Whispering Waves

by Jamie Berris

  Andrea looked at Sadie a second too long, and she prayed her face showed nothing but indifference as she stared straight ahead at the shoreline. When would she learn to think before she opened her mouth?

  “Probably no more than catching up with an old friend.”

  Sadie wondered if Andrea was just saying this because she knew that’s what she wanted to hear, or if she truly believed that’s all it was. “Yeah, with Cody and Liz flaring up, Travis probably felt like he needed a girl by his side too.” Ugh what was she saying? She really needed to shut up, already.

  “Ah, I remember a few of those little summer romances too. They died down as quickly as they flared up. So is Dylan visiting again? You must miss him.”

  Sadie sensed Andrea knew her struggle and wanted to see where Dylan really stood. “He might drive out today.”

  “I bet you can’t wait! You two have been together a long time. Hasn’t it been over a year and a half?”

  “Yeah,” was all Sadie could say. She did want to see him, but knew how awkward it would be between Dylan and Travis. As much as she wanted Dylan around, she wasn’t so sure she wanted to be without Travis all day, and knowing Travis, he would most likely avoid both of them. As much as she loved Pentwater, she never thought it would get this complicated.

  Pentwater had always meant simplicity and carefree days, but maybe she was just confusing that with the days when her mother was still alive. Really, when she stopped to think about it, most of her problems wouldn’t even be an issue if her mother were alive. She wouldn’t have to worry about Marissa and Paige moving in on her dad and Travis. Jayna would still be a pain in the butt, but it wouldn’t be her responsibility.

  Sadie changed the subject to Marissa, not necessarily an easier subject, but one that was bound to come up anyway. “Do you think I’m acting immaturely and irrationally about Marissa?” Sadie asked, point blank.

  A couple of seagulls swooped down in front of them to eat some leftover popcorn on the beach. They walked around them in silence, and Sadie could tell Andrea was choosing her words carefully. “I know it has to be hard to see your dad dating, and the fact that it’s Marissa, well, I can’t blame you for being confused and even upset.”

  “But . . .?”

  Andrea laughed. “But they’re adults and will make their own decisions, and I don’t think you acting out towards them will make them change their feelings for each other.”

  Sadie thought about her dad’s reaction to Dylan when they went out on their first real date. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Dylan; it was more that he didn’t like that his daughter had grown up and was dating anyone, period. Sadie knew she would date Dylan no matter if her dad approved or not. He had only softened in the beginning because of her mother, anyway.

  “So I am being immature?”

  “You’re acting out of love for both of your parents and also respect for your mother, which is wonderful, Sadie. Don’t forget to take a step back and try to understand what other people are going through and feeling. The older you get, the easier that is to do.”

  ~*~

  Marissa

  Marissa grunted as she slammed the ball with all her might into the wall at the far end of the tennis courts. Sweat ran down into her eyes, and she wiped it away with the bottom hem of her tank, exposing her stomach. She quickly laid it back down when she realized two older gentlemen watched her with wandering eyes from the courts. Dirty old pigs, she thought, not feeling the least bit flattered.

  When she needed to think, she played a solo tennis match with the wall. Maybe it wasn’t so much thinking that she had to do today, rather work through a wide range of feelings.

  She looked at her watch and saw that it was nearly ten and figured she’d get home as Paige was probably just rolling out of bed. She slung her tennis bag over her shoulder and guzzled a lukewarm bottle of water as she walked to her car. Inside, it was scorching, so she cranked the air, rolled down the windows, and slid back the moon roof, hoping the breeze would dry her sweat. She felt like she was sitting in a pool of it! Marissa was just about to pull down her road when she decided to drive past it. There was someone she needed to go check on. As she drove, she spotted a rickety wooden stand with home grown vegetables and fresh cut flowers in the yard of an old farm house that was recently restored. She pulled in and bought the prettiest bouquet of gladiolas, dahlias, daisies, and coreopsis.

  Pulling into the cemetery, she shuddered at the sight of a burial in progress in the far back corner. She said a quick prayer that the deceased had lived to the ripe old age of one hundred.

