The Lake House (24 page)

H
eather’s swollen brain pressed against her skull. The beaded throw pillow on her bed had imprinted its design onto her face. She rolled over and covered her eyes from the sunlight that streamed through her bedroom window. She’d only had two drinks last night, but they’d left an impression on her body.

Through travel she’d learned to appreciate wine and enjoyed a glass or two, but she’d never taken to hard alcohol. Last night, nerves had caused her to avoid food. She’d had the margarita and the extra shot to calm her nerves, but hadn’t been drunk. The party had run until almost one in the morning and Heather realized that her headache could have more to do with exhaustion than alcohol.

Her life had been a blur since her last trip: buying the house, moving in, decorating, planning the party . . . there hadn’t been time to feel or think. A blue jay swooped into the oak tree outside her window, and three little beaks peaked out of the nest to be fed.
When had the nest been built?
Heather wondered. She hadn’t noticed it before. Every morning she’d awoken and immediately started working.

She pulled back the down comforter and stretched in the sunlight as she walked to the window. The lake looked like glass in
the morning light. Its stillness calmed Heather, reminding her to breathe deeply. Through her open window she could smell bacon and eggs coming from one of her neighbors’ homes.

In the walk-in closet, she caught her reflection in the mirror. She wore a pink tank top that left her biceps exposed. Faint purple bruises had formed where Charlie had grabbed her. They didn’t hurt physically, but her mind couldn’t wrap around the fact that he’d grabbed her so hard. She pulled a sweatshirt over her shoulders to hide the marks.

Downstairs, paper plates and cups had been left on end tables, the mantel, and all over the deck. Gina walked in from the kitchen, handed her a cup of coffee and biscotti. A box of baked goods sat open on the coffee table. “How are you feeling?” Gina asked.

“Headache, exhausted, and like I want to curl up and sleep for a few days,” Heather said as she plopped onto her couch.

“The aftereffects of stress,” Gina said, curling up in the oversized chair. “Eat. It’ll make you feel better.”

Heather dipped the biscotti in the coffee and bit into the cookie. The sugar began to revive her. “I’ve missed your mother’s baking. You know your family’s food could be considered one of the deadly sins.”

Gina raised her eyebrows. “That’s our secret. My great-great-grandfather actually signed a pact with the devil. In exchange for the women in our family being beautiful and the men rich, we have promised to lure good Christians to gluttony and thick waistlines.”

“Are you the Siren created to make men feel lust?”

“You know it.” Gina bit into a cannoli and licked the cream from the side of her lips.

“I keep wondering if what happened with Charlie is my fault,” Gina said as she looked at Heather. “If I hadn’t told him about the party, he wouldn’t have shown up.”

Heather ran her finger over the cup’s rim. “It’s not your fault. If I’d handled our breakup better or told him about the party, then last night wouldn’t have happened. I’ve been too reactionary. Not thinking very clearly.”

“Still, he’s a prick for the way he acted.”

“Well,
that
I’ll agree with,” Heather said. She looked out the window to the lilac bush. The tiny purple flowers had bloomed in large bunches. Heather put her coffee down and opened the window to let in the sweet perfume. The scent eased her headache. Two squirrels chased each other around the side yard running up and down the trees.
Twitterpated,
she thought, recalling the term for falling-in-spring-love from
Bambi
. Heather’s friend had the hint of a smile on her face, and she knew where Gina’s thoughts had gone. “What’s it like between you and Michard?”

Eight months ago, Michard had moved from Italy to become the head chef at Michelangelo’s. Gina, who’d always been too independent and focused on her career to be bothered with long-term relationships, now blushed with giddiness every time she spoke about him. When Michard and Gina looked at each other from across a room, their gaze was so intimate, it embarrassed Heather.

Gina squirmed in her seat. “You sure you want to hear about this right now?”

“Yeah,” Heather said as she pulled a pillow across her lap.

“It’s hot. He feeds me chocolate cake and with each bite he kisses me deeply. He tastes my body as if I were as decadent as
one of the dishes he creates.” Her skin flushed. “It’s crazy how much I crave him.”

