Читать книгу That Summer Thing - Pamela Bauer - Страница 10

CHARLIE HAD EXPECTED the day would come when he’d meet Beth again. What he hadn’t foreseen was the turmoil of emotion it would create in him. Seeing her standing in front of him, looking as if she’d just crawled out of bed, made him feel as if someone had given him a stiff punch to the gut.

She looked as shocked to see him as he was to see her. Folding her arms across her chest, she demanded, “What do you mean, what am I doing here? What are you doing here?”

Before Charlie could answer her question, Nathan stepped forward. “I tried to tell her it’s your boat, Dad, but she wouldn’t listen. She must have stowed away in the cuddy.”

Charlie didn’t miss the fact that he had once more become “Dad” to the teenager. Or that Nathan showed signs of a vivid imagination. He was looking at Beth as if she could be someone on the run.

“I’m not a stowaway. This happens to be my boat,” Beth stated in a tone that left no doubt that she didn’t appreciate Nathan’s implication that she’d done something illegal.

Nathan looked at Charlie. “Her boat? I thought you said this was your boat.”

“It is—at least, half of it is. The other half is Beth’s. Nathan, this is Beth. Beth, Nathan.” He made the introduction as brief as possible, hoping to avoid the questions that would result if Nathan learned Beth was his ex-wife.

He’d never told the teenager he’d been married. There’d never been any reason to, and until just a few moments ago, it had been a nonissue in his life. Four weeks of marriage hardly qualified as a treasured memory. His summer thing with Beth—which was how his buddies had referred to it—felt as if it had happened in another lifetime.

Only now he was reminded that it had happened. He watched Nathan extend his hand to her, revealing the manners Amy had instilled in him as a child. “How do you do.”

Beth took his hand cautiously, eyeing Charlie suspiciously as she returned Nathan’s greeting.

“You haven’t told me what you’re doing here,” Charlie said to her, trying not to notice that, instead of short curls, her dark hair now hung in long kinky waves that fell to her shoulders in a rather tantalizing way.

“Obviously the same thing you’re doing—using my property.”

He didn’t care for the tone of her voice. Or the fact that he was responding to her scantily clad body. She wore skimpy pajamas made to resemble a T-shirt and shorts—very short shorts. Although she was still slender, there were curves that hadn’t been there fifteen years ago. She’d filled out in all the right places, and Charlie had to force his eyes away from her figure to her face.

She moved over to the windows and asked, “Where’s the pier?”

“In Riverbend.”

“We’re moving?” She pressed a hand to her stomach.

“No, we’re anchored.”

“This boat is supposed to be docked at Riverbend. You had no right to take it—or me—anywhere,” she said haughtily.

“Do you honestly think I would have taken it anywhere if I’d known you were onboard?” he countered. “What are you doing here? Why aren’t you at Ed’s place?”

“Because his guest room is occupied. Grace’s parents are here for the weekend.”

“So you came here to sleep?” he asked in disbelief.

“And why is that so hard for you to believe?”

“You’re not exactly crazy about the water.”

“It didn’t feel as if I was on the water when the boat was moored at the marina. Are you sure we’re anchored?” she asked, her hand flying to her midsection once more.

“We are.” She looked unusually pale, prompting Charlie to ask, “You’re not going to be sick, are you?”

“No, but I need to use the bathroom. Excuse me.” She left in a hurry, slamming the door as she disappeared into the head.

“What’s she doing on a houseboat if she gets seasick?” Nathan asked.

“She said she wasn’t sick,” Charlie answered.

“She looked like she was gonna hurl.”

“I’m sure she’s fine,” Charlie said, although he really wasn’t sure of anything concerning Beth at this point in his life. When several minutes had passed and she still hadn’t emerged from the head, he went over to the door and knocked. “Beth, are you okay in there?”

“Yes.” The response was muffled. “I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“For Pete’s sake, Charlie, I said yes, didn’t I?” she snapped.

Maybe she’d changed physically, but emotionally she was still the same old Beth, hating it whenever anyone showed concern for her. She still didn’t want to admit that she needed anybody.

