Chapter 28
Though she knew it wouldn’t happen, she couldn’t help but pray the drawbridge would open as she crossed. It didn’t, of course, and in moments she was driving onto the island. While nothing specifically looked familiar, the overall feel of the place was like coming home. Its essence was unchanged—this was summer, pure and simple, undistilled. The boardwalk ran the length of Wildwood, stretching out in front of her like a promise, and above the houses and trees and streets, the Ferris wheel rose to oversee its domain. As she drove, it peeked out at her from between the homes and trees, teasing her, a giant eye winking playfully.
Come on down, it seemed to say. You know you want to. Stroll the boards tonight. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? The wedding’s a front. You want the sand and the sea, and a chance to relive your childhood, don’t you? The night’s still young. Come on down and check out what you’ve been missing all these years.
Tara glanced at the clock on her car’s dashboard. It was barely seven; the summer sun was only now beginning to set. It wasstill early, and now that the end of her destination was in sight, she was getting her second wind.
So who knew? Maybe she would get a chance to check out the boardwalk on her first night back in town after all.
* * * *
When Tara was younger, her Uncle Johnny had a place on East 25thAvenue—technically in North Wildwood, a short, three-block walk from the boardwalk and beach. But Aunt Marlene had moved at some point after Johnny’s heart attack, and now lived in the city proper. She had given Tara the address over the phone because it wasn’t included on Amanda’s evite—further proof Amanda didn’t intend for anyone to actually cometo the wedding, Tara thought; her cousin wanted gifts and money and nothing else.
It wasn’t until Tara had typed the address into Google to search for directions that she realized she may have misheard her aunt. She thought Marlene had said East Spicer Avenue, but before the map even loaded, she was asked, Did you mean East Spencer Avenue?
Her heart had skipped a beat. She didn’t know. Did she?
Looking at the map itself didn’t help. Spicer and Spencer ran side by side, and they had the same street numbers, too. Tara meant to call Marlene back to ask, but in the last minute rush to get everything done before leaving, she simply forgot. Now she drove down Ocean Avenue, looking at street signs and wondering if she should turn onto Spencer, which came up first, or drive one block farther to try her luck at Spicer.
Seriously, who put two streets with names sounding so much alike so close together? It was as if someone wantedto confuse out of town drivers!
At the last minute, she took a left onto Spencer and ignored the driver behind her when he laid on his car horn. “Look at my license plate, fucker,” she muttered under her breath. “I’m not from around here, so I’m obviously lost.”
Fortunately the streets were laid out in a fairly easy to follow grid pattern, and there only a few blocks were considered “east.” Once she hit New Jersey Avenue, all the streets switched over to their “west” counterparts, and the house numbers restarted. But that would be a large intersection with traffic lights and lots of cars, so she’d know when she went too far. Before then, she could cruise down the residential streets and look for the house number, check it out, see if it looked familiar somehow—maybe she’d recognize it from Amanda’s Instagram feed, who knew? If not, she’d circle around onto Spicer and try her luck there.
Tara’s car was the only one moving on the road, though she saw plenty of people walking on the either side of the street, scantily clad in cut-offs or breezy little dresses. Many of the men wore no shirts, and quite a few of the women had on nothing but bikini tops and shorts, too. Tara wasn’t sure what the weather was like—she still had her car’s air conditioning running full force, not quite ready to concede that little luxury yet.
But everyone she passed looked so comfortable, so beautiful and perfect, so summery. Wasn’t that part of the reason she was here?
As she reached to turn off the A/C, she caught sight of Marlene’s house numbers on a large mailbox sitting on the curb. “Bingo!” she cried.