“Wow.”

Gina looked at Heather with sad eyes. “You know, it’s not all perfect. He’s incredibly jealous and freaks out if I talk to other men. He’s a hot-blooded Italian and so am I. Put the two of us together and sure, there’s great passion, but we fight. You know how relationships go.”

“Yeah.”

“You never really told me why you left Charlie.”

Heather played with the button on the pillow’s center. “Because I need to be more than his client.”

Gina stood up and sat next to Heather with her arm around her. “Charlie loves you. He wouldn’t have been that insane last night if he didn’t.”

“Maybe, but I can’t excuse his behavior.” Heather leaned her head on Gina’s shoulder. “Just promise me that we’re still going to be friends even though I’m no longer with him.”

“Of course.” Gina petted Heather’s hair.

“I can’t lose you too.”

“You’re stuck with me forever.” Gina paused and looked at Heather. “I hate to do this to you, but I have to get going. The stupid shark tank client keeps calling and I need to go into the office. Do you want help picking up? The waitstaff cleaned the serving trays and the kitchen before they left, but there’s still a lot of stuff left over from the end of the night.”

“I’m fine. You go.”

“I have a date with Michard tonight, but I can cancel if you need me.” Gina began to gather her purse and put on her shoes.

Heather stood and walked her friend to the door. “You enjoy
your night with Michard. I have a huge bathtub and a gorgeous lake right outside my door. I’m going to spoil myself today and relax.”

“Okay. Love ya.” Gina kissed Heather’s cheek and gave her a hug.

When the door closed, Heather looked around the living room. Now what? She wasn’t ready to deal with the mess in her house. She went upstairs and poured a bath.

The fatigue from the night before evaporated from her pores as she sat in her tub trying to relax. Bubbles spilled over the side of the bath and pooled onto the floor, but Heather didn’t care, the swirling water and hyacinth scent were soft and calming, at least to her body.

She tried to still her mind, but thoughts continued to flash through it: the fight with Charlie, Steven and the Travel Channel, the fact that she’d bought a house in a retirement community. Plus, would Charlie remain her agent, and if not, how would she go about building her career? Could she dump Charlie altogether and go it alone? Relaxation evaded her, and she gave up on the bath.

Downstairs she threw away the plastic cups that had accumulated on the counter and began to unload the dishwasher. When she opened the silverware drawer, she was startled to see a line of ants march out and onto the counter. She opened the other drawers. Teams of little red bodies swarmed her phone book. An infestation had taken over the kitchen. Under the sink, she found a bright red can of soda and a puddle of sticky liquid swarming with insects. What the heck? Who spilled a soda under the sink?

The ants crawled on her arm as she tried to wipe up the soda with a rag. She screamed and shook her hands to get rid of them.
With her shoe, she smashed the bugs until they were dead. She’d need to get ant traps from the store.

With a trash bag in hand, she gathered the rest of the cups from the living room and the deck. Standing on her deck and looking out at the neighborhood, she wasn’t certain what to do next. When she lived in Boston she’d go shopping, to a museum, or out for coffee on a Sunday afternoon. When she thought about buying this place, she’d imagined having people her age to hang out with on the beach, but now she was uncertain what to do with her afternoon.

“Excuse me, Heather,” Thomas called from next door through his open window, “could you help me with something?”

Heather walked down the three steps and crossed their shared driveway. She opened his side screen door and walked into his kitchen, where dishes were piled in the sink. As she walked into the living room, she saw Thomas sitting at a new desk in front of a large computer that looked out of place next to the old paneling and worn rug. Knickknacks covered the shelves along with pictures of Tommy.

Thomas was squinting at the screen as he peered over his bifocals.

“Is this new?” Heather asked, pointing to the computer.

“You betcha. My grandson decided to bring me into the modern age with this contraption, but I can’t seem to get the hang of it.” He wore a nice suit jacket and a shirt and tie, even though the day was summery.

