Shadow Creek (18 page)

“Why can’t I have that tent?” Brianne had demanded, not really surprised when nobody answered.

That’s what happens when you get old, she thought. You not only lose your looks, you lose your sense of humor.

Better to die young, she thought.

So what was she supposed to do now?

Brianne’s gaze shifted across the campsite to where her father’s girlfriend was sitting off by herself, pretending to be engrossed in a book. Except that her flashlight was pointed aimlessly at the ground instead of on the page, and the moon, while almost full, was mostly hidden by trees and would hardly have provided enough light to read by. Despite all the stars, it was still spooky dark out, Brianne thought, shivering as she hugged her knees to her chest, pretending her arms were Tyler’s.

What the hell was she doing sitting on the hard, cold ground in front of an enormous bonfire, surrounded by canvas tents of various shapes and sizes, in the company of a bunch of tree-hugging strangers she hoped never to see again as long as she lived? How had this happened?

Brianne knew that he was still in the area, probably close by, waiting for her to contact him. All she had to do was get to a phone. Not quite as easy as it sounded, she thought, knowing that despite her mother’s seeming interest in all things Gary, she was watching her like a hawk.

She knew her mother was angry. She also knew she felt guilty about hitting her earlier, that she might even blame herself for her daughter’s subsequent behavior. Maybe if I hadn’t slapped her, Brianne imagined her mother thinking, I wouldn’t
have driven her into that boy’s arms. This whole thing is
my
fault, she could almost hear her mother saying.

So why not play on that guilt? Why not let her mother take the blame?

Slowly Brianne pushed herself to her feet, her legs more than a little shaky as she tried to balance her red three-inch heels on the bumpy ground. Not exactly appropriate footwear for a campsite, she knew, but Tyler liked her in heels, and she hadn’t been about to give her mother the satisfaction of changing into more sensible footwear. “These are fine,” she’d insisted when her mother suggested she might like to change into a pair of sneakers. She’d also ignored her mother’s suggestion to swap her white shorts for a pair of jeans, the result being that she was both uncomfortable and cold.

“Can I talk to you?” she said to her mother now.

Val immediately pushed herself to her feet, leaving Gary’s side to follow Brianne to a more private space farther down the way.

“I want to apologize,” Brianne began.

“All right.” Her mother folded her hands across her chest. “I’m listening.”

Not exactly the response Brianne had been expecting. She’d already decided that her mother would interrupt her apology with one of her own:
No, sweetheart, I’m the one who should be apologizing to you
.

“I’m sorry about what happened with Tyler.”

“You should be.”

Huh?

“I was just so upset about the fight we had this morning,” Brianne continued. “You’ve never hit me before.”

Silence.

Feel free to interrupt at any time
, Brianne thought. “Aren’t
you sorry you hit me?” she asked when no such interruptions were forthcoming.

“Frankly,” her mother said, “I’m not sure.”

What?

“I
was
sorry. Now …”

“Now what?”

“Now, to be honest, I don’t know.”

“But what happened with Tyler would never have happened if you hadn’t hit me.”

A long pause.

“I see,” her mother said.

Finally
, Brianne thought, continuing. “Not that anything actually happened. With Tyler and me, I mean,” she lied. “Nothing happened.”

“Nothing happened,” her mother repeated.

Brianne offered her mother her most winsome smile. “I know what those park rangers
thought
they saw …”

“You were found pretty much naked,” her mother reminded her, her voice cold.

“Yes, but it wasn’t how it looked.”

“I see,” her mother said again, although it was becoming less and less clear that she did.

“Anyway, I’m sorry you misunderstood …”

“I misunderstood?”

“Tyler’s a really nice boy, Mom. You’d like him.”

“I doubt that. And he’s a man, Brianne,” her mother corrected. “Not a boy.”

“He’s only a few years older than me,” Brianne argued. “It’s not that big a deal. Dad’s older than you.”

“I didn’t start dating him when I was sixteen. Besides, this isn’t about your father and me.”

“You’re right,” Brianne said quickly. What was the matter
with her mother? Why was she making this so difficult? “Anyway, I just wanted to say I’m sorry.”

