Summer's Need (4 page)

He sighed and turned his back on her. “That self-centered
bastard couldn’t even make it to see his first grandchild in the hospital. He
had to leave for a business trip and he couldn’t even stop by the hospital
before he left. It hurt you so much and I wanted to wring his neck for tainting
what should have been one of the happiest days of our lives because there was
some banking crisis in Singapore that he had to attend.”

His shoulders tensed but he didn’t look back at her. “I
hated him for that. Hated him for hurting you, hated him for hurting your
mother. Most of all I hated that you still held out hope that maybe, just maybe
this once he would choose you over his work.” A breeze blew through the trees
outside, their rustle filling the room. “I don’t want our kids to hate you like
that, and I won’t let them hate me for allowing you to put our family at the
bottom of your priority list.”

Tears choked her throat and she had to swallow a couple
times before she could speak. “I love our boys more than anything in this
world.”

His shoulders sagged and he began to walk out of the room.
“Yeah, I know you do.” He paused at the archway of the living room and looked
over his shoulder at her, his gaze filled with sorrow. “I don’t know how much
longer I can do this.”

The world spun around her and she stumbled to the couch,
falling into an ungraceful heap when her legs would no longer support her.
“You’re leaving me?”

He turned away and shook his head. “No, Summer, I’m not
leaving you. I think you’re leaving me and I’ve been too dumb to realize it.”

She tried to speak, tried to deny his words, but her throat
closed up as tears spilled down her face. He left her there, alone on the couch
that still held the musk of their lovemaking. She grabbed a pillow and held it
to her face, muffling her sobs as a hole big enough to swallow the universe
opened up in her heart.

Chapter Four

“And with the closure of the McAdams hacking case that
brings us to a grand total of 4,893 satisfied clients in ten years.” Murray,
Summer’s boss, looked over the small but luxurious conference room facing the
Atlantic ocean and smiled. “Not too shabby for a bunch of computer geeks and
tech nerds.”

Summer forced out a laugh and joined her coworkers in
applauding Murray as he took an exaggerated bow. Outside the wide bay window
families enjoyed a beautiful summer day on the beaches of Cape Hatteras in
North Carolina. They were actually in Murray’s enormous beach house, a
twenty-bedroom mansion complete with two kitchens, servants’ quarters and the
conference room they currently occupied. It was more like a luxury resort than
a home but Summer found herself unable to enjoy much of anything.

She leaned back from the conference table, exchanging small
talk until the room emptied except for her and Murray. In his late sixties with
a full head of silver hair, Murray looked more like a Jimmy Buffet fan with his
loud Hawaiian shirt and deep tan than one of the richest men in America. With a
low hum the projection screen rolled up into its niche in the ceiling,
revealing a priceless collection of Impressionist art Murray and his wife had
collected over the years.

The scent of coconut tanning oil filled the air as he pulled
out the plush leather chair next to hers at the gleaming walnut conference
table. They didn’t say anything for a few moments, each looking out the window
and watching kids play in the surf. Quite a few of the employees had brought
their families with them to the beach and a stab of guilt went through her that
she hadn’t even considered bringing along Dave and the boys. She was such a
shitty wife and mother.

The chair next to hers creaked as Murray leaned back and put
his feet up on the table, the bright-yellow-and-green flip-flops he wore a
stark contrast to the businesslike stacks of papers and laptops. “What’s on
your mind, Summer? You’ve been awfully quiet this week.”

She darted a quick glance at him and hoped he didn’t notice
her blinking back tears. “Sorry, just some stuff going on at home.”

Murray didn’t say anything, just laced his fingers over the
small paunch of his belly and examined her. She fiddled with her wedding band
and took a deep breath, terrified of what she was about to say. “Murray, I was
wondering if…” Her throat closed up and a stinging sweat broke out over her
body.

“Yes?”

Her voice held a tremor as she said, “Would it be possible,
temporarily, to cut back on my workload?” The last words came out in a shamed
whisper and she clenched her nails into her palms, willing the tears away with
the pain. She couldn’t look at him, couldn’t face the disappointment in his
gaze, the unsaid words of her being a quitter, a failure.

“Absolutely.”

The happiness in his voice caught her off guard and she
looked up at him. The surprise must have showed on her face because he sighed
and leaned forward to pat her shoulder, Murray’s version of a hug. “Don’t be so
shocked. I’ve been worried about you and I’ve been trying to figure out a way
to tell you to take it easy without you taking it as a personal attack.”

She blinked at him and tried to school her features back
into something other than gaping. “I wouldn’t have taken it as a personal
attack.”

