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“Tomorrow?” he questioned sleepily as he licked his lips. “Please,baby.”
“Tomorrow,” I assured him. “I’ll see you at midday. Jess and Amelia are picking me up.”
“That means I have to share you with the gang.” He groaned as he turned on his side, allowing the sheets to drop down his body and gather at his waist. I headed toward the door and grabbed the handle as he reached for my wrist. “I don’t think so. Kiss first, baby.”
“I thought you’d never ask,” I moaned against his lips before pulling back, “and no one except you gets to share these lips.”
“Or any,” he retorted as he smacked my ass quickly and firmly to make a point. “All mine. Mine, mine, mine.”
“Yours.”
I quickly headed back across the walkway and home, knowing that even though Hudson would’ve loved to have come with me, it was too soon for that conversation with my mom. She was not going to be happy as it is.
“Summer, is that you?” Mom shouted the moment I opened the door before I heard feet run across the ground, her head popping around the corner of the kitchen door. “Thank god for that.” She breathed a sigh of relief as she headed straight toward me as I shut the door behind me.
“Mom…”
“Don’t Mom me.” She halters, bringing herself to a standstill. “Summer Elizabeth Andrews.” She spilled out the full length of my name with her hands poised on her hips. “Where were you? I mean, you have a cell for a reason. I went and asked Natalia and Raquel if you were with their girls, but they said not today. I was so scared. I thought…” She sighed dramatically before dropping her hands and rushing toward me and gripping me in a harsh grasp that had me struggling for breath.
“Mom, it’s okay. I’m here,” I mumbled. “I didn’t mean to worry you. You thought what though?”
“It doesn’t matter…” She shook her head from left to right and let go of me. “I bet you’re hungry. Want me to make you a sandwich?”
“Okay.” I sighed before I made my way into the kitchen and caught sight of my mom trying to hide the tears that had fallen on her cheeks as she grabbed the ingredients. “Mom, sit down. Let me do it. I think we need to talk.”
“I think it’s time.” She sighed as she pulled the chair out and wiped her tears on the handkerchief she pulled out of the pocket of the white apron that was tied around her waist. “I need to admit some truths and if I don’t, I know I never will…”
“Mom, you’re scaring me,” I admitted as I finished quickly making the sandwiches and putting them on plates. My grumbling stomach churned away, but instead of the hunger I knew it should be, I felt panic and unease. All I wanted was the strong presence of Hudson to calm me, but I knew I had to do this alone.
I took a seat and stared down at the thick bread in front of me as it taunted me. Do I take a bite? Would whatever Mom revealed cause the contents to hurl from my stomach? I don’t know. I didn’t know what to do except wait—anxiously with bated breath—hope that whatever this was, that it wasn’t irrevocable to us both.
“Sorry love, it’s just… I… I don’t know where to start,” she admitted. The normal confident shell of a woman I knew and loved looked on the verge of a meltdown as I scooted my chair nearer and reached for her hand. “I want you to remember moving here is what I felt was best.”
“It is, Mom. I’ve found the most wonderful…” I dropped my head and quickly reminisced about Hudson’s hands and mouth all over my body. Now just wasn’t the time to reveal everything about him as I forced out the word, “…friends.”
“That’s good. I’m glad. I really am.” She sighed a huge relief as she grabbed the edge of her apron with her other hand and scrunched the material within it.
“Whatever you need to tell me, we’ll get through it. We always do.”
Her quick nod of her head as she pulled her hand away and pushed herself to stand shocked me. My mom was always one who sided for comfort in a time of need. Was she really that worried about my thoughts and feelings towards her?
“I pushed to move here, as I wanted to be close to Paul. I’d wrestled with the idea of being here. If it would pull me into a deeper depression or lift the fog that surrounded my daily vision.” Mom spewed the words out, like a turmoil of sickness was about to explode, as she kept her eyes down casted and away from my line of vision as everything started to click into place.
“Puako? You mean Paul died here?” I gasped as I felt my shoulders slump forward. “You wanted to be close to Spencer Park Beach,” I muttered.
“Yes, near the beach, near the house that your Aunt Greta took him away to when they came to visit her boyfriend’s family. I mean, you wanted to stay here, but he begged to go and who was I to refuse?” she replied. “Greta had always been close to us all. I trusted her. I loved her. It was a terrible accident. Paul had missed the ocean safety warnings. I’d never taught him and that was my fault.”
“No,” I stammered as I wiped a lonely tear from my cheek as I pushed to stand up and reach for her.
“Don’t, Summer. Let me say this. The moment you touch me, I’ll break down and I won’t be able to,” she whispered, the cracks in her voice loud and apparent.
I crossed my arms around my center, desperate for touch. I needed to try and center myself before everything in my body crumbled. I skimmed my fingers up and down my skin in the hope it gave me a focus. I needed to feel something while I continued listening to what she had to say. Mom’s reaction made perfect sense that day when Natalia and Raquel suggested I go to Spencer Park Beach now. It was only a shudder, but enough for me to know something wasn’t quite right. Now everything made sense.
“Paul had always been a livewire. Your Aunt Greta and I made amends prior to her passing last year, and I hoped it would help…” She leaned against the kitchen side, gathering her composure. “But my heart still couldn’t settle. That’s when I became obsessed with moving here.”
“I remember the talks…” I whispered into the air.
“I wasn’t trying to deceive you, Summer.” She turned to face me, her tone sharp and defensive. “It’s just this was where the last part of him exists. Paul’s accident in the ocean was a freak occurrence. The area rarely has waves or incidents… but it happened. I’ll always be grateful for the people who saved him and gave me the time to say goodbye.”
