Summer by the Sea

by Cathryn Parry

  “That’s my mom,” Lucy whispered to her. “And Ringo.”

  Sam glanced at her. “Ringo?”

  “Uh-huh.” Lucy nodded. “Ringo. His real name is Randy, but because he’s a drummer, my mom says that everybody in the band calls him that.”

  Okay...

  Sam leaned back in his chair. “Hi, Colleen,” he said to the screen. His voice sounded tired and on edge. “Thanks for attending the meeting. Lucy has been working hard for this opportunity.”

  Colleen seemed startled that he’d addressed her directly. “Hello.” She leaned forward and squinted into the screen. “My connection isn’t that great. I can barely see you.”

  “How is the cruise ship?” he asked politely.

  “It’s great. In fact...” Colleen glanced up at Ringo, who smiled into her eyes as if he adored her. “I’m thinking of signing on for another tour.”

  “Right,” Sam said slowly. He glanced at Lucy, who frankly didn’t seem surprised. “You and I will talk about that later. I’m happy to keep Lucy with me for as long as she wants.”

  “Oh...” Colleen waved her hand. “Our lawyers will deal with that. No need for you and I to discuss it.”

  “Actually,” Sam said, his voice carefully neutral. “I’d rather you and I deal with it.” He gave her a smile. “I think we can handle it ourselves.”

  Colleen squinted into her webcam again. She didn’t look as if she was onboard with this at all.

  Sam stood, addressing the screen directly. No one was making any pretense of acting as if Richard was in charge of his own meeting anymore. “This is about Lucy’s project,” Sam said. “Someone needs to stay with her if she wins the scholarship and needs to go to school out here in California.”

  “Oh,” Richard interrupted. “Didn’t Ms. Logan tell you?” He gazed at the girl. Lucy squirmed and ducked her head.

  “What is it Lucy?” Sam asked, turning to his daughter.

  Lucy just looked uncomfortable.

  Sam turned to Richard. Sarah saw a vein jumping in Sam’s neck, indicating that he was angry but keeping it in check. “What’s going on here?”

  Richard steepled his hands and nodded to Lucy. “I reached out to the parental email address included with the application.”

  “I emailed with Richard,” Lucy said contritely.

  “When?” Sam asked her.

  “The day before I told you I was accepted into the competition.” She squeezed her fingers together. “Richard emailed me asking me for Mom’s phone number...” Here, Lucy glanced guiltily at Colleen. “And since she’s not available all the time, I gave him mine, instead.”

  “I knew you shouldn’t have given her a phone,” Colleen sniped at Sam. “I didn’t tell you you could do that, you know.”

  Sam, to his credit, didn’t take the bait. He gazed steadily at Lucy. “And what happened after that?”

  “Well, Richard and I talked. He asked me all about my app, and I told him.” She looked helplessly at Sarah. “I kept working on it like you said. And I’m glad I did, because he wants to see what I’ve done!”

  Sam stared Richard down. He stood and leaned over the table. “Why did you drag her into all of this? She’s a twelve-year-old girl. You have no right to go around us. We’re her parents.”

  “Agreed.” Richard tilted his head to the side. “But I think you’re going to like what I have to tell you. Yes, I think you’re going to like it very much, indeed.”

  Lucy gasped and put her hand over her mouth. She bounced in her chair.

  “Lucy, please show me your app,” Richard instructed.

  Lucy leaped up and set up her laptop on the edge of Richard’s glass desk. “It’s not finished, of course,” she said quickly to him. “But this is what I have so far.” She gazed into each of their faces, and then turned to the screen. “Mom, can you see my computer?”

  “When did you get a computer?” Colleen asked. Sarah noticed that Ringo had left. Colleen glanced at her watch. “Never mind. We need to make this quicker, okay? I’m about to lose my connection.”

  “Okay.” Lucy nodded. “Really quick, this is my app and—”

  But Richard took the laptop from Lucy and turned it so that he could clearly see the screen. Lucy, bless her, walked around his desk and leaned over his shoulder, explaining to him what she’d done, as if he was simply a kindly grandfather rather than a master of the universe.

