Dark Beach (3 page)

“That’s adorable,” she said to herself, and then called out, “Ro
n?”

A gust of wind curled around the corner.

“Brrr!” With one hand, Jenny pulled up the hood of her grey sweatshirt, whipped the zipper up, and tried to snuggle Kip onto her chest a little more. The child stirred, waking.

“There you are.” Ron padded along the deck to stand beside her. “I’ve tried every door, every window, the garage doors. I’ve looked under any places a spare key might be hidden. Nothing. Nada!”

“So we go home?” Jenny asked bleakly.

“No! Are you kidding? We break in. It’s going to be our place anyways.”

“What do you mean?” Jenny peered in through the porthole-sized window near the door again.

“My mother doesn’t want it.”

“Rachel doesn’t want it?”

“No. Nana Gerry is leaving it to Mom in the will, but she’s very old now.

She’s in a nursing home. It’s fully paid for, except for property taxes. I suppose the taxes could be a lot, since it’s on the coast. I’m not sure.”

“Just like that, no strings attached?” Jenny quirked up one eyebrow.

“Not exactly.”

“See! I knew it. Nothing is simple with your mother.”

“Hey, come on now. She has offered to sell it to me, to us, at way below market value.”

“We still can’t afford it. Do you know how much these beach houses cost?” Jenny said, as Kip moaned and wriggled to be let down. Sliding the child down her body, Jenny folded her arms in front of her.

Ron moved closer and hugged her. “What I haven’t told you is … I’m getting a big raise! A very big promotion.”

“You are?” She couldn’t keep the strain of uncertainty from her voice.

“I was going to tell you later; you know, a special moment ... some wine, aperitifs, lobster,” he whispered through her hair, his breath warm on her throat just below her ear lobe.

“You…” Jenny
squeezed him tight and lifted her face to kiss him.

He held her chin there, letting her lips go slowly, gazing down at her until she pulled back and exhaled.

“There’s a catch,” he said.

“What?”

“More travel.”

Letting go of their rare embrace, she turned and ran—back down the stairs, the devoted dog scurrying behind her.

“Jenny...?” Already she could hear Ron coming after her.

She fled to the back of the SUV, leaning against it, facing the sea and rubbing her belly for comfort. “There’s already too much travel,” she said despondently when he caught her up there, leading Kip along after him. He tried to move in close again.

Backed up against the dusty car, she turned her face away.

“Honey, the money is too good,” he said. “I couldn’t decline. Plus, I will get bigger bonuses—every quarter. I’ll have more clients, more responsibility, more control. I will have the final decision. It’s what I’ve been working towards, you know that. Can’t you understand?”

“I know. You remind me all the time. It’s all I hear.” She faced him shaking her head. “I just wish there wasn’t so much travel. I’m tired of it. Every two weeks you pack, you unpack. Time flies when you’re home—it’s great, we’re happy. But you go and time slows down for me. My days are long, my nights, lonely. I know we talk, but...”

“You could come with
. You and Kip.”

“I couldn’t do that.”

“Yes, you could. We’ll be able to afford it. Some trips I’ll be gone a few weeks at a time. We could go out in the evenings, explore, see the sights on the weekends, and go other places. I’ll have a rental car at my disposal, in fact a very nice rental car.”

“Really?”

“Do you like convertibles?”

Jenny’s face brightened. “No way.”

“Yes way. You know you could do it. You’d enjoy it.” Ron tilted his blond head, his hair already mussed by the salty wind. “It’ll be an adventure. Come on?”

“I wouldn’t want to impose on your work schedule.”

“You wouldn’t. Some nights I’ll have to work late, or take clients out to dinner, but you can be my arm candy.”

Her face lit up. Finally, she gave him the big smile he had been waiting for the entire trip out to the beach—the smile she used to wear every day when he came home from work. The smile she wore when they got married. It had been hiding too much lately.

“Come on, let’s go inside.”

