Summer by the Sea

SUMMER BY THE SEA

A PERFECT FEEL-GOOD SUMMER ROMANCE

JENNY HALE

ONE

Faith stopped the car in front of her favorite lunch spot in the Outer Banks: Dune Burger. It was a tiny shack of a building—a little rectangle that sat so close to the beach that the sand from the dunes blew across the street, covering the curb on windy days. The insignificantly sized building was painted a bright red, with stark white trim, and the walk-up windows across the front were all open. Faith got out of her car, and the heat of summer assaulted her. She remembered this heat from her childhood when they would come here to North Carolina and spend a week at the beach every summer. Just as it did now, the sun had warmed her all the way through. She walked up to the window to place her order, noticing how this time she could reach the counter without a problem. As a kid, the counter had been too high to see over. She’d grabbed onto it, dangling by her arms until her mother had shooed her away, telling her gently that it wasn’t meant for that. As they waited for their order, her mother, Martha, would swing her around in circles. She remembered how the building would blur in her dizziness, the rush of ocean air in her ears.

“What would you like to order?” A woman greeted Faith from behind the counter, bringing her back to the present.

“I’ll have a cheeseburger with ketchup and mustard, please,” she said to the woman before rummaging in her handbag for her change purse.

Faith was early, so she’d decided to stop and have a little lunch before heading to the cottage. As she waited for her burger, she noticed a small crowd of people standing around one of the windows at the other end. They were surrounding a tall, dark-haired man, clapping him on the back, chuckling, and making jokes.

When her burger was ready, she took it over to a red picnic table that was painted to match the building. It had an equally bright, red umbrella, but, even tilted toward where she was standing, the sun overpowered its shade, and she got no relief from the heat when underneath it except for the sea breeze coming from the shore. She slipped her sunglasses on, sat down, and spun herself under the table.

The sky was a perfect, cloudless blue, and the sound of the waves crashing just over the dunes was the only sound apart from a passing car here and there. It had been a long time since she’d been here, but this spot had hardly changed.

Before she met her family today, Faith had promised herself that she’d drive a few blocks down from Dune Burger and see the area of beach where their family cottage had stood. It had been leveled by a hurricane when she was a teenager, and, ever since then, they hadn’t been back to the Outer Banks as a family. Not until today. She remembered the cottage as if she’d just been there. She could almost smell the earthy scent of it. The exterior had been the same brown color as driftwood—like most of the older cottages that sat on Beach Road. It was tall, on stilts to protect it from the high tides during storms; it had a small porch that went around the outside, and a driveway that led through the stilts and under the house.

On the porch, there had been two rocking chairs and a bench swing. If she closed her eyes, she could almost feel the sand on her feet as she hugged her knees on that swing, her cheeks throbbing from too much sun, her hair so golden from the summer spent outside that it looked yellow against her tan skin. Her sister, Casey, was taller than she was, and she could push against the floor hard enough to make the swing sail backward and then forward, the rocking motion tickling Faith’s tummy, but her favorite times on that swing were when it was still, the breeze pushing her hair around her shoulders and cooling her skin. She liked the quiet moments on that porch, the serenity of it. She’d always been that way.

The sound of a car parking pulled her from her memories. The crowd by the window had gone now, the man with dark hair still there. Getting out of his car, the driver called, “Jake! How are ya?” and walked over to shake the man’s hand. When he did, Faith got a good look at the man named Jake. He certainly seemed popular. He greeted the other man, and Faith noticed the sincerity in his smile and how striking his features were as he got a little closer. He had a strong jawline, but there was something gentle about the way his expressions moved around his face. He was wearing some sort of work clothes—painter, maybe?

His dark hair was windblown, his shoes spotted from whatever it was he did for a living, but there was something about him that seemed juxtaposed to what she could see. He had an authoritative presence—squared shoulders, a strong, intense look in his eyes, but at the same time, he seemed genuinely friendly. He had a firm-looking handshake, and appeared so at ease with himself; just watching how he interacted with people made Faith want to see what he’d do next. She looked down at her burger to avoid staring at him.

The two men talked for a while—she couldn’t make out their conversation, and she didn’t want to eavesdrop, so she just ate her burger and enjoyed the solitude. It may be the last moment of quiet she’d get for a while. Soon, she’d be with her entire family. They were coming together this week to celebrate her grandmother’s ninetieth birthday. She hadn’t been with them all together in quite a while. She just couldn’t face Casey. Faith had been able to make excuses up until now—parent-teacher conferences at school, report cards to be completed, field trips—and it was time she faced her. She’d seen Nan and her mother, but she’d always avoided Casey. Seeing her sister had been too complicated, with too many feelings surrounding the two of them. Just thinking about Casey had been painful, but staying away from her was painful too. She missed her sister terribly, but she couldn’t deny what Casey had done, and it was enough to make her want to stay away. Now, she knew she was finally ready to see her. Faith worried that seeing her might bring back the sting of Casey’s betrayal, but she finally felt like she was strong enough to face it head-on. She couldn’t have done that earlier, but now she could, and there was no way she would’ve missed her Nan’s birthday.

