“ Who?”
“Brubaker,” Mitch said. For some reason, the old fellow had taken to calling him that.
“Oh, sure.” Winston grinned at him. “How are you, Brubaker?”
“Just fine, sir. And you?”
“Horny beyond belief. And I really have to take a piss.”
Luanne shook her finger at him. “Not in the water again, hear me?”
“Okay,” he grumbled. “But only because you’ve got great tits.”
Luanne sighed wistfully. “And to think there was a time when I would have sold my soul for just one night in the feathers with this man.”
“Don’t you get all earthy, too,” Lila said to her primly.
“You’re one to talk,” Luanne shot back. “Considering that wild fling you and he had.”
Lila reddened. “Winston and I did not have any fling, wild or otherwise. That was entirely Lorelei’s imagination.”
“Did you or did you not go to Scranton together for the weekend back in seventy-eight?”
“Strictly to look at a wardrobe cupboard that he wished to buy for her. Antiques have always been a passion of mine, as you know perfectly well. Winston wanted my advice. We stayed in separate rooms at the inn. Why, we never so much as… as…” Lila’s fine-boned face got all scrunched up. Then she ran from the bathroom, sobbing.
“I guess I have to stop teasing her,” Luanne murmured. “She’s getting so sensitive.”
“She’s always been sensitive,” Winston said. “And she had the loveliest titties I’ve ever seen. Milk white, with a birthmark right here under her left nipple.”
Luanne looked at him in alarm. Possibly, it was that specific mention of Lila’s birthmark. “He’s just spouting nonsense now, Mitch. He was always faithful to our Lorelei. Weren’t you, Winnie?”
“We spent that weekend in Scranton screwing our brains out,” he answered happily. “Hey, Brubaker, have you checked out those hot new babes next door? They stretch out by the swimming pool wearing next to nothing. And they’re colored girls.”
“You mean women of color,” Mitch said.
“You can see them through the trees if you get over next to that fence.”
“Winnie, I want you to leave those people alone. They have enough trouble with those awful reporters. Besides, we haven’t been introduced.”
“Sometimes they even get up and dance,” he prattled on. “Shake those butts of theirs. You don’t see butts like those on white girls. By God, I’d like to take a great, big bite out of-”
“Okay, we’re done here,” Luanne announced firmly. “Mitch?…”
Mitch grabbed Winston by one wet, slippery armpit while she reached across him for the other. They’d just managed to hoist the old fellow up onto his feet when Callie Kreutzer came bouncing past the open door on her way to the stairs.
Callie didn’t seem the least bit fazed by the sight of the naked old man standing there in the tub. “I’m off to the academy, Luanne!”
“Have a lovely day, dear,” Luanne responded sweetly.
“Don’t go running off again!” Winston called out as Callie started down the stairs. “I’ve got something huge here for you!”
“Winston, behave!” Luanne barked as she began to towel him off. “I can take it from here, Mitch. Thank you so much.”
By the time he’d made it outside Callie was getting ready to ride off on her bike, her art portfolio slung over one shoulder. She was quite a gifted painter. Her miniature still lifes were amazingly luminous.
“Callie, are you okay living here?”
“What do you mean by that?” Callie possessed a voice that was, well, nasal. She sounded a lot like a spacey high-school girl. Looked like one, too, for that matter. She was twenty but she could easily pass for sixteen. Barely five feet tall with long, straight blond hair, chubby chipmunk cheeks and big gray eyes. Mitch doubted she weighed over a hundred pounds. She hid her slender figure inside an oversized, paint-splattered T-shirt and baggy jeans.
“I mean that Winston is getting worse. Has he ever?…”
“Not to worry, Mitch. He’s totally harmless.”
“Plus it smells awful inside of that house. Maybe we should find you somewhere else to stay.”
“No way. I’m totally cool here. My room has an incredible view of the water. And the girls let me fling paint half the night out on their sun porch. I can put on an old bikini-or not-and just let it fly. Which, like, totally keeps me sane. Because once you walk in the door of the academy everything you do has to represent. I have a great set-up here, honest. Besides, when Winston’s lucid he’s really very insightful about my work. He was a marvelous draftsman. Um, okay, maybe sometimes I…” Callie hesitated, her lower lip clamped between her teeth. “I do get the feeling he’s, you know, watching me when I’m flinging paint. From outside the window, I mean. But that could just be my imagination. And, hey, if it makes him happy to stand out there eyeballing my tush, it’s no big. Besides, I have an open invite to crash with June on board the Calliope any time.”
Callie had been romantically involved with June Bond for a couple of months. Thanks to him, she’d landed a cushy part-time gig as the Bond Girl on those inane “Just ask Justy” commercials that ran day and night on local TV.
“Can I give you a lift to school? We can throw your bike in back.”
Callie shrugged her narrow shoulders. “Why not?”
He hoisted her bike into the back of the Studey and made room for her on the front seat. She got in next to him and Mitch eased the truck down the long, rutted gravel drive. He offered her a donut. Callie declined. He helped himself to one. “How’s June doing?”
“He’s fine,” she answered as Mitch inched out into the traffic snarl on Turkey Neck. “Except he doesn’t want to sell cars anymore. Never did, if you ask me. He’s just been trying to please his father. As if.”
“What does he really want to do?”
“Sail the Calliope down to the Florida Keys. His dream is to work on sailboats there full-time. Restore them and sell them for a profit. It’s something he’s real good at, Mitch. The Calliope was an absolute wreck when he bought her. Now she’s a thing of beauty. He… sort of wants me to sail down there with him,” Callie added with a casual toss of her hair.
“And when would you do that?”
“This weekend.”
Mitch shot a startled look at her. “That’s a bit sudden, isn’t it?”
“It’s totally sudden. He just dropped it on me last night. He really, really wants the two of us to get away from this place.”
“Are you saying he wants you to quit the Dorset Academy?”
“Yes.”
“Are you going to?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t decided.”
“I don’t get it, Callie. What’s the big rush?”
“Don’t ask me. He’s just real unhappy here.”
“Are things okay between June and his dad?”
“As okay as they ever are. Justy rides him awful hard.”
“And how about between you and Justy?”
She rolled her eyes. “Oh, puh-leese. Not you, too. Everyone figures that because I’m so sucky in those commercials that I must be doing him. Darlene, the last Bond girl? She totally was. I hear Bonita caught the two of them getting busy on the sofa in the customer lounge. An epic screechfest went down. Next thing anybody knew there was a sudden opening for a Bond girl.” Callie changed her mind and reached for a powdered donut, munching on it as they broke free of the traffic on Turkey Neck and started cruising up Old Shore Road toward the Historic District. “Justy gave me the job as a favor to June. He knows I really need the money to help cover my tuition. Although he still owes me like a thousand bucks from the last spots we filmed. Mitch, I swear he’s never put a move on me. Not that he’d ever get anywhere. I mean, God, he’s fifty-five years old. He smells like
