Page 2 of Another Love, Another Time
As we enter our vacation house, my dad sets me on the kitchen counter and tells me, “Sit still and do not move. I’m going to find the vinegar.” Auggie comes up and holds my hand. “Sorry that my pee didn’t work. I really thought it would.”
“It’s okay, Auggie.” I squeeze his hand. My dad comes back with the bottle of vinegar. He places a big bowl in the sink and fills it with vinegar. Then, he slides me to the sink and places my foot in the bowl. It’s freezing until my foot gets used to the temperature. Then, I don’t feel the burning as much. The whole time, Auggie is still holding my hand.
“Let’s keep that in there for a little bit. Stay here with her, Auggie. I need to go run and get a towel.” My dad turns and walks off towards the bathroom.
“That stuff stinks.” Auggie scrunches his nose.
“Yeah, but it does make it feel better.”
“I can’t believe you let me pee on you,” he says with a smirk.
I smile back. “Me neither.” I have a feeling I will never live this down.
My dad comes back in with a towel in his hand and then turns the water on, waiting for it to warm up. “How does it feel? Do you still feel any burning?” he questions.
I shake my head. I can feel it a little bit, but definitely not like earlier. He dumps the vinegar down the drain, moves my foot to the warm water, fills the bowl up again, and starts to soak my foot again.
The door opens, and everyone pours in from the beach. “We headed in at the right time. It’s sprinkling,” Uncle Eddie tells my dad.
My dad removes my foot from the warm water and dries my foot off. “I want you to stay off your feet and take this.” He holds a spoon up to my mouth, and I swallow whatever is in the spoon. He pulls me off the counter and sets me back on the floor. “Go sit on the couch. I won’t make you take a bath just yet. Let your mom or me know if it starts hurting, okay, honey?”
~
If you haven’t figured it out, Auggie is my best friend, and our moms are best friends. They went to the same college but did not become friends until they started working for the same company out of college a few years later. They both lived in neighboring towns but hung out with similar crowds. They started hanging out and have been best friends ever since, living together and getting into trouble together. They even enlisted in the Army together.
My mom introduced Aunt Connie to Uncle Eddie. Uncle Eddie was my mom’s friend first. I think it’s funny that Aunt Connie and Uncle Eddie argue over who her best friend is.
When it was time to start families, my mom and Aunt Connie wanted their kids to grow up together, so they tried having babies at the same time. My mommy had Serena first. Aunt Connie and Mom did not give up; they wanted their kids to grow up together, so after my mom found out she was pregnant with me, Aunt Connie was devastated.
Aunt Connie and Uncle Eddie went to the doctor to find out why she couldn’t get pregnant like Mommy, and she found out she was pregnant too, with my best friend, Auggie. Auggie is older than me by a few months, but we have always been close.
Even though our mommies are best friends, we don’t live in the same town. We live hours away from Auggie, but we get to seethem a lot during the year. Auggie and I have pictures of us in bathtubs, sandpits, beaches, and messes of food.
Our families do not get to see each other every day, but when we do, we make it count. We’re on a family vacation, making memories right now. That’s what our mom’s keeping telling us.
When I say “family,” that includes my mom’s and Aunt Connie’s friends. This year, our family decided to vacation in Maine. We are staying in a huge cottage-style house with a view of the ocean. My mom, the dreamer and idea finder of said vacations, is trying to fulfill all her different lives through our vacations. She is an avid reader and loves to escape in her books, but she also likes to see and experience the places in her books.
Aunt Connie, on the other hand, is the organizer of said vacations. She makes sure we have planned activities and alternatives. Everyone else goes along with what the moms say, including the dads. They always say they are along for the ride.
After the jellyfish accident, we are all stuck inside because of the rain. Always the organized one, Aunt Connie has a plan B to keep us busy. Today is going to be craft day for the rest of the day. My mom said that we are going to make friendship bracelets. Connie and my mom start pulling out the supplies to make the bracelets. There are so many colors of lettered beads to choose from.
“Think of someone who means a lot to you, and you can give the bracelet to them,” my mom directed.
As I look at the colors, my first thought is to make a green and blue bracelet—Auggie’s favorite colors. I start picking them out, and Aunt Connie notices. With an eyebrow raised, she asks, “Who are you making one for, River?”
I cringe. “Do I have to say?”
“No, I just figured you would choose different colors.” She shrugs.
I see Auggie choose yellow and blue, which are my favorite colors. I hope Auggie will give me the bracelet he’s making.
I have friends I go to school with, but Auggie and I Facetime every night and talk about everything from what we watched to what happened at school. We have been doing this ever since I could work my mom’s phone. At first, we talked about cartoons. We also make faces, take screenshots, and laugh at each other.
“How do we make this, Mommy?” I ask.
“Does everyone have their colors picked out?” she asks. “There are a few ways to make these. We’ll show the easiest way to make them.”
Aunt Connie, who is the cheesiest person I know, says she is going to make one for her ‘Bestest’ friend, my mom.” She asks my mom, “What are your favorite colors again?”
