SC-Epilogue, Part 4c

Jul 1996

✧ ✧ ✧

Carter and I returned from town and parked next to a car that hadn’t been there when we’d left. It was a nondescript Chevy with North Carolina tags, obviously a rental.

“No clue,” I said to his silent question.

“We’ll find out soon enough.”

He opened the trunk of the Mercedes, and we loaded up with bags of groceries. We nearly ran into Brooke when we rounded the corner. She was fully dressed, although she wasn’t wearing a bra under her tight-fitting top.

“Oh, hi!”

“Hey, you made it,” I said. “I didn’t think you were supposed to be here till tomorrow.”

“We changed our flight and left early. My deputy can handle all the tests. Besides, I have a modem on my laptop, so I can use dial-up and check the progress if I need to.”

“Seriously?” I said. “It’s that big of a deal?”

She nodded. “FDA Phase II clinical trials. We can’t afford any problems at this point.”

“Well… good luck.”

“Thanks.” She glanced at Carter, and sexual tension sparked between them.

“Okay,” I chuckled. “I suppose I should introduce you. Brooke, this is Carter. Carter, Brooke.”

She went to shake his hand and realized we were holding bags full of groceries.

“You want some help?”

“Sure,” I said. “Then we need to get you out of those clothes.”

She rolled her eyes but turned pink with pleasure.

“Wait, I have a better idea. Get you out of those clothes and then unload the groceries.”

Her copper eyebrows rose when I looked at her expectantly.

“I’m serious,” I said. “I mean, it’s a nudist camp.”

“Right,” Carter agreed. “You’re supposed to be nude.”

“Uh-huh,” she said dubiously. Still, she crossed her arms, grasped the hem of her top, and pulled it over her head. Her breasts swung free, and I felt Carter rock back with awe. I didn’t see him do it, of course, because I was looking at Brooke’s chest.

She was still one of the most beautiful women I’d ever met. Some kind of cosmic alignment had given her a model’s good looks and a brain to match. Playboy had even tried to recruit her for a Career Girls edition a few years earlier. She’d turned them down, but not before she’d done a test shoot with one of their photographers.

Her breasts were big enough that they’d sagged over the years, but they still would’ve looked fine in Playboy. Besides, Carter didn’t know any better, and I wasn’t about to complain.

“Hello?” she said with a laugh. “My eyes are up here.”

“Sorry,” I teased, “what did you say?”

“Oh, boy. So… it’s going to be like that, is it?”

“Yeah, probably,” I chuckled. Then I frowned and looked around. “Hold on, where’s Nate?”

“He’s in the room, getting things put away.”

“Things?” My grin turned suggestive. “Toy things?”

“Do you want help with the groceries or not?”

✧ ✧ ✧

We went to the main camp after dinner to fetch the kids. Kara’s daughters were going to spend the night with her parents, but ours were too young. Besides, my own parents looked like they needed a break.

“I’d forgotten how much work it is,” Mom said.

“Welcome to my world,” I chuckled.

Her expression reminded me that it had been her world too, for nearly twenty years.

“Um… yeah,” I said, a bit sheepishly.

“Come on, kids,” Wren called to them. “Everyone help clean up.”

After fifteen minutes of cajoling and chaos, we finally managed to find all the toys, towels, flip-flops, sunglasses, and more. Then my kids began their extended goodbyes. They were stalling because they didn’t want to leave, although I didn’t have the heart to rush them.

The clubhouse door swung closed behind us, and I turned to look. Doug waved as he and Olivia walked toward us. He hadn’t changed much in the five or six years since I’d seen him last, but I felt a moment of déjà vu when I glanced at her.

She looked almost exactly like Susan had when I was a teenager. Her body was slightly different, and her hairstyle definitely was, but the resemblance was close enough that the little head immediately started making plans.

Down boy, I told him firmly. She isn’t Susan.

But…? But…?

She isn’t a widow, isn’t lonely, and hasn’t known me since I was a boy.

So?

I sighed and did my best to ignore him. Fortunately, we had a longstanding agreement about who was in charge. Sometimes he even abided by it.