When he returned to the salon, Nathan had flopped down onto the leather sofa, sprawling in the way only a teenager could. “Does this mean we’re going back to Riverbend?” His expression brightened.

“There are places between here and there where she could get off the boat,” Charlie answered, which caused the sullen look to return to Nathan’s face.

“Wait a minute. You’re not dumping me off like some unwanted cargo,” Beth said from behind him.

He turned and saw that she had come out of the bathroom. Her face was still pale, but she looked ready to do battle with him, hands on her hips, eyes flashing.

“I’m not going to dump you anywhere,” Charlie told her.

“No, you’re going to take me back to Riverbend.” It was more of a command than a statement of fact. “Ed’s expecting me to be at the marina, not in the middle of a cornfield.”

“I wouldn’t leave you in a cornfield. I just thought that if the motion of the boat makes you feel sick, you might want to get off upstream. I’m sure Ed wouldn’t mind if he had to drive a little farther to get you.”

“I told you I’m fine,” she insisted. “And you haven’t told me what you’re doing here. Ed said you were at some trade show this weekend.”

“My plans changed,” he said, avoiding Nathan’s eyes.

“So you decided to use the boat without asking me?”

“I don’t recall you asking me if you could spend the night onboard,” he retorted. Again the look on Nathan’s face reminded Charlie that he needed to be careful what he said. He didn’t want the fourteen year old to see him in a shouting match with his ex-wife.

“It’s obvious there’s been some miscommunication,” he said in a calmer voice, raking a hand across the back of his neck. “You thought I was out of town and I thought you were still in Iowa.”

That piqued Nathan’s curiosity. He got up from the sofa and went to stand beside Beth. “I’ve never met anybody from Iowa before. What do you do there?”

“She works,” Charlie answered for her, trying to preempt Nathan’s interest, then addressed Beth. “So we both had plans for the boat for the weekend. Now what?”

“Obviously one of us will have to find another place to sleep tonight.”

“Since Nathan and I want to go fishing, I’m willing to buy out your interest for tonight,” he proposed.

“Meaning what?”

“I’ll give you the money for a motel.”

He could see she wasn’t happy with his suggestion. Nor was Nathan, who said, “I don’t care if we don’t go fishing.”

“But I do,” Charlie told him, annoyed that the teen was willing to let Beth have the boat. Nathan was gazing at her as if she was an ally, not an intruder. Charlie looked Beth squarely in the eyes and said, “Since you’re only looking for a place to sleep and we want to use the boat for recreation, wouldn’t it make more sense for you to go to a motel?”

One thing Charlie knew about Beth was that she wasn’t obstinate. Some women might have refused to find another place to sleep out of sheer stubbornness. Not Beth. Decisions were made after careful consideration—a trait he’d admired in her.

That was why he wasn’t surprised when she said, “You can have the boat for the rest of the weekend, but I don’t want your money. I’ll find another place to stay without your help. Now, if you’ll take me back to Riverbend, I’ll get off this boat and you two can have it all to yourselves.”

Charlie had won, but there was no thrill in the victory. “I appreciate that,” he said. “We’ll leave right away.”

“Thank you.”

Unfortunately her gratitude was premature. When Charlie sat behind the controls and turned the key in the ignition, the engine wouldn’t start.

“What’s wrong?” Beth asked, hearing his unsuccessful attempts to get the boat running.

“I’m not sure, but I’m going to find out.” With that he got up out of his chair and headed outside. Beth and Nathan followed him, watching as he lifted a hatch in the deck.

“Well?” she asked when he didn’t volunteer any information.

“I need my tools.” He retrieved a gray metal box from the storage closet and again bent over the hatch. It only took him a few minutes to find the problem.

“Do you know what’s wrong?” she asked when he straightened.

“We’re out of gas,” he announced.

She didn’t believe him. “You’re joking, right?”

“Nope.”

“How could we run out of gas?” she demanded.

Charlie said nothing, just let the hatch door slam shut.

