Lake Views: Novel Excerpt

The following is an excerpt from a draft novel concept of two people meeting through a property along the shores of Lake Michigan. Talented Jessie McGowen, burdened by her family and past, gives the gifted but adrift Jason Jeong, founder of a Chicago-based marketing firm, a new view on what his life should be about. Please comment and if you enjoy it, share it with others! With enough interest, I'll release more!

July: Hot weather, Hot tempers

Heading to bed, the hushed path and heavy moon welcomed Jessie with open arms. She began to drift along on the warm, rich night air, perfumed by the white blooms of the lilies blooming against the wall. Because of this, she gasped and jumped in surprise when she realized Jason's girlfriend, Isabella, stood before her, arms crossed in a combative posture.

Isabella raised an eyebrow in what appeared to be triumph at catching her off-guard. “Jessie! What a fortunate coincidence. I was on my way upstairs to bed when I realized I left my book by the pool. Would you be a dear and get it for me? I won’t need it tonight, obviously,” Here, she gave a calculated smile, “But it would be a shame to get ruined with damp. You can just bring it inside when you come in the make breakfast, alright?” Without waiting for a reply, she brushed by Jessie, back toward the house.

A flash of anger shot through Jessie. How many times was that? How many times would this woman feel the need to “put me in my place”?

“If you left it, get it yourself.”

Isabella halted, paused, then slowly turned. Jessie could just make out her face in the dappled moonlight and glow from the twinkling lights decorating the pool area. It was a face that brokered no dissent.

“I was not aware that you could make that type of decision in this household. I am a guest of the owner. In fact, more than a guest. You are…” She pointedly eyed her up and down, “Hired help. So help.”

If Isabella thought behavior like that would work with Jessie, she was greatly mistaken. Jessie had been raised on a litany of that from her mother. This sort of put-down was nothing and she was therefore able to reply quite cheerfully, “Wow, what a nasty little person living in that beautiful body you have there! I said no, and I mean: No.” The last was spoken as emphatically as Isabella’s own.

Isabella gasped, started raising her hand and lurched forward, clearly preparing to release another volley and more.

There was no way Jessie would allow that. She’d spent their entire visit in silence. No more. She stepped forward as well and challenged, “You condescending-”

“Jessie!”

Jason’s stern tone and surprise appearance from the gloom halted both women’s attacks. He marched in between them, glaring.

Isabella recovered first, dropping back to a more meek position. “Jason, sweetheart, I’m so glad you heard that. Such rudeness-”

“Stop.” All playfulness was gone from his demeanor. He turned to Jessie. “Both of you.” He paused to make sure they both would comply. “Jessie, you’ve worked hard all day- so I’m sure once you get some sleep, you’ll realize you were rude and apologize for snapping. Isabella, I’m sure you’d love to continue this game but just go back to the house. I’ll get your damn book myself. We can talk later.”

Isabella clearly wanted to argue but decided against it and swept back up the path, leaving Jessie and Jason in a frayed jumble in the now quiet night. Each stood glaring at the other in rigid silence, collecting themselves. Finally, when a nearby cricket resumed its serenade, Jessie found her voice.

“You know, when I first met you, I was really kind of jealous. You seemed to have everything.” She stretched the last word and swept her arm in a wide arch to emphasize her point. “Great parents, amazing friends, money, an exciting career…” Her arm dropped and she shook her head, laughing ruefully. “Not anymore.” She turned and headed to the studio.

“You have more to say?” His voice hadn’t lost it’s hard edge.

Jessie reached a darker shadow and stopped, emboldened by its protection. She turned.

“Yeah, I do. And if it gets me fired, so be it.” She paused to frame her roiling thoughts. “What’s the point in all of this, Jason? What do you really want? Because…” She struggled for the right words. “I honestly can’t tell anymore. It’s...it‘s like you’re lost. All the parts are great. But…you can’t do it all! I’ve known you for only 6 or 7 months but it’s like you’re trying so hard to be everything to everyone that... you’re no one anymore.”

He didn’t reply. The strum of hot summer insects throbbed around them like an audience waiting to see the end of the show. They weren’t to be disappointed. Jason growled an oath and erupted in violent motion- Jessie briefly saw the glitter of ice, crystal and liquid fly from his hand before hitting the fence in an explosion of tinkling shards. So he’d been still drinking late into the night. Again.

His eyes never left the ground. Instead, he loudly inhaled and exhaled an enormous sigh as the outburst’s energy left him, “Excuse me. I have a book to retrieve.” He slid by her on the path without another word and disappeared around the corner.