Ron slipped his arm around his slim wife.

“Did you forget?” she laughed.

“Oh yeah—no key. Time to break in.”

* * *

Hundreds of sparkling slivers of glass soon punctuated the classic wooden floor.

“Our new home away from home!” Ron proclaimed. “Well, not quite yet. Our wannabe broken-into home away from home.” He cautiously stretched one arm in through the broken window, trying to avoid the jagged shards still stuck in the pane. At first, he couldn’t reach the deadbolt.

“Careful, honey.” One hand over her eyes, the other clutching Kip’s hand, Jenny couldn’t help but peek a little through the gaps between her fingers.

“Ouch!”

“Ron.” She pressed her
fingers more firmly over her face, not looking at all now.

“There we go.” There was a stiff click. “I got it. Scrape free.”

Excited, Ron pulled at the door, only to have it open a crack and slam shut. “Oh hell! Catch chain. What?” Puzzled, he stood back. “Seems whoever was here last left through the garage, and I have no garage door opener. Is this overly complicated, or is it me?” He kicked the door as hard as he could; it thundered back angrily. “Fine.” Ron said smashing the window. The catch was unreachable so he finally kicked in the door.

“Mamma.”

“There, there.” Jenny calmed Kip. “It’s just Daddy, making a mess. Come on now.” Jenny picked her daughter up and carried her through the wreck-of-a-front door.

Glass crackled under
her blue canvas shoes. “Honey, can you clean this up? We could get cut, Jes—”

“Yeah.” His voice carried from somewhere above.

Jenny glanced back to the door: wood ripped apart, brass hardware hanging, the chain still intact. “Our new home.” She sighed. “We’re off to a bad start.”

“Mamma, snack.”

“Soon,” she soothed. “We have to unpack first. Let’s go look about, come.” She led Kip around the first floor. The kitchen had dark blue accents and opened into a dining room and a small living room with a back patio. Everything was blue or white. White curtains, blue sofa, white lamps, blue ornaments. It was quaint, but there was an odd smell Jenny couldn’t quite place. “Ron, where are you?” At the very end of the room, she turned a corner to find a set of dark-blue, carpeted steps.

“Just come up. Hurry! You’re missing it.”

The second floor Jenny only glanced at—a family type room and some smaller bedrooms. On the third floor was a luxurious master bedroom with a hot tub en suite and a perfect view of the ocean. “You here?”

“Keep going, honey.”

Trekking up to the fourth level was slow. Pregnancy made her more puffed than usual as she climbed the white-paneled staircase. The occasional family photograph created a friendly feel. Near the top, she noticed a black-and-white photograph of a young woman standing on the end of the jetty, her back to the photographer. It gave her a chill: so isolated, so forlorn.

“You made it, finally! Come see. Look.” Ron pointed. “Isn’t it beautiful?”

They stood abreast before the large window that spanned ceiling to floor, wall to wall, in a hexagonal shape. Beyond, the ocean was grey, ragged in the wind. Waves crashed boundlessly upon the ashen sands. From off the sea, a storm was raging towards them, pressing against the glass, the wind echoing through the room.

“Wow.” It was depressingly beautiful. Jenny felt the dynamism, the force of the water, the flimsy shelter of the beach.
Rocky Shores
, she thought. She looked left, all the way down the beach to where the black jetty jutted into the waves like a long, crooked finger.

“Did the rain just start?” she asked.

“Yeah, suddenly. As if it knew we’d be up here to see it.”

“There goes our romantic walk.”

“It’ll calm down. It does this.”

Jenny just watched in overwhelmed silence
, her family by her side.

* * *

“Are we done?”

“That’s the last of the suitcases.” Ron washed his hands under the kitchen tap.

“I finished unloading the cooler. We have enough food for a few days, but then I’ll have to go into town. What would you like tonight?” Jenny opened the fridge and scanned the shelves. “Frozen sausage and pepperoni pizza, or frozen lasagna?”