“You didn’t answer my question. How could we run out of gas? Didn’t you check the gauge before you left Riverbend?” She was drilling him as if he was her employee, not the co-owner of the boat.

“The fuel gauge says we have a full tank,” he informed her.

She frowned. “So what are you saying? That the gauge isn’t registering?”

“Bingo,” he retorted, wiping his hands on a cloth rag. “There’s probably a short in the wiring.”

“Does that mean we’re stuck here?” Nathan wanted to know.

Beth answered before Charlie could. “We’re not stuck anywhere. I have my cell phone in my purse. I’ll call for help.”

“And who are you going to call?” Charlie wanted to know. “Ed?”

“He must know someone who could bring us gas.”

“I’m sure he does, but it’s not necessary,” Charlie told her. “This is a public waterway and it’s Saturday morning. I’m sure a boat will come by sooner or later.”

“That may be, but I’d rather not wait to find out,” she said, then disappeared inside.

As she walked away, there was only one thought going through Charlie’s mind. Time had been damn good to Beth’s body.

BETH FELT WEAK and her hands were shaking by the time she reached the narrow confines of the lower cabin. She collapsed on the bed and took several deep breaths, hoping her stomach would quit acting as if it were moving independently of the rest of her body.

Yet how could it when Charlie was here on her boat? Correction. On their boat. She was stranded in the middle of the Sycamore River with her ex-husband.

No wonder her stomach felt so unsettled. It had been a shock to see him again—a shock that was intensified by the discovery that he had a son.

When Ed had told her Charlie had never remarried, she’d assumed that meant he had no children. Why should she think any differently? Charlie had always been a man of principle. After all, when he’d found out their one night together had resulted in an unplanned pregnancy, he had married her, saying he would always do the right thing when it came to kids.

But they hadn’t had a child. The thought sent a sharp pain through her chest. She bit down on her lower lip, forcing the memory from her mind.

“No. I will not think about what happened between us, Charlie Callahan,” she said aloud. “I won’t go there.”

She couldn’t go there because she knew if she did, it would be like opening the lid of a jack-in-the-box and the pain she’d managed to bury for so long would pop right up in her face. She pulled off her pajamas and tossed them aside, hoping she could discard the memories with them.

Living in Iowa had made it easy to forget that she’d been married and divorced. No one there knew Charlie, and she had little contact with anyone in Riverbend. Leaving for college had given her the opportunity for a fresh start, a chance to forget the painful past and begin a new life.

Now she was back and her new life felt threatened. Would she be able to pretend Charlie Callahan didn’t exist? That they hadn’t been married?

Thanks to Abraham Steele, it wasn’t going to be easy, but she’d figure out a way to do just that. It would help if she felt nothing for him. She’d hoped that when the day finally came that she did see him again, she would be indifferent toward him. Now that day was here, and it was as if all those years spent learning to live with her mistakes had been stripped away. Instead of a responsible mature adult, she was once more a vulnerable teenager.

It didn’t help that he’d stood before her shirtless, his tanned flesh bulging with muscles strengthened by years of construction work.

As a kid he’d been lean. Even when the other guys who were River Rats had begun spending a lot of time after school in the weight room, Charlie hadn’t cared about building muscles.

And it hadn’t mattered to the girls of Riverbend, either. Charlie was cool. And fun to be with. His popularity had little to do with the size of his biceps. Every kid at Riverbend High knew that Charlie’s appeal was in his personality.

As Beth dressed, she tried not to think about the good times. She needed to remember that they had come with a price. But suddenly all the years she’d spent pretending she’d never been married evaporated as quickly as puddles in the sun.

Her marriage was no longer conveniently buried deep in the cellar of her mind. Its memories were right up front, pushing their way into her thoughts, begging her to remember that Charlie was her first love.

She took a deep breath and willed her body to be calm. She couldn’t think about the past. Not now. She needed to call Ed so she could get off this boat as soon as possible.

