The Summer Wind Read Online Free PDF Page A

otherwise.
    Following his familiar figure down the front hall toward the kitchen, Dora thought of the countless times he’d walked this path back into the kitchen when he returned home from work. He’d loosen his tie, drop his briefcase, give her a peck on the cheek, and turn to the fridge for a beer. Tonight he’d brought wine, she noticed. A drink she preferred. While Cal made himself at home opening the kitchen drawer for the bottle opener, Dora went to the fridge for the bag of green seedless grapes she had brought with her. While she rinsed the fruit at the sink, she watched Cal deftly turn the screw into the cork and remove it with a gentle pop.
    They carried the wine and grapes to the dining room, where they shoved aside the plastic tarp to sit at the table. Night was falling and shadows played on the walls. Dora turned on a few table lamps. Soft yellow light flowed across the floors, but the mood was hardly one of romance or even reconciliation. It was strangely awkward. She took a seat, thinking how odd it was to be sitting with a man she’d lived with for so many years and feel as if they were strangers.
    “The air-conditioning is out,” Cal said, stating the obvious.
    “Yes. I’ll give the repairman a call tomorrow.”
    “Let’s just pray the whole system doesn’t have to be replaced. It’s got to be over twenty years old now.” Cal didn’t need to say add it to the list , because they both knew the other was thinking the same thing. He leaned back against the chair and let his gaze wander the room. “Well, looks like the painters got started.”
    “No surprises. Yet.”
    “Good to see the roofers have gotten started, too.” When she nodded, he added, “You have to stay on top of them, hear?They’ll take forever if you let them, and we want the house to go on the market as soon as possible.”
    “Uh-huh.”
    “Then there’s the garden,” he continued. “The real estate agent was clear it needs attention. It’s completely overrun. I don’t know why you started that butterfly garden. It’s all weeds now.”
    “It was for Nate,” she replied, irked that he didn’t remember. “For his science lessons, remember?” Nate had been fascinated with the caterpillars. Monarchs, swallowtails, Gulf fritillaries—they’d brought them indoors and raised them, watching them go into chrysalis and later change into butterflies.
    Cal snorted derisively. “It was an expensive lesson. It’s a jungle out there now. You let the whole thing go.”
    “I don’t have any help here, Cal,” Dora said quietly.
    “The real estate agent said you’ll have to do something to make it look better. Whatever is cheap. Hire someone to just mow it back.”
    Dora clutched her glass and sipped her wine, saying nothing.
    “How’s Nate been handling the racket of all the repairmen?”
    She was glad he’d finally thought to inquire about their son. “He’s not here.”
    This caught Cal by surprise. “Where is he?”
    “Out at Sea Breeze with Mamaw. We’re staying there for the rest of the summer.”
    “The entire summer?” he asked, incredulous. “When did you decide this?”
    “Last month. I told you we were going.”
    “For your grandmother’s birthday. Not for the summer.”
    “Mamaw invited us”—she raised her fingers around the word“invited” to make quotation marks—“to stay for the whole summer. In fact,” she added with a short laugh, “Mamaw told us we had to stay the summer or we were out of the will.”
    Dora held back a smile at seeing his stunned expression, remembering the same looks on her sisters’ faces when Mamaw had dropped that bomb.
    “The old battle-ax,” Cal said. “That’s pretty high-handed, if you ask me. Even for her. How did she figure you could all just pack up and go away for the summer like you did as little girls? Your sisters have jobs, and you . . . you have responsibilities here, to this house. What about all that’s going on here?” He waved his