Page 25 of Sea La Vie
“It never got any better, huh?”
“Only after they finally split. But then I felt like I needed to take on a new role, and fill my dad’s shoes for Cara. He didn’t come around much for dance recitals or soccer games. And when I was finally old enough, Mom sent me straight to work cutting neighbors grass, walking their dogs, anything to make a couple bucks and help out.”
Lainey frowns, and I immediately want to do something, anything, to make her smile. “You had to grow up too quick,” she says quietly.
“Mom hadn’t met her new husband yet, so things were kind of tight, and I didn’t want Cara to get a job. She already knew she wanted to be a nurse, and I didn’t want her to have to worryabout money. I wanted her to study as much as she could so she could get out of there and break the mold.”
Lainey touches my arm gently. “I’m sorry, Tate. I had no idea.”
“Don’t be sorry,” I tell her. “I have continued to think of you all every single year on May 31st, though. It’s like I’d wake up, ready to spend the summer here, with you, then reality would hit me like a ton of bricks.”
“We thought of you two a lot, too,” she says. “But when you’re kids, you know how it is. Things get pushed to the back of your mind, and eventually you just kind of forget. I understand.”
Only I don’t think she does. I could never forget Lainey Adams. I worked so hard to forget the bad memories associated with this town, the pain and hurt Cara and I went through everytime we left this magical place, the place where I counted down the days until I could be here again. But I could never forget Lainey.
“Well, what do you think?” Lainey steps back from the railing and walks toward the inside of the treehouse. I follow her, ducking under a string of lights.
“It’s pretty great,” I say. “A little more sturdy than what I can remember. Maybe a little bigger too.”
Lainey tips her head back and laughs. “Way more sturdy than when we were kids. I think my brothers had more fun fixing it up for Sam than anyone else.” She looks around the treehouse, her eyes settling on me.
“So, how’d you get into accounting?”
I shrug. “It was the only profession I could think of where everything had to be perfect in the end. There’s no maybes or what if’s in accounting. It’s pretty black and white, which is what I needed.”
Lainey narrows her eyes, then smiles. “I can see how you’d be good at that.” Her smile is magnetic, pulling me in and mesmerizing me. I want to make her smile over and over again,something about it lighting me up inside. It’s like a fresh gulp of air after being underwater. When I see her smile, it feels like I can breathe again. It’s like I’m able to get back to who I used to be when I visited this place—before I was forced to grow up too fast. I miss who I was before Corporate America. Before the need to please everyone, to get married and have kids, and create the perfect life, got into the way of what truly mattered.
“Sam is a lucky boy,” I finally say.
“Why am I lucky?” Sam asks, his head poking out from the hole in the floor. He climbs the rest of the way up and swings his legs up and over the final step into the treehouse.
“Because you have a really awesome aunt, duh.” Lainey ruffles his hair again and Sam giggles as he tries to escape.
“Did you find what you were looking for?” I ask.
“Oh yeah.” He shoves grubby, dirty hands into his pockets and fishes around before pulling out a few seashells. In his palm are a myriad of shells, some broken, all faded, but perfect to him. He beams, clearly proud of his treasure.
“Those are perfect,” Lainey says. She follows him into the makeshift kitchen where he places the seashells around the old bowl on the box. I watch the two of them from a distance, smiling to myself at the way Sam is so obviously loved.
Lainey pulls out her phone and checks the time. When she does, I notice a gold watch slide down her wrist. It’s so thin, I never noticed it before—it blends in with the rest of her bracelets—but today, she’s only wearing this one.
“We better get you back for lunch,” she says. “Your mom should be back soon.”
Sam zooms through the opening in the floor, calling above him, “Let’s go to Shuckin’ Huck’s!”
9
Lainey
Ihad a feeling people would stare if I walked into the diner with someone my age of the opposite sex, but notthisbad. Dave is sitting in the corner booth with Sid and my dad, Lucille is sitting at the bar arguing with my brother over her bill, and Eden’s mom is walking out with her grandma—all enjoying a nice lunch at the diner. They all stop and whip their heads my way when the bell above the door jingles as we walk in.
I mean yeah, this town has a population less than most towns—and most of the eligible bachelors are widows in their seventies—but is it really that big of a deal to be seen with Tate right now? If he notices, he doesn’t act like it. He just slides up the bar and peruses a menu Henry hands him. Sam and I join him on either side.
Dating in this town has proven to be a challenge. My graduating class consisted of around seventy people, and I grew up with most of the boys, so I know every little fact about them. Take Robbie Marshall for instance. Sure, he’s attractive, tan and muscular from years of surfing and shrimping with his dad, butcan I forget the time he ate a worm on the playground in second grade? Sure can’t.
The other guys who were eligible to date were more like brothers to me and left for college right after graduation anyway. Most stayed in the town of the college they chose, choosing a bigger city with finer things.
“Hey,” Huck says. “Fancy seeing you here.” I look over my menu and see my brother waggling his eyebrows in my dad’s direction and glancing over at Tate, who is thankfully still studying the menu and completely oblivious.
