Blue Heaven (Blue Lake) (16 page)

“I love new babies. If I become friends with Meg, who I like so much, I would be holding her new baby. And then I’d want one for myself.”

“What, no daddy?” He tried to tease her out of her mood.

“Yes.” She pulled away and socked him on the arm.

“Honey, Meg and Steve met in elementary school. They went steady starting in sixth grade. They never broke up once.”

She let out a big sigh. “I know. You’re right. I just feel like I wasted my twenties on Marcus.”

“But that was good, because now you have me.”

She smiled a sad smile. “Yes. Now I have you.”

“All finished with your ironing?”

“All done. There are pillows everywhere.”

He decided just like that. He was done for the day, too. The sun was going down. The light wasn’t right. And he had her here now. All her attention focused on him. It felt good.

“Got any plans for tonight?”

“No. You?”

“Well—I was hoping to spend it with you.” He was hoping for a whole lot more, but tonight was not about that. Tonight should be him showing her how much he cared. Trouble was, he couldn’t think of a date type thing they had not already done. Dinner, movies, bike ride, picnic, another dinner. There had to be something special.

Then he thought of it. “I’m not sure this will work. The wind has kicked up a bit. He looked at the sky. No clouds. That was good. The tide churned as dusk settled in.

Sounds from television and teenagers floated up the steps. He could take her to his house instead of the other thing, but the last time she was there they’d been in bed within ten minutes. She’d asked him to take things slow. He wanted to honor that promise, no matter how difficult it was to keep.

****

Daniel was being very secretive. Still, Eva wanted Lily to know they were going out. “We’ll be back in an hour or so. I have my cell if you need me.”

“Yes, mom,” Lily teased.

Daniel not telling her where they were going, even once they were in his car and on the way down the road, didn’t bother her. Wherever he was, that’s where she wanted to be. They drove out of town, past the high school. He turned down an unpaved road, wooded on both sides of the path. Branches hit the windshield but Daniel kept driving, slowly now on the narrow path. Dusk drew in and darkness settled. The trees looked black.

Daniel stopped when they came to a clearing with an old barn on one side, practically falling apart. The roof had peeled off. In the glare of the car’s headlights, she saw how it hung down on one side of the building, like a giant head of unruly hair.

Daniel cut the lights and grabbed a flashlight from his glove box. They got out, and guided by the flashlight, she followed him around the car. He opened the trunk and handed her a blanket.

He turned the light toward the path and when she didn’t move he said, “Come on!” He took her hand and they walked up to the barn by the light of the beam. When she stopped in front of the decrepit building, he tugged her hand. “Let’s go.”

“What? In there?”

“Yep. It’s great. You’ll see.”

“But why?” Her arms were covered in goose bumps and she let his hand go, clumsily zipping up her hoodie while holding a blanket.

The flashlight was big and shined a powerful light. Daniel grabbed her hand again and pulled her toward the old building.

She wanted to know what the hell he was up to, but when she asked again, he said “You trust me, right?”

“Of course.”

“Then come on.”

Once they were inside the barn, he shined the light around the big empty space.

“See? Nothing to fear.”

“I wasn’t afraid.” But she was, just a little bit, when Daniel’s light shone on a set of stairs. “Stair steps seem to be an essential component of our relationship.” She said it to calm herself down. She hoped he wasn’t planning some middle school horror monster joke.

Daniel laughed low, as if not to disturb whatever creatures lurked above. He guided her to the stairs and took the first step.

“No. Really? We’re going up?”

“Perfectly safe. School kids come here all the time to drink beer, smoke cigarettes, and make out.”

She giggled exactly as if she were a school girl. It was part parody and part real. Daniel made her feel that way. So young and carefree.

“It’s perfectly legal for us to do those things in more comfortable places.” Despite the complaint, she followed him up to the roofless room on top of the barn.

Again, he shined his light around the four walls. A discarded blanket. A few empty beer cans. Daniel picked a spot in the center of the room to lay down the blanket. She stood there, unwilling to lay down in case a mouse or a bat or something decided it wanted to make a nest in her hair.

“Come on, lay next to me. The stars are amazing tonight!”

So she lay down next to him, using her purse as a pillow against creeping creatures. Then she gazed up at the sky. It left her breathless. Here was a world, a galaxy, a universe, all around them. It made her feel very small but also a part of the largeness. Now scientists talked about multiverses. Universe after universe, reaching out toward infinity.

“Where’s the moon?”

“New moon tonight.”

“I never knew what that meant.”

“It’s because we see moonlight, which is really a reflection of the sun off the moon’s surface. The moon doesn’t really glow. It orbits around our planet. The moon, sun, and earth get into new patterns of orbit. When sunlight is blocked from the moon, we say “new moon.”

“A friend of mine always did a new moon ceremony. Where she let the old go and blessed whatever new was entering her life.”

Then they were silent for a time, star-gazing, making their own new moon beginning.

“Thank you,” she finally said, turning her body on its side, facing him. “This is lovely.” She doubted high school kids watched the stars in here, but maybe some did. Daniel turned his body to hers, closed her in his arms, and kissed her. Her fingertips smoothed through his hair and she opened her mouth to his. She could kiss him until the next new moon.

He pulled back but kept his arms round her. He gazed at her like she was a star. He brushed her cheek.

“You’re so beautiful.”

She wasn’t, but it was a sweet thing to say, and she knew he meant it. She leaned in for another kiss. His hands didn’t roam her body, he gave everything to the kiss. His body touched hers from head to toe, so she knew he wanted to make love, or his body certainly did, and yet, he held back. He was going slow, as she’d asked.

His kiss made her dizzy with desire, but then they heard a car door slam, whispers, and giggles stumbling up the stairs. They took a final look at the star studded sky, then rolled up the blanket and descended back to earth.

Four kids, not much younger than Lily, piled in the doorway like a litter of puppies. One guy held a Bic lighter high as if saluting his favorite band.

“Oh, hey, man, sorry.” Bic guy flicked off his light for a second, then relit it.

“You guys want a beer?” The other guy held out a can while the girls giggled and whispered to each other with their hands over their mouths.

“No, thanks.” Daniel declined the beer. “We’re just leaving.”

“Later,” the beer guy said.

Eva was okay with the kids interrupting them. She wanted her first time with Daniel to be special. On a soft mattress. But this had been a bit of fun, like high school, when she and her love of the moment and all their friends tried to find a place to be alone and act like adults when they all lived with their parents. That’s what Daniel had been up to tonight. He wanted them to have a high school experience. He was building memories. But what memories was she creating for him? She needed to seriously up her game.

****

Eva stood outside in the sunshine, a box of kitchen things in various shades of blue for Blueberry Cottage in her arms, watching Bob stripping and painting headboards. Every frame had been assembled, every mattress delivered. Since all the structural work was finished, she and Lily had been adding little touches, filling the tiny kitchenette cupboards, adding toiletries to the bathroom cabinets.

She was in a great mood despite the frustrating interruptions she and Daniel seemed to suffer every time they were getting to that place. The ultimate destination for two people in love. Not that he’d said he loved her. She hadn’t said it either, but she’d thought it. Maybe he was thinking it, too. Making love would happen at the right time, but last night, Lily had decided to sleep on the sofa bed in the living room. Daniel handled his exit discreetly, flushing the toilet and coming down the hall to say goodnight to both Eva and Lily.

Lily’s room in the bungalow was painted and she had already appropriated the best of the headboards Bob had been working on for herself, a curving iron piece that Bob had lovingly removed the rust from and painted a pretty off-white to match Lily’s walls.

Lily kept her cottage, too, so Eva never knew exactly where the girl was sleeping, but that would all be over soon. In a little over a week’s time, her first guests would arrive, and Lily would be in the bungalow for good. This thought didn’t bother Eva like it once would have.

She went into Blueberry and arranged the tea pot and mismatched china cups and plates, then went back to the office. She turned on her laptop, intending to work on the Bryman House website, when she gave in to temptation and checked her email.

