Underestimated (62 page)

Chapter 23

“Amanda!” Jason yelled for my mom from the

deck. We both turned to see him waving us toward the

house.

We walked the beach and to the deck hand in hand.

“Someone must have known you were coming,”

Jason said, holding a brown wrapped package for me.

“Drew knew,” I said, taking the package. I

wondered if I should open it in front of them, but it was

small, so I figured it was safe, probably diamond earrings

or something.

I smiled when I pulled the black sea glass,

dangling from a sterling silver chain. There was one

diamond in the middle. I read his hand written note.

“This was the best day of my life. I love you.”

I know I was teary eyed. I couldn’t help it. He was

doing things that blew my mind lately which made my case

even worse. I loved him. That was the bottom line. I loved

the twisted bastard.

“Oh, my God!” Caroline squealed. “That is black.

Where did you get that?” she asked, excited.

“On the beach in Maine,” I replied, handing it to

her to see.

She looked at it wide eyed and amazed. “This

could have come all the way from Italy.”

I smiled. The girl knew her sea glass.

“Do you hunt sea glass?” she asked, excited.

“Yeah, I do. I have nine pieces now,” I told her.

“Do you want to see mine?” she asked, excited.

“I would love to,” I said, letting her take my hand

and pull me to her bedroom.

I noticed my mother and Jason’s reflection through

the glass as I was being led away. He embraced her, and

she wrapped her arms around his neck. It made me happy.

A lot of things were making me happy that day.

I noticed my suitcase on the twin size bed in

Caroline’s room. I was bunking with her. I know it sounds

stupid, but I was giddy, thinking about sleeping in the twin

size bed across from my little sister. I felt like we were

having a slumber party.

Caroline took a shoe box from the shelf in the

closet. I looked around her room while she retrieved it.

What I wouldn’t have done for a room like that when I

was her age. The walls were pink. The two twin beds had

matching pink quilts with dolphins. Her walls were

covered with pictures of sea creatures and one of Justin

Bieber. That one made me smile.

She sat on the bed beside me and explained to me

each and every piece of her sea glass. She remembered

where and when she had found each piece. She even knew

what they had probably come from.

“I still haven’t found any black though,” she said.

“I can’t believe you found black. Do you have any idea

how rare that is?” she asked.

“Yes, I do. I can’t believe I found it either.”

“Hey, do you want to go with me in the morning?

I’m getting up at six in the morning to go hunting. My dad

said I had to wait until nine because he didn’t want to get

up that early. I don’t want to wait that long. We’re going to

get a big storm later and right after a storm is the best time.

I’m afraid someone else will walk by and find it before

me.”

“I would love to get up at six and go with you,” I

smiled at her. I just loved her to death. She hugged me.

“I think I like having a big sister,” she said.

“I think I like having a little sister,” I replied. She

smiled the biggest smile ever.

Jason grilled burgers on their private deck off from

their apartment away from the other guests. Caroline was

showing me the sea glass that she wanted to find yet on her

IPad. My mom was in the kitchen making side dishes. I

asked her if she wanted help, but I think she was happy to

see Caroline and me hitting it off so well. She even sat on

my lap as her finger swiped the pages on her handheld

computer.

Jason got onto her for not cleaning her plate and

then made her get down from walking across the banister

with her hands out, balancing herself. I was amused. This

was what a real family was supposed to be like, and I

hoped to someday have a little girl just like Caroline.

“Want a play a game?” Caroline asked, joining us

back at the table.

“Let Morgan eat, Caroline,” Jason scolded.

“It’s not that kind of game dad. She can eat and

talk, can’t she?”

I laughed as I grabbed my napkin from being taken

away from the wind. I knew too that there was a storm

brewing. I could feel it.

“I can talk and eat,” I said. I wanted to do

whatever this little girl asked me to do.

“Okay, it’s called the nosey game,” she started to

explain.

“No, Caroline,” her dad insisted. I took it that he

knew exactly what game she wanted to play.

“She can say, Nosey Rosy if she wants to,” she

exclaimed.

“It’s fine,” I assured him. He shook his head.

“Okay. So I ask you a question and you have to

answer. If you don’t want to answer you just say Nosey

Rosy, but I get to pinch your cheeks,” she explained.

“Caroline is an expert at making up games to figure

people out,” my mom said. I didn’t mind. I thought it was

cute.

“You can go first,” she said, ignoring our mother.

“What grade are you in?” I asked.

“I’m going to be in second when school starts.

What is your favorite color?” she asked.

“Pink. What is your favorite subject?” I saw her

eyes light up when I said pink. I was sure that it was her

favorite color too.

“I hate school, my favorite subject is art. What’s

your middle name?”

“Joyce, after my grandmother.”

Her mouth plopped open. “Mine too, were we

named after the same grandma, mom?” She asked, turning

to our mother.

“Yes. You were both named after the same sweet

lady,” she smiled.

“Do you have a boyfriend?” she asked.

“I have a husband,” I wasn’t about to tell her that I

had both. “Do you have a boyfriend?” I countered.

“Nosey Rosy,” she giggled. We all laughed, and I

pinched her cheeks.

We played the game until Jason said that was

enough. The wind was really starting to get strong, and we

needed to get things carried into the house.

