Whispering Waves

by Jamie Berris

  Kurt sighed. “Paige’s reaction wasn’t surprising, under the circumstances. Most likely, she just needs time to chill out, to process it all. You should reach out to Paige.”

  Jayna scoffed. “What! How can you be on her side?

  Sadie folded her arms over her chest. “You should be defending Mom and this family.”

  Chapter 43

  Sadie

  Sadie was still struggling, trying to comprehend what happened between her mom and Marcus, and now, the things Paige said about her mom . . . She had been tempted to call or text Paige and tell her what a slime her father was for taking advantage of her mother.

  Luckily, Travis was the distraction Sadie needed. She could be herself and spend every waking minute with him without hiding her feelings.

  They were inseparable, holding hands, hanging on the beach, kissing, and laughing. She couldn’t remember the last time she was this happy.

  She had told him she loved him when they went back to the top of Old Baldy to watch the sunset. They sat in the exact spot they had when Travis came looking for Sadie a few days earlier. It was now and forever their spot.

  Sadie had no worries about Paige showing up. Marissa had called her dad to let him know that Paige was going to California to stay with Marcus for a couple of weeks. Thank God!

  In a twenty-four-hour period, Paige had gone from being mad at Sadie when Travis took off looking for her at Old Baldy, to forgiving her the next day on the beach, to later that evening hating her and her family, and once again accusing Sadie of stealing Travis from her. Sadie wondered where they would stand once Paige flew back to Michigan.

  Sadie was relieved when her dad told her Marissa wouldn’t be visiting them in Pentwater again. Sadie’s feelings towards her were complicated. For now, she was going to forget everything and spend every waking second absorbed with Travis.

  Myla and Kyla advised Sadie to steer clear of social media. Dylan had been making a few snarky remarks about their breakup that would only get Sadie riled up. It wasn’t anything super bad, but nothing Sadie needed to read or, worse yet, respond to, and she would be tempted. Sadie had seen enough on Instagram of his wild nights of partying. Really, how many selfies hanging on girls must he post?

  Dylan hadn’t called, but he had texted that he left a box of her things on the front porch of her house. Sadie figured it was probably gifts she had given him, pictures of the two of them, and a sweatshirt he had of hers. She supposed she would clean out her room of his belongings when she got home.

  Sometimes, when Sadie looked at Nicholas, she caught a glimpse of Marcus and Paige. It was strange, and she tried to push it aside, knowing Nicholas’s heart belonged to her, Jayna, and their dad, and it would forever.

  Chilling on the beach one afternoon, Travis told Sadie how beautiful she was when she smiled and that she needed to more often. It wasn’t until then that she realized how little she had until recently. Ever since the night on Old Baldy, she had every reason to. Even Jayna had made a comment about Sadie being nicer now that she and Travis were together.

  Only five days remained to spend in Pentwater with Travis. Sadie tried not to dwell on it. She liked spending every minute of the day with him. Once they went home, they would be thirty-some miles away from each other. Sure, it was only a half hour drive to see each other, but it wouldn’t be the same as being right next door.

  Luckily, Cody and Liz were keeping up their little fling as well, so Cody didn’t feel like the third wheel. Jayna complained of being the fifth wheel, but actually she didn’t mind much at all. They had one rainy day where they all drove to Ludington and caught a movie and then spent the rest of the night playing board games.

  Sadie and Andrea kept up their morning walks where Andrea told Sadie amazing stories about her mother. She loved hearing about the quirky things her mother did, all the way down to the thoughtful gestures she was known for.

  Travis and Sadie managed to sneak off for nightly walks under the stars. There was something about the Pentwater stars. They always seemed brighter, and there were thousands more over the water than at home. They walked the beach, pier, town, and campground, talking, laughing, and sometimes without a word at all.

  One bright night, the moon was full and illuminated the heart that Travis drew in the sand with their names in it. The gesture gave Sadie goose bumps. He kissed her, told her he loved her, and confessed it wasn’t the first time he’d written her name in the sand.

