agnolia
Point
By Atonia Walpole
(Picture creations also by Atonia)
Part 1
He sucked a breath through his teeth. It fucking hurt. Perspiration dripped from his forehead and he tasted the saltiness on his lips. He could do one more. That extra yard that made all the difference. ‘Come on, man, pull it up from your balls!’ He pushed, ignoring the pain and straightened his arms out, holding the weight steady above him.
“That’s it, Coop, now let it down easy.” Raoul stood over him, waiting and wincing with the man’s pain.
Brad Cooper blinked his eyes, feeling the sting as the sweat seeped in.
“You’re almost back, Coop.” Raoul pulled a towel from the rack and tossed it at him.
“Yeah,” he answered and sat up, feeling his muscles bunch.
Later he was having a massage when Tuck Richardson interrupted. “Coop, man, we got some bad news.”
Bradford Cooper, a 38 year old former athlete, had come up through the University of South Carolina and gone pro. He was a quarterback with the golden arm. Football had been his life since he was ten years old. No longer able to play, he was now part owner of the Golden Eagles, a team based in San Francisco.
He married at the age of 25 and again at the age of 30, had an eleven year old son by his first wife, Cynthia Rae, and two daughters aged six and eight by his second. He’d been divorced from Pamela for five years.
He sat on the side of the massage table wrapped in a towel, rubbing his eyes. He’d just received word that Pamela had been killed in a boating accident off the coast of Fripp Island, SC.
Tuck was his personal manager/assistant/dogs body. He’d been with Brad since college and he was waiting patiently by his side. “I checked flight schedules.”
Brad sniffed, “Yeah, get us there.”
He was dressing in his upstairs bedroom. He could look out on the San Francisco Bay if he wanted to but he couldn't see anything clearly right now. He was an emotional man and grief had the floor. He slid his watch over his left hand and settled it on his wrist. The onyx pinky ring came next and then the power balance bracelet and two copper bracelets followed. He grabbed his jacket from the back of a chair and picked up his suit bag. Tuck already had his duffle bag downstairs and the car was out front waiting to take him to the airport.
It had been six months or more since he’d seen Pamela. She lived on Hilton Head Island and he lived in San Francisco. Since their divorce five years ago he’d only come around sporadically. He’d come back when her mother died a year ago. Her father still lived in Savannah with his new wife but at that time Pamela wasn’t speaking to him. It had been a strained and emotion- packed week.
The big house on Hilton Head was filling up. Relatives and friends from Charleston to Savannah were pouring in, including Regina Cooper, Brad’s mother, who’d come down from Columbia. Robert Bock, Pamela’s father and his wife Leah were up from Savannah and he was playing host and accepting condolences on behalf of the family. The ‘mourners’ had spilled out into the circular drive when Brad arrived with Tuck driving the rented car.
“Oh, Jesus, what a fucking show!” he mumbled.
The whole assembly held its breath when he stepped from the car. He kept his sunglasses on and his eyes darted from side to side, taking in who was there. It was his mother who stepped from the wide porch down one of the curved set of steps and out onto the lawn to greet him.
“Hello, Brad. How are you, son?”
“I’m all alright, Momma. Quite a crowd.”
“It’s thinned out some now. Your girls are inside with Leanne.” Leanne was his younger sister.
He’d almost forgotten them. “Who’s here I need to be aware of?”
Regina looked at him a moment. “Cynthia is here.”
“Bryson?”
“He’s here also, somewhere playing around with the rest of the children. Robert is here. Cyn is divorced. Did you know that?”
“Yes, Momma, I did.” He took her arm and guided her back toward the steps, nodding his head and speaking to people along the way.
He went through the glass doors into the cool, crisp air conditioning. There were more people milling about in here. His mother was guiding him now into the den with the wide glass windows and doors that looked out on the water. Leanne was seated at a game table with the two girls playing UNO.
“Hey, Brad.”She stood up and went over and hugged him.
“Leanne, thanks for being here.”
“Somebody had to come for the girls.” She turned slightly and glanced over at them.
Brad Cooper’s daughters, Tabitha aged 8 and Melinda aged 6, stared at him with big, wide blue eyes.
Brad went over and enclosed them in a bear hug. “Hey, girls. Ya’ll doing all right?”
Silently they looked at each other.
“Everything’s gonna be all right. Don’t ya’ll worry about nothing.”
He straightened up and came back to his mother. “Who’s putting on this show?”
“Robert. You’ll find him in the living room.” Regina bit her lip and looked after her son and then back to his daughters who had yet to speak to him.
“How’s Dad?” he stopped and asked.
“He’s well as can be expected, Brad. No changes.”
He nodded slightly and went to find his former father-in-law.
“Here he is.” Robert shifted his bourbon to his other hand and placed an arm around Brad’s shoulders. “Get you a drink? Somebody get him a drink.”
“No, thanks. A bit early for me.”
“Ah, well, you gotta console yourself somehow, Son.”
“Who are all these people here?”
“Friends, friends, dear boy. As soon as it came out in the paper, why people started phoning up wanting to know what they could do.”
“They can come and drink up my liquor, is that what you told them?”
“Now, Brad, you know how it is.”
“I don’t know a fuckin’ thing, Robert. I want these people outta here. This ain’t no house party. You got that?”
“Don’t get testy, boy! People want to pay their respects.”
“This is still my house.” Brad looked him in the eye. “I want to know what happened. I want details. Who do I talk to?”
“Bobby Tillman. He's her lawyer and was the last one to see her.” Robert sobered up, his jaw quivering.
“Is he here?”
“Yeah, outside somewhere.”
Brad went outside, stopping to speak to people he recognized and by passing the ones he didn’t. He wandered to the side of the house. A bricked patio and garden led to the back yard. Some boys were playing touch football and he picked out his son, Bryson. A little shiver of pride went through him.
“Coop?”
“Hey, Tilly.”
“Sorry, man. I know it must have been a shock.”
“Yes, it was. What happened?”
“She went out with that new boyfriend of hers. He had a new boat and, uh, don’t
know if he knew what the hell he was doin’ or not. It wasn’t the first boat he’d
had. Some said he might have been going too fast. He clipped a buoy and lost
control, smashed into another boat and flipped. He and Pam both. Sorry.”
“I heard you were the last to see her.”
“I suppose I might have been. I was at the marina and saw them leave. The other boat wasn’t occupied. It was moored out in the bay. There was an autopsy. She had a nasty head wound and drowned. They’ve released her body and Robert has taken care of the arrangements. There’s a memorial service day after tomorrow at 3:00 and then cremation.”
“Thanks, Tilly.” He watched his son running about on the lawn and looked around for his mother.
Cynthia Caughman had a seat at a glass table on the patio with a glass of iced tea. She was keeping an eye on her son and on her ex-husband, who had just arrived.
Part 2
The football came his way and he couldn’t help himself. He ran out and caught it and threw it back to his son, Bryson.
“Dad!” Bryson came running over.
Brad caught him up and hugged him. “Hey, boy! How are ya?”
“Good, Dad. Are you gonna stay? Are you gonna play?”
“Don’t know and no,” he grinned and rubbed his hand through his son’s hair. “You go on back out there. Your buddies are waiting.”
He backed away from their playing field.
“Aw, go on, Dad, go play with the other little boys.” She couldn’t resist.
He turned and saw Cynthia at the table. “Hey. Momma said you were here.” He went over and gave her a brief kiss on the temple. “How are you?” He pulled out a chair and sat down.
“I’m fine.” She picked up her glass of iced tea. “Sorry about Pamela. Truly I am, Brad.”
“Yeah,” he ran a hand over his brow. “Bryson looks good.”
“Have you seen your beautiful daughters yet?”
“Ah, up in the den. Leanne’s looking after them.”
“Leanne is going to Hawaii in three days. She and Larry are having that honeymoon she’s been wanting since they got married six years ago."
Brad didn’t comment. He was watching the boys play ball.
“I was wondering if you will stay here with them or take them back to San Francisco?” She lit a cigarette.
“Sorry?” He turned.
“Your girls, Brad.”
“What about them?”
She wanted to brain him with something. “I asked if you would be taking them back.”
“I heard you. I don’t know. I don’t know anything right now.” He turned back to the ball game. “I heard you got divorced.”
“Nothing is secret anymore. It was final this week.”
“Sorry it didn’t work out for you.”
“No, you aren’t. There is a thing about you I’ve discovered. You might not want something anymore but no one else is supposed to have it and certainly it’s not supposed to ever want anyone else but you. How self-centered and selfish you are.”
