Chapter 1 #2
Faith’s confidence had grown through her work.
She’d been a kindergarten teacher for the last five years, and she’d loved it.
She’d learned so much about personalities from the children she taught, and she realized, as she taught them, how being quiet could also mean being strong.
She threw herself into her job and gave it everything she had, and her strength grew as she made friends with other teachers in her school.
The children inspired her, and she finally felt in control of things.
She loved the idea of keeping her own time, preparing instructional lessons the way she wanted to, and seeing the results when the children learned the concepts easily as a result of her preparation.
The kids looked up to her, they listened to her. She had to know how to be with the kids, and they were brutally honest. What Faith had found was that, in her quiet way, she taught them how to trust her. She’d found that they liked her—she made them giggle. And, crucially, they learned.
Last month, she’d received the best news—she was Teacher of the Year for her school.
She’d had a big party with all her friends, and the school had recognized her accomplishments with a banquet.
So many of the parents of her students came out for it that it touched her.
This was her year. She was finally the person she was meant to be.
And, for the first time in her life, she was happy.
So, when Nan called about this beach trip, knowing Casey would be there, Faith felt strong enough to see her sister.
The one thing that was still niggling at her was the fact that, while both sisters were very successful in their own right, Casey still had something that Faith didn’t: a family.
Faith had spent so many years building her self-confidence and working to make her life what she wanted that now she was worried she’d waited too long.
Dating people had always come second to her job, and at the time, she felt she couldn’t help that.
Now, looking back on it, she wondered if she’d been right.
She’d had two long-term relationships that had ended because of her constant working.
When her first relationship ended on that note, she’d just considered it a difference of opinion, that perhaps they just weren’t right for each other.
But then, when her last relationship with a man named Patrick had ended for the same reason she started to take a look at her priorities.
Patrick had been a great guy. He knew how to treat her, and she enjoyed being with him.
But when he wanted to take things further, and he mentioned her pulling back a little on her work, she’d dug in her heels.
She felt at the time like he was trying to take away her control.
But now, she wondered if perhaps she should’ve given a little.
Because, in the end, the children in her classroom would go home to their parents, but she would go home to an empty house, with no children of her own.
Unlike Casey who had a wonderful husband and a beautiful daughter named Isabella.
She couldn’t help but feel sad at the thought.
But she wouldn’t let that spoil this vacation
Faith’s long, brown hair chased the air as it rushed in and out of the open car window.
It felt good to be out of her usual skirts and button-up shirts.
Her sunglasses and dangly earrings were casual like the shorts she had on and the flip-flops on her feet.
She’d painted her toenails a beachy pink, and she was ready to have a little fun.
Teaching children was hard work, and she needed the break.
She wondered if Casey would welcome the slower pace.
Her sister was a lawyer for a firm in Boston and from all she’d heard, it seemed that she worked all the time these days too.
Apart from her sister’s job, which Faith would never want, Casey had everything.
She had an amazing family, and a house full of photos and reminders of the travels and adventures they’d had.
As a kid, when Faith had thought about what her life would be like when she grew up, she’d imagined a house full of children, a loving husband, and a job that she loved.
She was too young to grasp at the time that those things weren’t guaranteed.
Faith’s personal life was a little like the empty lot she was going to see: a blank spot just waiting for something to be built on it.
As she drove towards the empty lot where the family cottage once stood, the sun warm on her face, she thought about why her life had ended up different than her sister’s.
Faith wanted to know what it was like to hear the patter of feet around the house, and look into the eyes of her child, to see the perfect mixture of her and the man she loved.
She wanted to spend her days passing on her family traditions and making new ones.
She’d wanted to begin that chapter of her own life, but, once again, Casey had taken the lead, marrying her husband, Scott, and having a baby together.
When Scott’s job had taken them to Boston, Faith was actually relieved.
She could finally see Nan and her mother.
Seeing Casey and Scott together reminded her of the family that she still didn’t have, the happiness that she knew had to be out there waiting for her that she still hadn’t found.
And it reminded her of the sister who had betrayed her.
Who didn’t care enough for her and could hurt her terribly without even a second thought.
When Faith had left to go to college, she felt her life was a clean slate, and she was optimistic that she’d fill it up at some point.
She wasn’t upset anymore, but she was still carrying around the hurt that Casey had caused.
She’d been away from Casey for so long now, and she’d made something of herself, so she was ready to see her.
Faith pulled the car up into the drive to the empty lot, and she had to close her gaping mouth.
Right there in front of her was a blast from the past. Like a ghost, sending waves of laughter and memories through her mind.
She blinked to be sure she wasn’t hallucinating.
Without warning, a lump formed in her throat as she got out to look at what was in front of her.
The rush of coastal wind pushed against her as she made her way through the sea grass and over the dune.
With a hand over her eyes to shield the sunlight that was too bright for even her sunglasses to manage, she let her eyes roam the new structure in front of her.
It was tall, sitting on stilts like the old cottage had been, brown, shingled siding, with a porch going all the way around. It was magnificent.
Every cottage was given a name, and that name was displayed on the front of it to assist renters in finding their vacation home.
This one had a wooden sign centered below the roofline of the house that said, “Better Together.” She blinked away the tears that were clouding her vision as she thought about how much better life had been when they were all together here.
The new cottage—looking so much like Nan’s had looked—stood, looming like a ghost of happier times.
There was nothing to indicate that someone was living in the cottage—no cars, no beach towels on a clothesline or hanging over the railings like they’d done when she was a kid—so she walked closer to have a better look.
There were manufacturer stickers on the windows and a pile of lumber and flooring propped against one of the posts.
This was a brand new cottage. She knew she probably shouldn’t, but, since no one was there, she decided to climb the steps to get a look from the porch.
With every step she took she felt like she was going back in time to her childhood cottage.
Her heart pounded as she anticipated the view that she’d spent so many years seeing from that old porch swing.
The cottage had been in her family for generations.
It had belonged to Nan. She’d only found out as an adult that just before it was destroyed Nan had told Faith’s mom she could no longer physically manage the upkeep on the cottage or make the journey to board it up every hurricane season.
Martha, a single mother, couldn’t take it on, so, sadly, when the house was leveled, Martha suggested they sell the lot, and, given its location, they’d make a ton of money.
Martha had confided in Faith once that she’d cried when Nan told her the cottage was gone.
But, given the burden it placed on Nan, it had been for the best.
Faith walked across the brand new wooden porch floor and leaned against the railing on her elbows, the tide relentless like her memories.
She remembered the sandcastles she’d built in that sand, the hours swimming in the ocean with Casey, the way the salt tasted on her lips.
This had been a place of nothing but happiness for her, and standing there, the ocean view was a reminder of the time in her life before the burdens of adulthood had settled in, before Casey had torn them apart.
Faith’s life was split into two distinct parts, and this place represented that first part.
Just seeing it again, pulled her toward that happiness she’d had as a child and made her want to feel that again.
Tears welled up in her eyes, and she brushed one away as it escaped down her cheek.