Seasons of the Fool (19 page)

“Long time no see, huh?” Although it was stifling this far from the lake, Nina was wearing a gauzy blouse with long sleeves and a sunhat with a big, floppy brim. “How are you? Dave told me you were living out here now.”

Julia plastered what she hoped was a charming smile on her face. “I’m fine, thanks. Really busy. I’m doing a lot of editing work to keep food on the table.”

“And you’ve been writing, too.” Nina smiled at her. “You’re quite the celebrated author, in fact. I read your book while I was in the hospital. I enjoyed it.”

“You did?” Julia asked. “Well, thank you. I’m glad you liked it. And I’m glad to hear you’re feeling better.”

“Yes, I’m quite cured.” Nina’s smile was dazzling. “Dave and I should have you over for dinner to celebrate your success.”

“Oh, no,” she said, stepping back. “I couldn’t.”

“I insist,” Nina said, still smiling. “In fact, let’s do it tonight. Dave can make us steaks on the grill. It’s supposed to be a lovely evening.” She stepped forward and put a hand on Julia’s bare arm. “Please say you’ll come.”

“Well, all right,” Julia said.
Might as well get it over with. She’s clearly going to keep asking ‘til I say yes.

“Marvelous,” said Nina. “We’ll see you around six? Dave and the kids will be so excited when I tell them.”

I just bet they will.
“See you then, Nina. And thanks again for the invitation.”

~

Julia walked down the street to Dave’s – and Nina’s, she reminded herself – as if she were going to her own funeral. Even in the old days, Nina’s behavior had been unpredictable. She believed the woman fully capable of orchestrating this evening so that she could make a scene and accuse them both of adultery.

But Nina was on her best behavior – vivacious, charming, and solicitous of their guest. Still, Julia felt the undercurrent of tension. She had seen the way Dave and his kids behaved when Nina wasn’t around. That easy interaction was missing.

It was twilight by the time dessert was served. Randi lit the tiki torches around the deck while Nina went inside to dish out ice cream for everyone. When she returned with a tray full of bowls, she said, “We haven’t been hiking since we got here. Dave, why don’t we take the kids hiking tomorrow?” She began handing out the desserts.

Dave shrugged. “Sure. Where do you want to go?”

“Well, there’s the national lakeshore. That’s not far, is it? And I’ve never been there.” Nina handed a bowl to Julia. “Want to come along?”

“Oh, no, I couldn’t,” she said. “I have so much work to do, and I have to take Monday off.”

“Oh, Julia, please say yes,” Randi said, giving her a significant look she couldn’t decipher. “You should
definitely
come with us.”

Ritchie nodded vigorously. “Yes! Yes! Please, Julia!”

“Well….” She looked at Dave, who shrugged helplessly.
The man knows a juggernaut when he sees one.
“All right. I guess I can take tomorrow off, too.”

“Yay!” Ritchie said, tossing his spoon in the air. It landed behind him in the grass, beyond the range of the torchlight. “Oops,” he said, with a sheepish look.

“You’ll be out there finding it before we leave tomorrow,” Dave told him. “Go get yourself another spoon.”

Not long afterward, Julia said goodnight. Randi walked her to the gate, chattering about how much fun the hike would be. As they rounded the corner of the house, she whispered to Julia, “Mom always thinks up these crazy plans, but she’s probably going to end up not coming with us.” Julia could see her smiling in the dim light.

“Either way,” Julia said, “I’m glad I said yes. It’ll be fun to hang out with you guys for the day.”

Randi hugged her impulsively. “See you tomorrow,” she called over her shoulder as she went back to her family.

~

But Nina did indeed join them. She rode shotgun in the family car, with Dave driving, and Julia seated between the kids in the back.

The entrance to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore was just the other side of Michigan City. Julia had never been there, either; her grandparents couldn’t see the point of getting in the car and driving to a public beach when their house was just a couple of blocks from the lake and their own beach was never crowded. But now that she was a full-time resident of the area, she found she was more interested in its flora and fauna – and in its history, too.

