When the Sun Goes Down (24 page)

Read When the Sun Goes Down Online

Authors: Gwynne Forster

“I suggest we do both,” Medford said. “Let’s continue
Bravado
and
Pipper
as series. I think people love series, because we’re already getting requests for the next edition of each one. What are you thinking, Gunther?”
“I think it’s great, but we need what amounts to a novel or a story for each one. I’m thinking of a long novel presented in installments, sort of like a soap opera. Did you ever do any dancing, Cory? I have in mind a story for Pipper trying out as a dancer.”
“I danced plenty in college, even learned to tap, but I don’t think I could do that on stilts.”
A grin spread over Gunther’s face. “You do the choreography and the dancing. We’ll photograph it with a green screen behind you, and the computer and I will put the stilts under you.”
“I’ll make it kid friendly,” Cory said, his face the picture of happiness.
The three men talked for several hours, offering ideas, accepting and rejecting them as if they had worked together in harmony all their lives. “I couldn’t ask for a better team,” Gunther said.
Later, he sat alone in his office with his elbows pressing his knees and his hands together in the shape of a pyramid. Thinking. With his business solidly on track, he could afford to spend more time getting his life in order and, hopefully, getting his brother on the way to becoming a useful citizen. To his mind, changing Edgar required the skill of a good psychotherapist, and getting Edgar to admit he needed one would require a Herculean effort. He’d do what he could.
His thoughts went to Caroline. He cared for her, but with his concerns about the will, his business, and Edgar, he’d been dragging his feet. And he couldn’t seem to forget his experience with Lissa. She was nothing like Lissa; indeed, they hardly seemed to be members of the same species, and he had to stop acting as if they had anything in common.
“I’m past the age by which I should have a family,” he said to himself. “I haven’t behaved fairly with Caroline, and she has a right to know where she stands with me. If she backs off, I’ll be in trouble, and she might, because she won’t let me string her along.” And he didn’t want to. He reached for his cell phone. “I’m going for it and I’m going to put my attention on what matters most to me.”
He phoned her.
“Hello, Caroline. Could we have dinner this evening and spend tomorrow together?” He got it out in one breath so as not to give her time to question his plan to have dinner with her on Friday evening. Women liked to be busy on Saturdays.
“Sounds like a good plan, but I’m busy this evening. Tomorrow’s good. What time?”
Taken aback, he didn’t have an immediate response. And it did not escape him that she said not a word but waited for his response. “I suppose I deserve to be disappointed, Caroline, but I’m not going to lie and say I hope your evening is enjoyable. As for tomorrow, I thought we’d put on some really comfortable and warm clothing and go bike riding through a forest trail that I love.”
“Where would we go?”
“Out toward Font Hill. I often ride out there alone. It’s lovely any time of year, but especially now when it’s so quiet and still. I’ll pack a lunch, and we can make a fire and rest at a spot I know. If you’re not too tired after we get back to Ellicott City, we could have a nice dinner.”
“You really meant spending the day together. Well, I’m all for it, and I’m looking forward to it.” They talked for about half an hour before saying good-bye. After he hung up, he wondered why he’d thought a woman with Caroline’s looks and accomplishments would have nothing to do on a week-end.
Well, I’d better take advantage of what I’m getting.
He phoned Mirna. “This is Gunther. I’m going bike riding with Caroline tomorrow, and I’d like to treat her to a picnic lunch out on the trail. What can you suggest?”
“You just leave it to me, Mr. G. It’s too cold for beer, so I’ll put in a bottle of wine and a big thermos of coffee.”
“Just the coffee, and remember that I have to pack it in the basket on my bicycle.”
“I know that, Mr. G. Just leave it to me. What time you leaving?”
“About eight-thirty in the morning.”
“Yeah? It gon’ be freezing cold, but I ’spect it’ll warm up by noon. I’ll have it for you when you ready to go.”
He dressed in layers, put socks inside his boots, woolen gloves inside his leather ones, and earmuffs under his woolen cap, and got downstairs at eight that Saturday morning. “I fixed you a real good breakfast, Mr. G,” Mirna said, beaming at the table laden with waffles, sausage, scrambled eggs, hash browns, and fresh fruit salad.
She poured their coffee and sat down. “I sure am glad to see you do something besides work. Miss Caroline’s a lovely woman in a lot of ways, and I been wanting to tell you that you should pay some attention to her.”
“How do you know I haven’t been?” he asked after Mirna said the grace.
“‘Cause she don’t never call here, and that’s ’cause she don’t feel comfortable calling you.”
“How do you know she doesn’t call me on my cell phone?”
“She doesn’t. You keep that phone in the inside pocket of your jacket. You come home and pull off the jacket, and half the time you leave it in the foyer closet. If she had a habit of calling you on it, you’d take the phone upstairs with you. Am I right?”
“I’m working on it, Mirna.”
“That’s all you can do, Mr. G. I fixed you a real nice lunch.” She went to the kitchen and returned with a picnic basket. “Everything’s in here, and here’s a handful of fatwood and a box of matches, if you’re planning to stop at a camping site. But you be real careful.” He stared at Mirna, thinking that she wasn’t old enough to be his mother, and wishing that she were. To hell with it. He took the picnic basket from her, set it on the floor, and hugged her.
