Carousel Nights (21 page)

Now she wished she could have even five more minutes holding her father's hand and walking through the front gates.

“I know you're leaving,” Mel said quietly. “And I understand. You have to pursue your dreams. You've got the gift. I felt it tonight when we were dancing.”

Her head still on his chest, June heard Mel's heartbeat. Despite his calm and deliberate words, his pulse raced, each ragged beat revealing how hard the words were for him to say.

The night air smelled like cotton candy mixed with freshwater lake. It was a scent she could summon up even far away in her city apartment. The ballroom lights laid a pattern on the decking at their feet and a tall cottonwood, like so many of the trees that lined the beach, rustled nearby. Even if she left Starlight Point, it would never let her go.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

“L
AST
NIGHT
'
S
PARTY
was a success,” Evie said. “But now I have Christmas hangover. I hate the letdown after the holidays.”

June laughed. “I could cheer you up with news.”

“Is this good news the reason you took me out to lunch on a Friday? If we skip out during the workday, people will think we own the place.”

“You have to eat. And it's good to get away from Starlight Point every once in a while,” June said. “I promise we'll only be an hour and I'll return you to the tower before the guards find out you escaped.”

The two sisters sat at an outdoor table at the Bayside Grille. The long docks housed pleasure boats, and the city dock was the departure point for the Starlight Point ferry. For fun, June and Evie had taken the ferry across the bay. Evie turned it into research, counting the minutes the ferry took and the number of guests who rode it on a sunny Friday in late July.

They'd already placed their lunch order at the window, picked up their drinks and sat down to wait for the grill cook to call their number.

“Well?” Evie asked. “Are you going to toy with me or are you going to tell me you got the part in
White Christmas
?”

“I didn't get the part,” June said. She turned up one corner of her mouth, stalling for effect. “Yet,” she continued. “But I got a callback this morning which is the best news I could expect.”

Evie jumped up and gave her sister a hug. She bumped the table and sloshed diet soda over the rim of the plastic cups.

“Are you sure you're happy for me?” June said. “If I get this part, I'll leave September 1 and you'll be stuck with Mom and Betty.”

“Of course you'll leave. This is your big break. Not that you were floundering before.”

“I know,” June said. “But I thought you were getting used to having me around.”

“Are you kidding? When you leave, I'll get to take over the entire bathroom between our rooms. I'm thinking of investing in an arsenal of cosmetics to get me through the winter.”

June laughed. “I can't picture you dropping a fortune at the cosmetics counter at Macy's. Not much return on investment if you're planning to hibernate.”

They sat down again and Evie meticulously soaked up the spilled soda with her napkin.

“Can you take me to the airport Sunday afternoon? I want to have plenty of time to prepare for the audition, so I'm going the night before.”

“Didn't I just pick you up at the airport five days ago?”

“Sorry.”

“Just kidding,” Evie said. “I don't mind. I'll even borrow Mom's car instead of Jack's so we know we'll make it.”

“He should get a new one.”

“I should probably get something, too, instead of borrowing all the time. Speaking of new cars, did you see Mel's new truck?”

Mel had a new truck?

“No.”

“He picked it up while you were in New York a few days ago.”

“He didn't mention it at the dance last night,” June said.

“He had other things on his mind.”

“So what does it look like?”

“His truck?” Evie asked. She shrugged. “It's blue. Looks pretty much like his old one to me, just shinier.”

June smiled, picturing Mel and Ross test-driving pickup trucks and buying one just like the one they had before. “Mel's a creature of habit. You know what you're getting with a man like that.”

Evie raised her eyebrows but didn't say anything.

The teenager working the window yelled their number. “I'll get it,” Evie said. She got up and headed for the counter.

June glanced at the water sparkling in the bay. Her thoughts turned to her agent's excited voice when he'd phoned with the news about the callback.

Evie put a plastic tray laden with food in the center of the table.

“For a person who has a shot at her dream role, you don't look happy. Is it your knee? Are you worried about it?”

“No. This summer has been so good for it. I swear I feel five years younger.”

