by Nancy Naigle
He took in a breath and spread his stance. “We currently have thirty veterans working in different roles at this location. Without the hard work of this town council and committee, we would’ve never been able to accomplish the four cornerstones of our mission: to reunite military working dogs with their handlers; to support our veterans, both human and canine; to self-fund these efforts; and to give back to the community. It’s an honor to be able to do this here on Whelk’s Island, which I now call home.”
The mayor smiled. “You certainly came through on all fronts, Mr. Grant. Your tenacity was hard to ignore.”
Paul had been accused of that before. Heat rose to his cheeks. “We’ve put new discounts in place for locals, and tourists can reduce their kennel bills by simply visiting their animals during their stay. Hopefully, that will make this feel like a pet-friendly town and even more appealing to travelers.”
The assistant town manager said, “The business has great eye appeal as tourists come into town too.”
“Thank you.” Paul twisted his papers in his hands. “Your support has given us a wonderful template to help expedite these efforts in other cities across the nation.”
With nothing else on the agenda, a motion to adjourn followed and everyone made their way to the exit.
Maeve shortcut across the room to catch up with Paul. “Sir? Excuse me. Paul?”
“Yes ma’am.” He turned.
He looked even kinder up close, but he still had that tough Marine appearance. Strong and capable.
“Hi. I’m Maeve Lindsay. I wanted to congratulate you. Your hard work is really admirable, and I’m glad you picked this town to set up shop.”
“Thank you, ma’am.” His smile was easy, genuine. “I appreciate you standing up for the plans in the early zoning meetings. I remember you.”
“To take a tired and decaying building on the outskirts of town and transform it into a beautiful and functioning part of the community is appreciated, Mr. Grant. But doing so to fund good works—sir, that is a gift.” She placed her palm on his heart. “Truly a gift. I hope to come out and see Paws Town Square in person one day. It’s a little farther than I walk, but I’ll get a friend to take me.”
“Thank you. Believe me, it’s not only a pleasure but a dream come true.” His heavy brows tilted. “It’s very dear to my heart. You let me know when you come. I’ll drop everything and give you a personal tour. You rarely miss a meeting, do you?”
“Can’t leave everything in their hands. Sometimes they need an old lady’s advice.”
His laugh was nice.
“Well, thank you,” he said. “I’d be happy to arrange transportation when you come visit if you need it.” He reached into his pocket and handed her a card. “Call me.”
She took the card. “Careful, now. I might take you up on that.”
“It would truly make my day if you did.” The words came across as sincere. “Please do.”
“That’s very kind,” she said. “I know it doesn’t mean much, but I’m very proud of you. I wanted to meet you and thank you personally for helping bring something positive to Whelk’s Island. I was born and raised here. I love this town, and that old shopping center was just a mess.”
“Hopefully, other businesses will be inspired to consider ghost boxes now.”
“Wouldn’t that be great? Honey, I won’t keep you. Thanks for giving an old gal a minute of your time. You have a nice day.” When she squeezed his arm, his bicep was as solid as a coconut.
Maeve walked out of the building satisfied for doing her part. She did love these meetings. It was way better than sitting in front of a television, watching something that meant absolutely nothing. Why didn’t more people care about what happened in their town?
Walking home, she thought about how Paul must feel knowing he was responsible for helping two groups—animals and veterans—who’d served our country and fought for our freedom.
Only a very special man would recognize that need and be able to find so many ways to contribute.
4
As Amanda went over the dune, it made her happy to finally see the outside of her house shaping up. The overgrown yard had been wrangled into something close to order. Goodness knows they’d had enough barrel fires to get rid of the debris. So many that the kids considered gathering brush a precursor to hot dogs and s’mores for dinner…again.
The freshly painted front door, the same color as the geraniums she’d planted, added life to the place.
“Doesn’t our home look pretty today?” Amanda said out loud.
Hailey gave a halfhearted “yep” as she tried to catch up.
The day the real estate agent showed them this house, Hailey and Jesse had been hesitant to go inside. She couldn’t blame them, but she’d felt an immediate kinship to the place. Like her, it had seen better days but now seemed sad. Unloved. Unwanted. Uncared for. The sellers hadn’t even tried to put lipstick on the pig, but a Marine sticker on a surfboard and a dirty old postcard of Mount McKinley in Denali National Park on the closet floor were all the signs Amanda needed to know this was where she was meant to be. She and the house would take the journey to restore their futures together, and they were off to a good start.
The kids took turns dancing under the cool water from the spigot before going inside.
“Mom, it’s hotter in here than it is at the beach,” Hailey complained.
And she was right.
“Everyone put on shorts and sneakers,” Amanda said. “I’ve got a plan.”
She changed too and then piled Hailey and Jesse into the car. As she drove down the old beach road, she noticed a whole display of fans blowing red streamers in the hardware-store window. “What do you think about that?”
Hailey and Jesse perked up. “That looks cool!”
