Page 61 of The Shell Collector
“I’ll be with Jarvis sooner rather than later.” A strange assurance came over her. “It’s all I’ve really wanted for more years than you probably care to remember.”
“More than I can count,” Doc said without remorse. “You’ve been a handful at times.”
“Don’t I know it,” Maeve conceded.
“Let me know how we can make you comfortable or if the medicine doesn’t help with the pain anymore. I’ve got some numbers here for you. Courtney will make the calls if you need—”
“I’ll handle things.” She stood and gave him a hug. “You’ve been a wonderful doctor and a dear friend all these years. To me. To Mom and Daddy. Thank you.”
She got up, grabbed her things, and walked straight out of the office. There was no reason to make another appointment to follow up. Everything from here forward was just a matter of time. She’d make the best of what she had left. What else could she do?
Outside the rain had stopped and a beautiful rainbow soared over the buildings in front of her. From here it looked like one end led straight to her house. She walked slower going home. Not from the news, but more to savor every step, every memory, along the way.
She stopped and took a seat on one of the benches around the flagpole in front of the post office. Someone had come and switched out the flowers since the last time she was here. Soon they’d be trading out all the red, white, and blue for fall-colored mums and pumpkins.
A clump of small shells, mostly bivalves, lay near the outer edge of the planter in the fresh potting soil. She scattered them with her hand, then sat there with her fingers still hovering as she noticed the words carefully scrawled inside one of them.
Say goodbye to the past,
because it’s time to move on.
She picked up the shell and squeezed it in her palm. Her heart raced. It was possible she’d written the message in this shell at some point. She’d penned so many over the years she couldn’t really say for sure, but this message, at this time?
She swallowed hard. The shell was small, but those few words held so much power.
It didn’t matter where the shell had come from. This message was meant for her.
“Well, what do you know? I guess it really is time to call you, Judy.” She looked up the street, then back up at the rainbow, thinking of Jarvis.
—
Amanda couldn’t believe the amount of foam on the beach.
“It snowed!” Jesse leaped in the air. “Can I go see?”
“Take your sister with you.”
They didn’t have to get all the way down to the water to see it. The tide was receding, and mounds of foam covered the sand. Some of it blew across the beach and into the air, almost like snow.
“Wow! It’s like Christmas!” Hailey chased Jesse through the foam.
Amanda set their things down and jogged down to join them. “Is it fun?”
Jesse picked up dissolving handfuls and flung them in the air.
Hailey cupped her hands, blowing the foam like it was a fluffy dandelion.
“What a surprise! I’ve never seen anything like this.” Amanda chased and played with them at the edge of the surf line until they were all out of breath.
“Snow is good anywhere and any day.” Hailey sat in the sand, sweeping her hands through it. “Too bad you can’t make a snowman out of this kind.”
“You could make one out of sand and cover it in the sea foam.”
Hailey’s mouth dropped open. “Yeah. Jesse, come help.”
Jesse came over and flopped down next to Hailey and started to dig. Amanda watched the two of them pile and slap together the sand into something that looked more like a bowling pin than a snowman, but she gave them an A for effort. Getting the foam to stay on their creation was another story. The more they patted it, the quicker it dissolved. Finally, Hailey added shells for eyes. “I think he’s done.”
“This is Frank.” Jesse put his hands on his hips. “Frank Beach Snow.”
