Loving Summer (Loving Summer Series) (10 page)

            He tells a story about his time on set as a kid, all about the kind of things that happened with the show.

            “Most of the time, when I was just a little kid, I couldn’t remember a whole script, so they had me improvise, and then the other actors would try to keep things on track. Well, that worked pretty well, because it was spontaneous. That’s the hardest part of acting. Making it look like things are happening to you for the first time, when in fact, you’ve read the whole script and you know exactly what’s going to happen next.”

            Astor has them working different acting exercises next. In one, he has them act the same short lines out four or five times in a row, to force everyone there to try to find ways to keep their delivery fresh. There’s something so straightforward and down to earth about him when he’s here, and all the students seem to appreciate the instruction they’re getting.

            Eventually though, the class ends, and Astor walks over to me. He brushes his fingers along my arm, and just that touch is enough to send my nerves tingling. His hands drift up to my head, holding me as though he might kiss me any minute.

            “I know we only saw each other this morning,” he says with a smile, “but I’m glad you’re here now too.”

            He does kiss me then, softly and fleetingly. “I’m sorry I moved too fast last night,” Astor says. “I couldn’t help myself. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone quite like you, Summer, and I just wanted… well, I guess I wanted to show you that.

              “You make me so happy, Summer,” he says. “I don’t care if we just talk, hang out, or what, I love being with you. Come on.”

            He takes my hand, taking me out of the theater before I can find Aunt Sookie, then down to the beach, where we find a small restaurant with views out over the ocean. It’s the kind of place most people would have to book weeks in advance to get a table in, but Astor just walks right in. Apparently, they know him.

            “The manager’s daughters and wife are big fans of my show,” he whispers to me by way of an explanation. It also explains why he seems to know the menu by heart, ordering the seafood salad without even looking at it. I do the same. It’s delicious, but when, halfway through it, Astor pulls out a small box, my heart leaps into my mouth just the same.

            It isn’t a large box. It’s a light baby blue with a white bow, and it sits neatly on the table between us when Astor puts it down.

            “Would you accept this from me?” Astor asks. “I was passing a store on the way to the academy, and I saw it, and it was just perfect for you.”

            I start to shake my head. “Astor, I couldn’t accept anything expensive like this. That wouldn’t be…”

            “Relax,” Astor says with a smile. “Remember that I have the money. If I want to spend it on you, please just go with that. Besides, this is just something small.”

            He holds the box out to me and I take it, unfastening the bow. When I open it, I gasp, because the pendant within is beautiful. It’s small, and silver, and it’s in the shape of a sea shell. It’s perfect. Astor has found exactly the kind of thing I might actually wear, and he helps me to put it on now, fastening it around my neck, before returning to his seat and reaching out to hold my hand.

            “Maybe that will do something to remind all the guys who must be itching for a shot with you that we’re together,” Astor says. I find myself thinking of Nat and Drew again, but right then the moment is too perfect to think too hard.

            “This is amazing,” I say. “How did you guess that it would be right for me?”

            Astor smiles, shaking his head. “It doesn’t take a lifetime to know who someone you care about is. As soon as I saw you, Summer, I felt like I’d known you all my life.”

            “That’s…” I don’t know what to say to that. It’s romantic, and it also feels true. Like I’ve known Astor forever too, rather than just a few weeks.

            “Listen, Summer,” Astor looks a little worried suddenly. “The necklace is to show you that I’m serious about us, even though I’m going to have to go away for a while soon.”

            “You’re leaving?” I can hardly believe that. We’ve only just started dating.

            “It’s part of why I’m doing the extra work with your aunt,” Astor says. “There are some movie roles I’m up for, and I start work on one in North Carolina next week.”

            North Carolina? That’s a long way. Will it work, us being so far apart so soon? It seems, though, that isn’t what Astor has in mind.

            “I want you to come with me,” he says. “For the first week or so at least. I mean, you’re still on summer break, so it isn’t like you’re going to miss school, and from all the work you’ve done at the acting academy, I guess you’d like hanging out on set, and… well, I’d like you there. A lot. So what do you say?”

