Page 91 - Where the Dream Ends ebook

Staying On

The boat sounded a final call and Liam helped his wife board
with the last of their summer belongings. Most of their things
were already at home, thanks to a couple of sturdy young men
who agreed to transport it all for two hundred dollars and a
thank you.

“How long will you stay?”

“I told you, two weeks. Three, at most.”

“Call me,” she pleaded.

“I told you I’ll call. I promise. Every day.”
* * *

What Liam noticed most on the walk back to the house was
a remarkable quiet. Not that he and Edith talked much on the
way to the ferry; but now that she was gone, a mental voice
that was part of her presence was gone as well.

After years of living with the same person, they become
so much a part of you that they are inside you, invading your
secret thoughts, conversations, even dreams. With Edith phys-
ically off-island now, her emotional presence drifted away
from Liam, and for the first time in a very long time, he was
alone. His flip-flops flapping against the wooden slats of the
boardwalk sounded just that much louder, the breeze rustling
the branches of the scrub pines that separated every house ap-
peared to blow that much harder; even the surf slapping the
shore on the bay side of the island resounded with just that
much more urgency. Like the sound of lovers, Liam thought.

The screen door slammed shut behind him with a crash, re-
minding Liam that replacing the hinges was one of the things

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