That Summer Place by Susan Wiggs, Debbie Macomber, Jill Barnett - That Summer Place Page A

“Okay.”
    He kept looking at her as if she should understand why he was holding that metal gadget in his big hand.
    She shrugged and threw up her hands. “So?”
    “Your ignitor is bad.”
    Not in the woods it wasn’t, she thought. I could have lit the whole island. Which is why I’m staying a good distance away from you, Michael Packard.
    “You won’t have any hot water.”
    “Mo-ther!”
    She held up a hand. “Not now, Dana.”
    “We have to leave. We just have to. You dragged me away from all my friends.” Dana’s voice cracked. “There’s nothing to do on this dumb island but run from snakes.” She shuddered and hugged herself. “The bikes are broken and that sailboat won’t even float. You promised this would be fun. Now we can’t even take a shower!” Dana burst into tears and ran into the house.
    Catherine wanted to cry, too.
    Aly looked at her. “She bragged to all her friends that she was going to learn how to sail.”
    Catherine nodded. Sailing was something she had promised Dana for years. Bad mothers don’t keep their word. The phrase chanted through her mind as if there was a guilt devil on her shoulder reminding her over and over.
    Would this failed vacation matter in five years? Maybe. Would they be able to laugh about this someday? That she didn’t know.
    She sighed because there wasn’t much else she could do. She slid her arm around her youngest daughter. “I’m sorry, sweetie. I guess this was all a big mistake.”
    “That’s okay, Mom.” Aly patted Catherine’s hand. “I know you tried to make this trip fun even if it isn’t.”
    Well, that about said it all. Her daughters were both miserable.
    Aly hugged her back, then turned and walked toward the house with her small shoulders hunched and her head down.
    “Don’t beat yourself up about it, Catherine.”
    She looked up at Michael. “I had such high hopes.” She sighed. “I wanted the island to be special to them, too. I’m a lousy parent.”
    “Looks like you’re their only parent.”
    She nodded.
    “Where’s their father?”
    “Dead.”
    He shoved his hands in his pockets. “I’m sorry.”
    She shook her head. “Don’t be. We divorced eight years ago. He died a couple of years later.”
    Michael only stood there, looking at her as if he were searching for important answers that were hidden somewhere deep in her eyes.
    “Okay, Catherine. What did he do to you?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “You know what I mean.”
    She was quiet for a long time. She stared at some spot over his shoulder because it was that hard for her. She couldn’t even look at him as she said, “He walked out on us.”
    Michael swore under his breath.
    “Aly was only three, so she doesn’t remember much. But Dana was seven. Even with counseling I don’t think she ever understood why he left.”
    “Why did he leave?”
    “Because we were too much for him to handle. Tom was different. A free spirit. He needed to chase his rainbows. Something I never saw in him until it was too late. He wanted a wife and children, until he had them.” She shrugged. “Then we were a responsibility. It took me a while to admit and understand that he could never commit to anything. It wasn’t just us. He had twelve different jobs in the ten years we were married, each one a bigger dream than the last.”
    Michael didn’t say anything. Now that he had his answer, he looked as if he wanted to take back the question.
    “But that was all a long time ago. Before he died I think I finally understood that he loved us. As much as it was in him to love someone other than himself.
    “So.” She waved her hand at the gadget he was holding. “There’s no hot water without that…thing?”
    He shook his head.
    She gave him a weak smile and a shrug to cover up her disappointment. “Well, then. I guess we’ll be leaving on Thursday.”
    He didn’t say anything but seemed a million miles away.
    She wondered what he thought of her and her past. She spoke