by Julia London
He was confusing her.
“For what it’s worth, here’s some unsolicited advice. Don’t let anyone push you into anything.”
Had he been pushed? Had he pushed?
“But you probably know that. And I’m the last guy to hand out marriage advice, so . . .” He straightened up, took another swig of his beer. “I need to prepare for tomorrow. I have a feeling you will make the right decision, Jane. You don’t strike me as the type to do things lightly.” He leaned across the island and clinked his beer bottle against hers. “Cheers,” he said and walked across the kitchen, yawning. But before he went out, he looked back at Jane. “You’re okay, right?”
“Definitely,” she said and smiled. “Before you go, I should tell you that I made an appointment for Riley at Envy Salon on the square to help with her hair. But the only time they have is Thursday afternoon, and I—”
“I know—you have plans,” Asher said, and with a wink, he walked out, leaving Jane with a half-drunk beer and a deepening interest in that man.
At a quarter to three Thursday afternoon, Jane was convinced Asher wasn’t coming home after all, but at the last moment, Carla found her and told her he had returned. At a quarter after three, Jane was standing at the door of the Cedar Springs Standard. The paper was so small that it didn’t even keep regular office hours. They were closed Monday afternoons and Thursday mornings, and all weekend.
The nameplate on the office entrance listed only two people—the managing editor, Ed Brewster, and Macy Lockhart.
“May I help you?” A young woman with short, honey blonde hair and blue eyes smiled warmly at Jane.
“Are you Macy?” Jane asked.
“Ah, no. I’m Emma, Macy’s sister. Macy is on maternity leave. What can I do for you?”
“I need some information that is about thirty years old, and I was hoping Mr. Brewster is in.”
“Who, Ed?”
“The managing editor,” Jane clarified.
Emma chewed the corner of her lip a moment and glanced at a closed door at the far end of the office. “Are you sure you want to talk to Ed?”
Surprised by the question, Jane glanced at the closed door, too.
Emma leaned forward. “Listen, the only reason I ask is because Ed is kind of old, and he usually takes a nap in the afternoons. I don’t like to disturb him unless there’s something happening. Like news.” She laughed.
“Okay,” Jane said uncertainly.
“Don’t worry. Whatever it is, I am sure I can help you!” Emma said cheerfully. “I mean, yes, I am only filling in for Macy, who just had a baby. Why she had to get a part-time job six weeks before she had a baby is beyond me. It’s not like they needed the money, they’ve really been doing pretty good with Finn’s book deal and the donations and all that, but never mind, here I am, filling in. It’s okay, because trust me; part-time is about all anyone needs for this job. What is it you’re looking for?”
“I was hoping to find the names of the babies born in the Cedar Springs hospital on April twenty-fifth, nineteen eighty.”
“Nineteen eighty?” Emma’s brow wrinkled. “That might be a problem. There was a fire in the warehouse that burned a lot of the Cedar Springs Standard records, but I’m not sure what years.” At Jane’s horrified look, Emma said, “Faulty wiring. You didn’t hear about that?”
“No . . . I’m kind of new to town.”
“Oh, it was quite a big to-do around here,” Emma said as she walked to a filing cabinet. “The good news is, the library had some of the issues dating to the fifties. Not all of the issues dating back to the fifties, because that would be too easy, right? Macy said it was hit or miss. But still, they had some. And then Ed wrote an editorial about the whole thing and who would have guessed it, but old man Turnbow, who owns the hubcap place out on seventy-one? Turns out he is a history buff and a bit of a hoarder and he had a bunch of the old printed versions of the paper going back to the thirties. The thirties, can you imagine? So now Ed is in the process of having everything scanned in and put on microfiche so we can re-create a record and every score of every Cedar Springs high school football game since the fall of the Alamo.”
Emma opened the filing cabinet and pulled out a manila folder. “Give me just a second,” she said, and sat down at a desk with the open folder.
As Emma read the contents of the file, Jane looked around. The room looked a lot smaller than it was because of all the filing cabinets. They lined every wall. On Emma’s desk was a picture of a woman who resembled Emma with a handsome man, holding a baby girl. The picture reminded Jane of all the pictures around Summer’s End, pictures and portraits proclaiming to the world that the Price family was a happy, beautiful family.
