“Emery, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay, Caleb. I didn’t know how to text, ‘We’re leaving and Mom’s dying.’ I sat in the palm tree stand crying, waiting ... scared. The entire summer felt like a fraud. We didn’t have this extended family vacation to make memories, to findourvacation place to come back to every few years. No, it was to say good-bye to Mom.”
“When I got your text, the Driftwood Door was right in front of me. I figured I’d run in, find Cass, then head to you.”
“I cried the first hour we were on the road, texting you over and over. I didn’t understand why you didn’t answer. I finally fell asleep, waking up when Dad pulled into a Marriott about dawn. At first I thought,‘What a horrible dream,’then I saw Dad helping Mom out of the car.” Emery shoved her plate aside and took a long drink of water. “I saw how frail she was, and there was no going back. While Mom slept, I wandered around some Tennessee town, crying off and on, trying to call you. I don’t think Dad slept much at all, just drank gallons of coffee to get us home.”
“I’m sorry, Emery. Sorry I wasn’t there.” He reached for her hands, his sincerity reflecting in his eyes.
“It’s okay. I look back at the order of events and wonder if itjust wasn’t meant for us to have that final night, for me to cry on your shoulder.” She laughed softly. “I had this idea we’d run away together.” She dabbed the tears under her eyes. “I just wanted to be anywhere but in my life.”
“I’d have been tempted, Em. But after confronting Cass at the bar, I swore to myself I’d never hurt my parents.”
“So there is a silver lining to our clouds,” Emery said. “Once we got back to Cleveland, I put Sea Blue Beach out of my mind. I was going to quit basketball, but Mom refused to hear it. If I wasn’t in class or on the court, I was with her. By the end, she had a hospice bed in the living room facing the front window. She loved the fall leaves.”
He reached again for her hand. “You loved her well, Emery”
“I tried. She liked you, by the way,” Emery said. “So, what’s the rest of your story? What happened when you got home? Did you tell your parents about the Driftwood?”
“When I got home, two police cruisers were in the street. Mom had tried to call me, but the fish weren’t answering and she freaked. I didn’t tell them where Cassidy was, only that she was okay and wanted to be left alone. The next few days were rough, but we found a new normal. Through other sources, probably the West End coaches, my parents found out she was at the Driftwood Door. By the time they went to see her, she was gone.”
“Gone, gone?”
“Gone, gone. For about a year. But to give her credit, she occasionally texted. She showed up six months before I graduated, then left again. The next time she came home, I was a sophomore at Cornell, and she was very pregnant with Bentley.” Caleb reached for the check, then left two twenties on the table. “It’s been a roller coaster ride ever since.”
“Roller coaster? Sure you don’t you mean a Ferris wheel?” Emery leaned against him as they walked out the deck door, into the mist settling on the beach.
He laughed. “I’m never living that down, am I?”
“I’m bringing it up at your funeral. ‘Caleb is now riding the big Ferris wheel in the sky ...’”
“You’ll be at my funeral?”
“Sure, but many, many years from now.”
Arms linked, they headed down the Beachwalk, through hazy amber light cloaked in mist. She loved the feel of Caleb’s strong arm under her hand. She loved the sound of their even foot crunch on the sandy concrete.
Maybe being here meant the past did not have to shade her forever. Maybe the mist of time would wash away the sadness and leave behind the good.
Caleb gazed down at Emery, and the look in his eyes was more than friendship. “What do you think your mom would say about you living in Sea Blue Beach sixteen years later?”
Emery raised her face to the misty rain. “She’d be happy, I think.”
“And what about me?”
“You? She’d be glad you were in Sea Blue Beach too.” Emery wiped the dew dripping from the ends of his floppy hair.
She’d deflected his question with her answer, but it felt too soon, too intimate, to confess Mom would be thrilled that Emery was falling in love with Caleb Ransom once again.
21
CALEB
On Friday afternoon, Caleb attended a Valparaiso Middle School assembly, where Bentley won a prize for math.
After posing for pictures, Caleb shot off a text to Cassidy, while Bentley celebrated with his growing crowd of friends. In the last six weeks, his confidence had skyrocketed. He laughed more easily. He’d also gained another five pounds.
Caleb:
