Oakley emerged dripping from the lagoon and flopped down onto a towel in the shade. Out in the sunshine, the kids clambered over black volcanic rocks and jumped into the cool, clear water. Anne dozed in a hammock, and Claire had posted up in the shade of the ironwood trees with a book.
Laurie smiled at her niece. The scene reminded her of the thousands and thousands of hours she had spent doing the exact same thing in the ironwood forest of her childhood. She used to go down with a book (or three) and read in the cool shade of the trees until she finally lost the light, at which point she would run home for dinner.
She wanted that for Mia – all the best bits of her island childhood, without any of the trauma. Her stomach twisted as she thought of the trauma her daughter had already been subjected to, and she felt an odd mixture of determination andhelplessness at the thought of her going through any more than she already had.
Oakley caught her attention and signed,You’re very quiet today.
Laurie shrugged and looked back out at Mia, who was dancing on the miniature lava-rock island with Harper.
Hey!Oakley signed in her face.
What’s your problem?Laurie shot back.
“Every time I try to talk to you,” she said and signed, “you just shrug me off!”
“I have a lot on my mind.” Mia was looking at them now, so Laurie spoke without signing.
“I know you do! That’s the point. You can talk to me.”
Sure. OK.Laurie meant to placate her, but the response came off sarcastic instead.
“What’syourproblem?” Oakley demanded.
Nothing.
“It’s not nothing!” She signed with big, sharp motions. “You shut me out! You shut all of us out when all we want to do is help you.”
“I don’t need your help.”
“What did I ever do to you?”
Oakley, enough!Anne signed.Leave her alone.
“I’ve done nothing but try to help her andI’mthe problem?” Oakley continued signing even when she was talkingaboutLaurie instead oftoher, and that conjured up a weird mixture of frustration and affection… which more or less summed up how she felt about her overbearing sister.
“Stop making everything about you,” Anne said.
Oakley opened her mouth and shut it again. Her hands hung quietly in the air for a moment and then dropped into her lap.
If anyone else had said that to Oakley, she would have jumped down their throat. But coming from her other half, she actually paused and took it in.
She glanced at Laurie and signed,Sorry.
“I’m opening a bookshop,” Laurie said.
“You’rewhat?” Oakley’s eyes went wide, showing the full circle of each blue iris.
She lifted her chin, daring her sister to say that she couldn’t manage it.
“I’m going to turn the old dance studio into a bookstore.”
“Laurie!” Anne nearly fell out of the hammock in her excitement. “Really?”
Really, she signed emphatically.
“That’s so exciting!”
“How?” Oakley asked. “With what money?”