Evie gave her a skeptical look.

“Okay, maybe three years younger,” June said.

Evie took a big bite of her grilled sandwich and chewed, giving June time to think about confiding in her sister. June picked at her salad.

“It's the date,” she said.

Mouth full, Evie drew her eyebrows together in a questioning look.

“July 29.”

Evie tilted her head, clearly unaware of the problem.

“Ross's birthday. I was going to have a surprise party for him at the hotel on Monday.”

She had already requested a cake from Augusta with a roller coaster outlined in blue icing.

“Oh,” Evie said. “Maybe you could do something for him tomorrow or a different day.”

June shook her head. “Birthdays are important to little kids. I feel like I'm letting him down.”

“But it's not your fault you only got a few days' notice to get yourself to New York. And it's a surprise party. He doesn't even know about it.”

June rearranged the lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers on her plate.

“It's not him you're worried about,” Evie said. “It's Mel, isn't it?”

At least I didn't tell Mel about the surprise party.
It would be one fewer disappointment when she chose dancing instead of him
.

“Ross already has a mom who puts her own artistic career ahead of him,” June said. “Way ahead of him.”

Evie leaned across the table and touched her sister's arm. “Listen. You are not Ross's mom. He doesn't even know you planned a party. You have to go to New York or you'll always wonder if that role could have been yours.”

“You're right,” June said.

They finished their food and returned the plastic tray and baskets to the pickup window.

“We just missed a ferry, so we have about twenty minutes to wait for the next one,” June said. She was in no hurry. There was plenty of time before the three o'clock parade lined up, and the performers could easily do it without her anyway. She'd hired quality people and trained them. If she left for good, would anyone at Starlight Point even miss her?

“We never have time to goof off in the summer,” Evie said. “We could take a quick walk downtown and look at the cute shops.”

They crossed the street running parallel to the waterfront. A large plaza with a fountain and planters provided an outdoor venue for summer concerts. Beyond that, a boulevard divided the main street downtown. Augusta's bakery was just around the corner, and numerous boutiques and restaurants filled the street-level floors of the historic buildings. Colorful planters overflowing with flowers and elegant awnings gave downtown Bayside an upscale vibe.

June stopped in front of a business, obviously closed, with brown paper covering the tall windows facing the street.

“What used to be here?” June asked, something about the shop triggering a memory.

“The dance studio,” Evie said. “Your old instructor from when you were a kid finally retired. She's moving to Florida. Mom told me about it.”

June faced the empty windows and found a small space uncovered by brown paper. She peered in, leaving a smudge on the glass. It looked just like she remembered. Open floor space for dancing, mirrors along one wall. She pictured herself in her favorite dance clothes lining up with the other girls. Her life in a nutshell.

“It's available for lease,” she said aloud.

“Uh-huh,” Evie said. “I bet it'll end up being a bar or a microbrewery. A few of those have already gone in downtown and I hear they're doing well.”

“A bar in my old dance studio?”

“You haven't been inside there in almost ten years,” Evie said. “Who knows what it's like now?”

“Looks the same,” June said, still straining to see inside.

“Okay,” Evie said, glancing at the time on her cell phone. “We should head back to the dock so we don't miss the ferry.”

June pulled her phone from her purse and took a picture of the front of the store.

“Are you getting sentimental?” Evie asked.

“No. I'm taking a picture of the Realtor's number.”

Evie crossed her arms over her chest and looked at her sister as if seeing her for the first time. June shrugged and started to walk away, then glanced back at the building.

As she and Evie walked along the sidewalk back toward the ferry docks, her phone rang.

“Hi, Mel,” she said, checking the caller ID before she swiped the phone to answer.

Evie shot her a grin.

“I hope you don't mind having your cover blown,” Mel said, “but Augusta told me about the cake you ordered Ross.”

June's shoulders sank. So much for not disappointing Mel.

“I was walking by her bakery on the midway and she called me in to check Ross's age,” Mel continued. “She had sixth birthday written on the order form, but she thought Ross looked too tall and it must be his seventh.”

