14. Crista
“Y ou have got to be kidding me.”
Crista grimaced at Anthony’s words, spoken into her ear the moment she took him off FaceTime so she could say goodbye.
“Isn’t it sweet that?—”
“Crista! I didn’t send you two down there so she could… play ! She’s missing school, a recital, and all of our lessons because you promised she would come home knowing how to read.”
On a sigh, she pressed the phone hard to her ear and rushed upstairs for privacy.
“You don’t understand,” she said as she slipped into her room and closed the door.
“No, Cris, I don’t. What about dancing in a fashion show is going to get her into third grade?”
It was a fair question—one she probably would have asked herself if she’d been watching through the phone and not here for the past week or so.
She tried to gather her thoughts. “It’s a process, Anthony.”
“We don’t have time for a process ,” he shot back. “She needs to read, write, and do math without mixing up her sixes and nines in a few weeks. I’m glad she’s having fun and getting to be a fake flower girl or whatever, but it isn’t going to get her to pass that test.”
“I actually think this is working,” she said after a beat. “She’s getting confident, and her personality is returning.”
“Well, that’s great,” he said. “But nothing would give her as much confidence as opening a book and reading it.”
She closed her eyes and dropped on the bed with a heavy sigh, exhausted by the conversation and the feeling of being torn in two.
“And if she doesn’t pass, I have Plan B,” Anthony said.
“Oh?” She put the phone down, touching the speaker button so she could get comfortable. “What is it?”
“The Hawthorne Academy.”
Crista snorted at the mention of a dream school with the highest acclaim, especially for kids who had trouble in mainstream public schools. “Right. Did you win the lottery?”
“You did,” he said softly.
For a second, she frowned, then realized exactly what he meant.
“That house is worth enough, even split three ways, to pay for Hawthorne and still have money left over for college,” he said, confirming her suspicions. “Which she’d get into at the right age if she isn’t held back.”
Crista let out a small grunt. Talk about being torn! “Are you kidding, Anthony? That would put me smack dab in the middle of…things.”
“In the middle of what?” he asked, just enough tenderness in his voice to soften her. “Until Eli and Vivien cooked up this ‘keep the house’ plan, everyone was very excited about selling it. The whole family was overjoyed that Maggie had secretly held onto this goldmine that would translate into a cash bonanza for all three Lawson siblings. Just because you’re having a nice vacation, are you willing to walk away from that kind of money? Are they?”
She pushed off the bed, needing to walk off the emotion ricocheting through her. She didn’t want to get dramatic and theatrical—it wouldn’t win this argument.
Centering herself, she walked back to the phone. “Listen, it’s hard to put a price on a place like this,” she said softly.
“It’s not that hard, Cris. Look at Zillow. The price is high, the market is strong, and Nolie is our only child . The only thing that matters to you and me is Nolie’s future. Am I right?”
He wasn’t wrong.
“We’ll take vacations down there, I promise,” he said, using the logic that always talked her off an emotional ledge, but tonight? She really didn’t want to hear it.
“It’s not the same.”
“We can go to Destin every summer like you did as a kid and stay somewhere else. But you need to break the news to Eli and Vivien that your vote is ‘sell’ and, Cris, honey, you guys need to come home. I miss you so much and we’re just frittering away these great weeks without Maggie.”
She flinched at the words, sad that he felt that way about her mother.
“If you leave tomorrow morning, Nolie won’t have missed much school, and she can still make the recital. That’s the only dancing she needs to do.”
“Miss the bridal show event? She’d be brokenhearted!” She squeezed her eyes shut, struggling with the rise of her emotions. “I don’t think you realize how happy she is, Anthony. She’s blossoming down here.”
“I don’t doubt that, but she will not be happy when she is the only eight-year-old in second grade. Or, worse, in high school when she’s a sixteen-year-old freshman.”
“That’s not going…” Her words faded out, knowing her arguments wouldn’t hold up against his. Nolie did need to stay with her grade level.
She dropped back on the bed, feeling sick and like she couldn’t grab hold of all her emotions.
“Mommy?” The door opened a crack and instantly Crista shot up and tapped the speaker button on her phone. She didn’t want Anthony to break this news to her. Crista had to do that, but not tonight. Not when she was this happy.
“Hey, I gotta run,” she said to Anthony. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Tell Nolie I love her,” he said. “And, Cris, I love you, too. Don’t forget that.”
