The New Ever After (The New Ever After Series)

by Farley, Julie

  “Thank you, but he wasn’t smiling today.”

  Heather had her cellphone in her lap waiting to hear something. Tom walked back up with the kids and sat with Mary and Heather. He asked the kids to go inside for a minute so he could talk to their mom. He took a deep breath.

  "I don't want to be an alarmist, but I think we should make a few more calls and get some people involved. This isn't like Peter, and I don't want to wish that we had called someone in hindsight."

  "Who should we call?" asked Heather, starting to get a panicky feeling in her stomach.

  "I'll call my buddy, Bill, at the police station. He'll call the right people. They'll probably come over here, so we need to talk to the kids."

  Tears started to drip down Heather's face. "I can't lose him. I can't do this again. I can't let them lose another dad."

  Mary and Tom knew it had only been three years since they had all lost Hank.

  "Peter is out there. He's too smart and too in love with all of you to let anything happen. He probably just needs some help right now. Let's get him some help and try not to jump to any conclusions."

  "But it's getting dark," Heather cried. The emotions she had locked up all day were starting to get the best of her.

  "Exactly why I am calling now."

  Tom walked inside to make the call. Heather rocked back and forth in her chair trying to hold the tears in and wringing her hands. When Tom came back out, he brought the three big kids with him.

  "Guys, we think Peter may be lost on the boat. I'm calling my friends at the police station to help find him," said Tom.

  "LOST AT SEA!" screamed Henry.

  Gracie walked over to Heather and sat on her lap. "I don't want to lose him too, Mommy."

  "Me either, Gracie girl, me either."

  "We're not going to lose him. We just need to help him get home," said Mary who was being very stoic even though it was her only son out there.

  "Heather, Bill asked if you have a Find Your Phone thingy set on your phones."

  "Yeah, I do."

  "Well, can you look and see where Peter's phone is?"

  Heather smiled and with a sense of urgency clicked on her phone to check the app. "Why didn't I think of that earlier?"

  "Because you've been taking care of five kids on your own all day in a new place. When I get a hold of Peter, I'm going to wring his neck," said Mary.

  Heather waited and watched the screen. Hayes walked over to watch it with her. He wasn't saying a word, just alternating looking out at the ocean and back to Heather's phone.

  "I'm not getting anything."

  "It could be out of battery or out of range. I'm not sure if he had the GPS up on his boat. I called the harbor master, and he's calling the guys who worked on it to see," said Tom.

  "Mom, it's dark. How is he going to sail in the dark? He's going to end up in Antarctica!" asked Henry.

  "No, dummy, he'd die before he ended up in Antarctica," said Hayes.

  "HAYES!" yelled Heather. "He's not going to die, and he's not going to Antarctica. He's right out there somewhere, and we just need to find him."

  With that, an officer walked around to the porch of the house.

  "Good evening. I'm Sgt. Sanders." He shook hands with each of the adults. "I understand Mr. Adamson hasn't come back from a day of sailing yet."

  Tom took the lead and recounted the story.

  "Ok. We've gone ahead and called the Coast Guard. They are sending boats out now. There haven't been any distress calls or flares."

  "Is that good or bad?" asked Heather.

  "Neither. Just stating the facts, ma'am. The state police are sending a PR person over. It's all a little different because we are dealing with a relatively famous person. The media will be camped out here as soon as they hear about it."

  "Shit," said Heather.

  "Mom!" yelled Henry.

  "Henry, your mom can swear at a time like this," said Mary.

  "I didn't think about the press getting involved too. I guess I need to make some calls."

  "Why don't you call your assistant? I can't remember her name. The cute funny one at the wedding," said Tom.

  "Actually, Janie's helping me out temporarily."

  "Ok. I'll call Janie," said Mary.

  Heather got Gracie off her lap and stood up. She wanted to call Jenny so badly. She needed to have her best friend offer her shoulder to cry on. She didn't know if she could do this without her. But she called her mom instead.

  "Hey. Peter hasn't come back from a morning sail. We called the authorities. They’re starting a search."

