Chapter 21
Muriel spent the rest of the week going through everything she had saved that had to do with Zack. She grabbed a box she had bought at a store long ago for no rhyme or reason and decided to put everything inside—notes and pieces of jewelry, restaurant receipts and ticket stubs, photographs and journals.
When she had cleaned out everything, she stared down at the box and noticed it had a print with lighthouses on it.
She covered her mouth and laughed. She had asked for a sign to tell her what to do and she just now noticed the lighthouses.
“Sign number one,” she said, pushing the box underneath her bed.
She decided to get ready, pulling out an outfit she had picked out with Megan and Katie when they’d gone shopping the other day. It was a light green dress she wouldn’t have picked out for herself, but the girls had insisted she looked great in it.
She felt great in it as well. Since her stay in Blueberry Bay, she had been exercising daily—walking, running, or hiking. Before, she’d sat around and gone out to eat. Now, she ate more fresh foods and made recipes she’d learned from her aunt Remy at the market. She even started cutting out processed foods and sugary sweets and replaced them with real foods. She wasn’t starving herself, but she wasn’t stuffing herself out of boredom like before.
In fact, she hadn’t felt bored or lonely in a long time, she realized suddenly.
She looked in the mirror at her reflection. She smiled at herself, feeling happy. She snapped a selfie and sent it to the girls.
What do you think?she texted Megan and Katie in their group chat.
You look fantastic! Megan wrote back.
It’s perfect on you! Katie sent a kissing face emoji. Then wrote, Good luck!
Muriel inhaled a long, deep breath. She needed all the good fortune she had to continue with her appointment.
Meet you at dinner, she typed, then took off for the clinic.
Muriel arrived early at her appointment.
“You’re just in luck,” the receptionist said. “We had a cancelled appointment, and the doctor is able to get you in early.”
“I guess I am lucky today,” she said, following the nurse into the examination room. She hoped her luck would continue.
“Let’s swing through here first and get an X-ray,” the nurse said, leading her to another waiting room. A man sat alone in a chair.
Muriel sat down and smiled at him, holding her casted arm in her lap. She wanted that gosh darned thing off right now. She didn’t want to wait for an X-ray, because she wasn’t sure if she did a proper job taking care of her arm. What if it hadn’t healed and she’d have to wear it even longer?
She wanted to go surfing before the end of the summer.
She got her X-ray and waited for the doctor, closing her eyes and praying that her arm had healed.
“Ms. Smith?” the doctor said as he opened the door.
“Yes,” she said, checking out his demeanor for a sign.
“So, how’d you break it?” he asked, putting the X-ray on a bright illuminator.
“I fell while surfing. I wasn’t very good at it.”
The doctor looked at the X-ray and then wheeled over to her in his chair. “Can I take a look at your arm?”
“Sure,” she said, holding it out.
He wiggled her fingers. “Do you feel any pain?”
She shook her head. “Not since the accident.”
He nodded. “Good. That’s good.” He got up and opened the cabinet. “Well, it looks like your surfing days aren’t over just yet.”
“Really?” She smiled immediately. “You mean this thing is coming off?”
“That thing is coming off.” He pulled out a tiny circular saw. “Let’s get you a pair of goggles.”
It smelled and it looked half the size it had before, but Muriel’s arm was free.
When she got into the car, she almost sent a picture of her skinny arm to Oliver. What would be the point? The last time she had heard from him was weeks ago. He hadn’t even bothered to contact her when he’d come to Concord to visit his ex, who he clearly wasn’t over.
She drove straight to the restaurant to meet the girls, blasting the radio as she drove through town.
“Look at it, ladies!” Muriel held up her arm to Megan and Katie, who sat with two other women.
“You got the cast off!” Katie said, clapping her hands.
“That’s fantastic!” Megan cheered as well. “Muriel, meet some of my friends I’ve known since high school.”
Before Megan even said her name, Muriel knew who it was. Amy.
“This is my oldest friend, Amy Silver,” Megan said. “We met all the way back in kindergarten.”
“Hi, Amy.” Muriel held out her hand. “I’m Muriel.”
