Summer at Forsaken Lake (26 page)

“Stop worrying. It’ll be fine.”

Charlie made a pouty face. “But summer’s almost over. You’ll be going back to New York, and I’ll probably never see you again.”

“That is not going to happen. I’m probably coming back next summer.”

“
Probably?
So that means you might not.”

“It just means I haven’t even thought about it yet—that’s all.”

“Well, you’d better start. After all the work we did on
Imp
, and the movie, and … everything else. And you still haven’t gotten a decent hit off me yet,” she teased.

Nicholas winced. It was true; she still struck him out almost every time he faced her. Occasionally, he hit a weak grounder or a short pop-up, but he had yet to really “light one up”—to get a clear, undeniable hit. He knew
that the law of averages was on his side, but sometimes he couldn’t help wondering just how long his streak might go on. She was one tough pitcher, no doubt about it.

But there’s more to life than baseball, Nicholas reasoned. And he knew that the way he had handled
Goblin
in that storm counted for
something
. He had seen the look of pride in Nick’s eyes when Teddy told him the story of the rescue operation.

“I don’t care if it takes until November, I’m not going back to New York until I knock something out of the infield, Brennan.”

“November? I could keep you here through the winter if I wanted to,
Mettleson
. And winters are
long
here in Ohio.”

“So, are you ready to go?” asked Jimmy, standing behind Charlie. “We’ll make a quick stop at your mom’s so you can pack and … shower, maybe.”

“Dad! Are you saying I stink?”

Jimmy pinched his nose shut and grinned at Nicholas.

“No, not at all.”

“I can’t help it. I spent the night in a barn.”

“You can tell me the whole story on the way,” said Jimmy. “After you shower.” He put his arm around Charlie’s shoulders and started to lead her away.

“Um, before you go, can I talk to you—for just one more second?” Nicholas asked.

Charlie broke away from Jimmy’s grip. “Give me a minute, Dad. I’ll meet you at the car—I promise.”

Nicholas waited until Jimmy was a few steps away, and
spoke in a low voice. “Listen, Charlie, there’s something I need to tell you. Last night, I found out a few things from Teddy … about what happened with his first boat. I wasn’t sure I should tell you, but if it were the other way around, I would want to know. At least I think I would. You have to promise me you won’t be mad.”

“Nicholas! Just tell me!”

“You may not like it. Although I guess it shouldn’t be a huge surprise.…”

“Nicholas!”

He breathed deeply and told her, in abbreviated form, Teddy’s version of the events of that fateful morning at the marina.

“So, my dad is the villain of the story after all,” Charlie said with a heavy sigh. “Not that I’m surprised. Ever since we saw that old film, I knew it was him. I just don’t understand
why
he did it, or why he didn’t stick up for
your
dad. Some friend.”

“Maybe there’s still something we don’t know,” said Nicholas. “You’d better get going. Call me tomorrow, okay?”

“I will.
After
I talk to my dad.”

* * *

After long, and very welcome, hot showers, Nicholas and the twins called their mom in New York and shared the highlights—but not all the scary details—of their
thrilling voyage around the lake. Then, with the exception of Pistol, who was ready for a little “alone time,” the Mettlesons, old and young, piled into Betty for the trip into Deming. Over a celebratory lunch of burgers, chicken nuggets, fries, and Cokes, they toasted
Goblin
for getting them through the long, stormy night without so much as a scratch.

Three hot fudge sundaes later (Hayley and Hetty shared one), Nick raised his glass one more time. “I want to thank you kids. I’ll be honest, when your dad first talked to me about your coming out for the summer, I wasn’t sure. I didn’t know you at all, and with your folks’ divorce and all, well, I didn’t know what to expect. But it’s been one of the best summers ever, and I’m pretty sure you’ve added ten years to my life. So … toast yourselves. To the Mettlesons!”

“TO THE METTLESONS!” the kids screamed.

“Does this mean we can come back next summer?” Hetty asked.

Nick laughed. “We’ll have to talk to your parents about that. I suspect that your mom is getting a little lonely about now. But if it’s okay with them, it’s okay with me.”

“Yay!” shouted Hayley and Hetty.

Nicholas didn’t say a word, but he couldn’t help smiling.

W
hen Charlie called Nicholas the next day, she had nothing to report. She admitted—reluctantly—that she was having fun at her dad’s farm. Her stepsisters, Jenny and Cindy, just five and seven, were cute, and they practically
worshiped
her.

“What about your stepmom?” Nicholas asked. He knew that Charlie had resisted getting to know her, purely out of stubbornness.

“Linda? She’s actually not so bad,” Charlie confessed. “She’s kind of funny. And she’s nice. She’s a lousy cook, though. No wonder my dad is still so skinny. We had this stuff for dinner; I’m not even sure what it was. Some kind of tuna casserole. Really bad.”

“What about your dad? Did you … talk to him yet?”

“No. He was so happy that I came with him, I just couldn’t bear to spoil it for him. Not yet, anyway. Maybe tomorrow.”

But the next day, and the day after that, came and went, and Charlie still hadn’t confronted her dad.

“I’ll do it tomorrow,” Charlie said. “Dad and I are taking the horses for a long ride. We’ll have lots of time to talk, away from the kids. How’s
The Seaweed Strangler
coming along?”

