Orange Blossom Days Page 13

  ‘But Mom—’

  ‘I’m not arguing, Savannah—’

  ‘You’re not respecting me! I don’t want to go camping,’ her daughter shouted.

  ‘Don’t shout, Savannah, I’m not deaf,’ Sally-Ann said mildly, sidetracking the ‘respect’ issue. What was her defiant daughter going to be like when she heard about her parents’ impending divorce? If she had Cal by her side she’d give him such an earful.

  ‘I’m so not going,’ Savannah retorted, jumping up from the table and running out of the room.

  ‘You can discuss it with your father!’ Sally-Ann shouted up the stairs after her, at her wits’ end. ‘And get down here and stack your dishes.’

  ‘Are you OK, Mom?’ Madison came and put her arms around her.

  ‘I’m fine, darlin’, it’s just your sister can be so pig-headed sometimes and she’s very foolish to think that Elsa-May Jackson is a cool girl.’

  ‘She’s just a bioch really, Mom, and I told Savannah that and she told me to— . . . oh well it doesn’t matter,’ Madison suddenly realized that she’d nearly snitched on her twin for using the F-word, which was totally not allowed by their parents.

  ‘Well we all have to learn the lesson about being used, and some of us learn it the hard way. Come on, sweetie, finish your breakfast or you’ll be late for school.’ Sally-Ann drained her now cold coffee and finished her toast.

  ‘It’s been ages since Dad’s been anywhere with us. Are we having barbecue?’ Madison asked, placing hers and her twin’s dishes neatly in the dishwasher. She was such a loyal little person, Sally-Ann thought affectionately.

  ‘Of course, and a canoeing trip and a picnic like we always do.’

  ‘I’d much prefer that than going to a silly old party,’ said her daughter who was a real outdoor, sporty child compared to her sibling, who preferred make-up and fashion and other girly things.

  Sally-Ann felt a knot in her stomach. Poor Maddy. She knew the split would hit her hardest of all. She felt like she was betraying her daughter’s anticipatory excitement. Perhaps the weekend away wasn’t the best plan. But what was the right way to break the news and where was the right place to do it? Nowhere really, Sally-Ann sighed, clearing away her own dishes and wondering how she would survive the week ahead, trying to keep her mouth shut with Savannah, and trying not to murder Cal.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  SALLY-ANN / CAL / LENORA

  Sally-Ann sat at the dressing table in a nightshirt, cold creaming her face. In the mirror she could see Cal standing by the bed unbuttoning his shirt and she quickly averted her gaze. Her husband or rather, soon to be ex-husband, she corrected herself, was still a very sexy man. She couldn’t deny that, and she couldn’t deny either that she was feeling PMT horniness and the sight of that narrow line of dark hair snaking down his flat lean stomach, disappearing into his Calvin Kleins, made her groan inwardly.

  In her haste to get the divorce talk over and done with she hadn’t thought out the implications of renting a log cabin with one king-sized bed, and bunks, when she’d booked. Smaller cabins were all that were left at such short notice.

  The girls had swallowed the story of Cal sleeping in the other room at home because of his early starts or late arrivals with no questions all those years ago, and now it was just normal that their parents only shared a room when they were all away together. She hadn’t slept in a bed with her husband in over a year. It was going to be beyond awkward, she thought gloomily.

  ‘Savannah’s attitude was a real bummer, on the way down,’ Cal remarked, unbuckling his leather belt and unzipping his jeans. Their daughter had merely grunted replies to questions and eye-rolled her way to Lake Conroe, despite Cal doing his best to engage her in conversation.

  ‘Yep, I get it all the time lately,’ Sally-Ann retorted. ‘She’s testing the boundaries. I suppose we all did it.’

  ‘I guess. You were pretty good at it. Remember you were grounded for a week after you told your paw you could hold your liquor better than he could, when he caught you drinking at the Wesley’s Labor Day party, many moons ago?’ he grinned.

  Sally-Ann laughed. ‘He was fit to be tied and so was Momma when she heard I was caught drinking beer, and what I’d said.’

  ‘And you told him to go to the barber and get his ears lowered when he grounded you for staying out past curfew with me. You were a mighty sassy teen,’ Cal grinned.

  ‘Paw was pretty strict, I just had to rebel!’ She laughed again, remembering the battles she’d had with her poor father.

  ‘I guess we’ll just have to remind ourselves of those entertaining episodes when our pair start having their rebellions.’ Cal yawned, diving under the comforter.

  ‘I’d say we’ll be having a lot of “episodes”, as you call them, when you tell them what’s coming down the tracks,’ Sally-Ann sighed.

  ‘And you’ve really thought this out? You definitely want a divorce?’ Cal said sombrely. She turned to look at him, surprised by his tone.

  ‘Yeah, I do. Don’t you?’

  He shrugged. ‘I thought we were managing fine with our little arrangement, if you really want to know.’

  ‘We were, but things have changed. You moved the goal posts, when you decided to have another child, Cal,’ she said, annoyed that he would think she’d just decided out of the blue to ask for a divorce.

  ‘Let’s get one thing clear, here, Sally-Ann, I didn’t decide to have another child. She told me she was protected. The last thing I want is another child, believe me,’ Cal said emphatically.

  ‘That’s neither here nor there now I guess, whether any of us like it or not there’s a little boy out there and he’s going to need you as much as the girls do. He’s entitled to be parented by you too, so it’s time we sorted our situation and deal with what’s happened.’ She turned back to the mirror and rooted in her bag for her hairbrush.

  ‘You’re very fair-minded.’ He was subdued.

  ‘Our mess has nothing to do with him. And that’s why we’ve got to keep things civil between us, for the girls. It’s got to be about them, now, not about our rancour and bitterness,’ she said, letting her hair down from its topknot, glad he couldn’t see her face.

  ‘And do you feel rancour and bitterness?’ he asked hesitantly.

  ‘Oh I do, believe me, I do, Cal,’ she grimaced. ‘It comes in waves. I was doing OK until I heard about the pregnancy. And the day the baby was born I hated you, because I knew what it’s going to do to the girls. If it was just me, I could cope with it,’ she said flatly.

  ‘I’ve never hated you.’ Sally-Ann had never seen him look so sad.

  ‘You haven’t got my alimony demands yet,’ she said with an attempt at humour.

  ‘Ha!’ She could see him smiling at her while she brushed her hair in firm broad strokes until it crackled with electricity. Cal lay against the pillows with his hands behind his head, looking at her the way he’d used to in the old days, and she thought how surreal, and, it had to be said, how agreeable it was, to be having this entirely calm and reasonable conversation at bedtime, just like a normal husband and wife, and not a couple who were hours away from announcing their divorce.

  ‘It’s strange, but this is nice. You, the girls, and me,’ he ventured, catching the vibe.

  ‘Don’t go there, Cal. The only reason we’re here en famille is to tell our children we’re divorcing, don’t forget,’ she said sharply.

  ‘I just don’t want us to rush into anything.’ He turned on his side to look at her.

  ‘Oh for God’s sake, Cal, our marriage has been over for years. It’s about time we acknowledged it. Surely Lenora’s been putting pressure on you to divorce me?’ She swung around and arched an eyebrow at him.

  ‘Of course she has,’ Cal said irritably. ‘But let’s be clear, just because you and I are getting a divorce doesn’t mean I’m goin’ rushin’ up the aisle with her.’

  ‘That’s your business, Cal. I just want my end of it sorted now that this baby has
arrived. I don’t want to be living in a limbo anymore. And I think it would be much easier on the girls to get to know their half-brother as a baby. You can’t fight with a baby,’ she added wryly.

  ‘And you definitely think they should get to know him?’

  ‘Don’t you?’

  ‘It would be good, I suppose,’ he agreed slowly. ‘Especially when they’re all older and the resentments will have faded. Nothing worse than finding out when the will’s being read,’ he joked half-heartedly.

  ‘Exactly!’ She turned back to her ablutions, rubbing hand cream onto her elbows and hands. Eventually she could put the moment off no longer and walked over to her side of the bed. She popped a pill into her mouth and drank some water to wash it down and slid her eye mask out from under the pillow where she’d placed it earlier on.

  ‘What’cha poppin’?’ Cal asked.

  ‘A sleeper. I don’t want to be awake all night. I haven’t been able to sleep all week worrying,’ she told him, slipping under the plump comforter. The other reason she’d taken a sleeping pill was because she didn’t want to be lying beside him twisting and turning and longing for sex. She wasn’t going to tell him that of course.

