Summer at Forsaken Lake (6 page)

“Aye, aye, Captain,” said Nicholas, saluting.

“We’re going to head for a buoy about three miles south of here; should take us an hour or so to get there. It’s going to be upwind, so we’ll have to tack back and forth a few times, and then we’ll have a nice reach back to the mooring.”

* * *

As the afternoon temperature rose to nearly ninety degrees, the wind died, until
Goblin
was barely ghosting along with Hetty at the tiller for the last mile or so. Nick was stretched out in the cockpit with his hat pulled down over his eyes while Nicholas and Hayley sat on the foredeck with their feet dangling over the side, daydreaming.

As they approached the mooring, Nick sat up. Hetty immediately tried to hand the tiller off to him, but they were moving so slowly that he waved her off. “You brought her this far. Just point it right at the mooring and Nicholas will do the rest.”

“Are you sure? Nicholas has never done this, either,” said Hetty from her seat in the cockpit.

“Positive,” said Nick. “Steady as she goes, Hetty. Hey, I think that’s going to be your new name: Steady Hetty.”

Hetty beamed as she gripped the tiller with both hands, guiding
Goblin
past a fishing boat and toward the mooring.

Nicholas reached over the bow to grab the stern of the waiting dinghy, which he then tied to
Goblin
’s stern. After double-checking that the mooring line was properly attached to the bow, he and Nick furled sails and tidied things up on deck while the twins prepared the cabin and chattered about the sleeping-aboard plan. Finally, they were ready to board the dinghy for the shore.

At the last moment, however, Nicholas decided to swim rather than ride. He stripped off his shirt and threw it and his shoes to Hetty in the dinghy. Then he dived off
Goblin
’s stern, splashing both twins in the process.

“Nicholas!” they squealed.

“It’s just water,” he said. “You should come in. It feels good.”

Nick, who already had one foot in the dinghy, suddenly changed his mind, too. He climbed back aboard
Goblin
and, to everyone’s complete surprise, leaped into the air and did a cannonball just
inches
from the dinghy, soaking the twins and sending them into a tizzy.

“Uncle Nick!”

“Nice cannonball!” shouted Nicholas, high-fiving his uncle, who then untied the dinghy, setting the twins adrift.

“Hey, you can’t do that,” Hayley cried.

Hetty stood with hands on hips. “What are we supposed to do now?”

“The first thing you should do is sit down,” Nicholas scolded. “And then, if I were you, I’d start rowing. You’ll make it to shore eventually. Unless the Seaweed Strangler gets you … or
I capsize you
!” He grabbed the gunwale of the dinghy and rocked it violently.

While Hetty screamed, Hayley chose a more practical solution. She picked up an oar and went right for Nicholas’s knuckles. Her second swing was too close for comfort, so he let go, laughing.

“Come on, Nicholas,” said Uncle Nick. “Race you to the dock!” He put his head down, his one arm and legs churning up the green-algae-tinted water. Even though his uncle had a five-yard head start, Nicholas took up the challenge. He dug in with each stroke and kicked with everything he had. The seventy-five yards between the mooring and the end of the dock was just enough for him to catch and, in his final strokes, pass his uncle. He reached up for the steel frame that supported the dock and hung from it, breathing hard.

“That was … farther … than I … thought,” Nicholas gasped.

Nick, only slightly winded, nodded. “How are the girls doing out there?”

“Not so good,” Nicholas answered, his breathing returning to normal. “They dropped one of the oars in the water and now they’re going in circles trying to get it back.”

“Think we should rescue them?”

“Nah. Let ’em figure it out. Hayley almost broke my fingers with that oar. She’s crazy.” With that, Nicholas hauled himself out of the water and up onto the dock. As he stood up, he was surprised to see someone walking down the dock toward him. He shook the water out of his hair and then blinked away the blurriness caused by the lake until he finally got a clear look at who it was. He almost fell off the dock when he realized that it was the girl from town—Charlie, the pitcher who struck him out
on four pitches. Correction: the really
cute
pitcher who struck him out.

