She's Gotta Have It by Niqui Stanhope

Author:Niqui Stanhope
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group

Chapter Sixteen

Camille cut through the living room and headed straight for the front door. She sat on the stairs for a bit to adjust the lace of a sneaker, then stood, dusted the back of her shorts, and trotted down the stairs. She was severely tempted to take a quick walk through the orchard, but after a moment’s thought she decided against it. She had plenty of time to look around. Maybe one afternoon she would take a book out there and just sit and read.

She walked in the direction of the ocean, enjoying the rustling pull of the wind. If it were completely up to her, she would live by the sea for the rest of her life. She had had her fill of the city, the parties, the socials, the bars. She just really wanted a nice quiet life. A life with children and family and good friends. She wanted to be able to wake up every day and know that, yes, this was where she lived. This was where she belonged.

Camille skipped down the stone stairs to the beach, stopped to pick up a small orange-pink shell, inspected its soft white underbelly, and then tossed it away again.

She walked on with head slightly bent, hands jammed into her pockets. Of course being able to afford a massage and a half a dozen other such luxuries every now and again wouldn’t hurt, either. But being able to walk on the beach every morning and go to sleep with the crash of waves every night was really, if she looked beyond everything else, what she wanted. No, needed.

A playful wave rushed out toward her, and she felt the urge to chase it. Once when she was about eight, maybe ten years old, her mother had taken her out to Rehoboth Beach in Delaware. It was one of her best-remembered memories of childhood. And one of the few days off her poor old mother had had.

Camille frowned at the sand. Working that way, day in, day out, until your body finally said “enough.” That wasn’t what life was all about. Surely human beings weren’t put on this earth in order to work themselves into early graves?

Tears filled her eyes, and she wiped a hand across her face and sniffled. Her mother had done her best, though. She had worked that way so that her only daughter could have a better life. A much better life.

Camille looked out at the horizon at a passing cruise ship. It seemed huge and majestic, even at this distance. She sighed. If only her mother could have lived longer, she could have gone on cruises, too. But that was all history now. And what had already passed couldn’t be changed.

Camille wiped the round of her nose, sniffled again, and continued up the sand. When she was eighteen years old, her mother had said to her, “Cam, I want you to do much better than I’ve done. Promise me that. Promise me you will.” And she

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