Home For The Summer – Chapter Seven

I put on a nice dress while I waited for Jack to show up. I wasn’t exactly eager for him to come over, mainly because I didn’t know how Gretchen and Johnny would react, and what Jack would think of them. I didn’t want anybody to be fake to him.

Gretchen had Johnny help set her the table on the back porch, forcing me to stay inside and take time alone. She wanted me to be the one to greet Jack when he came, for some odd reason. I took out the record player that used to belong to my mother from underneath the kitchen counter, plugging it into the wall and digging through the records to see if she had any I liked. It was a collection I had long forgotten about, long stopped touching because it made me too sad. If I didn’t associate the music with her, I would be fine.

I just decided to select a random one from the pile, taking it from the sleeve and carefully setting it on the turntable. I let it play and let my mind go. I let my mind go so far that I hardly noticed Jack had already found his way in the house, holding a loaf of bread and a tray of cookies. 

“Hey Summer.”

“Hi,” I spoke an awkward hello. “I can take those from you if you want.”

“Okay.”

I took the bread and cookies from his arms, setting them on the counter. Why was this so awkward all of a sudden? We were never awkward like this.

“Okay, well Gretchen and Johnny have been setting up outside,” I explained. “let’s let them know you’re here.”

He followed me out to the back porch, taking care of closing the screen door behind me. Gretchen looked excited to see him, her eyes lit up when she noticed he was there.

“Jack! It’s so good to see you.” She smiled, holding out her hand to shake his. “Go on, Johnny, say hello, you’re old enough to.”

“Hey.” Johnny added meekly.

“Hi Johnny.”

We sat around the table now, Gretchen enjoying every minute of her hosting duties. It baffled me how she was so built for these tasks, and I just wasn’t. I mean, I didn’t have much interest in it, but I also wasn’t skilled at it.

I didn’t like how I was still stuck with my insecurity. I knew that Jack had no interest in Gretchen, but I didn’t get why. It had always been that way, been that she would get all the boys, no matter who. But he didn’t want her. He never had. I just didn’t think that I was special enough for that.

“So… what’s your intention with my sister?” Johnny asked, sitting down in his chair. We all went silent.

“What, isn’t that what every stereotypical dad says?” He continued.

“Yes, but you’re 12,” Gretchen spoke. “you’re a child.”

“I am not! That’s always your answer.” Johnny exclaimed, standing and running out into the yard. He kept going down to the beach. Gretchen was still brooding, so that meant I had to go after him. Johnny was acting more like a teenager every day.

I ran through the yard, bare feet in the mushy wet grass before damp sand. Johnny was far up the beach by now – he really should go out for track – but I kept at it.

“Johnny! It’s just me!” I yelled as I got closer. He still didn’t want to stop, so I kept chasing him. He only slowed when he wiped out in a mud patch, landing in the grass – the field.

“Why does she always have to say I’m a child?” He asked, sitting up on his elbows. “I’m not that immature, am I?”

“She just doesn’t want you to grow up is all. She doesn’t want you to lose what we had to.”

“But shouldn’t I? Gretchen needs me, and she told me that you don’t want to go back to college because of this. If she’d just let me step up-”

“I’m not staying just because of you, I don’t want to go back because-”

“Shut up! I know it’s because of me!”

We didn’t even listen to each other, we just yelled. Yelled and screamed in the now darkness, not yet quiet enough to hear the waves crashing onshore. I hated the yelling, I hated hearing him so upset. But we weren’t ready to argue logically.

Suddenly, hands pushed us apart – Jack, finally – and I fell back into the mud. I could hear thunder crack, I hope this would be over soon.

“What are you doing, Summer?” Jack said. “Why are you yelling at him?”

“I think you’re a little late to the party,” I replied.

“Don’t get mad at me.”

“I’m not mad at you, I’m mad at Gretchen.”

“Then why were you yelling at me?” Johnny asked.

“Because you started it.”

“You’re so immature.”

“I think you’re the immature one.”

We started bickering again, but Jack couldn’t really stop us. I felt bad looking like this, but I just couldn’t calm myself down. Gretchen always managed to push my buttons. Thunder cracked really loud, and it shut us up momentarily.

“Come on, we need to get back to the house. I don’t want you struck by lightning.” Jack said. “Let’s go!”

“No!” Johnny screamed over the growing storm. “I’m just going to mess things up!”

“Summer, go, I’ll get him! Jack continued.

I started running back for only a moment before I realized that Jack wasn’t behind me. I braved the rain pouring in my direction, trying hard to see where they were. I could see lightning strike in the distance, and then I got more nervous. Jack was pulling Johnny through the mud, struggling against his hesitation. What a great night this was turning into.

When we finally made it back to the house, we were all soaked in the rain and everything up to our knees was caked in mud. Gretchen shrieked when she saw us, that’s how gross it was. I felt bad for Jack, and how he had been treated by both me and Johnny, but I wasn’t ready to apologize yet.

Gretchen’s first response was to throw Johnny in a shower, leaving me to awkwardly end the night alone with Jack.

“I’m sorry,” I said, breaking up the endless silence.

“He’s just being moody – it isn’t you.”

“I shouldn’t have yelled at anybody.”

“Could you listen to what I said?”

“You don’t get it, he’s not a moody kid.”

“There you are, calling him a kid too. He’s more than just the kid. And yeah, maybe he’s not the reason you want to stay in Star’s Ranch, but he’s going to think that if you act like being a kid is a bad thing.” He took his boots off, sitting them outside our front door while we waited in the mudroom. “I know what it’s like to be the kid of the family – it doesn’t feel good. Just think about it, please.”

Though it sounds ignorant, I had never thought of this from Johnny’s position. Gretchen and I always treated him like a kid, called him a kid, when he’s been mature. I know it’s been out of our best interest and hopes for him since we want him to have a childhood while we can, but it makes him feel like his voice doesn’t matter. And as an artist, a journalist, I can relate to that.

Now just to figure out how to make it up to him, how to tell Johnny I get it. That’s a solution that won’t come overnight.

“I never thought about it that way.”

“But does it help?”

“Yeah, it does.” I sighed. “I’m sorry tonight went the way it did.”

“It’s alright. Just a little adventure I guess, right?”

“Yup.”

He got up, walking into the kitchen without a word. I followed him in, and then I realized what he was going to get – the cookies.

“I’m assuming you want some – fresh from the bakery.”

“Of course I do.”

I took a chocolate chip cookie from the tray, while he took an oatmeal raisin. I had tried these cookies before, so I knew they were good, but today they were extra good. Maybe it was because of the storm and all, or maybe it was because I was falling in love.