The Beach House by Georgia Bockoven

Author:Georgia Bockoven
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Romance
ISBN: 9780062300423
Publisher: HarperTorch
Published: 1997-07-04T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 5

The five of them arrived at the pier early, armed with blankets, books, and games for Jason and Susie, a folding chaise longue for Maggie, and chairs for Joe and Eric. Sea lions barked in the background as if setting up their protest early to be sure their feelings about the intrusion were heard while Eric kept an eye on the fog bank sitting offshore.

Stuffed from fresh peach ice cream and a variety of picnic excesses, they were content to sit the two hours and wait for the show to begin. After several minutes of polite but pointed encouragement, Joe sprawled out on the blanket, Susie on one side, Jason on the other, and began reading aloud the books Susie had brought with her.

As others drifted in to fill the spaces around them, Eric and Maggie watched the sun lazily make its way to the fog-pillowed horizon.

“How are you doing?” Eric asked, his voice low so that only she could hear.

Maggie studied him for several seconds before answering. “You know, don’t you?”

“Joe confirmed what I’d already figured out the night we had pizza.”

She nodded. “I’m a little tired,” she admitted. “But I wouldn’t trade one minute of being here for a truckload of energy.”

“You know, you really should try to pace yourself.”

Her only answer was to look at him.

“I’m sorry. That was a pretty stupid thing to say.”

“Did you say things like that to your patients when they knew they were dying?”

“I may have. I honestly don’t know. One of the reasons I quit was that I saw myself turning into the kind of doctor I swore I’d never be.”

“My aunt once told me that even death has a beginning, that it’s simply another of life’s journeys. I think about that whenever I begin to feel weighed down by everything that’s happening.”

“I like that. Would you mind if I use it?”

“In what way?”

“There’s a scene I’m working on in the book that could use a philosophical touch.”

“My aunt would be most pleased.” Maggie smiled. “And so am I.”

Eric reached his arms up over his head to stretch, stuck his legs out in front of him, and crossed them at the ankles. “Julia said you and Joe have been coming to this area for a long time.”

“We spent our honeymoon in Santa Cruz and have been back every year since. Sixty-five of them, all told.”

“I understand you used to own Julia’s house.”

“Bought it over fifty years ago, right after the doctor told us we wouldn’t be needing to add any more bedrooms to our house in San Jose. Then Joe had his stroke just after he retired and we sold the place to Ken. He made the deal contingent on our staying here during the summer—said he was afraid to let the house stand empty all those months.” She smiled at the memory. “Of course, the way he made it sound, we were the ones doing him the favor. We didn’t take the whole three months. Joe found renters for June and August, good solid people he was sure would take care of the place.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.