Page 7 of The Magic of Sea Glass
“Thank you,” she said, still recovering even after he’d gone back over and sat down across from her once more. She worked to calm her hammering heart. With a few deep breaths, she calmed herself but tried not to look over at Brody’s inquisitive stare.
He watched her as if he were attempting to read her mind again, but Mary didn’t seem to notice; her attention was on another couple who’d entered the room, changing the atmosphere. They waved to her and then headed toward the door.
“That bracelet is supposed to bring you good luck,” Mary said after the couple left.
The innocence in her tone revealed that the woman had no idea how much luck Lauren really needed.
TWO
Summer, 1957
Fairhope, Alabama
“Put me down!” The gorgeous Penelope Harper squealed with laughter, her dark hair flowing over her shoulders and along the back of her polka-dotted swimming suit.
Phillip Harrison spun her around, gripping her waist in the lapping bay water as the sun set in spectacular fashion behind them. She wriggled away from him playfully before wading back over, her emerald eyes landing on him, reminding him once more that he wasn’t worthy of such a charming woman, but—somehow—the heavens had granted him her love. She draped her arms around his neck. He leaned down and kissed her, in the presence of anyone who wanted to look. He was ready to shout his love for her from the rooftops. Phillip scooped her up and carried her to their blanket on the sand while she giggled, careful to lower her down gently.
“I love you,” he whispered into her ear.
“And I loveyou.” Her eyes appearing as if she were drinking him in, she sat up on her elbows. “This has been the best summer of my life.”
Phillip took in the glisten of water on her skin and the way her wet tendrils of hair draped along her olive-tinted shoulder, knowing he hadn’t understood what happiness was until he’d met Penelope. “I couldn’t agree more.”
The first time he saw Penelope, she’d taken his breath away. He’d been walking down the sidewalk, outside the little bungalow where she was staying. Fairhope had been a popular retreat for artists, writers, and intellectuals for over a century, so he was used to seeing both famous and unfamiliar faces, but this girl’s raw, untainted beauty blew all of those bigwigs out of the water. She was standing by her father’s car, with a tattered suitcase in each hand. She flashed a vibrant smile his way that had floored him. The kindness in her eyes made him forget where he was going.
Her mother directed her away from him as if her smile had been an imposition. But he gave the striking young lady a look to let her know he’d find her again. She offered a little nod, the two of them owning that one secret moment together. They’d shared the same thoughts every single day the entire summer, never leaving each other’s sides. Phillip made up reasons to go into town just to run into her, and she always seemed to find a way to be at the soda fountain exactly when he arrived.
They spent long days talking about their views on everything from the best soda flavors to Eisenhower’s golf swing. Penelope was smart and witty—something he had not experienced in a woman he’d dated before. She challenged him, made him question his thoughts, and, above all, she made him laugh. With her he felt fearless, as if he could take on the whole world. And, given what he was planning, he might just have to.
* * *
Rodanthe, North Carolina
“This one is yours,” Mary said, opening the door to the one-bedroom suite and handing Lauren the key.
Lauren stepped into the sitting area, running her hands along the knotty tweed sofa, punctuated on each end by pillows with faded embroidered anchors on the fronts. Despite its aging façade, the size of the suite was airy and rivaled her apartment back in New York.
“This is nice,” she said, grabbing one of her bags and setting it next to a coordinated upholstered chair that only needed a slipcover to be beautiful again.
With the help of her cane, Mary paced over to a pair of draperies on the far end, pulling them open and revealing another wall of windows and a set of French doors. “These open to the porch,” she said right as Brody walked past them on the outside. “You just have to wriggle the latch.”
Brody did a double take, his eyes finding Lauren’s immediately, unnerving her. Then he walked out of view.
“Your bedroom is through here.”
Lauren rolled her large suitcase around the corner and pushed it up against the king-sized bed covered in more nautical-themed pillows from a few decades ago. The wall décor was from the same time period, featuring simple pictures of starfish and sand dollars.
“There are doors to the porch in here too,” Mary said, gesturing to another set of draperies. While they did the job to darken the room, Lauren imagined how much light would fill the space if they were replaced with a gauzy set of white sheers.
A shadow walked past them on the other side, that look Brody had given her washing over her once more. She cleared her throat and turned toward Mary. “I’ll be very comfortable here,” she said.
With a pleased smile, Mary walked slowly to the door. “I’ll let you get settled. My office is just down the hallway. Come by whenever you’re ready.”
“All right,” Lauren said as Mary let herself out.
Once she was alone, Lauren flopped onto the bed, exhausted. For so long, she’d been on autopilot, working and then going through her rituals of eating dinner, bathing, and watching TV until she fell asleep so she could limit the thoughts about life without Mason. She didn’t even have to think about what to get for lunch if she went out. It was always Giuseppe’s soup and salad. But here, things were different; her routine was completely upended. Sighing, she then breathed in the new scent, a mixture of cotton, old wood, and salty air, allowed her muscles to relax, and closed her eyes…
* * *
