That Summer
Return
The next morning, the Honda Pilot still hadn’t returned. I looked for Krista and I found her in her usual morning place – the barn. She was saddling horses for rides, and making sure the Wranglers were feeding and caring for them properly. I was tempted to ask about the Pilot, but she looked busy, so I decided to put off the questioning for now.
Obviously the night-rider had been Bill, otherwise Krista would have been freaking out about a stolen car, and she didn’t seem concerned this morning. I turned over possibilities in my head; maybe it was a normal routine for Bill? I doubted that. It was a pretty strange routine to leave at 12:00 am, and not return the next morning. Maybe they had had a fight? Or maybe there was an emergency with a friend in town? Those possibilities sounded more likely.
I shook the thoughts from my head and trekked over to the house where the boys were sleeping; the old pickup truck sat in the driveway looking lonely. I brushed past it and stepped around a small striped cat sleeping on the steps: Tex, I think was his name – there were too many to keep up with.
When I got inside, there were already the rustlings of waking boys. I knocked on their bedroom door in case they were changing.
“Chris… Alex? Are you guys up?”
I heard another rustle and then a thud.
“OW…. Umm, yeah! We’re up! Give us a few!”
I moseyed back into the kitchen to find something to do while I waited on the boys to finish getting dressed. There were dishes in the sink, so I loaded them into the dishwasher. By the time I finished, I heard the patter of feet behind me, and then tiny arms snaked around my waist for a hug. It was Alex.
“Leigh…” I heard him say.
“Yes, honey?”
“Can we play monopoly again today?”
I groaned… “Aleeeeexx….” I dragged out the words into a faux whine, “Okay, one game, but if I do that for you, then you have to do something for me.”
He let go of my waist and walked to the side of me, peering cautiously into my face before he committed, “Yes… what is it?”
“Let’s go for a ride this afternoon. Sound good?”
“Sure!” He smiled in relief. He’d probably been expecting me to give him a chore.
I hugged him, patting his spiky blonde hair. “Alright turkey, let’s go to breakfast. What’s Chris doing?”
He shrugged his little shoulders, “Probably texting his girlfriend on his iPod. I’ll go get him.”
After Chris had been summoned, we made our way to the lodge and ordered breakfast from Esther. She was serving today with Kira. Lizzy and Alyssa were the cleanup crew.
When she leaned down to take my order she glanced at the boys to make sure they weren’t listening, then back at me.
“Did you figure out anything about last night? Everyone kinda blew it off, but I still think it was a little weird. Do you think he has a drug problem or something?”
I whispered back, “No…. and I’m assuming you know that it was Bill who left.”
“Yeah,” she nodded, “I saw Krista this morning.”
“Me too. I kinda figured maybe they had a fight or something… or a friend was in a crisis. The drug thing didn’t occur to me, but that’s always a possibility. It was strange, but we’re probably thinking way too much about it.”
She sighed and straightened her back, “Yeah, you’re probably right. Oh, you want pancakes again?”
“Yep. You got me. Tell Austin to put some extra love in them.”
She rolled her eyes. “You got it.”
***
The day passed pretty uneventfully, although Spencer had ridden next to me during the afternoon ride, and he asked the same questions that Esther had. My answers were the same; I didn’t know anything new. Although, by the time 5:30 rolled around, this changed slightly. That evening, while I was clocking out, Krista mentioned briefly that Bill had gone out of town unexpectedly last night. Her expression clouded when she said it.
“Are you okay Krista?”
“Yeah, honey. It’s nothing. Just married people stuff. “ She smiled and blew it off, but I assumed she meant a fight, as I had guessed.
Later, I found myself squeezed onto a couch in the lounge with about half of the crew. I was wedged between Jackson and Lizzy, and Hugh was on the far end. Lizzy was giggling about something to Hugh, and Esther was trying to get everyone to pick a movie.
She held up several choices. One was a faded copy of Sweet Home Alabama, to which all the boys groaned in disdain, Michael probably the loudest. She rolled her eyes – an endearing habit of hers – and held up another. Monsters Inc. This time, the atmosphere was a little more excited, but she held up the last choice anyways: Final Destination 3. Everyone cheered, so she set the other movies down and loaded the DVD into the extended tray.
