Summer Rain

Eva leaned her shoulder against the white marble pillar and inhaled the sweet scent of rain. She watched as rain cascaded down the edge of the roof a couple of feet in front of her, droplets occasionally splashing up to speckle her black slacks. Beyond the sheet of water, she could see the sloping lawn and the ocean in shades of grey, the sun had set behind the clouds thirty minutes ago. There were a few lamps along the path cutting the lawn in two, creating halos of orange-yellow. The waves crashed against the shore, the sound blending with the splatter of rainfall to create a hypnotic, calming symphony. The effect was dulled by the sounds emanating from the party.  

Behind her, laughter and music drifted out of the open doors of the grand ballroom. The party carried on, almost an hour past when it was meant to end. The O’Reilly’s had paid generously to keep the party for their matriarch’s eightieth birthday going longer. The old biddy had already left, but that didn’t mean the younger generations were ready to stop partying, especially when drinks had really begun to flow. They had the money, as the wealthiest family in town, and could do what they liked.

Normally, she would have left by eight o’clock, picked up her sister, Darcy, and gone home to put Darcy to bed before streaming a show or curling up with a good book before her eyes felt too heavy. Triss had called out though, again, leaving Eva to cover for her. Eva folded her arms over her dusky blue blazer, impatience and a long day wearing on her nerves.

“Hello?” a male voice from behind her.

She turned and tried not to roll her eyes. Of course, there would be something more to grate on her nerves. Perhaps they had come to ask to extend the party even longer into the night. Perhaps until midnight, so she could remain, waiting to clean up after them, in a role she was supposed to be above now. She tried not to internally curse Triss and the approaching man, but she was having a difficult time. Darcy couldn’t stay at the sitter’s all night long.

“How may I help you?” She still couldn’t see his face. With the lights coming from the party shining out the wall of windows, and the evening light, he was hard to discern, besides his lithe form. She stood at the edge and watched him as he weaved between tables. The event center boasted both a grand ballroom and an outdoor pavilion. Between herself and the windows, spread white marble, and numerous empty tables. Above, was an arching white ceiling with inlaid dim lights, lights that were not on anymore because the party was supposed to be over.

When he approached close enough she could discern his face in the dim grey light she maintained a neutral expression, even as she felt a headache building.

“Eva?” Charlie said. “I thought it was you!”

Charlie O’Reily grinned at her and leaned a shoulder against a white pillar, a beer bottle held between two fingers hanging by his hip. Golden light from the party spilled over one half of his face, illuminating sharp cheekbones and raised brows, gilding his brown hair spilling over his forehead.

“Charlie,” Eva said in response, nodding in greeting.

“It’s been what, five years?”

“Give or take.”

“And you work here?”

“Obviously.”

Eva leaned a shoulder against the pillar, trying to relax. She stared at the rain and tried to dissipate her annoyance. Charlie O’Reilly. She knew it was his family, but she had assumed he would be off at college. He probably attended an Ivy League, with his family connections. She wasn’t sure, she hadn’t kept up with his activities post-graduation.

She sensed him watching her. When she met his look, he smiled and lifted his bottle to his lips.

“I’m surprised you’re not at school,” Eva said, finding his silence grating now.

“It’s not every day your grandmother turns eighty,” he responded, shifting against the pillar so instead of leaning against one shoulder, his back now rested against it. “Why aren’t you at school? Why are you,” he waved a hand, “here?”

“I don’t go to college.”

He frowned. “I’m sorry, you just seemed like the type.”

The type. She supposed she had been, in high school. With her wild mouse brown hair, thick-framed glasses, and sensible clothes, she would have seemed the type then. Funny, she thought, how she had changed. She had contacts now, conditioned her hair, and dressed to match her position as assistant manager.

“You used to talk about it,” he continued. “College.”

She sighed. “I did talk about it that summer, didn’t I? It just didn’t pan out.”

“I just can’t believe you, the smartest girl in the class didn’t go. And me, who slacked off, is spending my nights studying analytics and making business plans.”

