Our Last Summer

Chapter Fourteen

It was the first week in July. For the past several days, I had been in heaven. Luke and I swam and walked our dogs around the town and gone shopping and ridden horses and some other, well, physical activities. We had moved into the shed we called out house for a while with the dogs, but occasionally I had slept in my own bed when I felt too sick or stiff or weak to be there. Now I was helping Lynne and Paul prepare for their 4th of July party. It was going to be big, especially for the soldiers who had recently returned home, George and Larry among them. Luke and I had left Logan and the incident behind us and had moved into a new stage, acting like a sort of married couple. Lynne had returned from her trip the day Logan left, when she had given me the advice to talk to Luke, feeling refreshed and in love with Paul. I just prayed that she didn't EVER find out about Cleo.

"Yeah, you could just set up that table over by the fire pit, off to the side by a few feet...no more than that. Yeah, perfect. I'll go grab the paper plates I bought, they're in my room." Lynne was helping me to position a folding table. The party was that night, as it was the 4th of July. I followed Lynne to the sliding glass doors facing tha back yard. i turned to look at the decorating job we had done. The fire pit was set up, and tables with snack were set out, along with tons of lawn chairs. Streamers and lanterns were strung about in the most random of places. It all looked very festive and barbeque-like. The way it was intended. Back at Luke's place, the barbeques they had were more like fancy dinners and such. All very nice, but much to formal for my taste.

I stepped inside after Lynne and found Luke at the table with his laptop, typing away. He was applying for college early because he had taken all of the required high school classes already, starting in middle school. I was so proud of him. He had told me he would never go away if I were at home, but since i wouldn't be for much longer..

"Come here, babe." Luke stood up and pulled me too him, leaning against the sink. Just as our lips connected-

"OH MY GOD! PAUL, WHAT THE HELL IS THIS? WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? GET YOUR ASS IN HERE!" Lynne screamed as loud as she could from upstairs. The kids eagerly ran from the living room to the stairs to see what the commotion was, but Luke told Lily and Seth to keep everyone in the basement. As they trooped down to the basement, we rushed with Mammy up the stairs. Paul stood across from Lynne in their bedroom. We peered in through the doorway. Lynne held a chunky yellow bracelet with a charm hanging off of it.

"You had her IN OUR BED and didn't tell me. You said everything was okay, you were just friends, nothing was going on, I TRUSTED YOU! And you do THIS when all I have done for the past 13 years of my life is raised your family. You say, oh i want a family with lots of kids and to live on the farm. I guess that dream of yours was too boring huh? Better go have an affair to spice things up. I always always suspected her of being that kind of woman. She left her yellow bracelet with her name engraved in the charm HANGING ON A HANGER in my closet! That's not a mistake, Paul. No, she was doing it to tick me off. She loves to play around with people's minds. Ya know what? She played with yours, she made you think she loved you and then she turned around and left you and won't even buy our produce. Smart, Paul. Smart plan. And you know what? You know what, Paul? I'm leaving you if we cannot work this out. Until we can, I am moving in with Tina and George, because Tina offered to let me stay there if things got bad. Even SHE suspected it." Lynne threw the bracelet in his face and stomped to the closet, pulling out a suitcase and throwing things in, still screaming "she's a slut. and you're a man-slut." in a stupid voice.

"Lynne, what about the kids? i can't run this place without you, honey. I'm sorry, she seduced me.."

"PAUL! Dammit, there are no excuses for what you did. Stop making excuses and just accept that you did something horribly wrong to destroy our marriage. Let's hope to God we can save it." Lynne choked up at the last part, her eyes filling with tears. Then she slammed her suitcase shut and ran down the stairs.

I was desperate.

 I grabbed her elbow as she set her foot out the door. She froze and focused on something behind me. Rachel stood behind me with red eyes, crying.

"Mommy don't go. I love you don't go. Don't leave me Momma." She ran and grabbed her mother's leg.  Lynne simply picked her up, kissed her on the head, and handed her to me.

"Take care of them for me, ok? I'll, I'll be back soon." She nodded and walked away, taking off in the van. We all spilled onto the porch, every kid and Mammy and Paul and Luke and me. Most of the kids cried, and Paul put his head against the wall and started to cry too. Mammy shook her head and walked away.

"I told you so.' She muttered. I leaned on Luke and stared out at the dust the gravel had let off as the car had sped away.

Later that night, practically everyone in the small town was gathered in the backyard. Paul sat on the steps to the sliding doors with a beer, looking depressed. The kids were inside, asleep. Except Rachel, who insisted on me holding her. She was small for her age of five, so she wasn't hard to carry. Her normally loud and perky self was missing, and I feared it would never come back. She had watched her mother walk out on her.

Lynne hadn't dared to come to the party and trouble her kids anymore, but George and Tina had, glowing with pride at the idea of being parents soon. Larry and his two girls were there, and his wife.

Everyone had heard the news by now, so the mood was somewhat dampened. By the time fireworks started, everyone just wanted to go home.

I approached Luke who had a drunk Tanya hanging all over him. Feeling bold, I pulled her gently off of his arm and said "Honey, you need to get your own man instead of hanging all over mine." A few boys and Jordan whistled and laughed. Tanya narrowed her baby blues at me.

"Excuse me? You need to back off. You sure as hell do not want to be making trouble with the locals." she smirked, holding up her beer.

"I'm not making trouble,Tahn. I'm just warning you." I smiled sweetly.

"Oh you..ha. I'm sorry. I'll back off. Promise." She laughed a short bark of a laugh and walked away. I put Rachel in Luke's lap and went to get a root beer. As I poured it in the cup, one of Tanya's friends walked up to me.

"Hey. So I think your blouse is really cute. I love the navy and hot pink together, they look amazing. Yeah and your shorts look ah-dorable on y- k bye!" She abruptly walked away, swinging her blonde ponytail behind her.

"Weird." I muttered. I picked up my drink and walked back to Luke. I took a sip and thought it tasted off.

"Lukey? Does this taste right to you? Oh god..." I dropped to the ground, my stomach twisting in pain. I threw up non-stop for like, ten minutes, a crowd gathered.

"There is definetly something in that drink." Larry declared. Someone noted how powdery it was. Luke knelt by me and helped me up, taking me inside and holding my hair back as I continued into the sink.

"Tanya." I sputtered when I was done for the moment. Luke nodded and walked outside, talking to the group. Suddnely everyone turned to Tanya, who ended up confessing when Luke pulled a packagae of puking pills out of her back pocket. I felt slightly sick for the rest of the night, and when I was settling into bed, Rachel came running into my room and cuddled into the bed with me.

"Where's mommy?" she asked as she snuggled into me.

"Gone." I said, stroking her hair.

Rachel began to wail.  I was able to ignore it, and fell asleep quickly.