Summer by the Sea (35 page)

He grinned, a little chuckle of laughter escaping his lips. “Well?”

“Yes. I’d love to go on another date.”

“How about I pick you up the day after tomorrow at eight in the morning?”

“Eight in the morning?” She giggled. “Are we going to breakfast?”

“Better.” He looked at her a long time, the suspense making her crazy. Then, he said, “Well, I should probably go. It’s getting late. Thank you for having me over.”

She didn’t want him to go. She wanted to grab him by the shirttails and drag him back to her room. “You’re welcome. You’re not going to tell me where we’re going?”

He shook his head, a grin playing on his lips. He started toward the door, pausing for Faith to join him.

She walked him down the stairs, and he held her hands as he said goodbye. Then she sat on the last step as he got in his car and backed out of the drive. His headlights caused spots in her eyes so she stayed there even after he’d gone until they’d cleared. As she took in the sea air, barely noticing the wind anymore after a week there, she closed her eyes, and replayed tonight in her mind. It had been a good night. A great night even. Before it had started, she’d worried about him coming over, wondered where they’d be after what had happened at Sunset Grille, but she was learning to just enjoy the moment.

She sat there a long time until her thoughts had moved from tonight to what it had felt like to sit on that step at her childhood cottage. Those feelings were a part of her that she’d left behind so many years ago, but they were still there, right at her grasp, and she didn’t want to let them go. Just like Nan’s photographs, the smells, the air—it all told a story, her story. And she wasn’t finished yet. She didn’t know how, but maybe she could plan the next family trip. Maybe they could all get together regularly. She might even be able to include Jake. With another deep breath, she made her way up to the cottage door and went inside for the night.

“Good morning!” Faith said with surprise as she walked out of her room to find Scott at the kitchen table with the local newspaper. “It’s funny to see you sitting there.”

“Funny?” he said with a crooked grin, but she knew he understood.

Even when they were younger, Scott always read the newspaper. He had it delivered to his house. She used to tease him because he separated all the sections and reordered them the way he wanted to read them, starting with the Sports section. She huffed out a little laugh as she noticed the paper had been pulled apart and stacked on the table.

“What?” he said, tipping the edge of his page to peer down at the pile in front of him.

“Did you reorder them?”

“Of course. Who wants to start with front-page news? It’s so depressing.”

Faith laughed. It was like they hadn’t skipped a beat. There was absolutely no indication on his face that the years apart had tainted their friendship. With all the stress of her emotions gone, she could just enjoy who he was again. And it came back so easily.

“How are things with Casey?” she asked as she poured them both a glass of juice.

He took the glass, nodding a quick thank you and setting down the paper. “Things are going well. She wants to try.”

“She does. I’ve seen a side of her this week that’s so different than anything I’ve ever seen from her before.”

Faith knew her proximity to Casey, the beach house, their memories, Nan—all of it had changed them this week. She caught a glimpse of the rocking chairs through the glass door as they moved in the wind outside. They looked so new, their runners moving along the yellow wood of the porch. How she wished she’d be able to see those chairs when the paint on the arms had worn, the wood underneath glossy from lotions and tanning oils. She wondered if the porch floor would pucker in places like it had at their cottage. She wondered how long it would take for that yellow wood to weather and turn a deep brown, grains of sand from little feet and well-used towels filling the crevices. The two cottages were like her friendship with Scott in a way—the old one, warm and comforting, reminding her of younger days but had long been taken by the storms. The new one looked similar and felt similar but it wasn’t the same. It wasn’t better or worse just different, and she found it could be just as good as before.

Nan had wanted to sit on the beach today. The whole family had been so worried that she’d fall, trying to walk in the sand, but she’d trudged out there. Then they worried she might get burnt, so Scott had erected the canopy over the top of their chairs to create shade, and they’d faced Nan’s chair toward the cottage so the sun was behind her. Now, they worried about the heat.

“I’m fine. Good grief,” Nan said as Faith offered her a bottle of water from the cooler. “You know that I was alive before air conditioning? I survived the heat then, and I’ll survive it now.”

“I just don’t want you to dehydrate.” Faith held out the bottle—her final attempt. Nan took it, but Faith wondered if the gesture was just to appease them all down.

“I don’t like facing this direction,” she said. “I can’t see Isabella playing.”

Isabella heard her and gathered her shovels and buckets, dropping them here and there as she wobbled them over in front of Nan. “I can build over here,” she said, letting her arms fall by her sides, the colorful pile of plastic toys falling at her feet. She sat down, the sand coating her wet legs as she asked Nan what she wanted her to build.

As Faith watched them, it occurred to her to pull her cell phone out of her bag and snap a photo. She shielded the screen from the sun with her hand to view it. Nan was smiling, the sea behind her. Isabella’s face was animated with her head turned toward her great-grandmother. She was on her knees, holding a blue shovel in her hand. Faith smiled as she looked at the photo, and she wished she’d taken more since she’d been there. She turned around, walked out from under the canopy, and snapped another. The sun was so bright that she could hardly see what she’d gotten, but when she went back under the canopy to see it, it almost took her breath away. The sky was bright orange, yellow, and blue, the sea showing off its diamonds on the crests of its waves, and two shadows held hands at the water’s edge—Scott and Casey. It looked like a postcard. Her mom was sitting under the canopy, her legs stretched out from under it to get sun. She kept fooling with her floppy hat, tipping up the rim of it to people-watch. Faith snapped another photo.