“Thank you for judging my life choices,” she bit out, crossing her arms, hoping the harshness of her tone would keep him from asking questions. She wasn’t surprised he was pursuing a business degree. He was probably expected to take over his family’s financial consulting firm.

His mouth gaped open a moment. “I am really sorry I brought it up. I don’t judge people for where they work, or what they do. I just hope you are well?” He phrased it like a question as if he didn’t know. He had been away, he probably didn’t. She couldn’t fault him for his ignorance.

“I am well enough.”

“Good.” He lifted the bottle to his mouth again, taking a deep sip as he turned his face towards the falling rain, the roaring sea. She watched the bob of his throat as he swallowed, and then looked away, trying not to blush, wishing she didn’t notice things about him.

Seeing him again dredged up memories from that summer.

“I can’t believe it’s closed now,” he said.

She knew what he was talking about, but played ignorance. “What’s closed?”

She didn’t want to relieve memories with him, she didn’t want to seem like they shared anything.

He raised a brow as if he could read her. “Ice Cream Delight.”

“Oh, right. It’s been closed about a year now.” She remembered the last time she had gone into the ice cream shop, pushing her mother in a wheelchair, Darcy sitting on her lap, laughing.

“I still think about when we worked there sometimes. I know it was meant to be a punishment,” he rolled his eyes, “but it ended up being a little fun.”

“Yes, scooping ice cream was a hoot.”

Charlie laughed. Eva smiled for a moment, before it slid off her face. She didn’t want to be out here in the pavilion remembering old times with Charlie O’Reily. She should be checking with the sitter about Darcy.

“It was more work than I thought it would be,” Charlie said, sobering. “You were so focused, and sometimes, I think I could have helped more than I did.”

“You weren’t a bad worker, Charlie. I’d even say you were proficient, by the end of the summer.”

“In what regard,” he said, putting the bottle to his lips, a playful glint in his eyes.

Eva shook her head, wishing the memories would stay buried, but they wouldn’t. Working at Ice Cream Delight as an ice cream scooper was her first job. She was sixteen years old and had started the summer working with the shop owner, Keira. Two weeks in, Charlie joined the crew. Keira accepted Charlie to the shop as a favor for her sister’s husband, Charlie’s father. With someone capable like Eva to run things, after Keira trained Charlie on his duties, Keira cut down her hours to one day a week, leaving Eva and Charlie to run the store.

Charlie had not wanted to work since day one. He was rich and entitled, and had no intentions of working, until his father made him, as a form of punishment, for crashing his car. He languished, he complained, until he didn’t. Eva didn’t know if it was because he grew bored, or because he felt sorry for her, but he began to help her with the customers one day. They started talking after that. She talked about academics, and he joked about the customers and his family. He made her laugh, and he was her first crush. By the end of the summer, they had…

“Eva,” a women’s voice in the dark interrupted Eva’s thoughts.

“Polly?” Eva asked.

“I’ve been texting you,” Polly said as she approached, Darcy on her heels. “It took me a minute to find you, once we got here, but Darcy said you liked to be out here. So, here we are.”

Eva’s seven-year-old sister darted from Polly’s side and wrapped her arms around Eva’s leg in a brief hug. She held a doll in one hand, it had soft body covered by a dull pink dress, it’s arms and legs covered with dirt and fingerprints. The doll’s dusky blonde hair was a tangled mess, like Darcy’s.

“Sorry, I wasn’t looking at my phone.”

Polly glanced at Charlie, who had backed up a step, seeking to avoid being a part of the conversation. “I can see why.”

“I’m working, Polly. I told you I would be late,” Eva said, annoyed. Polly, a few years older than Eva, had said she would be free all evening to watch Darcy. She was one of three sitters Eva had in rotation.

Polly flicked her dark hair off her shoulders. “I’m sorry, but it’s getting late. And something’s come up.”

“You said you were free!”

“Well, the girls showed up. We’re going out for a girl’s night, and I figured you would be wrapping up here,” Polly smiled sheepishly.