Back in the studio, Jessie sank to the cork floor in the screened porch and leaned against the metal patio door frame. She hadn’t bothered turning on the lights- she embraced the anonymity the shadows provided. All the doors were slid open as wide as they would go. She closed her eyes and drank in the medley of night sounds: whispering boughs, myriad chirps & burps of night animals and in the background, the ever-present breathing of the lake as it swayed in and out. The breeze played with the curls erupting across her forehead but for once, she didn’t tug them back into compliance. She just sat, regretting much, but unsure exactly what. Sure, Isabella pissed her off and she was worried what the ramifications of last night’s outbursts would be. However, the overriding emotion she felt was...sadness.

She never made it to bed that night. Exhaustion finally overwhelmed her and the best she could do was fumble for a nearby floor pillow and curl up with its scratchy comfort.

Someone else didn’t make it to bed that night, either. At first, Jason had fallen onto a lounge by the pool, determined to stay there for the night. The swarms of buzzing insects proved stronger than either his will or the whiskey’s numbing ability, however, and with another oath, he’d stomped back to the house. He couldn’t stomach going upstairs, though, and threw himself on the leather couch in the living room. He chewed on a fingernail as he mulled over what Jessie had said to him. A red hot anger started to build inside his chest. She was wrong. What the hell did she know. This was easy. The hot rush to hit something surprised a gasp out of him. He panted- he must have been holding his breath. He moved to scrub his face and realized his hands were shaking. A desperate sound escaped his clenched teeth.

He sat up and listened to the house. Silence. Relieved, he forced himself to take a deep breathe in and out. He clenched and released his hands a few times. Good. Breathe. He dropped his head between his knees and wrapped his hands behind his neck. He started to feel a bit more in control.

His stood up. His shirt was soaked with sour sweat so he stripped it off and tossed it into the laundry room. He got a drink of water at the kitchen sink. That triggered a nasty reminder from his bladder that he’d been ignoring it during the last few hours. He really didn’t want to bother the guests downstairs and upstairs...he clamped his mind off of that. The pool house restroom. He could brave the bugs, get one last breath of fresh air and then come back and face the house. Face...whatever. He sighed before slipping back outside.

His next sigh was one of relief as he stood at the toilet. The water, jog and simple pleasure of emptying his bladder all were helping clear his head a bit and he took another, more relaxed deep breathe as he flushed and washed his hands.

As he walked along the pool, he realized he felt better out here and felt a jab as he thought ahead to the house. He paused. He knew he still wasn’t totally sober and didn’t have the energy to figure out his problem. He just wanted some sleep. He reached the door to the studio and stopped. There was a porch in there. No bugs. He could sleep.

He reached for the handle. It turned. He stopped. Should he go in? Why not. It was his house. He’d just sleep on the porch for a few hours. Just a few hours. He swayed a bit as his body relaxed at the thought of slumber.

He slid his hand along the wall as he made his way in the dark, keeping as far away from the living area on the left side of the studio as he could. As his hand hit the first patio door frame, he could see the faint outline of one of the pillows he knew were scattered around and sank down gratefully to the floor on his back, resting his head onto the pillow. Another sigh escaped him. This one was of utter relaxation as he let his body fall down into the ground and the natural sounds outside pushed all the worry out of his mind.

He was sinking into blissful oblivion to the rhythmic pattern of the lake breathing in and out when he realized that repeated sound was not all coming from the windows but from the darkness to his right. He rolled onto his side. His dark-adapted eyes now discerned Jessie’s form, curled toward him around another pillow, her right arm draped loosely over it.

He should leave. He knew he should. The breeze stirred the curls of her hair and her hand twitched. His hand slowly stretched out toward it but he stopped it. Slow, steady breaths. He listened and sank, finally, into peaceful slumber.

The one unavoidable thing about the front of the house and the end of the pool house where the patio was located was that the morning sun cuts through the forest under-story as soon as it breaches the lake horizon. Jessie fought the glare and the choruses of birdsong for a while before sitting up with a groan. She fumbled for her phone to check the time: 5:51. She stretched and scrubbed her hands through her hair, struggling to peel her eyelids fully open.

That’s when she saw that her cat Fiona wasn’t curled up by her legs as was her usual sleeping spot. She was sound asleep against the leg of an equally unconscious, and shirtless, Jason Jeong.

By Susan Baumgartner
Copywrite 2016