Summer Beach Reads

by Thayer, Nancy

  The water was alive, churning and bubbling, raging with power. But she spotted Jewel! The girl’s limp body was being sucked downward by the relentless sea. Clare kicked her feet, struck out with her arms, and fought her way toward Jewel’s shining yellow rain slicker. The sea tossed Clare upward, as if she weighed nothing, and she gasped, catching her breath, then dove again.

  She saw Lexi flailing toward Jewel. Lexi’s long blond hair floated out around her head in a halo, her clothes were pressed against her by the force of the current, her skirt streamed behind her like a tail. Lexi grabbed hold of Jewel’s arm.

  Clare clawed through the roiling waters, her lungs bursting, flailing, clutching, catching nothing. Desperately she reached out. She caught hold of Jewel’s slippery raincoat. Her eyes met Lexi’s. Immediately Clare and Lexi began kicking, making their ascent. Their hair streamed around them as they swam.

  They burst upward, gasped for air, choked on water and together fought through the waves toward a wooden ladder nailed to the end of the pier. The wind made a sailboat veer hard at Clare, seeming to lunge right for her, but she jerked sideways out of its path.

  Lexi grabbed the ladder with one hand. Clare grabbed it, too. Lexi yelled and pointed up. Clare nodded. While Clare kept a tight hold on Jewel, Lexi pulled herself up the three steps and onto the pier. She lay flat on her stomach. She reached down with both hands, grabbed Jewel’s shoulders, and while Clare struggled to push, hauled the child up onto the wet boards.

  Her sodden clothes were so heavy, Clare almost couldn’t make her way up the ladder. She collapsed on the wood.

  “Can’t … stay … here!” Lexi panted. Blood streamed from her head and her arms.

  Jewel was bleeding, too. Clare nodded and forced herself to her feet. Lexi took Jewel beneath her shoulders. Clare grabbed her feet. With the child swinging between them like a hammock, tripping on their soaked clothing, they staggered up the pier toward the shore. An onslaught of waves slammed against them, knocking them nearly to their knees, but they recovered and struggled on, dragging themselves and Jewel toward the solidity of land.

  FORTY-SIX

  Suddenly, sirens screamed. Brakes shrieked. People shouted. The pier shuddered under the weight of men running toward them. Hands reached out for them. Waves spewed and slammed over them.

  “We’ve got her!” a man yelled, but the howling wind deafened Lexi.

  Someone tried to take Jewel, but Lexi’s icy hands were clamped like vices around the girl’s shoulders.

  “It’s okay!” The man put his arm around Lexi as another man caught Jewel’s sagging body. “We’re EMTs. We’ve got her now. We’re getting her into an ambulance. You can let go now.”

  “Lexi!” Clare stumbled against her. “It’s okay. They can take care of Jewel. You’ve got to let them take care of you.”

  As Lexi surrendered Jewel’s weight, all strength went out of her and she fell to her knees.

  A moment later, Lexi was lifted up into strong male arms. She was too exhausted even to reach around the man’s neck, so she collapsed, head hanging down, heaving for breath, nearly fainting. He strode away from the frothing pier, toward the street, where police cars angled next to two ambulances, all lights flashing.

  The man bent, laying Lexi on a stretcher.

  “I don’t need this!” Lexi tried to sit up. “I’m fine, I—”

  Clare appeared, brown hair darkened and dripping from the water. “You’re bleeding, Lexi. You’ve got to go to the hospital.”

  “No!” Lexi cried, struggling to get off the stretcher. “I’m fine!”

  But she wasn’t fine. As she crumpled back onto the stretcher, she knew.

  Someone covered her with a blanket. She was elevated, riding through the air. She wanted to roll time back, she wanted the howling storm to retreat, she needed to be whole again. But she wasn’t whole, she was injured, and gut-wrenching sobs shook her as the medics attended to her body, fastening an oxygen tube into her nose, strapping on a blood pressure cuff, slicing her sodden clothing to find her several injuries and staunch the flowing blood.

  “I’m going with her.” Clare, a blanket draped around her shoulders, pushed her way through the crowd into Lexi’s field of vision.

