Summer Girl, Winter Boy

by Elsborg, Barbara

  “I’ll take her,” Pippa said.

  “No, you won’t,” said her mother. “I need you here.”

  “Then I will.”

  Summer turned to see her father walking toward her. “Dad!” She put down her bags, ran toward him and wrapped her arms around him.

  “Is it my long-lost daughter back from the Amazon?”

  Summer buried her face in his sweater, tears burning at the backs of her eyes.

  “You can’t take her. I need your help in the katas,” snapped her mother.

  “Do you want your youngest daughter’s hair returned to acceptability?” he asked. “By the time a taxi—”

  Her mother waved her hand. “Fine. Take her. She can get a cab back.”

  “Pippa, put Summer’s bags in her room, please,” her father said. “The sooner we’re off, the better.” He took Summer’s hand and tugged her out the back door.

  “What the hell is a kata?” she asked.

  “That.” Her father pointed.

  Three huge, interconnecting teepees straddled the width of the back garden. “Wow. Wigwams? A cowboys-and-Indians theme?”

  Her father clicked open the car. “Don’t let your mother hear you say that. A kata is a temporary dwelling used by the Sami people while they roam around with their reindeer. These cost a bloody fortune. I put my foot down about the reindeer.”

  Summer climbed into the car. He used a remote to open the gates and pulled out of the drive.

  “It’s good to have you back safe and sound,” he said and shot her a smile. “I worried about poisonous tree frogs and deadly snakes.”

  “You do know I was nowhere near the Amazon?”

  “They have them in Colombia. The golden poison frog—I looked them up in case I had to fly over and administer treatment.”

  “I love you, Dad.”

  His hand settled on her knee. “I love you too, sweetheart.”

  Thank goodness one of her family did. Apart from the dog. And perhaps Pippa.

  “Your mother’s been telling everyone you were exploring the Amazon and I gave up trying to put her right.”

  “You mean she said it once and you didn’t bother to correct her.”

  “Pointless, you have to agree. She’ll never admit it, but she’s enjoyed telling people what you’ve been up to. But your hair? You had to know that would send her blood pressure off the scale. Pink? What were you thinking?”

  “I got fed up with orange.”

  He laughed.

  “I was going to dye it back before I came but I was in a rush.” She fiddled with the edges of her seat. “How are things?”

  He exhaled. “Your mother has been in a state of panic for weeks. Hard to think what she’s not been panicked about. Then it snowed. Cause for further panic until she decided it would be perfect for the photographs, now she’s panicking that it will turn to slush and has me trying to hire a snow machine. Angelina is freaking out about the wedding favors not matching the color of the serviettes. Pippa is winding everyone up about nothing. Your brother has wisely kept his distance. As has the groom. I can’t wait for the whole thing to be over, so I can go back to work for some peace and quiet.”

  She smiled and swallowed at the lump in her throat. “Is Angie happy?”

  “Yes, very. Though she has her maudlin moments, and I regret to say that, despite all Pippa’s efforts to stop her, your mother encourages them. Tim is a very nice guy. Not that I wish to speak ill of the dead, but it strikes me he’s kinder, more considerate and much nicer than Doug. God, I hate that word—nice. So did you have a nice time in South America?”

  Summer smiled. “It was very nice, thank you.” She had to ask the question. “You think Angie will ever forgive me?”

  He glanced at her. “Have you forgiven yourself?”

  Her father was the one member of her family she could always talk to, but he was best friends with Doug’s father. It was better everyone continued to think it had been a terrible but innocent accident, than be told their son was a lecherous bastard who’d shoved his hand up Summer’s skirt as she was driving and ripped her panties. She’d veered off the road and the car had flipped. Doug died and she’d survived.

  That had been the day before Angie was due to marry him. Telling the truth would make no difference to the way her sister thought about her. Actually, that wasn’t true. Angie wouldn’t believe her. The truth would make matters worse.