“Get out of here, Polly,” Eva said, wrinkling her nose.

“See you, Darce,” Polly said, waving at Darcy, who hovered by Eva’s side. Polly waved at Charlie, a man she certainly did not know, and turned on her heel to leave.

Eva glanced down at Darcy and sighed. “You can be good, while I finished up here tonight? No yelling, or crying. Only the best behavior, right?”

Darcy nodded, her attention drifting to the falling rain. “It’s so pretty here,” Darcy said, drifting forward, reaching a hand out to catch raindrops.

Eva looked at Charlie, who remained, despite his family partying inside. “Are you avoiding the party?”

“My family can be a bit much.”

“But it’s a party,” Darcy pipped up. “Everyone should be dancing!”

Darcy started to dance with the fierce abandon that only a child can pull off, swinging her doll around, her face a mixture of concentration and joy.

Charlie laughed. “It is a good song,” he noted. He didn’t break out in a dance like Darcy, but he did begin to move his hips as he took another swig off his bottle.

Eva tried to keep her gaze focused on the middle distance, but her treacherous eyes slid towards Charlie and his swaying narrow hips. Her eyes dipped lower, admiring the way his pants really hugged his –

“Ash and I,”

“Excuse me?” Eva said, startled from her daze, looking down to where Darcy clung to her hand, her doll, Ash, clasped to her chest.

“Ash and I want to go in the rain,” Darcy said, with a sharp jilt of her chin. “We want to dance in the rain.”

“No. You should go sit inside.”

“I want to go in the rain! Mom would let me!”

“No, mom wouldn’t.”

“She would!” Darcy said, her eyes glowing with unshed tears. “Ash really wants to. She told me.”

Eva looked down at the ragged doll and figured Ash had seen enough hardships to last her the remainder of her inanimate lifetime.

“No, Darcy,” Eva said, using her best mom-like voice. She hated using that voice, and hated having to act like Darcy’s mother instead of just a big sister. But, what choice did she have?

“Eva,” Darcy said, starting to cry. “I’m letting Ash down.”

Darcy held the doll in both hands, her narrow shoulders shaking as she stared down into the doll’s glassy blue eyes. “She just wants to dance in the rain!” Darcy cried.

Before Eva could figure out something consoling to say, she stood frozen as Charlie crouched by Darcy’s side.

“What if I take Ash in the rain to dance?” He asked.

Eva tried to hide the shock from her face and failed.

“You’ll dance with Ash in the rain?” Darcy said in wonder, meeting Charlie’s eyes.

“It would be an honor,” Charlie said, smiling. “Allow me?”

Darcy studied him for a moment, then nodded, as if she saw what she wanted to see. She handed Charlie the doll. “Ash has always wanted to dance with a pretty boy.”

Eva couldn’t stop the bark that came from her mouth. She covered it, trying to find a neutral expression as Charlie looked at her with amusement. “I’m very much a man,” he said, while holding the doll under his arm.

He stepped into the pouring rain, and Darcy laughed with glee.

Before long, Darcy darted from Eva’s grip to follow Charlie. Eva followed, becoming simultaneously refreshed and annoyed.

“Mom would love this!” Darcy said, as she grabbed Charlie’s hand, swinging him about.

Charlie pulled away as Darcy took Ash from him. He swayed towards Eva.

“Where’s your mom?” Charlie asked.

“She died. It’s just me and Darcy.”

He sobered. “Is that why you didn’t go to school?”

She nodded.

He opened his mouth and she knew he would say he was sorry. She didn’t want pity.

“Don’t say anything. You have nothing to feel sorry for.”

“Dance with me then,” he said, extending a hand.

She looked at him through the rain, in the orange glow of the streetlight.

She took his hand.

The three of them danced. Eva forgot for a moment, who she was, and the responsibilities on her shoulders. She simply danced with a boy she may still like, and the sister she adored. And Ash, a doll who had endured too much to care if she became drenched in rain anymore.