Skinny Dipping Season

Book 2: Truhart Novel

by Cynthia Tennent

Genres: Women's Fiction; Contemporary Romance; Romantic Comedy

Synopsis

One Summer Can Change Everything . . . Elizabeth Lively dresses conservatively, straightens her curly hair into submission, and works hard to uphold her political family’s reputation. Her therapist might call it “OCD,” but she’s just trying her best to live by the rules—until her carefully crafted world comes crashing down when she’s fired, painfully jilted, and arrested for a crime she didn’t commit. All she can think to do is flee to her grandmother’s lakeside house in tiny Truhart, Michigan, a town that’s as quirky as it is quaint . . . No stranger to second chances, Acting Sheriff JD Hardy isn’t pleased to have Elizabeth in Truhart for the summer.  A former city cop with a painful past, JD now runs a tight ship, and isn’t keen on a newcomer with a criminal past, even one as tempting as Elizabeth. Between  lazy summer days and lakeside evenings, reconnecting with old friends and making new ones, Elizabeth must decide what the future holds for her, and where her heart belongs. She will learn that sometimes you have to dip a toe in cautiously, and other times you just have to dive in . . .

Release date: April 12, 2016

Publisher: Lyrical Press

Print pages: 242

Sample

I loved everything about my grandmother’s house, including the creepy garden gnome who stood like a sentinel by the front door. Even though it had been years since I last saw him, he still leered at me with his one remaining eye and dared me to enter the cinder-block house in the middle of the woods. I carried the box I had so carefully color coded and marked as fragile past him on my way to the front door.

“You need to end this farce now.”

For a crazy moment I thought the gnome had spoken to me. But the comment came from my father, the Honorable Thomas Lively, who stood inside the doorway with his hands on his hips.

“Your mother says if we don’t get her out of here soon her migraine will start up again.” He removed his glasses and gazed at me with the same no-nonsense, flinty expression that had helped him win reelection to the U.S. Congress six times.

I didn’t have to turn around to know that a rigid figure sat in the front seat of the Lincoln Town Car. My mother hadn’t left the car since it had pulled between my Honda and a drainage ditch an hour ago. Some things never changed.

After I left a message with my parents telling them I was moving to Grandma’s vacant house in the north woods, my cell phone erupted with a stream of incoming calls. Mom and Dad thought the idea was ridiculous. I hadn’t expected them to drop everything and rush away from their vacation home in Harbor Springs with my little brother Elliot in tow. But here they were, not a half hour after I arrived.

Readjusting the weight in my arms, I stepped past my dad and tripped over a fake fern. I lost my grip and the box somersaulted across the room with a jarring crash. As a tightness spread across my chest, I had an irrational thought: If I never opened it, maybe nothing inside would be broken. I could just keep the packing tape on it and imagine that all the pieces were whole.

I shoved the box behind the fake fern and turned to my dad. “I’m not changing my mind.”

“I know the situation is bad, but people have short memories, Elizabeth. You don’t have to move here,” he said, running his palm across his thick gray hair. His eyes darted back and forth like they did when he was getting ready to outmaneuver a political opponent.

“Even the lawyers said I need to disappear for a while, Dad. You’re just lucky that you won’t have to resign because of me.” I hugged my arms across my middle and tried to avoid touching the nicotine-stained walls. “You agreed that I should get away before the national press targets me. And being here will give me the one thing I need: A quiet town where nobody knows me and nobody cares.”

My little brother Elliot stomped through the door, dumping one last box in the middle of the living-room floor. A cloud of dust rose from the dingy carpet and caught the day’s last rays of sunlight.

“This crap is heavy,” he muttered, lifting his black T-shirt and scratching his pale, hairless stomach as he looked around the stark room. “Jeee-sus. I can’t get over the fact that this place hasn’t changed since Grandma lived here. Shi—”

“Don’t talk like that, Elliot. And why are you helping her unload her car? We’re trying to convince her to come back with us.”

“She wants to stay. I would too if everyone in Ohio thought I was a bitch.”

Disappointment from my parents I was used to, but Elliot’s words knocked me off balance.

