The Lake House (36 page)

“Have you ever thought that you were a fool for loving me?”

“Yes.” He laughed. “I spent my entire childhood being told that you hated my guts.”

Tears glistened her eyes, but this time they came from laughter. “I was so mean to you, and yet you kept saving me from the other boys.”

“You had so much sass. You were loud and a leader and unlike any other girl. I didn’t have a choice but to love you. Not much has changed.”

She laughed harder. “You poor man.” Victoria stood and walked to him. She knelt in the sand and placed her head on his thigh. Joseph touched her soft hair, then pulled her to sit on his lap. Her finger caressed the dimple in his cheek; it fit the indent like a puzzle piece locking with its mate. The softness of her lips brushed against his cheek. “Do you remember the night we made love?” she asked.

“It’s imprinted on my heart.”

“Can we here?”

Would she find him attractive? His old body and slackened skin. “I’m nervous,” he said.

“Relax.” She kissed his forehead and traced hearts on his cheeks. “I’ll wait for you.”

H
eather sat in her office waiting for Charlie’s phone call. Three days earlier she’d submitted pages for him to review before he sent it to his publishing contact in New York. Outside her living room window she could hear Sarah and Agatha at the picnic table talking about health problems. Agatha had exchanged her scooter for a cane but complained of the swelling in her knee due to the humidity.

Heather needed to have fun. Molly had asked several times why she didn’t invite friends over for a dinner party, but Heather had been too busy with work. She picked up the phone.

“Hey,” Gina answered, “I was just thinking about you. The city is sweltering. Can I come out to your place tonight? Maybe bring some people?”

“You read my mind, let’s make it a party. Say about seven o’clock.”

“I’ll bring food and wine.”

“Don’t bother with dessert. My neighbor Molly has loaded me down with cakes and brownies that I need to share before I can no longer fit into my jeans.”

“Sounds good. I’ll see you in a few hours.”

Heather looked at the piece of paper on her desk with Tommy’s
number on it. Should she call him and invite him over tonight? He’d given her the number for house emergencies, not personal invitations. Reading him was impossible. Their conversations felt flirtatious, but then he’d become distant. She needed guts. Maybe she’d find confidence after she spoke with Charlie and he told her he loved the pages.

The day was hot and she changed into her red bikini and a pair of shorts. Outside, a book had been left on her deck railing. “A Bible. I wonder who brought me this,” Heather said with sarcasm, loud enough that Sarah could hear her. A note fell from the pages.

Heather, the Lord is always there, awaiting our return to his love.

“Can he get me a television show or a publishing contract?” she asked Sarah.

“If the Lord sees it as his will, it shall be done,” Sarah replied, then she and Agatha stood and walked away.

“Heather,” Thomas called from inside his house, “could you help me with something?”

“Of course,” she said as she walked across the driveway, opened his door, and went inside. “Problems with your computer?”

“No, I think I’m getting the hang of it.” He looked up from the screen and smacked his lips. “Now that’s a bathing suit. You should enter one of those beauty pageants. I’m sure you’d win the swimsuit competition.”

“Thank you, Thomas, but I don’t think you’re right,” she said as she walked to the desk and stood beside him. “And if you grab my behind I’m going to smack that hand of yours. You hear me?”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said as he handed her a tape measure. “I need to buy a new suit and I found some
good deals on the computer, but I need to know my measurements. Now, don’t worry, I won’t have you doing my inseam or anything. I know that one.” He winked at her. “I just need across the shoulders and down the arms and back. And no getting fresh with me while you’re doing it.”

“I’ll try to contain myself.” She pulled the tape across his shoulders. “Wouldn’t it be better to go to a store? I’m sure Joseph or Bill would take you.”

“Nah, that would take six weeks. If I order one online I’ll have it by the end of next week.”

“What’s the rush?” she teased as she placed the tape on his left shoulder and brought it to his wrist, then wrote down the number.

“I have an event to attend,” he said.

“It wouldn’t have anything to do with an Internet site I helped you join?”

“None of your business.” He smacked his gums and smiled.

She finished the measurements and turned to the screen; tabs were open for limo companies, flowers, and take-out menus, along with a menswear store. It hadn’t taken Thomas long to get the hang of the Internet. She wondered if Tommy knew what his grandfather was up to.

Her cell phone rang and Charlie’s number came up on the screen. “Sorry, Thomas, I have to take this. If you need any more help, just let me know.”

Outside, she flipped open the phone as she noticed the men situating themselves at the picnic table with a deck of cards. In minutes her house would be filled with smoke. She looked at the picnic table on the beach and willed them to move away from her house, but it didn’t work.

“Hi, Charlie. What’s up?”

“Are you trying to ruin your career?”

“Excuse me?”

“I don’t know where to start, Heather,” he said. “First of all, I can’t use these pages you sent me.”

“Why not?” Heather said in a sharp tone that made the men look up from their cards. “I’ve worked almost every day and night for the last three weeks to get you what you wanted—what’s wrong with them?”

“They don’t have any edge. It’s just more of the same stuff you put in your columns. The whole point of the book is to give your fans more insight into your life and travels. The sad thing is that I’m not surprised. I’ve read your columns lately and they’re boring.”

“Really, because George loved them,” Heather said.

“You’re writing about vacationing on a lake and relaxing in a hammock as you read a book. Where’s the adventure? The sexiness?”

