The Summer House (2 page)

The drive wasn’t all that bad, and as I entered Hurricane (yes, that’s the name of the town by Sand Hallow) I could tell things had picked up since I’d last been up here with my parents; the tourism trade must have helped out a bit.  I pulled into a McDonald’s to use the restroom and stretch my legs.  I thought about grabbing a bite to eat, but I hate how fast food makes me feel.  I’d have to hit the grocery store to stock up the cabin, but I wanted a nap first.  I realized that I didn’t have a key, and unless I got hold of the caretakers, I might have to wait on that nap first.

I had the number saved on my phone, because sometimes the landline was down when my parents were up here, and the Carlson’s’ lived next door.  Well, as close to next door as you’d expect out in the middle of nowhere.

“Hello?”

“Mr. Carlson, it’s Caroline Smith, I was wondering...”

“Your father already called.  I’m at the cabin right now, getting the pump primed, and making sure there aren’t any cobwebs.  Are you in town?”

“Yes, I stopped at McDonald’s for a moment, and realized I didn’t have the keys.”

“It’s all taken care of.  I’ll see you when you get here.”

“Thank you, sir,” I told him quietly. 

He’d always been like an uncle to me when we came up here to visit, and I remember swimming in his pool with his nephews Daniel and Derek.  It’s funny, they were a year apart in age, but most folks thought they were twins.  I grinned; back when I was twelve, I thought they were the most handsome boys in the state.
 

Driving through the farmland, I picked my way along the roads, looking for the turnoff.  The
Carlson’s lived a couple of miles away, and there wasn’t a house in sight, but the sight of the pecan groves thrilled me.  The desert was definitely to my liking.

It didn’t take me long to pull in to the driveway, and I could see smoke coming out of the chimney.  This time of year in the evenings it wasn’t freezing, but there was a definite chill, and the cabin was a tad rustic.  It was a throwback, compared to the more modern houses and getaway homes that the area was known for.  I could smell the wood smoke, and smiled for the first time since leaving college.

I parked next to Mr. Carlson’s beat-up Ford Ranger, and grabbed my bags.  He met me at the door and gave me the head-to-toe look and grinned.

“You’re all grown up, missy!” he told me with a grin.

“It happens to all of us someday.”

“Not me, I’m going to stay twenty-one forever!” he said with a chuckle, holding the door open for me.

Nothing had changed inside, and I realized that I could have the bedroom.  Growing up as an only kid, I’d always been forced to use the pull-out couch.  I had the entire place to myself, so the bedroom was where I took my bags.

“So how long you think it’s going to take for your parents to grow up?” He said, and laughed when my jaw hit the floor.

“How much did Daddy tell you?”

“Oh, I figure about everything.  Said yer momma was fit to be tied when you cussed her out.  He even said you were screaming at them.  That doesn’t sound like my sweet Caroline,” said he said, grinning and sitting on the edge of the dining-room table. 

“Yeah, it was pretty ugly.  This dress is what caused the whole fight.”

“What about it?”

“It doesn’t have sleeves.”

“Dresses haven’t had long sleeves in a hundred years,” he said with a confused look.

“They do if my mom makes them,” I told him, grinning.

“It ain’t like you got... uh... stuff hanging out… I mean, you aren’t indecent in that getup.”

“I didn’t think so either.  They threatened to kick me out if I didn’t change my clothes.  Well, not in so many words.  I left a great job to come home, and after being home a few days, it starts all over again.”

“Think maybe they forgot you’ve grown up over the years?”

“I think my dad remembered—today, that is.  I hope he isn’t too mad at me…”

“He told me to tell you that you almost ran over his foot, but I cussed him out a blue streak when he told me what he told you about keeping you there.  He wasn’t too happy with me for a minute, but he saw reason in the end.  It’s your momma who’s upset.”

“Mom can go to hell,” I told him, and he looked up at me, meeting my gaze.  He must have seen the resignation in my eyes, seen I was ready to give up on my parents.

