“Jaqueline,” Jaxon says as they continue along the shore, “that night, your mom and I talked about everything. Hopes. Fears. What we wanted out of life. Kind of like me and you are doing now.”
“How long did you walk?” she asks.
“About an hour,” Sara answers, catching her breath as she joins them.
With each step, Jaqueline tosses out a new question—about Claire, about their love story, about the things that never made it into the bedtime versions of her mom’s life. Until eventually… the questions slow. Silence fills the space, soft and sacred.
When they reach the 69th Street beach access, Jaxon stops. The air stills. The waves hush.
He looks at Sara, then kneels down to Jaqueline’s level, brushing the sand from the edge of her dress.
“Jaqueline,” he says softly, “do you want to know something really cool?”
“Yes,” she replies, her voice barely more than a whisper.
“That sign right there…” He points. “That’s where your mom and I stopped walking. Right here. This is the spot. We stood here for a long time—just the two of us—before turning back. And she stood… right where your feet are now.”
Jaqueline looks down, her shoes sinking slightly in the soft sand. Her face lights up with a smile so wide, so pure, it could stop time.
She doesn’t say a word.
She doesn’t need to.
Jaxon glances up at Sara. Her eyes are full. Shimmering. She nods softly, signaling it’s time to turn back.
The walk back is quieter—still filled with conversation, but slower, more thoughtful. They’re carrying something now. All of them. Something sacred.
When they make it back to the truck and Jaqueline climbs inside, closing the door behind her, Sara turns to Jaxon.
“I couldn’t take much more without breaking down,” she whispers. Her voice cracks. “Thank you for that. We both really needed it.”
Jaxon nods, his hand resting on the truck door, the ocean behind him, his heart full.
“She did too,” he says.
And in that moment, with the stars beginning to glimmer overhead and the waves kissing the shoreline like a benediction, they both know—
Claire was there.
Not in body.
But in every breeze that swept across the sand.
In every memory retold.
In every smile on their daughter’s face.
65
Hard One
WhenJaxonwakes,thefirst thing on his mind is last night.
The first time the three of them went out together.
People know now. And if they don’t already, the whole town will soon enough.
That’s when a thought smacks into him like a wave at high tide.
