Memories in Sea Glass: Driftwood Key Beach Reads #2

20. Liberty

Liberty gazed out the car window at the passing scenery of Driftwood Key as Chase drove downtown to the Fourth of July celebration. So many houses big and small flew their flags proudly today.

She couldn’t help thinking of her father. He would have loved this.

“You’re looking at the flags, aren’t you?” he teased after a bit.

“Guilty as charged,” she laughed, glancing over at him.

“Thinking about your dad, too?” he asked.

“Are you a psychic?” she demanded, shaking her head in wonder. “Yes, I was, actually.”

“I mean there are so many flags,” Chase said, gesturing toward the homes they were passing. “I was thinking of your dad too.”

“Oh yeah?” Liberty asked. “What were you thinking?”

But Chase just shook his head.

“What?” she asked.

“Nothing, really,” he said. “I’ll tell you later. For now, I need to focus on finding parking.”

That made Liberty laugh again. There were absolutely no cars anywhere except the driveways.

“I think we got here a little early,” she teased him. “You can park wherever you want.”

“I want to find the best spot,” he said, winking at her.

Chase had picked her up a full hour before the scheduled start of the festivities. He’d said they wouldn’t want to miss anything, but she suspected he was really there for the same reason that she’d been so glad to see him.

They had missed each other.

The time they had shared this summer so far had been magical. Every day, Liberty found herself more and more open to the incredible idea that Chase really did still want her, with all his heart—that somehow he was going to choose her all over again.

She definitely wanted to be his wife again. She had never stopped loving him, even for a moment. And she couldn’t help but notice that neither of them had stopped wearing their rings.

But it wasn’t her place to initiate that conversation. Chase had said he would choose to be with her, and she was going to do as she had promised and wait for the inevitable serious conversation to happen.

The idea that he might ultimately walk away was getting more and more painful each time she allowed herself to consider it. So, she banished the thought as best she could and tried to focus on enjoying the present.

Liberty had always been a worrier and a planner, but somehow with Chase by her side, she found it easier to live in the moment.

After a minute or two, Chase pulled up by the little café and turned off the car.

“This is it?” Liberty teased. “The best spot in town?”

“Absolutely the best,” Chase agreed. “And we’re pointed in the right direction to head over to the McKinnon place afterward without having to turn around in the traffic.”

Liberty had to smile at the idea of traffic when downtown was empty except for the people putting together some kind of structure in the park. But he was probably right—at the end of the activities everyone would be heading home at once.

“You’re a pretty smart guy,” she said, winking at him.

“Not bad for a simple fisherman, huh?”

“You like your summer job this year, don’t you?” she asked him.

“I like being outside,” he said, nodding. “And Connor is great to work for. I could see doing this every summer.”

His face went tight all of a sudden, like he knew he had overstepped.

“I could see that too,” she told him quickly.

He smiled in relief and hopped out of the car. By the time Liberty had her seatbelt off and her purse in her hand, he was opening her door for her, like always.

“Thank you,” she told him, meaning it.

Chivalry was a rare quality. And there was something about their dating that reminded her that Chase had remained chivalrous and romantic throughout their marriage, not just to impress her at the start.

“Should we have some breakfast?” he asked, pointing to the café.

“Perfect,” Liberty said.

They headed in to find the place practically empty. The only other customers were a cohort of older gentlemen who always seemed to be there improbably early in the morning, chatting and chuckling together.

“Sit wherever you want,” Sam, the waitress called to them.

“Thank you, Sam,” Chase said politely.

“Take the window seat,” one of the old men suggested, pointing to one. “You’ll be able to see the whole parade from here, without having to fight for a spot on the sidewalk.”

“Good thinking,” Chase said, pulling out a chair for Liberty. “But we’ll probably get out there and try to take it all in up close after breakfast.”

“It looks better from in here,” one of the old men laughed. “You don’t have to hear the crying babies or smell the horses.”

Liberty bit her lip, trying not to laugh. Chase glanced at her worriedly and seemed relieved to see her eyes twinkling with mirth.

Sure, she would have killed for a crying baby of her own, but she had to stop looking backward to what she wished she had, and look forward to what the future might hold.

She and Chase might not be rich, but they were good people. He was a teacher, for heaven’s sake, and she was a pediatric nurse. Surely they would be allowed to adopt, even if it took time to save and some waiting to be chosen.

And if he decides I’m worth it…

“Coffee?” Sam asked cheerfully, pot in hand.

“Yes, please,” Liberty said, turning over the clean mug at her place setting.

Chase did the same and soon they each had a steaming brew in front of them.

“What can I bring you to eat?” Sam asked.

They ordered bacon and eggs and fruit cups. And Sam disappeared into the back again. Liberty opened a packet of creamer and watched it swirl in her coffee.

“This is really nice,” Chase said peacefully.

She looked up to see that he was watching her with a special smile on his handsome face.

“What?” she asked.

“Oh, nothing,” he said. “Everything.”

An hour later,the tiny downtown was hopping. Kids were getting their faces painted, bicycles were having last-minute decorations added, and the park was filled with families.

“Should we head out?” Chase suggested.

“Definitely,” Liberty said.

He paid the bill and left a nice tip for Sam, before opening the café door for Liberty.

“See you gentlemen later,” he said, waving to the other window table.

“Be good, kids,” one of them replied.

“Don’t do anything we wouldn’t do,” another said.

“That means don’t do anything at all,” the first one said. “Ha.”

The others chuckled and Chase grinned and shook his head.

The sunshine and happy sounds outside drew them to the park, where various local artists had set out displays of their crafts.

