The Book of Leah

I Wear My Sunglasses At Night - Chapter 21

Friday night, June 12,  Bass Lake, WI

"Bonnie, would you please tell me what's going on with you?" Leah asked as they pulled away from the cottage. She fiddled with her yellow sunglasses that wouldn't stay up in her hair. "You and Jake disappear for hours until both your grandparents practically send out a search party at twilight. Then you two show up at the cottage, not by boat, but dropped off in a Mercedes Benz, all sunburnt and acting goofy like two drunks. What the heck?"

"I'm good," Bonnie said after a minute of silence. "I made Jake promise one day of just us, and he kept his promise. Leah, we haven't had a day like that together in over two years. I've so missed..."

"Yeah, I can guess what you missed," Leah said with a sly tone.

"Oh my God, Lee, not like that!Jeez," Bonnie exclaimed. "I've missed him so much. He's my closest friend in the whole world. Jake knows more about my life than anything. The major events, he was there for them, or he's the person I told about them. Ever wonder how my cursive got so pretty? It's because I've spent years since 3rd grade crafting letters to that boy, as open and long as my diary, probably even longer. Poor guy. I remember him writing back confused in the fall of 7th grade about me telling him I got my first period. And he wrote back, not getting the big deal, saying everyone has a 1st period in middle school."

"Oh God, that's hysterical," Leah said.

"Yeah, I can't remember what I wrote back to him, but it's funny he never brought it up in any letters after that," Bonnie said. Leah chuckled.

"You probably scarred him for life," Leah said, laughing.

"Probably," Bonnie admitted. "But that's just it. We were so close, like siblings at least to him, and yet I saw it as more. So..." Bonnie paused as they turned onto the freeway. "This afternoon, I told him."

"Wait, stop," Leah said, a little shocked. "You told him what?"

"I told him how I truly felt," Bonnie said.

"Wow," Leah said. "And...?"

"It really changed the rest of the afternoon," Bonnie continued. "The tension was gone. He told me that he has and always will deeply care for me, and he would never forget me. I told him the same, and so we decided to relive all our favorites from the past."

"And then we goofed off like we were 13 again," Bonnie said. "We went over and docked at the Porter's Club and had lunch. How'd you afford to have lunch there? Krissy's dad is the general manager, so I told him I'd pay him in a few days. No worries, he bought us lunch, and Krissy, Dylan, and his friends joined us. Then we went water skiing. Krissy and I went water skiing while Jake, Dylan, and the boys ran the motorboats. And then we raced jet skis until we ended up at Dylan's grandparents' cottage. We played cards there until we realized the sun was starting to go down. That's when Mrs. Morrison's phone rang. It was my grandmother, saying she had called the Porter's Club and Krissy's dad told her where we were. So, Mr. Morrison gave us a lift back to the cottage."

"You know Jake is probably getting grilled right now," Leah said.

"Actually, you'd be wrong," Bonnie replied. "We've been doing this since middle school, well, not always intentionally. We'd get the sailboat on a good wind and take it all the way to the far side of the northwest part of the lake, past the channel and back. Back then, we weren't skilled enough to get the boat back if the wind wasn't cooperating. So, we'd just hang out at the club or at the Morrisons' until someone drove us home or picked us up. And one of the parents would sail the boat back later."

"So that's what we did today," Bonnie explained. "No funny business, no alcohol, just boating, skiing, telling old stories, eating fried perch, and playing Sheepshead."

"Sheeps... what?" Leah asked.

"Sheepshead," Bonnie said. "It's the Wisconsin state card game, according to Uncle Leo. It's umm, kind of like Euchre."

"Oh, so Jake staying at the cottage isn't doomed?" Leah questioned.

"Not in the least," Bonnie assured her. "Alvin and Lucy are probably heading back to the club to play cards with my grandparents and their friends until midnight. They'll probably sleep at the cottage. "

"And Aunt Evelyn? She was all wound up, ranting and waving her around." said Leah

"Until she knew what was going on?" Bonnie guessed.

"Yeah, you're right" Leah said. "Once your Grandma told her you were at the Morrisons', she packed up the kids and headed back before you and Jake were even dropped off.

"Leah, it was so much fun! We actually talked, like really talked. And you should be thanking me." said Bonnie

Leah paused with a concerned expression. "Why, pray tell, should I be thanking you?"

""Because for all those hours we talked," Bonnie explained, "we talked about one thing more than his mother, more all his whining about Marta, the cottage, or even blathering about baseball superiority with the boys. And trust me, that's really saying something. The one thing that boy wanted to talk about 'you'."

"Shut the front door," Leah said in disbelief. "Bonnie Anne, you better be pulling my leg."

"Swear on the Bible with both hands, the God's honest truth," Bonnie said. "In case you're wondering, I think you've got the boys' attention."

"Great," said Leah weighing all this out. "So now what do I do for the next four and a half weeks?"

"What us girls always do, sweetheart," Leah said with a sly voice.

"Oh boy," Leah said, worried about where this conversation was going. "What's that?"

"Play hard to get," Bonnie declared. Leah laughed, and the two friends began planning the weekend ahead.