“Well, uh… Your dad said you can stay up here however long you want.  He also said he didn’t have a bunch of wood up here, so I’m arranging to get the propane refilled for the furnace. That may take a few days, so I’ll have the boys run some firewood out in a couple of days.”

“Boys?”

“Yeah, Daniel and Derek have been helping us out on the farm.  They’ve been doing odd jobs since they’ve shown back up.”

“I didn’t know they left,” I said, confused.  They’d spent most of their time growing up with the Carlson’s, but no one talked about their parents and avoided the topic whenever it was brought up.

“Yeah, they took off for a few years, working as roughnecks, but they’re back now, loafing around mostly,” he told me with a grin. 

“Wow, they worked in the oilfields?” I was slightly impressed.

“Dakotas mainly, but they will talk your ear off about the Gulf if you even bring it up, so unless you have a few hours to kill…” his voice trailed off, but you could see the pride in his eyes for his nephews.

“Why aren’t they doing that anymore?”

“Oh, they said they got sick of hundred-hour weeks, and had saved enough money up to buy a place, but they haven’t bought one yet.”

“They are staying with you, then?” I asked him hopefully.  I hadn’t seen them in years, and a tingle in my nether regions prompted me to ask, hot boys turn into hot men, don’t they?  It barely bothered me that they were a few years younger than me.  “They are legal,” I snickered to myself, a very un-Caroline thought.

“Yeah, they are in the guest house for the moment.  I think they spend more time boozing it up and hanging out in the hot tub than they do working around the farm, but they are paying their own way.  You look out for those two, you hear me?”

“Wait, you have a hot tub now?” I asked him, and he laughed.

“Yeah, my wife insisted on buying it when she retired from the school district.  She never uses it anymore, but the boys make sure to keep it ready, and usually tug a case of beer to it whenever they’re entertaining,” he told me cryptically.  I didn’t get it, and figured he was talking other guy friends.

“Gotcha.  Well, Mr. Carlson, when do you think I’ll need the next load of wood?” The woodpile outside the covered porch looked good to me, and what the heck, we lived in the desert; it only got cold at night.

“Oh, you have a couple few days’ worth,” he told me.  He always had a funny way of talking that made me grin, so I gave him a hug.

“I’m glad to have you looking out for me, but make sure you send the ‘boys’ around!  I can’t wait to see what kind of men they grew up to be,” I said with a wicked grin.

“Alright, I’ll have them call ahead when they bring the load of wood out; you take care, girly,” he told me, reaching for the knob.

“Thanks, Mr. Carlson.”

And he gave me a little wave and left.  I watched his truck until it was out of sight, and felt a peculiar feeling.  A tickle in my stomach that radiated up into my chest.  It wasn’t uncomfortable, but I suddenly realized what it was… I was excited, I was free!  My dad had finally given in, whether he acknowledged it or not.  I had the place to myself, and with the money I had saved, I could live up here for a very long time, at least that’s how it felt!

I was too excited to take that nap, and checking the cupboards I saw only the long-term-storage foods.  With a sigh, I pulled a notepad and pencil out of the junk drawer.  The corners were chewed slightly, so I added mouse poison to the mental list.  I quickly wrote out a meal plan for the next couple of weeks.  I’d use this to figure out what ingredients to buy at the store.

It didn’t take me long, but I unpacked the entire car, setting up the summer house.  It was something I couldn’t do at my parents’, but I felt free here.  I felt as if the old inhibitions of my life were now slowly peeling away.  Right then and there I decided to live my life at least a little bit differently. I was twenty-five years old as of last May; I had missed out on way too much.

I grabbed the house key off the table, and added it to my key ring.  Grabbing my list, I decided to head to the store.  I might as well make the best of things while I was here, and would take as much time as I needed to clear out the cobwebs of my old life.  If things didn’t work out, I could beg for my old job back, Vegas was only a three-hour drive away.

