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That day they left the island and never went back as a family again.
Their divorce had been messy. April remembered seeing her father with various women throughout the remaining four years of her girlhood. Thankfully, he traveled so much she barely saw him enough for it to matter.
Not only was he distant from the family he once knew, but April had been shipped off to some boarding school for her last years of high school. Something her mother thought would whip her into shape, as if she’d been called into the principal’s office too many times instead of just being a projection of her mother.
A projection that Caroline couldn’t stand to see any longer.
So her mother grew distant and cold, but not any colder than her peers at the new school. April was never smart enough, clever enough, or well behaved enough to do right by anyone.
Caroline insisted constantly that she do better than she was. “Study more, no more of those campus parties.” As if April had enough friends to attend one of those.
“You’d better clean yourself up so you can get to know some new colleagues. Networking is the path to success.” April scoffed on the plane just thinking about her mother’s overbearing demands. Nothing she did was right. “If you marry well, then you won’t have to worry about things so much. You’ll be taken care of.”
April chuckled in her seat thinking about that one. She’d married well and look at where she’d ended up. About to get a divorce, single again.
“Become a lawyer. You’ll be good at it and you’ll make money. It’s the only way to succeed.”
And yet, she’d quit her job and ended up here. Another bout of anxiety rushed through her. Everything her mother wanted from her, she left behind to get on this plane.
April knew it would be worth it once she stepped foot on the sandy beaches and soaked up the sun. This quaint town was everything she wanted, needed even. It was going to fix everything.
The seatbelt sign flashed on as the plane began its descent. April threw back what remained in her wine glass before strapping herself into her seat again. The buckle clicked in a symphony of others doing the same.
A woman sitting a row or two back was gripping the armrests for dear life. Her eyes were squeezed shut. April realized that she felt a lot like this woman, only on the inside.
And for both of them, the terror would go away when they landed. The woman would feel better because she survived the plane ride and April would feel better because she could finally take a deep breath. She was going to forget all the troubles of the past few days and explore the place she once loved.
The place she still loved because it wasn’t back home in the city. It wasn’t with her husband at the circus. It was Sandcrest, the island town that held all her hopes and dreams.
As the plane continued its descent, April looked at the island with more hope than she ever did before. The last place she was truly happy felt closer by the second. The plane shuttered with its own kind of excitement.
All she could do was pray that the island would bring her as much peace as it once did before. If it gave her an ounce of the joy she’d had when she was young, it would be worth it. Any piece of happiness right now would have given April everything she needed.
The plane stuttered across the runway as they finally hit the landing strip. A select few cheered as they came to a halt.
“Passengers, we have now landed at Charleston International Airport.”
CHAPTER SIX
The car sped down the highway, faster than April typically ever drove. But this was an exception. She would bend the rules just this once in order to get to the island faster.
It wasn’t just that she was excited; she was also starving and ready for lunch. The wind brushed her hair past her ears at increasingly fast speeds. The man at the car rental place offered her a simple and practical Dodge Durango, but she opted for the sleeker and more expensive BMW.
After thirty full minutes of driving, she made it to the coastline. Ocean as far as she could see, golden beaches and tall oak trees - it was a dream.
April turned onto a bridge, the only one that brought people to Sandcrest. The sun was at its peak, light streaming down through the clouds. The waves sparkled at that time of day, something April had forgotten until she saw them again.
As soon as she crossed the bridge and hit the first mile of road on the island, something caught her eye. Movement, ever so slight, to her left made her stop the car on the side of the road. Was this what she thought it was?
April stepped out of the car, squinting into the large trees hiding what she thought she saw. Her eyes couldn’t have been getting this bad, not already. No, she’d seen something before she stopped.
The trees rustled without a sign of life, but soon without the noise of the running car, a long head peeked out from the tree line. Then another, and another. Three wild horses, two gray and one brown walked out from hiding and began to nibble on the grass in the field beside her.
Trying her hardest not to make a noise, April walked a step closer. She sat down at the edge of the field, taking in the beauty of the horses. The brown one whipped its head up and down, sputtering and neighing to the others. They gathered around and continued grazing.
Mesmerized by the sight, April didn’t move out of fear of disrupting them. She watched in wonder of them. She’d forgotten that wild horses roamed the island year-round. When she was young, she’d ask her parents to take her to the fields to see if they’d come out.
Half of the time, they found them. Then the other half, the horses were nowhere to be found. That’s what made the times they showed themselves to April that much sweeter. As she sat on the grass and took in the scene, she noticed other animals there too.