  Lydia’s stone was beautifully kept. The pots of flowers were well shaded by an oak tree, and the begonias and sweet potato vines were thick and lush.

  Marissa sat down and gave the flowers to Lydia. She talked to her like she was sitting next to her. Marissa explained her complicated feelings for Kurt, and she explained the torn emotions, the anger from Sadie, the delight of Nicholas, and Jayna’s nonchalance. She swore to Lydia she had never fantasized about Kurt or in her wildest dreams thought some day she would be in the position she was in, but she knew Lydia already knew and understood.

  Marissa heard the cooing of a mourning dove and shuddered at the timing of the bird. She looked up but couldn’t see it in the trees. On cue, it cooed again, and she looked over her shoulder and spotted the bird perched on a fence behind her.

  “There you are, friend.” She laughed at herself. “Really, Lydia, I feel like this is one of those moments we’d be lounging poolside at your house, laughing hysterically at the thought of me talking out loud to you at your grave and you talking back (or mocking me) through a mourning dove.

  “Thank God no one else is in earshot. They would think I’ve completely lost it, but it feels so real, sitting here, talking out loud to you.”

  “Whoo-ahh-whoo-whoo-whoo,” the bird cooed again.

  “Seriously, Lydia, I’m taking this as your acceptance, your approval to stick it out. Life would be so much easier if you were still here. Damn you, cancer, why did you have to take her? By now you would have talked me into dating one of the New Yorkers that your sisters had already had their way with. Nothing would be complicated. No hurt feelings.”

  Marissa sighed and thought of how ugly their relationship had gotten a few years ago. It robbed them of a perfect friendship. What a nightmare their lives would be if Sadie uncovered the truth.

  “I’ll do my best, Lydia. I promise I will love them the best I can.”

  Marissa stood and turned to face the bird, but it was gone. She blew her best friend a kiss as she left.

  ~*~

  As expected, Paige thumped down the stairs as Marissa was opening the fridge gathering the contents for a smoothie. She was ravenous.

  “Did you, like, just get back from running a marathon or something?” asked Paige. “Your face is all red and blotchy, and the back of your tank top is soaked in sweat.”

  “I was hitting balls at the wall.”

  “Hmm,” mumbled Paige. “Alone?”

  “No, Ly— Yes, Paige, alone.”

  “Weird.”

  “What’s so weird about it, Paige?”

  “No, not that. Jayna texted me and asked if we were going to PTW again today. I didn’t even know she had a phone.”

  “Ha! PTW, that’s what we always called Pentwater. Anyway, are you sure it’s Jayna?”

  “It’s a number I don’t recognize, but it says, ‘Hi this is Jayna.’ So can we go?”

  Paige leaned against the counter, her hair piled in a bun on top of her head, her shorts barely covering her rear, and the strap of her tank top was hanging down to her elbow. Marissa couldn’t wrap her head around how Paige had grown up so quickly. She wished she had been able to give her siblings. She bought some time by flicking on the Vitamix.

  Marissa poured a tall glass for herself and a smaller one for Paige. As expected, Paige crinkled her face, and Marissa quickly went into her spiel that it tasted better than a McDonald’s
strawberry shake.

  Paige eyed the purple smoothie while still texting and asked if there was spinach in it.

  “Only a handful, it’s mostly blueberries, strawberries, and bananas. Could you please put one healthy thing in your body today?”

  “So can we go or what?”

  “I had too much sun yesterday, so why don’t you take my car and go.”

  “Reeeally?”

  “Really. And try to hide your enthusiasm that you get to go without me.”

  Paige laughed, grabbed her smoothie, and ran off to her room to get ready. Marissa figured the smoothie would either be dumped down the bathtub drain or left sitting on her dresser, attracting fruit flies.

  ~*~

  Sadie

  When Sadie returned from her walk with Andrea, she had a text message from Dylan, saying he would be up around noon, and a text from Myla and Kyla wondering when they were going to get invited. Sadie suddenly missed her girlfriends more than she realized.

  She was sure she was way out of the gossip loop at this point and felt the need for an escape from her reality. Only Myla and Kyla would understand what she was going through with her crazy feelings for Travis, her guilt over Dylan, how irrational her father was being, and what a burden Paige had become.

