A Summer to Remember

chapter Ten

Sometimes the journey is just as wonderful as the destination and this was definitely the situation when it came for us to drive to Martha’s Vineyard. It was only two hundred and sixty miles but we stopped along the way a lot and since we were spread out in three vehicles, it was great.

At the last minute, Paul decided to take his Aleutian silver Range Rover so it was him, Talia and I in the Rover. Jude opted for his black ice Cadillac Escalade; Autumn, Ashley and Savannah all decided to ride with him. He and Paul’s investor buddy, Gerald Capshaw—whose father, Kurt, owned a major stake of CDG with James Davis and Clive Guttenberg—had a dark blue Porsche Cayenne Turbo and the other two guys who had decided to make the trip with us rode with Gerald.

Paul and I tried to act sociable with Talia and not too giddy or happy with one another’s company though it would have made no difference because my best friend was armed with her one hundred and sixty gigabyte iPod and her 8.9” Kindle Fire HD. When she wasn’t listening to music and reading, she was catching up on the season finales of The Walking Dead and Sons of Anarchy before she caught up with the latest episodes of the sixth season from True Blood.

Morgan Page played in the background and as we drove down I-95 heading north, Paul set his right hand on my thigh. I wore a cute magenta sundress which looked terrific on me but when I was in the car, the skirt which ended just above the knee rode up my slim thighs.

“You have absolutely no idea how proud I am you told Jude the truth. It will make this whole long weekend that much more pleasant. I can’t believe your courage and I admire what you have done.”

I set my left hand over his own as I turned towards him. He looked positively handsome yet manly in a pair of khaki cargo shorts and a fitted yet faded black Winter’s Regret tee-shirt.

“Listen, it wasn’t that courageous. He was furious at me and thought I was using you for some kind of smutty, illicit affair and you meant nothing to me. I couldn’t have him thinking that about us so I told him the truth. At that point, I didn’t care if he approved or not but I wanted him to know how much you mean to me and that you aren’t some conquest.”

“True. I guess when we became friends way back then, the first words he said to me was he had a very attractive sister who would grow into a beauty one day and I was, under no circumstances, to touch you what so ever. He was very protective of you and I could understand why because there was such light and joy in your eyes.”

He paused before he continued, “When you left for Vassar, you were a completely different person. There was such hope and promise in your eyes although I can’t lie because…I never liked Kevin. I was actually hoping the distance would drive you two apart. However, he was persistent. I don’t know if it was because he was a money-grubbing bastard or if he just looked at you as the perfect trophy girlfriend by his side.”

“I don’t know what happened but when we met each other…I just felt like I was being swept under…by something greater than me, you know? He was the first person I was attracted to besides you and I was overjoyed because I could feel something for someone else. It never once occurred to me that he might be using me.

“We saw each other a lot but it certainly wasn’t an every weekend type thing. I mean, I spent time with Talia and I also had Autumn and Savannah. They were such gems and I was so happy we met one another and were able to bond so quickly.”

Paul removed his hand from mine and placed it on the steering wheel again so he could concentrate on driving. “So, in other words, Vassar wasn’t all bad even though one of the worst incidents of your life took place there?”

“Exactly. It’s kind of like that saying, ‘It was the best of times and the worst of times’. Yes, some crappy stuff went down but fortunately, it happened my last semester there so I will always remember college with fond memories.”

We were quiet for a while and just sat there with one another and listened to the stereo before Talia interrupted our thoughts with a screech and yelled, “That is such bullshit!”

I turned around to face my friend whose face had turned such a deep scarlet, she was almost purple. “How you doing back there, music girl?”

“Not good. That last episode of True Blood was such a waste of my f*cking time!” She snatched the earbuds out of her ears. “I swear to God, I’m so through with that show it’s not even funny. It keeps getting dumber and dumber.”

Talia began to dissect the latest episode for Paul’s and my benefit before I laughed out loud at her crazy gesticulations and the perfect imitation of Anna Paquin, a.k.a. Sookie Stackhouse’s voice.

“Relax, babe, it’s just a show,” I said after I’d finished giggling hysterically.

“It is not just a show. The first three seasons were absolutely brilliant and last three have been an exercise of supreme and utter masochism on my part because I keep waiting for the show to get better and it doesn’t. I swear to God I am only watching The Walking Dead, Sons of Anarchy, Mad Men and Breaking Bad from now on out. I’ve had it. They have lost me as a fan forever.”

“You and your pop culture…jeez, how do you find the time to do anything? You work mad hours at the studio for musicians you hate and in your spare time, you catch up on shows and novels—”

“Hence the reason why I don’t have a love life,” she interrupted crudely. “Jesus Christ, Jerrica, if it wasn’t for the odd casual encounter here or there, I’d never get laid.”

“Uh-oh…what’s going on here?”

The look on her face said it all and I wasn’t even sure I wanted to know what she was going to tell me. “Um…I kinda slept with Seth and it was great and all but we are keeping it casual.”

“Wait a minute. Seth Delvecchio of Winter’s Regret? Doesn’t he have like some perfect girlfriend or something and I thought you two were friends only?”

