by Rachel Hanna
“Well, I may have been procrastinating on that.”
“Nah… really?”
“How did you know I wouldn’t get to that?” Laura asked with a smile.
“Because I know you better than you know yourself. And I know that your mother kept all of her prized possessions under there, for whatever crazy reason.”
Laura sighed. “It was easier going through her clothes.”
“Come on. We can do this together. And you can call the real estate agent tomorrow and get this house on the market.”
“Why the rush?”
“It’s been weeks, Laura. You know you’re stalled on this, and I’m going to un-stall you.”
Laura finally relented, knowing that her best friend wasn’t going to give up anyway. They sat down on the floor next to the bed and began the task of digging everything out.
“What on Earth is this?” Carrie asked as she pulled out some long pink pieces of shiny ribbon.
Laura smiled. “Oh, I remember those! Mom was a ballerina in high school. These are her pointe shoes.”
“Wow. I didn’t know she danced.”
“Yeah, she loved it, but her parents couldn’t pay for lessons anymore when Grandpa had his accident.”
Laura’s late grandfather had been in a farming accident when her mother was in high school, and his inability to work had really put a strain on the family.
“Oh, wow… Look at this,” Laura said as she slid a large picture frame from under the bed. “It’s her high school diploma. And here’s her college degree too,” she said. Her mother had graduated with an associates degree as a legal secretary, and that’s how she had supported Laura all those years alone.
They spent the next hour laughing over the memories they pulled out from under her bed, and Laura was surprised that the task wasn’t as bad as she’d feared it would be, at least not with Carrie.
“Have you seen this?” Carrie asked, her eyes wide as she looked at a large piece of white poster board that she pulled from under the dusty bed. “Here, take a look.”
She handed it to Laura. The poster board was yellowing and the corners were turning up, but clear as day at the top was written “My Dream Board”.
“I think it’s like her vision board or something,” Carrie said, scooting in closer, craning her head over Laura’s right shoulder. There were pictures taped to the paper along with big words written across it.
“My mom didn’t even know what a vision board was,” Laura laughed.
“Well, apparently she did because we’re currently looking at it. Look, she wanted to ride a roller coaster and sky dive…”
“She was terrified of heights, just like me!”
“And it says she wanted to go on a date… with a younger man? Go, Sarah! She was a cougar!”
Laura scowled. “My mother was not a cougar.”
“Look, there’s even a picture of a motorcycle here…”
“This doesn’t make any sense!” Laura said as she shook her head. “My mother wasn’t this person. She didn’t want to date younger men and ride motorcycles. She liked quiet evenings on the front porch, sipping lemonade and listening to crickets chirp.”
“And maybe the occasional hot younger man…”
“Carrie, that isn’t funny.”
“Why are you getting so bent out of shape about this? So your mom had dreams you didn’t know about.”
“She would’ve told me!”
“Oh really? Do you honestly think Sarah would’ve told you about this stuff given how straight laced you are?”
Laura’s mouth dropped open. “Straight laced? What is that supposed to mean?”
Carrie smiled sadly. “Honey, you have to admit that you’re not exactly a daredevil. Maybe your mom had this other side to her that she wanted to express but she was afraid of what people… you… might think. And maybe this vision board is really old, from when you were little, and she couldn’t run off and do these things.”
Laura considered what her friend was saying. Maybe her mother had felt constrained by her life, just like she was feeling right now. And then her time to do something about it had run out.
“Look at this one,” Carrie said, pointing to a small postcard taped to the bottom left corner. It was a beautiful beach with an aqua blue ocean.
“What did she write there?” Laura asked, leaning in and squinting her eyes.
“It says ‘my dream home’.”
“Is that the Bahamas or something?”
Carrie studied the picture for a moment. “No. It says ‘January Cove, Georgia’. Did she ever mention that place?”
“No. Never. Not to me at least.” Laura was starting to feel like her mother had this secret life she knew nothing about. Why wouldn’t she share her dreams with her only daughter?
“So what are you going to do about this?” Carrie asked as she sat back against the bed frame.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, your mother never got to achieve these dreams, and you need a fresh start so…”
“Oh I get it. I’m supposed to run off with a younger man on a motorcycle and see if he’ll take me skydiving?”
Carrie laughed. “Sounds like the perfect date to me.”
Laura stood up and tossed the poster board on the bed. “Well, not to me. I’m not going to run around and live my mother’s dream board.”
Carrie stood up and crossed her arms. “When are you going to jump out there and do something crazy, Laura?”
“Carrie, you can’t be serious about this. I have a life here. I have a job here.”
“That you hate,” Carrie said as she followed her to the kitchen. Laura poured a glass of orange juice and leaned against the kitchen counter.
“Well, it’s still a job.”
Carrie sighed. “What do you really want out of life?”
“I have no idea,” Laura said softly before setting her glass on the counter.
“Exactly. Now is the perfect time to explore what you really want in your life. Nothing is holding you here. You’re getting a nice check from your mother’s life insurance, plus this house will sell quickly and you get all the proceeds. You could live anywhere and do anything! Doesn’t that excite you?”
