4 - Booty call

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Ryan

The cottage wasn't different from the one he had spent his summers in, although the kitchen was updated. Looking out the kitchen window, it surprised him to see a swimming pool. Growing up, he didn't know anyone with a pool at The Point. It was above ground with the deck built right up to it, so it almost looked in ground. With Heidi stuck at home, the pool would remain closed for the summer. He felt a little disappointed. Still, contrary to Cam's orders, he hoped he wouldn't still be here when the weather turned warm enough to swim. The whole summer was much too long to be away. He had obligations including board meetings for the foundation. The summer was when they planned the fall fundraiser.

He gravitated to the refrigerator and found it well stocked. Apparently, it was part of opening the house, he mused. Pulling out a Shipyard, he couldn't put off the inevitable and pressed Jack's number. The Point was just too small, and he didn't want word of his arrival to reach his brother or parents through the grapevine or was it the Rick-vine?

Jack answered. "What's wrong?"

Ryan should have been angry, but truthfully, he never called Jack from his own phone or after business hours.

"Nothing, but I thought you might want to know, I drove up. I'm staying at Heidi's cottage."

"That's a surprise! For the weekend?"

"No, definitely longer. I'm playing it by ear."

"Did you run out of women to seduce in Virginia and come to find some in Maine?"

"Jack!" Maddie's voice exclaimed in the background. Ryan listened to muffled voices. "Ryan!"

"Hi, Maddie. I guess you heard."

"I did and I for one am thrilled."

"I didn't come to do the whole baby thing."

She laughed. "I wouldn't expect you to. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, it's fine. Cam usually spends a lot of time here, but Heidi can't leave so they suggested I use the house. It's not a big deal, really."

"I can feed you dinner anytime." There were more muffled voices. "Jack wants me to tell you he runs every day at six-thirty."

"Six-thirty! Is he crazy?"

"No, I did too until I couldn't anymore. Once Rory's school is out for summer, I'll get back into it."

"Tell the big jerk, I'll see him at six-thirty then."

What did he get himself into? He competed with Jack and couldn't turn down the challenge even if it meant getting up with the frigging birds. At least seeing more of his sister-in-law might be nice. How did Jack manage to catch his high school crush?

His phone call to his mother was easy, since she was too excited to ask questions. He would see his parents when they came to Maine for Memorial Day weekend. Ryan was certain her curiosity would peak by then.

With his presence announced, he walked to The Landing for a sandwich - a lobster roll, the specialty. Rick greeted him. "Did you come to see the new baby?"

"Heidi and Cam offered their cottage to me. She's pregnant and needs to stay close to her doctor."

"I heard she was expecting. There's going to be babies everywhere."

Ryan always avoided anyone with kids, but it was becoming difficult. He took his sandwich, and as he was going out, he bumped into a younger Nicole holding hands with a boy.

"Hi, Uncle Ryan. You sure surprised Dad." He looked from her to the boy. "This is Sam. He was at the wedding."

"Sam." He nodded. "Hey kid, your father know you're going around holding hands?"

Rory laughed. "We've been together longer than Dad and Maddie."

Ryan really looked at Rory. She wasn't a little girl anymore.

Shit, I probably had sex with a girl her age back in high school!

He called her kid because that's what she was to him. Truthfully, he never thought about being an uncle although he had his assistant, Allie buy birthday and Christmas presents for his nieces. Why did he suddenly feel protective of her with the boy?

As he carried his dinner home, he decided lobster and the Sox game made a perfect evening.

Jack was waiting when he walked out into the damp morning air. They nodded to each other. In the morning's silence, he heard a door slam.

Jack said, "Come on."

Just ahead Ryan saw a man dressed for a run looking at them. "Peter, my brother Ryan. He's staying over..." Jack turned and pointed to Heidi's house.

"Right, I heard there was a connection. Where's Cameron?"

"Home, because the baby's coming soon."

Peter nodded in understanding. The three men fell into pace. He followed their lead. It was obvious they were used to running together. He half listened as they talked about the baby and other people he didn't know. When Peter went in Ryan ran with Jack as far as The Landing. He wanted coffee.

While he was standing in line, the guy behind him called to the girl in front of him.

"Hey Lana, I need you tonight!"

She laughed. "What happened to your college girls?"

"They're not nearly as good as you."

Ryan looked at the girl in question, he could tell why the guy was interested in her. There was nothing fake about her and her legs were long. He had to remind himself that he came to get away from women.

He found her final answer interesting. "I'll call you later if I'm not too tired."

Ryan thought it was odd no one was bothered by the public booty call. Truthfully in her jeans and fleece she didn't look the type. After Isobel, he didn't trust his intuition, but the conversation didn't need much interpretation. He sipped his coffee and didn't care what happened in the line, because it was still the best coffee in the world.