  “Sorry,” the EMT said. “Rules—”

  “Oh, shut up, Donnie!” Clare snapped. “I used to babysit you, for Heaven’s sake. Think of the stuff I could tell your mother!” Clare scrambled up into the ambulance, managing to keep hold of Lexi’s hand through all the commotion. “Jewel’s going to be all right. I saw them put her in the other ambulance, they were doing CPR, she has a pulse, she’s going to be okay.”

  “You’re okay, too!” Donnie assured Lexi. “You’ve got some deep gashes along your left side and—” He glanced at the other EMT, an older woman, who was packing towels between Lexi’s legs. “You’re going to be okay!”

  The ambulance swayed and screamed through the narrow streets to the small two-story cottage hospital. Lexi closed her eyes. She was aware of the movement of the vehicle and the chatter of the EMTs, of her wet hair dripping onto her face and shoulders, and of pain, and sadness, and how the violent thumping of her heart was slowing. She couldn’t stop crying. Her chest heaved, her entire spirit raged like the storm tearing its way across the island. She was aware of Clare’s hand tightly holding hers, security in the midst of pandemonium.

  At the hospital, Lexi was carried into the emergency room. Immediately nurses and doctors were at her side. Clare was firmly detached and sent off to another room to be checked on. Lexi was undressed and redressed in a hospital gown. A nurse pierced her arm with a needle and threaded in an IV. A warmth spread through Lexi, calming her tears. Words floated above her like invisible birds: “local anesthesia,” “stitches here,” “swab, nurse.”

  “There’s something going on down here,” a doctor said, removing the packed towels from between Lexi’s shaking legs.

  “I’m having a miscarriage,” she told him.

  “Oh, hon,” said the nurse, and Lexi was glad that it was summer, that the hospital was staffed with visiting medical personnel, that this nurse didn’t know her, didn’t know anything about Lexi at all.

  The anesthesia took hold, and Lexi sank into sleep.

  FORTY-SEVEN

  She woke in a hospital room. She was warm, and woozy, and comfortable beneath the white blanket and sheet.

  Clare was seated in a chair next to her, wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt, her brown hair drying in a tangle of curls. “Hey, Hero,” Clare said softly. “How you doin’?”

  Lexi managed a smile. “How’s Jewel?”

  “She’s fine. She’s in the next room. She doesn’t want to stay, but they’re insisting on keeping her overnight for observation.” Clare moved over to lean on the side of Lexi’s bed. “Get this. Bonnie and Ken and the baby went off-island two days ago. They were supposed to come home last night but couldn’t because of the weather. So Jewel was staying with Amber Young! Amber had no idea Jewel had sneaked out of the house. She feels terrible, I’m sure. But I should stop babbling, everyone’s waiting outside to see you, I can’t hog you like this, the nurse said only one person in here at a time and I forced them to let me be first.”

  “Wait, Clare.” Lexi reached out to grasp Clare’s hand. “I lost the baby, didn’t I?”

  Clare’s face fell. She nodded. She put her other hand on top of Lexi’s.

  “Look,” Lexi said urgently. “Don’t tell anyone. I hadn’t even told my mother I was pregnant. I hadn’t even told Jesse. And I just couldn’t stand it if Amber and Spring and everyone knew.”

  Clare smiled wickedly. “You’d probably get a lot of business.”

  Lexi snorted. “Great. Thanks a lot for that.”

  More somberly, Clare promised, “I won’t tell anyone anything. Besides, this town’s got quite enough to gossip about. Not that our little swim wasn’t dramatic enough, but the storm destroyed the beachfront out at Sconset. Six houses went down. And—” she s
tarted laughing. “This is the best! Harsh Marsh was getting into her car when a tree branch blew down! She’s fine, but she lay there on her front lawn, trapped beneath the branch, and getting completely soaked until a neighbor across the street saw her. She’s in a room down the hall!”

  “You girls!” The door flew open and Myrna came in, with Fred following right behind her. “I could hear you laughing!” She threw herself at Lexi, hugging her, kissing her face, smoothing back her hair. “You brave girl! We’re so proud of you!”

  Lexi’s father stood shyly at the foot of the bed. He grabbed Lexi’s toes through the blanket and squeezed them, as if he were shaking hands. “You did a magnificent thing, Lexi, saving that child’s life.”

  Lexi’s eyes met Clare’s. “I didn’t do it alone.”

  FORTY-EIGHT

  Clare knew the day started early at hospitals, so she was up and dressed and striding into the doors of the Nantucket Cottage Hospital by eight.

