James and Susan were sound asleep on the couch, pressed tightly together due to the small space when Mel came down the stairs the next morning. A blanket covered them, and James’s leg was on the edge almost ready to fall off. Mel shook his head. Here he thought James would be the one sneaking back up to his bedroom to join Susan in his bed, but instead, it appeared that Susan had come downstairs to join James on the couch. Mel sighed. They both looked so innocent...and so young...and so in love. He went into the kitchen to make some coffee.
Both of them woke up to the smell of the coffee, realizing they’d fallen asleep before Susan thought to go back upstairs to James’s room. James kissed her softly, whispering, “I think we’ve been caught.”
“Is he going to be angry?” she whispered back.
“Nah, not Dad. He told me just yesterday he knew what it was like to be young and in love. He understands...and, he likes you a lot. Plus, we’ve got all our clothes on, you know.”
James slipped off the couch then stood up and stretched. “You can sleep some more if you want,” he said. “I’m going upstairs to take a shower and shave.”
“No, I’ll get up.” She stood up and did her best to straighten the dress she’d been wearing since forever it seemed. “You chicken...making me face your dad alone.”
“I said you could stay here and sleep some more.”
“Yeah, as if I could do that now. He’s probably heard us talking.”
James winked at her and headed up the stairs.
“Didn’t mean to wake you up,” said Mel, as Susan went into the kitchen.
“Good Morning, Mel.” Susan was blushing. “James’s is up taking a shower and shaving.”
Mel didn’t seem to notice her pink face.
“I’ve got some eggs and kippers here ready to go for breakfast and some toast,” he responded.
“Kippers?” Susan thought. “Wasn’t that some kind of fish?” It didn’t sound appetizing.
“I’ll have it all ready in a few,” he added, “in time for when Jimmie comes on down.” He busied himself at the stove for a minute, then turned the gas down and turned to face Susan.
She looked over at him.
“Have a seat,” he said, pouring two cups of coffee and sitting down across from her.
He looked down at his cup for a minute, then back up at her.
“Can I ask you a few questions?” he said, then paused. “And will you answer them truthfully?”
“What do you mean?” she asked, looking down at her hands in her lap. “Do you think I’ve been untruthful with you?”
“No, no...I don’t think you’ve been untruthful...”
“What then?”
“Just evasive...”
“Oh.” She looked up at him for a minute, then back down at her hands.
“When you were here yesterday, it seemed you tried to turn the subject on me when I started talking about some things.”
“Some things?”
“Yes. When I asked you if you two loved each other, you said ‘yes, but...’ and something about things not working out, then you changed the subject. And when I asked you why you were leaving for your history tour on Friday at midnight and what was going on with the other students, which I thought was pretty odd, you changed the subject again.”
She looked up at him. He was very serious, and she was feeling very trapped.
“So, can I ask you a few questions then?”
She nodded, dreading them.
“And will you be honest with your answers?”
She nodded again, and whispered a small, “yes.”
“So then...I don’t have any questions about you and James loving each other. I understand whirlwind love and know it can happen sometimes...but I want to know about this history tour of yours...mainly if you plan on coming back after it’s over.”
She turned away from him and took a deep breath.
“Exactly how long is this history tour supposed to last?” he asked.
She shook her head, but no words would come out.
“Are you coming back at all then after you leave on Friday?”
Susan looked him square in the face and met his concerned eyes.
“I can’t,” she whispered, the pain clearly reflected in her eyes. “It’s not possible.”
Mel sat back, staring at her intently. “And why is that? You don’t want to come back?”
“Please...please, Mel,” she pleaded. “Please don’t ask me anymore. It has nothing to do with me wanting to come back; it just won’t be possible for me to come back. I should never have come here in the first place!”
“But why can’t you come back?” he persisted.
“Don’t make me beg you to stop asking, please,” she said again. “I just won’t be able to come back...” She started to sob. Tears overflowed her eyes and ran down her cheeks. “It won’t be possible. Please don’t ask, please...”