We ate pie and had coffee later on with the guests

in the dining room. The wind was howling, and we could

hear the thunder in a distance. It wasn’t even close to

being time for it to be dark yet, but the storm made it look

as if it was ten o’clock at night.

“This is going to be a good one,” Caroline said,

standing in front of the glass doors.

“Get away from the glass, Caroline,” Jason

demanded.

She was like me. She couldn’t stop staring out at

the wicked weather. The lighting looked like it would

strike the house at any second. The waves were massive,

coming from an angry sea. The wind whipped through the

house like it was trying to carry it off, and the thunder set

it all in stone. About ten minutes later the lights flickered

and then went out. I was a little scared. Caroline on the

other hand was excited. I assumed she had been through

many storms, living that close to the ocean.

“I’ll get the generator going,” Jason said, excusing

himself.

My mom ushered us all into the sitting area, and

we played charades with the guests by the dim lit

generator lights. I laughed so hard at Caroline. She was

quite the little ham and wasn’t shy a bit.

The storm had quieted down, and everyone

retreated to their rooms. Caroline had her own bathroom,

and we both grabbed very quick showers in the dark. The

lights still hadn’t come on when Caroline and I crawled

into our beds.

My mom came in as soon as we were in bed. “Are

we reading tonight?” she asked.

“Oh, yeah,” Caroline said, grabbing the hardback

book from the nightstand between us. “Can we start over,

so Morgan knows what’s going on?” she asked.

“I guess since we are only on chapter three.”

“Okay,” she said, sitting up and crossing her legs

Indian style. “We have to read three chapters, so Morgan

can read too.”

My mom smiled and rubbed her back. “Okay,” she

agreed. Caroline leaned into my mom’s chest and began to

read. I’m not even sure what she was reading. I was too

busy reading into what I was witnessing. I didn’t

remember my mother ever reading a book to me or my

brother.

“Tran, tranq, tranquitity,” Caroline paused, trying

to sound out a word.

“Tranquility,” my mom, said helping her out.

“What’s that mean?” she asked, looking up to her.

“It means quiet, calmness, stillness,” she

answered.

“Oh, like peace. That makes sense,” she decided

and got back to her reading.

I loved the affectionate look in my mother’s eyes

as she stared at me. She really was happy that I was there.

She read the next chapter and then I read the next. I had

actually started getting into the book when my chapter was

over. It was about a ten year old boy and an eight year old

girl, lost on an island.

Caroline and I both lay down, and my mom tucked

her and kissed her on the head.

“I love you,” she said.

“Love you too, mom.”

I wasn’t sure how to react to my mother’s affection

when she did the same thing to me. She pulled my quilt up

and kissed me on the head just like she had Caroline. She

brushed my hair from my forehead and kissed me too.

“I love you, Morgan, and I am so glad that you are

here.”

“Me too,” I said. I couldn’t make myself tell her

that I loved her too. I could only remember her saying it

once in my life, and that was when she left me. I wasn’t

ready to say that just yet.

I woke to Caroline shaking me in the morning.

“Morgan, come on. It’s day light,” she said, trying

to coax me out of bed.

I opened my eyes and realized where I was. I

stumbled to the bathroom, brushed my teeth, pulled on a

pair of shorts, and a tank top. She wasn’t lying. It was

daylight… barely. I slipped on my flip-flops and followed

her out.

We walked way down the beach, at least a mile

and a half. She wanted to start as far south as we could go

and then slowly make our way back. We searched the

many piles of pebbles, rocks and shells washed up from

the previous night’s storm. I found a piece right away. It

was the most common, Kelly green, but it was still a nice

piece. We were moving like a couple of snails, searching

for our treasures. I still couldn’t see the house, and I

wanted coffee. Little Ms. Caroline on the other hand was

engrossed and wasn’t about to pick up her dawdling pace.

She was on a mission.

We were almost back to the house by the time

Caroline finally found a piece. I was so hoping that she

did. She looked so bummed because she hadn’t found

anything. She found a rather rare piece. It was lime green,

and I listened to her explain to me that it was probably

from a soda bottle from the sixties. I already knew what

she was telling me, but didn’t dare put a damper on her

enthusiasm.

Our mother was getting worried by the time we

finally made it back to the house four hours later. I felt

tired, and could have used a nap. She poured me a cup of

coffee and had to make Caroline sit down long enough to

eat something. One of the guests was surfing and wanted

her to come. She didn’t want to eat. She wanted to go play.

She scarfed down the egg sandwich and was off.

Jason kissed my mom and left too. She explained

that he always stayed near by without her knowing when

she ran off to surf. He worried about her being in the

hands of strangers, she explained with a smile.

***

My ten minute visit to tell my mother what I had

thought about her leaving her kids to go create a better life

for herself had turned into six weeks. I didn’t want to

leave. I liked bunking with Caroline, and we had started

the second book in the Lost, series. I still had not heard

one word from Drew or Dawson. I liked being there,

pretending that I was a little girl in a real family. I knew

that I couldn’t continue the charade for much longer,

although I was sure that my mother and Caroline would

have loved for me to do just that. I had to get back to life.

My life. Whatever that was.

It was looking like I would be finding a place to