Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Mornings at the Marine Center were Rick’s happy place. He was lucky enough to love all his jobs, but there was just something about the peaceful routine of feeding the fish and other animals, all tucked up pleasantly in their tanks, that made him feel calm and centered. It would be great once the doors opened too, of course, especially since summer meant that most of the clientele would be children and their parents or caregivers.
Great, he thought with an inward chuckle, but not peaceful. Nobody knew how to be exuberant like a kid on vacation.
So he enjoyed the tranquility of the morning while he could, the dim blue light from inside the tanks casting a dreamy glow over the center.
Some of the lights clicked on, causing Rick to turn toward the front of the building, where his coworker, Tyler, had just entered.
“Oh, shoot, sorry,” Tyler said as he spotted Rick. “Were you doing your ‘commune with the fish’ thing?”
Rick rolled his eyes playfully at Tyler’s teasing tone. “I wasn’t ‘communing’ with anybody, thank you very much. Just enjoying the quiet.”
Tyler shrugged. “You say potato, I say po- tah -to,” he joked, exaggerating the last word comically. “But for real, I can turn the lights back off if you’d prefer it.”
“Nah.” Rick waved off the offer. “I was about to go turn them on in a minute, anyway. We’re getting close enough to opening that I have to get my game face on. Chill time over.”
Tyler raised the enormous cup of coffee in his hands. “Yeah, I come about my game face the old-fashioned way. Lots and lots of caffeine.”
“Oh, kid,” Rick said, shaking his head in mock disappointment. “If you think I haven’t already had my coffee, I don’t even know what to do with you.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Tyler shot back as he headed deeper into the building to set down his things before starting for the day.
For a while, they worked in companionable silence, only occasionally speaking up to ask about this task or that one. Rick enjoyed working with Tyler. Not only did the younger man have a fun sense of humor that kept work enjoyable even on stressful days, he was energetic with the kids and intensely knowledgeable about their subject matter. Plus, having someone you could trust to tend to their tasks without checking in was always a plus, Rick reasoned.
The Marine Center opened to its usual morning rush, the kids looking like they’d never run out of energy and the parents looking like they could have used another two or three hours of sleep. One thing Rick had learned from his years of working in tourism-adjacent fields, between the Marine Center and his whale watching tour business, was that kids on vacation woke up at about the same time as they did on Christmas morning… which was to say, before the sun.
“You’re so great with the kids here,” one mom said to him gratefully after he’d patiently walked her somewhat anxious son through interacting with the animals in the touch tank. “We come back to Whale Harbor every summer and we probably come to the Marine Center, oh I don’t know, three or four times on every trip. You’ll see us again this week,” she added with a laugh.
Rick grinned back at her. “I look forward to it. Danny,” he nodded to her son, who was now sounding out words on the informational plaque about lobsters, “was really great with all the animals once he learned they weren’t afraid of him. Some kids just need a minute to get comfortable, and animals are great at providing that kind of patient support.”
“Like I said,” the mom said with a nod as her husband came up beside her, “amazing. Aren’t they great here, Peter?”
“Oh, absolutely,” her husband agreed at once. “Do you have kids yourself? You’re clearly a natural with them.”
Rick knew that the smile that spread over his face was probably a little bit goofy. “Oh, not yet,” he said.
Peter gave him a conspiratorial wink. “’Not yet,’” he echoed. “That’s the look I used to have. Now I have three kids who buried me up to my neck in sand yesterday.” Despite the nature of the man’s words, he couldn’t have looked happier when describing his life.
“Three kids who are going to lose their cool if we don’t follow them,” his wife added, nodding to where Danny and two older girls who looked like they might be twins were waving eagerly at their parents. “Thanks again for a great program,” she said to Rick as the parents hurried off.
Rick turned to help another batch of children navigate the touch tank, but the happy parents’ words stuck in his mind. Now that he and Darla were planning on starting their family, he’d been looking forward to all things baby: the cute clothes, the snuggles, even the late nights spent rocking… though he was sure he’d feel a little less excited about the late nights part when the time came.
He hadn’t really thought too far ahead of that stage though. Now, however, he pictured all the exciting things he could do with an older kid, or kids. They were a seaside town, which meant teaching them to swim, of course, but he would also get to share his love of marine life in general. They could go hunting for clams along the rockier parts of the shore, could comb carefully through tide pools for starfish, crabs, and sand dollars. He’d teach them how to be safe on a boat and then they could go on adventures… assuming the kids didn’t inherit their mom’s seasickness, he thought with a chuckle.
“What are you looking so happy about, eh?” Tyler nudged him. They’d reached the natural lull that came around lunchtime, when growling bellies led families to retreat en masse to Whale Harbor’s restaurants. This was the time of day where Tyler and Rick made sure everything was still in order for the afternoon crowd, but it was also a good time for a chat.