“Okay. At least I think so. I’m getting the hang of the editing program. I put a few scenes together, and it’s actually starting to look like a movie. The old film is so scratchy and grainy compared to the new stuff that it’s not that hard to believe it’s been sitting out in the rain and sun on an island for a few years.”

“Well, save some of the work for me. You have to teach me how to do it, too.”

“Don’t worry—there’s still a ways to go. The twins are getting excited about it. They say we have to have a big premiere party, like they do in Hollywood. They asked Uncle Nick if he had a red carpet. Like he had one sitting up in the barn waiting for a special occasion. He told them they could paint a long sheet of paper red.”

“That’s a great idea—the party, I mean. We can invite everybody from the neighborhood. Maybe your mom can come out from New York. Too bad your dad’s still in Africa. He’s the one who really
ought
to see it.
It was his idea, after all. Do we have time to finish the movie?”

“Oh, sure. I mean, it’s not going to win an Academy Award or anything, but it will be done. You’re coming back the day after tomorrow, right? I can’t wait … you know, so you can see what I’ve done so far. We can let the twins plan the party; it will make them feel important.”

“Maybe we should have a theme. You know, like food made with seaweed or something.”

“Or … not. How about hot dogs?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Nothing. I just like hot dogs.”

* * *

Charlie, who preferred to ride English rather than Western, sat high in her saddle aboard Patches, a four-year-old Appaloosa, following her dad down a trail that ran along the ostrich pasture. At the far end of the property, they continued on, crossing a creek and a dirt road, then climbing a slight grade to a neighbor’s pasture, where they let themselves in through a wooden gate.

“Are we allowed to go in here?” Charlie asked. “Isn’t this somebody’s property?”

“It’s okay,” said Jimmy. “The owner’s a friend. I let his kids ride across our pastures. There’s a big oak tree up at the top of the hill—it’s a perfect place to stop for a picnic lunch. Come on, I’ll race you.” He gave his horse a little
nudge with his heel and cantered up the trail. Charlie, never one to turn away from a contest of any kind, pressed her heels down in the stirrups, leaned out over the horse’s neck, and urged her into a canter. She caught and passed Jimmy easily, opening up into a gallop as their destination came into view.

As Charlie pulled back on the reins to slow Patches to a walk, she couldn’t help marveling at the picturesque scene before her. “Big” didn’t do the oak tree justice; it was
enormous
, its trunk the size of her bedroom, its branches creating enough shade to protect a small army from the sun. It stood alone at the summit, the winner of a game of king of the hill, after which all the other trees fled in embarrassment.

Her dad brought his horse to a stop beside her a few seconds later and dropped out of his saddle. “Not a bad view, huh?”

“It’s like something out of a movie,” said Charlie.

“Believe it or not, I first found this place when I was just a little bit older than you. This farm used to be a stable where you could rent horses. When we were in high school, your mom and I used to come out here to ride all the time. I think we imagined that we were the only people who knew about it. It was
our
tree, our special little place.”

For the first time in her life, Charlie felt sorry for her dad. He seemed sad, looking back on that part of his life, knowing that it was gone forever.

Jimmy led the two horses into the shade, where he loosely tied the reins to an iron ring nailed into the trunk of the oak and set his backpack on the ground. After spreading out a fleece blanket, he pulled out two sandwiches, a bag of carrot sticks, and a thermos filled with homemade lemonade. He handed a sandwich to Charlie. “Egg salad okay?”

She raised a single eyebrow. “Ostrich eggs?”

“Ha! No, just ordinary chickens. You’re a funny kid, Charlie. You get that from your mom.”

“Really? I don’t think we’re that much alike.”

“You’re not exactly like her, but sometimes you say something, or get this look on your face, that just … well, it kind of freaks me out, to be honest.”

“You know, it’s funny,” said Charlie. “Mom had the same reaction when she met Nicholas the first time.”

Jimmy chewed his sandwich slowly as his sad smile returned.

“Dad?”

“Mmm.”

“Back when you and Mom were kids, and—”

“You want to know about me and Will, don’t you?”

“Well, I do have some questions.” She told him about Nicholas finding the movie in the tower room, their discovery of the tampered-with steering cables, and the film that was shot the day Teddy’s boat sank. “And in that horrible storm, when Nicholas rescued Teddy, the final pieces of the puzzle came together.”

Jimmy listened silently as the realization that the time had come for him to clear his conscience once and for all sank in.

“The other day, when I saw Teddy standing out there on Nick’s boat, and then you introduced me to Will’s kid, I was actually relieved. I don’t know how—maybe it was the way you looked at me—but I
knew
you had figured out that I had something to do with Will leaving.”

“But … why?” Charlie asked. “You guys were friends.”

“That’s easy. Love. Jealousy. A combination of those two will make people do all kinds of crazy things. I fell in love with your mom in the third grade. I was just a kid, but she was all I ever thought about. And even though Will was only around in the summers, he was my best friend.

But then …”

“He and Mom.”

“Exactly. Watching the two of them spend more and more time together, the way she looked at him—it just ate away at me. I had to do
something
to break them apart. So, at fourteen, I sacrificed the best friend I ever had so I could have her to myself. It was the worst thing I ever did, and even though I ended up married to her, and got you as part of the bargain, I have felt guilty every day of my life since. I know that I can never make up for what happened, and it can’t change what’s already happened, but I am sorry—you have to believe that, Charlie.”