  On their last day, they both woke up early to go out to breakfast, alone. They walked hand in hand into town as they had nearly a week ago. Sadie sighed. “I wish we could stay just one more week.”

  “Yeah, too bad more renters are coming this afternoon; otherwise, I know I could talk my mom into it,” agreed Travis.

  “I doubt my dad would go for it. He’s probably eager to get back to work and to Marissa.” Sadie thought of going back to her life at home and school starting in another two weeks, and it depressed her.

  “I have football practice anyway,” said Travis. “Two-a-day, ugh, rough!”

  “Can I watch?”

  Travis was grinning so big she could hear it in his voice. “Talk about pressure, not to mention everyone will be wondering who the hot chick is hanging on the fence!”

  Sadie gave Travis a kiss on his hand as she held it. “Well, you can tell them the hottie is your girlfriend.”

  “Yeah, right, you’ll probably start ignoring me in a couple of weeks and start dating another guy, an older guy, the way you did after our first kiss two years ago.”

  “Whaaat! I wasn’t the one that dissed you! You dissed me. Then, on the rebound I might add, I started going out with Dylan.”

  “Not the way I saw it,” teased Travis.

  “Whatever!”

  “Yeah, whatever,” he agreed. “We were, like, fourteen, just about to be freshman. It never would have lasted.”

  Sadie had a weird thought go through her head that she didn’t dare mention out loud. Travis was turning seventeen in two months. It wasn’t unheard of for people to start dating as teenagers and date through college and get married. Would they be one of those couples? Would they rent these cottages with their family and friends some day?

  Sadie knew she didn’t want to get married young. She wanted to go to a big university, hopefully not close to home, and then work and travel for a couple of years before getting married and starting a family. However, the thought of being all grown up with Travis and a family made her giddy.

  They had breakfast outside on the deck of the restaurant, surrounded by mostly senior citizens since it was barely after eight and most of the vacationing families were still snoozing. One family had young toddlers, who were screaming and throwing fits, and it made Sadie chuckle to herself. She definitely didn’t want to rush the marriage and kid thing, especially since she knew what it was like to be the mother around the house. Nope, she definitely wanted some freedom.

  No, right now she was enjoying being sixteen, about to start her junior year in high school, totally in love. Her feelings for Travis were so different from those she had for Dylan. With Dylan, she felt like she needed him and depended on him for security, maybe to fit in, maybe to get her through a really bad time in her life. With Travis, it just seemed real and really comfortable.

  There wasn’t that awkward feeling of getting to know someone and feeling pressure to always be at her best. She was one-hundred percent herself with Travis. She was who he always knew her to be, and how great that was—even though he knew a lot of embarrassing things from her childhood.

  After breakfast, they got iced caramel lattes and shopped the surf shops. Sadie bought Travis a new T-shirt, and he bought her a new pair of flip-flops.

  The rest of the day was spent hanging out at the beach, playing volleyball with Cody, Liz, Jayna, and some other friends (mostly Jayna and Liz’s gang from the pier). Sadie felt like that was a lifetime ago and simply let it go. But if Jayna ever did something as stupid again, whic
h Sadie knew was probably right around the corner, she would be there knocking some sense into her sister all over again.

  Chapter 44

  Sadie

  “Well, I guess this is it, the end of summer vacation.” Sadie and Travis sat on the steps of her cottage and stared out toward Lake Michigan. She had packed up everything and set it in a pile by her dad’s Denali for him to load. Andrea and Benton had left an hour ago. Luckily, Travis and Cody drove separately from his parents, so Travis hung back to spend every last second with Sadie.

  “So, will you come to my practice this week?”

  “I promise to be cheering from the sidelines. Can I watch every day, or will I look like a stalker?”

  “Are you kidding? All the guys will be so jealous! Hey, the pressure might be good for me. So I was thinking . . . next Saturday I could pick you up for a real date?”

  Sadie inhaled the fresh scent of the water and exhaled slowly. “I’m counting down the days.”

