27. Lucas
27
LUCAS
“You make excellent sandwiches,” I tell Brooke, as I stand up to clear the plates from the McGillicuddys’ small kitchen table.
We’ve fallen into a comfortable rhythm, like a long-married couple.
We make love every night. We wake up in each other’s arms. We start each morning talking about our life back in New York, about who we were, about random memories from growing up, to keep ourselves anchored in reality. We meet up with Serena later in the day to do it again, with her, and Serena doesn’t talk much about her personal life, but she talks about her books and her plans for her upcoming book tours.
From what I gather, she was adopted and doesn’t like to talk about her family.
“Thanks. I’m getting better with practice.” Brooke reaches into the basket that Carmel left on our doorstep and grabs a muffin. Cinnamon. Delicious. I’ve already had two. “Thanks. Sandwiches are skating on the edge of my cooking ability, but at least we won’t starve. Especially with Carmel’s endless supplies of muffins. Have we ever figured out where she’s getting all the ingredients? And baskets? Or where the baskets go after we finish the muffins? I don’t remember disposing of any baskets.”
“Nah, I’m afraid if I think about it too hard, the muffins will stop.” I shrug. “And then where would we be?”
“Where, indeed,” she muses. “Is it helping at all in winning the townspeople over?”
“From my completely unscientific survey, people are now more disposed to look favorably on Carmel, but not so much on Jasper.”
“Imagine that,” Brooke says, as she finishes the last of her muffin and then mournfully looks at the empty basket.
“I’d kill for DoorDash right now,” she says.
“Me too,” I admit. “Sorry. I appreciate your making meals for us. I like your sandwiches. And your salads. And, uh, your hard-boiled eggs and your scrambled eggs, when you don’t burn them.”
“Says the man who set toast on fire the first time he tried to cook for me,” Brooke laughs. “Well, if we want to get back to Manhattan’s infinite menu possibilities, I guess we’ve got to go out on another stupid date.”
“Ugh.” I roll my eyes. “A date with you? The suffering.”
“The worst, right? And after that, to top off a delightful afternoon, we can get a root canal without anesthesia. Anyway, here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to make it a double date, and we’re going to bring Brenda and Officer Hernandez with us.”
“He did arrest her,” I point out. “Not sure if she’s going to be able to get past that.”
Brooke flaps her hand in dismissal. “This is a romance novel. There are always setbacks and misunderstandings. It’s a minor obstacle.”
“So what’s the plan? How would we get them to agree to go on an actual date? ”
“We won’t tell them the truth, obviously. We’ll use lying and skullduggery.”
“Skullduggery? Is that still a thing?” I muse.
Brooke nods. “I’m bringing it back.”
“Well, it sounds evil and low-down and Machiavellian. I like it.” I nod in approval. “What are the details?”
“I’m going to trick Brenda into coming to Loon Lake with me, and you’re going to trick Officer Hernandez into meeting us down there by the dock, and then we’re going to convince them to go on a boat ride together. Once they’re together, we’ll sit back and let the magic happen.”
I nod. “Sounds crazy. Might work.”
_ _ _ _
Brooke
Fortunately, Brenda isn’t working today and doesn’t have theater rehearsal until tonight, or maybe this universe just makes people’s schedules work the way they need to for the plot to progress.
She and I are heading down the trail that leads to the boat dock at Loon Lake. The weather is cooperating perfectly, with the mildest of breezes and temperature in the seventies, so maybe today’s date will go well too.
“Thanks for coming, Brenda. I just wanted to clear my head, and I think a nice boat ride will do the trick,” I say.
“Of course. I haven’t been out on the lake in ages; it’ll be nice. You know, me and my brother and Miguel actually used to skinny dip here when we were younger.” She giggles in a scandalized way and claps her hand over her mouth.
“Hold that thought,” I say to her. She gives me a funny look .
“Uh, okay. How are things with Jasper?”
“Mostly back to normal.”
“So you’re sure that Jasper isn’t lying about the girl with the weird name?” Brenda wrinkles her nose skeptically.
“Brenda, you saw her. She is delusional. Off in la-la land. And we’ve already discussed the fact that there’s no way she could have made it past the town gossip police without anybody noticing. So she’s clearly a liar.”
“I guess that makes sense.” Brenda nods. “By the way, everybody’s been singing the praises of that scenery you worked on. I hope you get to stay and work on some more with us. If Jasper doesn’t tear it down, of course.”
“He said he’s reconsidering.”
She shrugs. “He said that, but he’s still in town, and so is his creepy little minion, and his crazy muffin-making gal pal, and they haven’t withdrawn any of the demolition permits they applied for.”
“Give it time. I have a good feeling about this, I swear.”