Like I had done a dozen times since March, I studied him for signs that he was hiding something. But he wasn’t looking at me as he continued to scratch his belly button. He was gazing up at a crack on the ceiling. “This place is a shit hole.”

“I said, watch your tongue young man,” Dad said as he started to sit down. He lost his footing and sank into the springless interior of Grandma’s orange plaid couch. He landed between the two couch cushions and they made a V from his weight. “What the hell—?”

Elliot snickered. “Watch your tongue, Congressman.”

My father reacted the way he always did when Elliot challenged him. He zeroed in on me. “Since your bank account has been wiped out and you have no job anymore, how are you going to get by?”

“I actually have some cash that wasn’t used to pay off legal fees.”

Dad’s face turned red with the effort of extricating himself from the couch. Elliot laughed out loud and I offered my hand, but he waved me away. When his feet were finally underneath him and he was free, Dad looked back at the couch and frowned. “Cracks in the walls, peeling paint. What a mess! No wonder we can’t find someone to buy this place. We should have bulldozed the house and sold the property.”

The horn of the Lincoln blared from the driveway. Dad ignored it and kept talking. “Listen, I know you don’t spend like your sister and mother, but even you would hate to go without your fancy haircuts and yoga classes. I doubt they have a Starbucks near the bait shop.”

“Maybe I’ll live like everyone else.”

Dad leaned down and scrutinized me as if I were still ten years old. “They don’t use hand sanitizer and three different kinds of soap around here. I’m not paying for more therapy.”

I took a suggestion from my psychotherapist and pictured his words rolling off me like water on wax. “I am staying, Dad.”

He disregarded me as usual. “I’ve been thinking and I don’t believe this is quite as drastic as we thought. I know a family in South Africa who needs an au pair. They owe me a favor or two and would be happy to take you in.”

That sounded just like my father. It was always about favors and money. “Are they serious? Besides the fact that I’m twenty-seven and too old, what kind of person would take on an au pair with a criminal record as a favor?”

“No, no, Elizabeth. They aren’t from Ohio. They would never even have to know about the incident. And remember, the lawyers have said that because it was a first-time offense, it was a misdemeanor. They used that logic to persuade the judge to let you keep your driver’s license. The probationary period is over, so whether you are out of state or out of the country, the incident is no longer an issue.”

The incident.

I hated how the family called it that. Sometimes I wished they would just come out with it: drug possession.

It was my first offense. Marijuana. In my father’s car. The same Lincoln Town Car that sat in the driveway. The one subsidized by the good people of Ohio.

I was innocent.

“It has been almost a full week since the local newspaper printed a story about you. Except for that one parasite, reporters have all but disappeared from my office and my staff only fielded one call from the media yesterday afternoon. Given the circumstances and my position, that is a very hopeful sign. I’ve even been advised by my public-relations staff that in another year or so my name might be at the top of a short list for the Energy and Commerce Committee.”

As my father rambled on about his political plans, my attention drifted out the window to the gnome in the front yard.

How old had I been when I bought my first gnome? Seven? Eight? My father was a newly elected state congressman from the 9th district back then. He and Mom were spending the summer meeting constituents and glad-handing donors. I had just been kicked out of summer camp for repeatedly ignoring the rules and feeding the raccoons that raided the trash bins each night. It was decided that I would stay with Grandma. On my first day in Truhart, Grandma took one look at my long face and declared that it was time that I started a collection like every self-respecting Michigander. She drove me to an antiques store on the edge of town and let me choose anything I wanted. It didn’t take long before I had planted myself in front of a cluster of strange little people frolicking on the shelf. I could have chosen the pretty lady figurines with billowing dresses and graceful white necks next to them. But the funny little gnomes enchanted me. I began my collection that summer.

Years later, my little sister, Alexa, and her friends snuck into my room and drew obscenely graphic pictures of body parts all over them with permanent markers. Mom told me I was silly to cry over my tacky collection and threw them in the trash.

Dad was now on to my least favorite subject. “—things with Colin can be worked out. The pressure of all the publicity surrounding your arrest and the media frenzy in Ohio after that was really hard on him. But he is a reasonable man, and once he sees that the fury has settled down he’ll be ready to take you back.”

