Page 90 of Stony Point Summer
THIS PATH IS SITUATED ON
LONGITUDE 72º 55’ 29” WEST
ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE EARTH
ON THIS LINE
LIES
VIETNAM
thirty-three
— Now —
NO SOONER DO THEY GET back from a beach walk than Maddy gives a full water-shake—from the tip of her nose to the tip of her sea-soaked tail. On Ted’s deck, every loose drop of salt water sprays off the dog—and onto Jason.
“Argh!” Jason says, mid-text-sending while leaning against the deck railing. He brushes several drops off his phone and keeps typing his message to Rick at the architectural salvage yard.ETA on Elsa’s gift delivery?
In a few seconds, Rick answers.Polished up nice. Wrapped and ready to go now.
Send me a pic, Jason types back.
While waiting, Jason cranks open the patio umbrella and sits at the table. When his phone dings, there it is—a photograph of the gift he purchased for Elsa’s inn. He has to admit, even he’s impressed with the moon-phase grandfather clock. Everything—from the mahogany case, to the brass spandrels in the corners of the brass dial, to the arch’s painted moon-phase feature with gold stars on a blue background—is stunning. Rick also wrapped a wide red ribbon around the clock.
Excellent, Jason texts Rick back.Just straighten ribbon on right. It’s drooping.
When Rick sends a photo of the adjusted ribbon, Jason tells him he’s good to go.
“So am I,” Jason says to himself as he unknots his skinny tie and loosens his shirt collar. He goes inside to the kitchen, where he empties out his leather messenger bag: Maris’ bills; Trent’s fall fair schedule; CT-TV’s itinerary for filming, post Labor Day; some of Neil’s journals.
Now, for the first time all day, he can just sit. Sit and eat lunch and relax. Which he’ll do after filling Maddy’s deck bowl with fresh water, and after bringing a plate and his Pizza Palace bag outside to the patio table. Snagging the only spare minutes from his day, he sets the food alongside Neil’s canvas journal he brought from his barn studio.
But the whole time, his cell phone keeps catching his eye. So he scoops it up and walks to the deck railing. Sea Spray Beach lies beyond the dune grasses across the street. A salty wind lifting off the water reaches him, blowing his hair, touching his face. The waves here are more untamed than at Stony Point. Louder, as they splash onto the sand. Jason watches them for a minute between glances at the cell phone in his hand.
Finally, he turns and leans against the railing before making an important call.
* * *
“Maris,” he says when she answers her phone. “It’s me.”
“Jason?” she asks. “You were just here. Did you forget something?”
“How’d it go this morning?” he asks back.
“What? What do you mean?”
“With your new chapter. You said you were going to review it on Back Bay.”
“Oh,that,” she says, as if there’s maybe something else, too, that happened earlier. “It went fine. The chapter’s good, and I’m happy with it.”
“Okay, I’m glad. But the reason I’m calling is that I wanted to ask you a question.”
“A question?”
“Yeah,” he says. “I was wondering something.”
“I’m listening.”