“No. It terrifies me, actually.”
Carrie smiled. “Good. Life should be a little terrifying when we’re making big leaps.”
“Your clients must pay you the big bucks for this advice,” Laura said with a laugh. Carrie had been a life coach for about three years, working with people on the Internet from all over the world.
“Yes, they do, actually. But they listen to me, and you don’t.”
“I am listening.”
“No. You’re arguing. How about this - let me make your big life decisions for the next three months, and we’ll see what you think at the end of that time.”
“Have you lost your mind? I’m not letting you make my decisions for me, Carrie. I’m a grown woman!”
“Fine. But at least promise me that you’ll give this some thought, okay? Nothing is holding you here, sweetie. You’ve got all of the options in the world right now, and most people would kill for this opportunity. I’m just saying that living out some of your mother’s dreams might help you get the peace you want and start your own life over too. And maybe you’ll come up with some dreams of your own in the process.”
Laura smiled and sighed, thankful that her friend was giving up the argument… for now anyway.
Chapter 3
Sawyer stood at the end of the pier and stared out over the familiar coastline. He’d spent his entire life smelling that salty sea air, and it was a welcome scent to him now that he was back home.
So far he’d managed to fly under the radar, but he’d only been home for a few days. At some point, someone from his past would definitely see….
“Sawyer?” he heard a voice say behind him.
He turned around to see another familiar sight - Brad Parker, one of his oldest friends and constant
running buddy from high school. Although they hadn’t seen each other in years, Brad’s smile was the same as ever. A prankster at heart, they’d gotten in trouble many times together over those turbulent adolescent years.
“Brad! Wow, you look old, man!” Sawyer teased. Brad stepped forward as if he was going to hug him, but instead pushed him a bit to make it appear as if he was going to plunge directly into the waiting ocean below. Sawyer braced for the fall just as Brad grabbed him with his other hand and hoisted him back up the pier.
“Did you learn nothing about making fun of me?” Brad said with a laugh before he finally pulled Sawyer into a bear hug. “What are you doing here, dude? Shouldn’t you be singing at the Grand Ole Opry or something?”
“Ha ha ha… Very funny. Just taking some much needed time off.”
“Well, you know you’re going to get mobbed by adoring old lady fans here, right? You’re the talk of the town. The big celebrity that makes January Cove proud. The hometown son who…”
“Alright already!” Sawyer said, putting his hand over Brad’s still moving mouth. “I can see not much has changed. You’ve still got a big mouth and flabby abs.”
“We don’t all get to work with celebrity trainers,” Brad said, rubbing his barely visible stomach. Since he started dating Ronni a few months ago, she’d gotten him into yoga - one of her “California” activities that she brought with her down South. “So why are you really back in town?”
“I told you. I’m taking a break.” Sawyer turned back to the water and stared out at the tiny dots out in the ocean that must have been boats.
“You could take a break anywhere. I saw your last break in People magazine. Aruba, right?”
“What are you? Some kind of stalker?” Sawyer asked with a chuckle.
“I just wanted to be able to say I knew you when.”
“When what?” he asked, turning around.
“When we TP’d City Hall. When you fell into the ocean right about there trying to get away from that yellow jacket that you thought was chasing you.” Brad added air quotes for effect. “When we dated those sisters from Savannah. Remember them? One is a nun now, I heard. Kind of a weird twist of fate, huh?”
“Do you ever stop talking?” Sawyer knew the answer to that. Brad was funny, curious and a bigger gossip than any woman he’d ever met. But he had to admit he loved the guy like a brother.
“Now I think you know the answer to that,” Brad said as he leaned against one of the posts of the pier.
“So, what’s new in your life?”
“Well, I’m still a contractor. Just finished the renovations on the old Lamont theater.”
“Yeah, I saw that place. January Cove is stepping up in the world, huh?”
Brad smiled. “I’m pretty proud of how that turned out. My girlfriend runs the place for a development company out of California.”
“Girlfriend, huh? You mean a woman finally took you under her wing out of pity?”
Brad chucked his friend in the arm. “I’ve missed having you around, buddy. What do you say we have dinner tonight? There’s a great restaurant called Breakers…”
Sawyer sighed and looked at Brad. “I’d love to catch up, but I don’t want the attention right now. Kind of looking to get away, if you know what I mean.”
“Gotcha. I forgot you’re a celebrity. To me you’re just a pimply faced teenager with only a passing acquaintance with deodorant and a terrible curve ball.”
Sawyer laughed genuinely. “It’s good to be home.” It truly was good to be home where his real friends didn’t think of him as famous or anything special. He was just Sawyer from January Cove High School. “Raincheck on dinner?”
“Sure. Listen, Addison owns a B&B so why don’t we set up a time for dinner sometime soon? That way the gawkers won’t hassle you trying to take selfies or whatever.”
Sawyer smiled. “I’d love to see Addison and the rest of the crew if possible. Give me a few more days to settle in, and we’ll do it. I’m staying in the yellow rental house off Elm for at least the next few weeks.”
