The Girl in Hemingway's Studio Read online

  Charlotte put her arm around her sister, “It’s okay. Daddy is devastated. I know he never drinks more than a glass of wine. But tonight, it’s okay. Somehow, we will all get through this tragedy. Poor Grandma, it’s just not fair that her beloved daughter died before she did.”

  “You know what’s really not fair? Our mother died for no reason at all. She wasn’t sick, she wasn’t old, and she didn’t have an incurable disease. She was a good person working in research to help cure terrible diseases.” Alexis began before she started another crying spree. “It was just a stupid, stupid, accident. Mom was the best skier I ever knew.”

  Charlotte and Alexis held on to each other throughout the night and for the next several months. They found comfort and strength in each other. Somehow the darkness finally lifted and somehow eventually their lives moved on.

  Thinking about those memories, Alexis remembered the disappointment she felt a few weeks ago when she heard The Limited was going out of business. Alexis, Charlotte, and their mother had spent so many hours in that story arguing over appropriate and inappropriate outfits.

  Alexis hit the button to open the garage door and drove her car in. As she got out of the car, she took those tragic memories and locked them back into the bank vault of her mind. She slammed the car door shut and shook her head, hoping to make that wretched feeling of loss go away.

  My sister and I have become very distant in the last few years. Maybe taking Charlotte with me to Florida will give us a chance to bond again. I couldn’t stand more than four or five days with her and that would still leave me some alone time to work on my manuscript before spending time in Hemingway’s office. Maybe it would be fun. Maybe we could find that bond and become close like sisters again. It might be worth a try.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  The Inheritance

  Eric was watching ESPN when Marcus walked in the door. He got up to “knuckle-bump” his brother and offered to get him a beer.

  “Thanks, Eric. You sure are generous with my beer,” Marcus said as he was unbuttoning his shirt. “Let me put on my shorts and a T-shirt. God, I hate these hellish summers.”

  “October is just around the corner and then we have eight or nine months of perfect weather while the rest of the country is freezing and shoveling snow,” answered Eric.

  When Marcus returned and grabbed the ice-cold beer from his brother, he began to relax. “What did you want to tell me?”

  “Remember Uncle Fred?”

  “Dad’s brother? Yeah, we visited him for a few days one summer when we were kids. I remember Mom was so freaked out with his living conditions, we drove to St. Louis every night to stay in a motel,” laughed Marcus. “I thought living close to a mine would have been fun. He even took us down the mineshaft and showed us how to dig out the ore. I thought that was so cool, I thought I wanted to grow up and be a miner.”

  “Well, he died. His attorney called me yesterday to let me know that you and I are the only heirs to his property.”

  “You mean that old shack and the mine? Wow, that’s probably worth a few hundred dollars, if we could ever find anyone stupid enough to buy it.”

  “Not so fast,” Eric said as he walked back into the kitchen to get another Stella. “A couple of months ago, Uncle Fred contacted me out of the blue. He asked me questions about how much it would cost to increase the insurance on his property and whether that insurance would also cover mineral rights. He told me he was thinking of having his property surveyed and analyzed.”

  “Do you think he found gold or something?”

  “Not exactly, but he asked if I had ever heard of the Pea Ridge Mine. He told me it wasn’t very far from his iron mine and a lot of activity has been going on in that area. I Googled it and discovered the Pea Ridge area is rich in rare-earth elements like zeolites and mica that can be used for high-tech products. Everything from cellphones to missiles,” explained Eric. “During the years that Fred was actively mining for iron, he had a very primitive operation. He only had about four guys working for him. The ore was picked out of the mountain in chunks and taken down in wheelbarrows and put on flatbeds for shipment. I remember Uncle Fred telling me how dirty and strenuous it was to barely eke out a living. Fred’s workers found better paying jobs and left in the early seventies. Then Fred worked the mine by himself to make ends meet. I think he survived on the money from the ore and the food from the big garden he planted in the summer. Some life, huh.”