“This doesn’t tell me anything,” Emma said, drawing Jane’s attention. “I’m going to have to do some research. Translation—call Macy.” She laughed. “Unfortunately, the baby had an appointment today, so she’s in Austin.” Emma closed the file. “I need to ask her what years we have records for, and then I need to find out if the library has it, and if so, if it’s on microfiche yet.”
“Oh,” Jane said, disappointed. “How long will that take?”
“I hope not more than a couple of days,” Emma said. “But between you and me . . .” She glanced at the closed door, leaned forward again, and whispered, “Ed has a serious lack of organizational skills, so it might be a bit of a hunt,” she whispered.
Jane was crestfallen.
“Is there a number where I can reach you?” Emma asked cheerfully, and picked up a pencil to jot down Jane’s cell number.
15
While Jane was sitting in the offices of the Cedar Springs Standard, Asher was picking up Levi from explorer camp. He was actually surprised and relieved that Jane had found this outlet for Levi. The kid needed some structure and meaningful activity and, moreover, he seemed to enjoy it very much.
As Asher pulled into the parking lot, Levi raced down the path to the Range Rover, a flag in his hand. But when Asher stepped out to meet him, Levi’s face fell. He stopped in his tracks. “Where’s Jane?”
His son’s disappointment pricked Asher a little. “She had something else to do today. Hey, that’s a cool flag.”
Levi’s face lit up. “I made it all by myself!”
“Mr. Price?”
Asher glanced up to see a woman marching toward him. She introduced herself as Charlotte, the camp administrator. Her hair was cut shorter than Asher’s, and she was wearing shorts and a shirt that reminded Asher of his Cub Scout days.
“May I speak with you? We are having a couple of issues with Levi.”
Levi instantly ducked around behind Asher. “Like what?” Asher asked.
“He is not minding the camp counselors. We have a three-strikes policy here, and Levi was up to two today. He was throwing food at lunchtime, and this afternoon, he kicked two sand mountains the kids had built.”
Asher looked down at Levi, who was studying the tips of his hiking boots.
“Earlier this week, we made volcanoes. Levi deliberately disobeyed and poured more vinegar into the baking soda than he was instructed.” Charlotte frowned slightly. “The result was a massive volcanic explosion in the small room we have for such activities. It created a huge mess that two of our counselors had to stay late to clean up.”
“I didn’t know it would explode that much, Daddy,” Levi mumbled.
“We ask that the kids respect our authority, Mr. Price. For the safety of the other kids and the shared experience, it is very important that all the children obey the camp counselors.”
“I am sure Levi respects authority, Charlotte,” Asher said shortly and looked at his son. “Levi, you know you have to mind Miss Charlotte and her”—flying monkeys was the phrase that came to mind—“counselors,” he said.
“Yes, sir,” Levi mumbled.
“Why did you kick the sand mountains?”
“Because Jackson said I was weird because I don’t have a mommy.”
&
nbsp; Asher’s heart twisted a little. “Okay. We’ll talk about this on the way home. Go hop in the car so I can talk to Miss Charlotte a minute.”
Head down, Levi walked to the car and crawled into the backseat. When he was out of earshot, Asher asked Charlotte, “Were you aware that some kid was taunting my son?”
“I have talked to the other child,” Charlotte said confidently.
“Are you threatening to kick him out as well?”
“Mr. Price, that is hardly what I said.”
“You certainly implied it. But Levi was obviously provoked.”
Charlotte sighed. “Believe me, Mr. Price, children can be mean.”
“He is five, Charlotte. He needs protection from bullies. He needs your protection and your defense.”
Charlotte’s face darkened. “I can assure you that Jackson Harvey will be dealt with. We do not tolerate bullying at our day camp. Nevertheless, Levi has to obey the rules.”
“He will obey the rules,” Asher snapped. “You need some order in your camp.”
Charlotte bristled. “Thank you for speaking to Levi,” she said tightly and walked briskly away in her little explorer outfit.