“Okay.”

Again Brianne waited for her mother to offer her own apology. Again, none came.

“Is there anything else?” her mother asked.

“Can I have my BlackBerry back?”

Her mother rolled her eyes toward the star-filled sky. “Not a chance.”

“I just want to see if Tyler’s all right.”

“So this whole apology was just a ruse to get your phone back,” her mother said.

“No, of course not.”

But her mother was already walking back toward the center of the campsite.

“I’m not finished,” Brianne called after her.

“Oh, yes, you are.”

“We need to talk about this.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll talk plenty when we get back to the city.”

Shit
, Brianne thought, her eyes catching sight of Jennifer watching from the distance. Brianne took a step toward her.

Don’t even think about it
, Jennifer’s expression warned, stopping Brianne in her tracks.

Turning, she caught her heel on a small mound of earth and collapsed to the ground. “Ow,” she cried, looking to see if her mother had seen what happened. It would serve her right if I broke my ankle, she thought, knowing she’d merely given it a slight twist. She sat for a few seconds, rocking back and forth in exaggerated discomfort, cradling her ankle, waiting for her mother to come running back, to take her in her arms and console her, tell her everything was going to be all right, but she
didn’t. “Shit,” Brianne muttered, letting go of her foot and rubbing her bare arms with her hands.

“Are you okay?” a voice asked from somewhere above her head.

Brianne looked up. “I’m fine,” she told the young man as he knelt to crouch beside her.

“It’s Hayden,” he said. “We were introduced before.”

“I know who you are.”

“Did you hurt yourself?”

“Not really.”

“Those probably aren’t the best shoes to wear camping.”

“No kidding.”

“You need some help getting up?”

“Who says I want to get up?”

“Oh. Okay. Sorry I bothered you.” He pushed himself back to his full height.

“No, wait. I’m sorry. You were just being nice, and I’m being a bitch.”

Hayden immediately crouched back down, his ponytail settling across his left shoulder.

“What happened to your friends?” she asked.

“They decided to drive into Bolton Landing.”

“How come you didn’t go with them?”

“Thought I’d get to bed early. My dad and I are planning to go up to Mount Marcy tomorrow, do some serious hiking.”

God, he really
is
a dork, Brianne thought. Tall, not bad-looking. But a dork nonetheless.

And just maybe a dork with a cell phone?

“So, you really like this sort of thing?” she asked.

“Love it. The mountains, the lake, the fresh air.” He took a long, deep breath as if to underline his point. “What’s not to like?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe the mountains, the lake, the fresh air?”

He laughed.

“I guess I’m just not much of a camper.”

“So I gather from the shoes.”

“You don’t like my shoes?” She offered another of her most winsome smiles, hoping it would work better on him than it had on her mother.

“No, your shoes are great.” He looked toward the ground to hide his obvious embarrassment.

Oh, this is just too easy, she thought. “So, you want to show me the lake?”

His eyes shot to hers. “Sure. It’s just down that way.” He motioned with his right hand while the left one helped pull her to her feet.

“You wouldn’t happen to have a cell phone on you, would you?” she asked when they were safely out of earshot.

“Sure,” he said. “Why?”

“In case we get lost.”

“Don’t worry. You’re safe with me.”

Brianne glanced back toward her mother, who was talking to Gary and hadn’t noticed them leaving. She smiled, reaching for Hayden’s hand. “I’m not worried,” she said.

S
O, TELL ME EVERYTHING about your divorce,” Val said.

Gary laughed.

“I’m serious. I want to know all the gory details.” What the hell? Val figured. He lives in Connecticut. I’ll probably never see him again. Might as well make the evening as entertaining as possible. “You said it was nasty.”

“And nasty it was.”

“Why is that? And please don’t tell me it’s none of my business. I already know that.”

Gary laughed again, a full-throated sound that chopped through the still night air like an axe through wood. “The lady wants all the nasty details.”

Val nodded, catching a hint of blush in Gary’s rugged cheeks. Although maybe it was only the light from the fire,
she thought, hoping the flames were bathing her complexion in a similarly flattering glow. “I assume there was a third party involved.”