  She found Lexi sitting up in bed behind a hospital table, staring at a pile of undistinguished mush in a stainless-steel bowl.

  “Morning, Lexi!” Clare greeted her brightly.

  Lexi was crying, fat tears rolling down her cheeks. “Do they think I’m toothless?” She covered her face with her hands. “Oh, it’s not the oatmeal, it tastes fine, I’m just … I’m just a total mess. Oh, Clare, I hurt so much. I don’t mean the cuts in my thigh and side, that hurts, of course, but it’s my …” She couldn’t go on.

  Clare moved close to the bed. “It’s your womb. It’s your womb, and your belly and your pelvic muscles and your heart and your soul.”

  Lexi nodded, stifling a cry.

  Clare put a woven basket on the table. “What does the doctor say?”

  Lexi lifted her head, sniffing back tears. “She said I can go home today, this morning. I have to have bed rest, I can’t open the shop. Mom and Dad want me to go there for a few days. Mom says she’s looking forward to babying me.” The word baby caught in her throat.

  “That’s good. It will be nice for you to have someone taking care of you. Until then, I brought this.” Clare lifted a plate from the basket. It was an antique china plate with a pattern of roses and blueberries rimmed with gold. “I baked these for you this morning.” She unwrapped two blueberry muffins and a chunk of unsalted butter. She lifted out a small crystal glass and, opening a small thermos, she poured orange juice into it. “Fresh squeezed,” she told Lexi. When she opened a larger thermos, the delicious aroma of coffee swirled into the air. She brought out a cup and saucer that matched the plate, and a set of flatware, and a cotton napkin printed with daisies and lilacs. She moved the hospital bowl of porridge to the top of the dresser across the room.

  “Is this a bad moment?”

  Bonnie Frost stood in the doorway. She didn’t have her baby with her. Her hair fell glossily to her shoulders. She wore white trousers and a lacy sweater and her diamond ear studs glittered when she moved.

  Clare looked at Lexi, who shrugged and nodded slightly.

  “Sure,” Lexi said. “Come in. If you don’t mind my eating in front of you. Clare brought me breakfast and I can’t wait to drink this coffee.”

  Bonnie sidled into the room, shutting the door behind her. “How are you, Lexi?”

  “I’m fine. I’m leaving the hospital later today.”

  “They said you got pretty badly cut up.”

  Lexi took a sip of coffee and moaned in pleasure. “I’ll be okay.”

  Bonnie moved cautiously closer to the bed. “I don’t know how to thank you, Lexi, for saving Jewel. And you, too, Clare, I know you helped, I heard all about it. You were both so brave, and I’m so grateful.” Tears filled her eyes.

  Clare studied Bonnie quietly.

  “I know,” Bonnie went on, her words coming out in a rush, “I know you both think I’m a terrible mother, that I don’t give enough attention to Jewel, that all I care about is Ken and the baby, but that’s not true. You’ve got to understand, Jewel is such a stubborn child!” Angry tears welled in her eyes. “She’s always been headstrong, independent, obstinate! Just ask any of her teachers! She’s a very smart girl, she’s precocious, but that doesn’t mean she’s easy to deal with! It makes it harder, in a way. Because she’s so smart, she always thinks she’s right, and she’s not, she’s just a child!”

  “I’m not judging you, Bonnie,” Lexi said quietly. “I wouldn’t.”

  Bonnie tossed her pretty head. “Well, everyone else in this town does!” She glared at Clare and Lexi. “You both just wait, you just wait until you have your own child someday! You’ll be surprised! They aren’t little bits of clay you can mold, oh, no, they come out complete with their own personalities and you’re the one who has to change!”

  Lexi said quietly, “Jewel is a wonderful girl. You should be proud of her.”

  “Oh, yes, you see her out on the pier, the devoted daughter, with her books and her adult vocabulary, but I’m telling you, she’s a child and she’s a willful one. Do you think she’ll help me with the baby? Oh, no. Do you think she’ll give Ken a chance? Not on your life! The looks she gives him would cut glass! Sure, she’s book smart, she’s a clever little intellectual, but she’s a child, and with all her smartness, she was stupid enough to go out on that pier during the storm yesterday, she was stupid enough to almost die looking for her precious father!”