Brad nodded and shook Sawyer’s hand before he headed back up the pier. Yes, it was good to be back home, but for the first time in his life Sawyer felt like a tiny little boat adrift in the wide open ocean - without direction or a plan. In reality, he had no idea where he even wanted to go in his life. He could feel a door closing, but another one didn’t seem to be opening.
Laura gripped the phone tightly in her hand as she stared out the small window diagonally across from her desk. To be so close to downtown Baltimore, her view sucked. She felt cooped up, like she was in prison.
“Mr. Dennon, I’ve explained in every way I know how that we didn’t approve that marketing campaign. Your wife is the one who gave the final go-ahead on that…”
The older man continued interrupting, as he usually did in their weekly phone calls. His mind was faltering, and he blamed Schuster & Sutton for any errors with his company’s marketing even though they usually originated with him or his awful wife. Yet, Laura had been instructed not to irritate one of their biggest clients. No. Matter. What.
She just needed to sit there and take it, according to her boss. Mr. Sutton would play off the fact that the client was always right and force Laura to just nod and smile, but it was starting to drive her batty.
When the old man finally finished his long diatribe, she hung up the phone and put her head in her hands. She’d literally had the same headache for a couple of weeks now.
Laura stood up and stretched her back as she walked to the window and looked out. Everything in her view was gray and dreary, including the sky today. She was so tired of living the same life everyday. Get up, go to work, go home, cook for herself, entertain herself. Boring, that’s what it was. Her soul was dying.
“Laura, did you handle Mr. Dennon’s issue?” her boss asked from behind her.
“Of course I did. I always do.” She added that last part, and the bitterness in her voice was hard to mistake.
“Excuse me?”
She turned slowly, realizing what she’d done. Mr. Sutton had very hard edges, and right now she could see the irritation on his face clearly. But for some reason, she didn’t care.
Maybe it was because her mother’s insurance check was on its way. Or maybe it was because the Realtor had called this morning with an offer from a buyer before the sign even went in the yard.
“I said I always do,” she repeated. “I have the same conversation with Mr. Dennon every single month when he forgets he or his wife signed off on the billing for a marketing campaign.”
He glared at her as if he couldn’t believe she was standing up for herself. “Well, that is your job.”
Mr. Sutton started to turn to walk out, but Laura spoke before he could. “No. Actually, it isn’t my job to listen to someone berate me for half an hour for something I didn’t do. My job here was supposed to lead me to becoming a marketing executive, Mr. Sutton. But instead I find myself caught in a position with no future potential, and I haven’t had a raise in four years!”
Now her voice was traveling ever higher, and she couldn’t seem to control it. The last thing she wanted to do was be seen as an over-dramatic woman.
“Laura, after all of our years together, I can’t believe how you’re talking to me right now. I’m very disappointed. I realize you’ve been… emotional… lately, what with your mother’s death and your husband leaving you…”
His tone was that of a father disciplining a child, and it made her start to feel rage seething under the surface. How could she have missed it? He saw her as a child? Beneath him? It was as clear as day to her right now.
“I quit.”
The words escaped her mouth before she even had time to consider what she was saying, and for a moment she wanted to suck them right back in like a Hoover vacuum.
“What?” His eyes were wide and his jaw slack as his mouth hung open. “Are you kidding me?”
Laura took in a deep breath
, fully aware that she was standing at a fork in the road. She could either stay in her comfortable, boring rut or she could make a break. Try something new. Be the person she actually wanted to be instead of the person everyone expected her to be.
“No, Mr. Sutton, I’m not kidding,” she said calmly. Evenly. Peacefully. “I quit.”
Without another word, she turned and opened her drawer, pulling her handbag from it. She picked up her favorite candle from her desk and a picture of her chihuahua, Rigoletto, and stuffed them into her bag. Mr. Sutton continued staring at her as if the power of speech had left his body.
“I want to thank you for employing me all of these years. Really. It was mostly a pleasure. I wish you well, sir,” she said as she walked past him and out into the lobby. As she stepped on the elevator, she could see him still standing in the hallway.
Looking down at her phone, she sent a quick text to Carrie.
Quit my freaking job. What now, life coach?
Carrie took a long sip of her wine as the early spring breeze swept across the table of the small cafe. Laura sat there, expectantly waiting on her friend to direct her, being the successful life coach that she was, but instead Carrie continued staring at the screen of her small laptop.
“Hello? Unemployed middle aged woman looking for direction here,” Laura said, waving her hand around as if she was in distress.
Carrie tilted her eyes up at her friend and smiled wryly. “Yeah, I get it. I’m actually doing a little research here.”
Laura slid her chair around and craned her neck toward the screen. “What’s that?”
“That, my friend, is a tourism site about January Cove.”
“What? Why are you looking at that? I thought you were going to help me with my joblessness problem. Instead you’re staring at pictures of the ocean?”
Carrie sighed. “Can you even think outside of the box for just a moment? This is your chance to break away from this place that you find so dreary right now and start something for yourself. The cost of living and starting a business in January Cove would be minuscule compared to here. Plus, you have just about year-round tourism opportunities there.”
