Page 4 of Return to Cheshire Bay
Had I thoughtit through, I would’ve rested in a way that didn’t speak volumesand announced my condition.
Eric’seyes sailed overmy bodyand focused, like everyone else had since my return, on my slightlyprotruding bump.
Ifluffed my shirt and sighed. There was no point in hiding it, hewas going to notice it soon enough and in a small town everyoneseemed to know everyone else’sbusiness, like it or not. Perhaps, if I came clean first,it would put to rest the rumours that eventually rose from themistruths. Even if my reasons for moving here hadn’t yet becomeclear to me, there was no point in withholding thefacts.
“Yep,I’m pregnant. DueSeptember fourteenth to be exact.” I gave the bump a rub. “Mytwenty-two-year-old man-child of a boyfriend said he wasn’t readyto be a father, and after emptying his drawer in my apartment, he’sout of the picture. Dad had a heart attack just before Easter, butthe damage was too much, and he passed away a couple of months ago.Then there’s my lovely sister who refuses to talk to me becauseshe’s the oldest and she was supposed to have kids first. Herraging jealousy hit epic levels because I gotknocked up,and she’s been trying for six years tohave children.”
Despitethe silent staring andslack jaw look, I remained on my mission of airing my dirty laundryand let the words continue to spew.
“Oh,right.To add insult toinjury, the company I worked for was just bought out by a hugeAsian firm, so I received a nice little buyout package, but I’meffectively jobless. Thankfully, the Wi-Fi here isn’t atrocious,and I can build my own company to help cover the bills while Ifigure out what the hell I’m doing.” I dropped my hands to the sideand breathed out. Relief wasn’t even the right word to express theemotions that fell like a waterfall. It was refreshing to spill itall. “Imagine my surprise. I’m thirty years old and starting mylife over, and it’s not quite how I planned. Not evenclose.”
Ericpulled out a kitchen stool and satwith a thump. “That was a lot of information inthirty seconds.” He wiped a hand across his forehead.
“Can Iget you something to drink?” Without waiting for ananswer, I filled a glasswith water and handed it to him.
Hegulped it all down. To his credit, he seemed to be handling the news much better than Dadhad, and way better than Parker. “You’re telling me you’re allalone in this?” His gazed slowly dropped to my slightbump.
“Prettymuch.”
“Andyour dad, he’s… he died?” The smidgen of hurt wasunmistakable.
My voicesoftened. “Yeah. Had Iknown you were taking care of the place, I would’ve let you know.There was nothing in his journals that mentioned a propertycaretaker. I just assumed he came out once in a while.”
“Damn,I’m really sorry to hearof his passing. I always liked him.” His face fell, and somewherein my heart an ache formed. It seemed Eric was closer to my fatherthan I had been. “And you’ve moved here for the time being, to kindof sort out your personal situation?”
“Fornow, yes.I still havemy place downtown, but I guess I’ll see what becomes of thingshere.” I gave my tummy a rub.
Thelittle one was slowly moving around. Guess the verbaldiarrhea pumped myheartbeat and woke someone.
Ericrose and offered me the stool. “You should be the one to sit.”
I rolledmy eyes. “I’m pregnant, not elderly. I’m fine.” Instead, I filledanother glass of water, this one for me, and I took a few sips.“Sorry, I didn’t mean todump on you. I forgot how small some towns can be and all the looksI got, especially from the hardware store after they recognized me,they all rubbed me the wrong way.”
“Yeah,you look pretty much like how I remembered.” He huffedand took another drink ofwater, walking over to the sink and refilling it. “Sorry about thehardware store. Guess some people never forgot who youare.”
I lifteda shoulder and sighed. “Who Iwas.”
The joysof small-town life. It was nice being anonymous in the big city. No one knew me, no oneknew about my past. Thirteen years distance should’ve been enoughof a gap. Boy, oh boy, was I wrong.
“Where’d yougo get your stuff?”
“StewartSurf.”
He rocked sideto side. “You probably got hosed.”
Ilaughedand tilted myhead back. “Oh, most likely. But it was better than the hardwarestore here.”
The joys ofisland living included a higher cost of living. However, living onthe beach, I wouldn’t need as much as I did in the city. Ironic. Ifinished my water and put my glass into the sink. Grabbing anarmful of supplies, I headed upstairs and into my childhoodbedroom. It didn’t have the amazing view of the Pacific Ocean likethe master bedroom, so I was readying it as a guestroom.
Ericfollowed me upstairs andcame armed with a can of paint. “You doing all grey up here aswell?”
I lookedaround my former bedroomwith the large window easy enough to sneak into, if a certainsister left the window open after I’d climbed up the lattice.“Yeah, think so.”
Currently,theroom was a sand colour, but it was faded and very dated as the lasttime it was painted was before Mona was born.
I read thecolour on Eric’s can. “Give me a sec, I need the other one.”
Inside thefreshly painted master bedroom was the other open can I needed tofinish first. All rooms had undergone a transformation, and yetnone of them were even close to being finished. A bad habit ofstarting projects and not seeing them all the way through, eventhough I promised myself, this time would be different.