Doug and I exchanged greetings.

“I’m glad we caught you,” he added. “We’re headed up to the Retreat.”

“Just you two?”

“Yeah. The boys’re gonna stay with my mom for a few days. Can we help carry anything?” He already had a canvas bag over his shoulder, but he gestured at the ones beside me.

“Do you mind?”

“Not at all.” He grabbed the closest one, while Olivia shouldered Susie’s diaper bag.

“Okay, girls,” I said to mine, “one last hug and kiss and then say goodnight to Grandma and Grandpa.”

Dad didn’t know the meaning of restraint, especially when it came to his granddaughters. He spoiled them worse than Mom did, although she was no slouch.

“It’s our job,” she’d said to me once. “We spoil them and send them home. Then it’s your problem.”

I couldn’t disagree. My own grandparents had done the same thing.

We finally said goodnight and headed out a few minutes later. The walk from the clubhouse up the hill was strangely quiet. Our kids were all tired from a long day of swimming and sun, so they weren’t making their usual racket, but no one else was either. None of the other campers had kids.

“Mom told me,” Doug said as he looked around, “but it’s different in person.”

“No kidding.”

We reached the trail to the Retreat. After years of use, it was wide enough that two people could walk abreast. The camp manager used a golf cart to get around, and she kept the trail well-maintained, like everything else.

Leah, Wren, and Olivia led the way, with the kids in the middle. I hung back with Doug. He knew about my life and family from his mother, and I’d heard updates about his for years, but we chatted and caught up anyway.

He was an executive for a big computer company in Austin, Texas, and Olivia was a stay-at-home mom. They and their two sons (Fraser and Cole) lived a typical upper-middle class life. Doug tinkered with computers and made little robots on the weekend, Olivia liked to bake and garden, and the boys played video games with their friends. In other words, suburban bliss.

When we reached the end of the trail, Davis and the older girls found a reserve of energy. They shouted and ran ahead, and Wren jogged to keep an eye on them. Susie was sound asleep on my shoulder and didn’t even stir. Leah was carrying McKenna, who raised her head and looked around. After a moment she decided she’d had enough fun for one day. She heaved a tired sigh and flopped onto Leah’s shoulder again.

Doug chuckled. “They’re fun when they’re that age.”

“They are,” I agreed. “A lot of work…”

“But worth it,” he finished.

Leah and Olivia drifted back to walk with us as the trail widened into the clearing.

“Is now a good time to discuss the rules?” Doug asked.

“Sure,” I said. “The common areas are PG-13, especially if the kids’re around.”

“Good,” he agreed.

“If it’s just adults, fooling around and flirting are fine, even a little fondling.” I smiled to myself at the alliteration. Leah noticed and knew me well enough to figure it out. She sighed. Fondly, even. “Sorry,” I said aloud, “I can’t help it.”

Doug and Olivia didn’t get it, but they knew an intimate relationship when they saw one.

“Anyway, where was I?” I said. “Right, the rules. Flirting is fine in the common areas, but save the action for the privacy of a bungalow, yours or one of the empty ones. We have linens and towels in them too.”

He nodded.

“Number five is couples only,” I went on. “Twelve is for groups, anything goes. With the usual permission, of course.”

“Of course,” he agreed.

“We moved the living room furniture to the clubhouse and covered the floor with air mattresses, so it’s really one big bed.”

“Sounds fun. What about tests?” he asked. “We’re both tan, but since this isn’t our normal group…?”

My brow furrowed. Tan? Of course he was tan, he was a nudist. Then it hit me.

“Oh, TAN! Sorry. I thought you meant the skin tone.”

“We love him,” Leah said, “but his mind doesn’t work the way a normal person’s does.” She arched an eyebrow in my direction. “Got it now?”

“Yeah, sorry,” I repeated. “TAN, Tested AIDS Negative.”

“We are too,” Leah said. “We use the lab from Kara’s practice, and we’ve all been screened.”

