to grow into parenthood, she thought, wondering about Daniel, what he would do right now. She decided to ask him. Maybe he’d invade their space and check for contraband for her.

  The house was emptying out, at least the main floor. Meg and Steve had left awhile ago with most of Daniel’s friends. A few people sat in the living room, looking out at the rain and sipping wine.

  Four or five women, wives of the crew who took a touching pride in their project, were putting away food and cleaning up party damage in the kitchen.

  “Thanks so much.” Another of the wives had gone out to the porch with a large garbage bag. “But you don’t have to do this.”

  “Look at you! Soaked to the bone,” Luke’s mom—was her name Wanda?—said. “We don’t mind a bit. Go on and get into some dry clothes. Jane already borrowed a pair of your jeans and a T-shirt.”

  Eva craved a warm shower and her fuzzy robe and slippers, but that would be rude.