He snorted and raised his thick eyebrows. “Really? How about
the time I suggested you give the South Cape account to Carl and you proceeded
to work fifty hours of overtime for the next two months in order to get it done
by yourself? Or how about when I brought your intern Eric in and you spent the
next week looking at me like I’d kicked a puppy.”

She swallowed and avoided his knowing gaze. “I’m sorry.”

“Summer, while I appreciate your hard work and your
dedication to the company, I also see how you and Dave have been drifting
apart. You two used to be inseparable at our parties, making eyes at each other
and holding hands. Now you barely look at each other. I hope you’ll forgive me
for saying this, but I’ve known you and Dave for ten years now and I’d hate to
see you kids separate.”

His words echoed Dave’s so much that the wall she’d been
holding her emotions behind cracked. Her voice came out thick with tears as she
said, “I know. We’re so broken and I don’t know how to fix it.” She spun her
chair around and furiously wiped at the tears now streaming down her face, not
wanting Murray to see her weakness. “Forgive me, I didn’t mean to dump this on
you.”

“Hey now, it’s okay.” He patted her shoulder again and
handed her a handful of tissues from the box in the center of the table. “I’m
sure you still have a chance to make it right.”

“But I don’t know how,” she said in a furious whisper.

He spun her chair back around to face him and took his seat
again. “It’s going to take time.” His gaze went distant and he laced his hands
together again. “Many, many years ago Carol and I went through a rough spot.
You know, me spending too much time at work, her being cooped up with the kids
all day. By the time I got home we were both so worn out that neither of us
made much of an effort to take care of each other.”

She nodded, his words echoing her own situation. “But you
and Carol have a great relationship. How did you fix it?”

“Summer, you can’t fix people.” He gave her a gentle smile.
“Did you know I did a flowchart of how to make Carol happy?” She laughed and he
nodded. “Yeah, I know. Oddly enough her reactions didn’t follow my plan and I
had to learn the hard way that while her feelings may have seemed irrational
and illogical to me, they were very real to her. I had to learn how to see the
world through her eyes and to put her and the kids first.”

She gave him a narrow-eyed look. “Have you been talking to
Dave?”

He laughed and shook his head. “Nope, but oddly enough I’ve
had a great many friends and employees in the technology business get a little
bit career obsessed. Working with logical computer systems is a lot easier than
working with sticky human beings.”

A grin twitched on her lips as she thought about all of her
socially awkward coworkers. “Yeah, I can see that. So what should I do?”

He didn’t answer right away, instead standing and moving to
the window. “Well, first thing you need to do is get your work in order and
take a vacation. You do know that you get six weeks a year off, right?”

She wadded up the tissue in her fist and nodded. “But what
about the Simperson case? And I need to go to the Trojan virus conference in
two weeks, and—”

“As invaluable as you are to this company, we have people to
cover you. Let the rest of your team handle the Simperson case and I think you
should send Eric to the conference.”

Her muscles tensed up. “I don’t know, Eric is awfully
young.” Murray turned around and gave her a pointed look, making her wince.
“Okay, okay. I think I need to go to rehab for being a control freak.”

Murray’s cellphone rang and he frowned as he looked at the
caller. “One second, I need to address something with the staff about dinner
tonight.”

He stepped out of the room, leaving Summer to wipe away the
rest of her tears and take in a deep, shuddering breath. All week she’d been
dreading this conversation, dreading disappointing Murray and now she felt as
if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She checked her
cellphone, her heart sinking when there was still no message from Dave. He’d
been avoiding her calls all week and when she did get through he’d give the
phone to one of the kids before telling her a curt goodbye. She couldn’t
concentrate and all she could think about was how badly she’d messed up.

She tried calling the house again, eager to tell Dave about
her conversation with Murray, but the answering machine picked up and she hung
up without leaving a message. Maybe she should leave the conference a few days
early and surprise Dave. Then again, Murray had agreed to give her six weeks of
vacation so she didn’t want to seem like she was taking advantage of him by
leaving early.

Murray came back into the room and gave her a warm smile.
“Feel better?”

“Yeah, I do.” She took a deep breath and stood, smoothing
her light summer dress over her hips. “Thank you for being so understanding.”

He gave her shoulder another squeeze and escorted her to the
door. “Thank you for trusting me to talk about things, and don’t worry, I’m
sure everything will work out.” He smacked his forehead. “Oh, I almost forgot,
a package came for you while we were in our meeting. The staff put it upstairs
in your suite.”

