People started to show up when it was my turn. I figured I needed to show off. I gently hovered out deep enough to ensure I wouldn’t crash into the bottom of the lake if something went wrong, and then switched to the back jet. I let the nose of the board dip and skimmed the top of the water. Then I tipped the nose up and went almost straight up. I tucked tightly and put it into a spin. I hadn’t tucked tight enough and went flying into the water as I was ripped off the board by the centrifugal force generated from the tight corkscrew action.
Of course, I had to try it again, and again, and again, until I got it right. When I finally came back in, Dad had a line wanting to go next. Mike was the lucky candidate. I have to say he had some moves I was going to have to try.
Pam put us all to shame. I had no idea she had skateboard skills she’d brought with her from California. She could make the jet water board dance. I made sure I had the GoCam recording as I was operating the trailing Jet Ski. It wasn’t anything pervy; the video was shot as a service to young men everywhere. Who wouldn’t want to see a California surfer girl in a bikini doing sick tricks on a jet water board? When we got back, I traded with Dad and it was now Cassidy’s turn.
While she went, I uploaded the video of Pam. I sent it to Sandy Range. Ten minutes later, I got a call from Sandy.
“Two things,” she started, without saying hi. “The first is Devin is green with envy. The second is, please have the girl in the video sign a contract and release. We want to use her to make an ad. We also need to know who shot the video.”
“Yours truly,” I told her.
“I love you. It makes it so much easier with you being the videographer. Now get to work. I need everything signed today,” she said and then hung up.
I found Pam while she talked to Mike and Wolf.
“You want to make some money?” I asked her.
“Don’t trust him,” Wolf warned.
“I heard you fell for that line,” Mike said to Wolf.
“Yeah, and now I’m his handyman and gardener.”
I showed them the video and told Pam what Sandy offered. She called her parents so they could sign the contract. They showed up just before Kendal.
“David, what have you been up to?” Kendal accused me.
“Making you money,” I shot back in our familiar banter.
“I want to see the video,” Cal, Pam’s dad, said.
I showed it to everyone. He quickly signed the contract and went to get into line for his turn. His wife wasn’t happy when he came back soaking wet with a smile permanently plastered on his face. He made me promise to tell him the next time we were going to use our new toy. I had a sneaking suspicion that in his mind he’d already spent the check from Pam’s video on his own jet water board.
ONE THE WAY HOME, I got a text from Angie to let me know my date for tonight was at my house. Angie and Greg planned to spend the night. Mom had agreed to watch the kids for them so they could go out. When we got home, Mom was now talking to us, much to Dad’s relief. I looked around for Sarah but didn’t see her. Angie found me.
“She’s in your apartment.”
Maybe she wanted to fool around before the dance. I hurried out the back door, with Duke trailing me. He bounded up the stairs to my apartment ahead of me. I came to the top of the stairs and froze. Sitting in my recliner was Harper. Duke didn’t hesitate to say hi. Of course; he liked everyone. I edged up the last step and we looked at each other. She smiled at me as I walked into my bedroom and went to take a shower.
I needed to get the lake water off me and also needed a moment to think. What did I really think of Harper? Why was she here? I thought I’d made it clear I wasn’t the sharing type. The only way I was ever going to figure this out was to go out and face her. I still cared for her enough to do that.
I put on sweats and walked back into the living room. I put water on to boil because I wanted some tea to warm up with.
“Want a cup of tea?” I asked her.
“Yes, that would be nice.”
She waited me out as I cleaned up the kitchen while the water boiled. I opened a box of loose-leaf rooibos tea. It was a nutty herbal tea made from the South African red bush plant. The leaves were sometimes referred to as ‘red tea.’ I liked it because it was different and caffeine-free. The trick to making it was to bring the water to a boil and then steep the tea for five to six minutes. If you went much longer, it became bitter.
“Are you hungry? Would you like a snack with tea?” I asked.
“If it wouldn’t be too much trouble.”
When I was in England, we had either cakes or what they called biscuits. I would call them cookies. I had a bag of Oreo cookies because every once in a while, I craved them. I think my mom got into my stash more than I did. I checked and she’d left me half a bag. She was pretty good about replacing them if she ate them all.
I tried to keep busy because I couldn’t seem to come up with what I wanted to say to Harper. I finally was done preparing the snack and tea. I turned the coffee table into a dining table and then brought over the china teapot and cookies. Harper smirked when she saw our snack. I had seen her attack chocolate, so I knew she’d like what I brought. I poured us each a cup of tea.
Harper sampled the tea and seemed to like it.
“I wanted to come visit you to give you a chance to reconsider breaking up with me,” Harper began.
I looked up to see if she was messing with me, but her face was unreadable. Could she be serious with this approach? I had to give her credit for not telling me how sorry she was. I would have shut her down and kicked her out if she’d pulled that. I wondered if Tami had coached her. Harper wasn’t rushing me. She allowed me to consider what she was telling me.
How did I feel about Harper? I’d made an effort to seek her out and ask her to be my girlfriend. The last girl I had done that with was Nancy. I normally went with the flow and let girls come to me. Harper was different. She’d intrigued me from the moment I met her. I knew she had a boyfriend, and yet had hit on her shamelessly. For Harper, I had broken one of Dawson’s Rules: thou shall not be with girls who are with other guys.
“I thought you broke up with me when you decided to spend time with Alex instead of me,” I said.
My comment seemed to piss her off and she took a moment to collect herself.
“Alex was a mistake.”
The light bulb came on, and it made me a little sad.
“Let me tell you a story; you tell me when I get it wrong. Alex has always run with only the best people. He always seemed somehow unattainable when you were growing up,” I said, then paused to see if I was on track. “There were times when you’d find yourself alone with Alex. You found he was charming and seemed so different than he was when he was with his group. Alex is from generational wealth. His father is either a lawyer or banker.”
“Investment banker,” Harper supplied.
“His mother does charity work. Your family’s money is relatively new, only going back to your grandfather. Your mother’s in politics and your father’s in construction and investments. You’d never be a fit, but you and Alex were attracted to each other.”
Harper looked away from me. I waited. I poured us both another cup of tea. She finally looked at me before I continued.
“Alex is a fool. He has no idea what you’re made of. You have an inner strength which could have stood up to the pressure and eventually had you accepted. He was too weak to see it in you.”