Page 103 of The Summer We Mended
“And now she’s doing it, that’s great.”
“Mom always has had a way of helping people without them realizing it,” Cody said.
Anna nodded her head, because he was right.She had been so strong for everyone else in their circle for so long.She would quietly support those she loved and she was doing that now with Jess.
The porch swing creaked beneath them, the night wind gentle against their skin.And for just a little while, as they sat side by side beneath the stars, Anna allowed herself to believe that everything would be okay.That Luke would come home.That Jess would find her way.That their mother would keep healing.That love didn’t have to be loud or perfect to be real, it just had to be.And right now, it was.
ChapterForty
Anna
The next morning, Anna stepped onto the beach just as the sun broke over the horizon, a golden slice of light cutting through the soft morning haze.The ocean greeted her with its rhythmic lullaby, a low and constant hum of waves kissing the shoreline.The air was crisp, tinged with the salt of the sea, and her bare feet sank slightly into the cool, damp sand with each step.
This was her ritual.Thirty minutes of silence every morning.No phone.No distractions.Just the sound of the world waking up and her thoughts trying to settle in the quiet.
She wrapped her arms around herself and stared out at the endless blue, letting her breathing fall into rhythm with the tide.But today felt different—the energy in the air when she woke up was something entirely different from what it had been.
There was something in the air she couldn’t name, a hum beneath her skin like electricity gathering before a storm.She felt it in the way her heart beat a little faster, the way her thoughts wouldn’t still.A tingling sense of anticipation pressed behind her ribs.
She looked back toward the house, just a speck at the edge of the dunes, and then down to her wristwatch.Still ten minutes left in her thirty.But she couldn’t keep still.Her feet shifted restlessly in the sand.Her eyes flicked to the horizon.She inhaled deeply, held it, and released a slow breath.Still, the unease and the hope lingered.
Her phone would ring.She could feel it.
She imagined Luke’s name flashing across the screen and how he’d ask her if she kept the shore in sight.His voice, scratchy and far away, but his.She closed her eyes and tried to hear it in her mind.The way he’d say her name.The way he always sounded like home.
But when she walked back to the house and checked her phone, there was nothing.
No missed calls.No messages.
She swallowed the disappointment and tucked the phone in her pocket, forcing a smile.Hope wasn’t something she let herself dwell on often, not after so long without news.But Blaze’s words clung to her like sea mist.
“I think Daddy’s coming home soon.”
Anna stepped into the warmth of the kitchen and was immediately greeted by the smell of toast and the soft sounds of sleepy children coming to life.Lily was already up fixing breakfast for them all.
This was a notable change from when they first arrived and Anna couldn’t help but smile at the thought.Music was playing and Lily was serenading the kids.It wasn’t quite the concert from her childhood, but it was a beautiful moment, nonetheless.
Anna looked over at the kids as they sang along with their grandma and she giggled.She was so grateful for the change in her mom, but she was also glad she had listened to her gut and come home when Luke was deployed.
She couldn’t imagine walking through these scary times without her mom.
“Morning, Mama!”Blaze’s small voice rang out, and Anna turned to see him perched on the stool at the kitchen island, swinging his legs and rubbing his eyes.
“Good morning, sweetheart,” she said, kissing his head.
Nora wandered in next, clutching her stuffed bunny and yawning.
Anna moved easily through the kitchen, pulling out eggs and bread, setting the coffee pot to brew.Moving right alongside her mother as they worked in tandem to get breakfast together.This, at least, she could control.This simple, mundane task.
Blaze rubbed his face again and blinked up at her.“I had a dream,” he said.
Anna looked over at him, buttering a piece of toast.“Oh yeah?What kind of dream?”
His small face lit up.“I dreamed Daddy came home.Today.”
Her heart skipped.She tried to smile but it trembled.
“Did you now?”she asked gently.
