Page 7 of The Lighthouse Sisters
Hazel turned pale and her mouth fell open. “No, you’re kidding me, right? We’re talking about a guy who has 10 pairs of the same shoes and keeps sharpened pencils in his desk for god's sake. Like who even uses pencils anymore besides grade schoolers? Am I right? Is this some sort of joke?”
She looked from Raelynn to Katrina and back to Raelynn. The pain in Raelynn’s face made her heart hurt. She squeezed Raelynn’s hand.
“I’m so sorry, sweetie. So sorry.”
“It’s not your fault,” Raelynn said softly. “He just doesn’t love me anymore. And he’s selling the house.”
Hazel slowly removed her hands from Raelynn’s and stood up. “What?” She shook her head. “But that’s your home.”
“Not anymore.” Raelynn’s vision blurred with tears.
Katrina rubbed her back, saying, “I know this hurts now, but maybe it’s for the best.”
“For the best?” Raelynn suddenly felt panicky. “I’m about to be husbandless and homeless.”
“I mean, that’s true,” Katrina said, trying to find a silver lining. She was the type who always tried to find something good in the world. “But what if this wasn’t a bad thing? What if this is your chance to do what you always wanted?”
She voiced her feelings, “I guess I should probably start thinking about what happens next. And where I’m going to live,” she let out a deep sigh. “I’m just so overwhelmed right now.”
Katrina and Hazel enveloped her in a hug. Raelynn continued, when they finally let her go, “I just...” she paused, trying to find the words. “My life is falling apart in front of me. Dylan barely comes home anymore. I feel like he’s starting to distance himself…”
“But he came to your party…” Katrina protested. Her heart went out to Raelynn because she knew what it felt like to have a child distance themself.
“I know, I know,” Raelynn said with frustration entering her voice. “But I feel as if he’s not his usual self. He just seems distant somehow.” She shrugged. “Maybe I’m making a mountain out of a molehill, but a mother’s intuition is never wrong.”
She sat back and sighed. Now that she had shed so many tears, she felt drained, as if she didn’t have much energy left for anything else. “Between Dylan, and now John, and the possibility of being homeless in the very near future, I’m just barely staying afloat.”
Hazel nodded. “It’s a lot. I don’t blame you. Want a drink?”
“Definitely,” Raelynn said without hesitation.
She got up to fix Raelynn a drink, familiar with Katrina’s home since she’d been there many times before.
She carried the drink to Raelynn and was about to hand it to her when Katrina intercepted it and set it down.
Raelynn and Hazel looked at her, confused. “I have an idea,” Katrina said, smiling for the first time since she saw Raelynn at her doorstep. “And trust me,” she said to Raelynn, “You’re going to want to be sober to hear this one.”
FIVE
“Tell me you don’t love this idea!” Katrina said proudly, feeling excited about something for the first time in a very long time. She looked from Raelynn to Hazel, and to Raelynn again. Raelynn was biting her lower lip, looking befuddled and Hazel was strangely quiet.
“So, let me get this straight,” Raelynn finally said. “You’re thinking of keeping the lighthouse? And you want us to help?”
A few minutes earlier, Katrina had told them her plan. She said that she had been thinking it over for a while, and she truly didn’t want to give up the lighthouse property in Tybee that her grandfather had left her. She still had fond memories of it. When she was younger, she had fantasized about getting married there. Of course, that hadn’t happened, and she and Dave had had their wedding at Dave’s family’s church in Savannah, but the lighthouse had always remained in her heart and a piece of her family history. She didn’t want to give that up. And she figured that with her business savvy and Raelynn’s knowledge of design, she didn’t have to. But now she had to convince the others that her idea wasn’t a far-fetched, pipedream or fantasy. And based on how her friends looked at her, she wasn’t sure how persuasive her pitch had been. She decided to try again.
“Don’t you see? This is the answer to all of our prayers. Raelynn, it’ll be your chance to start over again doing something you love, and you’ll get a chance to live near the water. And Hazel, you just marched in here anyway saying you wanted to quit your job. What better time to do something rash and different than now?”
She looked from one friend to the other. Neither one said a word. Katrina would have been shocked to find out that Raelynn wasn’t quiet because she didn’t believe in her friend’s plan. She was quiet because she was afraid to fail. What if they tried and it didn’t work out? What if, at the end of the day, Raelynn thought to herself, she just wasn’t good enough?
Hazel looked at Raelynn and said, “Katrina’s lost it.”
“No, I haven’t. I’ll be right back.”
Katrina disappeared into the other room and Hazel took one of Raelynn’s hands in her own.
“How are you holding up?”
Raelynn shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know. This whole thing just caught me completely out of the blue.”
