“Yeah, I heard he may be living in it full time. A nasty divorce, his ex is getting—what did the tabloid say—oh yeah, their Manhattan apartment and some house in the Hamptons.So, he’ll be homeless if he doesn’t get the beach house done,” Erica informed them.
“Well, I hope he likes crab cakes,” Henry said. “I think my waitresses would appreciate tips from a billionaire.”
The conversation moved on to other topics and goings on in Haven Beach. Ali made a mental note to look for the fancy house on her next beach walk.
And slowly, the idea of getting out of here tomorrow or the next day, morphed into maybe she’d need an extra week.
“Whoo hoo! Look, look!” One of the Hafner kids was pointing to the stunning horizon. A dolphin, as if on cue, breached out of the water and playfully splashed back down.
“Cheers to you.” Henry clinked his wine glass in Ali’s direction.
“What?”
“That dolphin was a pretty darn good finishing touch for your first Grand Finale.”
“Oh, well, you know, I just let him know we wanted it perfect for our Sea Turtle guests,” Ali joked.
The sunset and the assembled group of vacationers and locals clapped and cheered. The sunset did not disappoint, and Ali felt good that neither had the Sea Turtle, thanks to her work and a little help from her new friends.
Twenty-Four
Toledo1982
Belinda
It broke Belinda’s heart that Joetta was so far away. And that their parents didn’t seem to care. Worse. They’d cut Joetta’s existence out of their lives, their family, the minute she’d run.
It was so easy to eliminate her entire life from their home, the club, the stories they told.
Belinda knew people gossiped; they always did. Around the punch bowl, around the card tables placed far from their mother’s, people whispered about Joetta’s disappearance. Mommy said she was “abroad.” And that was it.
As the years passed, the whispering about Joetta stopped. It was replaced by someone else’s gossip.
Especially since there was no new fodder about where she was and what she was doing. No new grist for the mill. Fresh scandals were so much more fun than old rumors. Their parents were disciplined and stark. They had shut the door to Joetta.
That starkness was the threat that kept Belinda in line. She, too, could be cut from the picture just as easily.
Belinda did exactly as her parents expected. She lived up to their ideas of how a young lady should act, date, be, and talk. It was easy not to rebel or even have fun with the heavy heart that now sat in her chest. The Gulfside Girls were no longer, just a dull day-to-day life. Joetta was her joy, and it was painful to see that wasn’t true for their parents.
Belinda finished high school, and she went to college, though she didn’t really have a passion for any career or job. Her mission, expressed by Mommy, was to find a husband.
But just like not really caring what her job might be, she also didn’t have any passion for any particular future husband. She went on dates, but Joetta had literally given up everything for a man. Belinda wasn’t planning to do the same.
This was the source of the quarrel now between Belinda and her parents. They wanted her “married off” to someone they approved. Belinda avoided the questions even if she couldn’t avoid the pressure her parents put on her.
Though, she had to put the brakes on, when her mother floated Banks Armstrong as a good match. Banks seemed to be the only one who remembered that Joetta existed.
“I know you’re not supposed to talk about her,” he said one day, “but can I ask you if she’s okay? I think about that a lot. She is so trusting and open, and that can be dangerous.”
She reassured Banksy. She stuck to the party line that she was traveling “abroad.” Banks was a good guy. A good friend to Belinda. She hated lying to him, but he was the only one asking these days.
“She’s happy, just done with us here in Florida. Don’t worry.”
But Belinda was not about to match up with Banksy, knowing that in his heart, he’d always love Joetta the most. Banks was now the second in charge at his family country club, and though she wouldn’t “match” with Banks, Belinda was happy to work for him. She took her useless college degree and applied it tothe country club. She was the social director. It was a career her parents approved of; she liked it, and Banks said she was good at it. She had no husband yet, but at least she’d be able to meet the “right kind of men,” and so her parents approved her career path until she settled down.
In 1982, Belinda decided to take a big risk. Her parents were going on holiday in Europe for over a month. They’d be an ocean away. This was her chance to check up on her baby sister without getting permission or getting into a battle.
Belinda took the money she’d squirreled away from working as the social director of Armstrong Hills Country Club and flew to Ohio.
