Delia Bay

by Lauren Cooper

  Where the fuck is he taking me?

  “Don’t look too worried” he laughs as we bump along the gravel. I couldn’t care if he put me up in a cardboard box, it wouldn’t be the first time.

  “How did you get this place anyway?” I find myself asking as I take in the few foot high grass and flowers lining the road.

  “Came with the bar, but I wanted a sea view”

  “Of course, you did” I laugh, ignoring the obvious other reason why he wanted that damned flat and glance back out the window. Delia is a beautiful place, the town lies further up from the promenade, just visible in the distance over the lush green fields that line either side of the road by its lit street lights. It only has a small population, something I wasn’t overly keen on. You know, one of those places where everyone knows your business.

  No thank you.

  We take a right into a field, the grass in this one trimmed right down with a gravel driveway leading right up to the front stoop. My mouth drops open slightly when the cabin in the distance comes into view. It’s fucking perfect.

  “Gus...are you sure about this?” I turn my slack jaw towards the wrinkly old git.

  “Yep. I got myself that pretty little flat with a balcony and a view to die for” he winks in my direction, turning my stomach at the mere idea of him and the sweet lady who’s going to be on the other end of that charm.

  With a small wrap around porch, the oak colored, one story cabin looks like paradise to me. Secluded. Alone. Even as we bounce a little in the springy truck towards my first ever home, it screams home to me. My first as an adult. And sure, to be my last.

  A silver chimney rises from the left of the roof and I can only pray that means it has a log burner. Fire always reminds me of that night. It helps me to write songs, to draw and to fucking sleep. The way it has a power to keep you alive by giving you warmth and the ability to kill you if you get too damned close is what draws me to the bright orange flame.

  I grabbed my shit from the truck before inhaling the sickly-sweet smell of the ocean mixed with that of freshly cut grass and trudging my boots up the two small steps up to the front door.

  My prayers are answered when Gus swings the thick front door on its hinges and shows me my new pad. It’s almost studio like with a small bathroom at the back, the bedroom is open, without a door and the living room and kitchen are one room. A log burner sits between the two against the side wall and opposite that is one bouncy looking couch.

  “Damn this is nice Gus. Are you sure you don’t want any rent?” I rest Aurora against the wall and walk around the open space.

  Low dark wood beams adorn the ceiling, running throughout the entire room. The kitchen is fitted with a stove and fridge, a sink and a few appliances I doubt I’ll ever use. The light grey cabinets run right around the back wall before finishing in an island in the middle with two black leather stools.

  “It’s pretty self-sufficient so the bills are cheap” he shoves his hands into the pockets of his faded jeans and just watches me as I take in his generosity.

  “Gus...” I’m suddenly lost for words.

  “Reid. Take it. You deserve it.” he nods before heading for the door.

  “Bright and early tomorrow kiddo. Lots to do” he closes the door behind him with a click and I’m left alone with a new sense of something. The argument I had prepared dies in my stomach, adding to the already thick layer of guilt that lies there.

  Gus may not be able to pay me much with cash, but he pays me back in ways I could never thank him for. He knows when to leave things alone and when to push with me, when his words are wanted and when they’re not. I was left with nothing after the accident but bit by bit he was helping me get them back. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I didn’t plan on sticking around long enough to enjoy these things, I was just waiting for the right time.

  I unpacked my shitty boxes and hung my clothes in the closet in my bedroom. I’d only brought silly things with me that I knew I might want. A photo that I shoved promptly at the bottom of my bedside drawer, the same one I hardly ever looked at but couldn’t bear to part with, a few books that I would probably never read, Aurora and my art supplies, I left those on the coffee table before heading out of the cabin for a wander around.

  The sea breeze from down the road reached the fields and blew the trees around me. Sweet, salt air filled my nostrils and blew my hair into my eyes. There weren’t even street lights this far up but the ones at the bottom of the dirt road, the same ones that signaled the end of the boardwalk would surely light up the road enough. Not that I cared. How was I supposed to enjoy something so blissfully sweet when my world was so dark? I was just being. I knew that. I wasn’t living, not really.

  Soon.

  The sun had almost completely disappeared on the horizon and the wind turned chillier almost instantly. Delia was known for it’s bright, summer days but the nights could be bitterly cold. Deciding against walking the entire length of the boardwalk tonight I headed back to the cabin where I fiddled around with the log burner and threw a few logs in before jumping in the shower.

  Someone had thrown some beers in the fridge along with milk and eggs, so I crashed on my new sofa, the cloud like softness had me melting into the cushions before I glugged down the ice-cold deliciousness, bottle after bottle before finally throwing myself into bed for one of the best night’s sleep I’d had in years.

  Child’s Play & Chevrolet’s

  I WAS SAT BEHIND THE counter at the shop, tapping my pen on the driftwood counter that I’d had specially made when Rachel saunters in. A half hour late.

  “Sorry!” she blanches as she scrunches her messy red hair into a bun at the top of her head.

  “What was it this time? Magic dick?” I feign being pissed off by flicking my pen even faster.

  “Oh, ha-ha” she pokes her tongue out at me as she passes the counter before hanging her bag up on the peg in the hallway out back.;

  “It was pretty damn magical” she winks at me as she saunters back onto the shop floor before tying her apron around her midriff and grabbing a box to restock the shelves.

  “No details then?” I scrunch my nose as I glance back down at the list of things I need to get for the shop. I need those details; my sex life is high and flipping dry and I’m living vicariously through Rachel. Brayden had been busy in work these past few weeks, apparently being the town sheriff kept him busy enough to skip out on our regular hook-ups. I couldn’t be mad at the guy, we weren’t exclusive, never would be either but it was nice to have something on the side that could take my mind off things once in a while.

  “Oh, uh-uh” she shakes her head without even looking back me. Stocking up the organic bath bombs into their wicker containers that tourists seem to die for instead of indulging her best friend on her love life.

  “Oh, come on” I stomp my sneaker clad foot before joining her.

  “You know I need the deets” I pout, sticking my full bottom lip out just to emphasize my point.

  “Get your own magic dick” she laughs.

  “I don’t want my own”

  “Liar” she eyes me with those huge hazel eyes of hers and I look away. I am a liar. I want my own magic dick, but truth be told I can’t get one. Or I can they just never stick around or whatever. That’s the trouble living in a sea side town, people come and go. They leave. All the damned time. Rachel was happy enough to play the game, but I quit it a few years ago when I realized I was getting my hopes up with each and every guy who took his turn in my bed.

  Yeah, piece of advice, don’t do that.

  The sheriff and I had a running thing going on for some months now, but we both knew it was just a means to an end. Neither of us wanted to settle down but the man was good with his hands.

  What was a girl supposed to do?

  “Ugh. You know I want to but I’m just not looking for anything like that right now” I shrug before grabbing some of the bath bombs from the box and stacking them up in the wicke
r basket.

  “I know! But that doesn’t mean you can’t dip your toe into the big, giant pond of disgustingly gorgeous males with fan-fucking-tastic penis’s” she points out, her eyes growing even bigger. Rachel is like my spirit child, younger than me by only a few years but with a lot freer spirit than me, and that’s saying something. With her arms covered in tattoos and piercings coming out of her ears and nose she’s unique and I hired her the day she came in for the interview. I didn’t need to look for anyone else, she’s perfect. My little pixie even.

  “You’re gross” I huff.

  “Maybe, but it’s true” she shrugs her petite shoulders and finishes up stocking the baskets.

  “How’s dear old Brayden these days?” she wiggles her eyebrows in my direction and I immediately blush.

  “We haven’t seen each other for a while” I shrug, “He’s been busy with work”

  “I’m sure” she cocks her eyebrow this time, fiddling with the fonds of a plant we’d recently planted and hoped would grow into something beautiful over the winter.

