Page 30 of The Summer Club

Charley looked between them, a mix of curiosity and frustration. “Is anyone going to tell us what’s going on?”

“We’re making dinner. Remember Nate from next door? He’s coming by.”

“Oh.” This was certainly news to Cora. Nate was a childhood fixture in their house back in the day. His family would come for the summer, as theirs did, each year. Always sandy-footed and bronzed, his hair would burn bleached blonde with sun by August. She had always liked Nate. She was also dying to get into the renovated cottage and see what he’d done to his parents’ place. “Are we invited?” she asked.

All of her kids looked up at that. Well. Let them think a moment of how they’d treated her these last twenty-four hours.

Andi answered for all of them. “Don’t be silly. You live here.”

There was a collective pause as everyone seemed to remember that it was officially now Sydney’s house.

Sydney, for her part, flushed. “Let’s have a nice night together. Okay?”

Cora wasn’t exactly sure how to take that. Charley squeezed her shoulder. “Sounds like a plan to me.”

Hugh hooked his phone up to the little speaker on the counter and Billy Joel crooned across the kitchen. Cora watched as Andi, Molly, and Sydney shucked corn, smiling and talking. Martin was washing littlenecks in the old, dented lobster pot in the kitchen sink. Hugh was busy mixing God only knew what kind of concoction, though it looked good, humming along to “Piano Man.” Cora and Charley were not exactly a part of any of it, but still, it was nice to see.

Well, they clearly weren’t needed in the kitchen and Cora was still sticky with sunscreen from the beach. So she poured herself a glass of wine from the open bottle on the counter and took it upstairs to shower. Maybe this arrangement would work out just fine.

Upstairs, under the gentle stream of the shower, Cora’s mind drifted back in time. To Charley finding her on the bench in the rain that day outside the campus library. The cup of hot cocoa he’d made for her. And to what happened after he walked her back to her dorm.

One thing was clear: Robert was not going to have any part of this and it was time to tell her parents. She waited until the common room area in her dorm was clear and went to the payphone. It was impossible to have any kind of private conversation, but she had no other choice.

Her mother picked up on the second ring. “Oh, hi, honey! I was just thinking about you. Just a few more weeks and you’ll be home for the summer.”

The excitement in her mother’s voice filled her with sadness. Cora was the first person on both sides of her parents’ families to go to college and she’d made it through her junior year with almost perfect grades. “Cora is so talented. She’s going to be an artist!” her mother had told everyone when she was home for Christmas.

The door to the common room opened and Cora waited for two girls to pass through before she spoke. “Mama, there’s something I have to tell you.”

“What’s wrong?” Even from six hundred miles away in Lima, Ohio, her mother could sense the news was not good.

“You know Robert? The boy I was dating?” Cora swallowed hard.

“Of course. He was all you could talk about over winter break. How is he?”

“Well, he’s not my boyfriend anymore.”

“Oh, sweetie. I’m sorry to hear that, but these things happen. Isn’t he a senior? He’s probably got big plans for next year. Things on his mind. Don’t worry, you’ll find another nice boy in no time.”

“That’s not it, Mama. I’m afraid something has happened.” Cora took a deep breath and laid an involuntary hand across her belly. “I’m pregnant.”

There was silence on the other end of the line.

“Mama?”

“Are you sure?” Her mother’s voice was strangled.

“Yes. I’ve been to the infirmary. They gave me two tests.”

“Oh, Cora.” And with those words she could hear all the hope her mother had held out for her over the years fall away. “What does Robert say? Does he want to get married?”

Cora closed her eyes. “No, Mama. That’s not going to happen.”

What if we talk to his parents? I’m sure there is something that can be worked out. After all…”

“He was very clear. I am on my own with this.” Tears pressed at her eyes as Cora cradled the phone to her ear. “I’m so sorry, Mama.”

On the other end her mother let her breath out. “What are you going to do?”

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