The week before the girls went back to school, they finally persuaded their dad to leave his office behind for a day to join them at the beach.
Determined to stay all the way through sunset, they packed the car with towels, sand toys, boogie boards, a big umbrella, and plenty of food. Oakley filled all of their reusable bottles with water and tea, and they were ready to go.
Harper and Hayden sang “We’re Going to the Beach” on repeat for the entire thirty-minute drive. Every time that Trent told them to stop, they collapsed into giggles and then started up again thirty seconds later.
They got to the beach early enough to snag a decent parking spot and a good spot in the sand, where they set up their umbrella and laid out their oversized beach towels side by side like a big picnic blanket.
Hayden sprawled out in the sun with a paperback, and Harper ran straight into the waves.
Oakley stood in the damp sand with the waves lapping at her shins, watching her eight year old splash and play. It was a gorgeous day: pale blue sky above a sparkling turquoise sea.
She tried to appreciate it, and she muscled her mind towards gratitude… but in her heart, she longed for the lush greenery of Pualena. The heat was gentler there, and the pace of life was slower. Despite living on the same island as her mother and sisters, Oakley felt terribly homesick.
Hayden jumped into the ocean to cool off, and then the girls settled into making an enormous village of sandcastles. Oakley glanced up the beach, and her heart sank when she saw Trent huddled in the shade, eyes on his phone.
Even on a rare family day, he was working.
Or not working, which was even worse.
Couldn’t he just be there with his daughters?
Was he incapable of being truly present for them for a single day?
Oakley took a deep breath and turned back towards the ocean. She settled into the sand with the sun on her back and watched her daughters play.
He works hard for us,she reminded herself.He provides.
But all of her usual mantras felt stale.
The sun rose higher, and Oakley donned a hat and oversized shirt to shield her melanin-deficient skin from the harsh Kona sunshine. She smiled as she recalled her conversation with Anne… and then her smile faltered as homesickness set in again.
Aside from her daughters, Anne was Oakley’s favorite person on the planet. She was back in Pualena, living on the island again for the first time since they were kids, and Oakley could barely fit in a visit one day a week. Once school and homework ate upall their time, those visits would probably dry up. They would see each other once a month, if that.
Life had been that way for a long time. Despite living on the same island as Laurie and Halia and their parents, Oakley saw her family maybe ten times per year. She had brushed it off as normal, and she had been too consumed with running her own little family to give it much thought.
Now, the guilt of her absence from their lives felt crushing. She had squandered precious time with her dad, and now she would never see him again. Her daughters would hardly remember him.
She had been blind to Laurie’s struggles. She had all but abandoned her mother to her grief. And now she was missing out on precious time with Anne… and for what? A husband who couldn’t spend a single day with his family.
It felt crazy after all she had done to build a life for her family in Waimea… but more and more, Oakley was consumed by the idea of moving south.
Would it really matter to Trent, in the end? He was either on the mainland or in his home office. What difference would a move make to him, really?
Oakley stood and walked up the beach to join her husband in the shade of their umbrella. He glanced up from his phone and smiled at her.
“Gorgeous day, huh?”
Oakley nodded and tried to return his smile, but her face wouldn’t quite cooperate.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m not looking forward to sending them back to school,” she said quietly.
Trent rolled his eyes impatiently. “Not this again.”
“It’s not just about school. I want to be closer to my family.”
“Now you want to move toPualena? You can’t be serious.”