Marcus. What the hell. Curious, she opened the message.

“Heard about your little venture,” he wrote. “My news? Moving to New York next week to take charge of a boutique agency.”

No
Good luck
, no
Sorry
, no
It wasn’t you it was me
.

Damn him. She clicked off email and into her bank account. Her work crew had been paid and thanked. Now it was just Daniel and Bob doing finish carpentry upstairs and the occasional odd job. Bob refused to take a paycheck anymore, because he split his time between Bryman House and Blue Heaven, and he was just here “hanging out” and “helping Daniel.”

It was probably a good thing, because she only had about $10,000 left, and she needed that as an emergency fund. It was less than Suze Orman said you needed, and until paying guests arrived, she’d be buying groceries with it.

With the way Bob ate, next time he offered, she’d let Daniel pay for the pizza. Daniel. He’d made her forget about this venture. She needed to focus on her business and be very careful with her money.

“You should have a party,” Jane said, coming into the office. Eva hadn’t even heard her car come up the driveway. She turned off her laptop and got up to greet her friend.

“Very nice,” Jane said, running her hand along the refinished wood counter, checking out the gleaming bannister and the curved staircase, the newly papered walls, the little sitting area Eva had arranged just that morning.

“A party?”

“He’s almost finished, right?” Jane pointed upstairs. “Invite the town. It would be a good way to thank the crew, and let their families see what they’ve been doing for the past six weeks.”

“I would, but I’m on a budget here,” Eva confessed.

“You’ll be fine,” Jane assured her. “You’re fully booked June, July and August. You’ve even got the fall leaf peepers booking early.”

Eva knew Jane was right. Everything had been done according to plan. Everything would work out.

“So like an open house? With soft drinks and cookies?” She would love to see Meg again. Luke and the others, too.

“Potato salad and burgers, maybe beer and wine.” Jane added to Eva’s modest list.

Eva was happy to do more to thank her crew. Inviting the town would be good for business and for her personal life. But what would a bash like that cost?

“It’ll be fine. Everyone brings a side dish, Eddie donates a keg, you get the rest at Costco.”

Eva loved the idea. “Okay.”

****

Daniel stopped sanding the window sash when Eva came up and stood in the middle of the empty room. He wanted to hug her she looked so worried. He wanted to tell her everything would be okay. He wanted to tell her to please not start seeing Luke after he left town.

“What is it?”

“Nothing. Really.”

“It’s something. You never just come up here. You hate sanding grit.”

“Jane thinks I should have an open house. For the entire town.”

“And this has you worried because?”

“I’m trying to watch my budget. I mean, I really do want to do this, but should I? Maybe I should wait until Labor Day and hold a ‘Thank You’ barbecue instead.”

“You’ll be fine,” Daniel said. “You know how the video has been getting crazy hits? Well, we can get my buddy to videotape the Open House. Imagine if every person in Blue Lake sent the link to the video to every one of their family members who live downstate or even out of state? You’ll be booked YEARS in advance.”

She sat on the hearth.

Daniel sat next to her. He reached over and put one hand on her knee.

“I’m sorry,” he said. He wasn’t sure why he said it. To her, it might seem like it came out of nowhere, but she was all he could think about. How sweet she was. How hard she worked. How stupid the guy who dumped her was. How, for him, she was the right woman at the wrong time.

“Sorry for what?”

“Us. Me leaving town instead of settling down to raise babies like Meg and Steve.”

She was so still next to him, he knew he’d hit a nerve. He was used to her always being in motion.

“What smells so good in here?” she said, avoiding the subject again. He had no clue how to get through to her. He could feel their connection, why couldn’t she?

“It’s the apple wood.”

“It’s not even lit.”

“I know. Imagine how it will be with a fire going.” Daniel decided to try out the fireplace. After all, he had to know if the room was going to smoke up before the open house. He drew a pack of matches from his pocket and lit the kindling he’d laid underneath the apple wood.