  Marcus suddenly started paying attention. “Are you telling me that Uncle Fred’s mine could be worth some real money?”

  “I’m not sure, but I think we should take a quick trip to Missouri and investigate for ourselves. How about it?”

  “I haven’t earned any vacation time yet, but could we do it over a weekend? How about the Fourth of July? I have Fridays off during the summer and with the Monday holiday, that would give us four days.”

  Eric pulled out his laptop and started checking various airlines for a flight to St. Louis, after he called Fred’s attorney to see if he could meet them that weekend. He agreed and told Eric he had keys to Fred’s place and a map.

  “If Uncle Fred didn’t have time to get a survey done, maybe he can recommend someone we can hire. I think that would be the first step in seeing if valuable minerals are actually in Fred’s, oops, I mean our mine.” Eric looked at his brother, “What if this mine is worth millions?”

  Alexis pulled her car into the garage and noticed Eric’s car was still parked on the curb. When she walked into the kitchen, she could tell that Eric and Marcus had been drinking as they were laughing and talking loudly.

  “What’s going on? Is this a wake in memory of your Uncle Fred?” she asked.

  Marcus walked over and kissed her on the cheek, “Maybe it’s a celebration for our newfound wealth.”

  They told Alexis the story of the mine and the possibility other important minerals that may also be in their mine. Then Marcus explained they had booked a flight and booked a hotel for the trip the brothers intended to take to Missouri.

  “We got a great deal for a heavily traveled holiday weekend. Eric found a nonstop flight leaving Phoenix on Thursday, June 30, at 7:35 p.m. We won’t get into St. Louis until after midnight, but I won’t miss any work. Our return flight leaves July 4 at 3:00 p.m. and is also a nonstop flight that gets back in Phoenix at 4:10 p.m. We won’t even miss the fireworks.”

  “How much is this going to cost?” Alexis said as she glanced at Marcus trying to remind him of their battered budget.

  “Only $398 for the flight plus minor expenses,” he answered as he looked away. “But if this inherited mine turns out to contain the same minerals as that other mine, we could really become rich.”

  “Yeah, IF,” she said as she walked toward their bedroom. “Eric, would you like me to drive you home? It looks like you have been celebrating maybe a bit too much.”

  “Nah, I’m fine. I can still drive.”

  “Eric, it’s no problem. When I drop you off, I can pick up Betsy, and she can drive your car back home.”

  “Silly girl, I’m fine. I only had a couple of beers, and I can drive myself. Besides, Betsy is working late tonight.”

  Eric picked up his briefcase, hugged his brother and sister-in-law, and walked out of the door. Alexis peeked through the window after he got in his car and started driving away. People who drive when they have had too much to drink always made Alexis nervous.

  Alexis turned to Marcus and started to say something.

  “Wait,” he said as he held his hand up to signal stop. “Before you start lecturing me about the money and the budget, let me tell you about this mine. There is a real possibility there could be valuable minerals in that old mine. We have to check it out. Besides, you are going to Florida for almost three weeks, can’t you use some of your prize money for our budget?”

  “I’m not sure I can do that, but I’ll check it out. Besides this isn’t a vacation,” Alexis countered. “I plan on finishing my boo
k on this trip and having it ready to publish when I get home. Besides, I may end up taking my sister with me, which doesn’t classify as a vacation.”

  “Sorry, Babe, I was hoping Cathy or Julie would be able to go with you.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  The Husband

  As Alexis walked into the bedroom she shared with Marcus, she took off her shoes and work clothes and hung them neatly in her side of the closet. As she buttoned up her work shirt and shorts, she started thinking about when things with Marcus started to unravel. Alexis had always been a levelheaded girl. She was smart, reliable, always a good student, had common sense and would never quit a job before she secured another one. Unlike her fun-loving husband, who would quit his job if he had a bad day or was bored, never considering where or when he was going to find another job. Of course, his nonchalant attitude was one of the things that attracted him to her. He was like the happy-go-lucky part that was missing from her character. When they met it was like they were destined for each other. Alexis smiled as she remembered their magical meeting.

