Sail Away by Ashley Farley

Author:Ashley Farley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ashley Farley

SEVENTEEN

As June wears on, Becca and Hannah establish a habit of walking every morning on the beach. Hannah pays Happy a nominal sum to keep an eye on Gus. The arrangement suits everyone. Happy feels like a big kid with her first babysitting job, and Gus is thrilled to have her dote on him.

Becca is content to let Hannah do most of the talking. She has much to say about the wedding, and Becca enjoys hearing about the pending festivities. Everything is coming together ahead of the big day. The invitations have gone out. The menus are set. The bluegrass band is booked.

An easy friendship develops between them. Becca can tell Hannah suspects something amiss, but she never pries into Becca’s life. The close proximity of Hannah living next door gives Becca peace of mind.

Happy, too, makes new friends with some of the local girls. They travel in a pack, roaming back and forth between their houses. Whenever they’re at the cottage, Becca observes them closely. Celeste is their unspoken leader. Her sassy, sometimes rude, behavior rubs Becca the wrong way. The other three girls—Becca can never remember their names—have nice manners with more pleasant demeanors. Happy is not in their league. These girls come from wealthy families. Their parents give them more freedom than Becca allows her daughter, and before long, Happy begins pushing back on the rules. While the friction exhausts Becca, she doesn’t give in to her daughter. She will parent Happy as long as she can. Happy begins spending less time at the cottage and more time at her friends’ houses. Happy claims it’s because they all have pools. But Becca was young once. She knows her daughter is trying to escape her mother.

Happy’s absence leaves Becca with too much time on her hands. Her video diary is nearly complete. Which is a good thing since the storage on her laptop is reaching capacity. Whereas Becca once spent hours at a time reading novels, she can no longer focus on more than a few pages at a time. Mostly she sits on her porch, staring out at the ocean. She senses her time is running out. After the Fourth of July, she’ll proceed with her plan.

On Monday during the last week of June, Becca and Hannah return from their walk on the beach to find Amelia nestled between the children on the sofa, watching cartoons and eating Fruit Loops out of the box.

Amelia jumps up to give them a hug. “This is an unexpected surprise,” Hannah says.

“I probably should’ve called first. But I wanted to give you these.” Amelia hands envelopes to Becca and Hannah. “Jonathan and I are having a Fourth of July party. I hope y’all can come.”

“Are Gus and I invited?” Happy asks.

Amelia says, “Of course.”

“Are you having fireworks?” Happy asks.

Amelia says, “Yes! And hamburgers for dinner.”

Hannah smiles at Amelia. “The party sounds like fun. Count us in.”

“What about us, Mommy? Can we go?” Happy asks.

Becca has no interest in attending a party. But she can’t think of a legitimate reason to decline the invitation.

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