Free Blue Heaven (Blue Lake) by Cynthia Harrison Page A

“I love Bob,” he said, “and I don’t regret quitting school to raise him, but I’m so done being a dad.”
    She sucked her breath in hard. His parenting days were over? As good as Daniel’s kisses felt, as fine and gentle as his hands had been on her skin, she had to stop this thing that had hardly gotten started. For her own sake.
    Her mother had told her that life was like school, and if you didn’t learn your lesson the first time something went wrong, the world would just keep sending you the same lesson in a different situation. That felt exactly what was happening here. Same situation, different guise. And she’d learned her lesson well.
    “By the way, Sam’s the town drunk.”
    “What? Who?”
    “Sam. Your builder. He’s the town drunk. He’s okay on a crew, at least until lunch, but he can’t do this himself. And a roofer won’t know how to cope with building your precious addition.”
    That stung. She stood at the door, feeling as if he’d just slapped her. He opened one of the wide wood doors, saying get out without using any words. He didn’t know this, but inside, she was having mini-meltdown. First he’d gotten her into bed way too easily, and then shut off the love the minute he learned about the events of the day, as if everything was her fault. Okay, well the builder was her fault. But not Bob. That was in no way her fault or responsibility. She’d tried to tell him to go home. And right now, she was holding on to too many strands, every single one of them pulling at her, making her temples pound.
    “I’ll just have to keep an eye on him.” She picked up her purse from where she’d dropped it on a table, doing her best to shake off her restless sadness. “I have to go. There’s still so much to do.”
    “I don’t see how you’re going to have things ready by Memorial Day weekend.”
    She started to walk away, but his words stopped her.
    “I’ll have everything done. Don’t worry about me.”
    Of course, the irony was that he wasn’t worried about her at all. He was worried about his precious Bryman legacy. And he’d dumped the problem of what to do with Bob and Lily right into her arms.

Chapter Eleven
    The next morning, Eva came home after running around dealing with permits and licensing. When she pulled into Blue Heaven the driveway was empty of every vehicle except Bob’s truck. Where had her crew gone? It was two in the afternoon. They had better not be at Daniel’s museum.
    Bob and Lily sat sunning themselves on old metal lawn chairs that had been stored in the shed for decades. They both had cans of beer in hand.
    “Hello? You two are underage. Give me those!” she pulled the beers from their hands and poured them out on the still straw-like lawn. She didn’t like being a parent. It felt mean and bossy.
    “Sorry. Sam gave them to us. Said it was about to rain, so the crew called it a day. We can’t paint exteriors in the rain.”
    Eva scanned the lake. There were some black clouds scutting in the distance. “When did Sam start drinking today?”
    “Well, he brought a case of beer at noon. It’s Friday. That’s sort of normal.”
    Bob had the good grace to look sheepish.
    “It’s not like we’ve never had a beer in our life,” Lily said. Eva noticed Lily was wearing her favorite hoodie. Cashmere. Lily noticed Eva notice.
    “Oh, this. Sorry. I didn’t pack enough stuff. Hope it’s okay.”
    “What? That you borrow my stuff or that you go into my bedroom, into my closet, without permission?” Eva was getting the hang of this parental thing. It had been easier to call Lily on the cashmere than the beer.
    Then she noticed the roof. Or rather the absence of one. A flimsy piece of plastic flapped in the wind. It wouldn’t stop a teardrop let alone a rainstorm.
    “My brother came by,” Bob said. Eva’s eyes stayed trained on her roofline. At least they’d only taken a piece of it off.
    “Did he see this?” She pointed to the place where her roof