I settled back into Jackson’s side and felt him kiss the top of my head. The movie played through the same quiet flirting between Cala and Michael, and Lizzy and Hugh, but by the time it was over nearly
everyone had fallen asleep.
The credits rolled and I glanced around. Lizzy was nestled into Hugh, and Michael had an arm thrown around Cala. Esther had fallen fast asleep on the floor, her head lying on a pillow. I looked up at Jackson, and his jaw was slack, a slight snore escaping.
I didn’t really want to wake him, so I just laid my head against his chest and let my eyes close.
***
Suddenly, I was waking up. I had heard a noise, and it sounded like a car coming down the driveway. I checked my watch, using the backlight again. 3:45 am. Crap, it was late.
I heard it again. It was the gentle hum of an engine, and the sound of wheels rolling over gravel, spitting out the tiny white rocks as it went.
Hugh jumped out of his slumber, and the sudden movement scared me. He paused and rubbed his eyes, then looked at me in confusion. “Do you hear that?”
“Yes…” I struggled out from under Jackson’s arm, accidentally waking him. Within minutes, the whole room was stirring and peering carefully out the windows into the night. Everyone had heard the car rumble down the long gravel drive way.
Michael spoke up groggily, “Why the hell is he coming back at 4:00 am? Why not just wait till morning? What a weird dude.”
Jackson stood behind me, “If they did get in a fight, like Leigh said,” he rubbed my back, “then Michael is right. Why come back in the middle of the night? Why not just return in the morning?”
I saw several heads bob in agreement, “Maybe he felt bad about the fight and didn’t want to wait a second longer to come home...” I said skeptically.
“I guess that’s the only explanation we have.” Lizzy agreed.
The headlights turned towards the house where Krista and the boys were sleeping peacefully, and the Pilot came to a stop next to Krista’s truck. We heard a door shut quietly, and saw Bill’s figure slither silently towards the house. The moon was out, and it shed a pretty bright light on him.
Luckily, the lights had all been turned off inside the lounge while we watched the movie, so we hadn’t had to turn anything off when the car pulled up. There was no way Bill could have seen us watching from the window.
I was about to turn away from the window, when Bill suddenly straightened and turned back towards the Pilot. I felt the atmosphere stiffen around me, then came a quiet voice.
“You don’t think he could see us, do you?” Cala whispered.
“No…” Michael responded, “There’s no way. Just be really still and see what he does. “
No one moved. Bill’s figure slunk back to the Pilot, and he opened the trunk. The lights lit up inside the car and formed a distinctive silhouette around him. From 150 yards away we could see him unloading some bulky objects. One looked like a large blanket, but stiffer than a blanket. The other objects were oblong. Maybe he had done some shopping in town?
Hugh whispered, “Looks like he ran some errands. Maybe he’s cleaning out the back of the Pilot for Krista. Trying to make up and win some brownie points," he paused, "got to have those brownie points.." Lizzy elbowed him.
Bill drug the objects around the side of the house, and from the light of the moon, it looked like he threw them into the shed.
“Yeah,” I agreed, “He must just be cleaning out the car. He probably took the lawn mower into town to get it fixed. I saw it in the back of the Pilot yesterday when Krista was showing me around. She mentioned it needed to be fixed.”
The atmosphere tangibly relaxed. “Well that makes sense…” Said Michael, “Lauren has to mow later this week. He’ll probably go back to pick it up in a few days.”
After Bill dumped the objects into the shed, he went back and shut the trunk, then slipped quietly into the house.
Everyone backed away from the window.
Michael spoke up first, “Well… that’s that. Bill’s back… but I say we wait a few minutes and make sure he’s not coming back out before we try to go to our cabins. Just in case he does think we were up late spying on him, which would look weird. Jackson, you better crash in my cabin, or sleep here so he doesn’t hear your truck leaving. Just leave in the morning and say you fell asleep in the lounge.”
“Sounds good, dude. I’m so tired anyways. I’ll just sleep on the couch here.” Jackson kissed the top of my head.
A few minutes passed and small conversation was made, “Alright, I think we can sneak out now. He hasn’t come back.” I said finally.
One by one, they crept out of the lounge and back to their own cabins.
I was last, but before I snuck out the door, Jackson caught me around the waist and pinned me against him. He kissed me softly, and then rougher. My tongue slid along his bottom lip, then he sighed.
