twenty-five

After several days of extreme August heat, thunderstorms blew in for a couple of days. The wind howled, thunder rumbled, tree limbs bent and swayed, rain fell, and lightning flashed through the sky. Forrest didn’t go up to the house but spent his time in the hunting lodge, making plans. Plans that included Sara.

The ground soaked in the rain, settling the dust. Then the sun made its appearance again, drying the mud, except for that in the potholes. With high spirits he rode Skeptical Lady up to the house, and sure enough, there was Sara, attending to her usual early morning chore. He could see a difference. The furniture was beginning to show a gray cast.

Sara had weathered the storms of the Paridy family quite well, he was thinking. And if that Friday night at the lake meant to her what it meant to him, then all his days would be sunny. “I’m having some more campers down at the lake this Friday. Want to join us again?”

“I know it would be wonderful, Forrest. I’m sorry, but Adam has made plans for us to go out.”

He’d thought the storm was over. He looked up at the blue sky, dotted only with a few white fluffy clouds. Maybe the storm was only within himself. He’d expected another, “Yes.” Instead, she turned him down with barely a glance at him.

The rejection was like a clap of thunder in his heart. Had he deluded himself that Friday night meant as much to her as it had to him? He’d thought Albert might be competition, then that seemed to be out of the way. He knew Sara and Adam got along great, but he thought it was just friendship. He had a feeling Adam was in that “having fun” stage of his life, which had been typical of Forrest at a period in his younger life. Was Adam serious about Sara or simply playing games with her? That thought upset him.

He couldn’t think of anything to say, so he nodded and put his hand on the back of a chair. Immediately he recognized his mistake. He lifted his hand and turned it over, then stared at the wet household cleaner coating his palm and fingers.

“Better wash that off,” Sarah advised. “You’ll get weathered.”

She made him laugh. Even while she was basically telling him to get lost.

He went inside and washed his hands.

The words of a song ran through his mind. “Gonna wash that man right out o’ my hair.” Wasn’t that easy to wash a woman out of your heart once she’d settled there.

Sheena came in and greeted him with a look of amazement. “Did Sara really spend the night with you down on your acreage, Forrest?”

“Not in the way you’re making that sound, Sheena.”

She huffed. “How many ways can a person make it sound? What happened?”

“There were twenty little boys and nine adults besides me and Sara.”

“Doing what?”

“They were campers and counselors from Stonemont Camp,” he said simply.

“But Sara did stay all night, right? I thought she might have come back late and I hadn’t heard her come in. But her bed wasn’t slept in. Mom said she woke up in the middle of the night and glanced out the side window. She saw Sara’s car still out there.”

“Did Dad say anything?”

“Dad got that stiff look on his face and said you were both adults.”

Forrest waited. He knew there would more. There was. Sheena added, “Then he said that Sara’s only my age though, and you were a grown man of thirty.”

“And Adam?” he asked.

“He lifted his eyebrows, got a silly look on his face, and later asked her out on a date.”

“Everybody going to be here for dinner tonight?” Forrest asked.

“Far as I know. Except Albert.”

Forrest made sure to be present for dinner. He hadn’t thought about having compromised Sara’s reputation by having her spend the night at the lake without revealing the reason to the rest of his family. He wanted to set that straight. He didn’t want Adam getting any wrong ideas about Sara either.

Sheena and Sara made a baked spaghetti dinner.

“Where’s Adam?” he asked when only the five of them sat down at the booth.

“Oh, he called,” Sheena said. “He’s been running around with Donald—”

“Donald’s still in town?”

“Yeah,” Sheena said. “He’s staying at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville. He and Adam have been sightseeing, and he called to say he wouldn’t be here for dinner.”

“I didn’t know Donald stayed in town.”

“Yep. He said he liked the scenery.” She laughed. “If you ask me he was talking about a certain blond.” She made eyes at Sara, who sighed and shook her head, then wore that Mona Lisa smile. “Anyway, the four of us are going out Friday.”

“Four of you?”

Sheena nodded. “Me, Donald, Sara, and Adam. We’d like to include you, Forrest, but everybody knows you’d rather be stuck with your secret down on your property.”

“This brings me to something I want to say to the entire family. I’ve heard a few things that were said behind my back, and I want to clear it up. Yes, Sara was down at the lake all night last Friday. Everything was strictly aboveboard.”

Sara looked uncomfortable. He didn’t want to embarrass her, but that was better than his family getting the wrong im-pression. “Sometimes you people treat me like some unworthy teenager.”

Royce spoke up immediately. “Are you acting like one?”

“Well, Dad, I guess it’s a matter of opinion. But lest you think badly of Sara, I’ll take you all down to the lake. I’ll be doing the same thing Friday night that Sara and I did. You can come down and do the same.”

“No, Forrest,” Royce said. “I’m feeling a bit protective about Sara. She’s the same age as my little girl.”

At that, Sheena covered her face and peeked through her fingers. Forrest saw Sara turn her face away from Sheena, trying not to laugh.

“I’m sorry I get this kind of attitude,” Royce said. “I know all of you are grown up, but you’re still my children. But I’ve said I’ll wait until you’re ready for us to come down, and that’s what we’ll do. We’ll do it your way.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Forrest said. He looked around. “But the offer goes for any of you. We can have a repeat of last Friday night.” He paused, then added, “Except for what Sara and I did with Skeptical Lady.”

Sara burst into laughter. So did Forrest.

“Private joke,” he said, causing curiosity to reign on his family’s faces.

He grinned, then gestured toward the middle of the table, closing the subject by asking, “Pass the peas, please.”