I locked the door and looked around.  I could see the pecan groves off in the distance, and the hills behind my parent’s summer house.  There wasn’t much out here, and any other girl might find the loneliness of the land creepy.  It was just what I needed after having my parents dictate my life to me for far too many years.

I hopped into my car and went shopping, driving into Hurricane once again.  The trip to Wal-Mart was filled with excitement, and blue light specials abounded… ha-ha, my thought process was today, and I felt so light-headed with being out on my own, even if my father was the only one who consented.  The trip was pretty uneventful, truth be told.  The only excitement was finding a parking spot, and that was pretty dull.

I was able to get everything on my grocery list, and I decided that if I was staying for a little while, I might as well get some things for the cabin that would make living there more comfortable.  For one thing, I had a TV, but no cable.  I was able to find a DVD player, and on a whim, picked out a bunch of movies, throwing them into the cart.

“Hey there, beautiful,” a voice beside me said.  I turned and I swear I tried not to fall down; my legs had gone rubbery.

Standing beside me was one of the most beautiful men I’d ever seen in my life.  His hair was dark, and it was slightly unkempt, partially hiding his ears; he had a strong jaw.  The dark tone of his skin spoke of lots of time in the sun, and his white T-shirt rippled with muscles at every move.  I know, I know, that’s a lot to take in during a second-long glance, but wow!  I won’t even get started on his green eyes, and how the beard stubble made him look…

“Hey there, yourself!” I said, surprising myself.  I gave him a nervous grin, and quickly threw another movie into the cart.

“‘Resident Evil’?” he asked me, smiling himself now.

“What?”

“The movie, you’re a ‘Resident Evil’ fan?” he said, pointing at the movie.

I looked down for a moment, and saw that in my random grab, that’s what I had gotten.  I actually needed to break eye contact because I was starting to tingle in a way that I never had before.  I knew what that tingle was, and had used my fingers to play and tease myself, but my God, the thoughts running through my head looking at this man were downright XXX-rated. 

“I’m just trying to… get a little bit of everything.” I stuttered, because from behind him, a twin stepped out of the aisle way.  Oh my God…

“Daniel, who’s that?” the twin said as with a shock I realized that it was the Carlson’s’ nephews.

“I don’t know, but she looked like a damsel in distress to me.  I’m just doing my thing, you run along,” he said with a shooing gesture.

“Oh no, Derek can stay,” I told Daniel.  You would have thought he’d been knifed in the back.  He straightened out in shock as his mouth fell open.

“Looks like she knows your reputation,” Derek said, walking up, all smiles.

“Oh? I also know about yours,” I told him “As a matter of fact, weren’t you the one who always tried to get me to take my top off in your uncle’s pool?” I asked him boldly.  There had only been two boys in my lifetime that I had paraded around topless in front of, and it was these two… many many years ago.

They both had their mouths open, trying to come up with something, so I threw them a lifeline.

“It’s me, Caroline.  Don’t you silly boys remember me?”

The bomb had gone off, and they checked themselves for damage.  Seeing none, they took a deep breath and tried to talk at once.  In the end, I was crushed in a bear hug as my greatest childhood friends and crushes sandwiched me between the two of them, squeezing the air out of me as we all talked a mile a minute. 

That tingle was now a full-blown buzzing sensation, and I could feel my panties getting wet being between these two; they smelled lightly of Stetson cologne, something I had forgotten they wore religiously, and of the musk of their bodies.  I tried to keep my head as I inhaled, but being squashed, I was actually sucking air in as quickly as I could.

They were the damndest thing.  Even in ten years of being away, nothing had changed with them, except they had grown more handsome. They let me go quickly (damn them) and kept talking a mile a minute.  They had this thing where one of them would start a sentence, and then the other would finish it.  For people who weren’t used to this, it could be a bit eerie, but I was used to it.  They were just telling me about their last job on the Gulf when a heart-stopping blonde walked past, brushing her hand across Derek’s muscular chest and stopped to make sure she had his attention.