“I don’t want to start something at 4:00 am. Go to sleep babe. I love you.”
I pecked his lips, “Thought so,” I grinned, "I love you too."
And I snuck off into the night.
Obviously the night-rider had been Bill, otherwise Krista would have been freaking out about a stolen car, and she didn’t seem concerned this morning. I turned over possibilities in my head; maybe it was a normal routine for Bill? I doubted that. It was a pretty strange routine to leave at 12:00 am, and not return the next morning. Maybe they had had a fight? Or maybe there was an emergency with a friend in town? Those possibilities sounded more likely.
I shook the thoughts from my head and trekked over to the house where the boys were sleeping; the old pickup truck sat in the driveway looking lonely. I brushed past it and stepped around a small striped cat sleeping on the steps: Tex, I think was his name – there were too many to keep up with.
When I got inside, there were already the rustlings of waking boys. I knocked on their bedroom door in case they were changing.
“Chris… Alex? Are you guys up?”
I heard another rustle and then a thud.
“OW…. Umm, yeah! We’re up! Give us a few!”
I moseyed back into the kitchen to find something to do while I waited on the boys to finish getting dressed. There were dishes in the sink, so I loaded them into the dishwasher. By the time I finished, I heard the patter of feet behind me, and then tiny arms snaked around my waist for a hug. It was Alex.
“Leigh…” I heard him say.
“Yes, honey?”
“Can we play monopoly again today?”
I groaned… “Aleeeeexx….” I dragged out the words into a faux whine, “Okay, one game, but if I do that for you, then you have to do something for me.”
He let go of my waist and walked to the side of me, peering cautiously into my face before he committed, “Yes… what is it?”
“Let’s go for a ride this afternoon. Sound good?”
“Sure!” He smiled in relief. He’d probably been expecting me to give him a chore.
I hugged him, patting his spiky blonde hair. “Alright turkey, let’s go to breakfast. What’s Chris doing?”
He shrugged his little shoulders, “Probably texting his girlfriend on his iPod. I’ll go get him.”
After Chris had been summoned, we made our way to the lodge and ordered breakfast from Esther. She was serving today with Kira. Lizzy and Alyssa were the cleanup crew.
When she leaned down to take my order she glanced at the boys to make sure they weren’t listening, then back at me.
“Did you figure out anything about last night? Everyone kinda blew it off, but I still think it was a little weird. Do you think he has a drug problem or something?”
I whispered back, “No…. and I’m assuming you know that it was Bill who left.”
“Yeah,” she nodded, “I saw Krista this morning.”
“Me too. I kinda figured maybe they had a fight or something… or a friend was in a crisis. The drug thing didn’t occur to me, but that’s always a possibility. It was strange, but we’re probably thinking way too much about it.”
She sighed and straightened her back, “Yeah, you’re probably right. Oh, you want pancakes again?”
“Yep. You got me. Tell Austin to put some extra love in them.”
She rolled her eyes. “You got it.”
***
The day passed pretty uneventfully, although Spencer had ridden next to me during the afternoon ride, and he asked the same questions that Esther had. My answers were the same; I didn’t know anything new. Although, by the time 5:30 rolled around, this changed slightly. That evening, while I was clocking out, Krista mentioned briefly that Bill had gone out of town unexpectedly last night. Her expression clouded when she said it.
“Are you okay Krista?”
“Yeah, honey. It’s nothing. Just married people stuff. “ She smiled and blew it off, but I assumed she meant a fight, as I had guessed.
Later, I found myself squeezed onto a couch in the lounge with about half of the crew. I was wedged between Jackson and Lizzy, and Hugh was on the far end. Lizzy was giggling about something to Hugh, and Esther was trying to get everyone to pick a movie.
She held up several choices. One was a faded copy of Sweet Home Alabama, to which all the boys groaned in disdain, Michael probably the loudest. She rolled her eyes – an endearing habit of hers – and held up another. Monsters Inc. This time, the atmosphere was a little more excited, but she held up the last choice anyways: Final Destination 3. Everyone cheered, so she set the other movies down and loaded the DVD into the extended tray.
I settled back into Jackson’s side and felt him kiss the top of my head. The movie played through the same quiet flirting between Cala and Michael, and Lizzy and Hugh, but by the time it was over nearly
everyone had fallen asleep.