Mel stood up and came over to her chair. She stood up, and he wrapped his arms around her, patting her on the back.
“It’s okay, Luv. I won’t ask anymore...but will you be telling James then?”
She shook her head, sobbing some more. “No, no...I can’t...I just can’t...Please don’t tell him, please...”
Mel gently pushed her away from him so he could look into her face.
“Why?” he asked.
She saw pain and concern in his eyes and knew it wasn’t just for his son, but for her as well.
“Because I want us to have just a few more days of happiness...and because when I’m gone, I’ll be just a dim memory to him...I don’t expect you to understand...”
James walked into the kitchen at that moment and stopped dead at the sight of Susan being held in his dad’s arms.
“So, what’s all this?” he asked. “You making my girl cry, Dad?”
“She was just telling me how much she loves you, and it brought tears to her eyes, right Luv?” he said looking down at Susan and releasing her from his arms.
She ran to James, wrapped her arms around him and gave him a quick kiss. “That’s it exactly!” she said, wiping the tears from her cheeks. “Go sit down. Your dad has breakfast about ready.”
James sat down at the table while Susan went and poured him some coffee.
“So, how did the audition go?” Mel asked, looking at James.
“Great!” said James. “We’ll find out by next Monday if we’re to make a record. Ryan made a couple of hours of tapes of our songs and took them with him. We’re keeping our fingers crossed he’ll want to record all of them.”
“Pretty ambitious, aren’t you?”
“Oh, James, I just know he’ll want to record them all! You’re going to be world famous someday!” exclaimed Susan.
“You think so?” said James, smiling. “I’m sure you’re right! I’ve always thought I’d be rich and famous someday!”
“Now Jimmie, there you go with your pipe dreaming again; always thinking how fabulous you are...”
“Oh, but he is!” Susan exclaimed before she could stop herself. “Their band is going to be known as ‘the Fantastic Four’!”
Both James and Mel looked at her.
“Looks like Susan here shares your pipe dreaming,” said Mel.
“Well, maybe she’s right, you know. She has intuition.”
They all smiled. Susan jumped up to help with the toast as Mel finished the eggs and kippers and set them on the table. He then got out three plates and forks. Susan finished buttering the toast and sat it on the table with some jam.
“My own jam,” said Mel proudly. “Made from the blackberries that grow out by Annabelle’s cottage.”
“Speaking of the cottage, Dad, I thought Susan and I would head back out to Little Dippington after breakfast. We want to do more sketching and maybe take a dip in the pond.”
Mel looked at James and said, “I was figuring you might be wanting to go back out there. It’s a romantic spot, isn’t it?”
Susan could feel the heat coming into her face again. She sure spent a heck of a lot of time blushing! It was embarrassing!
They all chatted a bit more as they ate breakfast...Susan politely refused the kippers...and then she got up and carried the dishes to the sink.
“You two stay right there,” she said as Mel started to stand up to help her. “I can take care of the dishes while you two chat.”
She picked up the rest of the dishes, re-filled their coffee cups and started filling the sink with hot, soapy water. When the sink was filled, she excused herself for a minute to go to the bathroom.
Mel looked at James over the rim of his coffee cup as he heard Susan head up the stairs. “So, now that you’ve taken her innocence away, what are your intentions regarding her?” he asked pointedly. “I know the crowd you hang around with is flighty, but Susan doesn’t fit in with that sort of thing. I told you before I wouldn’t have you hurting her. So then...What are your intentions? Have you talked to her about giving up this history tour thing?”
James sat up straight in his chair. “Why, my intentions are honorable, of course, Dad. I’d never hurt her. I don’t plan on letting her leave on the history tour! I’ll convince her to stay, I will!”
“Not leave, eh? Perhaps you wouldn’t hurt her intentional-like, but the way you run around now with all the girls, that would hurt her deeply.”
“Dad, I said I’d never hurt her,” said James.