  * * * * *

  Toni flung up his hands in mock horror when Summer walked in. He whipped off her coat, tugged her over to a chair and pressed on her shoulders to make her sit. As he stared at her in the mirror, he lifted locks of her hair and let them fall, twisting his lips into a variety of grimaces.

  “Cut it out, Toni. It looks great and you know it,” Summer said.

  The hairdresser she’d been dragged to for most of her teenage years let his shoulders drop. He camped it up but as far as she knew, he was still happily married with a wife and five kids.

  “It suits you,” he said. “All those years I longed to do something other than trim your split ends and you come back with this.”

  “I’ll clash with the bridesmaid’s dress,” she said. “I need another color.”

  “Can I cut it as well?”

  “Whatever you like. Then I can blame you if my mum screams.”

  “Just a trim, then,” Toni said.

  Chapter Eleven

  By the time Summer returned to her parents’ house she was exhausted, but liked what Toni had done to her hair. It was back to her normal light-ash blonde, and razor cut into a cross between neat and untidy. He’d made her sit for fifteen minutes with conditioner on it, but she had to admit, it felt silky now.

  Bypassing the brightly lit house, she headed straight to the barn and up to the room that used to be occupied by her brother Baxter’s drum kit. She switched on the light and saw her bags lying inside the door.

  The playroom had been turned into a guest suite. Baxter’s posters and black walls were gone and beige reigned supreme—carpet, walls and drapes. A touch of blue had been allowed on the bed cover. She’d intended to book a hotel for her and Jai but they could sleep in here away from the house. She left her dirty boots on the mat and stripped before she headed for the bathroom. A quick wash, a change of clothes and she’d be ready to face her family.

  Actually, she wouldn’t but there was no choice.

  It had always been tough being the youngest. Summer had been told she was an unexpected addition. A shock, her mother called her, while her father said she was a lovely surprise. After two girls, they’d been desperate for a boy and along came Baxter. Three kids fit in an average-sized car. Why bother with a fourth? Summer was a nuisance and she grew up understanding that, for a quiet life, it was best to stay under the radar. A mistake to think that might make her mother warm to her so she’d stopped bothering, and as a teenager, had done more or less what she’d liked, though was never quite the rebel she’d wanted to be.

  She dried her face and turned away from the mirror, wondering yet again if she was expected to be grateful her mother hadn’t had her aborted. Sometimes, on her down days, Summer wished she had. It was hard to have a mother who resented her, siblings whose interest had worn off before she was old enough to register they thought she was cute, and a father who, much as he loved her, worked long hours and had little time for her. Even so, she knew she’d had it easy compared to a lot of kids. Three square meals a day and a warm home, and it wasn’t as if her mother was only horrible to her. The others came in for some stick too. No matter how hard they all tried, they couldn’t be perfect.

  As she went through the clothes she’d crammed into her bag, she huffed out a sigh of disappointment. In her desperation to make a fast getaway, she’d come without anything for the rehearsal dinner. Another trip to Canterbury beckoned. For tonight, she pulled on a pair of jeans ripped at the knees and, to compensate, a smart red scoop-neck top. She put on her coat and her boots, picked up the bag hold
ing the presents and made her way over the courtyard to the house.

  The first person she met after she’d taken off her boots was Angie, on her own in the hallway.

  “Hi,” Summer said and couldn’t think of anything else to say because nothing she said would be right.

  “Hi.” Angie‘s mouth tightened into a thin line.

  Fuck, I’m not forgiven then.

  “How are you?” Summer asked.

  “Okay.”

  “Excited about the wedding?” Oh hell, I’m a moron.

  Angie nodded.

  “The katas look great,” Summer said, and won a small smile. “I haven’t been inside. I just meant from the outside, but they do look fantastic.” Shut up now.

  “We’ve been busy all day sorting out the chairs, tables and lights.”

  Did this count as a conversation?

  “I can help tomorrow. I got you something from Chile you might like to use as a decoration.”

  “Chile? Right.”

  She made it sound as though Summer had brought her something from a sewage treatment plant.

  “Angie.” She took a deep breath. “I don’t have to be your bridesmaid if you don’t want me to.”