  Lexi said, “I’m sorry—”

  Clare interrupted. “It’s not Lexi’s fault Jewel went out there yesterday.”

  “I’m not saying it’s Lexi’s fault!” Bonnie snapped. She reached in her shoulder bag, pulled out a tissue and blew her nose, scattering the floor with crumbs. “Frankie’s crackers,” she explained absentmindedly. She took a deep breath. “I didn’t come here to criticize you, Lexi. I came here to thank you—and you, too, Clare. But I also came to ask you to help me. Jewel is my daughter. But for some reason, she adores you, Lexi, she hero-worships you. She thinks you hung the fucking moon, as a matter of fact, and it won’t make any difference if I tell her I don’t want her to hang around with you, she won’t obey me.”

  Lexi gasped. “You don’t want me to spend any more time with Jewel?”

  “No, I’m not asking that. I’m not even asking you to tell Jewel to forget about her father. I’m saying, could you just not go out on that damned pier with her?”

  Lexi looked relieved. “Of course.” She leaned toward Bonnie. “Bonnie, I’m not trying to compete with you for Jewel’s affection or anything like that. It’s just that she’s such a likable kid.” She glanced at Clare. “She reminds me of myself and Clare when we were that age.”

  Bonnie snorted. “Yeah, I can see that.”

  “How’s Jewel?” Clare asked.

  Bonnie shrugged. “Do you think I’d be in here if she weren’t okay? She doesn’t have any injuries from yesterday—you got the worst of it, Lexi. She’s full of energy. And she still keeps looking out the damned window, looking for her father’s boat. I’m going to take her home and spoil her with ice cream and some new videos and books, although I don’t want to be rewarding her for doing something stupid like she did yesterday.”

  “I’d like to see her,” Lexi said.

  Bonnie hesitated. “Well, all right. Sometime. But Lexi, come on, you’ve got to tell her you won’t go out on the pier with her again. I mean, don’t you feel some responsibility here?”

  “I do,” Lexi admitted. “And I agree. I’ll tell Jewel I won’t go out on the pier with her again. I’ll tell her she can come to my shop and hang out with me.”

  Clare suggested, “And maybe there’s some little beach Lexi could take Jewel to, sometime. Lex knows a lot about shells, and marine life …”

  Bonnie released a martyr’s sigh. “I guess, Lexi, if you want to take Jewel to the beach now and then, that would be okay.”

  For the first time all morning, Lexi looked happy. She flashed a grateful glance at Clare, then said to Bonnie, “It’s a deal.”

  FORTY-NINE<
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  The day was dazzling with sunlight. The grasses and bushes made whispering noises as they wound their way toward Moon Shell Beach. Adam carried the wicker picnic basket and cooler while Clare brought the blanket and beach bag. They’d spent the morning entertaining Lexi, still convalescing at her parents’ house. Then Adam told Clare he wanted to take her out to lunch. She thought a picnic for just the two of them on Moon Shell Beach might be nice, and now, here they were.

  They stood on the small crescent of sand, just staring for a few moments at the sparkling water and all the colorful kayaks, sailboats, and powerboats crisscrossing the harbor.

  “I can’t believe you girls found this place when you were so young,” Adam said. “And no one else I know has ever discovered it.”

  Clare flapped out the blanket, arranging it on the sand. “I can’t believe I stopped coming here after Lexi left the island. Well, I was so busy with school and the shop, but still, I went to Surfside and Jetties and Dionis … I just never thought of it.”

  Adam set the basket on one corner of the blanket. As he pulled his tee off over his head, he asked, his words muffled, “You never brought Jesse here?”

  Clare untied her sarong, letting the sun fall on her body in its little red bikini. “You know, I never did. Isn’t that odd?”

  “Works for me,” Adam said with a grin. He wore ancient faded madras swim trunks.

  “Madras is so yesterday,” Clare mocked.

  “Yeah, well, these are the most comfortable ones I own.” He sat down next to Clare and rummaged in the picnic basket. He set out a plate of cheese and crackers, then, from the ice cooler, he lifted out a bottle of Dom Perignon.

  “Champagne?” Clare was surprised. “On a Sunday afternoon?”

  “You deserve it. You saved my sister’s life.”

  “That’s a gross exaggeration. I just helped her bring Jewel out of the water.”

  “In gale-force winds. While Lexi was hurt.”