She let out a sigh. “I won’t. Bye.” As she disconnected the call, Nolie came in.
“It’s just me,” she said with a giggle in her voice. “Figsworth.”
Crista laughed and reached for her, giving her way too tight a squeeze. “Figsworth needs to get her PJs on, brush her teeth, and get some sleep.”
“I will, Mommy. Can we read tonight?”
She drew back, not expecting that. “You want me to read?”
Nolie smiled up at her. “Let me try it tonight, okay?”
Her heart rolled around. “Of course. I can’t wait.” She bent over and kissed her daughter’s silky dark hair, fluttering a few locks in her fingers. “I love you so much, Nolie-bird.”
So much that Crista would once again be the odd man out in Destin.
* * *
Crista woke at almost one in the morning, with Nolie next to her, her quiet breaths the only sound she could hear. The weight on her chest increased with every second she got closer to tomorrow when she had to face the task of breaking her daughter’s heart.
Back to Atlanta? Miss the fashion show? Leave the beach?
Nolie would wail.
No, no. She’d cry quietly—Crista was the wailer in the family. Nolie would just let the tears roll down her cheeks with shuddering sighs and…silence.
She flipped back the comforter and climbed out of bed, unnaturally hot and heavy with discomfort. Her chest burned like she’d had one too many bites of Jonah’s salsa.
Walking to the window, she peered out to the long view of the dunes and a slice of the beach, drawn to the moonlight and the sand.
Turning, she checked Nolie, who wouldn’t wake until six in the morning, when she would burst to life and rush downstairs, ready to be…Figsworth, the Junior Joy Coordinator.
Quieting a whimper that rose in her stinging chest, Crista walked silently to the door and slipped out, not really sure where she was going. She paused at the door to Eli’s bedroom and looked down the hall to the primary suite, where Vivien and Lacey were sound asleep.
Tessa slept on the main floor in the guest suite and Jonah was down on the first floor.
No one was awake to help her, and she didn’t have the heart to knock on one of these closed doors and have a breakdown. Or ask for a Tums.
She walked down the steps to the lower level, lit only by a single soft light in the kitchen. But the moon was out and even though it was barely three-quarters, it lit the boardwalk, the dunes, and the beach beyond.
They didn’t use the alarm system, so she unlocked and slid the heavy glass door that led to the deck and, in a moment, she was downstairs and walking barefoot over the boardwalk.
The boardwalk where Nolie would dance, dropping rose petals and joy, her eyes on fire with her mission, her brain focused on something that certainly wasn’t…words.
Was Anthony right?
As she reached the end of the boardwalk, she stepped down and let the soft sand sift between her toes. Soothed by the feeling, she looked side to side, not surprised that this beach—as close to “private” as it could get—was utterly deserted.
The tide was high, though, and close, rolling in with the gentle and steady rhythm that Crista always thought of as beach music.
Listening to it, she gazed out and then squinted as something caught her eye in the water. A flicker. A shimmer.
Was that her imagination or some kind of light? Curious, she walked toward the surf and suddenly—there it was again. A glow, a brief pulse of blue light swirled beneath the surface.
Her breath catching, she crouched down, her heart rate rising as she reached out to the water. Dragging her fingers through the wet sand at the edge of the tide, a ripple of glowing blue spread from her fingertips, dancing like liquid stars.
Was that…magic?
“Are you okay?”
She gasped and spun around, seeing the shadow of a figure on the boardwalk. The moonlight caught the light of Tessa’s hair, clipped up on her head.
“Yes.” Crista stood. “What are you doing down here?”
“Checking on you,” she said. “I could see you from my deck.” She gestured behind her and Crista’s gaze moved to the house, seeing a light on the far right where Tessa’s room was. “I couldn’t sleep, and I saw you. I wanted to be sure you’re all right.”
She huffed out a breath, fighting the urge to dump it all on this woman’s shoulders. Instead, she turned to the water.
“Did you see that?”
“The blue light?” Tessa stepped off the boardwalk onto the sand, walking closer. “It’s bioluminescence.”
“Oh, I’ve heard of that,” Crista said, looking at the water, a little sad it wasn’t magic. “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen it in person.” She knelt down again, moving her hands to send trails of glowing blue through the water.
