Page 4 of Stony Point Summer
“Well, you know how you can wish on a star? Like we do every summer?”
Elsa barely nods, her eyes locked onto her sister.
“Sometimes a lot of people all over the world are wishing, too. But the stars grant only thetrulyworthy wishes. The ones needing hope, and happiness, and … andlove. And it takes all of a star’s energy to shine its starlight onto those lives. So after they grant so many special wishes from the sky, the stars get tired. Their starlight dims. That’s when they weaken …”
“And fall to the sea?”
“Yes. Which is why they’re calledoceanstars,” June whispers, joining Elsa on the boardwalk. “Then they float on the water until they regain their strength and rise back up to the sky later in the day. Honest. If you look for those ocean stars this evening, they’ll be gone. I promise you.”
Elsa stands now. Stands and steps closer to Long Island Sound. Slowly, her bare feet cross the sand until she’s wading ankle-deep. Small waves slosh at her frayed jeans as she walks out a little deeper, cups her hand and tries to scoop up one of those glimmering stars.
“Oh, no,” June says, coming up behind her. “You can never catch an ocean star. They move with the tides, and the waves, always rising and falling. They’re getting their strength from the sea. The salt water is like their air, filling them with life. And goodness. All while the stars rest to getenoughstrength to rise back up and shine in the sky tonight.” June gives a knowing smile. “You’ll see.”
Elsa, her eyes filled with sudden tears, looks quickly from the ocean stars to her sister beside her.
June sweeps her arm toward the sea and the vast sky over it. “Stars, stars all around us. Celestial stars above and ocean stars on the water. And Elsa, even though you can’tcatchan ocean star, youcanmake a wish on one.”
“Really?” Elsa asks.
June nods. “That’s the beauty of ocean stars. They’re just as magical as night stars.” She takes Elsa’s hand in hers and they run across the sand, back to the boardwalk. “Come on, we’ll wish together.”
And sitting side by side on the boardwalk again, with ocean stars twinkling in the morning light, they do just that.
three
— Now —
OUT ON THE ATLANTIC OCEAN, Shane Bradford’s sent his share of prayers skyward.
Please, God, get me through this storm safely.
Lord, look after our crew.
Bless this trip.
Give me strength.
So the heavens might have been surprised by Shane’s latest prayers uttered while driving down from Maine today.
Please, God, let Celia be home.
And Lord, have her open the damn door.
When he later walks the sandy beach roads to Celia’s guest cottage, he fidgets with an envelope holding his just-written letter. Flips that envelope, turns it, taps it. Only when he walks up Celia’s porch steps does he decide to slide his letter beneath her front door. It feels important to not put her on the spot. To give her a chance to read his messagebeforeshe opens that door. After all, he had a chance in Maine to privately readherletter to him. And to respond with the words he still maintains about her polite kiss-off—words he whispers again on her cottage porch. “That is such bullshit.”
So by sliding his letter beneath her door, he gives Celia that chance to compose herself—no matter how she’ll respond. Because let’s face it, his presenceisunannounced. This way, if she wants anout, she’ll have a moment to come up with it. Some excuse as to why they can’t be together, delivered maybe with a small smile.
But he hopes—okay, and prays—for something else.
* * *
Lately, Celia’s thought of her summer days as a movie suited to one title:The Nowhere Affair. Because that’s where her time with one tenacious lobsterman led—nowhere.
Unless.
Unless what happens in her life at this very moment becomes a newly added scene in that imagined movie. The scene would open with a pull-back shot. A pull-back shot and one noise. It’s just a whisper, really, the noise. It happens when someone slips a plain envelope beneath her gingerbread cottage’s front door—and propels a letter across the wood floor. The camera would catch it all, right until the envelope slides to a stop. There’d be a pause, then, focusing on that lone envelope. But slowly, the camera would pull back to fully show Celia’s living room. And when her closed front door finally comes into view, two sharp raps would sound from the other side of it.
Which is when everything changes in this movie,The Nowhere Affair.