“When I hired you, I had no way of knowing the stability and comfort that you would bring to my life. Thanks for this and for thinking of the fatwood and matches.”
Caroline opened her door and smiled at him. Dressed in a storm jacket and pants of beige and burnt orange, a matching cap, and heavy boots, she looked like autumn itself. “You always look perfect,” he told her, and handed her a pair of fur earmuffs. “These will keep your ears warm.” He had an urge to hug her, but he didn’t think he’d earned that right.
“I figured that if we ran into a bear, I wouldn’t look too strange to him. He should be used to these colors.”
He couldn’t help laughing at that logic, and when a sense of happiness and well-being enveloped him, he gave in to the urge and hugged her. To his amazement, she returned his embrace. He stared down at her, though he knew that trying to read her would be a useless endeavor. Caroline could camouflage her feelings with the efficiency of an octopus changing its color in order to hide from sharks and stingrays. He stored their bikes on the top of his Mercedes and headed to Font Hill, where he parked and locked the car and its steering wheel.
“I’ve never been here before,” Caroline said, “and I love the outdoors. This is a treat.”
He raised the collar of her jacket, doubled her scarf, and tied it around her neck. “Unfortunately, we’ll be facing the wind, at least for a while,” he said, “and I don’t want you to be cold.”
“If I get cold in all these clothes, you’ll have no choice but to warm me. Where will you build the fire?”
Good thing he didn’t respond to the first part of her comment. “There’s a camping site about seven miles from here, not far from the river.”
“Really? Next time, let’s come prepared to fish,” she said. “I love to fish.”
“If we’re going to do it, we’d better beat the first snowfall. When I looked out this morning, I thought we’d have snow.” Polite talk as if they were strangers, and whose fault was it? His. They should have become closer by now. They pedaled beyond the gravel to the beginning of the winding road, its breadth sufficient to accommodate standard-sized cars and trucks. He knew the road would eventually narrow and lead them into idyllic scenery.
“These trees are so tall,” Caroline said after a long stretch of silence. “They seem to touch the sky.”
“The real tall ones are tulip trees. I’m told they’re the tallest trees in North America, including California redwoods.”
“It’s wonderful. Look at the sun filtering through the leaves. I’ve never been in such a place. Can we come back here sometime?”
“Of course. But if you think this is extraordinary, we have to go to some of the forests in Anne Arundel County over near the Severn River. On a day like this, it’s an enchanting place.”
“Imagine how wonderful the late summer would have been,” she said, “if we’d done things like this. I haven’t met many people who love nature as I do.”
“I think we might have,” he said, “if I hadn’t been so focused on my business and my family and, of course, if I hadn’t gone fishing in Assawoman Bay and developed pneumonia. Are you tired?”
“Thanks for asking, but I’m not winded yet.”
They neared the cove where he knew he’d find a camping spot that offered a wooden table, a couple of benches, and a safe place to build a fire.
“Do you think wild animals come here, Gunther?”
“I’ll have a fire in a minute, so you needn’t expect any visitors. Out here, a fire is a better weapon against wild animals than a gun is.” He built the fire, put a plastic cloth on the table, and spread out the warm slices of quiche, spiced buffalo wings, crab cakes, and buttermilk biscuits. A ziplock plastic bag contained a salad of mixed greens, and in two other containers he found grapes and slices of cheesecake.
“That’s enough for four people,” she said. “My goodness, you’re a thoughtful man.”
“Thanks, but Mirna put this together.”
“You’re still thoughtful,” she said, and bit into the quiche. “This is good.”
“I’m glad you’re enjoying it. Mind if I ask what’s between you and the guy you went out with last night? I mean ... is it ... uh ... Are you committed to him?”
“No, I’m not. If that were the case, I wouldn’t be out here with you. I date him occasionally.”
“I’d like to see you on a regular basis. Does any man have the right to demand anything of you?”
“The answer to that question is a definite no. I’d like us to get to know each other better, and I had thought that by now we’d be on different footing, but you haven’t shown much interest.”
“I didn’t show it, but it’s been there since the day we met. I had five weeks in bed with pneumonia. After I was able to get back to work, I had to do a lot of catching up there, and problems with Edgar exploded. I’m not responsible for him, but he’s my brother. My business is doing well, my life is getting on track, and I can now put my priorities where they should be.”
She covered his hand with her own. “I didn’t mean to ask you for reasons why you let things between us dangle, but thanks for telling me. What are you going to do about your brother? And what can you do since he’s older than you are?”
“He’s working in Philadelphia right now, but he has some grandiose notions about himself, and as difficult as it is for musicians to find work, he’ll quit a job if someone fails to genuflect to him.”
“What?”
“You know what I mean. He wants his status as a boss guitarist recognized, and if someone doesn’t, he’ll ditch the job even if he doesn’t have ten dollars in his pocket.”

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