Page 64 of Mourner for Hire

FIFTY-TWO

VADA

Five minutes before everyone’s arrival, Dominic and I stand on the back deck, twinkling lights illuminated, and tables draped in white linen are scattered around the side of the house like little ghosts on the beach.

The sun is high in the sky, and the eclipse is scheduled to take place in one hour.

“You did good, Vada,” he says, squeezing my shoulders closer to him.

I wrap my hands around his waist, breathing in a deep sense of joy and exhaling so much relief.

I did it. Eight weeks. Eight funerals. A whole lifetime of memories restored.

Lucy practically runs up the pathway leading toward us with her camera slung around her neck. She immediately grabs her eclipse glasses from the tin bucket on the porch.

“Who’s ready?” she shouts as she leaps into my arms, almost knocking me over and making me let out a laugh.

“Lucy, wait, honey. Your tripod,” Joelle says, coming up behind her. Their daughter reaches Eli first and takes the tripod from him, then whirls around and heads toward the beach .

Joelle and Eli climb the porch steps hand in hand with bright smiles on their faces.

“Annabelle would have loved this,” Joelle says, giving me a hug. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“Thanks for feeding me,” I respond, tears springing to my eyes.

“It was my pleasure.”

“Proud of you.” Eli’s smile is soft and brimming with sympathy for his friend of many, many years as he takes Dominic in his arms.

Her eyes widen as they land on the blue pickup truck parking along the street. “Speaking of! Food is here. Boys, help my parents unload. Vada, where do you want everything?”

I direct her to the buffet set up along the front porch. Each table, even the buffet, is scattered with bouquets of hydrangeas and mums in every shade of fall while still holding on to the brightness of summer.

That’s the beauty of a season’s change. Seasons collide—the memories, the circumstances—and we get to watch it all change and remain beautiful even when it disrupts everything we know to be true.

“These are my parents. Donny and Alberta.”

The elderly couple walking down the pathway to the cottage beam at me. They look exactly how I expected them to. Donny most certainly knows his way around a seasoning cabinet, and Alberta looks like she has never used a recipe for her baked goods in her life.

I reach my hand out to shake theirs, but Donny pulls me into his arms and then Alberta does the same. My emotions rise from my chest and into my throat.

“Thanks for all the biscuits,” I say. “And the extra special sauce.”

Alberta chuckles and pats my hands as she holds them. “Thanks for hanging around.”

I turn around and see the buffet table is fully covered in food from the Hungry Hermit.

Sweet potato fries, regular fries, fried fish, crab legs, coleslaw, Cajun shrimp and grits, clam chowder, smoked salmon, and cheddar biscuits.

Dominic comes up next to me and plucks a potato out of the tray and pops it into his mouth.

“Hey, get a plate, you monster.”

“I thought we weren’t calling each other names anymore,” he teases, grabbing another fry and offering it to me as a bribe. I take it willingly. “There are so many things I am yet to understand, but I’ll tell you one thing: God really did his thing with potatoes.”

I laugh, and he kisses me. I sigh into his arms, holding onto this feeling of comfort until I’m whisked away to chat with Marylou and Bernie.

Jonesy and Connor are here, too, chatting with Ella and Janice.

All of Annabelle’s friends are here, along with just about everyone in this town, bundled in sweaters but still barefoot in the sand.

Music blares from the speakers, and there is laughter and reminiscing.

This is exactly what Annabelle wanted, and now I see why.

Harold Green hobbles over to me and asks for a dance and we do, even though he keeps apologizing for his bad knee, swearing he was the talk of the town once upon a time.

I catch eyes with Dominic across the way.

He’s mid-laugh—the kind that makes the lines around his eyes crinkle and the darkness in his eyes brighten.

I think of his hard lines and his unforgiving nature he had when I first arrived.

He was intimidating as much as I tried to stand my ground.

But really, he’s just a softy with a big heart covered in tattoos and a false attitude.

Lucy pulls on my sleeve, disrupting my thoughts.

“We have fifteen minutes!” she shouts.

“Perfect! Help me pass out the glasses?” I ask, excusing myself from the dance.

She nods and immediately makes sure everyone has glasses while I stand on the porch, taking a fork to my hard cider bottle to gather everyone’s attention.

“Hi, everyone, if I could just have your attention for one second. The eclipse is about to happen in approximately ten minutes, so I hope you all are ready to watch day become night.” There’s hushed, polite laughter, and I pause to collect my breath.