“Us too,” I agreed, “before we left Boston. We have the results if—”

“No need,” Doug said. “We all know each other. The honor system’s fine, as long as everyone’s been tested recently.”

“We have.”

“Birth control?” Olivia asked. “Doug’s had a vasectomy, and I’ve had my tubes tied.”

“Christy hasn’t,” I said, “but she doesn’t have sex with anyone else. I’ve had a vasectomy.”

“Mark and Victor too,” Leah added. “Kara and I are both… um… normal? Fertile? ‘Unfixed’ sounds like we’re broken.”

We filled in the blanks on everyone else. All the couples except Erin, Tom, Brooke, and Nate had some form of birth control, but we still needed to pay attention.

“Sorry it’s such a mix,” I said.

“It usually is,” Doug said, “which is why we ask.”

“When in doubt, pull it out,” I quipped, which earned a grin from Leah.

“It’s a good thing we all like swallowing,” she said.

Olivia smiled and sent me a sideways glance that made the little head start planning again.

Doug chuckled in agreement before he turned serious. “I figure we all have the same rules otherwise. We’re all second- or third-generation.”

We slowed to a stop at the inner ring of bungalows. On the other side of the pool, my girls were telling Christy about their day, and Trip’s were doing the same with him.

“Speaking of the next generation,” I said.

Doug sighed agreement. “This is maybe our last chance to do something like this.”

“Mmm,” I agreed, “the end of an era.”

✧ ✧ ✧

Leah, Wren, and I took the kids down to the main camp and left them with our parents after breakfast. We didn’t hang around for long, even though a part of me wanted to invite Gina and John to join us at the Retreat. Unfortunately, I knew better.

Gina hadn’t been a swinger for years, and John wasn’t even comfortable as a nudist in the first place. I couldn’t imagine him in a threesome, much less the middle of an orgy. So we returned to the Retreat by ourselves, although we chatted about who’d been flirting with whom.

“Trip, of course,” Wren said. Then she rolled her eyes. “He wants to have sex with every woman at least once. Well, everyone but Christy, although he thinks he might have a chance, even with her.”

“He doesn’t,” Leah said before I could.

“Try telling him that,” Wren laughed. Then she shot me a look. “And you… You’re almost as bad.”

“What!”

“I saw the way you looked at Olivia last night.”

“Oh, that,” I laughed. “Well, can you blame me?”

“No, not really. And… I have to admit, I’m a little curious myself.”

“Oh?”

“You know what I mean. She looks exactly like Susan.”

“She does,” Leah agreed.

“I thought it was a little weird at first,” Wren continued, “but you know what they say—men marry their mothers.”

“Or something,” Leah said under her breath, so only I could hear.

Not now, I warned her with a glance.

Yes, sir. She added a flirty little smirk, in case I thought she was serious.

“Anyway,” Wren continued to me, “I might join you if you get together with them.”

“Who? Doug and Olivia?”

“Who else? She asked about you.”

Leah nodded confirmation.

“Seriously?” I said.

“Yeah, she wanted to know about you and Christy,” Wren said, “whether she needed to talk to her first.”

“What’d you tell her? Never mind,” I said immediately.

“Not so slow after all,” she teased. Then she looked across me and asked Leah, “What about you? Who’re you thinking about?”

“Do you really need to ask?”

“Seriously? I didn’t think you cared about size,” Wren said.

“Oh, I don’t. But it’s my job to investigate.”

“That’s a lot of investigation,” Wren laughed.

“Mmm, I know.”

Wren rolled her eyes at Leah’s enthusiasm. “I don’t know who’s worse, you or Christy.”

“I think it’s a tie,” I said dryly.

“Well, you’d know. Anyway, speaking of Christy…?”

“I think she and Mark have a date.” I glanced at Leah to confirm, and she nodded.

“What about Brooke?” Wren asked. Then she huffed. “God! Will she get married and have kids already!”

“Why?” I laughed.

“So she doesn’t look like a fucking Playmate!”

“Oh, relax,” I said. “You’re as pretty as she is.”