Take me back? Everyone assumed we broke up because of my arrest. If Dad knew the truth, he would stop bothering me about Colin. Alexa didn’t deserve my protection. The only reason I had never told anyone that I caught my sister in bed with my boyfriend was that by the time I had recovered from the shock of my arrest, I realized that the family didn’t need another “incident” to deal with. It wouldn’t have helped my case. And as Colin pointed out, it would probably have just given a judge more reason to think I was using drugs to escape my problems.

“You and Colin can work out a long-distance relationship, but it is more likely he would want to visit you overseas or on the east coast rather than Truhart. You and Elliot were the only ones who could ever stand it here.”

“I know you hate Truhart, but this is the perfect place for me right now, Dad.”

“I’ll admit you have to get away from the public eye. But you don’t have to do anything this drastic. You’ll hate it.”

“Grandma lived here and she loved it.”

“You just proved my point.” A bitter grunt escaped his lips. “You won’t last a week!”

I hated it when he talked that way. I didn’t stand up to him very often, but being in this house gave me courage. I stepped in front of him and steadied my voice. “Try me!”

Dad straightened and raised his eyebrows. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought I saw respect reflected in his blue eyes. But I must have been mistaken. That was something Dad saved for campaign donors.

I didn’t have long to savor my triumph. Dad turned toward the door and shrugged his shoulders. “At least come say good-bye to your mother.”

Following him outside, with Elliot trailing behind me, I picked up an overturned plastic chair on my way to the Town Car. The gravel driveway bit into the thin soles of my shoes and combined with the sharp sting of the cool air to clear the numbness that had set in.

I smoothed my hair behind my ears and straightened my sweatshirt as I paused beside the passenger door and waited for my mother to roll down the window. When nothing happened, I opened the car door to reach her rigid cheek.

“I’m sorry you came all this way for nothing, Mom. I’ll call you to let you know how I’m doing.”

My mother, once known in Truhart as Becky Blodget—but now referred to only as Mrs. Thomas Lively—barely shifted as my lips touched her icy skin. I could smell the familiar odor of alcohol on her breath.

“I’m trying to ignore the irony that you are ending up in the very place I spent my life trying to escape,” Mom said. Her sunglasses were slightly askew on her face and her dark lipstick was crusting on her lower lip. Other than that, she was perfect.

“Grandma liked it here.”

“Ask your father to get my medication out of the trunk.”

I looked down at the travel mug cradled in her hand. At least Grandma had never been afraid to leave her alcohol at home.

Dad opened the driver’s door and leaned in. “Your medication is right here,” he said, handing her a small container. “Do you want to come in and get a glass of water before we hit the road, Rebecca?”

“I’d rather buy water at the gas station than set foot in there.”

Elliot snorted. “God, Mom, you need therapy.”

“In the car!” Dad ordered.

Elliot ignored him and walked over to me. He stood with his hands in his jeans, caught somewhere between boyhood and manhood, trying to look like he didn’t care about good-byes. Where was the little boy I used to make Mickey Mouse pancakes with? His shaggy hair hid the beautiful blue eyes and long lashes that made him look girlish when he was young. I missed his blond locks that curled ever so slightly when they were short and clean.

My father started the car and the headlights flashed on, illuminating the peeling paint on the front door of the little house. For a moment a band of panic tightened in my chest.

“Stay out of trouble, Elliot,” I said, reaching out for him.

He stepped backwards. “Me? Mom and Dad wouldn’t have overreacted about my grades and I wouldn’t have to go to summer school if you hadn’t screwed up like you did. Thanks to you, my whole summer is going to suck!”

I smoothed a strand of hair that caught the evening breeze.

“Elliot, just try to be good and make Dad happy.”

“That will never happen. You of all people should know that.”

He was right, of course. Instead of arguing, I pulled him into an embrace despite his resistance.

“I love you,” I said.

He said nothing, but I felt the touch of his hands on my back and swallowed past the boulder in my throat. Elliot ducked his head out of my arms and yanked open the back door of the sedan. He folded his gangly form inside and slammed the door.