“Hmmm
. How about pizza? That’s quicker.”

“I was in the mood for that, too. I don’t know what it is about frozen pizza—totally disgusting, but great at the same time.”

“I know. I could eat a whole one. In fact, I’ve eaten two myself before.”

Jenny pulled the pizza from the cardboard box, cut the plastic wrap off, and put it on a cookie sheet.

“In college; I was drunk,” Ron continued. “It was the Super Bowl. I got a little carried away. Couldn’t go for days after it.”

“Ah!” Jenny giggled. “That’s
horrible.”

The pizza went down well. Kip ate her chicken nuggets—her main food group—and Charlie scampering under the oak table, snapped up however many Kip tossed to him.

“Nice.” Ron jumped up and opened the blinds to the patio. “The sun is out; I can see it through the clouds. I told you it would come.”

“You do know this place, don’t you?” Jenny smiled.

“I do. We used to come here often. Lived here awhile too. I have so many memories. Like this patio, the barbecues, the s’mores—sticky melted chocolate, mmm. Then the long grass: my legs would get scratched up from running through it as a teen, but I didn’t care. It was all about getting down to the beach as fast as possible. My sister would walk through it so slowly—hated it. She had allergies, still does. Then, once I got to the beach, the water. Didn’t matter how cold it was. It’s always cold. God, it was good.” Ron leaned up against the wall, casting his mind back.

“Yet your mother hates this place?”

“Yes. I never knew why, never asked her. Maybe I didn’t care. I remember being mad that we had to go. Something happened. I don’t know really. One day that was it: we packed, we left. Never came back. This is my first time back in years.”

“I wonder…” Jenny didn’t pry.

“Are you finished? I have to go down there.”

The grass was dirty yellow, tall, waist high and bisected by a narrow path so overgrown that Ron had to cut through the vegetation with a rusted machete he’d found in the garage. Jenny jumped with each whack.
What was it with that sound?
It made her feel anxious, tense. Sweat beaded her brow as she followed—ever the good wife.

Charlie weaved in between
them; his tail wagging faster and faster, as if he knew something exciting was coming. They reached the edge of the sandy dune to find a four-foot drop to the beach. Ron jumped. Charlie followed. Jenny took Ron’s offered hand down, helping Kip last.

“We’re on the beach!” Jenny pointed.

Kip repeated the phrase, the wind catching at her small voice and whipping the words away as she ran ahead, her arms outstretched.

The weather had improved, although it was still mostly cloudy and very cold. Jenny pulled her hood back up and stopped to watch
Kip and Ron greet the ocean. She didn’t want to venture closer; she knew what was in it. Instead, she shook the red plaid blanket out on the sand, lay back, and sucked in the fresh air.

After a while, her nerves settled. All the fire went out of her; all that remained was a little smoke. “Ah…” She breathed that out too, releasing any angst.

Time passed. Jenny felt cozy there on the blanket, and a little sleepy, but, not wanting to nod off, she made herself wake up. The camera hadn’t been used in ages. She switched it on, browsing the last photos, which had not yet been downloaded, and added some shots of the grey distance. Standing, she zoomed in on Ron and Kip, knee deep in waves.

“Did you catch it?”

Jenny lowered the camera. “Excuse me?”

“Did you catch it?” An older couple, dressed in raincoats, stood before her and pointed to the ocean. “The whale.”

“What?”

“It’s out there; you can see it spouting up water. We think we saw its tail, but the water is so dark it’s hard to tell.”

“Oh right, yeah…” Jenny nodded, her anxiety rising again.

The couple stared at her a minute, bemused, and then nodded and continued on their way.

Jenny closed her eyes, blinking back the fear that crept over her like the sand invading her blanket. She just as quickly groaned and opened her eyes again, not wanting to see it there in her mind’s eye: that black body, those razor-sharp teeth. Gazing out at the ocean, she saw a huge black shape surface. Just as quickly, it was gone.