  “Anyway, you set for tonight? The new place looks good” she changes the subject and I can’t help but feel a little bit disappointed that she wouldn’t share the story of magic dick with me. On the plus side maybe, I’d bump into the sheriff tonight. It had been a few weeks since we last hooked up and I was starting to get paranoid that my dear old vibrator was getting sick of its overuse. It was either that or start growing cobwebs, a girl has needs you now!

  “Yep. The front looks good, can’t wait to see what the inside looks like. I hope they didn’t change it much. I’ll still miss Jet’s though” I turn back to the front desk as the door chimes and in walks a young group of girls, chatting and laughing.

  “Hey girls, anything you need just shout” I give them a small smile and get back to list making. Lighting an incense stick by my side, the sweet scent of coconut fills the shop almost instantly and any worrying thoughts that I was going to die an old prude get shoved to the back of my head. Half an hour later I have a full list of things I want to get for the shop, so I grab my bag, ready to head out.

  “I’m going up to town, do you need anything?” I ask from behind the lace curtain I have separating the small staff room out back and the counter.

  “I don’t think so” Rach calls from the corner where she’s dusting the shelves.

  “Okay. Text me if you think of anything. I won’t be long”

  “Yeah. Right. You in a fabric shop, I’ll see ya’ next month” she huffs, her big fifties style bun tied with a brightly colored bandana swings from side to side as she shakes her head.

  “Cheeky! Nice to see you have time to do your hair on my clock but not turn up on time!”

  I pull my handmade bag across my body, before heading out back to jump into my vintage, cream Chevy pick-up with the blood red interior that I’d gotten with the money left over from Nana. It was her favorite car and when Jock had it for half the price you’d usually pay at his car lot down on the walk I couldn’t leave her there. Mama had insisted he had a crush on me, but I couldn’t think that of Jock, at least not now anyway. Jock was, at one point a crush that turned out to be nothing but child’s play that ended in me buying my beautiful Chevrolet. It was nothing we’d grown up together, he was more like that awkward cousin you never really got along with and besides at that time I was still heartbroken that my long term, high-school boyfriend had up and left without a word. Kaine and I had been stupidly in love back then and I’d stupidly believed him when he said forever. Turning the engine, she roars to life with a jitter that I’ve come to love before I pull out of my parking spot, round the building to the cobblestoned street before turning onto the promenade and starting the drive up to town. The weather was a little colder today and that could only mean one thing. It was going to rain and I bloody loved it. The swell of the waves when the air turned humid sent a rush through my veins that made me want to compare it to that of a junkie getting his hit. I’d have to wait for it to start as always, so I’d visit mama and busy myself in town for a few hours at least.

  The drive up was uneventful, given that most of it is just landscapes of trees and more trees. I parked up outside the old gazebo, the same one old Mayor Brown insisted we upkeep every year with the whole town pitching in to repair and paint it, before I made my way to the best, well the only fabric shop in Delia.

  Mayor Brown had done well by Delia. He’d done well by Jock too, taking him on after his daddy went and died in the accident down at the mine all those years ago. It had been closed down afterwards much to many people’s annoyance, but the Brown’s had bounced back, and people seemed to have forgotten all about it. Aside from Jock I’m guessing, you could never forget losing someone like that.

  Delia town wasn’t that big, we were home to a few hundred people but during the summer it was busier. The posh folk who couldn’t stand staying at the Bed and Breakfasts along the front would stay up here in town, at the ‘real’ hotels, their fancy Mercedes and whatever-the-hell the others’ were called cars lined the parking bays beside the sidewalk.

  I’d still choose my Chevy any day.

  “Luna!” Mrs. Greyson calls from behind the counter of her shop.

  “Hey Mrs. Greyson. How are you?” I smile at the sweet old lady, her grey hair done up in the too big for her head bun that’s she always worn. Mrs. Greyson is one of those people who never seem to age, she’s looked the same to me since I was tiny. The shop hasn’t changed much either, the rows and rows of fabric on reels line each wall with smaller collections dotted around the floor seem much smaller to me now than they did when I was a child.

