Summer Burns (17 page)

He didn
'
t want to be rude, this wasn
'
t his place.

Autumn grinned at her sister, but it wasn
'
t a nice grin. It was more smug.

He decided not to say anything--forces were at work here he didn
'
t want to stick his toe in.

Of course, he already had stuck his toe in, sitting here, having dinner. He
'
d debated whether he should come--after she
'
d run off last night, he didn
'
t think she
'
s still want to see him, even after she texted him today.

It was obvious, from the family closeness that she was well taken care of. It had been Jake
'
s worry, those last moments that she
'
d be in good hands.

Matthew had promised to look in on her and make sure for Jake. He would never deny a dying man his last wish.

At least now he could go back to his life, and know that he
'
d fulfilled his obligation.

They were fine--surrounded by people who loved them. Summer didn
'
t need anyone to take care of her.

He could leave.

Any time he wanted to.

Yet he was here
...

He wanted her, and he knew he did, he
'
d always had latent feelings for her back in high school.

But now, though, it just felt, well, wrong.

If he was smart, he
'
d walk away. He made good on his promise. Jake would be content, wouldn
'
t he? It
'
s not like Bettes asked Hennessey to date Summer.

"
I don
'
t think anyone at this table can say a word about names,
"
Winter said, jarring him from his internal thoughts.

This did make Matthew smirk.
"
It does raise a question,
"
he said. All eyes turned to him.
"
What possessed you to name your daughters after seasons?
"

The room went silent.

Matthew glanced from Mrs. Jones--her odd name of
"
Celestial Springs
"
was just too hard to actually say. It just sounded weird.

"
You like the weather,
"
Emma said.
"
That
'
s why you named them after the seasons.
"

Mrs. Jones smirked.
"
Partially.
"

"
You don
'
t have to answer, Mrs. Jones.
"
He didn
'
t realize he
'
d hit a special topic in the family.

"
No, it
'
s not a secret. I was living on a commune, and my spirit name was Celestial Springs, because my birthday is on the spring equinox. One of the gurus there had a vision that I would have children of the seasons.
"
She gestured to her daughters.
"
I did. Winter came first, born near the winter solstice that year. Then came Summer, born on the summer solstice. Then Autumn was born on the fall equinox.
"

He raised his eyebrow.
"
Now that takes planning.
"

She grinned.
"
On a commune you don
'
t plan your fertility.
"

He choked, not sure he wanted to know any more about the family. Or think about the woman across from him having sex--too close to thinking of his own mother having sex.

"
Mom, that
'
s so gross.
"
Autumn crossed her arms over her chest. The other two sisters echoed her words, groaning.

Mrs. Jones laughed at them.

This is when Matthew was pretty sure a subject change would be needed, but for the life of him, he wasn
'
t sure what he should say or do to bring it around.

"
So Mister Maffew, are you going to be my new daddy?
"
Emma asked, blinking at him with her big green eyes.

This was not what he wanted for a subject change.
"
Uh, well
..."

Summer swooped in to the rescue.
"
Now Emma, you and I talked about that. Mister Matthew is a friend, nothing more.
"

"
I know, but Rosey at school said that her mommy had a friend who was a boy, and then she married him, and he became her new daddy, and she didn
'
t like him because he always smelled like dead fish. So I told her how I liked Mister Maffew, and I hoped that he could be my new daddy, because he smelled like my old daddy, and I liked that smell.
"

"
Well, sweetheart, we can
'
t pick people by their smells,
"
Summer said, her gaze darting to Matthew
'
s. And if he wasn
'
t mistaken, she looked like she was trying to hold back a laugh.

"
Fine,
"
Emma pouted.

Summer wasn
'
t the only one trying not to laugh over the little girl
'
s comment.

"
The world might be a better place if we did pick people by their smells,
"
Autumn muttered.

"
It might make people a little more conscience about how they smell,
"
Winter added.

Summer glanced at Autumn.
"
Did you smell Mister Delacourt when he came in to pick up Miss Lorraine? Oh my God, I thought I might pass out. I don
'
t think he
'
d had a bath in a week!
"

And off they went again, back to the salon gossip.