What is she doing here?

For a second—maybe two—confusion was the overwhelming emotion racing through his preteen brain. And then the real horror hit him.

Where is my shirt?

For Nicholas Mettleson, a little shy, a little short for his age, and a
lot
scrawny, standing shirtless in front of a girl—especially a pretty girl like Charlie Brennan—was a thousand times worse than being struck out by one. Ten thousand times, maybe.

His shirt, of course, was in the dinghy with Hayley and Hetty, who were still trying to retrieve the second oar.

“Hey, I know you,” Charlie said, smiling broadly. “You’re the kid I struck out yesterday. What are you doing here?”

Nicholas looked around in vain for a towel that he could throw over his shoulders at least. “Umm, my, uh, uh, my uncle lives here.”

Just then, Uncle Nick’s head popped up from underwater. “Hey, Charlie! Meet my nephew, Nicholas. He and his sisters—that’s them out in the dinghy—are spending the summer with me. Nicholas, Charlie here is just about the best pitcher you’ll ever see. Has a curve that can go around corners.”

Oh God. Here it comes
, thought Nicholas.

But Charlie threw Nicholas a life ring. “Maybe I can
show you sometime,” she said, winking right at him. “Nick taught me how to throw it.”

“Uh-huh,” mumbled Nicholas, not at all sure how to proceed with this strange ponytailed creature.

“Mom sent over a big tray of lasagna for you, Nick,” Charlie said. “It’s in the kitchen. I had it on the back of my bike and almost dropped it.”

“Well, I’m glad you didn’t—would have been a crime. Nicholas, Charlie’s mom makes the best lasagna in town—maybe the whole state—and she’s not even Italian. Hey, I’ve got an idea, Charlie. Why don’t you stay for dinner? Get to know these three—tell ’em that life out here in the country isn’t so bad. I’ve been trying my best, but they’re more likely to believe it coming from someone their own age.”

Charlie grinned. “I’ll have to call Mom, but I’m sure she’ll be okay with it.”

“Tell her to come, too,” Nick said. “If I know her, she made enough for a small army.” He looked out at the twins, who were making slow progress toward the dock. “We’re not quite that many—more of a platoon, I suppose.”

Charlie’s attention turned to the twins. “Are they okay out there? I mean, they don’t seem to know what they’re doing. Maybe I’d better help them.” She pulled her T-shirt over her head and stepped out of her shorts, revealing a peach-colored bathing suit underneath. With no hesitation, she dived off the dock and aimed for the dinghy. She
stayed underwater for several long seconds, finally surfacing halfway to her objective. When she reached the girls, she held on to the transom and pushed them toward the dock, kicking noisily all the way.

Once they were safely at the dock, Hayley stuck her tongue out at Nicholas as she ceremoniously dropped his shirt in the lake, and then she and Hetty walked back to the house with their new best friend Charlie, one on each side and peppering her with questions.

* * *

A
few hours later, Charlie’s mom pulled in the driveway at Nick’s, and Nick sent Nicholas out to help carry in the huge bowls of Caesar salad and green beans and the two loaves of homemade garlic bread that Charlie and her mom had made to complete the Italian feast that was taking shape.

“Um, can I help?” said Nicholas, approaching the car. “I’m Nicholas.”

As Charlie’s mom was handing him the bowl of green beans, she got her first close look at him and stopped suddenly.

“Oh my,” she said, continuing to stare at Nicholas, who didn’t know what to make of the situation.

Luckily, Charlie rescued him. “Come on, Mom, let’s go inside. You have to meet the twins. They’re hilarious. And besides, I’m starving.”

Nicholas held the screen door open for them, but even when the twins came running down the stairs and into the kitchen, followed by Pistol in all his tail-wagging glory, Charlie’s mom still didn’t seem able to look away from Nicholas.