            I want to say yes, but I know I can’t, and Astor seems to sense it, because he moves away from me slightly.

            “Well,” he says, “I guess I have your number if you don’t want to do it.”

            “I want to,” I say. “I really want to, but I have to be here to help Aunt Sookie. I can’t just drop everything.”

            “I understand,” Astor says, and he leans across the table to kiss me. “I’m just worried. I want to keep seeing you. I want you to be my girl, but that won’t be easy if we’re all that way apart. You won’t be there with me.”

            I shake my head. “It isn’t like you’ll be lonely. There will be people all around you on set.”

            “They won’t be
you
,” Astor says urgently, frowning. He reaches out to take my hand. “At least tell me you’ll think about visiting me up in North Carolina. I know you need to be here, what with Sookie being sick and everything, but maybe there will be time?”

            “What?” I say.

            “You’re right,” Astor says, frowning again. He shakes his head and stands up. “Forget I said anything, Summer. Of course you’re going to want to stay here to look after your aunt while she’s ill. I shouldn’t have asked.”

            “It’s not that,” I say, wondering if I look as puzzled as I feel. “What I mean is, what do you mean, Aunt Sookie’s sick?”

            “You don’t know?” Astor sits back down, looking at me intently. “Sorry, I just assumed that she would have told you. I mean, I found out because we’ve been spending so much time together for the lessons, and she had to go to the doctor…”

            “What’s wrong with her?” I ask, wondering if Astor has it wrong. Aunt Sookie can’t be sick, can she? She would have said something. Except I remember how tired she has been, and how careful she’s been about what she eats.
Something
hasn’t been right.

            Astor looks uncomfortable. “Um… I guess that if she hasn’t said something, then I probably shouldn’t either. I mean, it’s for her to tell you, not me, and I’d hate to be the one who broke her confidence.”

            “What’s wrong with her, Astor?” I demand, not caring about any of that. “If something’s wrong with her, I have a right to know. If you care about me, you’ll tell me, rather than keeping secrets from me.”

            “Diabetes,” Astor says simply. “I’m not sure which type, only that it’s pretty advanced, genetics or something plus her diet for the last decade.  She was talking about not just having to take medication, have shots, but she mentioned having had surgery a couple of months ago.”

            “What kind of surgery?” I ask.

            “I don’t know,” Astor insists. “Honestly, Summer, I’d tell you if I did.”

            It doesn’t seem fair. It doesn’t seem fair that Aunt Sookie should have something like this happen to her. She’s done so much to care for others, whether it’s inviting inner city kids into her school to keep them out of trouble and away from gangs, or taking me and the others in every summer, or just doing so much to help her students with their dreams.

Diabetes explains so much about what has been happening with her, but I realize I don’t know anywhere near as much as I should about the disease. I didn’t even know that there was surgery for it. I thought it was just a case of staying on insulin and trying to adjust your life.

Why didn’t Aunt Sookie tell me any of this? I know the answer to that. I have the memories of her caring for me, kissing my knee whenever I fell down, helping me deal with anything that hurt or ached. She’s trying to protect me from this.

She can’t protect me from how much this moment hurts though. She can’t protect me from thinking back to all the moments I’ve had with her, whether it’s helping at her school, or watching while she taught Drew and Nat to throw a football, or letting Rachel play with her professional actor’s makeup kit. If anything, not telling me just makes it worse, because I don’t know how I’m going to talk to her about this.

Astor comes and puts his arms around me, and I realize that I’m crying.

“Don’t you…” I think back to all the other days with Astor. “Don’t you have rehearsals?”

“They can wait,” Astor assures me, holding me tightly. “This is going to be all right Summer. You’ll see.”

I want to believe him, but right then, it’s hard. Something like this… a few minutes ago, I was thinking about whether I could make it to North Carolina, but now I’m wondering how I’ll ask Aunt Sookie about what’s going on. About how I’ll talk to the others about it. Somehow, next to that, everything else seems pretty trivial.