  Her sister pinned her with a glare and Summer could feel herself shrinking. “Imagine how that would look.”

  “All that matters is you having the best day of your life. If you want me gone, I’ll leave right now. I can…come down with some infectious disease. Just tell me if you want me to go.”

  “You’re my sister. I don’t want you to go.”

  Yet Summer heard a different message under the words. “I’ve invited someone to be my date at the rehearsal dinner and the wedding. I hope that’s okay.”

  Angie’s cheek twitched. “Whatever.”

  When she walked off, Summer sighed and followed. The family was in the drawing room. Winston jumped off a chair and came to greet her. Summer bent to stroke him.

  “Summer’s asked someone to come to the dinner tomorrow night and to the wedding,” Angie blurted.

  “And you couldn’t have told us before now?” her mother snapped.

  “I only just met him.”

  Her mother gaped at her. “And Angie is expected to have him at her wedding? Some…stranger you’ve only just met? Where is he going to sit? I assume it’s a he?”

  She couldn’t help but smile. A fight might break out over who sat next to Jai.

  “With me,” she said. She dropped onto the rug in front of the fire and Winnie lay pressed against her thigh.

  “I shall have to tell catering. Really, Summer, you should have asked first.” Her mother subjected her to the full force of her glare.

  “Sorry,” Summer said. I’m not.

  “I thought your Uncle Bill called this morning to tell you he’d got a chest infection and can’t make it?” her father said. “It won’t be any bother to let Summer sit with her guest. Pippa’s boyfriend is coming after all, and Baxter’s girlfriend.”

  “It’s inconsiderate,” her mother muttered.

  “Sorry,” Summer repeated.

  “Your hair looks nice,” her father said.

  She smiled. “Thank you.”

  “It looks much better,” said her mother. “I can’t think what possessed you to have it colored pink. Now, we’ll have dinner and discuss what’s happening tomorrow.”

  “I bought some presents.” Summer put her bag next to the coffee table. “Would you like them now?”

  “I would.” Her father leaned forward in his chair.

  “Me too,” Pippa said.

  Her mother stood up. “Dinner’s ready.”

  “We’re only having chili con carne. It can wait.” Her father smiled and her mother sat again.

  Summer unzipped her bag. “I bought you and Baxter sombreros vueltiaos.” She took out two tubes and handed one to her father. “They’re made from natural fiber, the palm plant. Very Colombian. They roll up but don’t lose their shape.”

  Her father shook the hat out and put it on. “I can sit in the garden and admire the kata-less view. Thank you, sweetheart.”

  “I bought coffee as well. Lots of it.” She put the bags of coffee beans on the table. “And alpaca hats, gloves and scarves for everyone. You can pick which color you like the best.”

  Pippa made a grab for a blue hat. Neither her mother nor Angie moved. A heavy weight settled in her chest.

  “The chullos—the hats—are from Peru. They’re all the same size but alpaca wool is flexible so they should fit. I wore mine all the time.”

  Oh god. I’m babbling.

  She put a version of Colombian Monopoly on the table. “That’s for everyone.”

  “Thank you, sweetheart. It looks fun,” said her father. “Don’t think I’d want to be in a Colombian jail.”

  A shiver trickled down her spine. She pulled out several small packets. “I bought silver necklaces and earrings from Peru. You can choose which you like.”

  Pippa leaned closer and Summer saw Angie frown at her. Pippa sat back on the couch.

  Fine. I don’t care anymore. I tried.

  She put a rectangular box on the table and took off the lid. “I thought you might like these as decorations for the wedding, Angie. A thousand handmade paper butterflies. If you don’t want them, I’ll keep them. And this is a wedding present for you and Tim.” She put the parcel on the table.

  “Not from the list?” her mother said.

  “No, I—”

  “That’s the whole point of having a wedding list.” Her mother gave a heavy sigh. “I’m sure you could have picked an item to give them from that.”

