James and Susan left Annabelle’s cottage at 8:30 after a hasty cup of coffee, not waking up in time for breakfast. Just as they were walking out the door, Susan remembered the pastries that the hotel had packed in the picnic hamper and grabbed them out of the bread box where she’d put them on Sunday. She also took the leftover Italian chicken from the previous night, thinking that maybe James’s dad would like it for dinner. She set down a saucer of milk and the pieces of chicken she’d saved for Buttons on the back porch. They hastened out the door and to the car.
They ate the pastries on the way, and James dropped Susan off with just enough time to load his gear into the boot of Derek’s car and take off for the recording studio. Derek had been waiting out front, as they were going to South Brighton together and leaving James’s car with Mel.
James threw a quick “hello” to his dad, who was out back of the townhouse in the small garden but took time to give Susan a rather long and romantic kiss.
“I love you,” James said softly with his hand on her cheek.
“I love you too,” Susan said, meeting his eyes.
He patted her teasingly on the bottom then went out the door. She wondered if Mel had noticed and blushed.
Susan stood awkwardly behind him in the garden. Mel was kneeling on a small rubber pad, weeding around the tomato plants. He pushed back off the pad, stood up and smiled.
“Welcome back,” he said cheerfully.
The awkwardness of the situation instantly vanished. She smiled back at him.
“Thank you,” she said. “I hope I’m not imposing on your morning or anything.”
“No, no, dear…not at all. No plans at all for today. Why don’t we go inside, and I’ll put the tea kettle on for us…unless you prefer coffee?”
“Either sounds great. We only had time for a quick cup of coffee before we left…” Her voice trailed off, and she blushed furiously.
Mel pretended not to notice and turned away toward the stove to reach for the coffee pot.
“So, what did you think of the countryside?” he asked, trying for a neutral topic of conversation.
“It’s beautiful, and the cottage is so quaint. We had a picnic under this wonderful tree at the top of the hill above the cottage, then James showed me the pond where he and Chad used to go swim...” She stopped dead.
“The pond, eh? Yeah, we all liked swimming in that pond. Sherry and I used to watch the boys swim there all the time.”
Susan had her eyes cast down, not sure of what to say next. She bit her lip.
“Don’t think I hold you responsible for anything that happened,” he said, touching her gently on the arm. “I knew what it would be the minute James told me where he was taking you and knowing Annabelle wasn’t going to be there.”
“Oh, but...he...he told me before we left that what happened on the picnic would be all up to me...he said...”
“It doesn’t matter what he said. He knew you were ripe for the plucking if you’ll pardon the expression. It was easy to see what an innocent you were.”
Mel poured two cups of coffee, and they both sat down at the kitchen table.
“Well, I’m not innocent anymore,” she said, tears stinging her eyes. “You must think I’m no better than those other girls at the club...”
“I don’t think anything of the sort about you. You’re nothing like those other girls.”
“But, I’d always thought I’d save myself for…you know…stay innocent until…But…I wasn’t any better than those girls when it came to...to... resisting.”
“Susan, I doubt you could have resisted if you’d wanted to. James is very persuasive. He had his mind set on having you. You would have given in eventually, if not Sunday, then the day after or the day after that.”
She gave a large sigh. “You’re probably right, but it doesn’t make me feel any better about myself.”
“So, do you love each other then? I overheard what you said to each other. Obviously, it would seem like too short of a time for two people to fall in love, but it was that quick with my Sherry and me. Love at first sight, it was. We were a lot older, but I can see the way you two look at each other...And, I also saw the way he kissed you before he left...tender like.”
She looked at him shyly. “I believe that, yes, we do love each other. Oh yes, Mel, I really do...but it won’t work...”
“But? What do you mean that it won’t work? Now that he’s taken your innocence, James will do the right thing by you, you know…”
Her eyes flew open at his last remark, but she decided to ignore it.
“Ummm...So, can I help you out in the garden,” she asked, abruptly changing the subject and hoping he would say “yes.”
“I’m just weeding.”
“I know how to weed. James might have told you that I live with my grandparents. They have an acre of land, and my grandfather grows everything. I love to be in the garden with my hands in the dirt.”
“Then come on out,” he said.
They both headed out the back door and started work, Susan telling Mel all about her grandparents, how they grew up during the depression and were very frugal, which included growing all their vegetables and fruit as well as owning chickens jointly with a neighbor for eggs and sometimes roast chicken.
“I also love to cook. My grandmother taught me to cook, but I drew the line at plucking chickens. I brought you the leftovers from our dinner last night, by the way.”
“My, my…a girl of many talents; I just might decide to fall in love with you myself and steal you away from James.”
She threw her head back and laughed. “You can try. I think I love you a little bit too.”