“Yeah,” Wren muttered, “if you like sagging and stretch marks.”

“I’ll prove it if you want.”

“How?”

“Let’s see if Doug and Olivia want to get together.”

“You mean it?”

“Of course.”

✧ ✧ ✧

We relaxed by the pool after lunch, although couples occasionally drifted away for private fun. Kara, Victor, and Jason started fooling around, and Sydney and Woody joined in. Before long they went off to the group bungalow together. Stacy stayed behind.

“Not in the mood?” I asked.

“Hmm? Oh, I might join them later.”

I hadn’t felt any kind of connection with her since they’d arrived. We’d known each other intimately at one point, but we’d both changed since then. She wasn’t a lost and insecure young woman anymore, and I wasn’t a shy and pudgy teenager. I didn’t feel any hostility from her, but I didn’t feel any attraction either. I almost laughed when I realized we were like siblings more than lovers.

“So much has changed,” I said obliquely.

“I know what you mean. It’s like we both stepped into a time warp. I still have to remind myself that you’re a grown-up. You’re a kid in my head. Okay, maybe not a kid, but you know. I have a son who isn’t much younger than you were when we first met. That’s wild.”

“No kidding,” I agreed. “Time flies.”

“At least you still look like you. Town is…” She gestured futilely. “I barely recognized it. Did you see where they tore down the Winn-Dixie?”

“Uh-huh. And replaced it with a strip mall.”

“I know!” she laughed.

“Hey, every small town needs a Blockbuster, a GNC, and a Chinese restaurant.”

“Add a dry cleaner and you have everything you need,” she joked.

We fell silent for a moment before she looked around and sighed.

“It’s a shame about the camp, too.”

“Mmm.”

“She’s been worried about it for a couple of years,” she added, “but I think the numbers finally forced her hand.”

“What do you think she should do?”

“From a business standpoint?” Stacy shrugged. “You have to change with the times.”

“But from a personal one?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I was never that attached to this place. Not like you. I like it okay, but I don’t have a lot of fond memories from those days.”

“You do about Susan.”

“True. She’s been like a mother. Better than my real one ever was.”

I didn’t know much about Stacy’s family—more evidence of a disconnect—but I did know that her mother had died about five years earlier. Stacy hadn’t even known until the state contacted her and asked what she wanted to do with the body. She sighed again and drew me back to the present.

“I guess I want her to be happy, whatever she decides,” she said. “I see both sides of the argument. She’s sentimental about the camp but she’s also a businesswoman. She’s lucky, though.”

“How so?”

“She can afford to be sentimental. This place is maybe one percent of her business revenue, so it doesn’t really matter. Besides, everything she owns is privately held. She’s the only one who cares about the P&L. She doesn’t have to justify her decisions to a board or investors or anyone else.”

“That’s a nice position to be in,” I agreed.

“She’s earned it.”

“She has.”

✧ ✧ ✧

I pulled the door closed behind me and crossed to the occupied table. The patio and pool were deserted otherwise, which seemed odd. Then again, bedtime had taken almost an hour.

I bent and gave Christy a kiss.

“Any problems?” she asked.

“No.”

“What was the story tonight?”

“They’re moving to a new castle.”

“Ah. Of course.”

Carter poured me a glass of white wine. The kitchen had a full set of acrylic ones now, for use around the pool. He emptied the bottle and set it beside another on the table next to us. I didn’t see a full bottle, but I knew Carter, so he probably had it chilling in the clubhouse.

“What’s this about a new castle?” he asked.

“Princess time.” I sank into a chair and took a long drink. “Oh, wow, that’s good. What is it?”

“Orange muscat.”

It looked like a normal white wine, but he was right about the orange part. I took a smaller sip and raised the glass in thanks. Then I continued with my train of thought.

“Bedtime stories.”

“Technically, a single story,” Brooke corrected, and Christy nodded. “How long’ve you been telling it?”

“Since Emily was born,” I said. “So, four years.”

Carter’s blond eyebrows twitched with disbelief. “That long? The same story?”

