The Summer Seekers

Kathleen waited for Liza to say While you’re living under my roof, you will live by my rules, but she didn’t.

Instead she sat down at the kitchen island, shoulders slumped as if the weight of life was too much to carry. “Caitlin, if a stranger who you hadn’t invited into your room, went in and destroyed the things you love, would you be upset?”

Caitlin had paused. “That’s different.”

“It’s not different. The insurance company sent someone round to assess the damage yesterday, and it’s going to cost thousands of pounds to put right.”

“That’s crazy. It’s a scam.”

“It’s reality. Your ‘friends’ left the tap running in the downstairs bathroom, and the water flowed into the hallway, causing irreparable damage to the wooden floor. There are cigarette burns on the sofa in the living room, and wine stains on the carpet. The glass in the patio doors is cracked. And none of this is counting the damage done to our relationship with Mr. and Mrs. Brooks next door. I feel so embarrassed I can hardly face them. Apparently one of your so-called ‘friends’ used their front garden to relieve himself.”

Caitlin looked less sure of herself. “I don’t know anything about that.”

“You were responsible for caring for this property.”

“I didn’t know they were going to invite a ton of people I didn’t know!” There was a note of panic in her voice.

“That happens when you share details of a party on social media.”

Caitlin was a little paler. “I didn’t do that.”

“Someone did, and you need to find out who. And you need to ask yourself some serious questions about your friendship with that person.”

“Oh why don’t you just say it?” Guilt made Caitlin more fractious than usual. “You think it’s Jane. I bet you’re hoping it is Jane because then you’ll have an excuse to keep her out of my life. You’ve hated Jane from the beginning. Just because she’s a year older and really cool. But I’m old enough to make my own choices about my friends.”

“You’re not making your own choices,” Liza said. “You’re following her choices. That’s what worries me. You’re going along with everything she does and says, even though it goes against your own values. If you are old enough to make choices, you’re also old enough to take responsibility.”

Sean had walked into the room at that point and immediately left again.

Kathleen had caught Liza’s look of frustration as she opened her mouth to call him back and then thought better of it.

Strange, Kathleen had thought, that they hadn’t handled it together. A united front.

And then she remembered all the times she’d been absent, traveling somewhere exotic, leaving Brian to handle all those small family crises himself.

Caitlin was still in full flow. “You want me to have a boring life, like you. But I’m more like Granny. Adventurous and fearless. It’s in my DNA. I was born this way.”

In different circumstances Kathleen might have admired the clever, if manipulative, way Caitlin had shifted attention from herself.

DNA. Apparently this episode was now somehow her fault.

Kathleen had made a tactful exit at that point and escaped to her room to study her guidebook. Traveling was the perfect way to step out of one’s life, and right now she was ready to do that. She wished her daughter could do the same because her life didn’t seem a particularly pleasant place to be.

For the first time ever she was questioning that part of her that had wished Liza had been a little more rebellious. If Caitlin was an example of what rebellion looked like, she was glad she hadn’t had to handle it.

And now they were in the car and Kathleen couldn’t help but be aware that she was escaping, but Liza was returning to that toxic atmosphere.

Her daughter looked pale and tired, but resolute and determined as if she was in the midst of fighting an exhausting battle.

Whatever had happened to fun? Relaxation?

Kathleen sat a little straighter, her brain working hard. She hadn’t been the best mother in the world, but it was never too late to do better.

But how? How could she persuade her daughter to take time for herself? She hated it when people told her how to live her life, so she was hardly going to deliver a lecture or even offer advice. And they’d be at the airport soon, surrounded by strangers and noise and life at its most frenetic. Hardly the moment for a heart-to-heart, particularly for someone as averse to emotional conversations as her.

Sitting in stationary traffic, Liza drummed the wheel with her fingers and glanced at her. “Are you having second thoughts about this trip? Because you know that if something happens, you can call me and I’ll help.”

Kathleen felt an ache in her chest. Her daughter thought what she was doing was a bad idea, but she was still willing to help if something went wrong. Never mind that she was handling a crisis at home. It was so typical of Liza to put everyone’s needs in front of her own.