“You’ve never seen it here at the beach?” Tessa asked, slowing her step when she reached Crista. “Of course, you’d have to be up in the middle of the night.”
“I was too young for that,” she said with a wistful smile. “I was always tucked into bed before your big adventures. Though I do remember you all talking about it—and other things that intrigued me.”
“Sorry we cut you out, Crista. You were young and we were teenagers.”
“I know. But now…” She looked out at the water, catching the blue sparkle here and there. “Sometimes I feel like I missed out on a lot.”
Which was yet another reason she wanted to keep this house and let Nolie have those experiences.
“Well, this only happens certain nights when the water is right. And don’t ask me what causes it,” Tessa added with a laugh. “That’s Kate’s department. My sister is the scientist. I just thought it was blue magic.”
“I was just thinking that,” Crista said, slowly rising. “And, boy, could I use a little.”
Tessa looked up and stood, too, brushing her wet fingers on her sleep pants. “Wanna talk about it?”
“More than I want my next breath, but…”
“But it’s me, not Vivien or Eli.” Tessa gave a playful jab in Crista’s arm. “Come on, you can unload. I won’t judge.”
Crista raised a brow.
“Hey,” Tessa said. “What’s said in the blue magic stays in the blue magic. We can walk and talk. Hike up those fancy PJs, Cris.”
“Well, it does involve you, so…”
“Oh, wait.” Tessa held up her hand, stopping as she bent over to roll up her sleep pants. “If this is about my dad, then no, I don’t?—”
“It’s not, no, I promise,” Crista said quickly. “It’s about…Nolie.”
“What about her?” Even in the dim light, she could see true concern in Tessa’s topaz-colored eyes, and that touched her.
“You really like her, don’t you?”
“Figsworth?” Tessa snorted. “I love that kid.”
“You’re very good with her,” Crista said. “No one’s ever been that…easy-breezy, you know. You would have been a good mother.”
Tessa’s eyes shuttered and she looked away. “Well, I wasn’t. What’s going on with her?”
“Anthony wants us to come home,” she said on a sigh. “Tomorrow.”
“What?” She froze mid-step. “You can’t leave! Tell him to…” She kicked the sand with her bare foot. “Pound some of that. We got a fashion show to run.”
“But that’s?—”
“And a third-grade test to pass.”
Crista looked at her. “Do you think she can?” she asked softly.
“Not today, but soon. I know she can.”
“She did read beautifully to me tonight,” Crista said. “She fell asleep by page four though?—”
“Exhausted from being the Junior Joy Coordinator.”
Crista smiled. “Exhausted from having fun and coming out of her shell and not thinking about reading, writing, or math. That’s what Anthony can’t see, you know.”
“Exactly.” Tessa pointed to her. “The less she worries about it, the more she learns. I think she can read just about anything that’s age and level appropriate. Slowly, yeah. But she can read and comprehend. She can write pretty well, too. I mean, I don’t expect essays from a seven-year-old, but the kid does a mean to-do list.”
Crista gave a dry laugh. “And really, what else matters to the child of a control freak?”
“You’re not a control freak,” Tessa said. “You’re…a mom. And a darn good one. A little hot-headed, but that makes you passionate.”
Crista put a hand on her chest, surprised that the compliment eased her heartburn. “Thank you.”
“But about the math…” Tessa said.
“Yeah?”
“We’re not quite there,” she admitted. “It’s funny because math wasn’t really my challenge. Lists of numbers, yes—I still get a little queasy at the sight of a spreadsheet, not gonna lie. I just don’t know if she can do…I don’t know what you call it. Number grouping? Like when you look at a group of things and instinctively know how many there are.”
“The teachers call it ‘quick-look counting’ in school, and, yes, it’s a struggle for her,” Crista said. “I don’t know why but she hasn’t quite unlocked that yet. The learning specialist at school called it ‘subitizing.’”
“Eesh, there’s a word for you.”
“Really,” Crista agreed. “By third grade, she needs that skill. She needs to look at a circle and know there are seven stars inside it.”
Tessa nodded slowly, thinking. “Let me work on that. Unless…you leave in the morning.”
Crista closed her eyes at the thought. “Oh, there will be tears.”
“Yeah, mine,” Tessa said.
Once again, Crista’s heart folded that this woman—a virtual stranger who Crista had literally attacked when they’d met—cared so much for Nolie. They were all going to be in tears tomorrow.