Mel shook his head, a worried expression on his face. “I certainly hope not. She’s a good girl that she is. But, I’m rather worried about this history tour...”
Susan came back into the kitchen right then, and Mel and James quit talking.
“Talking about me, are you?” she asked, hoping that Mel wasn’t saying anything to James about her coming back after the history tour.
They both smiled.
“Just remarking how beautiful you are,” said James.
She went to the sink and started washing the dishes. Mel stood up, went over next to her and started to dry.
“Well then,” said Mel. “Seeing as you’re going back out to the cottage, you might as well take more provisions. Country air makes a person hungry, you know.”
“We can stop in Little Dippington and get some stuff if we have to,” said James. “We need to replace a few things of Auntie’s that we’ve used up.”
“And I need to do some washing and cleaning,” Susan added. “Always the polite thing to do when you stay for a while at someone’s house.”
“And I want to finish up the song I’ve been working on for Susan,” James said.
Susan froze for a moment, wondering if the song was “All My Kisses.” She thought it probably was.
The dishes were finished. Susan went upstairs to tidy up James’s bed even though she’d only been in it for a couple of hours the night before.
While she was upstairs, Mel took James aside again. He pulled a handful of bills out of his pocket and held them out to James.
“Give this back to Susan,” he said. “Yesterday, she insisted she pay for the dinner things, including the beef roast, and gave this to me. I think she should have it back.”
James stood stock still, an odd expression on his face. “She gave this to you?”
“Insisted she wanted to pay for a nice dinner for us both. Very generous girl, but I think she should have it back.”
“So, you paid for everything yourself then?”
“Yes, of course.”
James was silent for a moment, wondering why he hadn’t questioned the extravagance of the dinner or where the expensive beef roast and cream for the dessert had come from. He must not have been paying attention, too wrapped up in his love for Susan and his amazement at her cooking skills. He also hadn’t seen his dad so happy as he was when Susan was around, so that likely had distracted him as well.
“And just how much did it all add up to, Dad? You’re on a small pension, and your part-time job doesn’t pay much, which is why Chad and I try to help out as much as we can. How much did she have you spend?”
“I’d rather not say. It’s not important.”
“A beef roast costs a lot of money! And all that other stuff is priced pretty dear. Why didn’t you just tell her no?”
“Didn’t have the heart to. As I said, she wanted to do something nice for you.”
“I don’t care about a nice dinner...she shouldn’t have done it! I made it perfectly clear she wasn’t to be spending her money. I’ll see ya straight, Dad, I will...not sure when or how...but, I’ll see ya straight.” He shoved the bills in his pocket.
“No need...really, James...I’m fine...I don’t need much, as you know, and I’ll be going out a few days early to King’s Head tomorrow morning to stay with Annabelle before I bring her back on Sunday. The pension check comes in next week, so I’ll be fine.”
James was suddenly very silent and appeared to be brooding. His face was flushed, and there were sparks in his eyes. He clenched and unclenched his fists at his sides.
Mel patted him on the back. “Expensive tastes your young lady has,” he said. “Hope you’re both right about you and the boys becoming rich and famous. You’ll be needing it.”
He was teasing now, sensing James’s changed mood. Maybe he shouldn’t have said anything about Susan giving him money.
James was getting angrier by the minute. He thought his dad was probably going out to King’s Head early because he was now totally broke until the pension check came in and at least he’d get free meals for a few days out at his other sister’s house.
Susan came tripping down the stairs. “Ready to go?” she asked cheerfully.
James said nothing, but Mel went up to her and took both of her hands in his.
“Delightful seeing you again, my girl. Have James bring you by again anytime at all.”
Impetuously, she wrapped her arms around his neck and planted a smacking kiss on his cheek. “You’re the best, Mel!” she said. “I think I might like you better than James!”
Mel and Susan laughed at the joke, but James remained silent. “Are you coming then?” he asked coldly, opening the front door.