“I’m really not into arguing today, Cyn. Where are you staying?”
“With the Madisons at Sawgrass Plantation.”
He glanced over at her. The Madisons had been their best friends at one time, a long time ago in another life when his star was rising and everything was exciting and new. Money was pouring in, more than they’d ever dreamed of. They’d been crazy about each other. Back before the dream had become a reality. The reality was fame and fortune and along with that came other things, long absences from home, a buffet of women. It eventually killed their marriage.
Pamela Bock had been the last straw. She had been ten years younger than Cynthia and beautiful. Brad had fallen hard and fast for Pamela. He and Cynthia divorced and he married Pamela. She preferred to stay on Hilton Head in the house he bought instead of traveling with him. She played golf and soon had a string of admirers from the club. They were married for three years before he divorced her, but he never stopped loving her and still came to see her now and again on the pretext of seeing his girls but it was Pamela he wanted to see.
Now he would never see her again. That was something he had to accept. The rest of it he didn’t want to think about at least not yet.
“Bryson, we need to go, dear.” Cynthia stood up.
“Why? He’s playing a game.”
“Because we’ve been here long enough and I think you need to spend some time with Tabby and Lindy. Bryson will be around for the next few days. You know where to find him.” She picked her bag up and hitched it on her shoulder.
“I just got here, Cyn.”
“All the more reason to give you a little time.”
Bryson came over and grabbed his Dad in a headlock. Brad easily had him on the ground. They were laughing and giggling.
Cynthia thought it was highly inappropriate but she didn’t say anything. She knew him well enough to know this was something he was going to have a hard time facing. He was avoiding it as long as he could.
“Okay, Bryson, give him a break. He’s old and injured, you know.”
After they left Brad sat there at the table and absently reached over for her tea glass and finished it. He didn’t want to go back inside or out front where everybody was talking and telling stories and lies and filling up his space. Tuck found him at last.
“How ya doing?” He pulled out a chair and sat down.
“I don’t know. Everybody keeps asking me that. ‘How are ya, what are ya going to do?’ How the hell do I know, Tuck? I need some time and some space. I don’t need this.” He indicated the house full of people.
“Want I should clear it out?”
“Would you mind? Be nice about it, okay?”
The kids had disappeared following the calls of their parents. The noise level had dropped considerably. Still he sat on the patio. Robert came around the side of the house.
“We’re leaving, Brad. You know they asked me about a viewing. I didn’t know what to do because the side of her head was…anyway I said yes. Some people need closure. I know I did. I saw her at the hospital. It's tomorrow night at Melway’s. I talked to Tabby and Lindy and told them. We took them home to Savannah for a night, brought them back today.”
“I appreciate what you’ve done, Robert. I know what we’ve lost. I just need some time.”
“I understand. I’ll see ya tomorrow night.”
He and Brad embraced awkwardly for a moment.
He went in through the downstairs den/playroom. There was a laundry room down here and storage as he remembered. One wall had been mirrored and a bar attached to it. That was new and he couldn’t think what for. There were mats on the floor. One of the girls was taking gymnastics but he couldn’t remember which one. He came up in a central hallway that led to the front door and the back deck. There were steps leading up to the bedrooms on the third floor.
Female voices came from the den and he followed them inside. A TV was on and his mother and sister were there along with another woman he didn’t recognize. And, of course, his girls.
“Brad, dear, you remember Pat Barton?”
“Oh, yes. How are you, Mrs. Barton.” He did remember her now, a lifelong friend of his mother's.
“I’m very sorry about Pamela, Brad.”
“Thanks. Is, um,” he tried to recall her husband’s name, “Mr. Barton here?”
“Tom’s in the media room with Tuck. Tom went to school with Tuck’s father.”
“Oh, really? Well, like family then.” He looked over at the round table where his girls were seated. They had crayons and books opened.
“Now that you’re here, I’m going home.” Regina put her hand on Brad’s arm. "Pat and Tom brought me down yesterday. I don’t like to leave your father. I’ll be back for the service.” She went over and gave each of her granddaughters a hug and a kiss.
Brad followed them into the media room and spoke with Tom Barton. Tuck went out to move the car so they could get out. The house fell silent with only a rattle of dishes in the kitchen. He supposed it was Maggie, Pamela’s help. He went over to make sure.
“Hello, Mr. Cooper.”
“Maggie, I thought that might be you. Are you going to be all right?”
“Yes, Sir, I’ll be all right. It sure got quiet here, didn’t it?”
“Ah, yeah, it sure did. I’m not sure what I’m going to do here yet so if you don’t mind staying on for me.”
“I’d be happy to. She’d want that.”
“Thanks, I appreciate it.” He went across to the den again.
Tabby and Lindy both looked up from their coloring books, waiting for him to do something. The truth was he didn’t know what to do with them. He went over and pulled out a chair. His sister had walked out on the deck.
“What are you, uh, coloring?”
“Cinderella,” Tabby answered. “Mommy’s dead.”
“I know, I know, sweetheart.”
“We don’t have anywhere to go,” Lindy said.
“Sure you do. You got a place to go right here.”
“But Mommy’s not here anymore.”
“I’m here.”
“You don’t live here. You’ll go away and leave us.” Tabby fixed him with a look.
“No, I won’t. Don’t worry about that. Nobody’s gonna leave you here by yourselves.”
Leanne came back inside, pleased to see her brother at the table with his daughters. “Is anybody hungry? I think we’d better eat before all that food gets put away or trashed."
“I think I ate breakfast but it was still dark.” Brad got up from the table.
“We had a lunch, but not much,” Tabby answered her aunt.
They went into the kitchen where Maggie had lined up what was left on the breakfast bar. She had one dishwasher going and was filling the other one. They helped themselves to fried chicken, potato salad, macaroni and cheese, pea salad, strawberry salad, green bean casserole, homemade bread, coconut cake, almond pound cake, pies, cookies, more cakes that Maggie hadn’t even unwrapped yet. People had been coming and bringing food, staying to eat and leaving all day long. The commercial-sized fridge was packed.
Tuck came in and joined them at the kitchen table. “How’s Larry, Leanne?”
“He’s good. He’s up in Charlotte right now. He’ll be down here for the service and then we’re off. Flying out of Atlanta on Saturday on our way to Hawaii.”
“Sounds like a good trip.”
“We’ve been looking forward to this for years.”
“Don’t do that. Don’t put your chicken bones on the table,” Brad said to Lindy.
Lindy’s lip came out.
“She’s only little. She doesn’t know.” Tabby picked Lindy’s bones up and put them on her plate.
“Well, she needs to learn some table manners.”
Leanne gave him a sharp look. “I think we all do.”
Part 3
Later that evening Leanne put the girls to bed and came out on the deck with Brad and Tuck.
“They had lots of questions about you. I kept hoping you'd come up and provide some answers.”
“Ah, Leanne, I don’t have any answers for anything right now.”
“Questions like, ‘does Daddy know where my dance class is? Will I miss my meet on Saturday? Does Daddy know how to buy leotards because mine has a hole in the back from the nail.’ Things like that, Brad. Things a Daddy is going to have to know pretty soon.”
“Why are you doing this, Leanne? You know I haven’t a fuckin’ clue.”
“Well, you’d better get a clue, mister. After Thursday, they’re all yours.”
“Brad says he might go to Magnolia Point.”
“Oh, really? Did you check with Cynthia?”
“It’s my house. It’s the first thing I ever bought when the money came rolling in.”
“I thought you gave it to Cynthia as part of the divorce settlement?"
“No, I didn’t. I said she could stay there as long as she wanted to, unless she married. She married Sam Caughman.”
“What are you going to do with this place?”
“Sell it. I never wanted to live on Hilton Head. That was Pamela. I bought it because she wanted to live here on Sea Pines Plantation. I probably never spent twelve months here all together.”
“It’s kind of remote for the girls, don’t you think?”
“No, I don’t think.”
“Long way to ride out for a tutu,” Tuck grinned.
“A what?”
Tuck laughed, “That’s the little skirt ballerinas wear over their leotards. Man, you gotta lot to learn.”
“How the hell do you know about tutus and leotards?”
“I used to date a dancer.” Tuck raised a brow.
“What I was getting at, Brad, is that when you leave and go back to San Francisco, it’s going to be very inconvenient for whoever it is you get to look after your daughters to be stuck out there. If something happened it would be forty-five minutes before an ambulance or fire truck could get there. I know it’s a beautiful place but it’s not practical.”
“It was practical enough when I lived there.”
