Page 21 of Fresh Start
“I—I don’t drink. Recovering alcoholic,” I said.
“Oh, shoot. Sorry,” Nathan said, but I waved for him to stop.
“I’ll have a Coke if you’re grabbing yourself a drink,” I said.
He nodded and left for the guesthouse, and I turned back to the beach and Summer. Only Summer wasn’t there anymore.
“Summer,” I shouted and jumped up, circling around myself in an attempt to find her.
“Over here,” I heard her say and saw the silhouette of both her hands waving at me.
I ran to her as fast as I could, and when I got to her, sitting behind a palm tree, she was not alone.
“Look who I found. Detective Strong!” she said.
Five
Dawson
When I knocked on my parents’ door an hour after the breakfast fiasco, the entire extended family paraded out of the house in their swimsuits and straw hats. It occurred to me that my parents might have made plans for the week, and I’d not even bothered to ask or check with them.
Well, I was doing it now, and if they didn’t have the time for me, that was okay. I still had a book to read, and if that didn’t work for me, I could always go for a swim or participate in one of the gazillion activities in town.
My aunt and uncle drove off in their black sedan, and I walked into the quiet house. Were Mom and Dad even here?
I walked into the back where they had received me last night to find Mom loading the dishwasher.
When I greeted her, she jumped, dropped a plate, and clutched her heart as if I’d just given her the scare of a lifetime.
“I’m so sorry, Mom. I didn’t mean to startle you,” I said and walked around the kitchen island to give her a hug.
“It’s okay, darling. I just thought I was on my own,” she said, and her frantic breathing slowed to a more normal rhythm. “Do you want some breakfast? Have you eaten?”
I reassured her I was fine and convinced her I should be the one to clean up the mess on the floor since I was the one that had caused it.
“I thought we could go for lunch with Dad. Spend some time together,” I said as I disposed of the broken plate into the trash.
“That’d be nice, honey. He’s upstairs fixing the sink. Let me go get him,” she said and climbed the stairs.
I had begun to follow her, and she stopped mid-step to look at me.
“Well, I haven’t seen the house yet. Can I get a tour?” I asked, and she bit her lip before forming a smile.
“Of course, honey. How silly of me. Come on up,” she said and rushed up the stairs.
She showed me the two guest rooms that were filled with suitcases, laundry, and all sorts of crap before she took me to their master bedroom which looked down the back of the house and at the stretch of land they had as a backyard. Their wedding anniversary would certainly look nice out there.
As we walked down the hallway to the bathroom, I noticed rows of frames on either side featuring me. Some were pictures of Detective Strong, while the majority of them were from the other films I’d done during my career but which no one ever seemed to remember.
“What’s all this?” I asked.
Mom looked at the frames and then back at me and grabbed my hand.
“What? Mamma can’t be proud of her little bear?” she said and stopped me in front of the poster of my first film.
“Look at you here. How young and sweet you were. You were wonderful then, and you’re still wonderful now.”
I stared at it for a long while. It was like a completely different person all together.