“I also wanted to thank you all for coming to celebrate Annabelle and her life. I know that not only was she deeply loved in this community, but she will always be fondly remembered. I don’t have many memories with Annabelle.

Understandably. And maybe that’s because those memories will pop up when I need them, and they’ll be just for me.

And I hope that for you, too, Dominic. I hope there are memories that are sacred and wholesome and only for you.

It reminds me of something I learned a long time ago: the first thing you forget about a person is the sound of their voice.

Now, I haven’t heard the sound of Annabelle’s voice in decades. ”

I smile, and we share a knowing glance across the crowd. “But I can still hear her voice. And I hope in the days and months and years of grief that follow, when you’re screaming at the sky asking God why her, why so soon, you’ll be able to still hear her voice, too.”

All eyes are on me, but I’m only looking at him. Tears are in his eyes, but he seems to be less devastated and more hopeful.

I make my way over to him while Lucy says, “All right, everybody! One minute. Protect your eyeballs!”

I laugh as I tuck myself into Dominic, eclipse glasses on both of our faces.

“You look good in these,” he says.

“I know,” I respond, and he shakes his head.

“Whatever, big head.”

“I thought we said no more name-calling.”

“I’ll call you whatever you want,” he says, tucking my hair behind my ear.

“Just call me yours,” I respond, and he leans down to kiss me once more.

“Ten… nine… eight… seven… six…” the crowd begins to shout. The moon is already beginning to cast darkness over the sun, creating m oon-shaped shadows across the sand. “Five… four… three… two… one!”

And with that final word, the world goes silent, and the beach is slowly blanketed in darkness.

The curve of the shadow is projected on the sand in tiny crescents until the moon finally reaches the sun’s center.

There’s a clatter of disbelief along the beach, everyone gasping for breath at the beauty and magic of it all.

Lucy’s camera shutters, and she squeals in delight.

I peer over at her, her excitement palpable.

All eyes remain on the eclipse, and for a full two minutes, everyone is completely mesmerized by the same breathtaking experience.

I lean back into Dominic as he wraps his arm around me, his heartbeat an original symphony playing to the sound of what feels like the start of my life.

Everyone is overwhelmed by the magnitude of the event. Then, as the sun begins to reappear fully, Dominic slips something in my hand.

“I almost forgot: Lucy found this in the sand. It must have fallen off.”

The cold metal hits my skin, and I stare down at my charm bracelet. Only my bracelet is still very much on my wrist.

Dominic makes the connection at the same time I do, rubbing his thumb over the bracelet on my wrist and his other over the one in my palm.

“My mom’s.”

A rush of memory hits me. Nothing specific, more of a feeling.

This reminder deep in my soul that I was once known and loved immensely by my mother.

This memory floods me like a love I’ve never known.

A love that is cinnamon sugar toast and dancing barefoot in the kitchen.

A love that is goodnight kisses and sunset sand castles.

A love that is a soft landing and a safe place.

A love that feels like home.

As the afternoon progresses to evening and the sun begins to go down, I abandon the dancing and celebrating crowds near the cottage and walk toward the edge of the water to catch the sunset.

The glow of the sun illuminates the water and sand in the perfect golden hue.

Storm clouds are rolling in from the North, breaking the light beams of the sunset in the most stunning way.

Against the crashing waves and the hum of the crowd in the distance, I can almost certainly hear my mother singing.

You are my sunshine…

A single tear falls down my cheek and lands on my white sweater. The wind whips through my hair, and I pull my arms tightly around me.

“Bye, Mom,” I whisper into the vastness of the ocean.

I feel Dominic wrap his arms around me, and I tilt my head back on his chest, never wanting to let go of this feeling of home.

“It’s supposed to rain tonight,” I say.

He kisses my temple. “It’s okay. I love a rainstorm with you.”

I tuck myself deeper into his arms and the memory. Just one of many memories I’ve gained since being here. I turn in his arms to face him.

“I want to stay.” I smile up at him, watching his expression change in his honey-colored eyes. “Is that okay with you?”

“Well, I couldn’t run you out of my life even when I tried my hardest, so…” His voice trails with a teasing smirk.

I lean against his chest and return my gaze to the sun as it slowly dips behind the waves. “I love it here.”

“Here loves you.” Dominic kisses the side of my head. “I want a life with you, Vada.”

“I want everything with you.” I rest my head against his chest, hearing the thrum-thrum of his heartbeat against my cheek. “I didn’t know love could feel like this.”

“Like what?”

I sigh into his embrace. “Home.”