Fuming, Asher walked to the car and got in.
“I didn’t know it would explode that much, Daddy,” Levi said fearfully when Asher closed the driver’s door.
“I know, but you have to listen to the camp counselors,” Asher said, then lectured Levi on the importance of minding camp counselors and being a team player on the way to the hair salon, where he was to collect Riley from Helen, Susanna’s mother.
They pulled up outside Envy Salon on Main Street just as Helen and Riley emerged. Helen had her arm around Riley’s shoulders, and Riley was smiling at her grandmother. God, it made Asher’s heart swell to see Riley’s smile. It reminded him of Susanna, and he was sure Helen thought the same.
Riley’s hair looked closer to her natural blonde, and moreover, she’d cut it. Her hair was swinging just above her shoulders; long bangs swept down the side of her face. As she drew closer to the car, he noticed one slender faint stripe of pink in her bangs. If that’s all there was, he could live with it. She was wearing a tight black T-shirt with some silver insignia, tight black jeans, and some goofy-looking high-top tennis shoes. Asher noticed something else—Riley had curves. And breasts. Good God, how had he missed that?
Riley and Helen walked around to the passenger side of the car. Helen was a striking woman with blondish silver hair and a tan. She looked a lot like Asher’s mother, really—one of the thin, wealthy, fit senior citizens milling about this part of Texas. Asher’s mother’s hair was darker and highlighted, but she was pencil thin, wore a lot of jewelry like Helen, and spent her summers in New Hampshire or Europe, out of the Texas heat.
Riley opened the door and climbed in. Helen leaned over, propped her arms on the open window, and smiled warmly. “Hello, Ash. The pink wasn’t my idea. I just thought I should state that for the record.”
“Somehow, I knew that,” Asher said.
Helen poked her perfectly coiffed head through Riley’s window and looked into the backseat. “Hello, Levi!”
“Hi, Grandma.”
“When are you coming to see me? We haven’t made cookies in a long, long time, have we?”
“I don’t know,” Levi answered honestly.
“I would very much like for you and Riley to come spend the night. Will you do that?”
“Yes,” Levi said.
Helen missed the kids. She’d all but accused Asher a couple of weeks ago of keeping them from her, and she’d grudgingly accepted his excuse that he just wasn’t home much.
“Any weekend you’d like to have them, Helen,” Asher offered now.
“I can never get hold of you, Ash. But I’ll try again. Now tell me quickly how the new nanny is working out before I melt in this heat.”
“I like her!” Levi announced.
“I think we’re settling into a routine,” Asher added.
“I am so relieved. I know that’s been a real concern.”
“Can we go now?” Riley asked impatiently.
“Can you tell your grandmother thank you?” Helen said, playfully punching Riley in the arm.
“Thanks, Grandma.”
“You’re most welcome, my love.” Helen reached over the seat and tweaked Levi’s toes. “Good-bye, Levi. Don’t forget those cookies, now.”
“Bye!” Levi shouted, and kicked the back of Riley’s seat.
“Don’t kick my seat, Levi,” Riley said. She opened the care visor to examine her hair as Asher backed the Range Rover away from the sidewalk and pointed the car in the direction of Summer’s End.
They hadn’t even left the town square when Levi said, “Your hair looks weird,” and kicked the back of Riley’s seat again.
“Shut up,” Riley said and closed the visor.
“It’s weird.”
Asher gave his son a look in the rearview mirror. “No one asked you for your opinion, Levi.”
“Yeah, Levi, no one wants your opinion. No one really even wanted you.”
“Riley!” Asher snapped.
“What?” she asked, looking at him wide-eyed. “It’s true. You and Mom used to fight about it all the time.”
“Dammit, Riley, you have no idea what you are talking about! That is not true,” he said angrily and looked at Levi in the rearview mirror. “That’s not true, buddy.”
“Don’t say that, Riley!” Levi shouted and angrily kicked the back of her seat again.
“Stop kicking my seat!” Riley cried.
“Riley Ann,” Asher said low. “There are a lot of things you think you understand that you don’t. Watch what you say, do you understand me?”