  Alexis met Marcus during the planning of Julie and Greg’s wedding. Alexis was Julie’s maid-of-honor and Marcus was Greg’s Best Man. They were introduced to each other a few months before the wedding. Alexis’s life had been so lonely after her dad and Charlotte’s marriages. She loved her house and appreciated how much time and energy her father put into helping her make it a home. But she just wasn’t meeting any nice men that she wanted to date. One evening after work, Alexis walked outside into her covered patio with a glass of wine, looked up to the sky, and said a prayer to her mom. “Mom, if you know any cute, nice, good men, could you please send me one?”

  A few days later after meeting Marcus, he called her.

  “Hi, Alexis, this is your better half of the wedding party, Marcus.”

  “Hi, Marcus,” she said as she laughed.

  “May I take you out to dinner tomorrow? We could discuss the plans for Julie and Greg’s wedding or not. We could even talk about ourselves.”

  “Tomorrow would be great,” she said as she gave him her address and said a silent “thank you” to her mother.

  Alexis reflected on her first impression of that date. I thought Marcus was the perfect man for me. He had brown slightly curly hair and deep-brown eyes. He was tall and worked out to maintain his athletic shape. He was smart, funny, and very charming. Marcus and I started dating on a regular basis and then we became exclusive.

  I had always held back in the romance area. I was, I guess, reserved perhaps even slightly prudish with the men I dated. I was cautious in forming relationships and even though I dated a lot, I had only truly fallen in love twice, once in high school with Jacob. A shy, cute, gifted boy who worked with me on the yearbook committee. We fell madly in love and were sure our love would last forever. Nevertheless, our love died when the yearbooks were published, and Jacob grasped the reality of our separation when he received his letter of acceptance for Yale University. He would be heading to Connecticut, and I would be staying in Arizona.

  In college, I fell madly in love with Dan who was in my English composition class during my junior year at ASU. We had an intense and passionate relationship that never ran smoothly. I remember my father being very worried about my moods. I was either blissfully content and happy or depressed and melancholy. Dan and I broke up for good ten days before graduation.

  This time passion won over sagacious, and I fell madly in love with the sensational young man, whom I thought was my soul mate. I slept with Marcus on our third date, and after that, he spent every weekend at my house. The following summer, he moved into my house and talked me into an expensive second remodel. The house was cute, when I moved in; after Marcus got through with all his plans, it was gorgeous. The downside was the second mortgage I took out to do the remodel was barely within my budget.

  Marcus was a perfect fit to my reserve and conservative self. He brought me out of my shell and dared me to try new adventures, foods, and activities. He taught me about sports, and soon I was enjoying having a beer at local sports bars with his friends cheering Marcus’s favorite teams on to victory. Sometimes, I worried about his lack of discipline and planning for the future. His standard answer was, “We’re young, and we should spend our time having fun. We will start saving our money when we are older.”

  Sometimes I think Marcus never thinks he will get older or have to save for retirement.

  A couple of years later, Marcus would meet his old college buddies at his favorite sports bars, and Alexis wouldn’t be invited to go with him. Alexis excelled as an assistant professor and became very popular among the ASU students, especially the freshmen. When Alexis was awarded tenure, she was also promoted to associate professor and her work schedule demands increased. She was strongly encouraged to join various committees, persuaded to attend a variety of hastily called meetings regarding the behavior of certain students, and prodded to actively contribute to her creative field through publications. During that time, her first undertaking was successful. Her published book, How American Students Decimate the English Language was reviewed and praised by academia. In fact several of her colleagues made it a required textbook purchase for their students. Alexis was never was that brazen, but did enjoy the royalties. While Alexis was busy furthering her career, Marcus acted more like a college student with his social activities and ignoring concentrating on his chosen career—accounting.