“I’m appealing to middle America. It’s Americana, Norman Rockwell, the Fourth of July. It’s what George asked for,” Heather said.

“Well, that’s great. I’m sure Steven has been reading your articles too, realizing that he can’t sell this boring crap to his producers. Get on the damn road, find something sexy, and do it before you destroy the career I built for you.”

He hung up the phone and Heather stood on the deck fuming.

“The waves in the Arctic were so big that the ship would rock to a forty-five-degree angle,” Carl yelled from under the oak tree. “If you didn’t hold on, you’d go straight over the side.”

Heather groaned as she went inside, closed all her windows, and turned on the air-conditioning.
The career he built.

She’d bled her soul into those pages, but it wasn’t right. Charlie and Steven wanted sexy, not shy. Television was filled with bleached blondes with big breasts partying around the world. And Heather was the woman who’d realized she liked eating brownie sundaes on Molly’s screened porch while chatting with two seventy-year-olds.

No wonder her voice had become dull. Well, tonight she’d change that. She’d loosen up and remember what it’s like to party, to be young and carefree and adventurous—even sexy.

V
ictoria stood in front of her mirror, applying moisturizer and a lifting-serum to her skin. She fluffed her hair and applied the makeup she’d bought at the spa. She wanted to look beautiful for Joseph. Slipping into a blue sleeveless dress with a white belt that cinched her waist and black nylons with a seam up the back, she wondered if her outfit might be a bit too racy. But then again, she was entertaining a sexy gentleman later. Victoria stared at her reflection. If only she could reclaim the radiance of youth for one night.

In the kitchen, she hummed as she chopped carrots on the wooden butcher’s block. Her mind wandered to their date the previous night.

Joseph had cradled her in his arms, removing her clothing with a gentle caress. They watched each other as they touched, exploring the bodies that were different from the ones they’d adored when their love had been fresh.

His warm mouth on her neck sent waves of shivers through her body. Tears glistened on her cheeks as his strong hands softly pushed back her hair and he looked into her eyes. When their bodies joined, she realized that the wetness against her cheeks hadn’t been her tears alone.

The pain, the loss, the need for so many years came together in a sweet rhythm that melded with the wind and the sound of the lake against the shore. The longing to connect, to merge their bodies and hearts, filled her and her peak came as a shock that rolled through her body releasing all the years of missing him. After making love, she’d curled into the crook of his arm, their clothing beneath their bare bodies. She finally understood that he was her soul mate, her other half, and no matter how far the distance between them, their love had never been a choice. In the early morning, they’d gone to his house and curled into his bed making love again.

Joseph’s knock on the front door jolted her from her daydream. When she opened the door and saw him in jeans and a white button-down shirt, desire ignited. “Hello beautiful lady,” he said as he handed her pink roses.

“Thank you.” They smiled as he took a moment to stare. Red flushed her cheeks as youthful hormones flushed her body. She turned and led him into the kitchen, gathering a vase as her nerves made words impossible. Goose bumps prickled her skin when he kissed the back of her neck. She leaned into his embrace and wrapped an arm around his neck. “You smell delicious,” he said.

“Really? Is it the Burberry perfume or the muscle rub? My neck was hurting earlier from sleeping on the beach.”

“As I recall, we didn’t sleep very much.” He placed her arm by her side and rubbed the taut muscles. “Hmm, it’s all menthol,
with a little sexy lady mixed in. For an old man, the smell of muscular relief is exciting.”

She turned and bopped him with a towel. “You’re not an old man.”

“Ah, let’s see, I’m seventy-six. I’d say that’s pretty old.”

“Not in my book.” She turned and kissed him, letting her body melt against his chest. They’d made love again that afternoon at his place. “For two very old people, we seem to be having sex more than most thirty-year-olds.”

He ran his fingers over her bare shoulders. “We have more time.”

“You want to move this to the bedroom?” Victoria whispered.

“I would love to, but I think we might need some nourishment first.” He kissed her cheek and then pulled away. He selected a CD and The Starlight Orchestra came over the speakers in the kitchen. Joseph danced across the tiles, slipped his arms around Victoria’s waist, and moved her into a waltz.

“What’s for dinner?”

“I came up with minted carrots and chicken of some sort,” Victoria said. “I’m cutting the carrots, but I thought it would be safer if you cooked the rest.”

“Don’t expect me to make it healthy.” He twirled her and finished the dance with a dip.

“Try and find junk food in this kitchen,” she said, reaching up to kiss him. From the refrigerator, she handed him two small chicken breasts denuded of fat.

“I miss dark meat,” he said. “I’m sure there will be hell to pay if I cover this poultry in a thick batter and throw it in a deep fryer. We should’ve gone to Molly’s for dinner, then we would’ve had a meal filled with delicious grease.”

He looked in the refrigerator and grabbed tomatoes, onions, garlic, and olive oil and placed them on the counter next to the stove. Victoria coated a pan with cooking spray and threw the carrots in with the chopped mint.

Joseph walked by and kissed her on the cheek. “You know, a little butter and brown sugar would make that dish delicious. Let’s give up being healthy and enjoy being old enough not to care.”

“I may be in my mid-seventies, but I have a long life ahead of me that includes you by my side. And I don’t intend to have a pooch around my belly.”