She rode back to the motel, where she made a pot of coffee with Elianna’s beans, and on the settee where Mom used to read her books and nap, Emery read the paper from front to back, top to bottom, writing ideas and small areas for improvement in the margins. Then she read it again and again.
Jane’s story was short and to the point, objective, which was what Emery expected for theGazette. Rex’s piece on the surfing contest was fantastic—rich in detail, with an engaging human-interest angle. One of the surfers had a prosthetic leg. And the photos, taken with his iPhone, were crisp and clear, full of color.
At ten a.m., she started a Notes file for a growth plan, then emailed the staff.Thank you all for making my firstSunday Gazettea success.
Cut from old school journalism, Lou would grumble at her for that one. She could hear him saying,Don’t get giddy over people doing their job. Getgiddy when they do more than their job. Like breaka Watergate-level story. Even then,just give them anod of“well done” and tell them to find anotherone of equal or greater magnitude.
By the afternoon, she’d cranked open the jalousie windows to let in the brisk Gulf air, napped under a pile of blankets, taken a long, hot shower, and tucked the newspaper in her laptop bag for Tuesday’s staff meeting.
Now what? The courtyard was quiet. The guests in Cottage 2, 3, and 5 checked out yesterday. Delilah had sent a text that she’d be gone all day Sunday.
Emery hadn’t seen or heard from Caleb since the town council meeting, though he was never far from her mind. Stepping out of the cottage, she looked toward the center of town, wondering what he was doing. Something with his nephew? Maybe a family day. If memory served, his grandparents had a hobby farm northeast of town.
Back in the cottage, she sat on the settee and peered out the window toward the beach and the bluish-green Gulf. And missed her mom.
“Do you have any more advice for me, Mom?” She understood a person died once, then stood before God. But she wasn’t sure if they stopped hearing words from the living.
Mom tried to stuff every ounce of wisdom she had into Emery before she died. Many of those moments were right here in this cottage. Only she couldn’t remember what she said, only that death took her mom and her future as a daughter.
Okay, enough of this line of thinking. The day was too gorgeous to stay inside and feel sorry for herself, especially with such newspaper success. Heading out in her yoga pants and an oversized Buckeye’s sweatshirt, Emery started for the Beachwalk, but the distant sounds of the carnival gave her another idea.
Back inside, she changed into jeans and pullover, wrangled her hair into a braid, tucked her phone, cottage key, and a couple of twenties in a crossbody bag, and headed up Avenue C against a stiff northern wind.
She purchased a ticket, then made her way through the crowd—between parents with strollers and kids on leashes, hand-holding teenagers, young couples, older couples, ladies in purple hats, men in ballcaps. She squeezed past people in Alabama, Florida State, Clemson, and Ohio State T-shirts.
She snapped a picture of one couple from the Buckeye State and sent it to Dad.
Emery:
We’re everywhere.
Dad:
Never doubted it.
She made a note to research the Fantastic Carnival’s relationship to Sea Blue Beach, see if she could find a story there, when she suddenly found herself in front of the Serendiporama.
“You”—she pointed to the crazy-eyed mechanical man in the crooked turban—“are evil.” She kicked at the machine. “You cannot tell the future.”
She didn’t have her white card from sixteen years ago, but she remembered what it said.
Immanuel,God withus.
The town saying, according to Caleb. And what did it mean? God didn’t feel near when Mom was dying.
Her phone pinged again. She expected to see an Ohio State meme from Dad, but it was Ava to the QuinnFam thread.
Ava:
I purchased my dress! AHHHHH! It’s stunning. I’m a bride!
Emery enlarged the photo for a better look. The dress and Ava were beautiful. She wore her long dark hair in an updo—to see how she’d look on her wedding day—a bright smile and otherworldly glow in her eyes. She was going to knock Jamie’s socks off.
Elianna:
It’s even more gorgeous in person, Aves.
Blakely:
