Feels like Home (Lake Fisher Book 2) Read online

  She turns and looks at me over her shoulder. “I love you too, Eli,” she says.

  And that is when Mr. Jacobson starts to sing, at the top of his lungs, that little ditty of a song that got us in trouble all those years ago, and soon we all join in, our singing robust and happy—and loud—as we head back..

  When we get to Jake’s house, a light flips on and Katie walks out on the porch in her robe. “What are you doing?” she hisses. “The whole campground can hear you!”

  “These two are yours,” Bess says, as Jake and Mr. Jacobson practically fall out of the cart. She jerks her thumb toward us. “I’ll take these two.”

  “I think you got the better deal,” Katie grumbles as Jake grabs her and kisses her cheek. Mr. Jacobson stumbles inside and Katie whispers, “Oh, my God.”

  “He was naked in the lake, floating on his back, spitting water into the air like a fountain when I found him,” Bess calls out.

  Katie covers her mouth and lets out a giggle. “You have to be kidding.”

  “I wish I was,” Bess admits.

  Bess drives us home, and she walks with Aaron to his cabin while I wait on the porch. Aaron is still humming that naughty tune and staggering so much that Bess is more or less supporting him. Gabby has been watching the children and she meets them at the door. “I’ll stay with them tonight, Gabby, in case the kids wake up. He’s certainly in no shape to deal with any emergencies,” Bess says quietly.

  “I’ll stay,” I hear Gabby say. “I can sleep on the couch. It’ll be fine.”

  “Are you sure?” Bess asks, as I pee off the side of Aaron’s porch.

  Bess groans out loud when she seems me through the front window, and Gabby says, “I think you already have your hands full.” She laughs quietly, and she sounds just like Katie.

  “Aaron!” Bess whispers, because all the kids are asleep. “Do you need help getting undressed?” She waits for his response, but none comes.

  I guess I should offer to help, but I’m not too steady on my own feet. So I lean in the open doorway while Bess finally gets Aaron into the bedroom, and through the open door I see how she lets him fall onto the bed then quickly strips off his damp clothing. Then she pulls up a quilt to cover him and does that ten-count thing as he begins to breathe rhythmically, already asleep. She quietly slides the portable crib with the sleeping baby out of the bedroom, and then she closes the bedroom door. “Good night, Gabby,” she says. “Call me if you need me.”

  “Will do,” Gabby says.

  Bess steps past me out onto the porch. “Aaron okay?” I ask as I follow her.“Yeah. I got him to bed. He’ll be fine.”

  We head toward our cabin next door.“Did you see his junk?” I ask. “Because I’ve seen it before and I wasn’t all that impressed.”

  Bess gasps. “Of course not! Seeing Mr. Jacobson naked was quite enough for one night, thank you very much.” She gives a dramatic shudder. “That’s something I can never unsee.”

  “Oh, stop it,” I tease. “I know you took his clothes off. I watched.”

  She glares at me. “You watched and you didn’t offer to help? Gee, thanks.”

  I scoff. “I would have been more hindrance than help.” I stagger a little and almost knock her down before I can right myself. “See? Sorry. Plus I was curious to see your reaction to his junk.”

  “Eli!” she scolds fiercely. “I did not look at his junk. Not intentionally, anyway. So don’t get me in the middle of your childish dick-measuring bullshit.”

  I clamp my lips closed at that.“But I can tell you his ass is hairy,” she says after a beat. “Why didn’t Lynda ever tell me about his hairy ass?”

  She laughs out loud and pushes me from behind, up the steps of our porch and into our cabin. “Did you have fun tonight?”

  “It was great.” I pull my damp clothes off on the way to the bedroom and then fall naked onto the bed, face first. “But this is the best part,” I murmur as Bess shoves my legs under the covers.

  “What? Showing me your hairy ass? I’m not going to compare them, so don’t even ask.” She jerks the covers higher over said ass.

  I chuckle, already beginning to relax into sleep mode. “Coming home to you. That’s the best part.”

  She kisses my forehead, lingering there. “Sleep it off, you drunken sot,” she whispers. She kisses me again, and I close my eyes.

  39

  Eli

  I wake up the next morning feeling like I’ve been hit by a truck, and acid crawls up my throat as I sit up. I rest there, sitting on the edge of the bed, until the room stops spinning. My mouth tastes like Sam’s cat crawled onto my face and shit directly inside my mouth, so I stumble to the bathroom and brush my teeth while leaning heavily on the countertop, my elbow supporting my weight.

  What the fuck happened last night? One minute we were building a shed and the next Bess was getting a full-frontal exposure to Mr. Jacobson’s dick. I remember that we all ended up in the lake after jumping off Five Mile Bridge, but I can’t remember why we jumped off the bridge. “Cops,” I say to myself as I rinse my mouth. “I think the cops were there. Fuck.”

  I pull on some clothes, opting for some athletic shorts because my skin hurts almost as much as my head does. In fact everything hurts. Where’s Bess? She could kiss it and make it better. Kiss everything. Make everything better.

  She isn’t in the cabin. I step out onto the porch and look around. And that’s when I see Aaron stepping out of his front door, looking just as bad as I feel.

  I lift my hand to wave at him, but he ignores me and sags down to sit on his top step, like his legs won’t support him anymore. “Dude,” he suddenly calls out. “What the fuck happened last night?”

  I gingerly walk down the steps and join him on his top step. “I have vague recollections,” I say. I shake my head, but that hurts too. “What do you remember?”

  “I vividly remember Mr. Jacobson’s dick.” He spins to face me. “Why do I remember Mr. Jacobson’s dick?”

  “I think he stripped naked so he could jump into the lake unencumbered.”

  “Do you know where my children are?” Aaron asks.

  “Gabby spent the night at your house to take care of the kids,” I tell him. I do remember that much at least. “She probably took them with her when she left this morning.”

  “I guess I had better go find them.” He scratches his head, and then it turns into him rubbing his eyes, and then he just lets his face fall into his palms.

  “Oh, I just remembered.” I hold up one finger. “The cops came. Thank goodness it was just Little Robbie or we might all be scrambling for bail money right now.”

  “Oh yeah,” Aaron says, memory returning. “Jake had to pull Mr. Jacobson out of the lake, stark naked.” He lifts his head to look into my eyes. “You realize we all saw Mr. Jacobson’s junk, right? Dude…I can never unsee that.”

  I laugh even though that hurts too. “Bess said the same thing. She said seeing you naked too was just way too much,” I confess.

  He looks startled for an instant, but it looks like the expression hurts his face so he relaxes it. “Wait… How did Bess see me naked? Were we all naked?”

  “Relax. She just made sure you were safe and sound in your own bed.” Pause. “She did comment on your hairy ass, though.”

  He groans. “Please tell me I was face down. Was I really that wasted?”

  “Dude, we all were. If it makes you feel any better, I peed off your porch last night.”

  “It’s supposed to rain later,” he remarks, totally unconcerned now. He pushes up to stand. “I’m going to go find my kids.”

  “I’ll walk with you. I need to find my wife.” I walk a few steps and find that my skin still hurts. “I think I’m too old to drink like that anymore.” I stare at him. “When did we get old?”

  “Last night, apparently,” Aaron replies. “I feel like I need to throw up.” He stops walking, bends over, and spits a few times into the grass. He wipes his mouth with the back of his h
and. “False alarm,” he says.

  As we walk around the corner, we find Jake sitting on top of the almost-completed shed, hammering shingles. He’s moving slowly and with difficulty, but he’s moving. Bess sits next to him, a tool belt tied around her hips. Katie runs a saw that we left set up last night, and the noise from the blade makes me feel like my head is going to split open. I grab for the sides of my head and squeeze, but it doesn’t help.

  Mr. Jacobson walks up and holds out two beers. “Hair of the dog that bit you,” he says.

  “You have to be kidding me,” Aaron says. He waves the can away with a grimace.

  “Why are you all up so early?” I ask.

  Jake looks up from his perch on the roof. “Because my lovely wife woke me and Pop up this morning by banging a large metal spoon against a large metal pot.”

  “Impressive,” Aaron says with a nod.

  She winks at him. “They were still up singing about an hour after you left them on the doorstep. They woke up all the kids, and then they both passed out in the living room on the rug.” She shrugs. “It seemed fitting.”

  “Does anybody know where my children are?” Aaron asks.

  “They’re at my house. Sam and Alex are helping Gabby take care of them.”

  “Sam’s helping?” I ask. I snort out a laugh, but that makes my head hurt too.

  “Sam had a talk with Kerry-Anne this morning about your health,” Katie says to Aaron.

  Aaron freezes. “What did she say to her?”

  “She explained what’s going on in a way that Kerry-Anne could understand. I listened to the whole conversation. I was very proud of her.”

  “Huh,” Aaron says as he scratches his head. “Was Kerry-Anne okay?”

  “She seemed to be.” Katie quickly cuts another board, the whine of the blade making my head feel like it’s going to explode. “Alex actually helped and talked to her a little about his dad.” She blinks hard. “It was touching, really.”

  I’ll have to talk to her, to be sure she doesn’t have more questions that I can answer.

  Suddenly, Bess starts to sing the little ditty that we were all singing on the golf cart last night. Katie joins in. Jake stares at both of them, until he finally smiles and starts to sing along with them.

  Mr. Jacobson offers me the beer again as he joins in on the chorus, singing loudly. I take it from him and mutter, “Why the fuck not.” I crack it open and chug it down.

  “Language,” Mr. Jacobson warns. “There’s ladies present.”

  But then Katie and Bess get to the bawdy part of the song and they sing it loudly and proudly. We all laugh, and I throw my arm around Aaron’s shoulders and join in. He stares at me like he’s appalled, until a grin finally breaks upon his face and he starts to sing too.

  When the song is over, everyone gets quiet, and the only sounds are the normal morning campground sounds as people wake up and get ready for another summer day at the lake.

  “Umm, Jake?” Katie says.

  Jake looks down from his perch on the roof, his eyebrows raised, but they slam down when he sees the expression on her face. “Now?” he asks.

  “Either I just peed myself, or it’s now,” Katie says. She holds her hand against her huge belly.

  Jake scurries across the roof and down the ladder. “Pop, you got the kids?” he asks.

  “I got the kids, Jake,” Mr. Jacobson says. He walks over and gives Katie a big kiss on her forehead and she grins at him. “This one’s my namesake,” he reminds her.

  “We are not calling her Poppy,” Jake says, shaking his head at his dad.

  Jake and Katie leave together in a rush to call the doctor and get her bag.

  “They’re having a baby,” Bess says, and she rubs her hands together in excitement. I immediately worry that she’s going to be hurt by it, but apparently she’s not. She’s beaming from up there on the roof. She looks at me. “Get up here and replace Jake, Eli,” she calls. She drops her voice to a low tone so she’ll sound like Mr. Jacobson. “There’s a shed to be built.”

  I suck in a deep breath, grab the tool belt that Jake just discarded, and climb the ladder. When I get up to the top next to Bess, she leans over to give me a kiss, but at the last minute she leans away. “Did you puke?” she asks.

  I grin. “Not yet. But I’m still willing.” I’m actually feeling a little better since drinking the beer. Maybe there’s something to that hair of the dog thing.

  She leans a little farther and finally kisses me. “How much do you remember about last night?”

  “Bits and pieces,” I admit. I whisper to her, “I remember Mr. Jacobson’s dick.”

  “Quite impressive, wasn’t it?” Bess says with a grin. “Now I see why all the ladies at the bingo hall love him so much.”

  I chuckle as I start to apply the shingles. “So, Jake and Katie are having a baby,” I say quietly so only she can hear.

  “I know, right? So exciting.” She grins at me.

  “You’re okay?”

  She looks up, startled. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “I wish I could have given you just one,” I say quietly. I reach over and brush her hair back from where it has fallen in front of her eyes.

  “It’s okay,” she whispers fiercely. She holds up three fingers. “Aaron is giving me three!” She laughs out loud.

  Aaron yells, “Everything okay up there?”