  ‘I’m sticking in earplugs so I won’t hear you if you say anything to me,’ she said coolly, switching off her side lamp and pulling the mask down over her eyes. ‘Night, Cal.’

  ‘Night, Sally-Ann,’ he said forlornly from his side of the bed and she jammed her earplugs in and lay very still in her dark cocoon, thankful that the bed was wide and there was no physical contact, waiting for her sleeper to take effect. She was as taut as a wire but eventually the silent, black void worked its magic and, assisted by the sleeping tablet, she fell into a deep sleep, oblivious to her husband who tossed and turned for hours, listening to her even breathing, before finally falling into an unsettled slumber.

  Sally-Ann was still dead to the world ten hours later when Madison shook her by the shoulder to tell her that Cal had cooked breakfast and it was nearly ready to be served. ‘An’ we’re eating outside, Mom, wear a sweatshirt,’ Madison advised, looking as fresh as a daisy in her denim shorts and white Gap T-shirt. The aroma of sizzling bacon and freshly brewed coffee wafted through the bedroom door and her stomach growled. She couldn’t believe she’d slept right through and had the best sleep she’d had since Cal’s baby was born.

  ‘You slept well, and you snored,’ Cal teased when she emerged onto the veranda where he’d ordered the girls to set the big wooden picnic table.

  ‘I did not snore,’ Sally-Ann retorted indignantly, yawning and tying her hair up with a scrunchie. She’d pulled on a sweatshirt but once she stepped out of the shade the sun was warm on her face and the temperature gauge on the deck indicated 70.

  ‘Yup, ya did.’ He handed her a plate loaded with crispy bacon and scrambled eggs, and pointed to a stack of pancakes drizzled with maple syrup. ‘Savannah and I cooked the pancakes.’ He gave the smallest wink.

  ‘Thanks, honey, they look lovely,’ Sally-Ann smiled at her daughter who was sitting, with her hair straightened, make-up expertly applied, waiting to be told to take it off.

  Sally-Ann ignored the make-up. She wasn’t going to start a fight. Cal had clearly appeased Savannah enough for her to cooperate with making breakfast. That would do for today.

  ‘So what’s our plan of campaign?’ Madison poured fresh orange juice for everyone. She always liked to have her day mapped out.

  ‘How about we take a canoe trip along the lake, find a place to tie up, have a hike and then a picnic? Come back and do some fishing and have barbecue for supper?’ Cal suggested easily, forking eggs and bacon into his mouth.

  ‘Cool,’ agreed Madison who couldn’t wait to get into the canoe.

  ‘Aw, can we not go to Papa’s On the Lake?’ Savannah protested.

  ‘It’ll be packed, it always is.’ Cal made a face. ‘I like coming here to get away from crowds and city life.’

  ‘We’re not gonna meet anybody hiking,’ Savannah pouted.

  ‘Who do you want to meet?’ He eyed her quizzically.

  ‘Dad . . . boys . . . duh!’ She rolled her eyes so dramatically Sally-Ann almost spluttered her orange juice in amusement. It was good for her husband to get a taste of what she was enduring almost daily now from the teen-queen.

  ‘Oh! I was wondering why you were wearing that stuff on your face.’ He shook his head. ‘Savannah, don’t be in a rush to grow up,’ he advised. ‘It’s not all it’s cracked up to be. Trust me.’

  ‘Why don’t we forget the picnic; we can have a late lunch in Papa’s after our hike, go fishing later in the afternoon and still have barbecue here,’ Sally-Ann suggested.

  ‘But I’ll be all hot and sweaty after hikin’ and my hair will go frizzy, Mom,’ Savannah pointed out irately.

  ‘Oh! Right! OK then, how about we have brunch at Papa’s tomorrow, before we go home, and you can dress up to the nines and be all nice and fresh,’ she suggested.

  ‘OK, cool, thanks,’ Savannah, realizing this was a better option, agreed.

  ‘Let’s hope she’ll have an appetite for brunch after what she’s going to hear. At least she’ll have her make-up on,’ Cal murmured, filling the dishwasher with the dirty breakfast dishes, while she took the cold cuts and deli provisions out of the fridge for their picnic.

  ‘Cal,’ she remonstrated, laughing in spite of herself. ‘When do you want to tell them?’ she asked, buttering crusty bread.

  ‘I guess tomorrow morning,’ he sighed. ‘Let them sleep well tonight.’