  Marcus and Alexis were married on a warm May evening in 2010. Judith wanted to have the wedding and reception at her house, but Alexis talked her father into having it at the Tempe Mission Palms, a beautiful, charming hotel in Old Tempe. Alexis invited family, friends from college, and fellow professors. Since the wedding and reception were held at the hotel, Alexis and Marcus were given a complimentary room for their wedding night. That room was available to Alexis the afternoon of the wedding, so there was a place for Alexis and her family to stay before the ceremony.

  Alexis had just finished buttoning up her wedding dress, and Charlotte was helping her secure her veil when Arthur walked in the room.

  “My two beautiful girls,” he exclaimed. “Alexis you are absolutely breathtaking. Charlotte, would you mind going downstairs and help Judith with the centerpieces? The florist just arrived, and I wanted to talk to Alexis for a couple of moments.”

  Charlotte nodded and walked out of the room.

  Arthur pulled up a chair and took Alexis’s hand, “You know I’d give up half of my life if your mother could be with us to celebrate your wedding.”

  Alexis choked up, “Actually, I would too. But honestly, I believe she is here somewhere.”

  “Too bad baby Ashley isn’t just a little older, she would have made an adorable flower girl.”

  “I know, I thought of that too,” Alexis said. “But I don’t want to wait for her to grow up before I marry Marcus.”

  Arthur then put on his somber face, “Alexis, I like Marcus, I really do, but sometimes I worry that he doesn’t see the world with the same reality that you and I do. You have always been a person with strong convictions, you have been so disciplined, and always in control of your destiny. You’ve been like that even before you began kindergarten. Marcus is—well—he’s more of a free spirit and whimsical. I worry that your two point of views might collide.”

  Alexis hugged her father, “Dad, that’s exactly what I love about Marcus. I think we will be very good for each other. Don’t worry; we are both adults, and we’ll work it out. You’ll see. You don’t need to worry about us.”

  Alexis thought about those words her father had spoken to her before her wedding ceremony. Dad, you’ve always been so wise, maybe I should have listened to you. But on the other hand, I’ll never regret this special, crazy relationship with my husband. I love him – warts and all.

  Marcus and Alexis were married on the patio that separated the hotel from the reception and conference rooms. Geraniums were in full bloom and filled the patio and pathway wit
h a sea of scarlet and a fragrance of summer evenings. Arthur smiled as he escorted his daughter down the aromatic pathway, kissed her on the check, and placed her hand in the hand of the smiling groom. Judith provided the fresh flowers to decorate the wooden arc under which Marcus and Alexis stood while exchanging their vows in front of a noisy, gurgling water fountain. Getting married outdoors in Arizona in late spring requires the ceremony and exchange of vows to be concise and brief, so the guests can quickly move indoors for the cool reception.

  Marcus and Alexis stayed at the Tempe Mission Palms hotel that night. Then got up early the next morning and drove to San Diego. Arthur and Judith’s wedding gift to them was a room at the Hotel del Coronado with all expenses paid for a week. The historic Victorian beachfront hotel sits across the bay from San Diego. Nicknamed, “The Del” is a magnificent wooden structure that was built in 1887 and has hosted presidents, royalty, and celebrities through the years; in fact parts of the famous Marilyn Monroe movie Some Like It Hot were filmed on its grounds.

  Alexis smiled as she remembered that glorious romantic week she and Marcus had spent in Coronado. The afternoon they arrived, cloudy, overcast skies covered the coast area of San Diego. This weather pattern phenomenon is called “June Gloom,” and this year it chose to make its appearance in May.

  Putting on her tennis shoes, Alexis continued to reminisce about those wonderful honeymoon days and nights. Marcus and I didn’t care about the cloudy weather; we still had a glorious week filled with passion. We would sleep late, make love, then have breakfast on the patio at the Sheerwater Restaurant, and we would finish each day with a glass of wine at the Sunset Bar snuggling by the blazing fire pit.

  Remembering one afternoon, when they thought the sun was going to break through the clouds, Alexis and Marcus put on their bathing suits and ran down to the beach. As soon as they put down their towels and sat down on the sand, the clouds and wind returned.