Page 3 of The Hampton Beach Café 4
“Yeah, maybe,” Frances said, shifting her gaze to Alex. “Actually, I've been thinking I'd like to go see my mom…if you don't mind driving me to Salem?”
Cocking his head to one side, he looked suspiciously at her but didn't let it show so much that anyone else might notice.
“Sure, I'd like the drive.”
“Tomorrow?” Hayley suggested, nodding.
“Do I really look that tired?” Frances said, noticing Lucinda and Vincent nodding in time with Hayley.
“Yes!” they said almost exactly at the same time.
Alex smiled at her. “You look great, but you could use a break.”
***
The fact that she had slept almost the entire drive to Salem did go some way to prove to Frances that she did indeed need a break, though she still felt guilty for leaving the guys to run the shop alone.
Could she really call it leaving them alone when there were three of them? She didn't know. All she knew was that she felt wrong swanning off to her Mom’s with Alex while they were under the gun.
“Hey, check this out,” Alex said from behind her.
She turned to see him silhouetted in soft dappled light streaming in through the dusty window, holding a heavy leather-bound book in front of him. His attractive features cast strong shadows, turning his face into a photographer’s dream. Frances realized that she wanted to paint him, just like he was. The warm wooden bookshelves that framed his figure, black jeans and large boots anchoring the composition, and the faded band t-shit that should probably have been retired when his shoulders filled out after high school provided just enough softness to his muscular frame.
Frances was staring. She knew she was staring. But even as she noticed his face turn towards her as she stared, she couldn't look away. What was wrong with her?
He made eye contact, and her breath caught in her throat, the hesitant smile at the corner of his mouth only improving the picture.
She cleared her throat and forced herself to step towards him. She felt her face turn hot.
Seriously, what’s wrong with me?
She stayed a foot or so away and peered at the open page. It wasn't a book. It was a photo album.
“Oh wow,” she breathed. “That's us!”
“Sure is,” he said. “Look at how young we were. Were we ever really that young?”
The pair of them from more than twenty years ago stared out from the page. Teenage Alex half smiled at the camera as he reclined on the beach, resting his weight on one elbow. Frances was beyond him, pulling a face at the camera from over his shoulder. The next photo down showed them both laughing, faces turned toward each other.
Alex turned the page to show four new shots, obviously taken in a series several seconds later. The two of them were up on their feet now, Frances running down the beach laughing while Alex chased after her. By the next shot, they were at the water's edge, his arms wrapped around her as he caught up. The next one showed them a few more yards out and in the water completely.
“I don't remember this,” she whispered.
“Summer before senior year,” he said. “We'd gone down the beach with a bunch of people and bumped into your parents.”
“Really? They were out together?” she asked. “That didn't happen too much…”
Alex shook his head. “No, it didn't. I think that's why we split off from our friends to spend the day with them. Well, you did, and I didn't want to be left alone with them, so I tagged along. Your dad had his camera.”
“We look happy,” she said quietly. “Why don't I remember this?”
She knew she sounded sadder than she meant to. Still, there was something profoundly upsetting about the fact that she could remember intricate details of arguments she had overheard, yet, this day that looked so incredibly perfect was a blank to her. She stepped closer and laid her fingers lightly on the page.
Alex shifted the book to rest on the open palm of his other hand and dropped the arm closest to her.
“We were,” Alex said, his breath moving her hair.
She hadn't meant to step in so close, but now that she was there with her arm pressed against his chest and could feel him breathing, she didn't want to move.
