This book is Come Next Summer
by Leigh Michaels. I'm hoping that in 1985, when this was first
published, that title couldn't be taken as a crude pun for telling
someone to be celibate until the summer after this one. If that was the intent, this
book will be quite different than the other ones I've read.
Anyway,
the book opens with Devon being woken up by her Siamese cat, Cyan.
Then, the several page exposition/info dump starts. I'll sum it up
for you: Devon is currently in the home of Julie's parents. Julie
and Devon were roomies earlier in college and have become besties.
Julie is marrying Devon's brother, David. The newlyweds will then be
moving in with David's Aunt Eleanor, whom Devon used to live with
until she could finally get out. Devon is now looking for housing.
David is Aunt Eleanor's favorite so him moving in until Julie
graduates is fine, but Devon feels she can't go back there. So,
she's got to find an apartment before classes start up in the spring.
She's an English major who dates lots of guys, Julie's a bio major
who's going to become a doctor, and The Viking (his name is Matt, but
I don't think he'll be around long) is in political science. As far
as I can tell, they're all undergrads, except The Viking who is a
graduate student. Maybe they're all graduate students then, but
Devon spent fall semester "practice teaching", so who knows. Devon has a date
with The Viking that night, for a classical music concert, no less.
According to Julie, Devon has a deep distrust of men because Devon's
dad left her as a child, so she thinks all men will. I warned you,
at this point we're up to our eyebrows in info.
Also,
all of that? In the first four pages. Whew! Moving right along,
Devon has a list of apartments to look at, but we don't see any of
their overpriced squalidness (not much has changed on that front as
far as apartments close to campus). All we see is Devon throwing her
list away because there are no open apartments left. She's going to
have to move in with someone. And that someone might just be the
older man with the pipe and taco who shares her table at the local
pizza/apple cider/whatever place. She can't say anything about
sharing a table because there's no free tables in the place and it's
snowing outside, but when he starts talking to her, that really
crosses the line. Then, across the street, there's a sign for an
apartment that lights up. Huzzah! Devon dashes across the busy
street to talk to the owner, and the man with the pipe follows her
there. Apparently he paid for her cider. How gentlemanly, this Jon
Hardesty fellow is. Well, it turns out that he needs to find an
apartment too, and he has no friends in town so clearly he needs this
more. The apartment just so happens to have 2 bedrooms, be large and
nice, and also a bit over Devon's budget.
A
woman calls about the apartment so Jon tells the owner that they'll
take it. Devon is not okay with this, but neither of them is willing
to give in, so the compromise is that they'll both live there. Also,
apparently Jon has a wife and three kids. Whatever. They're living
together in a romance novel. Either he's already divorced his wife,
or she's something he made up to keep Devon from getting ideas. I
don't have high hopes for The Viking.
Speaking
of The Viking, now we're at the concert with him. Devon can't stop
thinking about how she signed a six month lease with a man she
doesn't even know and can't concentrate on Rachmaninov's “stormy
music”. No worries folks, Jon's at the concert too in a box seat
with a senator. Apparently, Jon was kind of a big wig in politics
until he lost the previous election. Now he's back to teach for a
bit, and later he'll probably try his hand again at politics until he
gets to the White House. Oh, that woman he's with? Not his wife.
Being
a political science student, The Viking wants to meet Jon and Devon
sees to reason to say no that she wants to explain. The Viking
manages to get through the mob to shake Jon's hand and chat just a
little before Jon sees Devon. She re-introduces herself but, instead
of shaking her hand, he kisses the back of it, and turns it over to
kiss her palm. Woah, buddy. You just got introduced a few pages ago
and this isn't a Special Edition Harlequin Romance novel.
Shortly
after this, the woman who's not his wife drags Jon back to the box
and The Viking and Devon go back and sit down. The Viking is
surprised that Devon knows Jon, but doesn't press her for details.
The chapter closes with Devon wondering “what would happen to her”
when she moved in. Well, I would start with a lock on my bedroom
door and picking up a baseball bat if she doesn't already have one.
Just a thought.
My
prediction for this book: Jon and Devon fall deeply in lust/love with
each other, which is complicated when Jon's wife comes to visit,
possibly with the kids. Devon doesn't want to be “the other woman”
in an affair and they have painful decisions to make. Jon ends up
divorcing his wife and splitting time with the kids. Then he and
Devon can be together and, once she graduates, he goes back on the
campaign trail with her as his staunchest supporter and it looks good
for him to become president. Or Jon has no wife and the story is
just about whether or not they like each other and how awkward it is
the first time they make out/bang. Or ninjas. Never rule out
ninjas.
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