Amy lifted an eyebrow and looked at her arm. “Are you the teacher from Blueberry Bay?”
“No, but my mom lives there,” Muriel said.
“I told Megan I had to meet you,” Amy said. She reached out her hand and grabbed Muriel’s, smiling. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“You have?” Muriel wondered what Megan had said.
“Do you know Oliver Abbott?” Amy asked, then sipped her drink, waiting for Muriel to answer.
“Yes.” Muriel wanted to pretend it was a strange, small-world coincidence, but after she’d seen Amy with Oliver, she had expected to run into her again. “You must be Amy.”
She almost said his Amy but corrected herself just in time.
Amy’s beautiful grin was like something you’d see in a catalog for a toothpaste advertisement. She was gorgeous, with long dark locks and the biggest bluest eyes Muriel had ever seen.
“So you’re Oliver’s Muriel!” Amy laughed and slid out of the booth, opening up a spot for Muriel. “I’ve been dying to meet you.”
The waitress stepped up to the table, and her name tag had Jacqueline spelled the same way as her grandmother, but when Muriel noticed the mermaid tattoo on the waitress’s arm, she knew she didn’t need to look any further. Sign number two.
“Oliver’s Muriel?” Katie winked at Muriel. “You mean Oliver, Oliver?”
“He said he’s really happy.” Amy sighed. “He seems to be head over heels for you.”
“He’s what?” Muriel didn’t believe it. “I saw you two out at dinner the other night.”
This made Amy jerk her head back. “You did?”
Muriel couldn’t believe she had confessed about her stalking. “I saw you together and left.”
“When we first got divorced, we promised that if we ever fell in love with someone, we’d tell the other person first so that we didn’t hear it through the grapevine,” Amy explained. “He was there to tell me about you.”
Everyone went silent and stared at Muriel.
Megan turned to Amy and said, “Well, tell us what he said!”
Amy shook her head. “It’s not my place to tell.”
Muriel lifted her hands to her mouth. “Oh.”
Katie waved her hand at the server. “We’ll need another round!”
For the rest of the night, the women told stories of falling in love, from their first crushes to their current situations.
“I didn’t think he had feelings for me,” Muriel said honestly. “I thought he was still hung up on you.”
Amy laughed at that. “No, Oliver and I were the breakup and make up kind of couple. We’d fight, we’d break up, then we’d start the cycle all over again. We were always best at being friends.”
Oliver had been one of Muriel’s closest friends this past summer—she wouldn’t have gone on this self-discovery journey had it not been for his encouragement—but he had turned into someone much more than that.
“He didn’t even call me when he came to Concord,” she said.
“He thought you were engaged to someone else,” Amy said, tilting her head at Muriel. “You should call him or drive to Blueberry Bay and talk to him.”
Muriel rubbed her thumb down the side of her water, leaving a streak. “I just want to make sure I’m happy with myself before I start a relationship with anyone else.”
“I hear that,” Katie said. “I went from one relationship to another and realized I’d never be happy with anyone when I wasn’t happy with myself.”
“I don’t want to end up like my parents,” Muriel said. “I think they married each other because that was what was expected, and I’ve found you get disappointed when you expect things.”
The rest of the night, the group of women talked about everything from good books to the crisis in the Middle East to volunteering at the community shelter. Muriel left the restaurant with plans to meet again and a full stomach and heart. She’d had an amazing time.
“It’s so nice to meet you,” Amy said as she hugged Muriel goodbye. “We’ll definitely have to get together soon.”
Muriel agreed. “I’d love that.”
As she drove home, she felt a sensation of pure joy running through her. A feeling she had as a little girl when meeting a new friend in the neighborhood. She had a group of friends that were her friends.
As she lay in bed, trying to fall asleep, she couldn’t help but think of Oliver and what Amy had said. Did he really have feelings for her? Was she just chasing another relationship before really figuring herself out? Did she think she had to have a relationship because that was what was expected of her?
She looked up at the ceiling, wishing she could hear the ocean, not the traffic, outside her window to help her think. What was she going to do?