“Yeah. The princesses go on adventures and solve problems. They make friends and learn things along the way.”

“Ah, right. It sounds like an allegory, life lessons.”

“More or less,” I agreed. “I want the girls to be decent human beings.”

“Hear, hear.”

“Anyway…” I looked around. “Where is everyone?”

“Where do you think?”

“Right. Off getting laid. Why aren’t we doing the same?”

“We were waiting for you.”

Nate had been silent to that point, but he took a sip of wine and gestured toward me with his glass.

“Gotcha,” I said. And since no one was around to overhear, I didn’t need to choose my words carefully. “So, what’s the plan? The usual? Paddles? Nipple clamps? A vibrator?”

“I’m getting predictable,” Carter chuckled. “No, I think we’ll try something new, especially since there are two of us.” He inclined his head to Nate, who nodded in reply. “It’s a surprise, my dear,” he added to Christy.

She practically vibrated with excitement.

“And what about me?” I wondered aloud. “Do I need to keep Brooke and Kim occupied? All by myself?”

Kim lowered her eyes, and her breathing quickened in anticipation. Brooke looked to Nate.

“I’ll help,” he said to me. “I’ll tie her up. Then you can have your way with her while I drift back and forth.”

I grinned and drawled, “Please, Br’er Fox, don’ fling me in that briar patch.”

“Right!” Carter laughed. Then he asked Kim, “Are you ready, hon?”

Nate touched Brooke’s hand, and she flushed with anticipation.

“All right, then,” I said. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

✧ ✧ ✧

The picnic turned into a proper Fourth of July party, albeit a smaller one than in the days of my youth. The kids finished eating long before the rest of us, probably because they weren’t drinking. At least they entertained themselves with a raucous game of hide-and-seek.

The rest of us ate and drank and reminisced about summers past. The sun slowly bent toward the horizon, and a citrus glow crept into the sky from the west. The warm, heavy air buzzed with the sounds of the rural south.

Other people gathered on the grass as twilight settled over the camp. I recognized a few, but not many. Gunny was long gone, and his widow had moved away. Dwight and Karen were missing as well. So were Stan and Terri. They’d been yearly fixtures for as long as I could remember, but they must have moved on with their lives. The same with Kendall’s family, Manfred’s, and too many others to mention.

I was still thinking about it when Susan stood and moved to the center of the lawn. The crowd was small enough that we fell silent with only a little prompting.

“Thank you all for coming,” she began. “It’s almost dark, so I’ll keep this short. As most of you know, the camp has been in a slow decline for a while. Those of you who’ve been coming for years know what I mean. This used to be the biggest week of the year, with hundreds of visitors.”

I flashed back to magic shows, movie nights, games, contests, and more.

“We still have the fireworks,” she continued, “but not as many of those, either.”

I glanced at Gina and we shared a smile. We’d fallen in love under those fireworks.

“But you know what they say: all good things must end. And I can’t keep running the camp as a business unless it changes.” Susan sniffed and wiped her cheeks. “Sorry. I didn’t want to get emotional…”

She cleared her throat and continued in a stronger voice, “I thought about several options, but I don’t like any of them. In the end, I decided that I don’t care.”

The crowd stirred uneasily, and my eyebrows rose in puzzlement.

“I don’t care if the camp makes money,” she went on. “I don’t care if we have a thousand visitors a year or a hundred. I don’t care if I see new faces or the same ones. I love you all, and I don’t want to give this up.”

She wiped her cheeks again.

“Sorry,” she said after a moment. “I’ll hold it together.”

My mother handed a napkin to Laurie, who ran to Susan and gave it to her.

“See what I mean?” she laughed tearfully. “What would I do without you all?” She wiped her eyes. “My father told me not to go into politics,” she joked, “and now I know why.”

The crowd chuckled in sympathy.

“Anyway,” she said at last, “I think we have something special here, and I don’t want it to change. I’m going to keep the camp running. I don’t care what it costs. My accountant can deal with it.”

✧ ✧ ✧

To be continued…

✧ ✧ ✧

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Big Ed Magusson.

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