“Hi, Fran,” said Uncle Nick, kissing her on the cheek. “And hello again, Charlie. Thank you both for the feast—and the company. And I see you’ve met my boarders. These are Will’s kids—Nicholas, Hayley, and Hetty.”

Nicholas’s ears had perked up at Charlie’s mom’s name.

Fran? As in Franny? As in Dad’s old girlfriend?

Nicholas was so busy making connections to the letter he’d found that he hardly noticed her reaction to learning who
he
was.

One of her hands flew to her mouth as she whispered, “Will,” and she almost dropped the salad bowl, juggling it for a few seconds before getting it back under control. “Omigosh, I’m so sorry. It’s just—for a second there, I thought I had stepped into a time machine.”

Nicholas, Charlie, and the twins wore confused looks, but Uncle Nick nodded in agreement. “He is the spitting image of his father, isn’t he? Janet at the library had the same reaction.”

“It’s remarkable.” She quickly regained her composure
and, after setting the salad on the counter, held her hand out for Nicholas to shake. “I apologize, Nicholas. I’m Charlie’s mom, Franny Brennan. You must think I’m crazy, the way I’m staring at you. I was … Well, I knew your dad when he was about your age—I was Franny Sherbrooke back then. I’ll bet you’re probably sick to death of people telling you how much you look like him.”

Nicholas shrugged. “It’s okay. Doesn’t really happen that often.” Even so, he knew it was true; he’d seen pictures of his dad as a kid, and the two of them looked more alike than Hetty and Hayley.

“You knew Daddy when he was a boy?” Hetty asked. “Did you know he’s a
doctor
? He’s in Africa, helping people with mengeeitis.”

“Meningitis,” said Nicholas.

“I did know that he’s a doctor. It’s nice that he’s helping people,” said Franny.

“Were you in his movie?” Hayley asked. “We just saw it last night.”

Franny turned to look at Nick, her eyes wide with surprise.

“Nicholas found Will’s movie,” said Uncle Nick.

“In a secret compartment up in the tower room,” said Hayley. “That
I
discovered.”

“You know, I don’t think I was. Maybe one little scene. Mostly, I was the cameraman, er, person. Your dad and I were the only ones who knew how to use the camera, so we took turns—”

“Okay, kids,” Uncle Nick interrupted. “Why don’t you all go out on the porch for a while and let Fran and me get dinner ready.”

Franny looked relieved, and immediately started tossing the salad with the dressing and croutons she had brought.

On the porch, Hetty and Hayley insisted that Charlie sit between them on the swing while they continued their interrogation about school, what she did for fun, her favorite musicians—anything they could think of.

Nicholas, meanwhile, picked up a magazine about wooden sailboats and pretended not to listen. Part of him was dying to show Charlie the letter from her mom to his dad.

Not yet. Maybe if I get to know her better. She might think I’m weird, or get mad because I read somebody else’s letter. You just can’t tell with girls
.

So he sat there pretending to read until Uncle Nick called them all into the dining room. The twins immediately started their assault on Franny, hitting her with questions about
The Seaweed Strangler
, but Uncle Nick held up his hand for them to stop.

“Girls, what do you say? Let’s let our guest enjoy this beautiful dinner—which she prepared—in peace. No more questions.”

Hayley and Hetty put on their poutiest faces.

“That’s not going to work on Uncle Nick the way it does on Dad,” Nicholas said, laughing.

“Tell you what, girls,” said Franny. “Because you’re so nice, and because I just love your names, I’ll tell you a little secret. I
married
the Seaweed Strangler.”

“You WHAT?” the twins shouted.

“But that means,” Hayley said, turning to Charlie, “that you’re …”

“The Seaweed Strangler’s
daughter
!” Charlie exclaimed.

“Absolutely true,” said Uncle Nick. “Remember, I told you that the monster was a kid named Jimmy Brennan.

That’s Charlie’s dad.”

“Too bad you weren’t Daddy’s girlfriend,” said Hetty. Nicholas and Franny both choked momentarily on bites of salad.