Adele started looking online for bedroom furniture and within two weeks had found a bed and dresser at a very reasonable price. She went and looked at it, bought it and had it delivered. Two days after showing it to her sister, Justine decided to spend the night. “Just this one night,” she said. “I don’t want to get in your way.”
“You’re not in the way, Justine. You help a lot.”
It was true. Justine was a neat freak and tidied up constantly. She loved to go to the market and get fresh food—much fresher and better quality than the chain supermarket she’d been using for years. And Justine’s new job was so close. By July Justine had settled into one of the upstairs bedrooms with the used bedroom furniture and new mattress that Adele had purchased.
Half Moon Bay had a fantastic beach, and Scott had proven himself to be very inadequate about spending time with his daughters. He was working! Thank God they weren’t young and could take pretty good care of themselves. The combination of Scott’s delinquency and the draw of the beach saw Adele’s nieces coming to Half Moon Bay when their summer job schedules allowed. At first they came for the day and stayed for dinner, then they brought blow-up mattresses with sheets and blankets from home and duffels holding their clothes and stayed overnight. July saw the three of them, Justine, Amber and Olivia, at Adele’s more often than in San Jose. Instead of Justine going to San Jose to spend nights with her daughters, they were coming to her. They tried to arrange their work schedules for the same days and would drive back to San Jose together, returning to Half Moon Bay at the end of the day.
Scott was relieved of his parenting duties by his daughters who would rather be with their mother and aunt.
Finally in August, Olivia ran into Scott at a beach bar. She was getting herself a drink while he was ordering a couple of sandwiches. She looked around carefully before she said, “Hey, Dad.”
He started. “Olivia! What are you doing here?”
“I’ve been reading on the beach the last couple of hours and now I’m walking back to Aunt Addie’s house.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you’d be in town?” he asked.
She shrugged. “Because you said you were busy working at your girlfriend’s business.”
“You can come by! See the place! Meet her!”
“We talked about this,” she said. “I don’t really feel like meeting her.”
“Why the hell are you girls being like this? It’s wrong! The divorce has been final at least a couple of months! She’s a part of my life now. That’s how it is!”
“Fine,” Olivia said. “See you in San Jose, maybe. Be sure to let us know when you’ll be visiting.”
She turned and walked away.
“Olivia!”
She turned back.
“You have to treat me and Cat with respect!” he said.
“I’m respectful,” Olivia said. “She might be part of your life, but she isn’t going to be part of mine.” She turned to go again.
“Look, there are changes,” he said. “We’re all going to have to get used to the changes!”
“Maybe we will,” she said. “Two months isn’t enough time for me. Let’s talk about it in a year or two.”
“Did your mother tell you to say that?”
“Oh heck no,” she said. “My counselor asked me how I felt about meeting your girlfriend. I told her how I feel and she said I should be honest with you. Maybe I’ll be willing to meet the woman you left our family for in a couple of years. Maybe in ten years. Maybe never. Didn’t you ever think that in leaving your family, there might be consequences? Like—we might not be happy about it?”
“But don’t you want me to be happy?”
“Is that just a guy thing? That your happiness is more important than anyone else’s happiness? Because you being happy seems to have caused a whole bunch of people to be unhappy. Doesn’t that bother you?”
“Of course!” he said. “What I want is for us all to be happy! If you would just make an effort—”
Again she shrugged. “And if you had made an effort...”
“But I wasn’t happy! I’ve been unhappy for years!”
“Really? What was that Christmas Eve toast you made? I am the luckiest man alive with the three most wonderful, beautiful women... Oh gee, did you mean four? Listen, Daddy, we’re onto you. You’re telling yourself a story that makes it seem like you had nothing to do with this mess, but the truth is, you created it. Any time you want to be my dad, let me know. But I’m not interested in your girlfriend.”
“I shouldn’t have to choose between you!”
“Sounds like you already did.” Tears sparkled in Olivia’s eyes. “When you’re telling your story about how unhappy you’ve been, though no one knew it, you should remember you left us. You’re making a new life. You’re making all new rules and changing what family means. We’re just trying to cope. And understand.”