I walked around to the driver’s side as my father rolled down his window. “I’d tell you to come back to the condo in Harbor Springs with us and get a job there this summer, but I guess that would be expecting too much.”

“I’m sorry I’m such a disappointment.” How many times had I said that in the past few weeks? He avoided my eyes and shifted the car into reverse. I stood next to the gnome with my fists balled at my sides, my fingernails cutting into my palms.

At the end of the gravel drive, the car paused and Dad rolled down his window. “Clean this dump up while you’re doing nothing, will you? Maybe then we can finally sell it.” The tires spun on the gravel and kicked up a murky cloud of dust.

I stood for a long time, watching the tail lights fade to nothing.

The sting of the soap on my cracked fingers made me pause. My clothes were folded and put away. The refrigerator was sanitized. Even the crusty chrome on the bathroom faucet sparkled. I had lost track of how long I had been standing at the sink, scrubbing away something that wasn’t there. Biting my lip, I stuck my hands under the scalding water and watched the suds run down the drain. Then, with monumental effort, I stepped back.

Stop.

Hadn’t I been standing right here when I first realized there was something was wrong with me?

Several years of therapy taught me that there were certain triggers that made me worse. A lecture from my mother. A bad grade in school. Or a confrontation with my family . . . thus, the cracked skin on my fingers.

My therapist always warned me about relapses. Over the years, I learned to catch myself before my behavior spiraled out of control. I was a little late this time. But at least I caught myself.

Taking a deep breath, I grasped the faucet with both hands and turned it off. I grabbed a towel from the perfectly folded stack I had placed above the sink and patted both hands dry, careful not to abrade my chafed skin any further. It stung, and the pain actually felt good.

That was bad.

When pain felt good, I was in trouble.

I reached for my purse and took out my therapy journal and a pen. There were things I had already marked today. I had pumped gas and bought groceries at the gas station and had not washed my hands right away. And I was wearing a frayed sweatshirt and jeans with a hole at the knee.

Everyone with OCD had different issues. For me, there were three main things I needed to do every day: Avoid washing my hands excessively, expose myself to foods that triggered my contamination fears, and the biggie—allow myself to be imperfect.

Besides practicing relaxation techniques, forcing myself to break obsessive habits was an effective treatment for the “little” OCD problem that had plagued me for the past thirteen years. I had promised my therapist I would keep up my homework by journaling daily steps I was taking to overcome my obsessions.

Grandma’s old radio was propped up on the ledge that separated the tiny dining area and the kitchen. I turned the low-tech knob until I heard the beat of a pop radio station I would never have played at home.

Reaching into the grocery bag, I pulled out a couple of impulse purchases I’d made at the gas station mini-mart that morning. I was ready to add a few unofficial items to my journal.

Cigarettes and cheap wine.

For months, I had stayed silent as the Ohio media had skewered my reputation. A picture someone took on their cell phone of me handcuffed had made a great front-page newspaper photo. The articles that went with the picture were even worse. I was a spoiled party girl. My job had been handed to me on a silver platter. I didn’t respect the average taxpayer. As a congressman’s daughter, I was supposed to be an example.

When I had told my therapist I was moving to my grandmother’s house this summer, she thought it might be good for me. She said it was possible I was experiencing a late-phase teenage rebellion I had been repressing for years. I joked with her that if that was the case, I should sleep with a few lumberjacks while I was at it. She raised her eyebrows and said it wasn’t a bad idea. Too bad the logging industry in Michigan was dead.

I pulled the wrapper off the cigarettes. My recently turned ex-boyfriend, Colin, hated cigarettes. Everyone thought it was just his reaction to the fact that they caused cancer and smelled bad. But it was more than that. Colin actually hated people who smoked. He once fired an employee just for smoking on the sidewalk outside his office building. He didn’t even know the employee’s name.

I turned the wine bottle around and examined the price sticker. $3.99. It would have horrified Colin. He boasted that he could taste the difference between a grand cru and a premier cru without even looking at the label.

What had he said to me the night of my arrest? “I don’t want to be tainted by your actions.”