  Or a master of Sarah’s universe, at least.

  Sam leaned close to Sarah’s ear. “What’s going on? Should I be ticked off? Because I am. This guy is such a jack—”

  “I know,” she interrupted him, whispering, before he said something that would get them all thrown out of Richard’s office. “But he’s an important one. Let’s give it one more minute before we shut everything down, okay?”

  Sarah had a funny suspicion. The way Richard was behaving with Lucy wasn’t at all like the Richard Lee she knew. Something was different about him. Something she couldn’t put her finger on.

  Finally, Richard had seen enough of Lucy’s app. He nodded at Lucy, smiled, and then shook her hand. “Well done,” he told her. “It’s always a pleasure to meet the next generation of talent, and you are a talent, Lucy Logan.”

  Lucy closed her laptop and stashed it back inside her knapsack. She seemed to be holding her breath. And Sarah was gobsmacked. She’d known Richard for years now—she’d worked closely with him for months. And yet, she didn’t have the mental connection with him that Lucy seemed to. The two generally seemed to be on the same wavelength.

  Richard turned to Sarah. “Thank you for bringing Miss Logan to my attention. As you know, it’s part of my personal mission statement to sponsor worthy young candidates.”

  “Yes,” Sarah said. “You’ve agreed to sponsor Lucy in the Future Tech Scholars competition. We know that already.”

  “No.” Still smiling, Richard shook his head. “Since I spoke with you last, Sarah, I’ve had a realignment of my personal mission and values.”

  Oh, no, she thought.

  “What’s he talking about?” Sam muttered.

  “You went on a retreat, Richard,” Sarah remembered. “You left your electronics at home and you spent weeks in meditation.”

  “I did.” Richard nodded. “Much as you did, Sarah. And like you, I’ve had a realignment.”

  Sarah held her breath. This could mean anything. With a genius like Richard, no one ever knew what he was going to say or do.

  “I no longer believe in competition,” Richard announced.

  She nearly choked out a laugh, but she restrained herself. The capitalist no longer believes in competition?

  “Ah,” was all she said.

  “Instead, I’m offering Miss Logan and her family...” Here, Richard turned to Sam. The screen overhead was dark. Evidently, Colleen’s connection had cut out. She was sailing the vast Alaskan seas again, it seemed.

  “I’m offering Lucy and her family my full financial support for Lucy’s education at the Future Tech Scholars Academy campus, here in San Jose.”

  There was a shocked silence all around.

  “So, Lucy doesn’t have to compete in the Future Tech Scholars competition to win the scholarship or a place in the class?” Sarah clarified.

  Richard shook his head and smiled. “No. And since I am on the board of directors of Future Tech Scholars Academy, her place in the fall class has already been secured.”

  “What are your conditions?” Sam asked him. Sam was right; there had to be strings attached. This was Richard they were speaking to.

  Richard lifted his hands. “None.” His expression was open and beatific.

  Sam gazed at Sarah as if to say, what do you think of this?

  Sarah wasn’t convinced it was legitimate, either. She shrugged at Sam.

  “Perhaps Lucy would like t
o tour the campus,” Richard suggested.

  “Oh, I would!” Lucy said. And then she jumped up and down like a little kid. “This just makes me want to happy dance! I can’t believe I won!” she said.

  Richard winced at the word won. But Sarah understood what she was saying.

  “She’s achieved her goal,” she explained to Richard.

  “I’m a girl of substance,” Lucy said. “Sarah’s taught me to work hard and not let discouragement defeat me.” She gazed at Richard. “So I did win. I didn’t beat other people, I just defeated the setbacks in front of me.”

  “Spoken like a wise young lady,” Richard praised her. And Sarah nearly laughed with relief. Who could have predicted Richard’s whims? But Lucy would get all the wonderful opportunities she deserved. Sarah was sure of it.

  * * *

  STILL IN SHOCK over what had just transpired, Sam sat in Sarah’s office just down the hall from Richard’s suite.