Matthew leaned a little closer to Emma.
"
I think it
'
s okay to like people by their smells. That
'
s how dogs do it.
"

"
Really?
"
Emma asked, her eyes wide.

"
Yep.
"

She pondered that for a little bit while eating a bite of rice, then she patted him on the arm.
"
I think I need a dog. We can go on smelling adventures.
"

He smiled.
"
That would be fun.
"

~*~

"
Well, she
'
s down,
"
Summer said as she took a seat next to Matthew on the back patio. The sky was finally getting dark, and while Emma wanted to stay up, it was already nine, and she
'
d been yawning all through the card games they had been playing.

So had Summer.

"
I probably should be going,
"
Matthew said. He didn
'
t really want to, but he didn
'
t think he could hang around all night.

Part of him just wanted to make sure Summer was okay from her asthma attack earlier. She hadn
'
t wheezed once all evening, so he had no reason to worry. If he was honest with himself, though, he really only wanted to be around her more.

He wasn
'
t the best with being honest with himself.

"
You don
'
t have to,
"
Summer said. She had a fresh glass of wine.
"
Sit down, relax.
"

He glanced toward the back door, expecting the rest of the family to come out and join them. It seemed that every chance they had alone together was soon flooded by her sisters. Her mother seemed to keep her distance, but her sisters, especially Autumn, seemed intent on butting into any private moment they had.

Perhaps that wasn
'
t a bad thing. Maybe he didn
'
t need to be alone with her.

Maybe they were just making sure that Summer was taken care of.

She obviously didn
'
t need him here, she had her whole life figured out.

Still didn
'
t stop his reluctance to leave.

He looked around the backyard, taking in the patio, the little barbecue area in the corner, the seating area they were in now, and the large shed painted with bright swirls and peace signs. Or at least, it was once bright colors, weather had faded it.

"
What is the deal with that shed?
"
he asked.

She grinned.
"
Me and my sisters decided to honor Mother
'
s commune living for Mother
'
s Day one year. So we snuck out here the night before, and painted it.
"

"
How come just on the front?
"

"
We painted the whole thing. But the neighbors complained it was an eye sore, so Mom repainted the sides that faced out, but she left the front just the way we did it so we could always see it.
"

"
What did she think?
"

"
Oh she was amazed. She thought it was wonderful.
"

"
Do you remember being on the commune? I assume you lived there.
"

"
Until Mom had Autumn. I was five when we left.
"

"
Why did you leave?
"

She shrugged.
"
We needed a better house for the family. One with proper running water.
"
She glanced at the sky, a big grin on her face.
"
I remember moving in here, and standing in the shower forever. It was like magic to have so much water pour out on me, and not have to worry about wasting it.
"

"
That
'
s an odd thing for a kid to worry about, here.
"

She blinked.
"
What do you mean, here?
"

"
In the USA. To worry about wasting water like that. I would expect that in Iraq.
"

She nodded.
"
You see a lot of that over there?
"

"
More than I wanted. Things I hope I never see again.
"
Images and sensations flashed--memories of the darkness he
'
d witnessed while he
'
d been in battle. Or on patrol. Or just walking. Even in the brilliant, burning sunshine, it felt dark there. He couldn
'
t explain it--like a shadow of anger covered the land.

He didn
'
t ever want to see that again.

"
I hope you don
'
t either,
"
Summer said.

He ran his hand over his head.
"
I shouldn
'
t have to. I
'
m staying stateside now.
"

"
That
'
s good. I won
'
t have to worry about you being over there, and watching the news all the time again.
"

"
Why would you worry about me?
"
Matthew asked.

She met his gaze.
"
Because I do that.
"
She touched his hand.

Their fingers slipped together, and she squeezed. The contact was soothing and the darkness that had been stirred up from memories started to fade.

"
You don
'
t have to worry about me,
"
Matthew said.
"
If anything, I should be the furthest thing from your mind.
"