“At least three parties that I know of,” Gary said.

“Your wife had affairs?”

“You sound surprised.”

“Just that it’s usually …”

“… the husband who’s unfaithful?” Gary glanced toward Jennifer. “Was that your experience?”

“We’re talking about you now, remember?”

“Ah, yes. Well, where was I?”

“Your wife’s affairs.”

“The first one was with her personal trainer. The second one was with a stay-at-home dad who lived down the street.”

“You never suspected anything?”

“Not a thing. You?”

“I never suspected,” Val said.
I knew
, she added silently.

“I actually thought we were very happy. We never fought. In fact, we hardly ever disagreed. Our sex life was good; our social life was active. Too active, as it turned out. At least on her part.”

“I’m sorry.”

“The truth is that I probably never would have found out about any of my wife’s affairs if her sister hadn’t spilled the beans.”

“Your wife’s sister told you?”

“She was pretty angry.”

“Why would she be angry?”

“Because my wife’s third affair was with her sister’s husband.”

“Seriously?”

“I think this is where things start getting nasty,” Gary said.

Val thought of her own sister, Allison, three years her junior. They’d never been particularly close, but sisters were sisters, for heaven’s sake. There were some lines you didn’t cross. Even Evan would balk at having an affair with her sister. Wouldn’t he? “Did your wife ever say why she picked her sister’s husband?”

“Because he was there?” Gary asked in return.

“It’s a pretty hostile thing to do. Her sister must have been devastated.”

“She was.”

“Are they still together?”

“No. Breakups all around.”

“And is your ex seeing anyone now?”

“My son tells me that she’s currently involved with one of my former partners.”

Val absorbed this latest tidbit. Clearly the former Mrs. Parker liked to keep her affairs close to home. Val wondered if she’d also brought them
into
her home, as Evan had done. “And how do you feel about that?”

“Part of me feels sorry for the poor bastard. The other part thinks it serves him right. Never did like the guy.”

“And what does Hayden think of all this?” Val looked around the campfire for Gary’s son, but didn’t see him.

“He was pretty shaken up by the divorce. Didn’t see it coming.” Gary shrugged. “But then, neither did I.”

“Does he know …?”

“About his mother and his uncle? I don’t think so. At least
I
didn’t tell him. But kids have a way of ferreting out things you don’t want them to know.”

Val nodded her agreement. “He seems pretty well-adjusted,” she offered.

“Maybe. It’s kind of hard to tell with Hayden. He’s quiet,
tends to keep things bottled up inside. I’m still waiting for the eruption.”

There was a second’s silence, as if he were, in fact, waiting for some kind of explosion. The bonfire obliged with a few desultory crackles, like gunfire.

“What are we doing to our kids?” Val asked.

“No worse than what our parents did to us,” Gary answered matter-of-factly. “Somehow we all manage to survive.”

“Do we?”

Another silence. More snap, crackle, and pop from the burning, sweet-smelling wood. Val noticed that James and Melissa had joined a small group of campers who were roasting marshmallows over the open fire, James leading them in a surprisingly melodious rendition of “My Favorite Things.” She strained to see whether Brianne was among them.

“So, how long ago did all this take place?” Val asked, deciding that her daughter would probably rather be dead than participate in a campfire sing-along. She felt a sudden chill and leaned over to hug her knees to her chest.

“About four years ago, I guess. Sometimes it feels like yesterday. Other times, it’s like it happened a lifetime ago. Someone else’s life,” he added. “You’re shivering. Are you cold?”

“A little.”

“We could move closer to the fire.”

“No, it’s okay. You haven’t met anyone else?”

“Actually, I just met a very lovely woman.”

“Oh.”

“Well, actually I knew her from before.”

“Oh?”

“It turns out we went to high school together.”

Val smiled. “You did?”

“Yeah. She was this feisty little thing. I always had a bit of a crush on her.”

“You did?” Val repeated.

“Well, no,” Gary admitted. “But I was just this big, dumb lug. What did I know?”

Val laughed.

“I think I might have a crush on her now,” Gary said.