  Sarah’s assistant brought Sam a cup of mint tea for calm energy. According to Gregory, Richard had taken up a new healthy habit, and as such had removed the coffeemaker from the shared wing of their two executive offices. Sarah had accepted the minor change with a beatific smile and nary a comment. Now, she directed her full attention to her telephone conversation, a conference call including herself, Lucy and a woman whose name Sam didn’t catch, arranging the details for the tour of this...genius kids’ school, was all Sam’s stunned mind could seem to grasp of the situation.

  Sam looked at the pale green liquid sloshing around in the coffee mug and pushed it aside. His stomach felt like he was stuck in a rip current that was sucking him out to sea, and there wasn’t anything he could do to stop it.

  Was he losing Lucy? He didn’t understand how any of this could have happened. He found that he couldn’t make himself care about the money he would save by having Lucy’s schooling funded by this eccentric billionaire.

  Only Lucy was important to him.

  He gazed over at them. Sarah had hung up the phone and put her hand on Lucy’s shoulder. They were in a close tête-à-tête. Sarah seemed to be offering her gentle counsel.

  “Sam?” Sarah beckoned him over. “I set up the tour for tomorrow morning. Is there anything else you think I should do? Questions we need to get answered?”

  We. She’d said we. Sarah still considered them a team, and that gave him a better feeling. He joined her and Lucy in front of the computer.

  “Can’t think of anything at the moment.” He studied Lucy. She still seemed so jazzed and happy. “What did your mom say when you called her back just now?”

  “She said it’s okay that I go. But she said you’d have to stay with me.”

  He put his hands on her shoulders. “I have to ask you, Luce. Were you bored in your old school? When you first came to Wallis Point this summer, you told me your teacher had called your mother at home the night before. Was she calling because of anything like this? Do you feel unchallenged?”

  “Well...sort of. I just don’t fit in there.” Lucy shook her hair over her shoulders. “Okay, yeah, I’m bored,” she admitted. “But I’m always bored. I just thought that’s how school was supposed to be.”

  “It’s not. It would be great if you felt excited to go to school every morning.”

  “Well, I don’t. Maybe this place will be better for me...” Lucy actually seemed hopeful.

  He sat and gazed out the window, just thinking. Sarah leaned back in her chair, but waited to speak until Lucy left to go to the bathroom.

  “Sam, are you really okay with this?” she asked.

  “Bottom line, I’m gonna do what’s best for Lucy.”

  Sarah nodded curtly. “That’s good.”

  “And, yes, I also want to commit to you,” he said, “in case that isn’t totally apparent.”

  She laughed, but it was with joy and not tension. And then she got up from her chair the way Lucy had done, making little hops and boogying around the room.

  If he wasn’t mistaken, his formerly uptight business executive love was happy dancing her way around her office. She looked so cute, he couldn’t help joining her.

  * * *

  “SARAH! SAM! WAKE UP!” Lucy called from outside their locked bedroom door.

  Sam groaned and squinted at the bedside clock. Last night, wide awake from lingering nerves and tension over the obvious upcoming move, he’d quietly stolen across the hall to Sarah’s room and gotten into her bed, where unfortunately, he still lay beside her. He’d meant to get up earlier and go back to his guest room, but it seemed Lucy had beat them to it.

  “We have plenty of time,” he grumbled to Sarah. “I don’t know why she’s waking us up so early.”

  “I think that’s just Lucy’s way of letting us know that she knows we’re together,” Sarah remarked. “Lucy!” she called. “Chill out! Make yourself breakfast in the kitchen if you want. I ordered grocery service, so baked goods are on the counter, and there are eggs, yogurt and milk in the refrigerator.”

  Sarah fell back to the pillow, and Sam chuckled, brushing her hair from her face.

  “I love this,” she said. She stretched again and made a little noise of contentment. “I could wake up this way every day.”

  “And you will.” He’d never known how much he could enjoy it, either.

  “Want some coffee?” He stood, stretching in the dawn light. Sarah propped herself up on her elbow and gazed appreciatively at him. He had yet to put his clothes back on.

  “Coffee would be nice,” she remarked.