She frowned. “I wasn’t expecting anything.”

He shrugged. “I have no idea what it is. I’m heading out
with the missus for some shopping. I’ll see you at the clambake later tonight.”

“Okay,” she said in a distracted voice and climbed the
stairs leading to her suite of rooms located in the one of the turrets of the
house. When she opened the door the sound of the ocean rolled through the space
from the open windows. She took a deep breath of the salt air, exhaling a great
deal of tension. The rooms were a lovely combination of cream, beige and
lavender tones blending in perfectly with the brilliant blue sky and ocean. She
kicked off her sandals and enjoyed the sun-warmed oak floors beneath her feet
as she looked around the room for her package.

The plain brown box sat on the distressed wood coffee table
in front of the love seat and her heart skipped a beat when she noticed the
return address was her home in Dave’s familiar handwriting. She grabbed her
purse from the edge of the couch and dug her keys out, slicing open the tape on
the box with a trembling hand. The small, insecure part of her psyche whispered
maybe he’d sent her divorce papers, but her rational mind argued he wouldn’t
have needed a box for that. Still, her hands shook as she finally opened it.

A cellphone sat on top of a tissue-paper-wrapped bundle and
she pursed her lips as she pulled it out. Setting it over to the side, she
ripped open the tissue paper and found a black one-piece bathing suit with
high-cut hips and a plunging back. Beneath that lay a pretty gold-and-ivory
wrap and a note.

She took out the note and sat on the love seat, her
curiosity overwhelming her earlier apprehension.

Dear Summer,

I miss you and I’m sorry you left on such bad terms. Let
me make it up to you. Put the bathing suit on and go for a walk on the beach.
As soon as you’re away from the crowd call me on this cellphone. It’s a
satellite phone so you’ll have good reception and the number I need you to call
me at is on the contact list. I know your curiosity will be driving you crazy,
but please trust me that it will be worth the wait if you do as I ask.

Dave

P.S. Part of this idea was Ember’s but most of it was
mine.

She tossed the note onto the table and took out the
cellphone, examining it and wondering why Dave had sent her a new one when the
one in her purse worked perfectly well. She almost turned it on but stopped at
the last second, remembering Dave’s request to wait until she was on the beach.
A little tingle of excitement spun through her body and she grinned as she
realized Ember’s involvement in this probably meant something kinky.

She quickly shrugged out of her dress and slipped into the
bathing suit, noting the fabric felt a little thicker and heavier than she was
used to. After adjusting the straps she was glad he’d thought to include a wrap
because the high-cut bottom of the suit partially exposed her butt. The scent
of pineapple and coconut filled the air as she rubbed in her sunblock before
grabbing her sunglasses and the phone.

A great weight seemed to have been lifted from her shoulders
after her conversation with Murray and she wanted to hug herself with relief.
She’d done it, she’d picked her family over her job and the world hadn’t ended.
The giant beach house was quiet, everyone either in their rooms enjoying an
afternoon nap or out on the beach playing in the waves. As the screen door clanged
behind her she smiled up at the sun, letting the warmth bathe her face and
shoulders. The weathered boards of the long boardwalk out to the beach were
smooth beneath her feet and a pleasant breeze gusted through the long beach
grass of the dunes on either side. The closer to the water she got the louder
the crash of waves mixing with the laughter of children became. She paused at
the end of the boardwalk and looked down the beach in either direction, trying
to decide which way to go.

The crowd thinned out farther down the beach on her
right-hand side so she decided to head that way, smiling at the sight of
gigantic pelicans flying in a tight formation over the beach. The sand was hot
beneath her feet and she found herself making a mad dash for the water, sighing
in relief as she reached wet sand and the first wave broke over her calves. A
few coworkers called out her name but she waved at them and pretended to be
talking on her phone. Keeping to where the edge of the water met the sand she
avoided a clump of seaweed and took in a deep lungful of air, the tang of sea
salt strong enough to leave a faint taste in her mouth.

The ebb and flow of the tide around her ankles as she walked
held an almost mesmerizing quality and she found her thoughts drifting with the
motions of the sea. A quick glance around showed she was now along a more
sparsely populated section of beach so she stopped and turned on the cellphone.
She found Dave’s name in the contact list and called the unfamiliar number,
wondering why in the world they couldn’t use their regular phones. It rang four
times and a twinge of unease tightened her shoulders before her husband’s
familiar voice came over the phone.

“Hello, Summer.”

She smiled and curled her toes in the sand, the cool water
of the ocean breaking over her shins as a wave crashed along the shore. “Hi,
Dave.”