Susan didn’t notice his mood and skipped out the door and down the steps to the car. Her suitcase was still in the boot from the day before. She thought she’d sort everything out and do some washing when they got back out to Annabelle’s.
James opened the car door for her, and she got in, giving a last wave to Mel, who stood in the doorway. James got in the other side, started up the car, and they drove away.
“I’d offer to drive, but having the steering wheel on the wrong side of the car would be a problem,” she said jokingly. “Plus, driving on the wrong side of the road.”
“And what makes you think we drive on the wrong side of the road and you don’t?” he snapped at her. “Besides, I’d never let a girl drive while I was in the car. Girls shouldn’t be allowed to drive at all!”
She turned to look at him. “Is something wrong?” He didn’t respond.
She bit her lip. Something was definitely wrong. She tried to think. Had she said or done something?
For the next half hour, Susan made several unsuccessful attempts at conversation and tried to wrack her brain to figure out what she had said or done wrong. She couldn’t think of anything.
James appeared to be fine and cheerful at breakfast, and they’d spent a happy and cozy night together on the couch. What could it be? She thought maybe he was worried or distracted about what had happened at the audition, but then again, he didn’t seem worried. She sensed he was angry or upset about something, though. He appeared to be pouting, but why would he be pouting?
She wasn’t only puzzled, but she was beginning to feel hurt that he wouldn’t even talk to her or tell her what was wrong. She discovered that she didn’t like this side of him; she didn’t like it at all! The least he could do was tell her what was wrong. The silent treatment was torture. And it was rude.
She wondered how often he got into these moods or if it was something he regularly did or just now and then. Even now and then would be too much. It was very uncomfortable. She quit trying to make conversation and scowled at the scenery out the window.
When they came to Little Dippington, James drove straight through, not stopping for any provisions as she thought they’d planned to do.
“Aren’t we stopping then?” she asked, breaking the dead silence in the car yet again.
“No,” was all he said.
He was holding a tight rein on his temper if she only knew it, but he didn’t know how much longer he could keep it in check. He’d made it very clear that she was not to spend her own money on anything that was needed, and she’d blatantly disobeyed him, tricked him even by giving money to his dad! She’d humiliated him.
He was livid just thinking of her extravagance and the money his dad had spent on a dinner he never even asked for. His dad should have refused to take the money, and they could have made do with whatever was on hand for dinner. Eating wasn’t important to him.
But, his dad was a pushover when it came to her; he knew that. And, he didn’t have any idea at the moment as to how he’d pay him back. After buying the bread and cheese at the shop on the way out to Annabelle’s on Sunday, a new cup to replace the broken one, plus the shockingly expensive dress Susan had to have, he was near broke. The band wouldn’t get paid for another two weeks, and he still had to buy petrol for the car. These trips to the countryside were expensive.
He wondered how he could put some sense into her, make her understand that what she’d done was wrong and that he wouldn’t again tolerate her flagrant disregard to what he asked of her.
There were so many things he didn’t understand about her. The fact that she was an American could account for some differences, but there were other things that were puzzling. For example, how was it that, at age seventeen, she could cook so well or could speak so well on such a large range of topics, sing, paint, dance, and most mysteriously of all, make love with such aggressiveness and wild abandon.
First of all, however, he was going to have to deal with what she’d just done, and if he had to be harsh, so be it. He didn’t recall ever being so angry in his life, and the more he dwelled on her outrageously independent nature and extravagant tastes, the angrier he became. She would have to be brought to heel and taught a lesson. Especially if they were to make a go of it… She needed to know her place.
Susan was feeling a cross between anger, resentment at being given the silent treatment for some unknown sin, and disappointment at discovering another not so pleasant side of James’s personality. Thinking back to the future, she’d heard stories of his moodiness and controlling nature, but hearing about it and experiencing it were two different things. She didn’t like it one bit. It made her stomach hurt, and she wanted to lash back at him in some way, so he’d understand how bad he was making her feel.