  "Oh my gosh. Are you ok? That's a stupid question. You're not ok. What can I do?"

  Heather took a deep breath. Her mom wasn't great at handling stressful situations.

  "Heather, you sound calm. I'm worried."

  "I can't do it again, Mom. I just can't lose him. And it's all my fault." She told her mom about their fight.

  "You're not going to lose him. He would have gone out on the boat whether or not you had had a fight. He's coming back to you, Heather. I can feel it."

  Heather had to hang up. She was barely holding it together and she needed to keep herself going somehow. She walked back over to the group. Tom and Mary were off the phone too.

  "How was Janie?"

  "Panicked. Worried about her kids and how they would handle this. She's going to call you soon."

  "I'm going to get you a sweater, sweetie," said Mary.

  "Thanks. I am getting cold," said Heather.

  "Your teeth are chattering. It's probably nerves."

  Sgt. Sanders walked over to give them an update.

  "The Coast Guard is starting their search. It's dark and there's a lot of area to cover, so we probably won't know much tonight. We're positioning someone at the end of the driveway to hold off any reporters. This is a small town and word will travel fast."

  "Thanks," said Tom. "Kids, I'm going to turn on a movie for you and get you set up in the family room. Heather and Mary, I suspect you aren't going to move from right here. I'll make you some tea."

  Heather went back to her perch and sat with Mary.

  "I'll never forget when Peter called to tell us about you. He sounded so excited. He never told us about his girlfriends unless we asked about someone we saw in a picture in some magazine. Janie was always the one who kept us posted on his love life. He dated so many of her friends and she would call to complain. I remember when they were at Notre Dame. She would call on Sunday mornings screaming asking us to ground him or take away his money because he was messing with her friends. We just laughed." Mary seemed to know that Heather needed her to keep talking. "But it was different when he met you. He told us everything about you. Your hair color, about your eyes, the kids and the whole time I could hear a smile in his voice. We knew he was hooked immediately. And then Janie called to report that he was dating someone from her neighborhood and she would disown him if he screwed it up."

  "It was a whirlwind. That's for sure," said Heather thinking back to when he peeled her off the black top and took her to Ortho on Call.

  "It was fate. And, honey, when fate is involved I know everything will turn out ok. This is your destiny."

  Heather started crying, "Well, right now I feel destined to be a widow again."

  "We can't think that way. We need to keep the hope. Peter is out there fighting to be with us. Fight to keep him alive in your heart."

  "Tell me some more stories. Tell me about Kelly and Peter."

  Chapter 26

  Mary started slowly.

  "They met in high school. Eleventh grade I think. They were taking an SAT course and started studying together. Peter used her at first. At least that's what I thought. She had this huge stack of all of the vocabulary words. A stack that he was too lazy to create on his own. So she shared them with him. Then they started driving to class together. I don't know all the details and I'm sure he would be upset to even hear me contemplating them, but I think they were ea
ch other's firsts. They went to prom together. They saw each other on breaks from school and each dated other people in college. But they started fighting. Kelly was going to college to find a husband, I think. She knew what she wanted for her future. A guy with a steady career. Peter just wanted to be on the water on a boat. He never had any drive to do anything but that. He was in love with the water from the time he was a little boy. He used to sail with his grandfather, my dad. They spent every Sunday morning at the harbor on his boat. They would clean it for hours. I called it their church. He went to Notre Dame because he wanted to be just like my dad. My dad was a lawyer, so we figured Peter would follow in his footsteps. But when my dad died, all Peter wanted to do was be on the water. That's the only place he felt connected to him. So when he graduated, he went to work at the docks. He took care of boats for the summer people and weekenders. He taught occasional sailing lessons. Tom and I were on his case. We spent so much money sending him to Notre Dame, and he needed a career. He was smart enough to do anything he wanted, but all he wanted was to be on the boats. Until one day he read a book and knew he could write a better book. He holed himself up in his room at night and wrote. And he did write a better book. And somehow he got lucky, and it was published. He finally had a career. By that time, Kelly was married already. But she realized she wanted him back. She started to get in touch with him. But he was disenchanted. He was disappointed she could be so fickle. He thought he could have loved her if she had stayed true to him, but her ambition and desire to be a country club wife got in the way. His image of her was totally destroyed."