She walked away from the beach bar and charged up the hill from the beach, her bag slung over one shoulder and her smoothie in her hand, tears running down her cheeks. She loved her daddy so much; there had been so many beautiful memories. He had been a constant in her life, always there, always on duty. And her mom, so beautiful and strong, picking up where Daddy left off. She had grown up thinking she had the most awesome parents in the world. She had her fun and playful dad; her dedicated and completely committed mom.
And then one day, with no warning at all, he was done. He had his eye on a better life. A new life. With a new woman, leaving their mother so broken and thin, dark circles under her eyes. Olivia just wanted her family back.
“Oh-oh,” a voice said. “You could use someone to walk you home.”
Olivia looked up, way up, into the warm brown eyes of a young man. She’d seen him around, on the beach playing volleyball with friends, hanging out near the beach bar. “I...we... I don’t know you.”
“Yet. But we’ve seen each other. At least I’ve seen you. And I think you saw me see you. I’m Jared. Jared Morrison. And you’re...?”
“Olivia. Livvie for short. Livvie Somersby. I actually live in San Jose but my mom and aunt are here, so I’m spending a lot of the summer in Half Moon Bay.”
“San Jose isn’t that far. On a good day I can get there in twenty minutes.”
She laughed in spite of herself. “Is that a day when your car can go a hundred miles an hour?”
“See, I made you happy already. Why don’t you come down to the beach after dinner, like around seven, and play some volleyball?”
“I should see what my sister is doing. I should see if my mom and aunt need any help with anything.”
“You can bring your sister. Is she the one I usually see you with? Brown hair?”
Olivia nodded. “She’s a senior.”
“Most everyone around here works a lot so we’re not on the beach that much in the daytime, but there are a lot of us at night. Come down. I’ll introduce you to a few of my friends. If you’re gonna hang around Half Moon Bay, you might as well know people. Right?”
“That would be nice.”
“We’ve got at least another month of late sunsets.”
“Are you a senior?” she asked.
“I graduated last spring. Now I’m working at the lodge on the bay, and I’ll be taking some classes at the community college.”
“Which one? My aunt works at Banyon.”
“I’ll be at San Mateo, starting in about three weeks.” He laughed. “We don’t have much time, Livvie. Will you come down tonight?”
“I think so,” she said, smiling in spite of herself.
* * *
Justine had emailed Scott a copy of her pay stub and no check for the month of June. Her itemized statement had been prepared by Sam’s accountant; it showed her billable hours, her deductions and her pay for the part of the month she had worked. It was practically nothing. Scott called and asked her what was up with that. “I’ve barely started here,” she said. “It will take a while to build a clientele.”
“Didn’t you at least get a severance package from Sharper Dynamic?”
“No, I’m afraid not. I resigned rather than accept a big salary cut.”
“Great,” he said, disgruntled. And he hung up.
July hadn’t been much better, but then not only did she not have a large number of clients, it also took a while to complete legal work and do the billing.
“A lawyer can usually expect it to be at least ninety days between legal work and payment. The billing alone takes a good month, and that’s after the work is done,” she explained to Scott.
Toward the end of August, Justine was in her office when the office manager, Charlene, asked her if she had time to see a Mr. Scott Somersby. Charlene was frowning.
“Sure,” Justine said.
Scott stood in her office door. This place suited her fine, but it was nothing like the office she’d left behind in Silicon Valley. Her office at Sharper Dynamic was intimidating and designed to be. This office was quaint and more welcoming.
“Hi, Scott. What are you doing here? You can just email or text me if you have a question.”
“The question is what the hell is up with your pay?”
“Well, as I’ve explained, my tenure is brand-new. I serve as an associate and need a lot of consultation with Mr. Gillespie to be sure I’m operating according to his established practices, and I don’t have many clients. But I’m sure it will grow. Given time.”
“I don’t have that much time,” he said. “I’m short of funds.”
“I gave you a very generous settlement,” she said. “You’re usually very good with money.”
“I still am, but I invested it and my cash flow is limited. I was counting on the monthly income. My money is not liquid.”