Read Online That Camden Summer by Lavyrle Spencer - Free Book Online
Authors: Lavyrle Spencer
Tags: Fiction
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Might need you when I get to that."
"Just let me know when." C,Yup.11
They worked awhile before Seth asked, "So who's Elfred carrying on with these days?" Gabriel kept on sawing. "He didn't say."
"I feel sorry for that wife of his."
"What she doesn't know won't hurt her." "Listen to yourself, Gabe. The man makes a fool of her, and him with three daughters to boot. "
"You saying you never stepped out on Aurelia?"
"Y' damned right that's what I'm saying. We might have our little tiffs now and again, but I wouldn't do that to her." Seth worked a minute or so before asking5 "You aren't saying you stepped out on Caroline3 are you?"
r- A
"Good God, no. Not as 149 as she drew breath." f'.
"T6en how can you excuse it in a rounder like Spear?"
Gabriel dropped his tools, rubbed his eyes hard and sighed. He'd been unhappy with himself all .day long, and damned uncomfortable about what had happened up at the old Breckenridge house. "Hell, I don't know, Seth. I guess I'm in a state right now. I'm just so sick and tired of this living alone. "
"You're not living alone. You've got Isobel." Gabe stared at his brother in silence, then walked to the unfinished doorway and stared out at the rain. Caroline had never minded the rain like most people do. She had often worked right out in it.
"Yes, I know. I've got Isobel. And the older she gets, the more she reminds me of her mother."
Seth abandoned his work and crossed the shed to stand near his brother. He crooked a hand over Gabriel's shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "Comin' close to the time she died, is that it?"
"Ayup. Every year at this time it gets bad." The rain had drilled a trough below the edges of the new eaves. It made tiny explosions as it fell into the puddles there. Things smelled musky with renewal - the earth at Gabe's feet, the new-milled lumber above him. Out on the little lake known as the Lily Pond, frogs were singing as if they absolutely loved this weather. They were probably out there
A, 4Z
laying eggs. Robins were back and had nests built already. The other day, right outside their shop downtown, he'd watched a pair of mating loons doing a splendid, fluttering ballet on the surface of the water, like toe dancers. Spring
- heartless spring - it was always difficult to get through spring without Caroline.
"You want to know how bad it got today?" Seth dropped his hand from Gabe's shoulder and waited. Gabriel slipped his palms beneath his armpits and propped his weight against the unfinished door opening, continuing to stare out at the rain. "I ran into Elfred at the wharf, and this woman was with him - his sister-in-law, actually. Turns out she's divorced."
"Divorced! Aw, now, Gabe, you can do better than that! "
"Just let me finish. Turns out she's divorced and she's got three kids and she's moving into that mess that Sebastian Breckenridge left behind when he died. I heard that and I went hotfootin' it up there to see if she could use a carpenter." Gabe shook his head, a little abashed, now that he thought about it. "I mean, I was up there faster than a goose on a June bug. But she caught on to me-, and let me tell you, Seth, she put me in my place. It was embarrassing."
Seth whapped Gabriel on the shoulder and started to laugh.
"So that's why you're in this puckered-up mood."
With the toe of his boot Gabriel pushed a couple of wood chips off the new pine floor into
A A
the puddle outside. "Yeah . . ., I guess. Truth is, she made me feel like a jackass."
Seth went back to work. He hammered a diagonal onto the cross-buck door, then started searching opt a length of cedar for another. He found a lorg one-by-six, picked up one end and eyed its length. "So what's she like?" he inquired offhandedly.
Gabriel boosted off the door. "Hell, she's a mess." He came back inside and resumed work., too. "Clothes, hair, house - you name it, everything a mess. Even her kids. They look like a bunch of orphans."
"So what are you standing here fussing about her
"Just let me know when." C,Yup.11
They worked awhile before Seth asked, "So who's Elfred carrying on with these days?" Gabriel kept on sawing. "He didn't say."
"I feel sorry for that wife of his."
"What she doesn't know won't hurt her." "Listen to yourself, Gabe. The man makes a fool of her, and him with three daughters to boot. "
"You saying you never stepped out on Aurelia?"
"Y' damned right that's what I'm saying. We might have our little tiffs now and again, but I wouldn't do that to her." Seth worked a minute or so before asking5 "You aren't saying you stepped out on Caroline3 are you?"
r- A
"Good God, no. Not as 149 as she drew breath." f'.
"T6en how can you excuse it in a rounder like Spear?"
Gabriel dropped his tools, rubbed his eyes hard and sighed. He'd been unhappy with himself all .day long, and damned uncomfortable about what had happened up at the old Breckenridge house. "Hell, I don't know, Seth. I guess I'm in a state right now. I'm just so sick and tired of this living alone. "
"You're not living alone. You've got Isobel." Gabe stared at his brother in silence, then walked to the unfinished doorway and stared out at the rain. Caroline had never minded the rain like most people do. She had often worked right out in it.
"Yes, I know. I've got Isobel. And the older she gets, the more she reminds me of her mother."
Seth abandoned his work and crossed the shed to stand near his brother. He crooked a hand over Gabriel's shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "Comin' close to the time she died, is that it?"
"Ayup. Every year at this time it gets bad." The rain had drilled a trough below the edges of the new eaves. It made tiny explosions as it fell into the puddles there. Things smelled musky with renewal - the earth at Gabe's feet, the new-milled lumber above him. Out on the little lake known as the Lily Pond, frogs were singing as if they absolutely loved this weather. They were probably out there
A, 4Z
laying eggs. Robins were back and had nests built already. The other day, right outside their shop downtown, he'd watched a pair of mating loons doing a splendid, fluttering ballet on the surface of the water, like toe dancers. Spring
- heartless spring - it was always difficult to get through spring without Caroline.
"You want to know how bad it got today?" Seth dropped his hand from Gabe's shoulder and waited. Gabriel slipped his palms beneath his armpits and propped his weight against the unfinished door opening, continuing to stare out at the rain. "I ran into Elfred at the wharf, and this woman was with him - his sister-in-law, actually. Turns out she's divorced."
"Divorced! Aw, now, Gabe, you can do better than that! "
"Just let me finish. Turns out she's divorced and she's got three kids and she's moving into that mess that Sebastian Breckenridge left behind when he died. I heard that and I went hotfootin' it up there to see if she could use a carpenter." Gabe shook his head, a little abashed, now that he thought about it. "I mean, I was up there faster than a goose on a June bug. But she caught on to me-, and let me tell you, Seth, she put me in my place. It was embarrassing."
Seth whapped Gabriel on the shoulder and started to laugh.
"So that's why you're in this puckered-up mood."
With the toe of his boot Gabriel pushed a couple of wood chips off the new pine floor into
A A
the puddle outside. "Yeah . . ., I guess. Truth is, she made me feel like a jackass."
Seth went back to work. He hammered a diagonal onto the cross-buck door, then started searching opt a length of cedar for another. He found a lorg one-by-six, picked up one end and eyed its length. "So what's she like?" he inquired offhandedly.
Gabriel boosted off the door. "Hell, she's a mess." He came back inside and resumed work., too. "Clothes, hair, house - you name it, everything a mess. Even her kids. They look like a bunch of orphans."
"So what are you standing here fussing about her
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