The credits rolled and I glanced around. Lizzy was nestled into Hugh, and Michael had an arm thrown around Cala. Esther had fallen fast asleep on the floor, her head lying on a pillow. I looked up at Jackson, and his jaw was slack, a slight snore escaping.
I didn’t really want to wake him, so I just laid my head against his chest and let my eyes close.
***
Suddenly, I was waking up. I had heard a noise, and it sounded like a car coming down the driveway. I checked my watch, using the backlight again. 3:45 am. Crap, it was late.
I heard it again. It was the gentle hum of an engine, and the sound of wheels rolling over gravel, spitting out the tiny white rocks as it went.
Hugh jumped out of his slumber, and the sudden movement scared me. He paused and rubbed his eyes, then looked at me in confusion. “Do you hear that?”
“Yes…” I struggled out from under Jackson’s arm, accidentally waking him. Within minutes, the whole room was stirring and peering carefully out the windows into the night. Everyone had heard the car rumble down the long gravel drive way.
Michael spoke up groggily, “Why the hell is he coming back at 4:00 am? Why not just wait till morning? What a weird dude.”
Jackson stood behind me, “If they did get in a fight, like Leigh said,” he rubbed my back, “then Michael is right. Why come back in the middle of the night? Why not just return in the morning?”
I saw several heads bob in agreement, “Maybe he felt bad about the fight and didn’t want to wait a second longer to come home...” I said skeptically.
“I guess that’s the only explanation we have.” Lizzy agreed.
The headlights turned towards the house where Krista and the boys were sleeping peacefully, and the Pilot came to a stop next to Krista’s truck. We heard a door shut quietly, and saw Bill’s figure slither silently towards the house. The moon was out, and it shed a pretty bright light on him.
Luckily, the lights had all been turned off inside the lounge while we watched the movie, so we hadn’t had to turn anything off when the car pulled up. There was no way Bill could have seen us watching from the window.
I was about to turn away from the window, when Bill suddenly straightened and turned back towards the Pilot. I felt the atmosphere stiffen around me, then came a quiet voice.
“You don’t think he could see us, do you?” Cala whispered.
“No…” Michael responded, “There’s no way. Just be really still and see what he does. “
No one moved. Bill’s figure slunk back to the Pilot, and he opened the trunk. The lights lit up inside the car and formed a distinctive silhouette around him. From 150 yards away we could see him unloading some bulky objects. One looked like a large blanket, but stiffer than a blanket. The other objects were oblong. Maybe he had done some shopping in town?
Hugh whispered, “Looks like he ran some errands. Maybe he’s cleaning out the back of the Pilot for Krista. Trying to make up and win some brownie points," he paused, "got to have those brownie points.." Lizzy elbowed him.
Bill drug the objects around the side of the house, and from the light of the moon, it looked like he threw them into the shed.
“Yeah,” I agreed, “He must just be cleaning out the car. He probably took the lawn mower into town to get it fixed. I saw it in the back of the Pilot yesterday when Krista was showing me around. She mentioned it needed to be fixed.”
The atmosphere tangibly relaxed. “Well that makes sense…” Said Michael, “Lauren has to mow later this week. He’ll probably go back to pick it up in a few days.”
After Bill dumped the objects into the shed, he went back and shut the trunk, then slipped quietly into the house.
Everyone backed away from the window.
Michael spoke up first, “Well… that’s that. Bill’s back… but I say we wait a few minutes and make sure he’s not coming back out before we try to go to our cabins. Just in case he does think we were up late spying on him, which would look weird. Jackson, you better crash in my cabin, or sleep here so he doesn’t hear your truck leaving. Just leave in the morning and say you fell asleep in the lounge.”
“Sounds good, dude. I’m so tired anyways. I’ll just sleep on the couch here.” Jackson kissed the top of my head.
A few minutes passed and small conversation was made, “Alright, I think we can sneak out now. He hasn’t come back.” I said finally.
One by one, they crept out of the lounge and back to their own cabins.
I was last, but before I snuck out the door, Jackson caught me around the waist and pinned me against him. He kissed me softly, and then rougher. My tongue slid along his bottom lip, then he sighed.
“I don’t want to start something at 4:00 am. Go to sleep babe. I love you.”
I pecked his lips, “Thought so,” I grinned, "I love you too."
And I snuck off into the night.