Page 72 of Escape to the Sun

“I can’t imagine how.”

“I’m not getting involved any further than I already have. And I fear I’ve already gotten a little too involved. I don’t like to meddle.”

Heather’s mind was spinning, trying to keep up. “I’m not sure I understand.”

That was an understatement. Heather was absolutely certain she didn’t understand. Sherri wasn’t making any sense at all.

“Oh my dear. You will.” She patted Heather’s hand and smiled. “Now, how about a cup of tea?”

Heather spent another hour with Sherri, but they didn’t talk anymore about her and Ash, a fact she was thankful for because she had no idea what she might say. It was hard to think that it had been less than twenty-four hours ago that she’d been so sure about her feelings both for her future self and for Ash and now there just seemed to be more questions than there were answers.

“I wish you would have told me you were sick, Sherri.” They sat on the porch, in the shade of the trees, looking out toward the ocean below. Heather had fixed them both a cup of tea and had settled the other woman into her chair, with a blanket tucked around her legs despite the warm temperatures. “I don’t like that you’re up here all on your own. You should be down at grande casa, surrounded by people.”

“Do you really think people like to be reminded of their own mortality when they’re on vacation, child? My cancer would have been bad for business. Very bad.” Sherri sipped at her tea. “And I don’t want to be any bother. Besides, I like it up here. It’s my special place up here in the trees.”

Heather couldn’t even begin to understand, but she also knew enough about Sherri to know that it wasn’t her place to understand anything.

“I am glad you know now,” Sherri said. “But not because I want you to worry. I would hate it if you spent even one second of your energy on that type of negativity. Your energy should be focused on love and all things good.”

“I’m not twelve.”

Sherri laughed. “No, child. You’re not. But you’re a young woman with your life ahead of you and that’s reason enough to focus on the positive. Besides, nothing good ever came from dwelling in the dark, has it?”

Heather couldn’t disagree with that.

“Besides, it sounds like I’ll soon have an entire team of people to do the worrying for me,” Sherri told her. “Ash talked me into letting him help me, whatever that means. I assume he already has plans in motion and my relative peace and quiet will be coming to an end soon enough. So I should enjoy it while I can. Has he started assembling his army yet?”

Army? Heather tried not to look confused. Was she supposed to know about all of this, too? Ash hadn’t mentioned anything. Not that there had been any time. “Not that I know of.” She tried to sound reassuring. “But if he told you he would be, I’m sure he’s busy working on it now.” It wasn’t a total lie. If he was done with her mother, and he likely was—no one could last that long with the woman without going totally batty—then he was probably sorting out whatever arrangements he’d promised Sherri. “In fact, maybe I should go see if he needs any help.”

She wasn’t looking forward to seeing her mom, but she also knew it couldn’t be put off forever. Especially considering they had new guests arriving the next morning. For better or worse, Heather needed to figure out what to do with her mother and with any luck, she’d be able to find a moment or two to be alone with Ash. The more time that passed without her saying anything about her feelings was just going to make it harder. Besides, even if she didn’t understand it all, there was a good chance that Sherri was onto something when she’d been talking about love and light and life and whatever else she’d been saying. And one thing Heather knew for sure was that it was long past time that she said something. Not one more night would go by before she told Ash exactly what she felt. No matter what the results were.

* * *

“Well, what do you think? Is it the nicest beach you’ve ever seen?”

Ash promised Val the beach he was taking her to would be nicer than any beach she’d ever seen in her whole life. Once he discovered that she’d never been to a beach, he knew it would be an easy promise to keep.

“It’s pretty nice.”

“Pretty nice? It’s amazing.”

She looked up at him, and even from under the giant brim of her flopping hat, he could make out her smile. “It is. Thank you, Ash. I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

The sand was fine, almost like icing sugar, and as they walked, Ash found a few beautiful seashells he’d picked out and handed to her. She held them all in her cupped hand as they walked.

“I don’t believe you that you’ve never been to a beach before, Val. A real beach.”

She stopped walking and dug her toes into the sand. “When we were first married, Heather’s father and I went to the West Coast, but Seattle doesn’t really have beaches. Well, not like this, anyway.”

He shook his head. “No, they don’t.”

She was looking a little wilted in the hot sun, so he directed her gently to the shade of some palm trees at the edge of the sand where she could still enjoy the beach, but also get out of the sun for a bit. They sat on a low growing palm that made a perfect bench and Ash handed her a bottle of water. “Did you travel more with your husband after that trip?”

Her mouth pinched into a frown and for a minute Ash thought she might stop talking altogether.

“No,” she said after a moment. “He died.”

He knew that from what Heather had said, but he could see Val might open up a little. Maybe she needed to open up. “I’m so sorry to hear that.”

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