  “I’m fine dear, what are you looking for today?” she comes around the old wooden counter, her glasses perfectly placed at the end of her pointy nose and her vintage looking dress cinched in at the waist giving her crooked frame an hourglass figure us young’uns could only be jealous of.

  “I’d love some more of that lace I got the other day if you have any. I’m coming up with some new designs so I’m not sure yet. I’ll just have a rummage if that’s okay with you?”

  “Luna. You always rummage” she laughs, her wrinkly hand landing on my arm and squeezing. Bright green eyes shine out from behind the small layer of wrinkles cascading down her cheek, and I can’t stop my own smile spreading up my face.

  “You know me too well!” I huff.

  “I do. Let me know when you’re done, and I’ll help you cut it. I can always order more of the lace for you doll” she says as she turns her back on me, her small hand waving in the air beside her.

  “Thanks Mrs. Greyson” I smile as she gets back to whatever it was she was doing before turning my attention back to the gorgeous fabrics I could happily dive into and live in.

  By the time I left Mrs. Greyson’s it was well past four and I knew Rach would be having a fit if I didn’t get home soon. It was party night and I’d just spent the best part of three hours fingering fabrics. I rushed round to Mama’s just to check in on her before making my excuses and running home.

  Apparently, Rach hadn’t noticed because her along with Cash and Austin had made themselves at home in my flat. Drinking my damned beer.

  “Hey assholes, make yourself at home why dont’cha?” I huff, throwing my canvas bag filled with fabric at Cash who had his feet on my coffee table.

  “We knew you’d be hours beautiful” he winks in my direction making me dry heave.

  “That’s right it’s me you have the hots for ain’t it sweet cheeks?” Austin stalks over with a slice of pizza in his hand before wrapping his free arm around my shoulder as he rips the tip off with his teeth.

  “Ew” I shrug him off. “You’re both pigs. Any other woman will be lucky to have ya” I push past the brick shit house that is Austin to grab a beer from my fridge.

  “Hold up!” I stare daggers into Rach who hasn’t so much as breathed loudly since I walked in.

  “Please for the love of fuck tell me it wasn’t one of the
se dickheads who has the magic dick?” I point in her direction as her eyes grow so wide I think they might actually pop out of her head.

  “No!” she shrieks, her eyes calming slightly but her cheeks flushing a crimson shade of red.

  “How do you know if you’ve never tried” Cash winks in her direction, his dirty blonde dreads falling down his shoulder.

  “That will NEVER happen Cash. Ever” Rach spits before taking a hefty swig of her drink.

  “Fine. Who is Magic Dick anyway? Can’t be anyone local, that’s me” Austin perks up, finishing up his pizza and glugging on a beer. I roll my eyes and leave Rach to tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee to go and get dressed.

  Gin & Green

  THE BAR WAS BUSY TONIGHT, it was Sunday and along with all the tourists that flocked to Delia every summer the regulars were out for a drink too with most of the town eager to see who the new comers were. I’d had to try my damnedest not to huff and grumble at these people who I’d never met before. The urge to stay in the darkness, lurking in the shadows was overwhelming, but Gus needed this night to be a success. Most of the stores out here closed on Mondays according to rumors, so Sunday was still classed as the weekend. Last night I’d slept for well over fourteen hours, a record in my book and I’d spent the rest of the day doing the final touches on this place. It may not be mine, but it might as well have been with Gus as the owner. I was learning quickly what the quirks of Delia were, and I’d been here a little over twenty-four hours. I’d slept like a baby last night in my brand-new bed with the cloud-soft mattress and heavy comforter that had lulled me to sleep along with the several beer’s I’d ingested. Gus’s was a nice place to hang out along the promenade, or so I thought anyway, the few bistro tables he had lined out front was the perfect spot to watch the sun set. I’d watched it earlier while checking the liquor stocks behind the bar with the new boy. It wasn’t the first or the last time the sun would set on my life. It was destined to taunt me until the day I died. I was surprised it ever even rose again after everything.