  ‘Sure,’ she agreed sadly.

  He came to the table and stood behind her and put his arms around her. ‘I’m sorry,’ he murmured, turning her to face him so he could hug her.

  She rested her head on his shoulder, inhaling the familiar scent of him, a lump the size of a melon lodged in her throat.

  ‘Me too, Cal. Now you’d better let me go or I’m going to lose it and howl.’ She swallowed hard.

  ‘OK,’ he said reluctantly and walked out of the kitchen to finish clearing the table, leaving her with tears streaming silently down her cheeks.

  You big stupid asshole, Cal, it shouldn’t have ended up like this, she thought as anger and sadness and a host of mixed emotions smote her. Sally-Ann tried to compose herself for the day ahead, afraid one of the girls might walk in and see her crying.

  She would never hear the phee-bee call of the phoebe, echoing through the trees, without remembering the Sunday morning Cal told their daughters that their lives were about to change. Sally-Ann could barely swallow the coffee he’d brewed. Her throat was completely constricted. Even the heat of the sun on her back couldn’t warm her. She felt cold deep in the pit of her stomach. She was sitting beside her husband at the picnic table on the veranda, opposite the girls who were tucking into the French toast he’d made for them, to keep them going until they had their brunch later in Papa’s on the Lake. They were laughing and teasing each other, blissfully oblivious to what was about to unfold.

  She picked at a fruit cup he’d prepared for her, but her stomach was so knotted she thought she would puke if she ate any more.

  ‘Come on, Maddy, let me straighten your hair,’ Savannah offered her sister, shoving the last piece of toast into her mouth. ‘Let me turn you into a sophisticated city gal!’

  ‘I don’t want to be sophisticated. I prefer the outdoor look,’ Madison demurred. She hated anyone fiddling at her hair and was perfectly happy to tie it up in a ponytail.

  Cal cleared his throat. ‘Er . . . before you go, girls, we . . .’ he glanced at Sally-Ann who was pale with tension ‘. . . erm, that is, I have something I need to tell you.’

  The twins, hearing the timbre of his voice, looked at each other, perplexed. ‘Aw Dad, don’t say we’re moving to Miami,’ Savannah groaned. Madison looked startled at this notion.

  ‘No, no we’re not moving,’ he assured them. ‘At least you’re not,’ he amended.

  ‘Are you, Daddy?’ Madis
on – always the more intuitive of the twins – catching the nuance in his sentence, looked suddenly apprehensive.

  Cal took a deep breath and in spite of herself Sally-Ann felt a frisson of sympathy. Almost of its own volition her hand reached out to cover his. He gave her a grateful glance and, anxious to get it out as quickly as possible, blurted, ‘Girls, I need to tell you something. You have a new half-brother. His name is Jake. He was born a few days ago. Your mom and I are going to divorce. But honestly, nothing will change about the way we feel about you,’ he told them earnestly. ‘We both want you to know—’

  ‘Dad! No!’ shouted Savannah, jumping to her feet.

  Madison looked from Cal to Sally-Ann, desperation in her eyes, as though searching to see if this was some weird prank. Observing the gravity of her parents’ expressions her face crumpled and she let out a low animal-like wail. In an instant Sally-Ann was out of her seat to rush to her side, holding her, comforting her. ‘It’s OK, darlin’, everything’s going to be OK, honestly,’ she promised bleakly.

  ‘No!’ Madison sobbed into her mother’s shoulder. ‘Don’t get a divorce, please, please don’t get a divorce,’ she begged.

  ‘I hate you, Dad,’ Savannah shouted. ‘I don’t want any baby brother called Jake. Why did you have sex with someone else and make a baby?’ She glared at her father before turning to Sally-Ann. ‘Would you not have sex with him? Is that why he went to someone else? That’s why Magnolia Taylor’s dad left her mom, ’cos she wouldn’t do sex. It’s your fault, Mom,’ she accused viciously.

  ‘No! Savannah,’ Cal said sternly. ‘That has nothing to do with it. It’s my fault, not your mother’s. Your mother has been a great wife and she’s a fantastic mother and you know that. Don’t you blame her for this. Do you hear me? I won’t allow it. Now apologize.’

  Savannah remained stubbornly mute, glowering at her father with all the hate she could muster. ‘Savannah, do you hear me? Apologize to your mother, right now,’ Cal ordered.