Cool was exactly what she had in mind. The kids hadn’t complained one bit up until today, but summer was showing its strength. Amanda had underestimated how miserable it could be with no central air in North Carolina. This was nothing like the lake in Ohio when she was a kid. Not having AC had been no problem back then. She couldn’t afford air-conditioning with the price she’d paid for the house, and she’d thought they could get through one summer without it. That clearly wasn’t going to work.
She parked in front of the store and they went inside. An hour later, she had the two box fans she’d gone in for, and the owner had even hooked her up with a great deal on a used AC window unit for the kids’ room.
She drove home and sent Jesse to bring his little red wagon around to the car.
He kicked up sand while running through the yard and came back with the metal wagon clanging behind him.
She lifted the AC unit out of the trunk and placed it in the wagon. The two box fans were light, so she stacked them on top.
“Okay, let’s roll these up to the house.” She took the handle and let the kids push from behind. Jesse’s cheeks were puffed out and red. “Breathe, Jesse. You don’t have to push too hard. You might knock me over.” That was unlikely, but he sure did put his all into everything he did.
She propped the air conditioner in the children’s bedroom window and plugged it in. To cover the gaps on each side of the small unit, she cut cardboard strips, covered them in a heavy trash bag to waterproof them, and then duct-taped them into place. For good measure, she pounded a single nail above the sash to keep the window from sliding out of position. She’d sleep better knowing there was no chance of that thing falling on the kids.
“Ready to try this thing out?” Amanda held her hand at the power button.
“Yes.” Jesse walked over and put his finger on top of Amanda’s. “I’ll help.”
“Here we go,” Amanda said. The old window unit chugged, sputtered, and then revved up like a race car before it started blowing icy-cold air into the room.
Jesse
loved the noise. He hopped and waved his hands in the stream of air.
“Mom, this is so cold!” Hailey closed her eyes and stood like a statue in front of the unit. “I think it could blow snowflakes!”
“It’s heavenly.” Amanda picked at her shirt, letting the cool air sop some of the dampness from her. “This will feel so good.”
“It’s kind of loud,” Hailey said.
“Maybe now you won’t hear Jesse when he wakes up early.”
Hailey grinned. “I will like that.”
“I thought you would. Come on.” They all left the room, and then she closed the door behind them. “Now for the fun part. You two open the fans for me while I get the windows ready.”
The kids wrestled with the boxes in the kitchen while she worked to pry open the windowsill in the living room. It had been painted shut, but after wiggling it, she finally got it free. Unfortunately, the sash wouldn’t hold. It kept sliding back down. She found a paint stick in the hall closet to hold it up until she could get the fan in place.
Hailey and Jesse thrummed on the empty boxes, singing a mishmash of nursery rhymes and country songs. She let them entertain themselves while she slid the fan into the window frame, just about guillotining herself in the process.
Once the fan was snugly in place, Amanda went about setting up the other one across the way, near the kitchen table. She positioned it to blow the hot air outside, creating a steady flow through the house. It was a trick Daddy had used when it got hot.
Refreshing air moved through the house, bringing instant relief. She went back into the living room and started singing into the spinning blades. “Aaaaaa-aaa-aaa-aaa-aaa-aaah.”
She couldn’t resist testing her old robot voice, so she bent toward the fan and her words reverberated as if they were in a blender. “Thaaa-aaa-aaank goo-ooo-oodness this fee-eels soo-ooo gooo-oood.”
Hailey and Jesse abandoned the boxes and rushed to her. “What are you doing?”
“Singin’ in the fan.” Holding a fake microphone, she leaned in closer and continued. “Just singin’ in the fan. What a glorious morning. I’m singin’ in the fan.”
Jesse retrieved his cardboard box from the kitchen and started drumming to the song, sort of.
Hailey joined Amanda and sang along.
In a fit of giggles, Amanda announced, “I expect a concert after dinner tonight.”
“Every night!” Hailey played an air guitar and belted out the words to “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” in the fan.
That night Amanda moved one of the fans to her bedroom. She slept better than she had in weeks and even rolled out of bed an hour before Hailey and Jesse got up. By the time they showed their faces, she was already cooking breakfast.
The kids came running into the kitchen together. A first. “Good morning!”
“Great to see my two favorite children so happy.”
Hailey pulled her hands to her hips. “We’re your only children, Mom.”
“Thank goodness.” She kissed them both. “You’re just in time. Jesse, you can separate the tortillas. Hailey, how about you tear up some spinach leaves.”
Jesse’s fingers worked the tortillas until they were about the furthest thing from round. She might have to stack two together to keep the eggs from falling through them, but it was a delight to see him trying so hard.
Hailey handed the bowl of spinach to Amanda. “Here you go, Mom.”
“Perfect.” Amanda dumped the bowl of spinach into the eggs and sprinkled cheese across the top, placing the lid over the pan so it would all melt together. Then she poured cups of milk and set them on the table.
“Okay, we’re ready. Forward march. One at a time.” Her little soldiers grabbed their plates and tortillas and stood in line. Jack had started the tradition, and it still made her happy. She wondered if the kids even remembered why they did it. Did they think of him on these mornings too?
