Monday, June 8, 1992, Bass Lake, Wisconsin
"Hey, LT," Jake called out as Lana was out in the water with the boys.
"What, Jake?" Lana hollered back, assisting Nick with his floating ring.
"How much longer do you think you wanna be in the water? Maybe you and the boys should take a break?" Jake suggested.
"Why?" Lana asked, glancing back to check on how far out Matt had gone in the water.
"Well," Jake paused, "maybe I want to go across to the diner."
"Why?" Lana responded dryly.
"You know..." Jake trailed off, hoping Lana would catch his drift.
"We've already had lunch, Jake, and I don't think we have enough cash to buy more food for all of us, unless you have more with you," she said as she came up to the shore. "I mean, I guess we could take a break if you give me a minute. I need to get the boys back up here, and I'd like you to spend a few minutes with Nick and help him."
"I don't need help," Nick protested. "I'm not a baby."
"I wasn't saying you were, buddy," Lana reassured her youngest cousin. "I was just suggesting to Jake that he give us a hand before he takes off to flirt with girls. I'd hate to tell my mother that he left us all alone to clean up, and I had to carry everything back to the cottage by myself along the highway," Lana said, now fixing her gaze on Jake.
"Okay stop," Jake said, raising his hand in defeat. "I'll help get all the bags picked up, and we'll all walk back to the cottage. You'll have a chance to relax and get changed. I just want to head over to the diner for a few minutes."
"I know exactly what you want," Lana said. "You want to be the typical guy and show off your moves to that hot girl from Georgia," she said loudly enough for one of the nearby moms to glance over her People magazine and stare at Jake.
"Oh my gosh," Lana taunted, "you are blushing. Oooh, I was right."
In a hushed tone, Jake admitted, "Okay, yes, I want to go and talk with the girls. I haven't seen Bonnie in a while, and she is one of my few non-related friends out here, and yes, her cousin is umm, pretty," said Jake cautiously.
"Okay," Lana said, as she started gathering all the bags together, and Jake called Matt and Brian back to shore. Soon, they were all back at the cottage, the boys getting changed upstairs while Lana loaded the items from the fridge back into the cooler.
"Okay, well, I'll see you in a few," said Jake, trying not to miss his window to go say hi to the girls.
"Just to make sure you aren't gone too long," Lana said, calling upstairs. "Hey, Matty?"
"Yeah, Lana?" Matt called back.
"Are you dressed?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'm ready to go," Matt replied, coming down the stairs with his bag.
"Would you be the coolest cousin in the whole world?" Lana asked sweetly.
"Of course, Lana, what do you need?" Matt replied proudly.
"Well, Jake here is going over to say bye to Mrs. Beck and Bonnie," she said as she grabbed her purse. "Would you bring me back a super cold Coca-Cola, please?"
"You betcha," Matt said as Lana handed him two bucks.
"And get something for yourself too," she said, smiling her biggest smile.
Matt smiled back, relishing the fact that he was Lana's favorite among the other cousins. "Thank you so much," Lana said with a wink at Jake. "You boys have fun."
"Yeah, thanks so much," said Jake as he and Matt left the cottage, not enjoying his young chaperone.
"Okay, Matt," Jake said as they neared the road. "Please stay by me and listen."
"Yeah, Jake," Matt replied as they crossed into the diner parking lot.
"Here are some quarters so you can play some of the video games, okay? I'm not gonna take too long, but I would appreciate having a few minutes to sit and talk with the girls. Do you follow me?" Jake said, giving Matt the quarters.
"Oh, oh yeah, I gotcha, Jake. Just let me know when you're ready," said Matt, nodding his head.
"Perfect," said Jake, giving Matt a thumbs up as they walked into the diner.
The diner was humming along with the lunchtime crowd. Leah and Bonnie were seated at the corner table by the jukebox. The jukebox was the subject of some controversy within the Beck family, at least between Mrs. Beck, her daughter, and her granddaughter, regarding what should be available for play. For example, allowed were songs like "Achy Breaky Heart," "Tears in Heaven," Mariah Carey, Billy Joel, Marvin Gaye, and most Michael Jackson songs. Banned were songs like "I'm Too Sexy," "Never Gonna Get It," "Smells Like Teen Spirit," and anything by Sir Mix-a-Lot, Guns N' Roses, TLC, and Ozzy Osbourne. Mr. Beck and Bonnie's dad had a clear policy of not discussing the jukebox as no answer was ever the correct one for the women.
