For the Love of Summer

Chapter 14

For the second time in as many days, Allison found herself in the presence of Erica Sawyer. This time the request to stop by had come from Summer, with no mention of her mother, leaving Allison wary when the two arrived together.

“We brought food,” Summer said, handing a large to-go bag to her mother and hugging Allison. “It’s fried chicken and stuff that will keep until tomorrow.”

“Thank you,” Allison said, not sure what was happening. She’d been hoping to speak to Summer alone so she could apologize for dumping on her, as her mother had said the previous evening. Knowing she’d hurt the teen had been yet another reason why she hadn’t slept. But exhaustion was hardly news.

“Unless you haven’t eaten,” Erica said as she walked into the small kitchen and began putting containers in the refrigerator.

“It’s after eight. I ate with Jackson.”

Summer led her to the round table by the window. “I wanted to come by earlier so I could see him, but my mom said we needed to wait so we could all focus.”

Allison glanced between them, her senses immediately going on alert. “Focus on what?”

Summer sat next to her, obviously dying to say something, but she only looked at her mother. Erica, once again stylishly dressed in a dark green knit dress and stunning leather boots with a four-inch heel, sat across from her.

The older woman leaned forward, then sat back and looked away. Allison felt her tension rise.

“Did something happen to Peter?”

“As far as I know, he’s fine.” Erica looked at Summer, then back at her. “Your situation is unsustainable. You have Jackson, you’re pregnant, you have no money.”

Allison immediately felt defensive. “Thanks for the recap but I know this. Why are you here?” And how can I get you to leave?

“Believe me, I don’t want to be having this conversation any more than you want to hear it,” Erica snapped.

“Mom!”

“It’s true. The whole thing is ridiculous.”

Summer’s mouth trembled. “Mom, you said it was okay. We have to help.”

Allison glanced between them, unsure what was going on, but not liking it.

Erica looked at her. “You need a place to stay while you have the baby and get back on your feet, so to speak. We don’t know what’s happening with Peter, but nothing about his situation speaks to an early release. Not with bail that high. Once he gets a better lawyer, maybe they can negotiate with the court or—”

“Mom! Get to the point.”

Erica seemed to steel herself. She nodded once, then said, “You and Jackson should move into my house. There’s plenty of room and you’ll be safe.”

Allison blinked several times, unable to process the words. They’d sounded like they were in English but she must have misheard them.

“Move in with you? Are you insane?”

“Debatable.”

Summer rolled her eyes. “Mom, you’re not helping.” She smiled at Allison. “It’s a perfect solution. I’m going to move out of my bedroom. It’s really big and on the corner, so you get lots of light. It has a private bathroom and plenty of room for Bethany’s crib and changing table. Right across the hall are two bedrooms with a connected bathroom. I’ll take one of those and Jackson can have the other. So I’ll be right there if he needs anything.”

“No,” Allison said automatically. Move in with Erica? Live with her husband’s first wife? “I don’t know you and you don’t know me. You can’t offer me somewhere to live.”

“And yet I just did.” Erica smiled. “I’m as shocked as you are.”

“If you’re playing with me, it’s really crappy.”

“She’s not.” Summer grabbed her hand. “We want you to move in. It’s the best idea. You won’t have to pay rent or worry about your credit. You can stop working right now. You know how hard it is for you to stand all day and now you won’t have to. We’ll look after Jackson while you’re having Bethany. Oh, my grandma’s there. She lives in the carriage house, but she hangs out with us all time.”

Summer laughed. “Okay, when she’s not on a date. Grandma is very popular with her gentlemen friends. I used to think that was gross, but now it’s kind of sweet. She’s like Mom—she loves kids and babies.”

Allison didn’t know what to deal with first. That Erica had a house large enough that it came with a carriage house—not that she knew what that was—or that there was a grandmother in the mix. Peter had never mentioned his former mother-in-law. The offer was incredibly generous and if anyone else was making it, she would be tempted. But living with Peter’s first wife? She couldn’t.

“There’s no way it would work,” she said firmly. “I can’t move in with you.” She paused. “Thank you for being so kind, but no.”

“You’re being ridiculous,” Erica said, her voice thick with annoyance. “You don’t have a lot of options. I get having pride, but this isn’t the time.”

Allison glared at the other woman. “You don’t know anything about me. Judge me all you want, but you don’t know me.”

“I know you married a man who’s sitting in jail with bail set at a million dollars and no decent lawyer. I know he’s not going anywhere for months, possibly years, and if you don’t stop waiting for him to magically appear and fix all your problems, you’ll find yourself living in your car with child protective services knocking on the window to take your babies away from you.”

“Mom!” Summer glared at Erica. “Stop.”

Allison tried to blink back tears, but she couldn’t. They leaked down her cheeks, despite her attempts to brush them away. She felt sick and scared and the worst part of that horrible woman’s words was they were true. All of them.

She just wanted all of this to go away. She wanted her life back. It had never been especially big or fancy, but it had been hers and she’d been happy. Right now, she couldn’t imagine ever being happy again.

She pushed herself to her feet and walked to the counter. After getting a glass from the cupboard, she filled it with water and pretended to drink. Anything to keep from returning to the kitchen table.

“Mom! You were mean. You have to fix this.”

“Her inability to face reality is as big a problem as frozen bank accounts. I can’t fix the latter, but I can make her deal with the former.”

“That’s not your job.”

“Summer, you don’t know everything. If you can’t be quiet, please go wait in the car.”

“I’m not leaving her alone with you.”

Allison turned around in time to see the flash of pain on Erica’s face. The realization that the other woman was just human enough to be wounded should have pleased her, but she was too exhausted to care.

She returned to her seat and sank down, her back screaming with every movement. She shifted to get comfortable, but that wasn’t going to happen—not on these hard chairs.

“I can’t,” she said simply.

“Don’t say that.” Summer leaned toward her. “It’ll be great. You haven’t met my grandma but she’s really fun and she bakes. She loves kids. The house is big and there’s a nice yard for Jackson.” She offered a tentative smile. “It’s just for a little while. Until everything is better.”

Erica sat completely still, watching without speaking. Allison had no idea what she was thinking. The offer was so generous and it really did solve all her problems. But to live with Erica? How could she? Peter’d had so many stories where Erica was the villain. Only what was the alternative? The other woman’s stark visual of her living in her car with two little kids, only to lose them to child protective services, was all too likely.

“I want to talk to Peter,” she whispered. “I visit the day after tomorrow. Let me talk to him first.”

“When is your lease up?” Erica asked.

“The fifteenth of next month.” She dropped her head. “The landlord said he’d give me a bonus if I could be out by the first. The new buyers want to get in as quickly as possible.”

While the money would be nice, she’d had no plans to move a second before she was required to.

“You’ll need to figure out what you want with you in the house and what we’ll put in storage.” Erica glanced around the kitchen. “You’ll want your bedroom furniture and Jackson’s. Personal items, clothes, all his toys. But the kitchen could be completely packed.”

She glanced at Summer. “I think there’s room in the garage. In the fourth bay.”

Her daughter nodded vigorously. “There’s hardly anything there now.” She looked at Allison. “The house has a four-car garage, so even using one of the bays to store your stuff, you can still park inside. Grandma has her own parking.”

Allison felt the room start spinning. “I can’t think about any of that.”

Erica rose. “We should let you rest. This has been a lot.” She put a business card on the kitchen table. “I wrote my cell on the back. Text me after you talk to Peter. Should you agree to the plan, we’ll handle all the logistics. We’ll set up a date, get packers in here, then movers. We’ll have unpackers on the other end. You’re too far along to be doing anything that physical.”

With that, she walked out of the room, toward the front door. Summer paused to hug Allison tightly.

“Say yes,” she whispered. “You’ll be safe with us, plus we’ll have the best time. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

She said the words automatically, unable to take in what was happening. She was exhausted and confused, which meant she wouldn’t do anything until she spoke to Peter. He would tell her what was right.

Allison waited in line with the other wives. Her ankles were more swollen than usual, making it difficult to walk. But she forced herself to shuffle forward so she could pause in the metal detector, then be sniffed by the mean-looking German shepherd. The air was stuffy, laced with an odor that was a combination of almost-hospital and day-old cafeteria. The lights were too bright, the walls in need of painting. Everything about being here depressed her and she only had to stay two hours. How did Peter stand living here? A plane flew overhead, the loud noise vibrating through the building.

She put her purse in her locker, keeping cash and her ID with her. Even though she was down to fifteen hours of credits at day care, she’d decided to not bring Jackson. She and Peter had to talk and their toddler would be a distraction.

At last the doors opened and she was able to walk into the main visitors’ room with everyone else. There was a bit of confusion as partners found each other. She spotted Peter and rushed toward him, her arms outstretched, her face already wet with tears.

He grabbed her and held her close. For that second, for that heartbeat, her world righted itself and she knew she would be fine. Then a guard walked by and growled a quick “Break it up or the visit is over.”

Peter stepped free of her then helped her into a seat. “Are you all right? You look tired.”

“So do you.”

No, more than tired, she thought. Worn. As if everything was too hard. Without wanting to, she thought about Erica saying that he wasn’t getting out for months, maybe years. That she was in this alone and they were never getting back what they’d had.

She looked at him. “I need you to be honest with me.”

“I’m always honest.”

She shook her head. “You tell me what you think I can handle, but that’s not good enough. When I don’t have all the facts, I can’t protect myself and Jackson. Why don’t you have a lawyer? What have you been charged with? When will you go to trial? Can you get your bail reduced? Why didn’t you tell me your bail was set at a million dollars?”

He looked at her, his expression miserable. “It’s complicated and there are things I don’t want you to know because it’s not safe information to have.”

“You told Erica about the bail without telling me?”

He turned away. “There’s nothing we can do about it. I can’t get my hands on that kind of money and I don’t know anyone willing to guarantee the amount.” He returned his attention to her. “It’ll get better. Right now they’re pressuring me to cooperate. As soon as I find the right lawyer, we’ll work out a deal. We’ll get some of the money unfrozen and reduce my bail.”

“How long will that take?”

“A while.”

She was getting tired of the nonanswers. “You’re not making this easier for me.”

He reached for her hand. “I’m sorry. You know I love you. I want you to be happy. That’s how all this happened. Hearing that damned landlord was going to sell the house pushed me over the edge. We were barely making it. You work so hard and you shouldn’t have to. I wanted to give you everything and it all went to shit.”

He released her hand and turned away again, but not before she saw that he was crying. She’d never seen Peter cry before and the visual upset her.

“I didn’t need more than we had,” she said gently.

“I wanted more for you. A big house, a nice car. Security.” He looked at her. “I’m going to get you that. You’ll see. Once this is fixed, I’ll make it happen.”

The words were more frightening than comforting. “I don’t need any of that. I just want our lives back.” A wish that was getting more elusive.

She drew in a breath. “Erica asked me and Jackson to move in with her. I’d stay there through having Bethany and until everything gets figured out.”

She’d planned on saying more—mostly that she couldn’t imagine saying yes, but couldn’t figure out another option—when he shocked her by laughing.

“Did she? Did she? I’d hoped she would do something, but this is better than I imagined.” His entire body relaxed. “That’s perfect. You’ll be safe there. Erica’s a bitch, but Summer will take care of you. What a relief. When are you moving? Soon, right? Once you’re there, you can stop working and you won’t have to pay for anything.”

He looked around and lowered his voice. “Keep that money I gave you safe. I’ll need it for the lawyer.”

“What money?”

“The money Cappy dropped off.” He frowned. “You haven’t spent any of it, have you?”

“No. I’ve been saving it for things like food and diapers.”

He waved that away. “Erica’s loaded.” He smiled at her. “This is great, sweetie. I’m so relieved you’ll be taken care of.”

She couldn’t make sense of his attitude. He thought his ex-wife was a bitch but was happy to have his wife and child live with her?

“I don’t know her,” she said. “I won’t be comfortable.”

“You’ll be fine. The house is big enough that you’ll never see her. It’s just until I get things straightened out. So when’s the move?”

“I haven’t said yes yet.”

He leaned toward her. “You have to do that right now. Get yourself settled. You shouldn’t have to worry about anything and this has been hard. Allison, I mean it. I need you to do this.”

She knew she didn’t have a choice, but she hadn’t expected Peter to be so...enthused. It was as if he was abdicating responsibility.

She looked at the man she loved, the man she’d thought she would spend the rest of her life with.

“Are you a criminal?”

“What?” He drew back. “No. I’m not. Accounting can be tricky. I was helping a client. You know I’d never do anything to hurt you. Allison, I never really understood what love was until I met you. We belong together. This is going to get worked out. You’ll see. Just hang in there.”

His shoulders slumped. “I miss you so much. You’re all I think about. Do you believe me?”

“Yes,” she whispered. “And I love you. I need you, Peter. Home.”

“I’m working on it.”

She wanted to say Work harder but knew there wasn’t any point. It wasn’t as if he wanted to be here.

They talked until the time was up, then she kissed him once and made her way to her car in the light rail parking lot. Her body and her spirit felt battered.

Levi would never have done this to her.

The thought came out of nowhere. She pushed it away, feeling guilty and disloyal. Thinking about him, about what he would or wouldn’t have done, wasn’t helpful. She had to deal with the situation she was in.

In her car, she dug out her cell phone. She carefully entered the unfamiliar phone number and typed:

Thank you for your generous invitation. Jackson and I would be very grateful to come live with you.