Page 19 of Fake Dark Vows
We arrive at Shell Beach then, and I immediately know how it got its name. A small cove overlooking the sparkling ocean, it’s filled with boulders and shallow rock pools in which the shells collect when the tide is in and get left behind when the water retreats again. It’s beautiful.
The shells make the beach look pink, and I slide my phone out of my pocket to take a picture for Izzie. “For my friend’s little girl.” I crouch and run my hands through the shells, enjoying the satisfying scrunching sound beneath my fingertips. I find a tiny pink unicorn horn and tuck it inside my pocket; they were my favorite shells when I was a little girl.
Walking back to the house, I ask another question. “Do they get on, Brandon and Damon?”
Kelly takes a deep breath before she answers. “They’re competitive,” she says. “Typical brothers.” She looks at me then. “Do you have siblings?”
I swallow hard. “No. I was a twin, but my brother was stillborn.” My voice cracks. Twenty-five years, and I still haven’t learned to speak about it without my voice abandoning me.
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Kelly says. “I shouldn’t have asked.”
Before I can give her the standard response of, ‘It’s fine, no need to apologize,’ we hear a child crying from somewhere near the house.
“It’s Georgie,” Kelly says, picking up speed.
We both jog toward the sound, the cries growing louder and shriller, the closer we get. As we round a bend in the walkway and the house comes into view, Brandon comes striding towards us carrying the screaming child in his arms. He has changed out of his suit and into beige pants, neatly creased down the middle, and a blue sweater.
He isn’t smiling.
“What happened?” Kelly runs to him and takes the child, who wraps her legs around her mom’s waist like a koala bear.
“She fell off the tire swing.” Brandon’s gaze slides my way as if he might’ve known I’d be involved somehow.
“She shouldn’t have been on it alone.” Kelly strokes her daughter’s hair, and murmurs, “It’s okay, sweetie. You’ll be okay. No damage done.”
“Frankie was pushing her,” Brandon says.
“Where’s Damon?” Kelly is facing Brandon, and I can’t see her expression, but I can hear the brittleness in her tone. Perhaps her husband should’ve been watching the children.
“I’m not my brother’s keeper,” Brandon says.
“I know.” Kelly bumps the child up and down on her hip. “I’m sorry,” she says, and I bristle. Why is she apologizing to him when the guy is so abrasive to everyone around him? “Can you take Georgie back to the house while I finish showing Rose around?”
Brandon’s eyes narrow at the child, and the screams grow even louder.
Georgie clings more tightly to her mom’s neck, burying her face in Kelly’s shoulder. Blood is trickling down her shin from a graze on her left knee. “No, Mommy,” she wails. “My knee is sore.”
“She doesn’t want to come with me,” Brandon says.
“Can you show Rose to her guestroom then?” Kelly asks. His face contorts as he tries to think up a plausible excuse, and Kelly adds, “Please.”
I step closer. “May I?” I ask Kelly, unlooping Georgie’s arms from around her neck.
“N-no!” the child cries between sobs. “Want Mommy.”
“I know you want Mommy because your knee hurts,” I say, “but I have something special that will make it all better. Do you want to see it?”
Georgie rests her head on her mom’s chest and watches me, curious now that I’ve offered her a gift.
I slide the pink shell from my pocket and hold it up so that Georgie can see it. “This is a unicorn horn,” I say. “It has special, magic healing powers for sore knees. Do you want to hold it?”
The child nods and holds out a smooth pudgy hand.
I turn it over and place the shell in her palm. “How about we go inside, clean up your knee, and find a pretty pink bandaid , huh?”
She nods, transferring her arms from her mom’s neck to mine, and I settle her on my hip, the way I do with Izzie. Georgie is heavier than Izzie. She smells of sand and honey, and I smooth her hair away from her face, finding Kelly’s features beneath the blonde curls.
“Want to find Frankie and Charlie,” she says.