  Sadie was brushing her hair when Nicholas came barging in her room and invited her to go play mini golf. He told her all the kids were going, rattling off Jayna and Liz, Travis and Cody. Nicholas was excited beyond belief getting to hang out with the “big kids” as he stated it.

  Figuring this was the perfect time to be close to Travis with no Dylan or Paige, Sadie agreed. Besides, she and Travis had always battled it out on the mini golf course several times each summer during their stay. This was one area where the competition was real and fierce.

  In fact, they both kept score throughout the game to keep each other honest, and the standing bet had always remained the same: the loser buys ice cream, and not just a wimpy soft serve, whatever the winner chose, which usually turned out to be a large flurry or sundae overflowing with toppings.

  Remembering all the score cards from years past tucked in an old Sketchers shoe box at home, Sadie knew this wasn’t something she would ever pass on. On the bike ride into town, Travis kept his distance. He said nothing more than “hey” when they got on their bikes. He wasn’t being rude, but the air was thick between the two of them. Sadie couldn’t help but be a tad bitter. A few days ago they were having so much fun together, just as they had every summer growing up. Then, bam, Dylan had to get in Travis’s face, and then Paige showed up, flirting with him, instantly throwing a wrench in the works between the two of them, an unspoken one, but one nonetheless.

  Sadie was determined to get things back to normal. Travis was her summer friend—he had been since they were in diapers, and no one was going to change that.

  “Looks like I’m getting a free Oreo cookie sundae.” Sadie tallied up her score at the ninth hole to discover she was in the lead by three points, twenty-three to Travis’s twenty-six.

  “Since when did we agree that the loser buys ice cream?”

  Sadie got a sarcastic smirk on her face. “Ah, since every year we’ve been in Pentwater, which happens to be since we were crawling.”

  Travis looked up before putting and rested his club on his foot. He had a sleeveless shirt on with a rope necklace around his neck that he and Cody had each bought at Bones’ Surf Shop. His skin was already about three shades darker than it had been the first day, and it made the white around his brown eyes glow. Sadie was sure he looked hotter than he ever had, but that was the case with Travis—he got better looking every year.

  “I figured you were past that, Sadie.” His voice was cool, but she could tell he was fishing for something.

  “Why would I ever pass up free ice cream?”

  “Oh, so you weren’t going to bring it up if you lost?”

  Sadie thought a minute. “I had every intention of bringing it up, just as I have every intention of kicking your ass, Travis Sutherland.” Sadie wasn’t holding back—she decided to go full throttle and lay it on thick with Travis. She took her putter and gently smacked his butt with it. Travis studied her for a second. She could tell he was flattered, but hesitant to play along as usual.

  “Don’t lick the whipped cream yet,” Travis said before taking his shot. He got a hole in one and only smirked at Sadie. She rolled her eyes.

  On the seventeenth hole, Sadie screwed up. It was a par three that took her seven shots and gave Travis the lead by two points, his forty-five to her forty-seven. Sadie was sweating, and the fact that everyone was rooting for Travis didn’t help.

  Of course, Jayna would want anyone but her overbearing sister to win, and Nicholas had taken to Travis like he was his long lost brother. Cody said he wasn’t taking sides, but Sadie thought he may have silently been rooting for her because no one else was. Liz was too oblivious to anyone else but Cody to care.

  Realizing she would probably have to get a hole in one on the eighteenth hole to win, Sadie was taking her time analyzing her shot from every angle. She didn’t care that she was backing up the entire mini golf course. There wasn’t a speck of shade whatsoever, and it was fast approaching ninety degrees, so people were getting impatient.

  “Today, Sadie,” groaned Travis.

  “You so can’t wait to beat me and rub it in my face, can you?”

  “I’d just like to get my free ice cream before they run out!” he pleaded, sweat trickling down the side of his hairline.

  Sadie made her shot and it bounced off the wooden oar, went straight along the green towards the spinning ship’s wheel, and missed it by a half inch. She swore under her breath and quickly putted the ball in. There was no way it was going to take Travis five shots to get the ball to the ship’s wheel. Sadie was defeated with a final score of forty-nine.