  "He seemed to have a pretty good image of her the other day."

  "He probably remembered what she was all those years ago in high school and not what she had become. I reckon she’s had to have a come to Jesus moment since she caught her husband cheating. She probably realized creating the picture perfect life doesn't guarantee you a happily ever after."

  "Hmmm...she should live in my zip code."

  "I imagine some thought you had the picture perfect life until Hank died."

  "We did. Hank and I were in a dry patch though. But I think it was because the kids were little. I never thought about leaving him. He was my everything. And he was too good of a guy to ever have an affair."

  "That's the natural arc a marriage goes through. Especially after all those years together. I wish I could have met him. Your children are beautiful and so smart. I'm sure he was a keeper."

  "He was." It felt strange to talk about Hank with Peter's mom.

  "I'll never forget when Peter called us to tell us you were having twins. We couldn't believe it. We always hoped he would know the joy of being a dad but had kind of given up hope. You gave him so much...and us."

  Heather smiled. She couldn't take her eyes off the sea. She was watching for him to come back to her. She thought if she turned her head she might miss some kind of signal he would send to her.

  "I'm going to walk down to the water."

  "Want company?" asked Mary.

  "No, I'll be right back. Do you mind holding down the fort?"

  "We are not going anywhere until Peter walks through that front door."

  Heather smiled and buttoned up her sweater before she made her way down to the water. She walked slowly to the wet sand. She slipped her Fit Flops off and stuck her feet in the water. She needed to feel a connection to the water. The water that Peter was in somewhere somehow. The water was cold, not fully warmed up yet as they were so far north and it was only the beginning of July. Peter was in the cold water in the dark.

  How will he survive? Has his boat sunk? Did he get out? Is he still lost? Heather's mind was stuck on all of the questions and she had no answers. Heather needed answers. She needed things to make sense and couldn't deal well with things that were undefined or when she couldn't get all the information.

  I can't go back to that place. I can't be a widow again. I can't say the eulogy at another husband's funeral. I can't lose my new ever after.

  Heather left the edge of the water and walked farther. She walked until she got to the jetty and slowly and carefully climbed to the end. She stood at the end of the rocks with her hair blowing behind her. The sea breezes had grown stronger. The tears were falling uncontrollably now. She didn't want to lose Peter. She wanted to feel his arms around her right now. She wanted to smell his sweat mixed with salt water and to trace the tattoos on his arms. Heather looked to the stars in the sky and pleaded with Hank to keep Peter safe. Heather hated feeling out of control and everything was so far from her control right now.

  She stood there for a few more minutes hoping for a miracle. Hoping he would sail back into her life just like he had arrived. She knew she had to head back to be with the kids and be there in case there was any news. But she walked back slowly. Letting the wind carry her hair away. Letting the sand gather in between her toes. She looked up towards the house. All the lights were on downstairs. Heather hoped Peter could see the lights from the water. She decided she would go straight upstairs and turn on all the lights upstairs save the twins' room. She would turn her house into a lighthouse, a beacon for him.

  She walked up the path and found Mary sitting with Kelly. Kelly ran up to Heather and gave her a hug.

  "I just heard. News travels quickly along the shore. I had to come see you."

  Heather wasn't sure what to say. Kelly was the reason they had fought.

  "I spoke to Peter before he left the harbor. He called to say you couldn't come to dinner. He said you thought it would be too hard for the kids and that maybe we could just all meet at the beach sometime. We spoke for a few minutes. God, that man loves you like I always wanted him to love me like that, Heather."

  "I'm not sure he loved me much this morning. I was being a pain in the ass about going to your house."

  "He never mentioned that. I asked him how you met and we caught up for a few minutes. The love never stopped oozing from his voice. It made me mad. I was completely jealous. And then when I heard he was missing, I had to come see you and tell you how much he was going on about you."