“Did you ever really live there or was it a party palace, a place to bring your friends and teammates for a bit of swamp air and low country cuisine? Do you have any idea how hard it was for Cynthia and Bryson? She spent twelve hours a day in her vehicle. Back and forth, back and forth she drove into Mt. Pleasant and Charleston. You haven’t lived anywhere, Brad, since you left home and that’s the truth.”
He didn’t like to be talked to this way but he knew his sister was telling the truth. Did he really live in San Francisco? “Home is where I hang my jock strap.”
Leanne laughed, “Must be a real disappointment to the ladies when you take it off.”
Tuck thought that was funny. He laughed until Brad frowned in his direction.
“I’m just sayin’, Brad, it’s not just you anymore. It’s a different situation than it was with Bryson. You walked out and left him and his mother. She had family to fall back on and to this day, they’re still around so if something happened to Cynthia there would be someone to step in for Bryson. There isn’t anyone for the girls but you. Mom can’t do it. She’ s got a 24/7 job with Dad. I can’t do it and you sure don’t want to send them to Savannah with their Grandpa and his sweetie.”
“They don’t even know me.” Brad ran a hand over his hair.
“You don’t know them, either,” Leanne replied.
“I know what to do with Bryson, you know? I can talk to him and take him places. I know I don’t do it often enough but my life doesn’t allow it. He’s a good kid. I feel like I’m okay with him. Pamela kept the girls under her wing and my career was in full swing . I was never home, I tell ya, never.”
“You’re never around now and you aren’t playing anymore. What’s your excuse? Oh, yeah, you own a football team out in San Fran. Big deal, Brad, big f’n deal. I’m all over impressed. I’m sure Tabby and Lindy are, too.”
“Get off my ass, Leanne. I know, okay, I know I’m looking at a change in lifestyle. I gotta get my head around it. All I ever knew was football from the time I could pick one up. It all came crashing down on the field four years ago. It’s been a long way back. The opportunity came with the Golden Eagles. I couldn’t pass it up. It’s what I do and if I didn’t do then there wouldn’t be any money for houses in Hilton Head and Mount Pleasant or San Francisco or anywhere else. I’m not a computer geek like Larry. Football is what I do.”
“It’s what you DID!” Leanne got up to go inside and get ready for bed.
“She’s a tough one,” Tuck said, propping his feet up on the deck railing.
“I know and the thing that pisses me off is she’s right on.”
The next morning he swallowed his pride and drove over to Sawtell Plantation. He waited at the security gate while the guard phoned the Madisons. Once through the gate he had to remember the maze of streets that took him to their house. Jenny Madison met him on the front drive with Bryson.
“Hey, Dad.” Bryson ran over to him.
“Mornin’, Bryson. Hello, Jenny,” he smiled.
“Coop, long time no see. I’m glad you’ve come.” She had a hug for him and a kiss. “Cyn is inside and Jimmy is playing golf this morning.”
“I didn’t know if you’d be glad to see me or not.” He walked with her though the garage to the back door.
“I’m always glad to see you. We can’t let what happened between you and Cyn end a friendship. We’ve known each other too long. I hope you can stay around. Jim will be upset he’s missed you.”
Brad knew she might not be so friendly if Pamela was still alive. “I’m just paying a visit. Can’t stay too long. There’s, you know…”
“Of course. Cyn, Brad’s here. I’ll leave you two alone for a bit and, Bryson, come with me.”
Cynthia had just poured herself another coffee. “Good morning, Brad. Can you manage another cup?”
“I think so.” He took a cup from her and they went out on the deck. A golf course was visible above the pines.
“How are things over at Sea Pines?”
“Quiet." He sipped his coffee.
Cynthia still got that same feeling inside of her when he came around. She used to get it sitting all alone watching replays of his games on TV when Sam was out of town. She watched each week as his body took a bruising, that body she knew so well and loved. She’d screamed when he took that blow that ended his career. Bryson had cried, too, not because he knew what was going on but because she was crying. Cynthia had never gotten over him.
“I know it’s none of my business what you do but I was wondering...."
“I thought about Magnolia Point.”
“For the girls?”
“For…yeah ,the girls.”
“I think it would be difficult. It’s at least 30 minutes on a good day to get into Mt. Pleasant. That’s where the schools are. Unless you’d want to put them on a bus and I really don’t see that.”
“I always liked that place.”
“When was the last time you were there?”
“Not since you were. Before you married Sam. Remember when I came out?”
“Yes. And you were right, Brad.” She looked into her coffee. “You know me. Hit me upside the head with an ugly stick before I could see anything.”
“Are you okay now?”
“Yes, better.”
“Still living in his house?”
“It’s not a bad deal, Brad. I took it because we weren’t married long enough for alimony. I thought he owed me something. The papers are signed; it’s mine now.”
“It ain’t shit, Cyn. Something thrown up after Hugo cleared the island just to maintain the lot.”
“There are very strict building codes for Isle of Palms now.”
“You could go back to Magnolia Point.”
“But that’s where you were going…wait a minute!” She put her cup down. “What is it exactly you are proposing? Are you looking for someone to take care of your girls or someone to take care of you, or what?"
“What if I said all of the above?”
“I’d say you were as full of shit as a Christmas turkey.”
Brad sat back in his chair and grinned. “You know me too well.”
“Yes, I do. Don’t ever try and pull that crap on me, Brad. It won’t work because I’ve been there. I know the script.”
“I’m tired, Cyn. I’m tired of it all. All I ever wanted to do was play ball. I can’t do that anymore. Maybe that’s why Magnolia Point looks so good to me.”
“I don’t know who you are trying to convince. I do know for a fact that you have a house in San Francisco. Do you still have that apartment in Dallas?”
“No, I got rid of that.”
“I think that you are feeling the loss of Pamela. You have lost the woman who mothered your daughters. I know you loved her, Brad. It is a time for reflection and perhaps a little regret. The service is tomorrow. By Friday you’ll be out of here flying off to…somewhere…somewhere and all your needs will be taken care of. Tuck will find you a bottle, a woman, whatever it is you need at the time. And it will be all better.”
“Is that what you think I am?”
“Yes. It’s what you’ve become.”
“I don’t want to be that person.”
“Only you can change it. Start taking responsibility for your own life. I know you got hurt real bad, Brad. It took something out of you. You have to bounce back. Remember all those half-time motivating talks you used to give?”
“It was all bullshit, Cyn.”
“Maybe so but a lot of wide-eyed young men believed in you. I believed in you. I really don’t think Magnolia Point is the answer.”
“I gotta go somewhere. I can’t stay here with them.”
“Why?”
“It ain’t my scene. Hilton Head was never my scene.”
“It’s all they know. It’s their scene, Brad.”
Part 4
By the time Brad got back to the house in Sea Pines, people were arriving, leaving food, cards and flowers. Leanne and Tuck had been fending them off but both were glad to see Brad drive up. He sat in his car for a moment, not wanting to do this. Tuck was on the front porch looking down. Brad knew he had to move.
“Hey, how ya’ll doing? Thanks so much for coming. I know she would have appreciated that. Did you really? Chocolate pound cake? Why, that’s my favorite. The girls will be fine with me, ‘preciate the concern. Yes, sir, I do remember you. Thanks, thanks so much.” And so it went for better part of an hour.
“You’re doing good, brother.” Leanne passed by him.
“No, no, I’m not,” he replied to her back.
“We played together in the tournament. She had a handicap of 80. Did you know that? For a woman that was good, very good. I sure will miss her. She was such fun.”
Somebody had handed him a drink and he listened to the pretty young woman telling him about the golf tournament.
“Of course I never knew, she never said that she was married to Brad Cooper. This is quite something, to meet you, that is. I’ve watched you on TV for years.”
She flattered him. He was eating it up. Leanne was becoming ill.
“I hate to drag you away, Brad, but the minister is here.” She took the drink from his hand and guided him away.
“What minister?”
“There isn’t a minister but if you do that, Brad, I am crossing you off my Christmas card list and erasing your name from the family Bible.”
“Do what?”
“That little hussy. She’s screwed everything on the island according to Jenny Madison.”
“I wasn’t screwing her, Leanne.”
“Not yet.”
Cynthia had arrived with Jenny and Jim Madison. She went to find his daughters and then came back looking for him. He had another drink someone had handed him.
“Brad, you need to come with me.”
“What’s wrong?” He took a sip of his drink.
“It’s Lindy. She’s throwing up.”
“Oh, God.” He put the drink down and followed Cynthia down stairs to the playroom.
Lindy was in the bathroom looking white as a sheet and holding a towel over her mouth.