Rick couldn’t help letting his excitement spill over.
“Well, actually,” he said, grinning wide. “Darla and I are planning to start a family.”
Tyler’s mouth dropped open in a look of happy surprise. “Oh my gosh, man, that’s amazing! Congratulations!” He clapped Rick heartily on the back.
“Thanks,” Rick said. “It’s hard to say how long it will be before anything actually happens, obviously, but…”
“But it’s still exciting that you’re getting ready to take that step!” Tyler interjected. “And, I mean, you don’t need me to say it, but you’re going to be a great dad.”
“It means a lot, actually. Thank you.”
“Any time,” Tyler said. “And then, when the kid is here, I’ll be cool Uncle Tyler, and I’ll teach them all about how to be hip and young, since their dad is such an old man and everything.”
Rick nodded solemnly. “Yes, young people totally still say ‘hip’ these days. You’ll be great at that job.”
Tyler put two hands to his heart like he’d been wounded. “Low blow, man, low blow.”
Just then a family entered on a gust of sunshine and summer. Rick and Tyler both returned to their regular posts, ready to introduce another group to the wonders of Rhode Island marine life. In the back of his mind, however, Rick enjoyed the quiet optimism of his coworker’s well-wishes.
“Charity, my darling, you are a dream,” Lori said, looking out at the simple, streamlined display of Charity’s living room. Lori had brought a carful of the things she often used to build staging, and Byron from her office was on standby with his truck if any larger pieces were needed, but Charity had done such a wonderful job that Lori almost didn’t want to touch it.
Well, okay. She was probably going to light a candle or two and position some flowers. She was a perfectionist. But Charity had done an extraordinary job and Lori wasn’t afraid to say it.
“Oh, thank you!” Charity said, looking pleased with the compliment. “Setting this up actually helped us out a little bit too. Since we’re combining households, we have two of everything, and having two blenders is one thing, but having two couches is something else entirely! I don’t know if this is even possible, but if someone ends up wanting anything in here when they buy the house, we’re going to end up selling all this stuff,” she added.
Lori nodded, making a mental note. “It’s definitely not guaranteed,” she told the other woman, “but some people do like taking on a place with partial furnishings. I can always offer. And I might be interested in taking that coffee table off your hands,” she added as an afterthought, looking at the artfully distressed yellow table, her mind churning with possibilities. “I could end up using that in stagings.”
“Oh! Well, yes, you can have first dibs on anything,” Charity said brightly. “You have no idea how grateful we are for all the help you’ve provided making this process as smooth as possible.”
Lori wrapped an arm around Charity’s shoulders and gave her a quick squeeze. She held a motherly affection for all of her daughters’ friends, and Charity was no exception.
“Oh, sweetheart, you have no idea how grateful I am. You’ve been so wonderful and helpful and easy to work with.” With some effort, she pushed back thoughts of Dorothy. She didn’t need to spend even more time fretting over her eccentric client. Besides, it wouldn’t be fair to Dominic and Charity, who deserved her full attention today.
“Let’s just agree that we’re both amazing,” Charity joked with a playful flip of her dark ponytail.
“Deal,” Lori agreed.
Some real estate agents, Lori knew, felt strongly that the previous owners of a house should never be present at an open house, felt that their presence distracted potential buyers from envisioning their new future in a place. Some other agents felt strongly in the opposite direction, feeling that the intimate knowledge of a house that came from living in it was something that only a previous inhabitant could provide… and something that a future inhabitant needed to know.
Lori fell somewhere in the middle. She decided these things on a case-by-case basis. Some clients would struggle to see their former home go to someone else, while others would share beloved memories. In Charity’s case, there was an added reason to have her present, as she would be the next-door neighbor to the new residents.
Plus, Lori had the sneaking suspicion that Charity and Dominic’s charming love story, and the adoring way the couple looked at one another, would add a certain magical sparkle to the house that she couldn’t manufacture any other way.
“Okay,” Lori said, clapping her hands together decisively. “We’re a few minutes out from getting started. In a property like this one, with its great location and proximity to the schools, we’re probably going to see a lot of potential buyers today. If you get overwhelmed by all the questions they ask you, feel free to duck out and take a breather. It can be a lot.”
Charity shot her an amused look. “Lori, I run a coffee shop .”
“Okay, good point,” Lori said, chuckling. “Let’s put those people skills to the test, shall we?”
Over the next two hours, the many potential buyers who floated in and out of the house made good on Lori’s words. After decades in the business, Lori was an expert at detecting at a glance who was a serious potential client and who was just taking a casual glance. She directed Charity toward the former group.
“What are your reasons for moving out of the neighborhood?” asked a woman about Charity’s age, perhaps a little younger. She rested a hand on her pregnant belly.