As Jake approached the table, Bonnie was sipping her 7Up and poking her French fry in the ketchup. Leah was staring out the window at the cornfield, the stalks lightly blowing in the wind, singing along with Garth Brooks, almost as if she were in a place of her own. "I'll never reach my destination, if I never try, so I will sail my vessel 'til the river runs dry," she mouthed the words, and Jake was unsure if he saw a small tear in her eye. As the song finished, he waved to Bonnie as he gave Matt a few more quarters.
Leah noticed him too and regained her composure, smiling at Jake. "Do you always pay off your cousins so you can talk to girls?" she said, and Bonnie smirked at Jake.
"Only the pretty ones," said Jake, grinning at Bonnie as she blushed, and Leah laughed out loud.
"So you do got it in ya," she said, now easing up in her chair.
"Oh, that and then some," said Bonnie, rolling her eyes at Jake as the song finished. "That's enough country for the next minute," she said, putting on "Life is a Highway" and punching a few more songs into the queue. "There, that's more like it."
"I don't know, Bonnie," said Leah, "Farmer Tan seemed pretty happy singing along with Garth."
"Well, that's all they listened to down in Cowboyland," said Bonnie.
Jake finally got a chance to take in Leah. Her long dark hair was her standout feature, along with her piercing bright blue eyes framed within her slightly rounded face. Her smile was one the Cheshire cat would view with jealousy.
"You gonna take a Polaroid or something?" teased a very amused Leah at Jake's obvious staring.
"Oh, um, so, um, how long are you gonna be staying with Bonnie? Bet it's cool to be up here versus Georgia," Jake asked, trying to make some conversation. But he was greeted with a look from Bonnie of disgust, as if it were an obviously wrong question to ask.
Leah got very quiet for a second and stared back out to the fields. In a very distant voice, she said, "My dad has me here through the end of June so he can be in Houston to start getting things ready for his new job. I fly home early July to Atlanta, and we leave in August."
"Oh," said Jake, now looking at Bonnie, whose eyes were shooting laser beams, warning him to be wise with his next question. He carefully directed his next few questions to Bonnie and caught up on how her school year had been. Of particular note, she mentioned that she was currently not seeing anyone.
Out of the corner of his eye Jake saw that Matt had used up his quarters, and knew they should probably head back, before Lana got upset for them taking too long. "Well, Leah, it was nice to meet you." Jake smiled as he got to his feet. " I need to get Matt back to Lana and the boys. Bonnie, I'll give you a call later, if that's cool?"
"That sounds good," she said, smiling again. "You still got my second line number?"
"Yup, 2BO-NNIE, never forgot it," he winked.
"Good memory," she said. "Talk to you later," she added.
"Well, have a good afternoon, Bonnie, Leah."
"You as well, Farmer Tan," Leah said with a wink as Jake smiled and turned to Matt.
"Let's go, Matt, don't forget the soda," said Jake.
"Already got it," said Matt as they headed toward the door.
"Drive safe, Jake, and tell your Grandpa to come fishing next time. Harold would love to see him," called out Clara from behind the counter.
"I will, Mrs. Beck, I will," said Jake as they left the cool air conditioning and entered back into the mid-70s afternoon. They crossed the road and rejoined Lana with the two younger boys at the cottage.
"Here's your Coke, Lana," said Matt.
"Thank you, Matty," Lana smiled. "And how was your time over there, Jake? Did you flirt with the pretty Southern girl?"
"Shush, LT" said Jake, hiding his blush. "Thank you for getting everything packed up."
"No problem," she said, looking toward the boys. "Alright, boys, let's go," she ordered.
Jake grabbed the remaining bags as they got into the car. Soon, the Buick was backing up and making its way up the rural route, headed back to the freeway. Lana noticed Jake's quiet demeanor on the ride home and wondered what he was thinking as he stared out at the road ahead.
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