“Sounds like your grandparents raised you then?”
“Yes; my father passed away when I was seven, so my mother, brother and I moved in with grandma and grandpa.”
“And here James thought you were an heiress or something.”
“Why would he think that?”
“Dunno. Probably the way you talk, genteel and sophisticated like. And your clothes look pretty fine too.”
“Well, I’m certainly no heiress, that’s for sure! But, I can’t say I lack for anything either. My, um…Uncle, the history professor…paid for this trip. He has a lot more money than my grandparents. This is just a special trip since I’ve graduated high school. My grandfather expects me to go to college when I get back.”
“So, you’ll be going back then?”
“Um, yes…I’ll have to go back…after the history tour, that is.”
“When do you leave for the tour?”
“This Friday. Midnight.” The words were out of her mouth before she thought about them.
“Midnight?” Odd time to be leaving for anything. I thought James told me the rest of the students were coming here?”
“Well, um…change of plans…There’s a charter bus…it’s doing a turn-around from London. Gets in I think around 11:00 and then I’m off at midnight. I’ll sleep on the bus on the way back to London then the rest of the students will join me, and we’ll continue on…” She was rattling off whatever came into her head, realizing how lame it must sound.
Mel sat back on his heels and stared keenly at her for a minute. He sensed she wasn’t being completely truthful or was hiding something.
“Still seems rather odd. Why are the other students in London and you’re here?”
She looked away at a bird that was sitting on the top of the fence. “Oh, look! A robin!” she said, pointing to the fence.
Mel looked up at the bird, realizing she was trying to change the subject yet again. “Yes, very pretty bird, isn’t it?”
“So, Mel, I have an idea. What would you think if I made a nice dinner for you and James after the practice this afternoon? He told me you love to cook just like your sister, Annabelle, so maybe you could lend a hand?”
“Well, that’s very nice of you… sounds like a fine idea. I haven’t made a meal for more than myself in a long time. I rather enjoy cooking a good meal.”
She clapped her hands together. “Let’s plan a menu then.” She looked around the garden. “Hmmm…lettuce and tomatoes for salad, green beans for a vegetable…I think this will be a lot of fun! Would it be possible for you to take me to a store to buy some other stuff?”
“What do you think you might need then?”
“I was thinking something nice, like a prime rib. Is there a butcher shop around here?”
“Not sure what a prime rib is; could you mean a beef roast?”
“Yes, a type of beef roast, but a really, really good beef roast. And, mashed potatoes…and I could make some bread…and for dessert…”
“Slow down, young lady! You’re getting pretty fancy for us.”
“It’s not fancy. I just want to do something special. And…I have money to pay for the beef roast and a few other things we’ll need.”
“Can’t let you pay for our food now and a beef roast is pretty dear…”
“Please? Please let me…James said the same thing when I tried to pay for this dress. He got quite angry with me about it.”
“Not your place to pay for things, you know, being a lady and all.”
“But, I have all this money that I’m supposed to be spending on my trip. This would be for a special dinner. Please let me pay for it.”
“Well, I shouldn’t, you know.”
She ran to get her purse and came back holding out a fistful of bills. “Here, take this, and you can be the one who pays for the roast and other stuff so it won’t look like a lady is paying. Please, Mel?”
Reluctantly, he took it and shoved the bills in his pocket. Susan looked at the clock. It was getting on to noon. “Oh! Look at the time! James could be back any minute now!”
Just as the words came out of her mouth, the telephone rang. It was James. He was still at the recording studio, and Ian was missing. They hadn’t been able to find him the night before to tell him about the audition, and he hadn’t been home. Derek knew he’d played with The Stingers and had just got a hold of one of the band members who said Ian had gone off with some American girl. They were trying to hunt him down. James asked Mel if he could drop Susan off at the 3:00 practice later in case it took longer to find Ian. He asked if maybe Ian had called there, but Mel told him “no.”
“Well, that certainly gives us time to put a dinner together, doesn’t it?” Mel said, smiling at Susan, adding, “According to James, Ian didn’t show up at the audition today. I wonder where he could be off to? James said he left the club last night with some American girl.”
Susan froze. “An American girl?” she asked, a puzzled expression on her face.
“That’s what he said. Could it be one of your history student friends?”
Susan thought, “It must be Lynn. She probably saw me on her iPhone. Why did she decide to come, unless...”
Mel interrupted her thoughts. “Well, now we have time to get our dinner planned,” he said again.
“Yes! And for me to make bread…making bread is an adventure in itself. But, can we go to the butcher’s now?”
“You’re twisting my arm on this, but okay, let’s go.”