  Travis kissed her. “I miss you already.” He took out his phone and made her pose as he took a profile picture of her. She then sent him a text saying, “I love you,” and they laughed as her picture popped up on the screen of his cell. She was actually surprised at how good the picture of her was—she was tan, her hair was “beachy,” blowing in the breeze, and her smile was just right, not too toothy and cheesy. A good pic for Travis to have with him at all times.

  She then snapped one of Travis for her screensaver. While she was adding him to her favorite people, he snapped a picture of his flexed bicep and sent it to her as a text. “This is for those guys that try to get with my girl. Tell them you’re taken and show them this.”

  He kissed her as they laughed together. “Travis, my He-man.”

  “You know you’re the only one that calls me that. Everyone calls me Trav, not Travis.”

  He was right; she never called him Trav. “Is that okay?”

  “More than okay. I just like hearing your voice; doesn’t matter what you call me.”

  Kurt stepped out on the porch and told Sadie everything was loaded and ready to go. The cleaning crew was waiting in the driveway for them to leave. He shook Travis’s hand and said good-bye and left them alone.

  Travis wrapped his arms around Sadie and told her this was the best vacation ever. She teased him, agreeing that it was rather eventful, with the best ending. She was sad that it was ending; she was happy in Pentwater with Travis, really, simply happy. The happiest she’d been since the day she found out her mother’s fate.

  They lingered on the porch for another minute before Travis walked Sadie to the passenger door. He opened it up for her and then stuck his head in the window of the backseat where Nicholas was already strapped in and gave him knuckles. “See ya, little buddy.”

  Jayna got in, grumbling that it was too hot, and snipped at Kurt to crank the air conditioner. Sadie rolled her eyes at Travis and held her hand up for knuckles. “Don’t leave me out.”

  They pulled out, and Sadie watched Travis get in the Jeep, wishing she was next to him. She gave him one final wave and silently said good-bye to the cottage and to the entire town of Pentwater as they drove by the ice-cream shops, surf shops, and the restaurant deck that she and Travis ate breakfast on only a few hours ago. The smell of hot grease and waffle cones filled the air, and Sadie inhaled the scent and closed her eyes.

  The ride home was typical. Nicholas fell asleep, and Jayna was zoned out with her ear buds snuggled in place, music cranked in her ears. Sadie was heavily into texting both Myla and Kyla. They had so much to catch up on. Both girls were already on their way to Sadie’s house, informing her they would be hanging out by the pool until she got home.

  Myla and Kyla had looked after the pool and kept it clean the last couple of weeks. They both knew the code to the keypad for the garage door to Sadie’s house. They also took turns watering the plants and getting the mail. Kurt promised the girls one of his famous bacon cheeseburgers for dinner as a thank you.

  Dylan was still a huge topic in their texting. The rumors about their breakup were running wild. Of course, Dylan’s story was quite different from the actual truth—mostly that the breakup was his doing and that Sadie had some rebound guy because she couldn’t stand to be alone. “Needy” was the exact word he used.

  Kyla heard that he had already hooked up with his ex-girlfriend, Allison, which probably was true. This definitely struck a nerve with Sadie. Allison always tormented Sadie any chance she got, whether it was with a nasty look, a sly remark, or a ridiculing giggle. Sadie hated to admit it, but she had always felt threatened by her. She knew Dylan was only doing this to get back at her, and even though she wanted nothing to do with Dylan, it still stung.

  When Sadie wasn’t texting, she was waiting for her dad to bring up Marissa or Paige, but he never did. She knew it had to be on his mind. How couldn’t it be? It was on everyone’s mind. Sadie thought of her mother, thought of the strain her pregnancy and the birth of Nicholas must have been on their marriage. She wondered if her dad resented Lydia, if deep down Kurt ever wanted to divorce her.

  For the life of her, Sadie still couldn’t wrap her brain around why her dad would want to get involved with Marissa. She also wondered if Marissa was somehow getting back at Lydia and Marcus by dating her dad. Sadie stared at the passing trees along the highway. It was almost too bizarre to understand.

