Chapter 7 #2
They gathered up the tripod and supplies, put their drinks in the fridge, and went down to the soft, powdery sand. The pearly coast stretched out before them, leading to an expanse of bright turquoise-and-cobalt-blue striped water. The waves rolled softly onto the shore.
Blair buried the bottom of the tripod legs in the sand to keep it from blowing over and fiddled with the timer on the camera. “I set it for five minutes. Let’s just do our thing and see what it captures.” She lifted the hem of her dress and padded down to the water.
Emily followed, along with Sienna. The salty spray bubbled over Emily’s toes, her predicaments seeming so far from here. She breathed in a cleansing breath of briny air.
Blair bent down and ran her fingers through the water. “You can see all the way to the bottom.” She fished out a white shell and held it up to show them. “My first memento.” With a grin, she slipped it into her pocket.
Wind rippled the bottoms of their dresses as they walked back up the beach and sat down in the sand. They fell into a comfortable silence. The only sounds were the quiet shushing of the tide and the occasional squawk of a seagull.
There wasn’t another house visible in either direction, the smooth sand reaching for each end of the shoreline.
The sun beat down on them, and Emily was glad that whatever storm had been on Sienna’s phone was far enough offshore to be nonexistent.
It was as if this perfect day were meant for the three of them—a balm for their souls.
Sienna was the first to break the hush. “Look.” She pointed to the horizon where a white sailboat was almost out of view.
The breeze coming off the water cooled Emily’s hot skin. “This place sure does make you feel like life might turn out okay, doesn’t it?”
Sienna leaned back in the sand. “It does.” Then, right away, she sat up. “I’ve got an idea.”
“That’s scary,” Blair teased.
“Seriously.” Sienna looked out over the ebbing surface of the Gulf. “What if we took a few hours each day where we purposely steered clear of our regular lives? We could fill the time with all sorts of adventures—boat rides, shopping, long hours reading…”
Emily raised her hand. “I’m in.”
Blair tipped her head and made eye contact from under her hat. “That’s the best idea I’ve heard in a while. But what if we took it a step further and one of us plans each day? The outing can be a surprise.”
“I love that,” Emily said with an excited gasp. “Should we start today?”
“I’ll take today,” Sienna said. “I already have an idea. I spotted it on the way into town.” She got up and brushed the sand from her dress. “I’ll see if I can get us in.”
Emily and Blair stood as well. Blair went over to the camera and peered at the image it had caught. They gathered around as she shielded the screen from the sun. The three of them, from the back, were sitting side by side on the beach, looking out on the water.
“That looks more posed than the shots we tried to do,” Sienna said with a laugh.
Blair shut off the camera and folded up the tripod. “It’s a keeper, for sure.”
When they got back inside, Emily checked her phone and slumped in dread. All the calm she’d worked for dissipated in an instant. She shouldn’t have looked at it.
“What’s wrong?” Blair asked.
“I have two missed calls and a text from Will saying I need to call him ASAP.”
Sienna gave a quiet scoff.
“He says I need to sign a form. It could be something for the real estate agent. I’ll be right back.
” With a sigh, Emily went out by the pool and dialed his number.
Her shoulders tensed the minute he answered.
“I need to sign something?” she asked, turning toward the coastal breeze, yearning for the tranquility it offered.
“I’ve been trying to get a hold of you. Where have you been?”
“None of your business.”
Her comment had clearly startled him. The tick of silence gave her strength. She’d never been combative; it wasn’t in her nature. But that’s how upset she was—so wounded that she wasn’t acting herself, and she was glad he’d noticed.
“The property disclosure statement has to have both our signatures before the agent shows the house,” he said, his voice clipped. “We had to disclose anything wrong with the property. I took the liberty of listing out all the things.”
My hero. She gritted her teeth. Heaven forbid he’d have to do a little work. This was his mess after all. She tucked a wayward lock of hair behind her ear.
“I mentioned the loose shingles and the drip under the sink in the kitchen. Can you think of anything else?”
She took in a long breath of warm, briny air and fixated on the rolling waves at the shore.
He didn’t need to call her for this. It could’ve easily been done with a text.
He’d already listed everything that was wrong with the house—he knew that.
Was he purposely trying to keep tabs on her?
How dare he. He’d lost the right to know anything about what she was doing.
How had they come to this? He hadn’t even had the decency to sit down with her and tell her how he’d strayed so far from what they’d promised one another. What had become so irrevocably broken between them that she hadn’t been able to see it coming?
“No,” she replied. One word was all she could muster without her lips trembling from the absolute anger she felt toward him for wrecking their perfect life.
“Okay, can you sign it? I have to go. It should be in your email.”
“Sure.” She got off the phone and stretched her arms out to release the pinch in her shoulders.
Then she opened her email, signed the form, and sent it off.
With that one task, a deluge of wedding cancellation tasks came flooding back.
She needed to call the florist, the photographer, the caterer, the bakery, the seamstress…
Had Will called any of his side of the wedding party?
Suddenly, it all locked in her chest like a boulder of panic.
“What did he want?” Sienna asked when Emily went back inside.
“Real estate requirements,” she replied.
“I’m surprised he didn’t reach out to me to sell the house.” Sienna winked at Emily, evidently trying to lighten the atmosphere. “Who did he get anyway?”
“I don’t know. I don’t care, to be honest.”
“Have you let your landlord know so he’ll keep your apartment?”
“I need to, but I know he had another couple looking at it. I think they plan to move in.”
“Where are you going to live then?” Sienna asked, retrieving their drinks from the fridge and handing them to Blair and Emily.
The sun went behind a cloud, the room darkening in response.
“Honestly, I have no idea. I thought maybe I should go home and live with my parents in Virginia for a while, but I’ve signed my contract to teach next year, so I can’t really do that.”
Blair offered an empathetic frown. “You’re welcome to stay with me until you find somewhere.”
“Thank you. I’ll figure something out.” She didn’t want to be a burden.
A text pinged from Will that just said, “Thanks.” Emily cleared it from her screen. “Enough of this negativity.” She slipped her phone into her pocket.
“So, Sienna,” Blair said. “What are we doing today?”
Sienna grinned. “Something inside.” She lifted her head to the view through the large window. “The clouds are moving in. Just in case we get a shower, we’d better drive.”
Rain or shine, Emily was glad for their decision to leave their lives for a while. Whatever they were doing, it had to be better than what she had to face back home.