We’re approaching the boat dock and the boat house. People rent boats on the honor system here—they put money in a jar on the counter in the boat house. It’s crazy. In Manhattan, if you leave your bike locked to a tree for five minutes, you’ll come back to find the tree sawed down.
Lucas has rented two small motorboats, which are drifting gently in the water, moored to the dock’s metal cleats. “Perfect day for a boat ride,” I say hopefully. I scowl up at the sky, at whatever fiction-gods are watching over us, and telegraph a message: Do not screw this one up for us.
“Oh, look, there are two boats. I guess someone else is going on a boat ride today,” Brenda says cheerfully.
“It’s a perfect day for it,” I nod, keeping my eyes wide and innocent.
Lucas is approaching us, with Officer Hernandez by his side .
“My goodness, what an amazing coincidence,” I say.
Brenda nods, her eyes widening. “That is quite a coincidence!”
I do love small town naivete.
When we reach Lucas and Officer Hernandez by the dock, we stop, and the two of them nod awkwardly to each other.
“Brenda,” Officer Hernandez says.
“Miguel,” she replies formally.
“I haven’t seen you since . . .”
“You arrested me?” she supplies helpfully.
“Oh, for God’s sake,” Lucas groans. “You two.”
Officer Hernandez turns to Lucas. “You told me there was some kind of crime being committed by the docks?”
“Nope. Just Brenda.”
“I don’t understand.”
“This is a fix-up,” I say. “You, Miguel. We’re fixing you up on a date.”
“Waaiiit a minute...” Brenda looks at me suspiciously. “So, this wasn’t a coincidence?”
“I can’t take this any longer,” Lucas says in exasperation. “You two like each other. Miguel, Brenda is a grown-up woman now. She is not a little kid. She is an adult, one you have a crush on.”
“You do?” Brenda gasps, like I haven’t told her seventy million times already. “Miguel, is this true?”
Officer Hernandez’s cheeks turn ruddy with embarrassment. “Maybe,” he mumbles, staring at the ground.
Lucas glares at them. “You two are going to go get in that boat and work this out, or I swear to God, I will commit a crime right here and right now.”
“What kind of crime?” Officer Hernandez looks concerned. “A felony?”
“Doesn’t matter. Quit avoiding the issue and get in that boat. ”
Lucas points at the boat. Then he grabs me by the hand and leads me to the other boat. I set my purse down on the dock so I don’t end up getting it wet. Green Acres is the kind of town where you can leave your purse and it will be there when you get back.
Lucas helps me climb in. I reach out and unhook the mooring line, he sits on his seat and pulls the cord on the outboard motor, and I sit facing him as we glide away from the dock.
Glancing back, I see that Officer Hernandez and Brooke are in their own boat.
“Oh, thank God,” I say, shaking my head. “Do we need to draw them a diagram?”
“Quite possibly, but let’s give them a shot at working it out on their own first.” Lucas grins at me. “Tab A goes in slot B...”
I snort. “How romantic.”
He nods. “I am that.”
We head for the opposite end of the lake to give them some privacy, and Lucas cuts the motor. The boat drifts slowly, and the sky overhead is an endless blue ocean swimming with fluffy white clouds, and the birds trill from the trees on the banks.
“Did you know that the seats on a dinghy are called thwarts?” Lucas asks.
“Forget the boat parts. Are they kissing yet?” I ask Lucas.
He gives me a look of amusement. “It’s been three minutes.”
“That’s not a no.”
“Of course they’re not kissing yet. Give them some space; they’ll do fine.”
I sigh and lean forward, resting my elbows on my knees. “Okay, since we’re trapped together and we have to do this whole dating thing, and we can’t talk about work, what should we talk about?”
Lucas shrugs. “What we’ll do when we get back.”
“Avoid thunderstorms,” I say .
Lucas laughs. “I’ll say. And stop trying to peek over your shoulder at them. You’ll ruin it.”
“I’m not,” I argue. “Just enjoying the view.” And resisting the urge to shout “For God’s sake, tell her you love her!” “What will you do when we get back?” I ask.
“Call my father and every single business contact and try to come up with a believable story about why you and I disappeared for several weeks, and I guess try to save the smoking ruins of my company.” Lucas’s face takes on a grim expression.
Thinking about what’s happening in our absence gives me a queasy feeling in my stomach.
“I’ll call my mother and visit my father. I’ll need a week off to spend with them. I could work part-time from home to help you out, though.”
Lucas is still looking grim.
“Okay, new rules,” I say. “We can only talk about fun things that we’re going to do when we get back home. I know! I’m going to come up with a list of new restaurants for you to try.”
“Come up with something that you’re going to do just for you,” Lucas says.
I frown in thought. “Well, I...” What would I do if I actually had free time and wasn’t drained from working fourteen-hour days?
“I don’t know.”
