Love Notes from Vinegar House (5 page)

“Were you going to the beach?” she asked pointedly.

I had been dismissed.

The Harts arrived in a flurry of car honks after lunch, with their surfboards perched on top of their over-packed station wagon and their slightly worn caravan in tow. Everyone rushed outside to see them, and Luke emerged from the back seat, blinking at the bright sun as if he’d just woken, a crushed drink can in one hand.

“Hi, Shrimp,” he muttered, ruffling my hair.

Ebony tumbled out behind him, water wings already attached to her arms and zinc on her nose. “I’m going swimming,” she announced. “Luke has braces.” Then she pointed behind me. “Who’s that?”

I turned around to Rumer dressed in black from head to … well … the top of her thigh. Her tight black T-shirt looked like it had been sprayed on, and her cut-off jeans nipped in at the waist to show off the rest of her great figure. Her hair was shoved up in a loose bun, but strands of it curled about her face and the nape of her neck. I wondered how long it had taken her to look so casual. A striped beach towel was draped over one shoulder and a pair of dark sunglasses hid half of her face.

“You remember Rumer,” I said to Ebony. “You met her at my birthday.”

Ebony shook her head. Megan and Isabella had already found each other and had gone inside the shack for a cold drink. Luke was standing near the car looking like he’d been run over by a train, which wasn’t a look I’d ever seen on him before.

“You know Rumer, Luke?” I asked. “You met her–”

“Hi,” he said, interrupting me. He gave her a huge smile, and I could see his beautiful teeth strapped in with wires and coloured bands. It made him look like a stranger.

Rumer let her sunglasses slide down her nose and she peered at him with her bright blue eyes.

“Oh. Hello,” she said, as if I hadn’t mentioned that she’d be meeting Luke again. “Well, I’m off to the beach. Going to check out the surf. See what kind of waves are happening.”

“The surf’s not that way,” I said, but she ignored me.

Ebony followed the adults inside, while Luke and I watched Rumer walking down the track to the beach. I was impatient to show Luke my latest sea glass finds, but he continued to look at the beach path long after Rumer had disappeared behind the dunes.

I tugged at Luke’s sleeve. “Do you want–”

“Wait,” Luke called out to the emptiness that Rumer had left.

Then he shoved his empty drink can at me and ran after her.

Luke continued to run after Rumer for the rest of the three weeks we were at Ocean Side. Instead of Luke and me hanging out, it was Luke, Rumer and me. Which meant it was Luke and Rumer, while I tagged along feeling like a third wheel. And that’s when I decided I loved Luke Hart and was going to marry him. Being left out just made me more determined. That scene at the rock pools. The whole smoochy music and windblown hair thing? You remember.

I wanted to tell Rumer that Luke was mine, but the thing was he didn’t know it. Luke had turned into a complete stranger, as if Rumer had drugged him or something. He followed her around, fetching her drinks, buying her ice-creams, rubbing her back with sunblock – it was just plain embarrassing. Even I knew what was going on. Rumer was bored. Luke was there. She was just going to have some fun before she went back to her real home with Uncle Lawrence and her circumstances.

I tried to talk to Isabella about it, but she told me it was none of my business. So then I decided to try and warn Luke myself. He was such a nice person. I couldn’t believe that I had somehow brought Luke and Rumer together. But Luke and Rumer were always together, which made telling him tricky. And then when I did get a spare moment with him, I didn’t know what to say.

“Luke, you look like an idiot running after Rumer” was too harsh.

“Luke, Rumer’s a cow.” Also harsh.

One day, as we buried Ebony armpit-deep in sand, Rumer strolled down to the water to wash her hands in the waves, and Luke and I were alone. Alone with Ebony, of course, but she didn’t count.

“Luke, I need to tell you something,” I said, carefully patting another bucketload of sand into the shape of an aeroplane wing.

“Uh-huh.” He was concentrating on getting the aeroplane body just right as it fanned out behind Ebony’s body.

“Luke, Rumer isn’t what you think she is,” I said. I was watching Rumer as she skipped over the waves then bent down to rinse her hands.

“What are you saying?” He looked up and waved at Rumer who waved back.

“She has … special circumstances,” I blurted out. I couldn’t believe I had told him. It wasn’t my secret to tell, and now Rumer would make me pay in a way I didn’t even want to consider.

“What?” he said, looking at me.

“Her mother is dead,” I said.

“Wow.” Luke clapped the loose sand from his hands and shook his head. “She never mentioned that.”

“I just thought you should know,” I said lamely. “You really like Rumer, don’t you?”

Luke ducked his head and tweaked Ebony’s nose.

That’s when I knew that it was useless. If Luke asked me to help him win Rumer’s undying love, I would have done anything to help him. As it was, he didn’t need my help.

“Thanks, Shrimp,” he said. He patted me on the shoulder then he stood up and jogged over to Rumer, who was trying to dodge the waves as they broke on the shore.

I watched Luke lean towards Rumer, their heads close together. I saw her sharply look my way then hang her head. She looked back at him and yelled, her arms moving about like a squid out of water. He stepped back, surprised, but kept talking to her. I watched her bend forwards and slap him hard across the face. He walked back to me and put his hand on my shoulder.

“Sorry, Freya,” he said. “I’ve just realised how incredibly beautiful you are. Much more beautiful than Rumer will ever be …”

Actually, this didn’t happen.

I watched Luke lean towards Rumer, their heads close together. I saw her sharply look my way then hang her head.

Luke’s arm looped over her shoulders in a hug. And then they kissed. Which is when I decided I would never love anyone again, because you just felt like an idiot when you put love out there and it didn’t come back your way.

