Page 161 of Never Forever

It was two weeks before Christmas and I was as big as a house. Matt said that was untrue. But I knew he was lying to me even though he promised to never lie to me again.

Because I was bigger than a house. I was a Malibu Mansion. With swollen ankles and indigestion like acid. I was only going to get bigger and the doctor told me bedrest at six or seven months wasn’t out of the question.

I wasn’t there yet, but Matt was an absolute buzz kill about me leaving the house without him.

Not that we went out much. I’d gotten the script for the super hero movie and was busy creating a character arc that would work for her, while he and his dad were very busy building an addition on the cabin that would be ready before the babies came.

We’d decided Calico Cove would be our home base between movie shoots. That when the time came the twins would go to school here. Matt thought we should sell the cabin and buysomething bigger, but this cabin was home. It was the home Matt made for me when he had no hope we’d ever be together.

I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.

Today, however, I was on my own, out to see Gran and Mom since it was Matt’s day off. We needed to do some planning for Christmas because I wanted to have everyone at the cabin instead of on the island, which I knew my mother would disagree to.

Now that the Piedmont House had been restored to its original glory, my mother liked nothing more than to show it off.

It had taken awhile for Mom and me to work our shit out. What she’d done wasn’t cool, but even I could see it from her perspective. She thought she’d been looking out for me. What she’d never understood, because I’d never told her, was how much Matt and I were an…us.

I took my usual spot at the bow despite the cold weather. To my surprise, someone was already sitting there. An older woman in an excellent winter coat and a rainbow toque.

“Hi!” I said and sat down. “Not many people sit out here in the winter.”

“I love it on the bow of the boat in the winter,” she said. “Makes me feel like a Viking.”

I laughed. I’d have to remember to tell Matt that.

“Why do you sit out here? Sea sick?” The woman asked. She wore a pair of thick glasses with black frames. They were retro and cool.

“No. I used to sit out here when I was a kid so I could look up at the boy I had a crush on.” I pointed up to the cockpit.

“Sneaky,” she said.

The boat pulled away from the dock and I knew in about five minutes the wind would get so bad we wouldn’t be able to chat.

“What takes you out to the island?”

“Oh, I come every year to Calico Cove to work before Christmas. I love to go out to the island and hike around the bird colony.”

“Every year?” I said.

“For the past six or seven.” She smiled at me and we cleared the last bit of land. As predicted, the wind blasted us in the face.

Her face was so familiar to me and I wondered if I’d just seen her on the boat in the past?

Then in a quick second, I knew.

Stockard Bartlett.

I fished my phone from my purse.

Me: Drop everything and take the skiff to the island. Hurry.

Matt: Is it the babies?

Me: I’m fine. Just get here.

Matt: This isn’t funny. Carrie?

At just about the halfway point, Stockard smiled at me awkwardly and I realized I was staring at her.

---