Page 17 of The Summer We Mended
Blaze’s whole body bounced.“Yes!We want to find turtles and birds and maybe a shark tooth!”
“I don’t know if sharks leave teeth just lying around,” Nora said skeptically.
“They do if they bite stuff,” Blaze replied with confidence.
Lily looked at Anna.“If you want, I can take them.Get some fresh air.Stretch my legs.”
Anna blinked, a little surprised.“You sure?”
“Yeah.I think I need it.”
“Well, I could run to the market and get a few snacks for the kids.Margot did well, but she didn’t exactly get any kid-friendly things.”
“Yeah, she probably wasn’t thinking about that when she went.”
“I thought I’d make some fried clams and some chowder for dinner.Does that sound good?”
“I can make chowder,” Lily said quickly.
“No, Mom, I can do it.I don’t want you to go to extra trouble for us.I think it would be nice for you to see your recipe in action.”
“I’d like that,” Lily replied after a small hesitation.“You go do that, and me and the kiddos will spend some time together.”
It’s not that Lily didn’t love spending time with her grandkids, but the thought of venturing out of the house, let alone her bedroom, was causing anxiety to rip away at her chest.She tried to focus on her breathing so she could calm herself down.
She needed to get out of her bedroom and the house.She needed to spend time with the grandkids; it was what David would be doing if the roles were reversed.It was hard, though; her bed was practically screaming for her to come back.
If she didn’t do this, Lily feared she would waste away in her bedroom and no one would be able to save her.
“Are you sure, Mom?”
“No,” she said with a self-deprecating chuckle as she shook her head.She could feel the tears pricking at her eyes.“But I know that I want to and I need to.We’ll be fine, Anna.Go do what you need to do.”
Anna held her breath for a moment before she let it out and nodded.The kids hugged her quickly as they all got ready for their different adventures.
Ten minutes later, Lily and the kids were outside.The sun on her face felt good; it had been a while since she really noticed the sun at all.
The path down to the beach was familiar under Lily’s feet, though the sand shifted in places more than she remembered.The faint crunch of shells mixed with the softer hush of the tide, and she could feel the uneven give beneath each step, as if the earth itself was slowly exhaling.Just beyond the back porch, wild rosebushes and beach plum framed the narrow path, their tangled limbs heavy with late spring bloom.The scent was delicate, floral, and salty, the kind of perfume only the coast could offer.
Past the dune grass, the world opened wide.
Vineyard Harbor glistened under a sky that couldn’t quite decide if it wanted to be overcast or blue.The water was a dusky slate with streaks of silver, rippling lazily beneath a breeze that carried the scent of brine and sun-warmed cedar shingles.Small boats bobbed on their moorings just beyond the breakwater, white hulls nodding like old men agreeing with something unsaid.
Sea grass whipped lazily in the wind, and the wooden slats of the pier groaned with age, bending ever so slightly under the weight of memory.The gulls wheeled overhead, their cries both plaintive and defiant, echoing faintly from the curved shoreline.
Blaze ran ahead, his hoodie flapping like wings, a canvas bag slung over his shoulder.He moved with the kind of reckless joy Lily hadn’t seen in years—barefoot, determined, utterly unbothered by the possibility of splinters or soggy hems.
Nora kept a more measured pace, stopping to inspect a snail shell near the dune fence, her dark hair blowing across her cheek as she crouched with care.She brushed sand from her fingers like it offended her.
“Aw, man, this is so cool, Grandma!”Blaze called over his shoulder, his voice carried high by the wind.
“Be careful,” Lily hollered after him, but the words barely reached him.
She put her hand out as if she could reach out and pull him back.The pier had always looked fragile, grayed and bleached by sun and storm, and Lily didn’t think anyone had been out there in at least a year.She knew that since she’d lost David, she hadn’t gone near the pier herself.Salt had eaten away at the nails, and some of the boards were dark with rot.
“If he gets hurt, it’s his own fault,” Nora muttered under her breath, shaking her head in disbelief as she brushed off her knees.“You’d think he’d never seen water before.”
Lily followed, slower, but smiling.The salt air filled her lungs in a way the stale stillness of the house could not.It tugged at her memories, some bright, others aching.