“What is it, sweetheart?”
She made a face and held her stomach and then threw up again in the toilet.
“Probably need a doctor,” he said.
“You might. Does she have a fever?”
“I don’t know, Cyn.” He felt Lindy’s forehead. “No, don’t think so. Could be something she ate. All that crap upstairs and who knows what it is or where it came from. Where’s Tabby?”
Tabby was sitting on one of the mats. Cynthia found her and brought her to the bathroom door.
“I don’t want either one of you eating anymore of that stuff upstairs, okay? If Maggie didn’t make it then you don’t want it.”
“Yes, Sir,” Tabby answered. “It was the eggs. Deviled eggs. They always make her sick.”
“Then why does she eat them?”
“Because she likes them.”
Brad looked at Tabby for a moment. “No, she doesn’t. She can’t have them if they make her sick. Let’s get her upstairs to her room.” Brad picked Lindy up and headed for the stairs.
Cyn stepped back and let him handle it. He may as well get used to dealing with them.
It was evident when he walked into Lindy’s room that she was the ballerina. Everything was done in pink ballet slippers and pink net tutus. Tabby hung in the doorway to see what he would do.
He removed Lindy’s shoes and socks and her shirt that she’d dirtied. He turned down her bed and told her to get in it.
“Tabby, run downstairs and tell Maggie you want a bottle of water for Lindy.”
Tabby took off and he turned back to Lindy. “You’re gonna be okay, Lindy. I know it feels bad now but it won’t be long and you’ll be back to dancing.”
He let her sip the water when it arrived and put the bottle on the bedside table. “Do you feel a little better now?”
“Yes,” was the pitiful sounding reply.
He couldn’t stand it. He took her from the bed and pulled the sheet around her and sat on the side of her bed, rocking her back and forth. She was his…his baby.
Tabby watched for awhile and went to her own room next door.
It was a good place to be, he decided, here amongst the pink. It sure beat out downstairs and so he stayed there. Lindy went to sleep in his arms. He tried to remember the last time that had happened. She had been a baby. Shortly after she was born. Six years ago.
Leanne came to the door and seeing him rocking his daughter she didn’t speak. Later Cyn came to the door and she, too, went back downstairs without speaking.
When he came back down there were only a few people left. They were talking about going to the funeral home for the viewing. Brad walked to the kitchen where food was lined up on the breakfast bar. Maggie was washing glasses in the sink.
“Throw all this shit away. Lindy’s sick. I don’t want either of them to eat any more of this food that people have brought in. We don’t know where it’s been.”
Maggie looked at him. “Yes, Sir, I’ll throw it away.”
Cyn found him in the kitchen. “Jim is waiting to see you if you have a minute.”
“Sure, all the time in the world.” He followed Cyn into the living room, a large open space with two ceiling fans going above. “Hey, Jim!” He walked over and shook his hand.
“Sorry I missed you this morning. Are you holding up, Coop?”
“I’m all right, taking it, ya know.”
“How’s that shoulder?”
“Ah, it keeps me off the field and in the sky box. So what are you doing now, retired?”
“Oh, no, stocks and bonds. Trading, you know. I’m working from home now.”
Brad smiled a little. The dickhead was unemployed. “Well, I suppose that allows you more time on the golf course.”
“I spend a fair amount of time there. You meet good people on the course, a lot of contacts, yeah.”
“Ever meet Pamela on the golf course?”
“No, I, uh, no, Coop. She played over at Sea Pines.” He had the decency to blush.
“What ever happened to us, Jim? We used to be buddies.”
“What do ya mean? Why you moved on, didn’t ya? Hit the big time,” he chuckled nervously. “I was watching you on TV like a, like a movie star. Yeah, you moved on and left us all behind. All the old teammates scattered to the four winds. Dwaine made it though, yeah, you and Dwaine. Where is he now?”
“Dwaine’s in prison. He got into drugs. Sadly it comes with the territory.”
“Didn’t come your way, did it?”
“Sure it did, sure it did, but I didn’t bite. I got my rush on the field. I didn’t need it.”
“Where do you get that rush now, Coop?” Jim smirked.
“From seeing assholes like you, bottom feeders, floundering around on the golf course trying to make a deal.”
“That was uncalled for, Coop.” Jim set his glass down.
“We’re all doing the best we can. That was my only point.” Brad caught sight of Cyn in the dining room. Jenny had brought her handbag up ready to leave.
“Where’s Bryson?” he called over.
“At the movies. He went with a little boy that lives next door to Jen and Jim.” She walked over and Jim retreated to Jen’s side.
“Don’t leave,” he said to her.
“You want me to stay here with you?”
“Yeah.”
“I can’t do that. I have Bryson to pick up on the way back and his dinner to see to.”
“You’re making shit up. Jen and Jim will pick him up and buy him a Mac-burger somewhere. I’ll take you back after the viewing tonight. I don’t want to be alone right now.”
“You are never alone. There’s Tuck and Leanne. If it wasn’t them there would be a half dozen of somebody else’s. Brad Cooper does not travel alone…ever.”
“Those days are gone, Cyn. There’s only Tuck now. I need to talk to you.”
“We haven’t seen each other in four months and then only when you came and got Bryson and brought him back. Why this sudden urge to see me? Life has smacked you in the face. You didn’t see it coming. I hate it for you, Brad, because I know you loved Pamela, I know. As much as it hurt me I let you go to her.”
He put his hands on her shoulders. “I still need to talk to you. You are the only one who knows me, Cyn. With you I don’t have to be anybody except who I am. Please.”
She sighed, “All right. Let me talk to Jen a minute.”
He went through to the den where Leanne was watching TV. “When are you leaving?”
“Trying to get rid of me? I can go now.”
“Don’t be silly, Leanne.”
“Larry will be here tomorrow for the service and we’re leaving for Atlanta right afterward. I’ve got my Hawaii clothes packed in the guest room upstairs.”
“Mom’s coming down for the day. I’m just trying to get the next day in my mind. The day after, it’s all over and everybody goes home.”
“And you’re left with your girls. Well, Maggie will be here. At least she knows their routine.”
“Their routine is going to change. I’m going to take them to Magnolia Point for the summer. After that, when school time comes up, we’ll figure it out then.”
“By yourself? You’re going to take them out there alone?”
“I’ll have a staff. Tuck can find me some people.”
“How long has it been since you…oh, never mind.”
“Since what?”
“Since you did something all by yourself?”
“Oh, don’t start that shit.” He flopped down in a chair.
“What is it about Magnolia Point, Brad?”
“I’m not sure I know. It’s, ah, clean.”
Leanne chuckled, “I doubt that. It’s been sitting empty for years.”
“I have a service that goes out there once a month and cleans. At least I pay for it,” he sighed.
“Okay, I sent them on their way.” Cyn hung in the doorway.
Leanne looked from one to the other. “I’ll go help Maggie in the kitchen.”
Part 5
Cyn moved warily around the room and chose a chair opposite him. He turned off the TV and tossed the remote on the glass coffee table. It sounded unusually loud. Leanne had pulled the sliding doors to when she left.
“You wanted to talk,” she broke the silence.
“Everybody has been telling me I can’t go to Magnolia Point. I can’t take my girls out there because it’s too remote. Bullshit. I’m going and I’m taking them, too. I have to go, Cyn. I want you and Bryson to come, too.”
“You’ve got to be kidding!” she half laughed and then cut it off when she saw his face. “You don’t want me. What is it? Have you found fatherhood all of a sudden? Want all the kiddies around for a few weeks until you find out how much responsibility lies there. Then you’ll write a check and be on the next plane out to San Francisco. Tuck will take care of it.”
“When did you get to be so bitter?”
“Somewhere between Bryson-Pamela-Sam. I won’t be used by you or anyone else ever again. I’m through having my picture plastered all over the supermarket tabloids.”
“That was a long time ago. I’m not news anymore. Sure it’s news right now because of the way Pamela died. Tuck has given a statement for me. I’m not talking to reporters. After tomorrow nobody will give a shit about me, you or Pamela. We’re all yesterday’s news. There was a time and a place in my life, Cyn, and you were part of it. I want to get back there. I want to get to that place again. We were happy there at Magnolia Point. Don’t you remember what it was like?”
“I remember. I remember when we first bought the place and we were wide-eyed wonder kids, amazed that we could own such a plantation, such a piece of history. We spent all your money furnishing it and then you got traded.”
“It was better, though. The money was better.”