  Heather sighed, "Thank you. You didn't have to do that."

  "I did. I just wanted you to know."

  Heather looked at Mary and Mary smiled. He wasn't as mad as she had imagined before he left. He still loved her.

  "One less worry for you, darling."

  Heather needed to sit down. She sat on a rocker and started her nervous rocking.

  "Any news?"

  "No, I suspect it will be awhile before there is any."

  "What can I do for you guys?" asked Kelly.

  "Nothing, you've done enough," said Heather. "Thank you."

  "Why don't the two of you sit and talk. I'm going to check on Tom," said Mary.

  Heather looked at Kelly. How could she be jealous of me? I had my boob hanging out when we met. She got to see the boob of a woman who has had five kids.

  "Sorry about my boob yesterday." Heather really didn't know how to start a conversation with Peter's first.

  "No problem. I've seen boobs before."

  "I have a habit of embarrassing myself in ways you can only imagine. That's how Peter and I met."

  "So I hear. Maybe if I had embarrassed myself we would have stayed together. It's the one regret of my life."

  "But then you might not have had your kids. Certainly, you don't regret them."

  "No, that's not what I mean. Maybe if I hadn't been such a country club wannabe I would have realized that Peter was a good thing for me. I was an ass and nothing was good enough for me - even him."

  "Tell me what he was like in high school."

  "Hot and kind of dorky. He used to throw around SAT words all the time. We had this little goofy thing we said whenever we started talking. One of us would say “How are you?” and the other would say “copasetic.” One of our SAT words. He was kind of shy too. He would rather hang out on the boat than party with the rest of the crew. I had to convince him to go to parties or hang out wit
h people. He was happy hanging on the dock solving the world’s problems. He studied the stars, and I studied beer bongs. I guess because I made up some good SAT cards he thought I would be more intellectual. Boy, was he wrong. I wanted to be seen with the cool girls, so I was never happy when he wanted to just hang out on the docks like that." Kelly stopped and took a breath. "He was a good kisser though. Guess that and his good looks are what kept me with him."

  "He's still a good kisser," said Heather smiling.

  "I'm sure he's only gotten better with age. He's kind of like a fine wine."

  Heather started to get a little bit uncomfortable. Kelly clearly still loved Peter. Kelly must have felt a little uncomfortable too because she stood up to go.

  "I left my kids alone. I'm going to leave my cell number. Call with any news."

  "We will," said Heather.

  Heather sat in the rocker and watched the moon rising from the horizon. She remembered her dad forcing her to watch the moon rise at the beach when she was young. He would set up a blanket at the edge of the water, and they would sit, for what seemed like hours, watching the moon come up. She found sunsets and moonrises boring as a child because her attendance was required. As an adult she usually happened upon them accidentally. But right now, they were just the beautiful constants she needed to see.

  Tom walked out and broke her silent reverie.

  "I carried Gracie and Henry upstairs. They fell asleep. Hayes asked to stay down a little longer and I said fine."

  "Thanks, Tom. Thank you for everything."

  "A full moon will help him see, Heather. It's a good thing," said Tom.

  Chapter 27

  Peter was so mad at himself for losing his way and getting into this predicament. The winds had picked up, and he had been careless. He had always considered himself a smart sailor and suddenly he had made some mistakes. He lost sight of the coast quickly and was trying to use his GPS system as best he could, but for some reason the GPS was flashing. Peter pounded it to see if he could get it to stop flashing, but then it went black. It looked like it had lost all its power. And it was starting to get dark. His battery died on his phone since he was gone longer than he anticipated. He hadn't paid attention to the amount of charge and now he couldn't text Heather again to let her know he would be even later than expected. Although this far out, he may not have had reception anyway. He knew she would think he was still mad. He started to frantically think of ways to get in contact with her but knew there weren't any that would work. He couldn’t activate his emergency system because technically it wasn’t an emergency. He was just out to sea farther than he had expected.