Page 99 of Memories By the Shore
“Yeah,” I say, unsatisfied with her answer.Am I looking for something more? Validation? Or for her to say I’m too young for any of this?
She leans over the counter and cups her hands over mine. “I know what you want me to say. The pregnancyandyou eloping with Jasper is bittersweet. On one hand, I get you here all the time now, and I’ve never really had family around.” The corners of her eyes wrinkle with a soft smile.
“It’s a whole new exciting world I’m looking forward to.” She pauses, thinking through her next thought. “But I also know how bad you wanted to get back to Arizona for college, and thisisn’t the life you saw for yourself. So yes, it is a mixed bag of emotions for me.”
A weight lifts off my chest, hearing her true thoughts. I appreciate them more than she knows. “I have those same feelings. It’s more of the unknown I’m unsure about.”
Helen lifts a hand, placing her palm on my cheek. “Sometimes not having everything figured out can be a wonderful blessing.”
My aunt’s words fall heavy on my heart. “I understand that, and I do love Coconut Grove.”
“And you’re in love with a very special surfer out here too,” she says, lovingly pushing my hair to the side.
“So are you,” I quip with a cheeky smile.
“Yes. But Duke and I are a lot more complicated than you and Jasper.” I hear a subtle sniff as she walks back to the stove to check on the rice.
After dinner, Helen and I are sitting on the back patio, listening to the waves roll in. “I can’t believe I’m going to call this place my permanent home now.”
“It’s absolute heaven here. A little slice of paradise,” she adds, keeping her focus trained toward the midnight waters. “I can’t imagine living anywhere else.”
“What brought you here?” I ask, vaguely remembering that she ended up here by accident.
She lowers an eye in my direction with a smirk. “A boy.”
My brows raise with surprise. “A boy?”
“Yes.” She sips from a glass of red wine. “A surfer boy.”
My head falls back in disbelief. Laughing, I turn in my chair to face her fully. “Well, isn’t that interesting?”
Helen folds her arms at her chest and leans in. “We were married for a few years when I was young. We came to Coconut Grove for a training camp he was attending. I was supposed to stay only eight weeks, but when it was time to leave, I couldn’t. He left without me, and we managed a long-distance relationship for a number of years before things just fizzled out.”
“I’m sorry. That must have been so hard for you.”
Her lips pursed together. “It should have been, but it wasn’t. I made friends here, I loved my independence, and I unintentionally created a life for myself. We were also very young.”
The wordyoungrings in my ears like a church bell.Will Jasper and I have that same fate?If I want to go to college after the baby is born, will we drift apart?Will I resent him later for having to give up my life?I love Jasper with a force, and it guts me even to imagine losing what we have.
“And how did the whole Duke thing happen?” I ask, craving to know more about this woman who I’ve come to admire deeply. I never realized how strong and self-aware my aunt was.
Helen laughs before answering. “Duke was more complicated.”
“Tell me,” I press, tucking my knees under myself on the patio chair.
Her cheeks redden. “It had been a number of years since Jasper’s mom had died, but he hadn’t moved on yet. I ended up taking surf lessons from him. Jasper was his priority, and I respected that. We grew to enjoy each other’s company over time and became partners of sorts.”
“The dynamics of your relationship are unconventional,” Icomment with astonishment.
“Yes, but it works so well for us. As I mentioned before, when you first moved in, we meet each other’s needs, and I couldn’t be happier about how things are.”
I smile warmly. “I love that.”
“Me too.”
Helen and I sit in comfortable silence for a few minutes before I start to get tired. I’m sure Jasper will be calling to check in soon.
I rise from my chair to head to my bedroom when I get hit with a sharp pain in my lower abdomen. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever felt, but I know it’s a cramp-like sensation.