“It took you away. You weren’t in Charlotte anymore. It was Houston, Dallas, and Seattle, Minnesota. I was pregnant and couldn’t travel. Then there was Bryson and I couldn’t travel with you. Apartments, rented houses and all the time we had Magnolia Point and that was home. I got fed up and came home and that’s when it began to unravel.”
“It was unraveling before then. I’m not proud of myself, Cyn. I acted like a fool.”
“Then came Pamela. I gave up, gave you whatever you wanted. I just wanted out.”
“I’d like to think I’ve gained a little wisdom with the years. I can’t go back and change anything. We both suffered in different ways. I lost touch; I couldn’t touch the ground anymore so I stayed up there being handled. The divorce from Pamela shouldn’t have happened but it did. So she was sleeping around, so was I. She just wasn’t as discreet as I was. Letting herself be photographed with that golfer during Harbor Town was stupid. All of a sudden I was the wronged guy. It played well for the press. I had a lot of sympathy, probably a good thing because of what came next.”
“What are you doing now, Brad?”
“A typical day? I get up and work out. That takes about an hour or more, depending. I go out to lunch usually with someone from the club. We talk a little Golden Eagle business, have a few drinks. Maybe I’ll go out to the practice field for awhile, check on the wounded list. I’m home by four most days. If I’m lucky maybe I gotta date so I clean up and take care of that.”
“You have to live on the other side of the states for that?”
“No, I don’t. I might need to be there sometimes but there is nothing I do out there that I can’t do from home, from Magnolia Point. It was important for awhile, kept my name out there, face on TV.”
“I thought you might become a commentator at one time.”
“I toyed with the idea and gave it up. I’d rather do what I’m doing, owning a piece of the pie.”
“What is it you’re hiding from?”
“I’m sorry?”
“Why retreat to the woods? Have you been planning this for awhile or is this something that’s come up since Pamela died?”
“Is that what it looks like to you, a retreat? I haven’t been…been happy for a long time. It was always there in the back of my mind. Coming back here, it just got stronger. The desire for…I mean it may not be what I think it is anymore but I won’t know until I try it.”
“This is all about you. What about your daughters?”
“My babies. They are you know…mine. Even when I’d come to see them, I didn’t see them, not really. They were trotted out in their best dresses to see daddy. I brought gifts. I was Santa Clause in an Armani suit. Pamela arranged things for us but I was never hands on with them. I helped Lindy undress today, first time I’ve ever…she’s six years old. She’s a ballerina or wants to be. I was in Dallas when it all went down. I didn’t see her for over a year, missed her babyhood. She and Tabby lumped together as my girls. I didn’t know one from the other. So when you throw up fatherhood at me, it sticks. I’ve been a total failure with Bryson, too. Poor kid’s running around not knowing who his daddy is. What was he to Sam?”
“Not much of anything. Sam had kids of his own that came on the odd weekend. I’m not staying in his house. It’s one we bought together. I kept it but he had to pay for it. Bryson called him Sam. Bryson has your posters all over his walls. He knows who his daddy is. He’s proud of you and has been heard bragging about who his father is. Most of the kids don’t believe him. He’s been in fights over you.”
Brad met her eyes with a pained look in his. “I want to try, Cyn. Maybe I’ll fall flat on my face. I may be out of the woods in less than a week but I have to try and put my life back together. Fate has dealt me a hand and I gotta play it. I think about my Dad. That could have been me. One more blow like I took after my shoulder was destroyed. It could be me sitting in a chair drooling. You know, he don’t want to go out like that and neither do I. He was a big man, Cyn. He’s a shadow of himself now.”
Cynthia listened to him ramble on. He was beginning to tear up, and his voice had gotten thick. She wanted to take him in her arms and comfort him but she was afraid, afraid of the way he would take it. She hadn’t agreed to go to Magnolia Point with him. Still he was hurting like he’d been carrying a load for a long time and it had finally broken the skin. She played with a throw pillow for a moment and then tossed it aside and got up and went to him.
“Hey, it’s okay, Brad. You need to stop this now. Stop beating yourself up. Nothing is as bad as you think it is, not with your kids. She put her arm around his shoulders and he grabbed her hand.
“I know I can be better than this.”
“Of course you can. I think…you’ve let it slide. It’s not too late.”
“I went to see him right after he’d had the stroke. I couldn’t…I couldn’t look at him, Cyn. He’s always been there, my backup quarterback, and in the blink of an eye…he wasn’t there anymore. I haven’t been back. Two years almost. Momma keeps making excuses for me. Leanne is disgusted with me. I am disgusted with me. I’ve fucked it all up. That’s why I want to go back and try to fix it.”
“Nobody ever sees this side of you.” She ran a hand down the back of his head. “I’m not sure you should show it to me.”
“Who else is there? Who else do I care that much about?”
“You do it because you think I care about you. You think I still love you.”
“I don’t know why. I’ve given you every reason in the book not to care a damn about me.”
“Yes, you have. You’ve given me a lot more, though, or I would hate you for the things you’ve done. Let’s get through tonight and tomorrow. I didn’t have to come, you know. None of this had anything to do with me. I just wanted to…be here for you.”
“I’m glad you came, Cyn. God knows I need you here.” He kissed her hand and turned to her. She pulled her arm back along his shoulders, preparing to stand up. “Cyn.” He put his hand behind her head and brought her lips to his.
“Brad,” she breathed, looking away from him.
“I promise I won’t hurt you.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.” She rose from her knees.
The evening passed. Brad did not go over to the casket to see Pamela. He didn’t even stay in the same room as the body. He let Robert take the stage and after awhile he found Cynthia and left. She insisted he drive her straight to the Madison's.
“This doesn’t seem right, sitting out here in the car with you. I should be going in with you but not here. I want you to think about Magnolia Point, seriously think about it. Even if you don’t want anything to do with me, I think it would be good for Bryson to see us all together. He needs to recognize his half sisters.”
“I’ll think about it. We’re going home tomorrow after the service. I wanted Bryson to be there because it’s something that affects you. He needs to understand how it is. Have you faced it yet, Brad?”
“Cyn, I’m sleeping in her bed, the bed I shared with her. Yes, I’ve faced it. I’ve faced a lot of things in the past few days.”
She placed a hand over his. “Good night, Brad.”
“Cyn..."
“Good night.” She opened her car door and got out.
Leanne got the girls ready for the service. Tuck drove Brad’s car and they sat in the back seat. Brad took them each by the hand and walked into the chapel. After the service he was taking them to the house. He’d stopped Robert’s plan to have everybody come back there for food and drink. There’d been enough of that he thought. Robert took the assembly to a restaurant.
Maggie had left the kitchen spotless. Brad didn’t know if she went to the restaurant or went home. Leanne and Larry were there upstairs getting her luggage together. Tabby and Lindy sat down at the kitchen table, quietly watching him. He went to the fridge and saw it was still packed with stuff he told Maggie to throw away. However a box of Kentucky Fried Chicken came out.
“We don’t want chicken,” Tabby said.
“Okay…what do we want then?”
Leanne and Larry came down the stairs and stopped in the kitchen to say good bye. Brad shook Larry’s hand and wished them a safe and fun trip. Leanne said good bye to the girls then hugged Brad.
“You’ll do all right, Brad,” she smiled and kissed his cheek.
Now they were truly alone.
“What do we call you?” Lindy asked.
“We call him ‘your father’,” Tabby told her in a loud whisper.
Brad grinned a little, “Daddy will do fine. Call me Daddy. Now then, what is it you want to eat tonight?”
“Pizza.”
“And bread sticks.”
He took them to Pizza Hut and let them have what they wanted.
Tabby was a big help getting their night clothes together and telling him what to use in their bath. He bathed them together, let them both sleep in Tabby’s bed and watch a video. He went in to clean up the bathroom after he got the video going. He hung up the towels and pulled the naked Barbie dolls from the tub. Holding one in his hand he turned it around and around. His days of playing Barbies were over.
Part 6
He was propped up at Pamela’s writing desk, his feet on the arm of a chair and leaning back in the delicate-looking desk chair.
“It’s called Magnolia Point, just outside of Mt. Pleasant about fifteen miles north on Hwy 17. No, ma’am, I would expect her to live in…I see…yeah, I understand. That’s okay, we’ll keep looking.” He closed his cell.
Tuck looked up from the sofa. “Brad, what is it you’re gonna do out at Magnolia Point?”
“I don’t know. Get my computer set up and a phone put in and satellite TV. I’ll get some of the boys to pack up my shit out in San Fran and send it out. What I plan to do is live.”
“Live?”