  “I wanted to get something different.” She’d found a little pre-Colombian llama over a thousand years old. Angie loved llamas even if Tim didn’t. But now she wished she’d bought a set of towels from John Lewis.

  “If you don’t like it, I’d be happy to buy you something from the list. Sorry.” Oh god, stop saying you’re sorry. Except she could never say it enough.

  “Thank you for our presents,” her mother said. “Shall we eat now?”

  Summer felt as though her heart had flipped over. Why had she bothered to come back? Angie didn’t want her as a bridesmaid. Nor as a sister. Pippa was trying but Summer knew she’d be worried about upsetting Angie. The band tightened around her chest. As she pushed up on shaky legs to follow her sisters and mother out of the room, her father caught hold of her hand and kept her back.

  “Thank you, Sunshine.” He hugged her.

  How could she have been stupid enough to think her mother or sister wanted her back to be a bridesmaid? It was her father. She pressed her face into his shoulder, struggling not to cry. She’d never felt so desperate to tell anyone the truth about the night Doug had died. Yet she knew it was pointless. Her father would believe her but no one else would. She didn’t want to set him against the others. If she said something now, she’d be accused of trying to ruin Angie’s day. If it hadn’t been for her father, she’d pack her bags right now and go back to London.

  “They’re being cruel and thoughtless,” he said quietly. “I’m glad you have a young man coming. He is a young man, is he? Not some old codger like me? Whoever he is, he’s lucky to have you. Thank you for not reacting to their selfishness. If we weren’t all walking on eggshells trying not to upset Angelina, I’d have said something but—”

  “It’s okay.” Summer hugged him harder. “It really is.”

  * * * * *

  The meal was as excruciating as she’d expected. Her mother and sisters discussed what still needed to be done and when Summer spotted an opportunity for a trip to Canterbury, she offered to run the errand. Every time her father asked her a question about her research and what she’d been up to in South America, she was interrupted. They both gave up.

  “You better try the dress on,” Angie said as they got up from the table. “If it doesn’t fit, we’ve not much time for alterations.”

  Summer followed her upstairs to the room
that used to be hers. The dresses were hanging on the wardrobe door. Angie’s dress was in an opaque cover. She handed Summer hers and when she slipped it on, it fit perfectly. It was really pretty. Not the sort of thing she’d pick, but even so…

  “Disappointed it fits?” Summer couldn’t stop the words flying from her mouth. The dress wouldn’t have fit her a year ago. She was slimmer now. “I really don’t need to be a bridesmaid, Angie. It’s your day. You should have just what you want.” She took the dress off again and hung it up.

  “Dad wants you to be a bridesmaid. He wants everything to be like it was.”

  “It can’t though, can it? You can’t forgive me for what happened.” Summer felt as though she were standing outside in a snowstorm. “It was an accident.” Which was true.

  “I know,” Angie whispered.

  “And you know I’m sorry.”

  When Angie didn’t say anything, Summer walked out.

  Winston clamored to come with her, and she picked him up and carried him across the yard to her room. He settled in the corner and she lay on the bed and called Jai.

  “Is that Super-duper Stud?” she asked.

  “Sorry, wrong number. This is Stupendous Stud. Hang on a minute.”

  She heard loud music in the background and then it faded.

  “That’s better. I can hear you now.”

  “Where are you?” she asked, wanting the question back as it slipped out.

  “At a club. I’ve been ordered to come with Miss Kissy and make sure we’re seen together.”

  “Pinch her bottom. Hard.”

  He laughed. “How many girlfriends would be as understanding as you?”

  I’m not understanding. She swallowed hard. “Am I your girlfriend?”

  “Yes, except you might not want me as your boyfriend when I tell you I can’t make it tomorrow night. I’ve got to work. I’m really sorry.”

  Summer felt a rush of relief. Bad enough that her family humiliated her without Jai having to watch it. “That’s okay.”

  “I’ll make it up to you.”

  “So long as you can come to the wedding.”

  “Absolutely. I promise. I’m sorry about tomorrow.”

  “It’s all right. Work is work. I understand.”