She put her hand on his shoulder. “You’re still in your Sunday best. Did you just get back from church?”

“Nope,” he said as he clicked his mouse impatiently. “I haven’t
been in years. Sarah’s always trying to convert me, but I’ve been a happy sinner most of my life.”

“What are you trying to do?” she said as she looked at the screen.

“Open that dang Internet thing.”

“May I?” she asked and pointed to the mouse. He lifted his hand away and she leaned around him. He smiled up at her and winked. She stifled a laugh. This old man was too much. She clicked on his browser and the screen came to life.

“What website are you looking to get on?”

“That dating one I see on the television,” he said. “I started filling out the forms the other night after Tommy left, but now I can’t remember how to get back in. And I need to take a picture with the computer and somehow get it up where it can be seen by the ladies.”

“What?” Heather stepped back and looked at him. The sport coat and tie now made sense. “You want me to put you on an Internet dating site?”

“Yep,” he said. “How else am I going to find a new lady? Everyone around here is like family. Over at the Amvets dinners they’re all a bunch of old farts, and I can’t go looking in the nursing homes, because I don’t live there. Turns out they frown upon nonresidents coming in just to find dates. And I’ve been kicked out of most of the bereavement groups because I dated too many of the widows and they all talk.”

Heather tried not to giggle, and her eyes watered as she stifled her laugh. “Thomas, you dog.”

“I’m just looking for a little love in this big lonely world.” She opened a few different dating sites until she found the one that Thomas recognized. He couldn’t remember his password or username, so she created a new one and wrote it down on a
sticky note that he stuck under the desk so no one would see it. Then they took a picture with the computer’s camera and posted it. “I’m not certain how many ladies in their eighties are going to be looking on this site,” Heather said.

“Who said I wanted someone my own age?” Thomas said. “I like ’em young and frisky. Someone in her early seventies or even sixties would be good, unless
you
want to have a go with me?” He smiled and she saw the devil in his eyes.

“I think you might be a little too much for me,” she said.

He pinched her bottom and her mouth dropped in shock. “Thomas!”

“What? I didn’t do anything. These old hands just do what they want.”

“I’m going to leave you to your search. If you need more help, just let me know, but next time I’ll slap that hand if it gets too fresh.”

He smacked his gums and smiled at her. “Thank you, Heather.” She shook her finger at him and then walked away.

Tommy’s rusted white truck pulled into the driveway just as Heather was walking up her deck stairs. Thomas had put a smile on her face and she turned to Tommy as he got out of the vehicle. He slammed the door and walked toward her.

“Hi,” she said, and then noticed his aqua eyes were brewing with anger.

He stepped onto her deck. “We need to talk.”

Heather’s mind flashed to how Charlie loomed over her with his hands squeezing her biceps. Instinctively, she took a step back and crossed her arms over her body.

“You had a party last night,” he said.

“More like a gathering. Why?”

“From what I understand, the music kept getting louder long after dark, and then a fight broke out because everyone was drunk. This is an elderly community, what were you thinking?”

He didn’t yell, but the harsh tone he used was too much for Heather’s current state of mind. “I think you got your facts wrong.”

“Oh, really, because Sarah and Agatha called me last night and this morning with the same story.”

“Yes, I had a party. There was music until about eleven and people stayed until around one. Victoria said that it would be okay.”

“And what about the fight?”

Heather blushed. “Not that it’s any of your business, but yes, a small argument broke out. It was over quickly and it wasn’t due to alcohol.”

“Do you understand that you live in an elderly community and that one night of missed sleep could cause an illness? You live next door to my grandfather, and I won’t put up with this.”

“Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cause any problems, but Victoria had said it would be okay to play the music past quiet hours. And by the way, you don’t have any right to come onto my property and start yelling at me.” She pushed past him and walked off her deck. At the end of the driveway she turned back. “You know, you could take a few lessons from your grandfather on how to treat a lady. So far, you’ve been a class-act jerk.” She stormed off without giving him a chance to speak.