  Even though Paige was clear across the country in California, Sadie felt like Paige had been a greater distance from her when Sadie was in Pentwater. Going home meant back to reality, the reality that Paige would be flying back before school started and she would have to face her every day. Tennis practice would be a real treat too!

  Sadie could practically hear the buzz in her ears from all the gossip swirling around from her and Dylan’s breakup, to the fight between her and Paige over Travis, to the fact that their parents were dating. Thank God no one knew the truth about Nicholas. Sadie would seriously switch schools if that ever got out.

  Chapter 45

  Kurt

  Eager to get back to work was an understatement. Not that Kurt didn’t love and cherish the time in Pentwater with his kids—he wouldn’t trade it for anything—but being a single parent was hard, and parenting around-the-clock even harder.

  He always knew the responsibility of taking care of Nicholas was tough on Sadie, but he did pay her, and in his eyes, it kept her out of trouble too. Two days off each week to hang at the beach or pool with her friends was plenty, in his eyes. Kurt remembered having a summer job bagging groceries nearly thirty hours each week when he was Sadie’s age.

  The fact that he was meeting Marissa for lunch also helped him pop out of bed an hour before his alarm went off that Monday. He hadn’t seen her since she and Paige left the cottage six days ago.

  As he swallowed his last gulp of lukewarm coffee, about to walk out the door, he heard the padding of little feet on the wood floor, coming down the hallway from behind him. Nicholas had fallen asleep in his clothes on the couch in the screened porch last night, so Kurt had simply carried him up to bed.

  “Hey, champ, you’re up early.”

  Nicholas only nodded and rubbed his eyes with a yawn. “Chocolate milk,” he said.

  Nicholas was famous for his simple but direct choice of words. It was never, “I want this,” or, “Can you get me that,” just a simple one or two-word statement. Kurt was trying to get him to at least incorporate a please or thank you, here or there.

  Kurt got him his chocolate milk and a granola bar from the pantry and tucked him in on the couch with cartoons. He gave him a hug and kisses and told him to wake up Sadie or Jayna if he needed anything.

  “Why do you have to go back to work?” asked Nicholas, without looking away from the TV.

  Kurt felt that pang of guilt sear through him. He told Nicholas that’s just what dads have to do; otherwise, they wouldn’t have a house to live in or food to eat. Nicholas was either content with this answer or was already too w
rapped up in Paw Patrol to be listening anymore. Kurt figured the latter and decided it was a good note to leave on.

  He kissed his forehead and had a flash of Marcus pop into his head. The thought that someday Nicholas would learn that Kurt wasn’t his biological father killed him. He did what he always did when the thought entered his mind—forced it out just as quickly.

  The guilt of leaving the little guy alone on the couch followed Kurt out to the yard, where he adjusted a few sprinkler heads and pulled out of the driveway, wishing there was a mother in a soft robe cuddling on the couch with Nicholas.

  He pictured Lydia, coffee mug in one hand, spatula in the other, flipping pancakes laced with bananas, chocolate chips, or blueberries. She had fed her children French toast and pancakes as often as possible when they were little because they loved them, but more so because Lydia loved the way her kids smelled after they ate syrup at breakfast.

  Lydia had kissed her children like crazy and even more so when they were laced with the sweet smell of Aunt Jemima. Kurt wished he had hung back ten more minutes to at least give Nicholas a toaster waffle drenched in syrup. Tomorrow, he thought, tomorrow I’ll get him his breakfast gooey with syrup, and a side of fresh blueberries arranged in a smiley face just as his mother would have.

  ~*~

  Shortly after twelve-thirty, Marissa came bounding to the table on the patio of Blue Lake Grill overlooking the small, turquoise man-made lake. She had a cream pant suit on with heels that gave her a good three-inch boost. She kissed Kurt and sat down, taking off her suit jacket, revealing a silk camisole and toned, tanned, bare arms.

  “Sorry I’m late. Mondays are always a nightmare at the office.” She took a sip of the iced tea Kurt had ordered for her and a glimpse at the sparkling lake. “It’s no Lake Michigan, but it’s pretty, isn’t it?”