Lana

Lana worked at Les Bistros on Thursday night. The busy night was great for her finances. She sat at the bar for a beer before heading home. Oliver left which she couldn't blame him. In the slow season, he took an occasional night off leaving Felix in charge of the kitchen. She looked forward to the summer months when Oliver and Beth lived on Plover Way every day. Heidi wasn't coming for the summer, which still had her feeling depressed. Lana would have to go to Virginia when things quieted in the fall to meet Heidi's baby. Again she thought about how lucky Heidi was. She assumed it was just a matter of time before Beth was pregnant.

The only thing she wanted was to sleep in on Friday morning and the ringing of her phone disrupted her dreams. Because she was running a business, she didn't have the luxury to turn her ringer off. She grabbed the phone without looking at it.

"Hello." She croaked in her just woke up voice.

"Hey, Lan."

She knew the voice on the other end. She'd known it since she was fifteen. She was fully awake. "What do you want?"

His voice was cheerful. "I'm fine and how are you?"

"Why do you think I have any interest in carrying on small talk with you, Erik? Obviously, you called for a reason, but I can't imagine what since you left me with nothing."

Don't cry, please don't cry!

"Jeez Lana, why is it so hard to talk to you?"

If he didn't know the answer to that question, she wasn't about to enlighten him. For a smart man, he was an idiot.

"Erik, I can't imagine you called because you miss talking to me. So get on with it, I've got more important things to do than to talk to you."

"Fine. I was calling to see if you could hook us up with a beach rental this summer."

"Us? Don't even answer! It's barely a week before Memorial Day. You're a little late now. Besides, I don't want you ruining a week out of my summer by staying on The Point."

"You don't own The Point. I love it too. Remember the fun we had when we were kids and more recently when my parents stayed at your cottage, well now your parents won't invite them."

"Of course, they won't. You know our cottage is my home since you... Oh, forget it, were you always so clueless?"

"Our divorce was hard on my mother."

"You are fucking clueless! The best I can do is give you Lucas Sanders' number. He has rentals up and down the coast."

The minute she hung up she called Lucas, but he wasn't available. She left a message for him to call her. She didn't want to explain her problem to his assistant. Since she was awake, she headed up to The Landing for coffee. As she stepped out onto the street, she glanced across to Heidi's house. She had hardly seen her new neighbor, although she heard he ran every morning with Peter and Jack. Kristi had told her it was a gorgeous sight.

"Just add Alex and they could do one of those almost nude charity calendars." Kristi laughed. "The men of The Point." She sighed.

"What about Dan?"

Kristi just laughed harder at the suggestion of her husband. "He's a little soft, but the others are hard in all the right places."

"That sounds risque! How about Oliver?"

"Oh yes! He's young for me, but he would fill a page nicely too."

"Are all bored housewives like you? Maybe you should get a job."

"Oh no, summer is coming! I couldn't work."

Kristi was the queen of Plover Way. She knew everyone and their business. Megan, Peter's wife was her best friend. When Lana entered The Landing, she saw the queen herself sitting at a table with Maddie Harris. They drew Lana to them because she needed to peek at Maddie's newborn son. She had always loved babies and had hoped she would have her own. Instead, she had an imbecile ex who called her and acted freaking clueless.

"Hey, Lana!" Maddie waved to her.

"Look at him, Maddie! He's beautiful!"

"We think so. So have you met my brother-in-law?"

"No, but I prepared the cottage for him. I never see him out. Is he spending time at your house?" Lana was curious about the other Harris brother. She didn't realize until after the fact that he was in the line for coffee with her the other morning. He listened to her conversation when Oliver was begging her to work.

"No, he's keeping to himself."

"I'm sure he'll be pulled into the poker game," Kristi added.

Lana had heard about Peter's game. Once upon a time, she wished Erik would be asked to join in, but he never was. Did others see what she couldn't? She hoped it had more to do with being younger than Peter and his friends.

Her phone rang, and she stepped away to take Lucas' call. She asked if he heard from Erik.

"Yeah, but I had nothing for him. I referred him on to another agent. Between you and me they handle lower end properties. I had offered him one at Higgins Beach and I could hear him sweating over the phone when I told him the price."

Lana knew what his salary was during their short marriage, but it was not in the range to afford a six thousand dollars a week rental. She had liked her in-laws but didn't feel sorry for them. They lost their free week at the beach, because their son was a jerk. Lana was surprised her mother didn't caved and invited them to stay. If she did, Lana would be the one without a home, because there was no way she would stay under the same roof with them.

She could hear her mother asking why she was so bitter. It would have been odder if she wasn't bitter after the humiliation and heartache she faced. Erik's parents were part of the lie which helped to ruin their marriage, one of the lies.


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