Page 2 of The Summer House

“Hey, Rick. Two things. John Samuel called again. He wants to know if you have a recommendation yet.”

Rick shoved the report into his out basket. “Tell him I have one, but he’s not going to like it.”

Clara, his secretary, winced. “Maybe I’ll wait until I know he’s in a meeting, then leave it on his voice mail.”

Rick grinned. “Chicken.”

“You bet. I hate being yelled at by members of the board. On the one hand they think you’re brilliant, on the other hand, they hate it when you stand up to them. And I’m always the one stuck leaving messages.”

“Then use e-mail.”

“I’ll think about it. Oh, I almost forgot. You have a phone call. Someone named Mandy Carter. You want me to put her through?”

Mandy? His first thought was that his caller was a different person with the same name. His second was concern that something had happened to his mother.

“I’ll take the call,” he said, and reached for the receiver.

“Benson,” he said sounding more curt than he’d meant to.

“Hi, Rick. It’s, ah, Mandy…um, Carter. Your ex-wife.”

She sounded nervous, not worried, which told him that she probablywasn’tcalling to tell him something was wrong. He relaxed back in his chair.

“I know who you are,” he said, surprised to find himself pleased to hear her voice. It had been a hell of a long time.

“Okay. I wasn’t sure.” She cleared her throat. “So, how are you?”

“Good. Busy. Yourself?”

“The same. Well, probably not as busy as you. I’m a teacher and I have a month more off before classes start again.”

“That’s right. Mom mentioned you’d gone into that. Special ed, wasn’t it?”

“Uh huh. I work with elementary-school-age kids. It’s rewarding but grueling. I’m glad for the break. A friend offered to let me stay in her family summer home in Carpinteria for the month. She’s joining me in a couple of weeks.”

“Sounds like fun.”

He knew that Mandy had lived in Los Angeles after their divorce. She’d finished her college education, then had gone on to get a master’s.

Which didn’t explain why she was calling after all these years.

“So here’s the thing,” she said as if she could read his mind. “I was wondering if you’d like to have lunch.”

Rick was now more surprised by her invitation than by her phone call.

“Why?” he asked before he could stop himself.

Mandy laughed. The sparkling sound did odd things to his concentration.

“It would make your mom happy. She made me promise to call. She thinks we have unfinished business together, which I think is crazy, but you know how she is when she gets an idea in her head.”

“She becomes the immovable object.”

“Exactly. So I figured it was easier to just say yes. Hence the invitation. Are you game?”

Up for lunch with Mandy? He could honestly say he hadn’t given her more than a moment’s thought in the past few years. But the idea of seeing her again, of talking with her, was strangely appealing.

He pushed a button on his Palm Pilot. “When?”

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