Page 20 of These Rough Waters

When I’m finally dressed and actually wearing shoes, I head back out, finding Harper in the same spot and Torin climbing down from the roof.

Torin casts his eyes over me once before he dismisses me, heading for the toolbox Harper was still using as a seat.

“Need the box, kid,” He huffs out, hammer dangling from his dirtied hand.

“Do you want coffee?” I blurt.

“No.” He replies, waiting for Harper to move further away before he throws his tools back into the box.

“You didn’t need to do that.”

“You got firewood?” He asks.

“What?”

“It gets cold quick, snow will be here in the next couple weeks and that cabin has heating older than Ruthie. You’ll need the fire.”

“Oh, okay. I’ll get that sorted.”

He grunts in response, something I’ve come to realize he does a lot. He picks the box up and grabs the ladder before he makes his way back to his house.

“He doesn’t seem very happy, momma.” Harper comments, sliding her chilled hand into mine.

“No, baby, he doesn’t, but sometimes people don’t want to be happy all the time.”

“Are you happy, momma?”

“I will be,” I answer her honestly, not wanting to lie, “We will be. We just gotta give it some time.”

“Can I have breakfast now?”

I smile, stifling my laugh at how easily it is for children to veer off track and nod, “Go ahead. I’ll be in in a minute.”

Now alone outside, I watch the shrinking shape of Torin disappear around the side of his house before I cast my eyes out to the bay. It truly was a storybook island, with the trees surrounding the town and climbing the peak that sits like a sentinel guard over the mouth to the bay. The rough waters crash loudly against the rocks lining the shore before it sweeps across the grainy sand. Boats rock idly on the waves, the pier stretching out with moored boats parked along the way. The huts on Torin’s side seems to be lively, with fishermen and their wives sitting on deck chairs watching the waters and enjoying the early morning sun.

I’d never of dreamed a place like this could exist, the quiet sleepy town sat on an island in the middle of the ocean. It was a far cry from the city life I knew, a concrete jungle with constant noise and polluted air. Here it was fresh. It was new.

And it would be where I take that next step. That next leap.

It was time to forget who I used to be and grow from it.

There was nothing stopping me.No onestopping me.

And while I’d escaped a little over a week ago now, I could feel those chains start to unwind, the tension to loosen and I take my first real breath of freedom.

The bruises would fade. The cuts would heal.

And so would I, and my daughter.

It would be okay; we would be okay.

Inhaling the salty air, I let myself relax and turn back to the cabin where Harper waits inside, letting myself risk one final glance back to the large house across from me. Torin hadn’t reappeared but I doubted I’d be able to avoid him when he was my closest neighbor, and this was a very small town.

I’d thank him for the roof but that’s all I owed the stoic man, and after last night, he was lucky I’d give him even that.

I wouldn’t judge him, even if I didn’t agree and was still angry at him.

We all have our pasts and for all I knew, his could be as complicated as mine.

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