“I want to get out,” demanded Ebony from her sand trap. “I’m sick of this game.”

“So am I, Ebs,” I said.

And I grabbed the spade.

Life changed after that, and I blame Rumer. But maybe it was always going to change; maybe she’d just hurried things along. Rumer dumped Luke at the end of those summer holidays, like I knew she would. There was an uncomfortable weekend in autumn of that same year when Mum decided to invite Luke to Vinegar House – the same weekend that Rumer happened to be there – but then things settled down.

I stopped dropping in on the Hart family across the road. I made sure I was busy in my room when they came over for card nights. I made other plans when the Harts came to dinner. If Luke saw me in the street, he’d wave, but I’d look the other way until he got the message. I stopped going down to the jetty at high tide on Saturday mornings. I dodged him at school.

So I got over my first crush eventually, and I guess I had Rumer to thank for that. I guess she did me a favour.

And that’s all I’m going to say about Luke Hart.

There was a lot to organise before my parents could just fly away and leave me to the dullness of Vinegar House. Luckily, the Colonel was onto it. Dad had rung the holiday camp to let the coordinators know what was going on. Oscar was to go to his friend’s house if Mum and Dad weren’t back in time to pick him up. Then Dad left a couple of messages with Isabella on her mobile, because it was still too early for her to be awake. Dad was striding around, busy being the person in charge, so I was trying to stay out of his way. If I came across Mum, I’d give her a hug and she’d pat me on the back as if I were the one with the sick mother.

At around lunchtime the doorbell rang and I answered it to find Mrs Hart and Luke standing at the door. (I know I wasn’t going to talk about him any more, but he just happens to be in this part of the story.)

“Can we come in?” Mrs Hart asked brightly before giving me a hug that went on for ten seconds too long.

Awkward.

Luke looked taller than I remembered and there was something different about him, but I couldn’t pinpoint what it was. He seemed uncomfortable to be there.

“Mum,” I called out.

“Ericaaaa,” sang Mrs Hart.

Mrs Hart is a member of the Homsea Acapella Group and the Port Eden Players – a theatre group. She is very DRAMATIC.

Mrs Hart sailed past me, gathered Mum into her arms and gave her a long hug. Mum burst into tears, and Luke and I sidled out to the kitchen to leave them to it.

“Do you want a drink?” I asked him.

Luke shrugged. “I’m sorry to hear about your grandma, Shrimp.”

“My Nanna,” I corrected. Shrimp. I hated that nickname and wished he’d never started calling me that. “That’s okay. Thanks.”

“So what’s going to happen?” he asked. “Mum said your parents are leaving tomorrow morning.”

“Yep.”

I filled the kettle with water for something to do.

“How long’s the flight?” he asked.

“I’m not sure.” I fussed around, pulling out cups and teaspoons.

“How’s Isabella?”

“Yeah, good.”

“Have you been busy? Haven’t seen you since … I don’t know, for ages.”

“Yeah. Busy. Really busy.”

I put instant coffee in the teapot, realised what I’d done, then filled it up with hot water anyway and hoped Luke wouldn’t ask for a cup. I didn’t need this now. I didn’t need Luke Hart with his messy hair and his smooth brown skin and his bobbing Adam’s apple filling up the space in my kitchen.

“How’s Oscar?” he asked.

“Yeah, good.” It was ridiculous. I searched my brain for something smart to say. Something mind-blowing that would make him think about me long after he’d finished filling up my kitchen. Not that I cared about him the way I used to. Still, I didn’t want him to think I was still that little kid that used to follow him around.

“Are you busy?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he said nodding. “Really busy.”

“Oh.” I grabbed the milk carton out of the fridge, then stood looking in a cupboard for a milk jug until I forgot what I was looking for. “How’s Megan?”

“Good.”

“And Ebony?”

“Yeah, good. Great.”

“Great.” I tried to imagine us on the debating team together at school. No trophies there.

“I’m looking for a job. School holidays,” he said. “Loz Pinkerton’s brother wants to sell his car. Says he’ll give me first say.”

“Do you have your Ls?” I asked.

“Yup.”

“Oh.” I wondered when that had happened. “What sort of job?”

Luke shrugged. “I could garden. Mow lawns or something. Wash cars …”

“Dumfy’s got the lawn service thing all stitched up,” I said. Dumfy was Porky Sudholz’s brother-in-law. “Maybe you could work for Porky – at the butcher’s?”

“Working with dead things?” Luke shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

There was silence as we both contemplated my sick Nanna who could be dead even as we spoke.

“I wished you’d called me earlier,” said Mrs Hart as she and Mum bustled into the kitchen.

Mum gave Luke a hug. He had to bend down to hug her back.

“I was just saying to your mother, Freya, that you could have stayed with us,” Mrs Hart rattled on. “Although there’s not a lot of room at present, not with my sister and her family staying.”

Luke snorted and brushed past me on his way to the tap. Making himself at home, I thought, but of course this
had
been his second home for years. I wondered if the snort was the thought of me staying or the fact that his aunt and family had taken over his home.

“Is that a fresh pot?” Mum asked.

“Umm, no. I’ll make one,” I said, turning away from Luke’s surprised expression. I emptied the coffee, rinsed the teapot, and put the kettle on again.

“Anyway, I think it’s lovely you’ve got the chance to stay with your cousin at your grandma’s house,” said Mrs Hart.

“Hmm.” I hoped Luke wasn’t listening.

“Which one is it again? Julia?”

“Rumer,” corrected Mum. “They’re very close.”