Suddenly One Summer (16 page)

“This property is fantastic,” Rachel said to Joe as she stepped out of the car.

“It’s a burned down house,” Joe said, unable to share her enthusiasm. He followed her along an overgrown path. He’d taken Rachel for a drive along the coast to show her the new developments going up, to whet her appetite for the Angel’s Bay real estate market. He hadn’t intended to show her the Ramsay property, but she’d seen the structure and insisted on seeing the house—what was left of it.

“Look at the view,” Rachel said, with the most excitement he’d heard in her voice in years. “Imagine the possibilities. You know what else…” She turned to him with a light in her eyes. “This is a perfect film location. Mark would love this.”

“Who’s Mark?”

“He’s a movie producer I know. He’s looking for some coastal property to use in one of those slasher/horror films.”

“Where did you meet this guy?” Joe asked.

She gave a breezy wave of her hand. “I sold him his house last year. He’s friends with Aidan, my mixed doubles partner.”

“I don’t think I’ve met Aidan.”

“Oh, right. He might have joined the club after you moved.”

Joe noticed that Rachel didn’t say “
we
moved.” It was clear she still hadn’t accepted the fact that her husband and her marriage were four hours north of Los Angeles. But they were getting along at the moment, and he didn’t feel like rocking the boat.

“What happened to this place anyway?” she asked.

“Arson—about six months ago. The property is allegedly haunted. There was a dead body found in the basement about fourteen years ago. Since then, every time someone attempts to remodel the house or build an addition, something happens.”

“That’s quite a story,” Rachel said. “I guess every small town has its haunted house. What else do you have to show me?”

“This was the last house for today. I have to go to work. You should come to the beach tonight.”

“And sit by myself while you patrol?” she asked. “That doesn’t sound like fun.”

“You won’t be alone. I’ll introduce you around.
Everyone is very friendly and they’re all dying to meet you.”

“I can’t imagine what I’d talk about with anyone up here.”

He smiled at her baffled expression. “Rachel, this isn’t Mars. The people here aren’t that different from those four hours south. Although I must admit, sometimes L.A. does feel like another planet.”

“Joe—why did you ask me to come this weekend if you were going to be working all night?”

“I’ll be home by midnight. We’ll have all day tomorrow. We can sleep in.” He moved closer to her and slid his arms around her. “We can spend the day in bed. It’s been a while. I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you, too,” she admitted.

He was surprised by her words. “You did?”

“Joe, I love you. But you’re turning into someone I don’t know.”

“Get to know me again.”

“What about me? Are you willing to get to know me? Because I’ve changed, too, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

“Of course I’ve noticed.”

“And you don’t like what you see, do you?”

That was a loaded question. “I want you to be happy,” he said carefully. “Your career makes you happy; I understand that. But you can do that job here. Maybe I’m being unreasonable, expecting you to uproot your life for me. But I’ve made compro
mises, too. I moved into the house your parents bought us, even though it went against the grain.”

“It was a generous present, and you should have been grateful that my parents had the means to provide that for us.”

“I was grateful. I’m sorry. I don’t want to talk about that again.” He kissed her on the lips, but she broke away. “What’s wrong?”

Her eyes flickered with indecision. Then she said, “Don’t you wonder if there’s a reason we never got pregnant?”

“What are you talking about?” he asked warily.

“Maybe we weren’t supposed to have kids or stay together.”

A wave of fear swept through him. He didn’t want her to cross the line they’d both been careful not to step over. He didn’t want her to say something she couldn’t take back, or something he wouldn’t be able to fight.

“No, there is no reason. We’re supposed to stay together,” he said finally. “I’ve loved you since I was fifteen.”

She gave him a sad smile. “But I’m not that fifteen-year-old girl, and you’re not that fifteen-year-old boy. I’m really scared that we’ve outgrown each other.”

“If you believed that, you wouldn’t be here.” He hoped that was true.

“I’m here because I guess I’m not ready to give up.”

Relief flooded through him. “Me, either.” He
wanted to kiss her again, but he didn’t want to taste the coldness on her lips so soon.

“Okay, then.” She took a deep breath and let it out. “I guess I’ll come to the festival and meet your friends. We’ll be a couple again.”