It was a good thing she’d brought her cell phone along, she thought, turning it on. In the right-hand corner, a light glowed, indicating the battery was low. She punched in Ed’s number, hoping there was enough of a charge left for her to complete the call, but she was out of luck.

With a frustrated sigh, she tossed the phone aside. She was stuck here with Charlie.

“Damn.”

If only she didn’t have to go back up on deck and see him. Time was supposed to heal all wounds, so why did seeing him again affect her this way? It had to be the shock, she told herself.

Theirs was an awkward situation, but she’d get through it. And as soon as she was back in Riverbend, she’d make sure their paths didn’t cross the remainder of her stay. No matter what Ed advised her, she would get rid of her share of the houseboat in the fastest way possible.

And as for those painful memories…she’d locked them away once before. She could do it again. She just needed to get away from Charlie Callahan.

BETH WASN’T GONE LONG, and judging by the frown on her face when she returned, she hadn’t gotten the answer she’d expected from her brother.

“Did you talk to Ed?” Charlie asked as she stepped outside into the sunshine. She’d changed into a pair of jean shorts and a yellow top that clung as closely to her curves as the pajamas had.

“My phone isn’t working,” she said, averting her eyes. “Battery’s low. So now what do we do?”

“I told you. We wait for a boat to come by.” With effort, Charlie tried not to notice how the fabric stretched across her breasts.

“Can’t you use the radio?”

“I’m not calling for someone to come give us gas when we’re in the middle of the river on a beautiful sunny day. This isn’t an emergency situation,” he told her.

“So how long do you plan to wait before you consider it an emergency?” she asked tartly.

“We have plenty of food to last until tomorrow if necessary,” he answered.

“Tomorrow?” Her brow wrinkled in a fierce frown. “You told me you’d take me back to Riverbend today.”

“And I will. You’re getting all worked up over nothing.”

“I’m not worked up,” she denied. “It’s just that I’m worried Ed’s going to wonder where I am. He’s expecting me to be at the marina, not in the middle of the river.”

“If that’s what’s worrying you, I’ll call him as soon as I get to shore,” he told her.

She shaded her eyes with her hand, then peered up and down the river. “There’s not a boat in sight.”

“Not yet, but there will be,” he stated confidently.

“And until then?”

“Until then I might as well make us some breakfast,” he said, getting up out of the chair. “Are you hungry?”

He could see the thought of eating wasn’t a tantalizing one. “No, actually I’m not.”

“Then you don’t want to join us?”

“No, I’ll pass.”

Charlie wasn’t sure she’d refused because her stomach was unsettled, or if she just didn’t like the idea of eating breakfast with her ex-husband.

“You go on inside. I’ll sit out here and keep an eye out for a boat,” she told him.

Charlie watched her lower her long slender legs into a lounge chair and thought it best that he did go inside. She was a distraction he didn’t need at the moment. Lucy was right about Beth having an effect on him. There was no point denying that he’d always been physically attracted to her.

But he was no longer a teenager. He only wished his hormones would listen to the message his brain was sending them. Beth was beautiful and smart, but she was not the woman for him. He knew it. She knew it. Everyone in town knew it.

So why did he still want her?

“THE PAN’S SMOKING.”

Charlie turned and saw that Nathan was right. He had set the skillet over the flame and forgotten about it. He switched off the gas.

“You’re not supposed to leave oil in a pan unattended,” Nathan told him.

“Who are you? Smokey the Bear?”

The teenager shrugged. “They taught us safety in the kitchen in ‘living skills’ at school.”

“Did they teach you how to cook?”

“Some stuff. Not bacon and eggs, though.”

Judging by the mess Charlie had made, it looked as if he didn’t know much about cooking breakfast, either. He’d already burned the bacon and over-heated the skillet.

“What about toast? Can you manage that?” he asked.

Nathan shrugged. “I guess.”

“The bread’s over there.” Charlie motioned to the loaf at the end of the counter.

With about as much speed as a turtle, Nathan ambled over to the counter and plugged in the toaster. He popped two slices of bread into the slots, then watched as Charlie cracked eggs into a bowl. All but one broke.