“Ex-friends and yes, he does have a girlfriend which makes what I did that much worse. I am an awful human being, right? I mean, giving in to my base desires because I can’t forget our puppy love at the age of ten when neither of us knew what the hell love was. We have nothing in common and he wasn’t even supposed to be in town. But one thing led to another and…now I feel like the world’s biggest skank and I thought a few episodes of my favorite shows would make me forget but they haven’t and I can’t or don’t want to forget and argh…I’m going mad.”

“You’re going mad?” I questioned incredulously. “Seriously, when we get to Martha’s Vineyard, you and I are going to sit down together—alone—and have a major talk.”

I turned back around and looked at Paul who stared briefly at me and shrugged his shoulders. “A bit like the pot calling the kettle black, isn’t it?”

“What are you talking about? I have never shoplifted dick in my whole twenty-four years of life!” I exclaimed.

“Actually, you did. When you had that one night stand with what’s his name…it came out in the New York Post a few days later he has been dating up and coming actress Christine Cooper. They’ve been seeing one another for six months and yet no one knew it but their closest friends,” Paul explained in a casual manner.

I suddenly felt like the one person in the room who was the last to get the joke except we weren’t in a room but his Range Rover and the thought made me sick to my stomach. No wonder why he couldn’t face me after the fact. His leaving Jude’s and my place like his ass was on fire suddenly made perfect sense.



We arrived at Martha’s Vineyard late in the afternoon but thanks to the large estate owned by Gerald Capshaw’s family in Edgartown, everything was prepared and the wait staff had a wonderful assortment of dishes they were preparing for us while we unpacked and went to our various rooms to refresh.

I washed my face and changed into a pair of jeans and pale gray cashmere sweater while Paul took a shower.

“Are you sure you don’t want to join me?” he questioned out loud in a very seductive voice.

“No, because if I do that then we won’t make it to dinner on time and I really want to have that talk with Talia. Seth is nothing but bad news.”

The shower stopped and Paul stepped out before grabbing a lush cream towel to wrap around his narrow waist as he walked into the bedroom from the large en suite bathroom.

“How do you know so much about this guy anyway? He’s a rock star—aren’t all rock stars man-whores and bad boys? I mean, you get involved and you know what to expect. You take your chances either way.”

“True but Seth isn’t just any rock star and Talia has known him for a very long time. When he was up and coming, his band had a concert in Poughkeepsie. Talia dragged Autumn, Savannah and I to the show and they were great. It was some little dive bar but the place was packed. I mean, they already had a reputation for being a great live band.

“He pulled this shit where he and Talia went off and he f*cked her then. She didn’t see or hear from him until she moved to L.A. after we graduated from Vassar and she was assigned to working on a song for their first album. He acted like nothing happened and it broke her heart. I mean…she says they are close and he does love her in his own way but every time they get together, he treats her like complete and utter crap. I just don’t want her to get hurt.”

“You’re speaking from experience?”

“Yeah…that was our sophomore year all that shit happened with the concert in Poughkeepsie and guess who accompanied Talia to the abortion clinic? Our situations weren’t the same because her parents consider him poor white trash. He grew up in Boston to a first generation Catalan mother from Barcelona and a German-Irish-Italian father.”

I paused as I walked into the bedroom to join Paul who’d dried off and had begun to dress. “When Talia’s mother hit the jackpot and married up, do you really think she would have wanted her only daughter saddled down with a baby from some rocker who, at the time, was only marginally known and had a cult following? Hell, they didn’t even have a contract at the time and there was no guarantee they would make the big time. She did what she had to do and I respected her for that.”

“Jesus, is there any girl you know that hasn’t had an abortion?”

“Savannah hasn’t if it makes you feel better. She was all about school and didn’t date much. Plus she was kind of known as a ‘tease’ in college so it’s not like she could go out with the cool guys or anything. It happens and I’m not saying we all did the right thing but it’s a reality. I don’t want you to judge Autumn, Talia and I because we had to make some very hard decisions. I’m still screwed up over mine, Autumn pretends hers didn’t happen and Talia tortures herself by these one night encounters with the prick that got her into trouble in the first place. None of us did what we did and came out unscathed. It just doesn’t happen.”

Paul pulled me into an embrace and I slipped my arms around his waist. “I wasn’t judging because frankly, I don’t have the right. I’m a guy and I can never know what it’s like for a woman in college or anywhere else who is faced with a decision that big to make. I know what yours did to you and I wish it wasn’t so prevalent—that’s all.”

I looked into his eyes before I leaned forward and kissed his lips. It was supposed to be a quick peck but he turned it into something more when he held the back of my neck with his right hand and I felt his mouth open. His tongue snaked between my lips before I opened my mouth to receive it and our passionate embrace could have led us down a road neither of us were prepared for at the moment. My stomach rumbled from hunger at the same time his did and I realized we were both starving and needed something to eat as soon as possible.

He pulled away reluctantly. “Right. Food and friends…we better go downstairs before I never let you leave this bedroom…ever.”

“Is that a promise?” I teased.

“You bet your sweet ass it is.”

Paul took my right hand into his left and we finally left the bedroom together side by side.