He wanted to believe that she was still with him. But despite her words, it felt very much like she was slipping away.

Charlotte could have been walking with a celebrity, for all the attention they were getting. She took Annie’s hand in hers, sensing that the girl wanted to flee. In the few short blocks they’d walked, they’d drawn countless stares, and people weren’t even pretending not to talk about them as they passed.

“It’s better to just get it over with,” Charlotte advised. “Once everyone sees that you’re all right, they’ll focus on someone else.”

“I don’t think they’re gossiping about whether I’m all right. They want to know who my baby’s father is.”

It was the first time Annie had mentioned the father, and Charlotte took the opening. “Do you want to tell me about him?”

Annie shook her head. “I can’t tell anyone who he is.”

“I know you said that he didn’t hurt you, that he didn’t force you, but if he’s holding something over you, he doesn’t have any right to do that.”

“He’s a good person. He cared about me. At least I think he did,” Annie said slowly. “I don’t want to get him in trouble.”

“He knows you’re pregnant, doesn’t he?”

Annie stopped abruptly. “I want to go back to your mother’s house.”

“Annie, you have to tell him. This man is responsible for that baby, too. You shouldn’t have to shoulder the entire burden. He should at least give you financial support. If he’s a good person, maybe you’re selling him short. Maybe he’d want to help you.” Even as Charlotte said the words, she felt like a traitor. She’d been in Annie’s position once, and she hadn’t done any of the things she’d just suggested. “I’m sorry,” she said immediately. “I shouldn’t be telling you what to do. You’re an adult. It’s your baby and your life. I just want to help.”

“I appreciate your help. I just can’t tell you about him.”

“All right. I’ll walk back to the house with you. I just thought you could use a break from my mother.”

“I like your mother, but she’s very sad, isn’t she? She was crying in her room earlier.”

Charlotte had never seen her mother cry, although she’d heard some sobs in the deep quiet of the night. Her mother didn’t like to show emotion in front of her children, or even her friends. “She loved my father very much.”

Annie nodded. “She told me how they met at the ice skating rink. She said she pretended not to know how to skate, so he’d have to hold her hand.” Annie
smiled. “But then she found out that he didn’t know how to skate, either, and they fell down together, all tangled up on the ice. When she looked into his eyes, she knew at that moment that she would marry him. And she never ever told him that she knew how to skate, not in all the years that they were together.”

Charlotte stared at Annie in amazement. Her mother had never told her the ice skating story—had she? Or had she just not been paying attention? She’d learned how to tune out her mother’s criticism; maybe she’d missed other things along the way.

“You don’t have to come with me,” Annie said. “I know the way back. You go to the bonfire. I’ll be fine.”

As Annie turned around, Charlotte hesitated, wondering if
she
had it in her to go to the bonfire. But Annie was already halfway down the block. She might as well check out the bonfire. As she started down the path toward the beach, the last of the sun disappeared over the horizon. The air had chilled, and she drew her jacket more closely around her. When she reached the beach, she slipped off her shoes, and walked barefoot across the sand toward the group gathered by the fire that was just beginning to catch flame.

The first few sparks took her back in time, to another place, another beach. There had been a fire that night, too…

Joey had snuck two bottles of vodka out of his father’s liquor cabinet. Marcia had snatched a bottle of tequila, and Ronny had gotten his older brother to buy three six-
packs of beer. It was the end of the school year, the beginning of summer, and the small fire on the beach was surrounded by teenagers. They’d built the blaze on a secluded beach a few miles out of town, hoping that no one would see them.

“Charlie, take a shot,” her friend Beth said, handing her a shot glass of tequila. “Come on, live a little. We’re going to be seniors next year.”

Charlotte glanced across the flames of the fire, seeing Andrew Schilling talking to Pamela Baines—Pamela with the big breasts and the long legs and the cocky smile. Charlotte hated her. But mostly she hated her because Andrew seemed to like her so much. Andrew was supposed to be her boyfriend. He was supposed to love her. They’d had sex the week before—her first time ever. But maybe she’d done something wrong, because now Andrew was avoiding her.

