“I’m not going.” The last thing Muriel wanted was to spend the day pretending she wasn’t mad at her father.
“Of course you are,” Mother said in typical mother fashion. “We picnic with the Greens every year. Think how disappointed Olivia would be if you didn’t show up.”
“How about a truce for the day?” her father offered.
As if she was a child, pouting because she’d been denied a toy? “Daddy, you don’t get it. This isn’t some fad I’m going to get over. I’m in love. Stephen is the man I want to spend the rest of my life with.”
Her father set aside his coffee cup with a frown. “Muriel.”
“You haven’t even given him a chance. What would have happened to you and Mother if Grandpa hadn’t given you a chance? Did he like you at first? How well did he like you when he learned you wanted to marry Mother and move her over here?”
Her father held up a hand. “Okay, point taken. Now, can we enjoy our day?”
Muriel smiled at him. She’d battered down her father’s defenses and was well on her way to securing her future independence—a fitting victory for the Fourth of July.
But she’d just exited the kitchen when she heard a snippet of conversation that left her lurking around the corner, eavesdropping.
“That was good of you,” said Mother.
“Not really. I know Muriel thinks she and Galahad are going to be together, but the kid’s a drifter. He won’t stay beyond summer. There’s no sense arguing over something that isn’t going to happen.”
“I’m not so sure,” Mother said.
“I am,” Daddy said.
Her father was wrong. Stephen was here to stay and Daddy would simply have to accept that.
The two families met for their traditional picnic lunch by the river. Little Wendy stayed far away from the water. Mrs. Green made her famous fried chicken and Mother had picked up potato salad and cold cuts from Schwartz’s deli. The cooler was stocked with soda pop for the younger generation and beer for the dads. Mrs. Green’s chocolate cake finished off the meal and shortly thereafter everyone packed up and went to watch the parade.
It was in full swing when Muriel caught sight of Stephen across the crowded street. Tonight they’d meet at the river where they’d partied only a few weeks ago and watch while the town’s younger generation set the sky on fire shooting fireworks over the river. She could hardly wait to set off her own fireworks with Stephen when he kissed her. Her heart rate picked up, and she gave him a smile and a tiny wave. He nodded and waved back. Surely she was imagining that his answering smile failed to reach his eyes.
Darkness took its time coming, but at last the sun slipped behind the mountains. The whistle and boom of fireworks filled the night and the sky lit up with showers of colored sparks.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” she said to Stephen as they sat together on a log by the campfire Nils had built for the gang. “Not bad for a small town,” she teased.
“Not bad,” he agreed, then fell silent as he chewed on his lower lip.
“What is it?”
“Let’s take a walk.” He stood and held out a hand to her.
Foreboding settled on her heavily. This wasn’t a happy, romantic walk they were about to go on. She hesitated and he reached down, took her hand and gently towed her to her feet. Then he led her away from the fire.
Five
THEY WERE AWAY from the other people. They should have been about to kiss. Instead, Stephen drove his hands into his pants pockets.
“What’s wrong?” Muriel asked, not wanting to hear the answer. Something was wrong. She’d known it all evening. Heck, she’d known it since she saw him at the parade. Yes, he’d smiled at her, but it hadn’t been a lover’s smile.
“I’m leaving town.”
She blinked. Proof was mounting up but she refused to see it. “For how long? When will you be back?”
“I won’t. It’s time to move on.”
“Move on?” she repeated. “Why don’t you want to stay?”
He looked beyond the park, beyond the town, to the highway. “This isn’t working out.”
“What’s not working out?” she persisted. “Us?” He couldn’t mean them.
“Muriel, you know what I’m talking about. I saw the way your dad looked at me at the parade today.”
So while she’d been smiling encouragement, her father had been sending a very different message. And to think she’d made breakfast for him.
“He doesn’t approve of me. He’s never going to.”
“And so you’re leaving? Just like that? You’re not even going to stay and fight for me?”
“Look, it’s been great. You’re great. But I don’t want to be tied down,” Stephen said. “Life’s too short.”
“I wouldn’t tie you down,” she protested. “I’ll go anywhere you want to go.”
“Would you really, Muriel?”
“Of course!”
“Prove it. Get on my bike right now and ride out of town with me.”
“N-now?” she stammered. Without even saying goodbye? That didn’t make sense.
He shook his head. “That’s what I thought.”
“You thought wrong!”
He shook his head again. “No. I know you think you’d follow me anywhere. And maybe you would for a while, but you’d wind up wanting to come back here.”
She ground her teeth in frustration. “I want to be with you, Stephen.”
“This town is in your blood. It’s your life, the center of your world. You own a chocolate company for crying out loud.”
“I don’t own it. My father owns it.”
“You’ll run it. It’s your inheritance.”
She didn’t want an inheritance. She wanted Stephen.
“And a good one at that. You’re lucky, Muriel. You have a place where you belong, family and friends who love you. Don’t give that up on a whim.”
“Do you think all you are to me is a whim? I’ll be packed in half an hour.”
He closed his eyes. Then he kissed her. It wasn’t a kiss filled with promise. “Goodbye, Muriel,” he said and turned and started walking.
She chased after