“Screw Colin!” I said out loud. Ha! Well, evidently my little sister already had. Not for the first time, I wondered if she had enjoyed it any more than I had. But that was a worry for another day.

I wasn’t the kind of girl who swore.

Or the kind of girl who smoked and drank.

In fact, my life could be taken straight from the pages of Emily Post. I knew which fork to use for shellfish, how to address heads of state, and often wrote thank-you notes for thank-you notes. I straightened my unruly hair each morning, applied only the most subtle pink lip gloss, and my idea of casual was a pair of perfectly creased dark jeans.

But that was going to change. Tonight called for a massive gesture.

Feeling brave and impulsive, I reached for my pen and added one more unofficial thing to the to-do list at the back of my journal.

Take a big risk. I didn’t know what that would be, but I was looking forward to finding out.

I pushed the journal away and unscrewed the bottle cap. What was the routine my father and Colin always went through when they opened a bottle of fine wine at dinner parties? Swirl. Sniff. And sip.

I turned the bottle in a circular motion, ignoring the amber fluid that spilled over the top.

Then I held it to my nose and took a whiff. It smelled like hand sanitizer.

I closed my eyes, blocking out the sight of the grimy bottle and raised it to my lips. Forcing the liquid past my tongue, I took an unladylike gulp.

The tannins and sugars attacked my palette and went up my nostrils, making me gasp.

Then the aftertaste . . . vinegar with a hint of Kool-Aid.

I belched unexpectedly. The sound filled the room and echoed off the walls. Almost as loud as one of Elliot’s burps. A feeling of pride made me smile.

I took another sip. And another.

The last few weeks had been a living hell. But now I was in the middle of nowhere. Not a single soul could bother me. Wiping the wine dribble from my lower lip, I moved into the living room. My insides were warming up and I let my hips sway. I reached for the knob on the radio and turned up the volume. Taking my bottle with me, I went in search of matches.

I lost track of time. A happy glow was spreading upwards through my chest. I caught the beat of the music and twirled around and around, dancing from the kitchen to the living room.

Before I knew it, the bottle was almost empty and the butts of two cigarettes rested in a piece of foil I had turned into an ashtray. Everything was spinning and the room around me was bathed in a fuzzy radiance. A rap song played on the radio, and even though I had absolutely no idea what the words were, I danced to the beat with a passion that Colin, my ex, would say I had never been able to exhibit in bed.

I held my cigarette up, ready to attempt my first twerk, when I heard a loud pounding at the window. I froze with my bottom sticking straight out.

A beam of light distorted an image on the other side of the pane, making it look like a monster. Suddenly, the fact that I was alone in the middle of the woods wasn’t such a great thing.

I opened my mouth to scream. But it was like a bad horror movie. Nothing came out. A hand pounded on the window again, almost shattering it.

I lowered everything—the bottle, the cigarette, and the ridiculous pose I had been attempting—and finally found my vocal cords. My bloodcurdling scream cut through the bass of the music and gave me the energy to move. I set down the bottle and smashed the butt of the cigarette into the foil wrapper. I tried to remember where my phone was.

Bumping into the ledge of the table, I almost lost my footing. My cell phone was on the counter where I had left it earlier. I grabbed it, praying that there was some sort of cellular service up here.

The pounding increased. Making a split-second decision and hoping I wasn’t being rash, I dialed 911, and reached for the volume on the radio. I heard the bored-sounding voice of a woman on the other end. I didn’t even let her finish her introductory message. “I think someone is trying to break in!”

There was a pause. “Can you tell me the address?”

What was the address? I didn’t even know that. I knew how to get here. Where to turn at the fork in the road where the Fire Danger sign stood. But I had little else.

“It’s my grandmother’s house. Doris Blodget. She used to live here. Crooked Road.” From the other room I heard the footsteps on the back porch. No one knew I was here. The house had been empty for years.

“Hurry.”

“Ma’am, you need to stay calm.”

Were these the fatal last words that every murder victim was forced to hear?

“Easy for you to say.” I cradled the phone in my neck and started to open drawers, looking for a we. . .