She took the shot glass from Beth and downed the tequila. It burned her throat, and she coughed. Beth laughed at her and poured another shot. She knew she should stop; her mother would be so disappointed in her. But what did it matter? Her parents would hate her more if they knew she’d had sex. She wasn’t the good girl anymore, so she might as well go all the way bad.

One shot followed another, until she lost track. Propelled by anger and tequila, she decided to have it out with Andrew. She stumbled across the beach toward him, almost falling into the fire at one point. Someone pulled her back—Shane Murray. He gave her a scornful look then moved on. But she didn’t care what he thought. She just needed to find out why Andrew didn’t like her anymore.

Andrew had his arm around Pamela now. “Andrew,” she said. “Can I talk to you?”

“What are you doing, Charlie? You’re drunk.”

“So what? Come with me. We have to talk.”

“I’m busy. You should go home. Get Teri to take you. She’s leaving soon, and she hasn’t been drinking.”

“I don’t want to go home with Teri. I want to talk to you.”

“He can’t talk to you right now, because we’re going skinny dipping,” Pamela interrupted. She stepped away from Andrew and pulled off her shirt, revealing full breasts supported by a hot pink bra. Charlotte’s jaw dropped. No wonder Andrew wanted Pamela. She was a woman.

Pamela grabbed Andrew’s hand and they ran toward the water, stripping off their clothes along the way. The other kids followed suit, until there was nothing but clothes on the beach and naked teenagers in the water.

Tears burned Charlotte’s eyes. She looked for Beth but couldn’t find her. She must be in the water, too. Teri wasn’t around, either. Charlotte was all alone, looking like a stupid idiot. She felt like crying, but she couldn’t make herself look like a bigger fool. Her stomach churned. She thought she was going to throw up. She ran down the sand, through the trees, toward the parking lot. She saw some headlights go on. Maybe Teri hadn’t left yet. Maybe she could get a ride home. And then a hand came out of nowhere…

“Charlotte,” Andrew said, his voice shocking her back to the present.

She blinked in confusion.

“Are you all right?” he asked with concern in his eyes.

“I’m—fine,” she said.

“You looked like you were a million miles away.”

“Not quite that far.”

His gaze settled on her face and she saw something that looked like regret.

“You were remembering that night on Refuge Beach, weren’t you?” he murmured.

“The one where you and Pamela Baines stripped down and went into the water? Yes, I was.”

“Not my proudest moment,” he admitted.

“It was a long time ago.” She shrugged, hoping he would leave it at that, but of course he didn’t.

“You wouldn’t talk to me after that night. I wanted to apologize for the way I’d acted, but you wouldn’t take my calls.”

“It was just one call, Andrew. You didn’t try all that hard to reach me.” She knew; she’d waited by the phone. She hadn’t called him back after the first time because she’d wanted to make him sorry, assuming he’d call again. She’d assumed wrong.

“I was a stupid kid, Charlie. I made mistakes.”

“So did I. I never should have slept with you. Or rather, had sex in the backseat of your car.”

Andrew cast a quick look over his shoulder. “Let’s not talk about that here.”

“Don’t want to ruin your reputation?”

“Or yours,” he said pointedly. “You know, I didn’t intend to get into all this tonight. I thought we’d say hello and talk about the festival.”

That would have been a far better way to go. “You’re right. This isn’t the time or the place.” She turned to leave, but he fell into step alongside her.

“I did love you, Charlotte,” he said.

His words shocked her. She stopped abruptly. “How can you say that? Why the hell would you lie to me now?”

He looked taken aback by her reply. “I’m not lying. You scared me back then. I didn’t know how to deal with what I was feeling. I didn’t want to be in love. I was too young.”

“I was young, too. Did you think I knew how to handle what I was feeling?”

“You wanted more than I could give.”

“You didn’t want to give anything,” she returned. “And how could you know what I wanted, when I didn’t even know myself?”

“I messed up,” he said quietly. “I screwed things up with you when I hooked up with Pamela. I know you must have heard what happened between us, because you couldn’t look at me after that night.”

She couldn’t look at him now. Not just because of what he and Pamela had done, but because of what she’d done. “Let’s just forget it, Andrew.”

“I’d like to start over, Charlie. We were friends once.”

