CHAPTER 21: Spring Break and Sea Glass
The rhythmical motion and sound of the surf was a calming energy, as potent as any chemical agent in or out of the pharmacy. Doctors could prescribe psychotropic drugs for stress and depression, but none were as effective as a stroll, or a sit on the beach, the waves lapping at bare toes, and the wind caressing the face. The attempt to package, or reproduce, the therapy of nature was evident; from bedside sound generators emulating a diverse choice like wind, rain and waves, to the cascading sound of water in hospital lobby fountains. The potent effect of the real thing drew vacationers all year round, escaping their hectic fast paced life in the work world. Dakota considered herself lucky to have lived mere blocks away from this soothing, nerve calming influence for most of her life.
Settling deeper into the folding chair, Dakota shaded her eyes against the glaring sun. With a glance down the beach, she spot checked her nieces and nephews, who were tossing, one by one, the contents of a box of snack crackers high into the air. The shrill laughs, of delight, when the large billed gulls would swoop down, snapping up this treat in midair, brought the beginnings of a smile to her lips. However, it was a spontaneous reflex that faded before ensuing. Probably, she should reprimand them, remind them of the signs discouraging what they were doing, but with that last apathetic thought, she returned her bleary stare to the horizon.
Subconsciously, she fingered the fragment of green sea glass, collected during her earlier walk through the swash. The edges once freshly broken and sharp, were now rounded and dulled by years of undulating motion against the sand and water. Similarly, the sharp edges of a broken heart were dulled by time and the events during that time. A mason jar of beach glass, gathered over the years, sat atop the dresser, in the room where she had grown from a child to an adult. A vestal of dulled heartbreaks, accumulated over a lifetime, abode deep in her soul.
Shanna jogged over, dropping her own tote bag of treasures to the sand, before plopping down in the adjacent chair. Driftwood was Shanna’s passion. Shanna's house was filled with the twisted wood, most of it fashioned into some art piece of her own creation. For years, Shanna had given it as gifts, and as a result, the entire family each had at least two of the wood creations among their knickknacks.
“So I’ve been thinking.” Shanna began, then paused to yell at the children, who had wisely stopped feeding the gulls once their mom came in sight, but were now wandering too far away in their fun. “Do you realize that he said he loved you?!”
Dakota’s gaze moved from the gnarly wood pieces, protruding from the net bag, to her sister’s face. They had always been closely attuned to each other’s problems. It was not surprising that while she, herself, had been sitting here lamenting over Evan, that Shanna had been replaying Dakota’s words as she had hunted her driftwood.
With a pinkie, Dakota hooked the strand of hair that had blown against her mouth, breathing a tremulous sigh. “Yes.” What’s more, she stewed silently, was that she indubitably felt the same, or she wouldn’t be this conflicted and miserable.
Dakota’s flight had arrived the previous afternoon, but she had not seen Shanna until this morning. As they watched the kids, who were also on Spring vacation, play their games up and down the ocean front, Dakota filled Shanna in on the other events in the previous days.
Jolee and Mark's infant son, was healthy for one who had arrived so early and worried so many. Mother and baby had been released from the hospital at the same time. Jolee, of course, was ecstatic, positively glowing as she bustled about tending to her offspring whenever he roused, even slightly, from his slumberous state. Mark had been at work on the particular afternoon that Dakota had arrived, bearing baby gifts and a late afternoon lunch. Jolee had related that both her mother and Margo were helping her some everyday, washing a couple of loads of clothes, and caring for the baby while Jolee caught a nap. Mark brought home takeout meals for the two of them each evening when he came home from work. It was a domestic situation that Dakota envied, wondering if her life would ever be so perfect when she was ready for that stage.
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With No Warning (Romance/Inspirational)(Complete)
ChickLitThe last thing she expected was to seek shelter in a freezer, with a handsome stranger, while a tornado ripped the roof from above her head. Dakota survives the twister, but in the days to come, will her heart survive the emotional twister of Evan...