Second Chances (19 page)

“Amen to that,” I said.

“Amen to that,” said William.

I
stood in front of the screen door of our store and looked outside. Elizabeth was sitting on the front steps waiting for her mom and William to go back to Toronto. Her suitcases stood guard near the driveway. She'd lit a cigarette and was waving it around her head to drive away the mosquitoes. I stepped outside and walked down a few steps to sit next to her.

Elizabeth shielded her eyes from the sun and looked up the road. “How many times have we sat here waiting for something to happen?”

“I like it here, I guess,” I said.

Elizabeth inhaled then flicked the cigarette onto the step and crushed it with her sandal. She kicked it into grass, then stood and tugged her bell bottoms lower on her hips. They were the same skin- tight jeans she'd been wearing the day she'd arrived.

“Well, the only good thing about my mom showing up is that I get to split from this hellhole early. Thank you, God.” She grabbed her hands together and shook them at the sky, then turned and looked down at me. She grinned. “Don't look at me like that. You know I'm just kidding.”

“Like always.”

“Yeah, like that.” She lowered herself next to me and stretched out her legs. “What time are you leaving?” she asked.

“By Friday, if Mom and I get everything put away.”

Elizabeth punched my lightly on the arm. “You sure are a hard person to get a rise out of. Usually I get people right where I want them, but you've been a challenge. Just who is the real Darlene Findley anyhow? The girl who tries to please everyone or the girl with the quick comebacks?”

“I could ask the same of you.”

Elizabeth laughed. “A couple of words and you've put me in my place. I actually think I'm going to miss you. Who would have thought it?”

“So what are you going to do about Michael when you get home?”

“I'll probably go out with him. Even though I told him to get lost six times this summer, he says he's not going anywhere.” She shrugged. “The guy has staying power, I'll give him that.”

“What about your mom and dad?”

“They have staying power too, but in their case, it would be better for all concerned if they called it quits and went their separate ways. More humane. You know, they put dogs out of their misery, so why not my parents' marriage? It's not like they even like each other anymore.”

“I'm sorry.”

“Yeah, well, that's just how it goes. I've learned to live with it, and believe me, I'm going to make damn sure I don't turn out like my mother. Sitting at home with a bottle wondering where my husband is and who he's with. I'm never going to give somebody that kind of power over me. I don't care who he is.”

“You don't buy into happily ever after?”

“It's a crock.” She glanced at me. “And you?”

I thought it over before answering. “I think it can happen. Not the ‘every day is a bed of roses' stuff, but just going in the direction of being happy.”

“You sound like a greeting card. Happiness is a direction, not a place. I've outgrown all that crap, and that's the difference between you and me.”

William, Mom, and Aunt Peg had finished loading all the luggage into the trunk. Elizabeth was still inside the cottage, another successful avoidance of work. I waited for her near the steps. The screen door creaked open and I looked up at my cousin. She'd put on red lipstick and about six coats of mascara.

“Time to make like a banana and split,” she said as she jumped down next to me. “This time tomorrow, I'll be driving up Yonge Street in my new Mustang. If you play your cards right, I'll zip up to Ottawa and take you for a spin.”

“I can't wait.”

She grinned and reached around my neck and gave me a quick hug. “Keep the faith,” she said into my ear. “God knows, somebody has to.”

I watched her walk away, her hips snapping back and forth like a couple of sheets on the clothesline. When she reached her mother at the car, she wrapped her arm around her mother's waist. Aunt Peg reached around Elizabeth's waist and gave her a hug. They stood tight against each other until Elizabeth helped her mom into the front seat. William got into the driver's seat and backed out of the driveway. I was surprised at how sad I was to see them go.

Friday morning. Mom and I had cleaned the entire cottage and store from top to bottom. Dad had just finished calling for the fifth time to see what time we'd be back in Ottawa. We were sitting at the kitchen table having a cup of tea.

“I'm going to have a shower before we get on the road,” Mom said. “Did you want to go to the beach one last time? We don't have to leave for another hour.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

“We'll be back in the rat race soon enough, and you'll be getting ready for school. May as well enjoy today.”

I left by the front door and started down the path with Ruby leading the way. When we reached the road, I heard tires slapping on the pavement. The high school kid who'd been delivering the mail since Gideon died was biking toward me. He had the mail bag slung over his back. I was surprised when he stopped alongside and reached into his bag.

“Package for you,” he said, thrusting it into my hands.

“Are you sure?” I asked, but he had already started pedalling down the road. “See you next summer!” he called over his shoulder.

I looked down at the flat package. Sure enough, my name and address were on the label. I looked closer and my heart began to beat faster. I tucked the package under my arm and called to Ruby to cross the road. We headed down the path to the beach with Ruby leading the way. We crossed the sand and rocks to climb up to my rock one last time.

I watched the waves for a while. Ruby lay at my feet with her big head on her paws. I thought about Gideon and Annie. I felt like they might be close by, looking down on me, waiting for me to open the package. I turned it over in my hands and took a deep breath before ripping open one end. I slid out one of the magazines.
Country Life
. A white rocking chair on a porch with the lake as blue as sapphire in the distance. Third headline down in dark blue letters:
“Forever Summer at Cedar Lake” by Darlene Findley.

“Hey, Gideon,” I murmured. I flipped to the index, then to page twelve. Below my name was a profile picture of Tyler standing at the edge of the beach and skipping a stone into the lake. My heart jumped again. I began reading. Gideon had tidied up my piece but left all my ideas untouched. It was hard to believe I'd written this. The text wound around a photo of our store taken one bright July day. Time away made it feel like another hand had created this article. But the words were mine. Every word felt perfect. By the time I finished reading, I knew it was good. I'd captured a place where time stood still while war stole our innocence in Southeast Asia.

The editor had ended with my photo of Candy sitting in the sand, looking out at the water. I'd angled it so that I snapped her back and blonde hair blowing. She looked like she was waiting for something far out past the place where the sky meets the lake.

A few sentences had been added below the text in italics:

Darlene Findley, longtime summer resident of Cedar Lake, future journalist, and light in the darkness.
I pass the torch to my talented protegé with pride. Signed Gideon Roberts.

I traced my fingertip across his name. The wind had increased as I sat on my rock reading Gideon's last gift to me. Ruby had shifted positions so that her body rested against my leg. I leaned down to rub her head. Her tail thumped softly on the rock.

After a few minutes of watching the waves hitting the sand and sliding back into the lake, I asked, “You ready to go, then, girl?”

Ruby stood and stretched out her back legs, almost as if she'd understood what I'd said. I let her lead us down the rocks to the beach. I saw Mom standing near the path, looking in my direction with a hand shielding her eyes from the sun. She waved when she knew I'd seen her.

Ruby and I started running toward her.

Copyright © Brenda Chapman, 2012

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except for brief passages for purposes of review) without the prior permission of Dundurn Press. Permission to photocopy should be requested from Access Copyright.

Copy Editor: Allister Thompson

Design: Jennifer Scott

Epub Design: Carmen Giraudy

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Chapman, Brenda, 1955-

Second chances [electronic resource] / Brenda Chapman.

Electronic monograph.
Issued also in print format.

ISBN 978-1-4597-0205-9

I. Title.

We acknowledge the support of the
Canada Council for the Arts
and the
Ontario Arts Council
for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the
Government of Canada
through the
Canada Book Fund
and
Livres Canada Books
, and the
Government of Ontario
through the
Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit
and the
Ontario Media Development Corporation
.

Care has been taken to trace the ownership of copyright material used in this book. The author and the publisher welcome any information enabling them to rectify any references or credits in subsequent editions.

J. Kirk Howard, President

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