“You’re probably a big believer in that whole ‘turn the other cheek’ thing, but I’m not so much. You hurt me, and even though it was a long time ago, I haven’t forgotten.”

“You can still forgive me.”

She sighed. “Fine. It’s forgiven and forgotten. Are you happy now, Reverend?”

He smiled at her tone. “You always hated being wrong.”

“I’m not wrong.”

“And you always hated being told what to do.” He put up a hand as she opened her mouth to protest. “Let’s change topics. I’m really sorry about your dad’s passing. He was a good man. I won’t come close to filling his shoes.”

She gave him a thoughtful look. “Why did you become a minister, Andrew? I don’t even remember you liking church. You snuck out with me a few times.”

“I actually enjoyed the services, but I didn’t think it was cool to admit that, especially to you.” He paused. “When I left here to go to college, I let go of a lot of my values—went a little crazy, in fact. I finally woke up one day and wasn’t proud of the life I was living. I started going to church and I got on track again, and realized that being a minister was what I really wanted to do with my life.”

“And your path led you back here,” Charlotte said.

“You came back, too,” he reminded her. “Looks like we have a second chance, Charlie.”

Her heart skipped a beat at the look in his eyes. Andrew couldn’t possibly want her now, after all these years. But even if he did, did she want him? No other man had ever touched her in quite the same way. But still…

It was too much, too soon. “I have to go,” she said abruptly. “I’m sure I’ll see you around town.”

“At least you didn’t say no,” he called after her.

She hadn’t said yes, either, but she knew someday soon, she would have to come up with an answer. If not for him, then for herself.

The first person Joe saw on the beach was Charlotte—but then, she seemed to be the first person he saw anytime there was a crowd. She seemed to be having a heated conversation with the new minister. Joe knew that Andrew Schilling had grown up in Angel’s Bay; he just hadn’t known there was a relationship between Andrew and Charlotte. He frowned at the thought.

“Joe.” Rachel tugged on his hand. “What are you looking at?”

“Nothing. Sorry.” He smiled at her. He’d gotten her to the beach; now he had to make sure she had a good time while he was working. He perused the crowd, relieved when he saw Kara Lynch. Kara was in real estate and knew a ton of people. She was the perfect woman to help introduce his wife around town.

“This is
so
not my scene,” Rachel said. “I’m used to Malibu and beach clubs, where people serve me champagne and don’t kick up sand,” she said as a group of kids ran by.

“We used to go to Manhattan Beach, where you watched me surf,” he reminded her. “There was no champagne back then.”

“In those days I just liked seeing you with no shirt on,” she said, a small smile playing at the corner of her mouth.

“And I enjoyed seeing you in a bikini. Maybe we should come down here tomorrow and re-create the old days.”

“We’ll see. Too much sun can add years to the skin.”

“Well, we don’t want that. Come meet some of my friends. Kara,” he said as they drew near. “I’d like you to meet my wife. Rachel, this is Kara Lynch.”

“Rachel, it’s so wonderful to meet you,” Kara said with genuine warmth. “Joe has talked a lot about you.”

“Hello,” Rachel said, shaking Kara’s hand.

“Kara is married to Colin Lynch, one of my officers,” Joe added. “And we owe them a couple of barbecues.”

“Well, you’re the barbecue king,” Rachel said.

“Joe tells me you’re in real estate,” Kara said. “I work at a local real estate office here in Angel’s Bay. We could always use another salesperson.”

“Really?” Rachel’s eyes lit up. “What kind of property do you list? Joe showed me some of the new developments going up. Are those being handled by your office?”

“Some of them. There are two offices in town, and with the new developments, we’re both getting a lot more business.”

Joe let out a sigh of relief as Kara and Rachel discussed the real estate market. One problem solved.
He glanced around the crowd, wondering where Charlotte and her friend had gone. They were nowhere in sight. He didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. The only thing he did know was that he really shouldn’t care.

Turning his head the other direction, he saw Jenna Davies sitting on a blanket. Some distance away, Reid Tanner appeared to be watching Jenna. Joe’s gaze narrowed. He knew a reporter of Reid Tanner’s caliber was interested in more than angels. He also knew that Jenna Davies acted like a woman with something to hide. Put the two together, and it was all very interesting.