  “Fine!” Bess calls out.

  “I’m going to go check on my kids!” he yells.

  “See you later,” Bess calls back.

  Suddenly, his head pops up over the edge of the roof, where he has climbed the ladder. “Sorry you had to see my ass last night, Bess,” he says with a grin.

  “I’ll try not to hold it against you,” she says with a laugh. “I can’t believe Lynda never told me how hairy your ass is. You’re like a damn Wookie down there.”

  “You suck so bad, Bess,” he says more to himself than to her, and then he disappears down the ladder. Bess watches as he walks up the hill toward the big house.

  “If you ever get that much hair on your ass, I’m going to wax it while you’re sleeping,” she warns, pointing her hammer at me.

  “If I ever get that much hair on my ass, I’ll ask you to wax it for me,” I reply.

  “You saw his ass last night?” she asks.

  I shake my head. “I’ve seen it before. Many times. We used to shower at the bathhouse, remember, when we were younger.”

  “The good old days,” she says with a grin.

  “I prefer having my own private bathroom, thank you very much.”

  She leans over and kisses me, lingering long enough to make it sweet. “You told me you love me last night.”

  I nod. “I remember.”

  “Did you mean it?”

  I am shocked by the question. “Of course I meant it. Why would you ask me something like that?”

  “Just checking.”

  “I vaguely remember you responding likewise,” I say quietly. “Did you mean it?”

  She leans over and kisses me again. “I meant it,” she says softly.

  “If you two will quit making cow eyes at one another, we can finish this up!” Mr. Jacobson yells. Bess gets busy hammering, laughing softly to herself. We work until lunch time, then come down from the roof when Mr. Jacobson gets a phone call. Bess practically dances in place as she waits for him to finish talking.

  “That was Jake,” he says as he blinks his eyes hard.

  “And?”

  “Eight pounds two ounces,” he says. “Healthy little girl.” He sniffles. “Mom is doing just fine.”

  I wrap my arm around Bess’s shoulders and pull her against me. She melts into my side like she used to, and it feels so damn good.

  “Her name is Poppy Jane,” the old man says as he puffs out his chest. “But I’m only allowed to say it if I use both names.”

  Bess grins at me and then gives Mr. Jacobson a spontaneous hug. “Congratulations!”

  He snif
fles again and gives her a quick pat on the back. “Yeah, well… It’s supposed to rain tonight,” Mr. Jacobson says. “Let’s get this cleaned up.”

  Bess looks at me and laughs. Then she looks at Mr. Jacobson. “If it’s going to rain, does that mean you can open up the game room?”

  Mr. Jacobson pretends to think about it. “I reckon that might be all right,” he says. He points to all the trash on the ground. “Y’all get this cleaned up.”

  Then he walks away, whistling as he starts walking back to the big house.

  I rub my eyes and groan. “I can’t stop seeing him naked in my head,” I say.

  His hearing must be keener than I thought because he yells back, “Stop talking about my dick!”

  Bess laughs, I laugh, and we work together to clean up all the trash. Then we walk up to the big house, where we find Aaron sitting on the porch with Kerry-Anne as they talk quietly together. I walk past them without disturbing them, and we go inside where there is utter chaos as Pop tries to feed all the little ones at once. He has Hank and Erik as well as Miles. He holds a bottle for Miles with one hand as he spreads food onto trays for the other two.

  “Don’t just stand there,” he says gruffly. “Make yourselves useful.”

  Bess scoops up Miles and takes his bottle, and she goes into the living room to sit and rock him while he finishes.

  “Is it always like this?” I ask over the noise.

  “No,” he replies equally loudly. “Sometimes it’s shitty.” He leans close to Hank and sniffs. “Speaking of which…” He raises his eyebrows at me, but I dash out the door before he can tag me in.

  40

  Bess

  The game room was one of the highlights of summer when we were kids. We didn’t get to use it often—only when it rained—but it was always a favorite. Mr. Jacobson would go to the bank and get buckets of quarters so people could exchange their dollars. Then he would use all the money he took in on the games to have cookouts for the people who visited the complex.