Feels Like Summertime (Lake Fisher 1)

“Oh, hell no. It’ll take more than a little bitty stroke to put me in the ground.” He laughs.

“Then why are you turning it over to us now?”

“I want to be with you and your family, Jake. You’ll have four kids and a wife, now, and you might need an old man like me around to teach them a thing or two. And I still need to beat that big one at blackjack.”

“Gabby,” I say.

He grunts. “Whatever.”

He leans to the left, looks out the window, and points to the adjacent property. “You could build your own house on the hill, if you want. Or you can stay here. There’s plenty of room. For everyone. Or if you want privacy, I’ll just take one of the cabins.”

“I want you with me, Pop,” I tell him around the lump in my throat. “I always want you with me.”

“You were your mother’s eyeball, Jake.” That might sound like a weird way of saying it, but I know it means I was the apple of her eye. I was her baby. I always knew that she and Pop loved God first, one another second, and me third. I never doubted my place in their lives. “She’d want you to grow old here, surrounded by people who love you.” He clears his throat. “Besides, who’s going to teach those kids to curse properly if I’m not around?”

I chuckle into my fist.

“Thank you, Pop,” I say simply.

“You’re welcome.”

“I’ll talk to Katie and see what she wants, okay?”

“Okey-dokey.”

“But no matter what, we’ll always be wherever you need us to be.”

He pats the back of my hand. “I just need you to be happy. That’s all I care about.”

“Thanks, Pop,” I say again.

He nods and jerks his head toward the hallway. “Now go take a nap. You can’t marry that girl looking like you been up fucking her all night.”

“Pop!”

“Don’t Pop me. A man doesn’t sneak into the house at zero-dark-thirty with a shit-eating grin on his face unless he’s been elbow-deep in some vagina all night. Now go take a nap so you won’t look like shit later. Go. Get.” He shoos me along.

I lean down to kiss his forehead. He closes his eyes and takes a deep, shuddering breath until I let him go and stand back up. “I love you, Pop,” I say.

“I love you too, Jake.”

50

Katie

Gabby stands behind me with a curling iron, making fat rings of my hair and letting them hang down over my shoulders. I chose a simple white summer dress for today, and I think Jake will like it. Gabby frees the last ringlet and steps back. “You look really beautiful, Mom,” she says.

“Thanks, Gabby.” I have to blink the tears back yet again. This day is so emotional on so many levels. “Have you checked on Jake?”

She shakes her head. “Alex is with him. And Pop. And Freddy. I think he’s covered.” Gabby lays her hand on my shoulder and stares at me in the mirror.

I cover her hand with mine. “I love you, Gabs,” I tell her.

“I love you too, Mom,” she says.

A knock sounds on the door of the cabin, which is where I’ve spent the rest of the night and the morning. Laura, my only bridesmaid aside from Gabby, gets up to go and answer the door. “Yes? Can I help you?” she asks.

“We’d like to see the bride,” a familiar voice says.