Page 14 of The Beachgoers
When they reach the far rock jetty, Lauren puts her hand in Neil’s back pocket. “What will you do today?” she asks, leaning into him.
“Not much.” He presses a kiss on her head, then joggles a few stones in his hand. “Might take a ride to the bike shop. The Harley needs a part,” he says, breaking away for a second and skipping one of those stones across the water.
Catching up to him, Lauren strokes his wavy hair before taking his hand and turning back. “I’ll stop by tonight? When I’m done at the fair?”
“Sounds good. We’ll get something to eat.”
“I want to talk to Jason, too.”
“Jason?”
Lauren manages a small shrug. “To see if he’ll check on Kyle. He was pretty upset the other night, when I gave him his ring back.”
“Okay,” Neil says. Holding hands, they walk a few quiet steps. “I get it.”
Slowly, they cross the beach again, climb the granite stairs together and stop there for a minute. They talk softly. Neil touches the rose tucked in Lauren’s hair. She hooks a finger in his jeans belt loop and stretches up to give him a kiss. “Love you,” she tells him, then turns to her car parked there, off the side of Champion Road.
Neil waits outside the car as she settles in the driver’s seat and puts on her sandals. The sun is rising higher in the morning sky now. A light breeze lifts off the Sound and it ripples his loose tee as he waits there. When Lauren opens her car window, she asks if he’s sure he doesn’t want a ride home.
“Nah. I’ll walk on the beach. Take the footpath.” Neil bends low and kisses her through the open window. “See you tonight,” he says, giving two quick raps to the top of the car before she drives off.
* * *
Later that morning, Neil wheels his Harley out of the big barn to the driveway. He has on a black denim jacket over the same jeans and tee, but has a rolled bandana knotted around his unruly hair now. Wears black boots, too. He gets on the bike, cuffs his jacket sleeves, adjusts a mirror, shifts on the seat. When he finally starts the engine, its rumbling sounds almost like thwacking helicopter blades.
The bike doesn’t stay on for long, though. As soon as he sees someone approaching, Neil kills the engine and watches the guy cross the deck up on the house. He’s wearing dusty jeans with a black Yale University tee and construction boots—as though he just came from banging nails on some job site. The guy’s face is unshaven; his dark hair is thick in the damp sea air; sunglasses hang from his fingers.
“Hey, hotshot,” Neil calls from where he sits. “How was the Yale conference?”
“Sup, Neil. It was really good, actually. Sat on that panel Thursday, discussing coastal building trends. Networked Friday, all day. Made a lot of connections for the business.”
“Excellent, Jason. Like what?”
“Well, met a guy named Rick, for instance,” Jason says while looking down from the deck. “Owns an architectural salvage yard a few towns over. Could be useful to our renos.”
“That’s decent. When did you get back?”
“Late last night. Had dinner with some alumni there, then hit the road. Got an early start today tearing down walls at the flip.” Jason leans on the deck railing. “How about you? What are you up to?”
“Headed to Hartford. Bike needs a part. Maybe grab a brew at The Elm Café afterward.” Neil straddles the bike and adjusts the mirror again. “I need a ride, too. A nice long one to clear my head.”
Jason walks down the stone deck stairs and hooks his sunglasses on his tee’s collar. “Why? What shit’s filling it now?”
After throwing a look at him on the stairs, Neil gets off the bike. He walks around it, then bends and checks the exhaust pipe. “Lauren ended things with Kyle,” he says over his shoulder.
“What?”
“Yeah, man.” Neil straightens and drags a hand along his jaw as he studies the bike. “Their wedding’s off.”
There’s a long second of quiet—a second when there’s only summer in the air. The midmorning sun shines warm; a robin trills in a nearby maple tree; a neighbor’s screen door slams.
Only summer quiet until Neil looks over at Jason.
“Are you fuckin’kiddingme?” Jason asks then, his booted feet stepping onto the driveway.
“No. No joke.”
“So you’re telling me Lauren went through with it all? She broke up with Kyle?”