“Yeah, remember how that goes? I got three kids that need me and I’m gonna be there for them. I’m going to spend this summer getting reacquainted with them. By the end of the summer I’ll know what direction I want to take. I got options, Tuck.”
“Yeah, Brad, you always got options.” He was quiet a moment. Brad was surfing the net for domestic help. “Look, um, I was just thinking about the summer. I think I might take some time, you know, and look at my options.”
“What options, Tuck?” Brad looked over and smiled.
“Well, I don’t know yet. I think the time has come for us to part ways.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“I just think the ride is over. You’ve been good to me for a long time. Almost twenty years since we got red-shirted at Carolina. We’ve had some hellacious times. Times is changing now. You’re going domestic.”
“Tuck, man, you can’t leave me now.”
“Yeah, I can. I’ll go on back to San Francisco and pack up for you. Take care of the house, sell it or whatever you want to do with it.”
“I don’t want to do anything with it. I just need my clothes. We’re still in business, Tuck. I still got my part of the Golden Eagles. I got a family now I’m responsible for. Who knows? I might move them out there at the end of the summer. Don’t be thinking you’re unemployed. Stay in the house. Keep up my end of things out there.”
The thought of Tuck leaving him now almost sent him into panic mode. “I’ve depended on you for too long. You know how it is.”
“We’ll see. See how it goes at the end of the summer. I’ll hang around in the house until then and pass on anything you need to know. I’m gonna make my flight arrangements and, um, you can give me a ride to the airport.”
“Yeah…sure.”
Tuck went up to pack. Brad rose from the chair, walked over to the window and looked out at the drive where the vehicle sat. He was bailing out. Tuck was deserting him when he need him to help. It made him angry. He’d never let him know, though, just how much he depended on him. That was all right. He didn’t need anybody. Fuck ‘em.
On Saturday afternoon he went to Lindy’s dance recital. It was the end of the year for her. He took along his new camera. Tabby had a meet on Monday evening in the gym. He took along his camera and Lindy to cheer from the bleachers. He went to their school and got their records. ‘No they would not be returning in the fall.’
It had been two weeks since he arrived and took over the lives of his daughters. They were still getting used to each other. Now that school was out there was nothing to keep him in Hilton Head. He paid off Maggie, thanked her for her years of service and put the house up for sale. He packed and shipped his daughters' belongings to Magnolia Point and on a rainy morning he buckled them in the back seat for the drive up the coast.
He put a CD in and turned the music down a little. He kept an eye on the two girls in the back seat. Lindy went to sleep about the time they were coming into Charleston. He hated to wake her but she wouldn’t want to miss the big bridge.
“Are we going across that, Daddy?” Tabby was straining in her seat.
“We sure are. It’s a lot bigger than the bridge out to Hilton Head.”
“It’s the biggest bridge in the world!” she said.
“Un huh, uh huh, huh, huh.” Lindy started crying.
“Hey, hey, what’s going on?” he asked.
“She’s afraid of the bridge."
“Okay, hold on and we’ll get off it.” He was almost to the other side. “That better?” He looked over the seat. “Not much further now.”
On the other side of Mt. Pleasant he turned off the highway onto a two lane road. It was quite a drive but at last they came to the gates of Magnolia Point. A double row of Spanish moss-hung live oaks lined the drive.
“It’s spooky,” Tabby decided.
“It gets better, sweetheart.” It had been ten years since he’d been at Magnolia Point. He stopped the car when the house came into view. He still couldn’t believe he owned it. “This is it, girls. Whatever happens after this I want you to know this will always be home base, okay?”
“What’s home base?” Tabby asked.
“It’s where you can go and recharge your batteries. Where they have to take you in because you’re family. And we’re family, all right?”
He pulled up to the front and opened the car door. It was humid and warm and all the earthy scents vied for attention. He went up and unlocked the door. The girls were staying close to him. The house was unbearably warm inside. He went about opening the doors and windows but it was hot outside, too. There was air conditioning but he couldn’t remember where the thermostat was.
Tabby and Lindy were huddled in the great wide hall that ran from the front to the back. Lindy was crying and getting louder. Brad was still trying to find the thermostat.
“You’re just a big baby,” Tabby told her. But Lindy was frightened in this big house and Daddy had left them alone.
He’d walked out onto the veranda where you could see the Cooper River over the tree tops. From where he stood, the gardens looked good. The outfit he’d hired to keep them up was working out. The house smelled musty to him but then it’d been closed up. He walked back inside and heard Lindy’s cries.
“Come out here, girls, and see your playground.”
The crates he’d shipped from Hilton Head were on the veranda along with the ones from San Francisco. He thought they might feel a little more at home if they had their own things around them and so he manhandled the boxes inside and began tearing them open.
“Hey, we’d better go pick out a bedroom so we’ll know where to put all this stuff.”
Up the stairs to the second level, they went down a hall opening doors. Tabby found a princess room for them. The bed had a cornice with blue draperies. They decided the best thing would be for the two girls to share a room and a bed. He opened their windows and a cross breeze soon had the room livable.
While they were sorting out their things he went down to the end of the hall and opened the door. This had been his and Cynthia’s suite. Bedroom, sitting room, dressing rooms and a huge bath. It made him think of her again. In time…in time he was confident she would come. He wasn’t going to beg.
He still hadn’t been able to find anybody to come out as a cook/housekeeper. Nobody wanted to live-in that far out. He’d packed up the food from Hilton Head, boxes and canned goods, sodas from the fridge went into a cooler along with condiments and a gallon of milk. These things he brought into the kitchen and put away. He had the fridge going now. The first floor of the house was partially underground, a maze of store rooms and laundry rooms and pantries and then the kitchen with a walk-out patio. This is where he sat the girls with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, a bag of potato chips and orange sodas.
He sat with them, eating the chips and drinking a coke. He did not cook and it was too far out to be running out for burgers and pizza twice a day. However, he’d noticed that most of the packages of pasta and even canned goods came with a recipe on the package. They wouldn’t starve.
The water heater wasn’t on and so he canceled baths that night. He put the girls to bed and then went to his room. However, within half an hour they were knocking on his door. What the hell! He had a king-sized bed. Room for all.
He eventually found the hot water heater and the main electrical box for the house. He turned on breakers that were off and blessed air conditioning began pouring into the rooms. Things like this Tuck would have taken care of. Tuck would have taken care of the snake he shot on the patio that morning when the girls came screaming in from their breakfast. It was a long water moccasin, apparently looking for its own breakfast.
After two days of being on his own with the girls he ceased to look for domestic help. He still had the monthly cleaning service and the gardeners but he and the girls could take care of themselves. They, too, had to learn to clean up after themselves because Maggie wasn’t coming behind them. Brad wasn’t strict about it; he just laid down some simple rules.
Four weeks after moving in the girls went native. No longer was Tabby trying to make Lindy wear her matched shorts sets and sandals. They both ran around in a pair of shorts and sometimes a tee shirt and barefoot. They made playhouses in the huge forsythia bushes, fished in the pond with Brad, climbed trees and generally played all day without a playground, play date, or arranged activity.
Brad had his satellite TV working and his laptop. It didn’t take long for him to figure out how much work he could do by phone and on his computer. Conference calls were the norm and Tuck did keep him updated on the Club’s business. He did his banking by phone and found another investment group in Charleston to handle his funds. The house in Hilton Head sold.
They made weekly trips into Mt. Pleasant and filled the car with whatever the girls wanted to eat. The freezer at Magnolia Point was full of frozen dinners. It was during one of these trips into town that Brad ran into his son in the parking lot at Wal-Mart. Bryson had spotted him and came running through the cars to his side. The girls stood silently watching the boy hugging their Daddy.
Cyn followed him, calling out until she saw why he had run away. Brad had on a pair of shorts and flip flops and an old tee shirt. His eyes were hidden behind sunglasses.
“Hey, Cyn.”
“Brad. So you’re out at Magnolia Point now?”
“Have been for a little over a month. Just me and the girls.”
“Where’s Tuck?”
“He went back to San Francisco. I’ve become too domestic for him. You look good.”
“Thanks.” She looked at his daughters. “Looks like they’ve been spending some time in the sun.”
“Yeah, they play outside most of the day. Um, you should, ah, ride out someday.”
“Mom, can I go home with Dad?”
“Well, Bryson, you haven’t been asked.”
“Yes, he has,” Brad answered. “Come out tonight. We’re cooking hamburgers on the grill. Menu a la Tabby.”
“Okay. Shall I bring something?”
“Pick a wine to go with grilled burgers and hot dogs,” he grinned and closed his trunk. “Load up, kids. I’ll see ya around six.”