“Maybe I can put Anthony off for a day or two. Just while you work on the quick-look counting.”
Tessa slowed her step and crossed her arms, studying Crista intently. “What if she passed the third-grade test before you leave?”
“She can’t. They don’t give it until early May.”
“There must be a few online samples and practice tests that we can give her. That was one of my—” Tessa checked herself and continued, “One way I managed to pass was by taking practice tests over and over. My, um, tutor was a teacher, so he knew that if I wasn’t too surprised by the types of things I was tested on, even if the content was different, I was relaxed and did better.”
Crista eyed her. “This tutor you loved so much—it was Artie, wasn’t it?”
She nodded.
For a moment, neither spoke, then Tessa said, “I bet we can find third-grade entrance exams online. Would you look for them?”
“Of course.”
“So, if she took one or two or more tests, and passed them all?” Tessa asked. “Would Anthony get off your case and let her stay? And then he could come down for the fashion show and see how happy she is with his own two eyes. Plus, he can see the tests and know you did the right thing.”
She made it sound so easy, but maybe that was Tessa’s gift. It was probably the very reason she was so good with Nolie. Good heavens, why hadn’t this woman had a child?
“What do we have to lose?” Tessa pressed.
“Nothing,” Crista agreed. “I’ll tell him tomorrow.”
“Good. Let’s turn around and get some sleep,” Tessa said, pivoting in the sand, the move turning the bioluminescence alive under her feet. “Oh, look at that. Blue magic.”
Feeling better than she had in hours, Crista laughed softly. “It really is.”
“That’s magic, too, you know.” Tessa pointed to the Summer House, the lone light from her room guiding them closer. “The old cottage and this new mansion. Magic.”
And Crista’s heart fell again, remembering her other problem. “Don’t get attached,” she said softly. “I don’t think we’re going to keep it.”
“Seriously?” Tessa glanced at her, a note of real concern in her voice. “I thought…Vivien and Eli…”
“I know. And everyone is kind of dug in, living like it’s a family home.” Crista shook her head. “But that house is an enormous amount of financial security. Way too much to give up.”
“Don’t tell me, this is Anthony speaking.” Tessa made a face. “I don’t think I’m going to like this guy.”
“He’s a good guy—mostly. We’ve hit a few rocky patches, especially…” She hesitated, not sure if she should share this with a virtual stranger. But, really, was Tessa a stranger? Not exactly. And it felt so good to get it off her chest. “My mother living with us has…added pressure.”
Tessa snorted. “Maggie Lawson? Pressure? I can’t imagine.”
That made Crista smile. “She does have a way of making you see people through her lens, which is somewhat unforgiving.”
“Like the way you’re looking at my father.”
Crista didn’t answer, feeling more like she was walking a tightrope instead of a sandy beach. And falling off would hurt.
The fact was, her true loyalties were always going to be with her mother. And Anthony, of course.
“Anyway,” she said quickly. “Neither Anthony nor my mother can see the need to own this beach house. Anthony understands finance and investments and the profit from the sale of this house could pay for…all kinds of things, including every bit of Nolie’s education.”
“Ohh.” Tessa let out a groan. “I get that, but…summers at the beach are a different kind of education.”
Crista knew that, but kept it to herself.
“I think that eventually Eli and Vivien will do the numbers and see how that kind of money could change their lives and secure their futures,” she said instead. “Keeping a house we never knew we had is just a silly pipe dream.”
Even as she said the words, they felt like the sand under her feet had moved to her mouth. It wasn’t a silly pipe dream, but Anthony was right about the money.
“Anyway, thank you, Tessa,” she added softly as they brushed off the sand from their feet. “This really helped me.”
“Anytime.” She smiled, but it seemed tighter than when she’d arrived. “You look for those practice tests and I’ll work on the subsi…thing.”
“I will warn you,” Crista said. “She hates that kind of math. Will do anything to avoid it.”
Tessa flicked her hand. “Trust me, darlin’. She won’t even know she learned it.”
With that, she gave a quick wave and hustled down the boardwalk, leaving Crista alone on the beach, a little surprised she’d left so abruptly.
Crista turned to the water, looking to see the teal and turquoise shimmer again. If Nolie passed that test, she promised herself, Crista would bring her down here in the middle of the night to see this.
Blue magic, indeed.