“We’ll have to check out the visitor center,” she said to Dave. “You might find some material there for your book.”

“It’s a place to start, anyway,” he said, glancing at her in the rear-view mirror.

The kids groaned. “This isn’t going to be educational, is it?” Randi said. “I thought we were going hiking.”

“Oh, we’ll go hiking,” Nina said. “Don’t you worry about that.”

After a short stop at the visitor center, they meandered around the Dune Ridge Trail. That was enough of a hike for Nina, who suggested then that they drive to Mount Baldy for lunch.

“I want to hike more,” Ritchie grumbled as he got in the car.

“Anyway,” Randi said, “Mount Baldy is closed, Mom. Didn’t you hear the ranger at the visitor center?”

Julia had. And she also remembered hearing about the little boy who had fallen into an eleven-foot-deep sinkhole that wasn’t supposed to be there.

A dune is supposed to be made up of nothing but sand, but the ranger had explained that Mount Baldy has slowly been moving inland, covering trees and man-made structures alike. Scientists theorized that the rotting wood was creating pockets in the dune, and sometimes those pockets collapsed. The little boy had survived, but it had taken rescuers with a backhoe three hours to dig him out.

Dave must have heard the ranger’s warning, too. “I don’t think it would be a good idea to go there,” he told his wife.

“But I’ve never been,” Nina argued, “and I’ve heard so much about it. Let’s see how close we can get.”

Central Avenue beach proved to be the closest access point. “Look, kids!” Nina said, as they reached the beach from the parking lot. “You can see Chicago!” Sure enough, the city’s tallest buildings were just visible on the western horizon.

“Great,” said Randi.

“I want to hike more,” Ritchie said again.

Nina rounded on him. “Fine,” she said. “Let’s hike, then.” She grabbed him by the collar of his t-shirt and frog-marched him eastward.

“Mom?” Randi called. “That’s Mount Baldy down there. We’re not supposed to go there!” She turned toward Dave and Julia. “Dad!”

“Go after her, would you?” Dave said. Julia heard the strain in his voice.

“Fine,” Randi said, unconsciously parroting her mother. She turned on her heel and stalked off after Nina and Ritchie – her stalking hampered somewhat by the soft sand underfoot.

“Dave?” Julia asked.

He sighed. “They’ll be okay. Randi will make her turn back.”

“She’s always like this,” Julia said. It wasn’t a question.

“This is one of her good days,” he said. He flopped down on the sand, and she joined him. “It’s like watching a train wreck in slow motion. You know how it’s going to end, but you can’t do anything about it. All you can do is watch.”

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“Not your fault. But thanks.”

The conversation lagged. They sat together, not touching, and watched the waves. The temperature had moderated somewhat from the day before, but it was still hot enough that Julia was grateful for the breeze off the water.

They heard the thin scream at the same moment. They exchanged a frightened look as they stood. Then they raced east down the beach.

They met a wild-eyed Randi coming back. “Dad!” she said. “It’s Ritchie! He fell in!”

“He fell?”

Julia went cold. She knew exactly what Randi was saying. In an instant, she had her cell phone out and was dialing 911. “Hello,” she told the dispatcher. “I’m at the Dunes National Lakeshore and one of our party has discovered a sinkhole at Mount Baldy. Please send someone. And hurry.”

Julia could still hear someone screaming. As they got closer to the restricted area, she realized it was Nina. She glanced at Dave, whose face was a mask of horror. He grabbed Nina’s upper arms and shook her. “Where is he, Nina? Where is my son?”

She pointed at a stick poking out of the dune and subsided into sobs.

“Everybody move back,” Julia told them. “Now!”

“But Ritchie,” Randi said, still goggle-eyed.

“Help is on the way. And we don’t know how stable the ground is,” Julia said. “I don’t want to lose anyone else.” She appealed to Dave with a glance.