“He is tall,” June said, finding her voice. “Takes after you.”

“Anyway, I just wanted to say it's really nice of you to have a little party for him at the day care.”

“He's a great kid,” she said, unwilling to tell Mel over the phone that her plans had changed.

“My parents are having dinner and cake on Sunday night at their house. It's the day before his birthday, but it works better having it on a Sunday with my crazy work schedule,” he said.

June could hear the excitement in Mel's voice. He spoke a little fast as if he was speed-walking and talking at the same time. Maybe he was. He could be dashing off to fix a ride for all she knew.

“Anyway,” he continued. “I wondered if you'd like to come to the party Sunday night.”

“Sunday night?”

Evie shot her a look as they lined up for the ferry.

“Yes,” Mel said. “Dinnertime.”

“I'm just getting on the ferry,” June said. “I'll talk with you when I get back to the Point.”

Evie shoulder-hugged her sister and steered her toward a bench seat on the front of the ferry.

“Maybe it'll all work out,” Evie said.

June sighed. “I have no idea how.”

“We'll be back in plenty of time for the parade,” Evie said. “I'll bet that will cheer you up.”

* * *

F
OUR
O
'
CLOCK
ON
a Friday afternoon and the Fates were against him. No stage lights in the Starlight Saloon, and the clock was ticking on the five o'clock show. Megan, the theater manager and second in command, sounded panicked on the phone, so Mel called the hotel day care and told them he'd be late. They were used to it.

Mel had no idea where June was. Something sounded off when he'd talked with her just after lunch. Maybe she was disappointed he'd found out about her surprise party for Ross. He'd caught a glimpse of her when the parade went by. Mel made it a habit to be somewhere on the parade route every day so he could wave to his son. It was their game, and Ross watched for him all along the route.

“Thanks for coming here so fast,” Megan said as she met him at the back entrance. “I flipped on the lights, there was a popping sound and then nothing.”

She followed Mel to the breaker panel.

“Do you think I should cancel the next show?” she asked, sounding breathless.

Mel put down his toolbox, grabbed a chair from a stack by the back wall and placed the chair in front of Megan.

“Sit,” he said. “Take a break while I look at the box. Might be just a breaker.”

Megan eased herself onto the chair.

“How much longer?” Mel asked.

“I'm due in three weeks,” she said.

“And you're still on your feet all day?”

Megan laughed. “I can't see or feel my feet, so it's not so bad.”

Mel flipped a switch in the panel and the lights came on.

“Oh,” Megan breathed. “Thank goodness.”

“I wonder what tripped the breaker in the first place,” Mel asked. “I'm going to check a few things while you remain in that chair where I can find you if I need you. Give me five minutes and I can tell you whether or not I'd cancel the show.”

Mel followed the path of a group of wires, checking for heat in the walls or power-hungry things plugged into the line that had overloaded. He was on the other side of a flimsy partition wall when he heard Megan talking to someone.

June.

“Mel has it fixed already.” He heard the relief in Megan's voice.

“He's a lifesaver,” June said.

“So, are you excited about your callback?”

Callback? June hadn't mentioned that.

“Very. It's the break I've been waiting for. My agent said there were only three performers called back for this role, so my chances are decent.”

“When do you leave?” Megan asked.

June was leaving?

There was a pause. Mel didn't move. It was wrong, crouching and eavesdropping, but he had to hear the answer.

“Sunday,” June said. She didn't sound happy...did she? “The audition is Monday.”

Monday. Ross's birthday. The day she was supposedly throwing him a surprise party.

Mel dropped his flashlight and it knocked against the wall before landing on his foot. He cursed.

“Is Mel still here?” June asked.

He didn't hear a response. Megan was probably nodding and pointing, unaware that he and June had things to clear up. At least they did now.

He heard footsteps and didn't have to look up to know the quick, light steps were June's, not Megan's.

“Hi,” she said.

Mel picked up his flashlight and shoved it in his tool holster. He should make this easy on her. Just tell her he overheard the conversation and wish her good luck on her audition.
Have a nice life
.