Page 99 of Summer Longing
Ruth did what she always did when faced with something troubling—she sprang into action. Back at Shell Haven, she set to work wrapping up the products that had piled up in the kitchen, tying them up with ribbons, and attaching small cards with personal notes. A bottle of lavender oil for Amelia; a sea-salt scrub for Rachel; more soaps for Lidia and Manny; and, finally, a lemongrass body wash for Jaci.
This was the most difficult note to write. And yet, while she crafted it, she realized that the desire to reach out with this message was the entire reason for the hour spent wrapping gifts.
She placed all of her packages in a tote bag and headed back out. Her first stop would be the boatyard.
Chapter Forty-Two
For once, chatty Jaci Barros did not want to chat.
Olivia found her sitting on her bed, headphones on, looking at her phone. Her suitcase, packed but still open, sat in the middle of the floor. When she saw Olivia, she removed her headphones. “Hey, what are you doing here?”
“I heard you’re leaving town,” Olivia said. “So I wanted to say goodbye. May I sit?”
Jaci shrugged.
Olivia perched on the edge of the bed. “So…why the rush?”
“It’s just time to go,” Jaci said. “You get that, right?”
“Look,” Olivia said. “Your mother is really upset and I’m wondering if you could compromise? Stay a week or two longer just to show you’re not, I don’t know, running away from them?”
Jaci narrowed her eyes. “Aren’t you the one who told me I had a right to live my own life? How did you put it? It’s better to just pull the Band-Aid off.”
Olivia nodded. “I did say that. But—”
“But what? Now that you’re hooking up with my brother, it’s not true anymore?”
Olivia bit her lip. “How do you know about that?”
“Come on. You two aren’t exactly stealthy.” She smiled. “For the record, I’m psyched about it. Except for the fact that now you’re taking his side.”
“I’m not taking anyone’s side,” Olivia said. “I just realized I gave you the wrong advice.”
“So now Idon’thave a right to live my own life?”
“You do. Of course you do. But I think I was telling you to do whatever you wanted without thinking about your mother’s feelings, figuring she’d get over it. And I realized that when we have rifts with our mothers, there’s no getting over it.”
Jaci’s eyes filled with tears. “Well, I have to leave. I just have to.”
“Okay,” Olivia said. “But maybe do it in a less hurtful way.”
Something caught her eye across the room, something gold and glittery sticking out of the small wastepaper basket near Jaci’s desk. Now that she was looking, she noticed a trail of glitter from the bed to the desk. “What is all that?”
“Oh. I was making some stuff for Carnival. But now I’m not going to need it.”
Carnival. She’d seen it listed on the calendar of events posted on the refrigerator at Shell Haven. She’d heard people talking about it as the biggest party of the summer.
Olivia thought of the way her mother had convinced her father to stay a few more weeks, roping him in over July 4. If she’d just asked him to stay longer, he would have refused. But when she said,Oh, just stay for the holiday,it seemed more reasonable. Everybody liked parameters.
She stood from the bed, hesitated a few seconds, then retrieved the gold mask from the trash. It was clearly handmade, the glitter shedding under her fingers. She carried it back to the bed; gold dust littered the bedspread. “Why don’t you stay for Carnival?”
Jaci shook her head. “I’m leaving today.”
Olivia brushed away the glitter and moved closer to Jaci. “Running off just makes your mother feel rejected. It calls so much negative attention to yourself. Just give them a few more weeks. Otherwise they’re going to wonder what’s wrong. They’re worried about you. And I’ll be here too. We can talk about New York and what you want to do after school.”
Jaci seemed pensive. “I don’t want my parents to freak out. Nothing’s wrong, okay?”
“Well, if nothing is wrong, maybe you should prove it by staying.”