She scooped egg mixture onto the tortillas, and Hailey and Jesse raced back to the table to roll them up.
She made a plate for herself and joined them. As soon as she sat down, they all bowed their heads. They sang, “Thank You, Jesus, for our food. Many, many blessings.”
Their faithful voices buoyed her.
Amen.
“Need some help rolling yours, Jesse?”
“No ma’am.” He gobbled from one end, eggs falling from the other.
He’d figure it out someday.
Hailey giggled but didn’t scold or correct him. “Let me know if you want help, brother.”
“You’re a good sister,” Amanda said.
Jesse shrugged, then scooped the eggs back into the tortilla with his fingers and tried again. This time he held a hand over the end and looked proud of himself when nothing fell to the plate.
They’d gone through a tricky phase for a while when poor Jesse couldn’t make a mistake without Hailey putting him down or boasting about herself. Amanda was glad they’d gotten past that.
“I can’t wait to collect shells,” Hailey said.
“Me too.” Amanda was happy about anything that didn’t require a bunch of gear to carry. “Go get changed. I’ll get some snacks ready.”
As soon as the kids were dressed and everything was packed, they paraded out of the house, with Denali at their heels.
“All present and accounted for. Let’s do this.” Once she had Denali’s leash attached to his red collar, she opened the gate and they all raced over the dune for the beach.
Maybe it was the low cloud cover this morning, but the ocean sounded so much louder today. She had a feeling it would be a brief stay the way the wind was whipping. The kids ran in circles at the shoreline, letting Denali chase them until he needed a break and ran to lie by her feet.
She got up and met them at the water with their pails. “Y’all ready to find some shells?”
They began scouring the sand. She knelt down and picked up a handful of tiny vibrant-colored shells. Most of them were broken, but a purple one caught her eye. She tucked it inside her pocket while the children quickly filled their pails with shells at every step until their buckets got heavy. When she looked up, she noticed they’d walked farther down the beach than they’d ever gone before.
“Let’s head back,” Amanda said.
Denali lay down in the sand.
“We can’t leave him,” Hailey whined.
“He’ll catch up.” At least she hoped so. There was no way she’d be able to carry him.
“Do you want to stop and go through your shells? Lighten the load by getting rid of a few?”
Jesse lugged his bucket with both hands. “Can’t. They’re treasures.”
“Let me help you with that.” She carried his pail the rest of the way to their beach towels, where the kids dropped to the sand and dumped their shells. “Do you think we need to keep all of these?”
Jesse pulled his shells closer. It was crystal clear he had no intention of letting any of his go.
“I don’t know.” Hailey scooped some shells into her hand. “Most of them looked prettier when I first found them.” She dropped a couple in the sand, then picked up one of them, a sparkle in her eye. “I already forgot I found this one.” She twisted the scallop shell in the air. “It’s like a ruffly potato chip.”
“Half of the fun is looking for them, right? If we collect all of them, there won’t be any for others to find. Maybe we should only keep a couple seashells each day. What do you think?”
Hailey’s eyes narrowed. “How many?”
“Pick out your very favorites, and then we’ll decide together.”
Hailey sorted through hers.
Jesse inched closer, pointing out the ones he liked best of hers, and then finally he moved a few broken fragments from his pile to her discards.
As the kids worked, they sip
ped on the juice boxes Amanda brought. She took the novel from her tote bag, not expecting to get through but a page or two, but as she’d been telling herself for two years, any progress is progress. And that seemed to apply in all cases.
She’d read straight through to the end of the chapter before the kids finished sorting shells.
“Should we throw the shells we’re not keeping back into the ocean?”
“That’s a great idea.”
They scooped up the discards and ran to the water’s edge, dumping them into one big pile, then raced back.
“Want to see my best shells?” Hailey asked.
“I do.” Amanda leaned over. Hailey had kept five: the big scallop shell, two twisty-looking shells, a pink one, and another that was black. “They are all pretty. I bet it was a hard decision.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“How many did you save?” she asked Jesse.
“One.” He held up a finger.
“Where is it?”
He looked around, then brushed the sand with his hand. “Oh no.” He pulled his arms up, making tight fists, and ran toward the water where they’d dumped the shells. Amanda jogged behind him. Bless his little heart.
He squatted, leaning over his knees to look through the pile. His lower lip protruded. He brushed his hand through the shells again. Amanda’s heart tugged as he searched in earnest. Finally, he lifted a shell in the air.
“This one!”
It was a pretty bluish color and twisty. “I love it.”
“Me too.” He blew her a kiss.
“All right, then. Let’s go home and eat some lunch.”
As they walked back over the dune, she looked toward Maeve’s house. Amanda was sorry Maeve hadn’t been there today to see the kids so excited about collecting shells. She had a feeling their new friend would have taken delight in it.
The three of them walked through the soft sand until Hailey stopped in the middle of the path.
“Mom, look!” Hailey dived for the large shell sitting right on top of the sand. She lifted it into the air. “It’s so heavy.”