Ryan
Ryan called Adam on Monday morning to tease him. Jack had texted him joking about Adam behind home plate at the game. For a moment, Ryan thought he should watch the game with his brother, then he remembered they hadn't been friendly in years. Ironically, they were running together every day.
"Is she legal to drink?"
"She's twenty-four. I had forgotten how much fun younger girls are."
"So you were indecent?"
"Best pussy, I've had in a long time!"
Ryan cringed, he liked woman and sex, but he wasn't one for crude talk related to women. He didn't know if it was the influence of his mother or the Jesuits in high school and at Georgetown which kept him from crossing certain lines.
Even if Adam was Jack's best friend, he was a client and Ryan didn't comment. He learned the hard way he always needed a line between business and personal.
Adam was interrupted and when he came back on the line. "Jack's calling me."
Ryan quickly updated Adam on his recent trades. "Bring your girl up for the long weekend."
"Maybe, but I'm warning you she's a loud one."
Ryan didn't have to respond, because Adam hung up. It was not what he needed, listening to Adam getting some all weekend. Then his mind betrayed him as he remembered Isobel screaming his name. How was it he stilled stirred when he thought of her? Perhaps because he hadn't slept with anyone since her. As much as he wanted her out of his mind, he wasn't interested in replacing her with more women trouble.
Just after noon he learned he still hadn't gotten over his current woman problems when he was speaking to another client. David was a wealthy man in his late fifties, who had a sizable account. Ryan was discussing some great ETFs. "Do you have any money in these?" In full disclosure, Ryan said he did. "Rumor around town is you don't have any money left."
Ryan felt the anger rise, but forced a laugh. "It was just a shopping spree with my card. My credit line would need to be exponentially higher to wipe me out. I wish there was some other gossip in town so everyone would forget about me and the divorcee."
Ryan kept his cool throughout the phone call, but once it ended, he cursed a blue streak and called Cam and gave him an earful. It aggravated him and his voice was loud and he was pacing when he heard a knock at the door.
"Someone's here. Probably, Maddie, I've got to go."
On the other side of the door was a girl, younger than the one Adam was with, smiling at him.
"What?" He snapped, not interested in the company.
She walked past him and said, "I'm here to clean."
"Clean! Who asked you to clean?"
He was angry. He was angry at Isobel for stealing from him and telling anyone who would listen and also at Everett for mortifying him. He was angry at Cam for banishing him. Last, he was angry with the girl for interrupting his work.
She timidly answered. "I dunno who asked me to except my boss."
"Well, go tell your boss I don't want any interruptions. Just get out!"
"But." She cried. "My boss!"
"Tell him the bastard threw you out." He herded her towards the door.
Ryan shook his head, he didn't mean to make her cry. She had actual tears. He felt sorry. Did he care someone was cleaning the cottage? Scanning the living room, he realized eventually, it would need cleaning especially if Adam and his loud climaxing child were coming for the weekend. Oh hell, he groaned.
His condo was never as messy, but it was empty all day. He had a house cleaner who came in every other week and the rest he took care of. Here he felt like he was in a self-imposed prison. Other than his morning runs and trips to The Landing, he didn't leave the house. He'd been on The Point over ten days, and he hadn't seen Maddie's baby.
Now he was sure it would get around he kicked out the cleaning service. After his conversation with Adam, he should have sweet-talked her to see if... No, she was practically a child, perhaps not even twenty - not much older than Jack's kid.
He thought of the bar with the poolroom in town and wondered if it was still there. He remembered hanging out with Dougie his last summer before he finished undergrad at Georgetown. One night there was a girl with the biggest tits. Every time she bent over the pool table, they almost fell out of her bra. Ryan ended up with her behind the building. It was the night he discovered he hated fake boobs.
Maybe he should go in for a drink and see if he could find a girl to help ease his frustration. You're a long way from twenty-one! Instead, he stepped out onto the deck. It was a warm day, maybe a walk on the beach would clear his head. He could take care of his other problem alone in the shower.
Lana
Lana felt exhausted. She had spent the week getting all her properties ready for the upcoming Memorial Day weekend when every cottage would be full. Some cottages she had prepared for its owners, other members of The Point family. These were properties she watched throughout the off season for a fee. It was very easy to monitor them unless bad weather rolled through. Storms created work for her because she had to reassure her clients when their cottages were unharmed, but also arrange for repairs of those that were not so lucky.
She earned the most from the cottages that rented week to week. Every Saturday morning, one group would leave and it was her job to make sure it was in perfect order before the next group arrived late Saturday afternoon. It was why she hired the additional staff because she couldn't do them all herself. Then there were the extra perks like the ones she was providing for Heidi's guest. She did the weekly cottage cleanings on weekdays. Heidi was paying her well, so she intended to give Ryan Harris the full service whether or not he wanted it.
It took her a half an hour to convince poor Jessie she was not to blame. What was wrong with that man? Why would he rudely throw out the poor girl when she was trying to do her job? She would clean the cottage herself and she wouldn't let him bully her. Lana had one bully in her life with Erik, and she didn't need another.
It took everything she had not to call Heidi to complain. Instead, she dealt with it herself. She advised Jessie not to discuss it with anyone. She didn't want it getting out how her business couldn't complete its jobs. She also didn't want it getting around The Point Kelly Harris's son was an angry bastard.
As if her day couldn't get any worse, her mother called as she was pouring herself a bowl of cereal for dinner. Not that Lana couldn't cook, in fact, she used to enjoy it. Cooking reminded her of being a wife and she wasn't a wife anymore. She couldn't keep a husband even when she fed his stomach well.
Luckily, she hadn't poured the milk when she answered with an unenthusiastic. "Hi Mom."
"Lana, we're leaving work early on Friday. Hopefully, we'll miss most of the traffic."
"Great. I'll dust your rooms and put on clean sheets."
She was living in her family cottage, but the longest her parents usually stayed was for their two-week vacation every summer. They came up for weekends, but not all. Because her younger brother, Will was still in high school they would stay home through most of June for baseball season.
She and Will got along considering their thirteen year age difference. Lana had a strained relationship with her mother since she was a teenager. Their relationship had been better when she was married but declined after the divorce. It wasn't as if her mother blamed her, because she supported her completely. If only her mother would stop fussing over her life choices and criticizing her job. Nora Drake had no issue with her psychology degree being worthless when she was a wife. Lana hadn't even told her mother she had been taking business classes at the community college over the winter. Nora would have a fit, because she was still wasting her degree, but Lana didn't care. She liked her psychology teacher in high school more than she ever liked psychology. Running her business gave her a sense of pride and was about the only thing that did since her marriage fell apart.
She tuned out her mother as she watched a Friends rerun. Eventually, she heard, "... the party this year?"
"Kristi was talking about it, same as last year."
It started a few years ago, Megan and Kristi had been throwing a party for their friends, which started at the beach and ended at their houses. It had grown into a large block party and they closed off Plover Way and invited everyone on the street.
Lana thought of Ryan Harris and hoped she wouldn't have to be nice to him. Maybe he'd stay in that cottage like he did everyday.
"Well then, I'll plan to cook on Saturday. Goodness, I'm always excited about starting a new summer. Seeing how all the children have grown."
"There are two new babies since last summer." Lana reminded her.
"A little girl for Jen and a boy for Maddie." Her mother confirmed.
Lana blurted out. "Ryan Harris, Cam's business partner is staying at Heidi's for the summer."
"Kelly's son? Isn't it such a small world?"
Lana agreed, she didn't think the world was big enough for her and the likes of Ryan Harris.