He nodded grimly. “Good point. Everybody, back to the beach.”

When they had reached the shoreline, Dave turned to Nina. “What happened?” he demanded.

In reply, she burst into a fresh round of sobs.

“Mom was yelling at him,” Randi said. “I was way behind them, but I could hear her yelling. He ran away from her – and then he just disappeared.” Her face crumpled, and Dave pulled her into a hug. Julia’s heart went out to them both.

Within a few minutes, they heard a siren approaching. Then a whole team of people – rangers and firefighters among them – raced down the beach toward them. “Who are we looking for?” one of the first responders said.

“My son,” said Dave.

“Ritchie Turner,” Julia supplied. “Seven years old.” She pointed to where the stick still stuck up from the sand. “He went in right there.” She looked to Nina for confirmation, but the woman stood stock-still, her gaze unfocused, as the lake breeze dried the tears on her cheeks. Julia tamped down a desire to shake the woman and turned back to the firefighter. “That’s what we were told, anyway. His mother was the only one with him.”

“Ma’am?” That was a paramedic. “Why don’t you come and sit down over here with me.” She led Nina a little way down the beach and wrapped a blanket around her shoulders.

“She’s in shock,” the firefighter said.

“She’s not well,” Dave supplied, and the firefighter nodded.

“You’re Ritchie’s father?”

“Yes. Sorry. David Turner. This is my daughter Randi. My wife’s name is Nina.”

The firefighter turned to Julia. “And you are…?”

“Julia Morton. A friend of the family.”

“All right. I’m Captain Armstrong. Sorry to meet you under these circumstances, but we’re going to get your son out of there as soon as we can.” He clapped Dave on the shoulder and moved off to help with the search.

“I guess we wait,” Julia said, crossing her arms.

Dave turned to her. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For being here.” Heedless of his wife, who sat a scant few yards away, he pulled Julia into a hug. She wrapped her arms around both him and Randi and held on.

It was a long, tedious, and emotionally fraught couple of hours. But in the end, the rescuers pulled Ritchie out of the dune, scared but unscathed. A cheer went up as the little boy was handed over to his father, his sister, and Julia.

As paramedics carried him to a waiting ambulance, the woman paramedic who had been tending to Nina approached Captain Armstrong and whispered something in his ear. He nodded to her as he turned to Dave. “We’re going to transport your wife, as well,” he said. “She’s still in shock.”

“All right,” Dave sighed, unsurprised.

“We’ll need for you to come along with us,” the captain said.

Dave tossed his car keys to Julia. “Bring Randi, would you?”

“Of course,” she said. “We’ll be right behind you.”

Randi was silent as they followed the ambulance out of the park. Julia glanced over at her as she negotiated the left turn onto U.S. 12. “You okay?” she asked.

“I wish Mom had dropped into that sinkhole instead of Ritchie,” Randi said, her tone flat.

Julia knew exactly how she felt.

~

Dave sprawled in the waiting room chair, one elbow on the back of the next chair over, his hand across his forehead. A headache gathered behind his eyes. He thought about getting up to ask the receptionist for a pain reliever, but he didn’t want to miss Randi and Julia.

This was his life: caroming from one crisis to another, nearly all of them precipitated by Nina. She had been so insistent on seeing the giant sand dune today. If only he had had the strength to tell her no. Instead, he had let her do what she wanted to do – and he had almost lost his son.

Nina putting Dave in danger was one thing. He was an adult; he understood the risks involved in being with her. But endangering his children was quite another.

And seeing Nina with Julia over the past two days had really opened his eyes. Especially today. Julia had taken charge and had tried to protect them all. Julia
cared
. While Nina had sat immobile, unable even to care for herself.

This was the last straw. He didn’t care how sick she was. On Monday, he was going to call a lawyer and begin the process of filing for a divorce.

He looked up and saw Randi rushing toward him, with Julia close behind. He stood up and held out his arms to them both.