  It took Cody three shots, Nicholas at least nine, Jayna four, and Liz five. Sadie figured it would take Travis two or three. He stepped up, acting like a hot shot and aimed at the wooden oar in the exact spot Sadie had. Sadie made a comment about him having to use her tactics to win, which he ignored.

  Luckily, he had hit it too softly, and it barely bounced off the oar, so he had to squeeze his putter between the ball and oar, and it ended up being a messy shot. He wasn’t in line with the ship’s wheel in the slightest, so his next shot had to consist of just getting out of the trap of the wooden oars.

  After two shots, he had the ball lined up perfectly. Travis eased the ball toward the spinning wheel, and it plunked right in. Travis had won by one point . . . so she thought. As the ball slowly spun around on the ledge of the wheel, it rolled off right at the top, a true miracle. Had the ball followed the wheel around, it would have immediately dropped down the hole and been swept away.

  “WHAT? I got robbed!”

  “Sadie probably stuck her club in the wheel. Were you watching her?” Jayna retorted.

  Travis just smirked as Sadie glared at her sister.

  “Dude, you are totally screwed!” Cody shook his head and laughed.

  Sadie couldn’t help it either and laughed. “Seriously, Travis, I don’t think that has ever happened before . . . to anyone!”

  “Well, the game isn’t over yet,” Travis said, eyeing the ship’s wheel again. “If I make it in one shot, we tie.”

  “There’s no way you’re going to make it in one shot unless you can put the ball straight and somehow make it miraculously turn at a ninety-degree angle. You’ll be lucky to make it in two, and I’m betting on three.” Sadie cocked her hip and leaned on her club, feeling confident she had just won.

  “You have a bad habit of speaking too soon, Sadie.”

  Cody sighed. “This is gonna get ugly.”

  Sure enough, somehow Travis pulled it off. He whacked the ball hard enough for it to first hit the decorative lighthouse in the corner, bounce off a rock placed off to the side of the green, and go tumbling back into the ship’s wheel, which
this time carried it all the way around. Travis said a silent “yes” and pumped his fist, Tiger Woods’ style.

  “Pure luck! You had no clue it was going to do all that, so don’t go trying to act like a hot shot!”

  “It just kills you not to win, doesn’t it, Sadie?”

  “Excuse me, hot shot? You did not win. We tied!”

  “Yes, we did, Sadie, and it kills you just the same. You’ve always got to be one up on everyone, don’t you?” Travis shoved his score card in his pocket and walked toward the club return.

  Sadie ran after him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Just what I said. You always have to be one up on everyone. You can’t stand to be second in anyone’s eyes.”

  Sadie’s heart sank. What exactly was Travis referring to? Did he recognize that she was a bit jealous of the way he and Paige were hitting it off? Thankfully, with all the commotion of everyone returning their clubs, no one overheard what Travis had said . . . except, of course, Jayna.

  Jayna grabbed Nicholas’s hand and started walking to the ice cream window. “He’s got a point, Sadie,” she said as she passed.

  What the heck? Was everyone out to torment her today? It wasn’t like she was seriously pissed—she was truly joking.

  As everyone ordered their ice cream, Sadie realized she had lost her appetite. Travis’s comment stung. She envisioned making amends on this mini golf trip, not building even more tension. This entire vacation was slowly letting her down, and here she thought Pentwater was just what she needed.

  On the bike ride back to the cottage, Sadie had to hold back tears. She felt like such a failure. She felt like she was on everyone’s bad side, and no doubt it was her fault. Possibly she would volunteer to dig a hole in the sand with Nicholas and climb in.

  As soon as she parked her bike, she got a text from Dylan saying two things: first, he was getting gas and he was only twenty minutes away, and second, he had a surprise for her.

  She had gotten so wrapped up in golf and everything else she had completely forgotten he was coming. Maybe this was exactly what she needed, a quiet day alone with Dylan. They could find a secluded spot on the beach and just chill together all day. He was her boyfriend after all, and obviously there was nothing between her and Travis, so she assured herself that spending the day with Dylan would make her forget about her worries.