  “I’ll bring up two mugs.” He looked around for his pajama bottoms. “Do you think this genius school will have coffee machines? Everyone seems so healthy out here.”

  “I’m not a fan of mint tea, myself.” Sarah shuddered. “I’m sorry about that. It looked like you were drinking grass yesterday, Sam.”

  “I admit, I was longing for my own familiar coffeemaker at home.”

  She gazed at him curiously. “That reminds me. I was wondering...what are you going to do with your beach house?”

  “Keep it. Why?”

  She shrugged. “Because unless Colleen changes her mind, it looks like we’ll be out here on the West Coast.”

  “Yes,” he agreed, still not sure he had come to terms with everything yet. “But the house in Wallis Point will make a good vacation home for us. You have to admit that.”

  She smiled at him. “You’re right. It’ll be fantastic for us to vacation every year in your old lifeguard haunt.”

  He felt a sting of sadness at that thought, he couldn’t lie to himself. But he quickly brushed it off. For Lucy, he was doing the right thing, he felt it in his bones. In time, he would be used to California. He hoped. Wallis Point was his true home. He was trying not to feel devastated.

  He coped by helping Lucy get ready. An hour later, they were all showered and ready to go tour the genius school.

  Lucy brought her knapsack and her phone with her, and she met Paul at the curb. When Paul opened the sedan door for her, she said, “I brought you a scone. They’re really good. I didn’t make them myself, but Sarah’s delivery service is top-notch. I highly recommend them.”

  Paul took the scone graciously and nodded to Sam. “You have a great daughter,” he remarked.

  “Yes,” Sam said. “I do.”

  But later in the morning, he didn’t understand how it could have gone so wrong, so fast.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  THE CAMPUS WAS close to what Sarah remembered, only bigger. Much bigger.

  What had been a tightknit, provincial community for Sarah was now a great, teeming metropolis of brilliant kids from all over the world, ages twelve through eighteen.

  Sarah had won her scholarship at thirteen. Lucy was a year younger than Sarah had been, and maybe that, coupled with the school’s large size, made the critical
difference. Because within moments of Paul dropping them off at the curb near the admissions office, Lucy’s face fell.

  “What’s the matter?” Sarah heard Sam ask her.

  “I don’t know,” Lucy whispered back. “I studied the website at home, but I didn’t know the school would be so...so...”

  Overwhelming, Sarah silently answered for her.

  Inside the main building, Sarah steered the girl away from the tour group they’d been assigned to, and found a bench for her to rest on near one of the computer labs. Sam joined them, concerned, but Lucy waved him off. “I’m okay,” she said with a false smile.

  She wasn’t. The vibes Sarah was getting from the girl told her that Lucy might break into tears at any moment.

  Sarah’s plan for the perfect life was falling apart. If Lucy didn’t want to live on the West Coast, then Sam certainly wouldn’t, either.

  Sarah got up and paced, not sure what she should do.

  “Lucy and I will take the first part of the tour,” Sam said quietly. “There’s a break in thirty minutes, and we’ll reassess then. Do you want to join us, Sarah?”

  “I’ll catch up with you at the break.”

  “Okay. Sounds good.”

  Sarah watched as Lucy and Sam headed over to join the small group waiting by the admissions office. Sam lightly kept his hand on Lucy’s shoulder. A thread of anxiety wound through Sarah’s heart.

  Sarah used the half hour alone to sit on the bench, close her eyes and slow her breathing. She relaxed her shoulder muscles and rested her brain.

  In her mind, she was back on their sand dune again. She and Sam and their summer by the sea. The tide crashed and rolled in the distance, and the salty breeze cleared out her cobwebs. Her brain was rested but, oh, so clear...

  She “woke” again when the wheels of a cart rattled past on the corridor floor. Checking the time, Sarah gathered her purse and rose to walk the familiar route to the school cafeteria, where the second stage of the tour had been scheduled to begin.

  Inside the cavernous room smelling of fresh-baked bread, Lucy and Sam sat alone in a far corner. Lucy’s head was bowed. Her ragged teddy bear was in her arms—she must have carried it in her knapsack. Sam was speaking to her intently, close to her ear.