Chapter
12

A
stor takes me back to Aunt Sookie’s school, only leaving when I assure him that I’m okay. I head inside, looking for my aunt, I find her in her office, which is a converted dressing room behind the main theater space. She’s on the phone when I go in, so I start tidying the office. I need to do something. I can’t just sit there and wait, because I think I might explode if I did.

            The office isn’t large, with just enough room for a desk, a computer, a few boxes and some bookshelves, but there’s certainly plenty of stuff in here. There are pieces of old costumes and boxes of makeup, old scripts in piles and folders full of administrative details. The result is that it’s a space where probably only Aunt Sookie knows where anything is, and where it’s a constant battle to keep things neat.

            Aunt Sookie smiles at me as I walk in, but keeps talking on the phone. “We were always the most sensitive ones in school,” she says. “Nadine, are you sure you don’t want me to come up to San Fran? No? Then you should make a trip to the Pad. The kids are enjoying themselves. Rachel seems to have a boyfriend, and Drew is getting along great with Summer. She’s helping me out with classes at the school.”

            Aunt Sookie pauses, listening. “Nat? Oh, he’s mostly preoccupied with old friends.  Join us for July 4th at least. We’ll have barbeques, hot dogs, and everything. You don’t have to be there to supervise your husband’s company party. It will do fine without you, and you should have some fun. You don’t have to keep playing the perfect corporate wife anymore, Nadine. You know it isn’t you.”

            Aunt Sookie starts listening again, and I feel like I’m intruding on a private moment just by being here. 

            “Yes, I know you used to be good at it, but you’re so much more than just arm candy for him. Especially given what happened. And if he’s going to spend years cheating on you with his secretary, then he shouldn’t make Nat keep that secret. I’m glad Nat finally told you.”

            I start to wonder if I should leave anyway, but Aunt Sookie just keeps going. Either she doesn’t mind me hearing this, or she’s angry enough now that she doesn’t care.

            “No, Nat’s fine. I know he was always your baby. I can’t believe how much he and Drew have grown. Summer?” Aunt Sookie looks at me. “No, she’s dating one of my students. You should see her. Maybe you can when you come down. I’m a very proud aunt these days. Now listen, seriously, come down to my place. We’ll do the whole girl thing; maybe go down to Vegas while the kids play at the beach. I know. Listen, anything you want to talk about, I’m there for you. You know that, right? Love you.”

            Aunt Sookie finally hangs up. I don’t know why she let me hear all that. Maybe it was just easier than telling me to go. Maybe she wanted me to know about it. Now that I do… I don’t know what to think. It must have been so hard for Nat, if what I’ve just heard is true. Having to keep a secret like that from his own mother. Having to tell her.

            Then again, I guess Aunt Sookie knows a thing or two about keeping secrets right now. After all, there’s at least one big thing she didn’t tell me about. Maybe that’s why she let me hear that. Maybe she’s tired of keeping secrets.

            “Hey,” she says, “what are you doing over here when you could be out enjoying yourself?”

            “I wanted to talk,” I say.

            “About what you just heard?” Sookie shrugs. “Nadine is having a hard time of things, what with the divorce. That’s kind of why I asked all the kids down here again. I thought you should know.” She looks at me for a few seconds. “That pendant is new, isn’t it? Did you just buy it?”

            “Astor gave it to me.”

            She nods. “I’d guessed that he was serious about you when he invited you to stay over. Well, he’s a good boy, but obviously, you want to be careful, Summer. Don’t go rushing too far, too soon.”

            Most times, I might have talked that through with her, but right now, it isn’t what I want us to talk about. “Astor told me something.”

            “What did he tell you?” my aunt asks. “That he has to go away for a while? It’s only a job, Summer. He’ll be back if he really cares about you.”

            I shake my head. “It isn’t that. It’s something… well, he kind of told me accidentally. You shouldn’t blame him for it, I mean, because I think he really respects you.”

            “Well,
that
sounds kind of ominous,” Aunt Sookie says with another smile.