“I like my eggs runny,” Nathan informed him.

“Well, you’re getting them scrambled,” Charlie said, taking a fork to the eggs and whisking them.

“Maybe we should ask Beth to cook for us.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t,” Charlie replied.

“Why not?”

“Because I said no.” He poured the eggs into the pan.

“She might as well earn her keep,” Nathan said.

“She doesn’t need to. As I told you, she owns half this boat.” He sprinkled shredded cheese and onions over the eggs.

“So this Steele guy left both of you the boat?”

“Yes.”

“Weird.”

“Yes, it is.”

“He must not have known she gets seasick.”

“Possibly.” Charlie pushed the eggs around with a wooden spoon.

“How come you don’t like her?”

Charlie paused to look over at Nathan. “What makes you think I don’t like her?”

“Duh. You were pretty rough on her.”

“Me? You’re the one who accused her of being a stowaway.”

“She didn’t tell me it was her boat. Is that why you’re pissed off at her? Because you didn’t get the whole boat?”

“I hope you don’t talk that way around your grandparents,” Charlie said, tempted to give Nathan the treatment his own father would have given him had he used profanity in his presence. “You could get grounded for such language. And just to set the record straight, I’m not angry at Beth.”

It was the truth. Anger was definitely not what he’d felt when he’d seen her standing there in her skimpy pajamas with her hair falling about her face in disarray. Bothered would have been a better word to use, but he didn’t want Nathan to know that she caused such a reaction in him.

“Who is she, anyway?”

“I told you. Her name is Beth Pennington. She was a close friend of my sister Lucy when we were kids. She lived next door to us.”

“Was she a River Rat?”

“Sort of. Your toast is up. Butter’s in the fridge.”

Charlie was relieved that Nathan had a one-track mind, and the task of getting the toast buttered appeared to be the track it was taking. However, the subject of Beth apparently held enough fascination for him, because he quickly came back to it.

“That must have been her titty-holder in the bathroom,” he said as he put two more slices of bread in the toaster.

Charlie could hardly believe that Nathan had used such a word. “It’s called a bra,” he said in his sternest voice.

At the memory of the lacy scrap of material, Charlie’s body warmed. Then he remembered what it had been like as a teenager when he’d seen Beth naked. Heat rushed through every limb in his body, and he forced himself to push such thoughts aside.

He needed to deal with the issue of Nathan’s vocabulary, not daydream about an old lover. “I don’t think your mother would have appreciated you calling one of her undergarments by that name.”

“I wouldn’t have used it around her.”

“Do the BDs talk that way?”

“I didn’t swear. I just called it a titty-holder. I suppose you’re going to ground me for that, too.” He stalked away and threw himself down on the sofa.

“Come back over here and finish making the toast,” Charlie demanded.

“What’s the point?” Nathan said sullenly.

Charlie counted to ten, then walked over to the sofa. He stooped in front of the teenager so they were face-to-face. “Look, Nathan, it’s been a long time since I was fourteen, and until I met you and your mother, I had no idea how to be a dad, either.”

Nathan didn’t meet Charlie’s gaze. He sat with his eyes downcast, arms folded across his chest, mouth tight.

“I want this six weeks to be a good time—like we used to have. You want that, too, don’t you?” Charlie pleaded.

Nathan nodded, but continued to look down.

“Great. Now, we can do one of two things. Continue on as we have been, or forget about everything that’s gone wrong this morning and start over. Clean slate. What do you say?”

He waited while Nathan contemplated his options. Charlie wondered what the big decision was, but knew better than to voice that thought. Nathan’s grandmother had warned him that trying to be a parent to a fourteen year old was tricky. He now knew what she was talking about.

When Nathan finally raised his head, his eyes didn’t meet Charlie’s, but looked beyond him to the galley. As they widened, Charlie turned around to see why.

Beth was at the stove. “Good grief, Charlie. Only you would leave eggs frying unattended. What are you trying to do? Burn up our inheritance?”