“I’m sorry! I know you want Levi now, Dad,” she said and sank lower into her seat. “I didn’t mean to make everyone mad.”
Asher glanced in the rearview mirror. Now Levi was staring pensively out the window. Not wanted at camp, not wanted by his parents. What more could a kid take? And Riley! She’d been only a little older than Levi was now when Susanna had discovered she was pregnant again. It had been a huge blow to them. Susanna had had a habit of getting off her meds, claiming they’d impeded her creativity. Asher, Helen, and her doctors would convince her to get back on them. But somehow, in spite of their best precautions, Susanna had gotten pregnant again. They’d argued about her pregnancy and her inability to really care for a baby, and about her drinking while she was carrying Levi. When Levi was born prematurely, Asher had feared the worst. So had Susanna. She’d feared her son would die, and even though Levi had been fine, Susanna’s anxiety had begun to spiral out of control.
Riley had been the miracle baby, but Levi had undone the miracle, and Riley remembered it all.
Asher suddenly turned right.
“Where are we going?” Riley demanded.
“You’ll see when we get there,” he said curtly.
The Saddle-brew had to be the most successful business in all of Cedar Springs. Every time Asher stopped by, regardless of the time of day, the place was packed. Today was no exception.
Samantha Delaney was working the counter. She had a pencil stuck behind her ear and was holding another one in her hand. Asher ordered a latte for himself, juice for Levi, and nothing for Riley, who couldn’t make up her mind.
“Asher Price!”
Asher turned around at the sound of his name; Linda Gail Graeber was standing behind him. “Well look here, it’s old home week!” she said happily.
Asher had a soft spot for Linda Gail. She’d organized what he now thought of as the funeral food brigade when Susanna had died, enticing the women around town to pull out their standby casseroles from the deep-freezes in their garages and dole them out to Asher and the kids in a steady stream for about three weeks after the funeral. It had been an invaluable gift to him as a newly widowed, grieving father. “How are you, Linda Gail?”
“Oh, I’m right as rain, right as rain. We hardly see you a
round town anymore.”
“I’ve been tied up with work.”
“Can’t work too hard, else you’ll drown in your own sweat,” she said with a wink. “Riley, look at your hair! That’s just too cute! Asher, I swear, I’ve been trying my hardest to get Tracy and Riley together this summer,” she said, stroking Riley’s hair. “Maybe they could go swimming or something fun like that.”
“Consider it done,” Asher said instantly, ignoring Riley’s look of horror.
“I wanna go!” Levi said.
“You, too, buddy. Linda Gail, bring your kids out to Summer’s End.” He opened his wallet and pulled out a business card. “Let me give you the number of our nanny, Jane Aaron. You can call her and set it up.”
“That would be great!” Linda Gail said. “Jane and I have already spoken about it—I’ll give her a call.”
Asher looked up from his wallet. “Jane? Our Jane? You know her?”
“Oh, I met her! She’s great, Asher. My friends and I liked her instantly. You did good.”
Asher borrowed a pen from the counter, jotted down Jane’s cell phone number on the back of his business card, and handed it to Linda Gail. “I’ll let her know you’re going to call,” he said.
“Thanks! I know Tracy will be thrilled.”
Riley, however, was not thrilled. The moment they left the Saddle-brew, she said, “You’re killing me, Dad. Why are you making me do this?”
“It’s not torture.”
“It’s not to you, but it is to me.”
“Why is it so hard to have some friends over, Riley? Think about it—what’s the worst that could happen?”
She looked down. Her hair fell forward, covering her face. “I don’t want to hang out with Tracy or anyone else.”
“This is an opportunity for you to stop hiding from the world, baby girl. Tracy is a great kid. So are you. And you could use some friends, Riley.”
“God,” she said and folded her arms across her body. She tossed her head, just like Susanna would do when she was angry with him.
This will be a telling couple of years, Ash, his mother had said a few months ago. If Riley is going to follow in Susanna’s footsteps, you’ll probably begin to see it during puberty. That remark had made Asher angry at the time, but sometimes he couldn’t help but wonder.