They’d spent the whole day out on the beach. Nan had gone in after a few hours, the heat and sun finally getting to her. Faith had helped her back inside. When she did, she took her phone with her and showed Nan the photos. Nan made her promise to add them to the last photo album, and she said she would. At Nan’s direction, she’d opened one of the albums they’d compiled over the last week, and Nan turned to a photo of her and Faith’s grandfather. They were on the beach, fully dressed—he was wearing a white shirt, a thin, black tie, and trousers, and Nan had on a dark dress with a fitted waist and a flowing bottom that stopped just a little lower than mid-calf.

“That was taken right out there,” she said with a reminiscent smile. “We were going to lunch, and John wanted my mother to take our photo. I tried to hurry him, telling him we should go, but he’d insisted.” Nan ran her finger along the surface of the photo. “I’m glad he asked for that photo now.” She’d offered Faith a serious look. “I won’t be around forever. Promise me you’ll keep good records of your memories. You’ll be glad you did when you’re my age.” Faith promised, but Nan didn’t have to make her promise; she’d already decided that on her own.

When Faith had gotten Nan settled, she went back out on the beach. Casey and Scott were helping Isabella fill her buckets with seashells. Casey hadn’t left Scott’s side since he’d arrived, and Faith hoped with everything she had that after the vacation ended, Casey wouldn’t go back to the way things were and let work get in the way. One thing was certain: Faith was going to keep in touch with Casey after they left the cottage. She planned to call her sister all the time, ask her how her day was, and hear stories about Isabella.

They’d all decided to go out to dinner tonight. As Faith dressed after her shower, she could feel the slight heat on her skin from a day in the sun. She’d only needed a little powder, her face tan, her cheeks pink. She dabbed on lip gloss and slipped on her sandals. Casey finished up, and the two of them joined the rest of the family as they piled everyone into cars and headed to the restaurant.

Once they got there and were seated, Isabella colored in her kids’ menu, Nan showing her how to outline with a crayon and drawing unsteadily on the page. Isabella listened politely like a child twice her age, and then followed Nan’s direction, drawing over Nan’s lines to make them straight. Scott was relaxed with his arm around Casey, and her mom was sipping her cocktail.

“I’m not relocating,” Scott announced as he squeezed Casey’s shoulder, his arm still around her but more like a hug than it had been. Casey looked like the world had been lifted off her shoulders. She turned around and kissed him. There was a tiny eruption of excitement, Faith’s mom clapping her hands in delight. “I told my boss last night that I had a change of heart, and I’d prefer to stay in Boston. Luckily, I’m able to work remotely and I can stay where I am.”

Faith couldn’t be happier. She knew Scott well enough to understand what he was saying. He trusted that Casey was going to follow through. He believed she’d be better. It was a huge gesture, given the fact that he’d almost gone through with a divorce, and it showed how much he wanted it to all work out. Scott clearly loved Casey, and Faith knew, after spending time with Casey this week, that her sister loved Scott just as much.

Nan put her hand to her heart and looked down at Isabella. She was thinking the same thing that had just entered Faith’s mind: Isabella had her daddy back. As Isabella colored, making small talk with Nan, wriggling around on her knees and sipping her milk, she didn’t realize the magnitude of what Scott had just said. Isabella would never again awaken in the night and not have her father.

“I’d like to propose a toast,” Casey said, holding up her drink. “To family. May we have many more days like this one in our future.”

“Hear, hear!” Nan said, holding up her water. She motioned for Isabella to put her cup of milk into the air. Isabella was more than happy to follow her lead. She raised her drink—a paper cup with a plastic lid and a red and white striped straw. Nan touched hers to Isabella’s. “Cheers, my dear,” she said with a smile. They all followed, and then settled into the kind of chatter that only families have. It was great to have everyone together, but, to her surprise, it made Faith think about Jake. If only he could be there with them. She wished he were.

TWENTY-ONE

Faith was giddy with excitement but a little apprehensive at the same time. Today was her date with Jake. He’d asked her out, and that made her so happy that her hands were shaking. But she kept thinking about how things could change in a second whenever they brought up the elephant in the room. She really didn’t know how they were going to get over that hurdle, but she knew she wanted to give it another shot. She touched her lips, remembering what it felt like to kiss him. Even though they’d only been apart a day, she missed him. With her handbag on her shoulder, she waved to her mom and Nan on her way out of the cottage and tried to focus on the thrill of seeing him.

She waited outside, this time standing so she wouldn’t soil her linen trousers. The sun was so bright in the cloudless sky that she slipped her sunglasses on to avoid squinting. She didn’t have to wait long. Jake was soon pulling up in the Mercedes. He got out, the engine still running, walked around the car, and opened her door for her.

“Good morning,” he said with a grin as she slid inside.

“Good morning,” she returned, pulling her feet in. He shut the door and went around to his side of the car.

They drove down Beach Road, the sand blowing across it, the ocean hidden behind the dunes on Jake’s side of the car. She pretended to be waiting for a break to get a glimpse of the morning tide, but really, she was sneaking glances at Jake. He was clean-shaven today, his dark hair showing golden strands from days in the sun. She could see the crease on his cheek from smiling, and it warmed her. He smiled all the time.