Chapter 32
When Tara had been Amanda’s age, the thought of an all-girl orgy after a night spent trolling the seedy underside of Wildwood’s nightlife might have been appealing, but now it turned her stomach. What had happened to her idea of reliving her childhood through evenings spent on the boardwalk and days at the beach? When had such innocent fun stopped being enough?
Between her aunt trying to set her up on a blind date and Amanda planning a bar tour of the island, Tara regretted staying with her relatives. As much as she’d been counting the days until she arrived in Wildwood, now she was ready to begin counting the days until she could leave. How bad was that?
* * * *
When Tara woke the next morning, she spent several long minutes in bed savoring the knowledge that there was nothing she had to do and nowhere she had to be. She was officially on vacation. Finally
The house was quiet around her, both Amanda and Marlene already gone to their own respective jobs, leaving her alone for the time being. It felt wonderful to have nothing planned and all the time in the world to get it done. Tara felt like a kid again, waking up late on a summer day, the whole world waiting for her outside.
Only it wasn’t all that late—when she checked her phone, she was disappointed to realize that she hadn’t slept in all that long after all. It was barely eight thirty, nowhere near noon like she had hoped. Still, at least she’d woken on her own, and not to the blare of her alarm clock.
For breakfast, she enjoyed a bagel slathered with cream cheese, which she ate out on back porch without bothering to get dressed first. But if she’d hoped to catch any sea breezes blowing in off the beach, she was sorely disappointed. The privacy fence not only deadened noise from the street and surrounding yards, but also blocked out any air coming in off the shore. Even though it was early in the morning, the sun already slanted into the yard, beating down on the porch and reflecting off the pool at a bad angle, throwing harsh light like broken glass right into Tara’s face.
Soon it grew too uncomfortable to sit outside—with no air circulating at all, it was almost as stifling as the humid heat she thought she’d left behind in Virginia. This wasn’t what she remembered her summers being like on the boardwalk.
It’s getting hotter as I grow older, she thought, going back inside where it was air conditioned and cool. That, or I’m going through the change of life sooner than I expected. Damn, all I did was sit out there for a few minutes and I already worked up a sweat.
Maybe things would be better down the shore with the breeze coming in off the water. She could get in some sightseeing, do the whole tourist thing and check out the knickknack shops her aunt and cousin would never be caught dead at, buy a few souvenirs while she still had money to burn. Grab something unhealthy for lunch—a slice of pizza on the boardwalk, or some fries slathered in seasoned salt, or a funnel cake, and top it off with an Italian ice on the beach. The rides probably wouldn’t be open until later in the day, but she could walk around the piers, see how everything had changed in the last twenty years, enjoy herself a bit.
Until I have to come back here and play nice tonight,she reminded herself. Thoughts of Amanda’s impending bachelorette party washed over her, leaving a sour taste in her mouth. As much as she wanted to skip it, though, she knew she wouldn’t. The wedding was sort of her whole reason for coming to Wildwood in the first place, so how would it look to blow it off now? Any part of it.
“I’ll be the designated driver, at least,” Tara said out loud, as if that might somehow make things better.
And if Amanda had the bad taste to hand out her “party favors” at the bar? Tara swore she wouldn’t dareopen hers. God, not in public!
* * * *
The boardwalk was a short, three-block walk from the house, but the heat only seemed to swell in intensity with each step Tara took. By the time she reached the ramp leading up onto the boards, her nape was sheathed in sweat, her hair and shirt stuck to her body, and she couldn’t wait to get into the first shop she found, no matter what they were selling, if only to get out of the sun. And Amanda actually liked to lay out in it for hours? Why?
As soon as Tara stepped onto the boardwalk, it was like stepping back in time. The shops and rides might have changed, but the feeling was the same, and for a moment, it took her breath away. She blinked back sudden tears and tamped down a nostalgic smile. There was a faint breeze coming in off the beach—it was faint, but there, and it lifted the hair off her brow, cooling her a bit. It brought back memories so sharp, they stung.