Lucas stares at me in disbelief. “It’s Manhattan. There is an endless cornucopia of entertainment options.”
“You’re right, you’re right. I just... I think I’d... Maybe I’d see a play,” I suggest. “Or read a book.”
Lucas shakes his head. “You should have been able to come up with something immediately. You don’t get out enough. I need to give you more time off.”
“You think?” I scoff. “I might have mentioned that to you one or two thousand times.”
“Which was it? One time, or two thousand times? ”
As we drift lazily, the boat moves around so I can see Brenda and Miguel’s boat. Brenda and Officer Hernandez are locked in a clinch, and... kissing.
“Woo hoo!” I shout, so loud it echoes across the lake.
They break apart, startled.
“Brooke! What the hell? People back in Manhattan heard that,” Lucas glares at me. “Do you have any chill at all? Find some. Please, for all of our sakes.”
“Oh. God. Sorry.” I grimace. “I just got so excited.”
He claps his hand over my mouth. “Get excited quietly.”
I pull his hand off. “That’s not really my thing.”
That earns me a lascivious smile. “I know.”
“Well, excuse me for being enthusiastic,” I sniff.
“Excuse me for being so awesome in bed that you can’t keep it to yourself.” He’s smirking.
He puts his hand back over my mouth. “Officer Hernandez just put his arm around Brenda’s shoulder,” he says. “Do not ruin this for us—I mean, for them. Do not make a sound. No talkie. Be quiet.”
I try to grab his hand and pull it off my face, but he clamps on tighter. “I don’t trust you as far as I can throw this boat,” he says, as I make outraged noises from behind his hand. “I am not letting go for at least another ten minutes, because you’re going to start screaming, ‘Go team,’ or yelling at him to hurry up and get to second base.”
How dare he.
I grab his arm and we start wrestling. The boat rocks.
“Be careful!” Lucas cries, but he keeps his hand clamped over my mouth.
I hurl myself at him. The boat rocks violently, and then capsizes, and we fall in the water. The lake water is cold and I gasp in shock as the waters close over my head. Kicking frantically, I burst through to the surface.
Lucas emerges moments later, shouting “Brooke! Brooke! Oh, there you are. Thank God you’re okay... so I can drown you now.”
“Not if I drown you first,” I splutter at him.
“Swim back to the dock!” That’s Officer Hernandez shouting. “We’ll come get your boat.”
“Don’t drown,” Brooke shouts helpfully.
Fortunately, we’re both decent swimmers and not far from the dock. We make it back there a few minutes later, climbing up the ladder on the side.
“We ruined it again,” I say miserably, as water streams from my clothing.
Lucas shakes his head, splattering me with water. “No, we didn’t. We made huge progress. He admitted he has a crush, they kissed, and there was physical contact. I bet if you check your book, there’s at least one more chapter filled in,” Lucas says, peeling his wet shirt off and wringing it out on the dock.
“I wish I could take my shirt off and squeeze it out,” I say, grabbing my hair and squeezing water out of it.
Lucas flashes me a lascivious grin. “I wouldn't object. That guy probably wouldn’t mind, either. Not that he’s allowed to look.”
“Oh, do my ta-tas belong to you all of a sudden? Also, what guy?”
Lucas points and I turn to look.
A man is stalking up the dock towards us, and he looks vaguely familiar somehow. A face flashes through my mind, and I gasp in dismay. I’m summoning up Susie’s memories.
“Oh, crud. That’s Brenda’s brother, Christopher. Susie remembers him. He went to school with Susie; he was a couple of years ahead of her. Brenda said he comes home and visits sometimes. And he looks mad as hell. He must have heard about their date. Damn it,” I moan.
Brenda is steering our boat and Officer Hernandez is steering their boat, and they both pull up to the dock at the same time and moor their boats.
“What the hell are you doing?” Christopher shouts.
“Hey, calm down. I can explain.” Officer Hernandez climbs onto the dock and reaches down to help Brenda climb up.
“Get your hands off my sister!” Christopher shouts.
“Excuse you. You are not the boss of me,” Brenda huffs. “And what are you even doing back here anyway? You didn’t tell me you were coming.”
“Because I wanted to surprise you. Nice surprise, obviously. I cannot believe you,” Christopher turns his wrath on Officer Hernandez. “You were my best friend in the world. I trusted you, and I asked you to keep an eye on my baby sister, not molest her!”
“I wasn’t molesting her.” Officer Hernandez’s face flushes red. “Look, I’m sorry, I just—”
“Forget it,” Christopher snarls. He turns and stomps off. Brenda chases after him.
Officer Hernandez, without a glance at either of us, stalks off in the opposite direction.
Lucas and I stand there in stunned silence. This is bad.
At my feet, the book is vibrating so hard that I can feel it without even picking up my purse.
I’m afraid to open it and see what it says.