“Derek, Daniel, are either of you free tomorrow?” she said, arching an eyebrow.  I suddenly had an insane urge to scratch the bitch’s eyes out.  No fucking way was this bitch going to ruin the moment.  I was about to open my mouth and let spill obscenities that would have gotten me grounded for years, when Daniel beat me to the punch.

“Sorry, we’re all booked.”

“Really?  I thought you two were just loafing about, doing odd jobs,” she countered, daring them to defend themselves.

“Yeah, we’re both committed to taking some wood to Caroline,” he said.  Thank God he wasn’t looking at me, because I had flushed a deep scarlet, and my nipples were rubbing painfully on my bra.  Did they know what they just said?

The blonde let out an unhappy sound, and walked away stiffly.

“What’s up with her?” Derek asked.

“I don’t know.” Daniel said, looking at his brother.

“I do,” I told them grinning, watching them turn towards me.  They were clueless.

“You’re committed to giving me some wood,” I told them wickedly, watching them squirm.

“Caroline, I didn’t mean it like that,” he hedged, but I knew when to press the point.  I may not have had any experience in this, but his familiarity with me had let the words slip.  I knew he didn’t mean it directly, but I wasn’t going to let it pass.

“No, then how did you mean it?” I asked him, finally working up the nerve to touch the side of his face, feeling the stubble on his cheek, and watching him color.

“I meant that... Uhh...” he stammered, and I turned to Daniel.

“Are you bringing me some wood also?” I know, I was being wicked, and I might go to hell for this, but when they hadn’t realized it was me at first, I was just another hot young woman, one that they would approach, seduce, fuck? Was that what I wanted?  Sweet Caroline, the girl who was afraid to talk to boys? I don’t know what got into me, but it felt delicious.

His look was equally priceless, and I decided to let them off easily.

“Here, how about you two stop in tomorrow about four in the afternoon.  I’ll cook up some dinner, and we can all catch up on old times, and of course on the Gulf,” I told them smiling, and they looked relieved.  Honestly, I would have loved to have it done tonight, but I had things to finish straightening as I moved in.  Oh, and I had to swallow my fears, my lust making my mouth far too bold.

“That sounds great,” “Yeah, what he said.” My God, these men were so adorable, I just wanted to pull my clothing off right here in the middle of the electronics department, but in the age of cell phones, it would probably make it into “The People of Wal-Mart.”

“Yeah, that sounds great,” Derek said, recovering nicely.  He tipped an imaginary cowboy hat at me and said, “and we’ll make sure we bring all the wood you’ll need,” and we all laughed at that.

“That’s great.  I’ll see you two troublemakers tomorrow,” I told them, turning and walking away.

Damn, did I just set up a date, or a threesome?  What did I just do?  I smiled to myself and walked towards the store pharmacy, desire throbbing through my body with wicked thoughts of what it would feel like to be naked, being fucked by those two.  With a jolt, I realized that this was the first time I was sexually interested in a man—or men, I should say.  Well, growing up is supposed to be fun, isn’t it?  Twenty-five isn’t too old to grow up, or maybe I’d always been saving myself for them?  I had no idea, but my desires were definitely steering my words more than I’d ever allowed them to.

While looking for condoms near the pharmacy (just in case I needed them someday), I happened across a couple of items on the bottom shelf, and I shoved two of them under a couple of loaves of bread along with the condoms and went to the checkout counter.  I’d used one before, but threw it out when my college roommate found it and gave me a questioning look…  When I was checking out, they were the first things I put on the line, so they could be out of sight in a hurry and into the bags.

“Hon, you have batteries for these?” The matronly woman looked at me, and I almost died of embarrassment.

“Uh, no… I, uh…”

She saved me by pointing out what to grab from the impulse-buy racks, and I could hardly have muttered a response if I had wanted to.  She just smiled at my discomfort, and rang things up quickly.  I paid the total with my card, and I was out of there!  I couldn’t believe how far I’d come, all in one day.