There were tables of baked goods too, and a woman selling lobster rolls from a cart. At a nearby stand, a man was preparing cups of flavored shaved ice for a line of customers. A tiny girl with two ponytails hopped around excitedly, looking at the pictures of the shaved ice on the cart as she waited.

“Look at the face painting,” Chase said, pointing across the street to where a line of kids was waiting, pointing to the pictures on the posters.

“Oh, cotton candy, too,” Liberty said, looking at the cart just past the face painting. She’d always loved the sticky treat.

“Let’s get some,” Chase decided, heading for the street.

“We just had breakfast,” Liberty said.

“It’s the Fourth of July,” Chase retorted with a smile. “We’re supposed to celebrate in the way our forefathers intended.”

“Did they intend for us to gorge ourselves on cotton candy?” Liberty teased him back.

“They would have called it fairy floss, but probably,” Chase said earnestly. “John Adams had a notorious sweet tooth.”

“This is what I get for marrying a teacher,” Liberty laughed, rolling her eyes.

“I’m only kidding,” Chase told her. “Fairy floss wasn’t invented until way later than seventeen seventy-six. But they definitely would have eaten it if it had been. Cotton candy is delicious, and besides, it’s your favorite, so we have to get some.”

She smiled, feeling completely spoiled. But before they could get to the cotton candy, they almost bumped into a little boy, who was crying like his heart was broken.

“Hey, bud,” Chase said, immediately crouching down. “What’s going on?”

Liberty looked around, but there were no parents searching frantically for a child in sight.

“I lost my little sister,” the boy whimpered. “She was right here.”

The boy looked to be about seven or eight years old, as far as Liberty could tell—far too young to be in charge of an even younger child.

“What does she look like?” Chase asked without a hint of judgement.

“She’s l-little and she has two ponytails,” the boy sniffled. “We were supposed to wait right here.”

He pointed to the line for face painting.

But Liberty was thinking back to the little girl in the park.

“I think I saw her,” she said excitedly. “Is that her by the shaved ice?”

She pointed to the cart in the park across the street, where the little girl was thankfully still excitedly studying the pictures of frozen treats.

“Tabby,” the little boy cried, darting into the street, which was thankfully shut down for the celebration.

Chase and Liberty followed, watching the boy grab his little sister by the shoulders. She turned to him, still smiling, but burst into tears as soon as she saw that her big brother was crying.

“I lost you,” he cried. “Where did you go?”

But she was suddenly crying too hard to answer.

“There’s so much fun stuff here today, isn’t there?” Liberty asked them cheerfully. “It’s really hard to stay in one spot when you can see so many nice things all over the place.”

The girl stopped crying to look at up at Liberty suspiciously.

“We’d better find your grown-up now,” Liberty said. “I’ll bet they’ll be super glad to find both of you.”

“We were supposed to wait,” the boy said worriedly. “Over there.”

He was pointing back at the face painting station, where a woman carrying two cones of cotton candy was jogging back and forth along the line looking completely distraught.

“Will,” she cried out. “Tabitha.”

“That’s her,” Tabby whimpered.

“Come on,” Chase said. “Let’s let her know everything’s okay.”

Liberty waved as the four of them headed over, knowing the woman would be in hysterics soon if she didn’t find them. She spotted Liberty and the kids a moment later, and Liberty could see her shoulders sink in relief as she sprinted over to meet them.

“Oh, thank heavens,” the lady said, crouching down. “What happened, kids? I was just getting your cotton candy.”

Tabby looked down at the ground, clearly ashamed.

“Tabby saw the shaved ice,” the boy, who must have been Will said. “She ran over and I didn’t see. These guys helped me find her.”

“That was very kind of them,” the lady said, smiling up at Liberty and Chase. “Normally, I would never leave Will and Tabby alone for even a moment, but the cotton candy line is right there next to the face painting line, and someone was really anxious for a treat.”

The two lines were right next to each other, and Liberty could understand how a harried mom might want to grab a special snack to make the wait easier on her kids.

“We were supposed to wait for you,” Will said sadly.

“You’re a wonderful big brother, Will,” the lady told him. “But it’s not your job to keep your sister safe, that’s my job. And the shaved ice is so pretty, I can’t blame you for wanting to see it up close, Tabby. That was my mistake, okay, guys?”

Will brightened up a little and Tabby grinned and wiped her little nose on her sleeve.

“Now I do need your help with something,” the lady said. “Can you two take these giant cotton candies for me? They’re making my arms tired.”

Both kids laughed and their eyes lit up when they each took a big cone of the feathery treat.

“Now let’s get back in line so we can catch up with the big kids after you get your faces painted, okay?” she asked them.

Liberty smiled to see how happily they beamed up at their mother.

“Thank you again,” the lady said. “I can’t tell you how grateful I am that Will bumped into you.”

“Tiger paint,” Tabby yelled suddenly, darting back toward the face painting boards.

“See you around,” the woman yelled over her shoulder as she grabbed Will’s hand and they ran after Tabby.

“That little one’s a spitfire,” Chase chuckled fondly.

“And Will is so serious,” Liberty said, feeling an affinity with the worried little boy. “I guess she’s got her hands full though if she has older ones too.”

Some people were incredibly blessed and lucky, but Liberty couldn’t find it within herself to feel anything but happy for them.

“Glad we were in the right place at the right time to help out,” Chase said with a smile. “Now I know someone else who needs a sweet treat.”

Liberty laughed and let him lead her over to the cotton candy, feeling happier than she had in a long time.