She raised her brows and backed away from his vehicle.
Part 7
“I remember living here!” Bryson exclaimed when they turned into the tree-lined drive.
“Do you?” Brad smiled. “Maybe you can show your sisters a few tricks they haven’t figured out yet. Two rules, though. They aren’t allowed down around the lake or the river but anything else is fair game.”
“You lived here?” Tabby asked.
It occurred to Brad that these girls had no idea who Bryson was and why he was calling their Daddy, Dad. “Have ya’ll not met?” he asked.
“Not really,” Bryson answered. “I know who they are.”
“You know they are your sisters, right?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Okay, Tabby and Lindy, Bryson here is your brother. He’s eleven years old.” He glanced in the rear view mirror. They were both staring at the top of Bryson’s head over the seat. Lindy would accept it without a question but he knew Tabby would be trying to figure it out. Later, later he would talk to her.
Cyn didn’t believe that he’d really do it. Somewhere in the back of her mind she saw him hiring a nurse or nanny to look after the girls and flying back to San Francisco. But there he was in the parking lot of Wal-Mart loading groceries in the back of his car like…like anyone else. But he wasn’t like anyone else, she told herself. He wasn’t. Everyone knew him at least by name. It was true he’d settled into an ex-athlete’s physique but he was still buff and hadn’t let himself go to flab. Maybe it was the beard and the children that kept him from being recognized. He looked very ordinary and normal with 12-packs of toilet paper and paper towels. It simply blew her mind. She was so intrigued with this new Brad Cooper that she took extra care with her appearance that evening. She packed an overnight bag for herself and Bryson, just in case it might be needed.
The kids had made use of the package of balloons Lindy wanted. They filled them from the garden hose. Brad didn’t care. It was a good way to spend a hot afternoon. He took a few hits himself and got the hose after the kids. Later he spritzed them all down with Skin So Soft to keep the mosquitoes off while they chased fireflies with a mayonnaise jar. He had the grill going and was inside making hamburger patties when Cyn arrived.
She walked through the house and then, hearing the shouts from the children, went down to the yard from the veranda and around back. The old brick floor in the kitchen was sandy from the kids running in and out. He had the door propped open with a stool and a cookie sheet half full of meat patties. She noticed he was wet.
“Hey, Cyn,” he smiled and leaned over the table and kissed her briefly. “My hands are, um...”
“I don’t believe this. I am surprised you remember how to do that.”
“Oh, come on, Cyn! Anybody can make a hamburger. There’s beer in the fridge if you want one.”
“I heard the children but didn’t see them. What have you done with them?”
“They were off chasing fireflies last I saw of them. I had to empty out a mayonnaise jar. Remember doing that when we were kids?”
“I sure do, Brad. How are the girls taking to the country?”
“Like ducks to water. It took them about a week to figure it out. They were scared to go off the porches. Bryson has been introduced to his sisters and so far no problems.”
“If I didn’t see it with my own eyes I wouldn’t be believing this. How long have you been out here?”
“About five weeks now. It’s not all been pretty, Cyn. Taking the girls away from their home made them think I had taken them from their mother, as if I had done away with her. I had to explain about death and what it meant. Neither one of them understood the funeral, despite Robert’s best efforts. We just take it one day at a time. I will admit I pretty much let them run wild here.” He flashed a smile.
Cyn shook her head slowly and went to the fridge for a beer. She opened one for him, too. “How long do you think this is going to last, this idyll in the woodland?”
“I don’t know yet. School starts around August 15th. So we at least got till the first of August to figure it out. I can do one of two things, I’m thinking. I can move us to San Francisco or I can find a house in Charleston. I haven’t decided.”
“More real estate?”
“Not so much anymore. The house in Hilton Head sold. The Dallas apartment went years ago. There’s only the house outside of San Francisco. It’s nice, a nice place.” He moved around the counter, washed his hands and took a drink from his beer bottle. “I bought that one for myself. There was no one else in mind.” He gave her a direct look.
She could believe him. He’d been devastated after the break up with Pamela. Of course she didn’t think for a moment that he led a celibate life. “Are you working or just drifting?”
“Both, it’s true,” he laughed a little. “I can drift on the franchise for awhile but I’ve got a proposal from a sportswear manufacturer. We may design and produce a line of sports clothing, my own brand.” He tilted his head and smiled.
Cyn smiled back. He was easy to be with tonight.
“Are you still working?”
“Yes. You don’t think I just sit around and wait for the alimony check to arrive each month, do you?”
“I don’t think about it at all.”
She bit the end of her tongue. That was uncalled for and ugly. “You know the little gift shop? Well, it’s more of a gallery now with local artisans making up the bulk of our inventory.”
“Did you ever buy into it?”
“No, I decided not to. I was married to Sam at the time and he didn’t want me working anyhow.”
“Why in the hell did you marry him, Cyn?”
“I got tired of being alone. The best years of my life were going by and I was sleeping alone. He was good in bed.”
The children came running back with a jar full of fire flies. After an examination and exclamation over their finds, Brad reminded Tabby about the beans.
“It was her idea to have baked beans, so she can cook them.”
Tabby washed her hands and went to the pantry. She came back with two cans of baked beans. Expertly she hooked the cans on the electric can opener and found a pan to dump them into.
Cyn watched her while Brad put the hamburgers on the grill and talked about fireflies and nights in the country with Lindy and Bryson.
“Why is everyone wet?” she asked Tabby.
“Water balloons,” Tabby rolled her eyes, “and Daddy didn’t fight fair. He brought out the garden hose.”
Cyn laughed and then caught the scent of Skin So Soft on the little girl. She’d taught him that many years ago with Bryson.
“Anybody want cheeseburgers?” he asked before laying a slice of cheddar cheese on the burgers.
Dinner was on the patio, where they ate most meals. It was shaded by a huge live oak and magnolia that had joined forces many years ago. Their branches formed a natural canopy over the brick patio. Brad lit the torches stuck in the grass around the patio. After their meal the dishes were loaded in the dishwasher and Bryson took the trash to the dumpster.
Brad and Cyn moved up on the veranda and let the kids play out in the evening until they were tired. Cyn brought out her bottle of wine then.
“How easy life seems here.”
“It is easy. We don’t get fussed about anything. What is it you do out on the Isle of Palms?”
“I open the shop around 10:00 each day. Bryson’s up by then and had his breakfast. He either watches TV or goes down to visit a friend. He’s only allowed to swim or surf if there is an adult with them. You would be surprised what passes for an adult these days. He brings them into the shop for approval.”
“I guess living on the beach is pretty special for him.”
“I don’t think so. It’s like anything else you get used to. The novelty soon wears off.”
“Let him come and stay with us?”
“For the summer?”
“Yes, for the summer. You know he’ll be fine here.”
“Oh, well, I…if he wants to.”
“He will,” Brad smiled lazily and sipped the wine she’d brought him.
“I brought him a change of clothes, thinking he might want to spend the night.”
“Good. I’m sure he does.”
She didn’t mention about her own.
He called Bryson up on the veranda and asked him if he’d like to stay the summer. Of course he answered yes. That was the end of that.
“Maybe I can meet up with you somewhere tomorrow and you can bring his clothes.”
“Of course,” she answered shortly.
The girls settled up on the veranda, swinging and talking. Brad was in no hurry to make them go to bed. Cyn was beginning to think she’d made a big mistake. Maybe she had read him wrong in Hilton Head. All his talk of needing her was only a moment in time. She tried to talk sensibly to herself but it was all going down the drain.
“I think I’d, um, better start back. It’s late and it’s a long drive.”
“Did you bring my clothes, Mom?”
“Yes, Bryson, come out to the car with me.” She got up and Brad got up, too. She hurried through the house to get to the car before they did. She had to empty her things from the bag. She’d dumped them on the seat and floorboard of her car and whirled around with the bag for Bryson. Brad was now coming up to her car. She closed the door, hoping he wouldn’t notice the seat.
“You don’t have to run off now.”
“Really I do. It’s late. I’ll meet you tomorrow. How about the, uh, sub shop there on the corner by Wal-Mart? Will that work for you?”
“Yeah, sure, Cyn.” He was disappointed that she was going back home. “It’s been a good evening. I would like, um, to do this again. Next time bring your things…if you want to, that is.”
“Thank you, I will. It was lovely the whole evening. I’m impressed, Brad.”
“I didn’t do it to impress you or anybody. I did it for me and the girls. It’s working out great.”
“Nevertheless, you’re impressive. Goodnight, Brad.”
“Night, Cyn.” He wanted to kiss her, to take her in his arms and…
She slipped into her car, pushing things from under her butt. By the time she got to the highway she had to stop and wipe her eyes. What a fool she’d been to think she could ever be anything else to him.
Part 8
There were days when they drove him crazy. Days when it was raining and the only TV that had a signal was the one in his man space. He gave up trying to work on those days. He watched monster movies on TV with them, made popcorn in the microwave and built forts out of sofa cushions and they loved him. He was more fun when they could engage him than anything they could think up on their own.
It was mid July and time to make some decisions about what he was going to do. Now that he’d spent so much time with Bryson, the thought of moving to the West coast with his daughters no longer appealed to him. He knew Cynthia wouldn’t let him take Bryson out there. He took them to the beach one day on Isle of Palms.
Bryson ran the two blocks off the beach to his mom’s shop to let her know they were there. Cynthia sent him a tube of sun block for the kids. After the transfer of Bryson’s clothes to his vehicle, she’d taken off and not looked back. Brad was more confused than ever where she was concerned. He had feelings for her, deep-seated feelings he wasn’t allowed to express. Cynthia had been the first woman he’d ever loved. He loved her for three years before he married her and when he did he gifted her with Magnolia Point. They were young and crazy together. His career had taken off and other things became more important. But they had been happy.
He’d called her up and invited her back and she had something else to do so he got the message that she didn’t want anything to do with him. Cynthia was trying to practice self preservation. She didn’t put herself in a position to be hurt by him. She knew the reason he could cause her pain was because she still loved him. She immersed herself in the Charleston summer season, reconnecting with old friends and keeping herself busy.
It was one rainy day that the girls had taken over the veranda as their house and no boys were allowed that Bryson came in and hung over his Dad’s desk chair.
“What are you doing, Daddy?”
“Looking for a place to live.” Brad looked around at him.
“That’s in Charleston. I recognize the street.”
“Oh, yeah,” Brad looked back at the
picture on his screen. “How do you know it?”
“Sam lived there when Mom met him.”
“Ah, well. I probably don’t want to live there, huh?”
“There’s a house for sale on our street.”
“I don’t think your Mama wants me that close.”
“Yes, she does. She likes you.”
“Well, I’m glad 'cause I like he, too.”
“If you both like each other why don’t you live together?”
“It’s a little more complicated than that, Bryson.”
“Adults always have to make things complicated.” He did a fake move and slipped out of the room. Brad turned around in his chair and looked at his son.
“Bryson, find your shoes.” He went out on the veranda and collected his daughters and put them in the car.
“Where are we going, Daddy?” Tabby asked.
“We’re going to find a woman I used to love and I think I still do.”
“Where is she?” Lindy wanted to know.
“Isle of Palms.”
Bryson grinned, “You’re going to get Mom?”
“I’m gonna try.”
“Wow, this I gotta see!” Bryson grinned ear to ear.
He pulled up in front of the gift shop and turned to his kids. “Now, let me do the talking, all right?”
He opened the door to the shop, a little bell announcing his presence. Cynthia looked up from the desk where she was bagging up a purchase. Her eyes went wide but she kept up the banter with the woman until she finished the transaction and she left.
“Is everything okay?” She looked from kid to kid.
“No, it’s not. Every time I’ve asked you to come out you’ve been busy. So we’ve come in to see you. I realize we’re not dressed as nice as some of your customers and maybe,” he looked around at the girls and his shaggy son, ”we could do with a little spit and polish, but we’re good honest people. We’ve come to beg you to go to dinner with us over at Shem Creek. Bryson says he’s starved for shrimp and I am, too.”
Bryson’s eyes got big and he grinned.
She caught Bryson’s reaction and looked at Brad. “I don’t get off for another hour and a half. But if you can find something to do for that time, I’d love to go over to Shem Creek and eat shrimp.”
He smiled winningly. “We’ll find something to do and we’ll be back.”
He ushered the kids out and sent another smile over his shoulder. She stood there holding onto the counter with her heart fluttering wildly in her chest.
He took them down to the beach where they played in the water, getting wet to their waists in their shorts. Tabby’s pockets were full of shells she found in a tidal pool. Lindy was covered in sand and Bryson was soaked and dripping when the hour and a half was up and they piled back into his Escalade and rode over to the shop again.
“Oh, my God!” Cyn said, looking them over. “You can’t take them to Shem Creek like that.”
“Sure I can. Are you ready now?”
“Brad…”
“If you’d left with us earlier they’d all be dry.”
She stared at him as she locked up the doors and turned to the vehicle.
They ate outside and got their fill of shrimp and iced tea. While he was waiting for the ticket to pay he turned to her. “You and I need to talk. We need to talk now…tonight. So when we leave here we’re going to your house and turn the kids out so we can talk. That all right with you?”
“Yes." She seemed to have lost the ability to think.
While Bryson showed the girls his neighborhood, Brad and Cynthia sat out on her deck.
“What is it you want to talk about, Brad?” She lit a citronella candle.
“Us and where we’re going together or separately. I know what I want but I don’t know what you want. First let me say this. I’ve given it a lot of thought, Cyn, and I’m not moving west. I’ve been almost living like a normal human with kids this summer. I can’t go off and leave one behind. I know it’s not practical to live out at Magnolia Point when school starts so I’ve got to find a place and I’m looking for a place that will accommodate all of us. I know what we had when we lived out there. I know very well what happened to it. I want it back, Cyn.”
“This is not what I expected to hear from you tonight. I expected you to tell me you were leaving.”
“I’m on the phone and on line with the Club every day. So far so good. That’s all I can say there. I’m not going to say that there won’t be trips I have to take. Hell, everybody has to travel sometimes, but it’s not a way of life with me now. I haven’t lived like that in a long time. The season is gonna start up next month so, yeah, I’ll have to make a trip or two. If I can work it where you and the kids can travel with me, I will.
“I want to make this home. I’m ready for it. We were good together once and I think we can be again.”
“I need to think about this and what it means for me. It means that I give up my house here, my job and take on not only Bryson but your little girls and you.”
“Sounds like you’re getting the short end of the stick.”
“It does,” she laughed a little. “I’m afraid of you. I don’t want to be but I am. I loved you so much and, to be honest with you, I never stopped. Through it all, your marriage and mine, I never stopped.”
“I think I know what you are afraid of. When I made the decision to take this new path in my life, I left behind the things that filled the old life. Or I should say, things I found to fill up the space. I didn’t know how empty it was, how shallow and self serving it was until this summer. Magnolia Point has brought me back to earth and it’s where I want to stay.”
She drew her knees up in her chair, rocking back and forth a little. “You’ve said a lot but one thing you haven’t said. I haven’t heard that from you at all.”
“You must mean the ‘L’ word,” he smiled and leaned across the little table. "It’s there, it’s coming.”
The kids were back, chattering downstairs under the deck.
“Can I have a little time to think about this?” she asked.
“Very little, small amount, count it in hours, maybe minutes. I’ll be back tomorrow evening for an answer.” He stood up and moved around the table. Taking her face in his hand, he kissed her, teasing her tongue with his.
Too soon the kiss was over. He withdrew and leaned over the deck, telling the kids to come say good night.
Bryson asked him how he did on the way back to Magnolia Point.
“I’m not sure, Bryson. I told her all the right things but she’s tough, you know. I gave her until tomorrow night.”
“I got an idea.” Bryson told him his idea and the girls agreed it would work. Brad wasn’t sure and was afraid she wouldn’t even see it.
“Don’t worry, Dad. I’ll take care of it,” Bryson smiled and looked out of the window. “I know some people.”
Brad made the phone calls and gave his credit card number but it was Bryson on the phone making the deal with the man he knew from Isle of Palms.
The next day they were on the isle early and once the little plane was up and made one pass, Brad called Cynthia and told her to walk out in the parking area.
Trailing behind the little plane was the following message: I luv U Cyn Marry me again.
“Oh!” She had her hand over her mouth.
“Do you see it?” he asked.
“Yes, you crazy thing.”
“What do you think?” he asked and folded his phone.
“I’m not sure what I think.”
He walked up behind her and turned her around. “I think you know. I do love you, Cyn. Just give me the chance to show you how much.”
Her arms went around his neck. “Brad, this is crazy.”
“I know, but then we always were crazy together. This was my Hail Mary pass, Cyn.” He kissed her soundly.
The kids were in the car parked at the end of the row and Bryson started blowing the horn and cheering him on. Brad turned and gave them thumbs up.
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