Faith couldn’t wait to see her grandmother. Nan had been her rock growing up. It was Nan who had planned their childhood visits to the beach, who had watched them when their mother was working, who had picked them up from school and had taken care of them at home when they were sick. While she was eager to be back here and with her family, it was Nan who she was the most excited to see.

Faith’s thoughts were as wild as the sea wind as she came back to the present. The man—Jake—began walking toward her, carrying his burger. He seemed to be heading straight for her table. Was he planning to sit with her? He paused a few steps from her table for just a moment, just a breath, and smiled. It was a polite smile, the kind one would offer to a stranger, but yet there was something so approachable about him. As he started to walk toward her again, his blue eyes on her, that intensity she’d witnessed now directed at her, she was taken with how attractive he was, and she wondered what her hair looked like—she’d driven there with the windows down the whole way. Did she have any makeup left on her face? Just when she was thinking he was actually going to ask to sit with her, he continued past her and sat at the table next to hers.
Silly
, she thought.
Why would he sit with a complete stranger?

Faith ate the last bite of her burger and balled up the paper. Then, walking past Jake’s table, she threw her trash away and got back into her car. She pulled onto Beach Road, and with the man in her rearview mirror, she headed toward the lot that had held the cottage from her childhood. As she drove, she thought about that moment she’d had when the man named Jake had smiled at her. She could’ve easily mentioned the beautiful weather or asked him about the best shopping spots in the area. She could’ve said anything, but she hadn’t. Her sister, Casey, would’ve. Casey had an easy way about her. She could talk to anyone. Faith often felt that opportunities came Casey’s way just because she was so easy to talk to. Faith was the quiet one. She had just as much to offer as her sister, but she had a harder time getting that across to people. She knew what she wanted to say; she just didn’t feel comfortable blurting it out. Just like now. If there had been any chance to have a conversation with a friendly, handsome man, she’d missed it. She shouldn’t have missed it. In her adult life, she was very confident.

Faith’s confidence had grown through her work. She’d been a kindergarten teacher for the last five years, and she’d loved it. She’d learned so much about personalities from the children she taught, and she realized, as she taught them, how being quiet could also mean being strong. She threw herself into her job and gave it everything she had, and her strength grew as she made friends with other teachers in her school. The children inspired her, and she finally felt in control of things. She loved the idea of keeping her own time, preparing instructional lessons the way she wanted to, and seeing the results when the children learned the concepts easily as a result of her preparation.

The kids looked up to her, they listened to her. She had to know how to be with the kids, and they were brutally honest. What Faith had found was that, in her quiet way, she taught them how to trust her. She’d found that they liked her—she made them giggle. And, crucially, they learned.

Last month, she’d received the best news—she was Teacher of the Year for her school. She’d had a big party with all her friends, and the school had recognized her accomplishments with a banquet. So many of the parents of her students came out for it that it touched her. This was her year. She was finally the person she was meant to be. And, for the first time in her life, she was happy. So, when Nan called about this beach trip, knowing Casey would be there, Faith felt strong enough to see her sister.

The one thing that was still niggling at her was the fact that, while both sisters were very successful in their own right, Casey still had something that Faith didn’t: a family. Faith had spent so many years building her self-confidence and working to make her life what she wanted that now she was worried she’d waited too long. Dating people had always come second to her job, and at the time, she felt she couldn’t help that. Now, looking back on it, she wondered if she’d been right. She’d had two long-term relationships that had ended because of her constant working. When her first relationship ended on that note, she’d just considered it a difference of opinion, that perhaps they just weren’t right for each other. But then, when her last relationship with a man named Patrick had ended for the same reason she started to take a look at her priorities.

Patrick had been a great guy. He knew how to treat her, and she enjoyed being with him. But when he wanted to take things further, and he mentioned her pulling back a little on her work, she’d dug in her heels. She felt at the time like he was trying to take away her control. But now, she wondered if perhaps she should’ve given a little. Because, in the end, the children in her classroom would go home to their parents, but she would go home to an empty house, with no children of her own. Unlike Casey who had a wonderful husband and a beautiful daughter named Isabella. She couldn’t help but feel sad at the thought. But she wouldn’t let that spoil this vacation

Faith’s long, brown hair chased the air as it rushed in and out of the open car window. It felt good to be out of her usual skirts and button-up shirts. Her sunglasses and dangly earrings were casual like the shorts she had on and the flip-flops on her feet. She’d painted her toenails a beachy pink, and she was ready to have a little fun. Teaching children was hard work, and she needed the break. She wondered if Casey would welcome the slower pace. Her sister was a lawyer for a firm in Boston and from all she’d heard, it seemed that she worked all the time these days too.

Apart from her sister’s job, which Faith would never want, Casey had everything. She had an amazing family, and a house full of photos and reminders of the travels and adventures they’d had. As a kid, when Faith had thought about what her life would be like when she grew up, she’d imagined a house full of children, a loving husband, and a job that she loved. She was too young to grasp at the time that those things weren’t guaranteed. Faith’s personal life was a little like the empty lot she was going to see: a blank spot just waiting for something to be built on it.