“Oh, I’m not moving away, actually,” Charity said with a chuckle. “I actually live next door now. My neighbor and I had something of a meet-cute when he ran over my flowers. At first, we did not like one another at all… and then we did, and the rest is history.” They were standing near the back windows, so Charity indicated outside. “You’ll probably see our kids running around in the yard at some point this afternoon."
Just as Lori had suspected, the woman practically melted. “Oh my gosh, that is adorable ,” she cooed.
“So I’m guessing it’s a kid-friendly neighborhood, then,” the husband said laughingly. “This one is our third,” he said, nodding to his wife, “so that’s obviously a priority for us.”
“Five minutes to the school,” Charity confirmed. Then, in a conspiratorial whisper, she added, “Four if you’re in a rush because of some sort of disaster.”
“We call that the ‘toddler tragedy,’” the woman said with a chuckle. “Why do they always seem to happen on your way out the door?”
Lori had moved away at that point as another couple had caught her eye. The crowd was mostly young couples, several of which tightly held a child by the hand. That wasn’t surprising, since it was a family neighborhood.
No matter how experienced Lori got in the real estate business, she always felt exhausted at the end of an open house, and she could see that same tiredness in Charity’s face as they closed the door on the last potential buyer. Lori had given out tons of her cards, and she suspected that half a dozen of them would follow up for more information. It was, all in all, a huge success for an afternoon… but she still felt like she wanted to sleep for a year.
Charity flopped onto the couch like a balloon with its air let out. “Oh my gosh,” she said. “Why am I so wiped?”
Lori took a seat next to her. “Marty calls it being ‘peopled-out,’” she confessed. “That feeling where you used up all your words and have to recover before you can use any more.”
“That’s a good term for it,” Charity said. “But again, coffee shop owner! I feel like I should have more stamina than this.” She gave a self-deprecating chuckle.
“Thirty years in real estate,” Lori countered. “And still… phew! ”
The two women lapsed into a moment of comfortable silence until the back door slid open and Dominic poked his head inside.
“All clear?” he asked.
“All clear,” Charity confirmed.
Dominic stood half-in, half-out of the sliding glass door as he called into the backyard, “Hey, kiddos! I’m gonna be over here talking to Mom, okay?”
“Okay!” chorused far-off little voices.
Dominic turned to look at Charity and Lori, although his gaze occasionally darted outside to keep an eye on the children. “How’d it go?”
“It went great,” Lori answered. “I suspect I’ll be fielding some calls tomorrow. Charity charmed the pants off ’em, so people will be fighting to live here.”
“Amazing,” Dominic said. Then his brow furrowed slightly as he looked at Charity. “How about you though? You look beat.”
“Oh, I am,” she said laughingly. “I don’t know why that was more work than a full day at Seastar Espresso… but it was.”
The look Dominic shot his girlfriend was so loving and tender that it made Lori’s eyes prickle. It was astonishing how much his grumpy fa?ade disappeared when he looked at Charity.
“Here’s what we’re going to do,” he said with a definitive nod. “I’m going to take the kids for the evening, and you’re going to relax for an hour or two. Take a bath or read a book or something. You’re officially off the clock until you have to give a final kiss goodnight to the kids.” He shot Lori a playful glance. “They’d have my head if I didn’t make sure their goodnight kisses were secure.”
“Stop it,” she ordered with mock sternness. “Or you’re going to make me cry about how my kids are all grown up and next thing you know, you’ll both be weeping about how they used to be little babies just yesterday.”
“It really does go so fast,” Charity murmured before stopping herself. “Wait. I’m relaxing, not doing a mom-cry. Lori, you almost got me.” She turned to her boyfriend. “But what about dinner?”
Dominic shrugged. “We’ll order a pizza. Moving and pizza go together anyway. It’ll prepare the kids for college… which we all agree is just around the corner, right?”
Both women laughed.
“Okay,” Charity agreed. “You’re the best.”
Dominic shot her a grin and a wink before jogging off to answer the increasingly insistent call of children’s voices outside.
Lori and Charity got to their feet with twin groans and tended to the last little tasks required to clean up from the open house. When they were done, Lori gave the other woman a quick hug.
“I think I’m going to follow Dominic’s suggestion and take a hot bath,” Charity said with an excited grin as she pulled back. “I can’t even remember when the last time was that I had a shot at an uninterrupted bath time.”
“You deserve it,” Lori confirmed.
As she drove back home, she thought about taking a bath herself, laughing at how it didn’t seem nearly as exciting now that she could do so whenever she wanted. Though she knew this was a luxury, she couldn’t help but feel a pang of regret that her own house was so still and silent. She didn’t necessarily want to revisit the hectic pace of early motherhood… though she was ready to be a doting grandmother.
Even though she was good at being on her own, however, thinking back to Dominic and Charity’s tender smiles made her wonder what it might feel like to have that sort of support in her own life again.