mother, who organized the whole funeral because Karen didn’t have the brains or the wherewithal to do it, appeared to recover in record time and then she turned around and married Simon. They were living happily ever after. Good for them, Beth thought, because I am surely not.
When the discussion of families would come up, Beth would say to her roommates, “What good is a commitment to a marriage if one person doesn’t honor it and the other one doesn’t seem to care? It’s all so stupid. The whole marriage thing is a bunch of hyped-up bull.”
One thing was certain, or at least she thought so. She was never going to let herself get sucked into a delusional world of white picket fences and minivans that depended on someone else’s honesty. Her mother had jumped off the cliff headfirst, not once but twice. Beth didn’t know how Susan coped with all that fantasy because in her mind there was nothing more dangerous than what her mother called love.
She’d had her share of boyfriends. But none of them had ever amounted to a serious relationship because she was so very guarded. Besides, Beth or the object of her affection always seemed to be headed somewhere else—college in another state, summer jobs, internships, or just studying until all hours. These things were surely obstacles between Beth and love, but mainly it was her thick wall of self-protection. She told herself that she probably had not met the right guy yet. Besides that, it just seemed to her that people her age were all hooking up without a relationship and that was just too weird to her. Not that Beth Hayes didn’t have an appreciation for some acceptable degree of shallowness, but she had seen the damage an anything goes kind of attitude could do, and she couldn’t see any reason to change. Read: If her mother found out she had turned into a slut, she’d murder her in cold blood and her Aunt Maggie would turn her bones into a lamp. Nice thought.
She had walked the whole way to the water tower around Station 25 and she knew it was getting late. When the tide was low and the breeze was so nice it would be so easy to keep ambling along until she ran out of island. But soon, thinking her mother might start to worry that she had been raped, murdered, and thrown to the sharks, she turned around and began to walk back toward the house. Lola was whining. She knew her little dog was exhausted from all the excitement of the night and picked her up.
“Momma can carry you, baby. It’s okay.”
When she got close enough to see the house, there were the silhouettes of her Aunt Sophie and her mother, on the porch rocking back and forth in the moonlight. Their laughter echoed across the dunes. It warmed Beth to see them so obviously enjoying themselves. This was what was good about families, she thought.
She walked across the yard and her mother stood up to greet her. “Hey, baby! You were gone so long we were about to call the Coast Guard.”
“Yeah, well, your granddog likes to stop and inspect everything.” She climbed up the steps and gave her a hug. “What are y’all talking about?”
“We are solving the problems of the world, my beautiful niece. That’s all,” Sophie said. “Come sit here.”
She sat in the rocker next to her aunt and Sophie reached over and patted the back of her hand.
“I should really put Lola in her crate,” Beth said. “She’s had it.”
“Give her to me,” Susan said. “I’m going to bed anyway. I’ve had it too.”
Beth gave Lola a nuzzle and handed her over. “Night, baby. Thanks, Momma. See you in the morning.”
Susan said Love y’all, blew them kisses, and closed the screen door carefully so that she wouldn’t wake the others. The house was quiet then. Sophie and Beth rocked for a few minutes, back and forth in silence.
“So what did I miss while I was out there?” Beth said.
“Well, we sliced up my twin pretty good.”
“Yeah, that’s the dangerous part about leaving early. People get
When the discussion of families would come up, Beth would say to her roommates, “What good is a commitment to a marriage if one person doesn’t honor it and the other one doesn’t seem to care? It’s all so stupid. The whole marriage thing is a bunch of hyped-up bull.”
One thing was certain, or at least she thought so. She was never going to let herself get sucked into a delusional world of white picket fences and minivans that depended on someone else’s honesty. Her mother had jumped off the cliff headfirst, not once but twice. Beth didn’t know how Susan coped with all that fantasy because in her mind there was nothing more dangerous than what her mother called love.
She’d had her share of boyfriends. But none of them had ever amounted to a serious relationship because she was so very guarded. Besides, Beth or the object of her affection always seemed to be headed somewhere else—college in another state, summer jobs, internships, or just studying until all hours. These things were surely obstacles between Beth and love, but mainly it was her thick wall of self-protection. She told herself that she probably had not met the right guy yet. Besides that, it just seemed to her that people her age were all hooking up without a relationship and that was just too weird to her. Not that Beth Hayes didn’t have an appreciation for some acceptable degree of shallowness, but she had seen the damage an anything goes kind of attitude could do, and she couldn’t see any reason to change. Read: If her mother found out she had turned into a slut, she’d murder her in cold blood and her Aunt Maggie would turn her bones into a lamp. Nice thought.
She had walked the whole way to the water tower around Station 25 and she knew it was getting late. When the tide was low and the breeze was so nice it would be so easy to keep ambling along until she ran out of island. But soon, thinking her mother might start to worry that she had been raped, murdered, and thrown to the sharks, she turned around and began to walk back toward the house. Lola was whining. She knew her little dog was exhausted from all the excitement of the night and picked her up.
“Momma can carry you, baby. It’s okay.”
When she got close enough to see the house, there were the silhouettes of her Aunt Sophie and her mother, on the porch rocking back and forth in the moonlight. Their laughter echoed across the dunes. It warmed Beth to see them so obviously enjoying themselves. This was what was good about families, she thought.
She walked across the yard and her mother stood up to greet her. “Hey, baby! You were gone so long we were about to call the Coast Guard.”
“Yeah, well, your granddog likes to stop and inspect everything.” She climbed up the steps and gave her a hug. “What are y’all talking about?”
“We are solving the problems of the world, my beautiful niece. That’s all,” Sophie said. “Come sit here.”
She sat in the rocker next to her aunt and Sophie reached over and patted the back of her hand.
“I should really put Lola in her crate,” Beth said. “She’s had it.”
“Give her to me,” Susan said. “I’m going to bed anyway. I’ve had it too.”
Beth gave Lola a nuzzle and handed her over. “Night, baby. Thanks, Momma. See you in the morning.”
Susan said Love y’all, blew them kisses, and closed the screen door carefully so that she wouldn’t wake the others. The house was quiet then. Sophie and Beth rocked for a few minutes, back and forth in silence.
“So what did I miss while I was out there?” Beth said.
“Well, we sliced up my twin pretty good.”
“Yeah, that’s the dangerous part about leaving early. People get
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