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Chapter Thirty-One
Lucy
Thebeachiscrowded.Well, crowded for Oak Island anyway. I lay on a towel with an arm thrown over my eyes—the sun warming my skin—and listen to the sound of the waves and seagulls and the children laughing and screaming. It’s crowded, but there’s so much life happening around me it’s hard to feel sad. It’s hard to feel anything but content, really.
I lay in the sun until I can’t stand it anymore—the sun burning my skin that is. The cool water comes as a shock to my body, but for once I don’t mind it. I take the waves as they come, sometimes diving under them, or simply riding with them. There are kids and teenagers swimming and laughing around me, but I don’t pay any of them much attention. When I’m almost chest deep in the water, I stop. The waves aren’t high out here, they’re more like simple swells.
I take a deep breath and go under. I feel the water pushing and pulling around me, the salt stinging my eyes. It’s so quiet under here, the only sound is a quiet pulsing in my ears. And for the first time in months, I feel calm. I feel peace—maybe even happy.
When I get back to the shore, I grab my extra towel and wrap it around my shoulders. I reach into my bag and grab my phone, seeing a text from Wyatt.
Wyatt: I don’t know what the protocol is for us right now, but I really need to hear your voice. Call me?
My heart jumps and I check the timestamp on the text. It came in five minutes ago. I walk back over the sand dunes and up the stairs to sit in one of the older Adirondack chairs on the deck.
“Hey,” Wyatt answers on the first ring.
“Hey, sorry I took so long. I was actually in the water.”
“I’d give anything to see you in a bikini right now.” Wyatt sighs.
I laugh and lean back in the chair, pulling my knees up to my chest. “I’m not in a bikini, weirdo. I’m in an old one-piece that’s at least one or two sizes too small, because I forgot to pack a bathing suit.”
“That’s some poor planning, Lucille.”
“I’m aware. Is everything okay?”
Wyatt’s quiet on the other line and I pull my phone away from my ear to make sure he hasn’t hung up.
“My dad wants to quit his job and come home. For good.”
“Wow, really? Does he want to start working on the farm with you?”
“He wants to take over the farm. And he wants me to go back to school.”
“Isn’t that a good thing? I mean, didn’t you want to go back to school to become a vet?”
“I thought about it. But this farm has been my life for years, Lucy. I’ve worked really hard to make it a business. It’s my main source of income, and Dad wants to just step in now that it’s successful and pack me off to college. I don’t have a degree, and it’s been years since I dropped out. I don’t even know if the credits I had will transfer now. I’m twenty-six and he’s just expecting me to start over.”
“Do you remember the first time we hung out? After you took me ice-skating and you dropped me off at home?”
“Of course I remember.”
“I asked you if you were happy. You said you had stopped trying to make your life into something it was never going to be. Your dad’s giving you a chance to change that. You were twenty-years old when you took over that farm, you dropped out of college to take care of it, and you did it because you felt like you had to, not because you wanted to. He’s giving you an out now, an out to do what you want. And I think you should take it.”
Wyatt’s voice is tense when he says, “I don’t know what I want anymore, Lucy.”
“Well, now you have the chance to figure that out.”
We’re both quiet and I stare out at the ocean, my eyes tracking the waves.
“Can I ask you something?” His voice is soft, and I can almost picture him here with me—can almost see the fragile look in his eyes.
“Anything.”
“Does it make me a coward if I’m scared to start again?”
“No, Wyatt. It makes you human.”
