Damaged Memories

Part 6

When Grace hung up the phone she breathed out heavily, like a balloon deflating slowly, flopping back onto her pillow and staring up at the ceiling as she felt the guilt consuming her. She'd just accepted an offer too good to refuse on her house in Devonport, so within weeks the place that she and Michael had called home-sweet-home for seven years would no longer be hers.

The cosy three bedroom cedar cottage was nestled amongst towering gum trees on three acres of bushland and had been their oasis from the outside world. When Michael hadn't been working at the hospital or studying, they'd potter in the sprawling gardens, play bocce on the back lawn and steal kisses on the wooden swing on the patio that looked out to the rear of the property. Inside, the cottage had oak floors and timber walls, a common characteristic of homes built in the 1960's, while hanging lights dangled from the high peaked, exposed beamed ceilings and an antique wood fire sat in the corner of the lounge, warming the cottage each harsh winter. Grace had converted the third bedroom into her office where her solid oak desk sat underneath the window and overlooked the back lawn, often finding herself deep in daydreams about Los Angeles, thousands of miles away. Working from home as a freelance writer had its perks, but when Michael was outside pottering in the garden or lifting weights in the shed, she'd found it hard to concentrate, many hours wasted away as she was distracted by his athletic physique or dreaming of a better life for them both in Los Angeles.

Grace rubbed her eyes and sat up feeling completely unsure. Had she made the right decision to sell the property so soon? And would Michael approve of her decision to sell? She honestly didn't know, so she went in search of some sisterly advice, hoping that Emma would be able to alleviate some of the confusion she was suffocating under.

She found Emma hard at work in her studio. Every inch of the walls were covered with sketches of clothes and her desk sat at one end of the room, drowning in patterns, fabric and books while six headless, child-sized mannequins were dotted around the room, each with a prototype pinned to it, waiting to be sewn. Grace watched her sister quietly from the doorway as she sketched on her pad, the gentle pencil strokes eventually forming a picture of a little girl's polka dot summer dress.

"Looks gorgeous," Grace said when she entered the room, startling her sister.

"Oh hey!" she said, a smile spreading across her face. "Do you think so? I'm not quite sure about the neckline." She glanced back to the sketch and tilted her head to the side, studying it intensely as Grace took a seat on a stool across the desk, resting her chin in her hand.

"No, I like it that way. It's a bit different to most of your other designs."

Emma glanced up and nodded before she pulled her hair back into a ponytail then twisted it into a bun, using the pencil to secure it in place. "Thanks. Everything ok? You look a little....off."

Grace laughed. "You know me too well. Do you have time to head down to the beach for a walk?"

Emma straightened on her stool, her expression rife with concern. "What's wrong? Is it Charlie? I'm gonna kill him –"

"No!" Grace interrupted. "No, I've just had some news and I need your sisterly assurance that I'm doing the right thing."

Emma's shoulders relaxed again before she stood up and walked around the desk. "Perfect timing, I need a break anyway," she said as she took Grace's hand, hauling her off the stool and leading her out of the studio.

The beach was a short five minute walk from the apartment and it was unusually quiet, despite it being almost ninety degrees outside. The palms that reached up to the heavens and lined the pathway swayed gently in the late afternoon breeze and the ocean was calm, not ideal for the few surfers who were waiting patiently for that swell that was probably never going to eventuate. There was the odd person riding their bike along the boardwalk and a few more walking briskly, sweating profusely whilst trying to shed those persistent kilos.