Page 53 of Where the Waves Kiss the Shore
“You told me you hung up on them. You need to be more mature if you don’t want them to treat you like the naughty child.”
Tierney couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She pulled away and stood quickly. “I thought I could rely on you for a little support.” She grabbed her sweater and headed for the door and some fresh air.
“Tierney, wait.” Kasia grabbed her elbow. “I’m not trying to be harsh, and you’ve always got my support. But for some reason, both your dad and Megan believe it’s acceptable to patronize you, and I think you need to stand up to them a little.”
Tierney pulled herself free. “Well, once again I failed to meet your expectations, and before you ask, no, I did not ask about the fucking roof.”
She slammed the door as she left, but she wasn’t really angry. She was just sick of being a constant disappointment to everyone she cared about…but mainly to Kasia. Stomping out wasn’t a good defense against her accusation of childishness.
“Tierney! Come and see.”
A child’s voice made her look up, and she saw Aoife with her youngest, Ruane, down on the shoreline. The two girls would still be at school. The tide was way out, and they were poking around in rock pools by the side of the quay. She wandered over, unable to think of a reason why she couldn’t. She didn’t need to add a three-year-old to her list of people she disappointed.
“Hey, found anything interesting?” She stepped carefully across the slippery rocks. Aoife and Ruane were dressed appropriately in waterproof coats and rubber boots, but she’d huffed out of the hotel in the lightweight sneakers she’d been wearing all day. She was glad she’d picked up her sweater.
Ruane held up his transparent bucket. “We got a cwab.”
She crouched to see better and held up the bucket. “Wow! It’s a big ’un. Are you gonna let it go soon?”
“Yes, we are. Ruane was just talking to it a little longer, weren’t you?” Aoife winked over his head.
“Can’t I take him home and keep him as a pet?”
“No, Ruane, he’s not a pet. Remember when we talked about how there are animals that you can keep at home, and then there’s wild animals. Crabs are wild, we have to put them back.”
“But he’s my fwend!” Ruane’s pitch ascended to a wail.
Tierney handed back the bucket. “Hey, why don’t we say goodbye to the crab? Then let’s go and see what Kasia’s been baking this morning. It smelled like cookies.”
“I like cookies.” Ruane swung the bucket, and Aoife caught it before the poor crab was launched into the air.
“We need to be careful with the little creatures, remember?” She squatted over a large pool and lifted the crab onto the edge of a rock. It scuttled into the pool and disappeared from sight.
“Bye, cwab.” Ruane was already skipping along the rocks toward the hotel.
Aoife threw Tierney a smile as they hurried after him. “Thank you. The perfect distraction.”
“It’s Kasia you’ll need to thank. I just hope she’s baking something sweet.” Tierney needed to apologize for her behavior, but that could wait till they were alone.
“I worry sometimes about his connection to any creatures he finds. The girls are so close. I worry he’s lonely.”
“Isn’t the whole island full of friends? Not all kids grow up to be part of such a close community.” Her understanding of the island had changed a lot in these last few months. She always thought the way everyone knew your business would be claustrophobic but spending time as part of the island community had given her a better appreciation of how islanders looked out for one other.
“I know. He’ll be fine when he starts school in September.” Aoife sighed. “He’s just my baby, you know?”
Tierney nodded, but she didn’t really know. She’d never felt the sort of nurturing from her parents that Aoife showed her kids. She’d also never imagined staying still long enough to have her own child. But now she felt a kind of longing for that bond. What had changed? Was it being in this small community that had been so much a part of her own childhood? Or was it that she’d finally found someone she could imagine having a family with? She chased that thought away quickly. Being with Kasia was more than she’d expected, but Kasia was committed to island life. She wasn’t going to up and leave for anyone. And Tierney was never going to settle down on an island you could walk around in a day.
“Are you okay?” Aoife was watching her curiously as they walked the last steep slope to the hotel.
She shook her head. “Yeah, sorry, I was miles away.” That wasn’t strictly true. She’d been right here at the hotel, just in another version of her life.
“I said you and Kasia seem pretty loved-up.” Aoife punched her playfully on the arm. “Who woulda thought it?”
She forced a laugh out. “It’s just a bit of fun. Keeping ourselves warm over the winter, you know?”
Aoife’s smile disappeared. “It doesn’t look that way, Tierney. You won’t hurt her, will you?”
Tierney remembered the day she’d been so quick to promise exactly that to Kasia. It didn’t feel so certain now. “I’ll do my best not to. But we’re both adults, and we knew it was a temporary thing.”