The butcher shop was only a few minutes away. It was a small food shop with a butcher counter. After discussing the merits of one type of beef roast over another, Susan selected what she felt most closely resembled a prime rib. It was pricey, but she’d given plenty of money to Mel to pay for it along with the other items she needed – potatoes, cream, vanilla, yeast, flour, eggs and extra butter. She was going to try her hand at Crème Brulee for dessert, hoping she remembered the correct amount of ingredients.
“All set,” she said, as she and Mel walked out of the shop, bags in tow.
When they got back and unloaded the bags, Susan started to work on the bread. Mel sat at the table watching her, a bemused expression on his face. “You look like you know what you’re doing there.”
“That’s because I do,” she said, stirring the yeast into hot water and measuring flour into a large bowl. Working from memory, she added the other ingredients, stirred the dough until it formed into a big ball then slammed it onto the table that she’d dusted with flour. She began kneading.
“When I’m done, I’ll put this in a greased bowl and in a few hours…I’ll probably be gone at the practice…you’ll need to punch it down, put it into the loaf pans for a second rise and re-cover it, okay? We can bake it when I get back.” He was observing her actions with great interest. “Of course. You remind me of Sherry standing there like that.”
“Does it make you sad?”
“No; rather brings back fond memories, it does.”
“Well, that’s good then. So, if I go outside and pick some beans, can you start peeling the potatoes? We can just put them in a pot of cold water for now.”
He got up and filled a pan with water, brought it back to the table with the bag of potatoes and a peeler and started to work. She came back into the kitchen with a large bowl of green beans, sat down next to him and started trimming them. They talked more as they worked side-by-side then both went back outside to pick some lettuce and tomatoes for the salad. By the time they’d finished working on the salad and Susan whipped up a vinaigrette, it was after 2:30.
“I hope they found Ian,” Mel remarked.
Susan didn’t know what to say, thinking that the American girl Ian met was probably Lynn.
“Um…what else did James say about the American girl?”
“Nothing really; he just said Ian didn’t get word about the audition last night and they were trying to find him. He thought he’d probably gone off somewhere with the American girl he met at the club.”
Susan remained calm. She was about to say something, but stopped, thinking she could too easily get trapped in more lies.
“Must be Lynn here then for sure,” she thought. “Especially if Ian is missing.” She almost laughed, wondering what they’d been up to.
“Ready to go, then?” asked Mel.
She nodded, grabbed her purse, gave him a few more instructions regarding dinner preparation and they headed out the door.
“Oh wait!” he said going back into the house. “Let me get some of my oatmeal cookies. You can take them in for the boys. They always seem to enjoy them.”
***
Lynn and Ian fell asleep only for brief, short intervals between their bouts of lovemaking, Ian showing Lynn some unusual delights he’d learned in Germany, where he said there was sex on every street corner, and Lynn giving him the pleasures only a very knowledgeable and experienced woman would know about. He didn’t question her expertise.
“Hungry, love?” he asked, as they laid back on the pillows, smoking their way through a pack of cigarettes.
“I could use a Coke, that’s for sure,” she replied.
“Well, let’s see what we can ring up from room service then.” He picked up the phone and dialed the front desk. “Glad you’re staying in such a posh hotel,” he remarked as the phone was ringing on the other end.
“Oh, hallo, this is room 4027. Could you bring us up a couple of Cokes, some chips and a couple of sandwiches, do ya think?” He paused. “Turkey, chicken or whatever is fine. Thanks then.”
He turned to Lynn, “Fifteen to twenty minutes.” He leaned over the side of the bed and reached for his guitar then started strumming and plucking out different melodies. Lynn leaned back, a Cheshire cat grin on her face.
“This is quite fabulous,” she thought. “Oh my yes, quite fabulous...”
Ian slipped on his boxer shorts as a knock sounded on the door. He opened it and accepted the tray being proffered by a hotel service person.
“Ta,” he said, giving the boy a tip. “Ta to you,” the boy responded.
Ian carried the tray over to the bed where he and Lynn sat and enjoyed the food picnic-style.
“I should check in with Derek,” he said looking at the clock on the nightstand. “It’s almost noon, and I want to make sure we’re still on for practice this afternoon.”
Derek’s aunt answered the phone and told him there was a search party out looking for him then told him about the audition in South Brighton. He hung up and leaped out of bed, pulling his clothes on as fast as he could and explaining to Lynn about the audition at the recording studio.
“Stay here, Luv, and get a bit of sleep. I’ll come pick you up and bring you to the practice in a couple of hours.” He leaned over and gave her a big smacking kiss goodbye. “You can stay just like that if you want,” he said teasingly, eyeballing her nakedness through the sheets. “We might have some extra time before practice.”
She laid back, smiled and lit another cigarette. “I’ll look forward to it,” she said.