Page 41 of The Seashell of ’Ohana

“Can we go?” Tyler pinned his gaze on me, begging me with those puppy eyes I couldn’t resist.

“Sure. Why not?” I was already behind anyway. What was one more day?

More cheers erupted from the kids and from the Bordonaro brothers.

Chapter Fifteen — Alone With My Thoughts

Work went by faster than a wink, that week. On Saturday, I woke up at seven in the morning despite having nothing pressing to do. When I wasn’t rushing to get Tyler off to school or having to go to work, being alone in the early morning felt peaceful.

Instead of lounging in bed, I decided to go jogging. Tyler would still be asleep when I got back home, but just in case, I wrote a note and left it on his bed next to him. He couldn’t miss the plain white paper.

Ty,

I went jogging. I’ll be back soon.

I love you across the galaxies and beyond.

Working long hours had me neglecting my fitness, and I really needed the run this morning. Exercising not only helped me reduce stress, it was my time to be alone with my thoughts and sometimes forget the world.

After stretching, I shoved my phone in the back of my black workout pants and locked the door behind me. I inhaled a deep, cool breath and peered up to the fluffy clouds. When Tyler had been five, one of his favorite games had been picking fanciful shapes out of the clouds. He’d stopped playing that game with me, but the clouds overhead this morning looked like angel wings, like the seashell I’d found on the beach.

My feet pounded on the sidewalk as I ran past the houses, palm trees, and tall grasses. I waved at a man with a large dog as he came toward me. When I jogged out to the main street, cars zoomed by, mostly headed toward public beaches.

Sweat beaded my forehead, and my lungs pumped. This kind of adrenaline felt so good. On my way home, I stopped by Izzy’s Café, my favorite after-run reward.

Izzy would be happy to see me. At eight in the morning, I was often her first customer. However, the woman behind the counter wasn’t Izzy. She looked to be in her late twenties.

“Good morning,” she said.

My pulse kicked up, and my mind ran wild. Was Izzy in the hospital? Heart attack? Stroke? When people weren’t where they were supposed to be, morbid thoughts always came first.

Slow down. It could be nothing.

“Is Izzy working today?” I asked.

“Izzy took the day off. I’m her daughter.”

I let out a breath of relief. I could see the resemblance in the shape of her eyes and cute nose.

She smiled. “What can I get you?”

I wanted to ask her if Izzy was doing okay. Izzy had never taken a day off, but I didn’t know if she would share. After all, she had no idea who I was. I glanced at the menu that hung on the back wall, written in white chalk, not sure why I bothered to look. I always ordered the same thing.

“Hot hazelnut latte with soy milk, please.”

Izzy’s daughter wasn’t a talker like her mom. It hadn’t been long since I’d last seen Izzy, but her absence made me sad. I missed her.

When she passed me the paper cup, I spotted an angel-wing tattoo on her wrist. Two wings, connected at the top tip, fanning outward. Like the seashell I had at home.

Some people just loved tattoos, and many people got them for sentimental reasons. I wondered what her story was or if she even had one. Maybe she got the tattoo after someone she loved passed away. Though I was itching to ask, I decided to let it go.

Tyler was still asleep when I returned home. I leaned against the doorframe and watched my son as I sipped my warm latte. His chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm, reminding me of the days when he’d been an infant, sleeping in his crib. Steve and I had watched Tyler for hours.

A photo of Steve that I kept on Tyler’s bedside table was facedown. I wondered if Tyler had been looking at his father last night while in bed.

“Mom?” Tyler fluttered his eyelids. “What are you doing? Is it time to go to school?”

I smiled. “No, Ty. It’s Saturday.”