A Different Kind of Forever(4)

“Megan, tell me,” Diane asked. “Please? Whenever she gets that look in her eye, I know there’s trouble.”

Megan twisted her lips together. “She was talking to Alison about the shore this summer.”

Suddenly, Diane knew. “Okay. Not a problem.”

She was on good terms with Kevin, her ex-husband. Theirs had not been a dramatic divorce. They had just grown apart. He would have probably been willing to go on indefinitely, but Diane found herself increasingly unhappy, and they finally separated. He had since re-married, to a much younger woman, who was expecting their first child in September. He had also been talking about buying a house on Long Beach Island, and spending the summer there. Diane could imagine that the idea of spending the entire summer within sight of the ocean, not to mention all those boys, would be irresistible to Emily. Diane smiled ruefully to herself. She would have loved it at that age. Hell, she’d love it now. Diane chewed her lip for a moment. It would be interesting to see how Emily would approach her.

That afternoon, when Kevin came to pick up the girls, Emily sat beside him on the couch. Diane looked at him fondly. He was a quiet, attractive man, just over fifty, who still had a great deal of affection and respect for his ex-wife. Kevin put his arm around Emily’s shoulder.

“Well, I want you to know that Victoria and I have gone ahead and bought a shore house. It’s small, just a summer bungalow, but it’s on the beach block. Victoria is going to be living there all summer.” He smiled at Megan, then at Emily. “So, Em, do you have something to ask your mother?”

Emily’s jaw dropped and she looked at her father, stricken. “Dad, I thought you were –“

Kevin shook his head. “You stay with me every weekend and for three weeks in August. If you want anything else, it’s up to your mother.”

Diane raised an eyebrow. Emily glared daggers at her father, and then turned to her mother, carefully re-arranging her face.

“Mom, I’d like to spend all summer at the shore - with Dad and Vicki. Is it okay with you?”

Megan jumped up. “Wait, what about me?”

“Honey,” Kevin said soothingly, “of course this includes you. It’s just that Emily brought it up a few weeks ago, so she and I have been discussing it.”

“Well,” Megan sputtered, “what about Mom? I mean, she’ll be here all alone. I don’t want to leave Mom alone. What would she do? She’s not even going away this summer. She’ll have nothing to do without us here.”

Diane tightened her lips to hide a smile. “Megan, thank you for thinking of me, but I’ll be working all summer. I’ve got a new class to prepare, and there’s the play.”

“Then it’s okay?” Emily asked.

Diane fixed her eye on her. “What about the job you were going to get this summer to pay for all the driving you’re supposed to be doing next year?”

Emily squirmed. “I can get a job down there. I can wait tables at the shore just as easily as I can here. And I can walk or ride a bike there, and I can’t here, not really. And besides,” she added, as a final stroke, “I can help Victoria take care of the house. She’s sick because of the pregnancy and needs me.”

Kevin pursed his lips in a silent whistle and met Diane’s eye. Diane had to cough.

“Really? You’re going to help Victoria? Does that mean you’ll be cleaning and doing the cooking for all of you?”

Emily squirmed again, looking thunderous. Diane didn’t let her off the hook.

“How are you going to take care of a house and work? You’re always complaining I do a lousy job of both, that dinner is never ready, that you have to do your own laundry, and numerous other transgressions. Do you think you’ll do a better job?”

Kevin stood up and turned away, running his hand through his hair.

“Well, Mom, I could help,” Megan offered. “I do stuff around here. I’d do the same chores down there, if Em wanted. I could, you know, set the table and stuff.”

Emily stood up and stormed around the room. “You’re only saying no to be mean to me, because you never got to spend the summer anywhere cool, you were always moping around dumb Ohio, helping your father, so you just don’t want me to have the greatest summer ever to prove some stupid point, right?”

“I didn’t say no,” Diane said calmly, stopping Emily in her tracks. “I just asked you a question. If you do get a job, and save one thousand dollars, which is what we had talked about before, I see no reason for you not to go. The fact that you’re going to be doing so much for Victoria is just an added bonus. I had no idea you were so concerned about her welfare.”