“The waves filled it up instead of destroying it,” Amanda said. “I bet I can guess who was in charge of digging it.” Jesse was a master at it. Fast and deep. Just his style.
Jesse jumped in the air. “Me!”
“Look how tall your castle is. It must be five stories high. Like an apartment building.”
“Princesses don’t live in apartments, Mom.”
“Of course not. What was I thinking?”
“Look,” Hailey said to her. “Come on, Jesse. Let’s show her how we did it. Just like Maeve taught us.” They both knelt and took a scoop of watery sand in their hands and began releasing it just a little at a time. Drip by drip, the sand piled upon itself.
“That’s really pretty impressive.” Amanda looked over at Maeve. “Very cool.”
“Best part is you can leave all those buckets and boxes behind and still be able to make a castle. Right, Hailey? It’s called keeping it simple.”
“Yes ma’am.” Hailey ran around to the backside of the castle, where there was a drip-sand fence. “Know what’s back here?”
“Horses?”
“No! A doghouse for Denali.”
“Of course. You have thought of everything.”
“Maeve helped.”
“Thanks, but you two really did all the work. I just supervised.”
Amanda turned to Maeve. “Thank you. For this. They are having a blast. And for the time. Oh my gosh, this is better than a day at a spa. And thank you for being a friend. I’m sorry I kind of dumped on you. Forgive me?”
“Don’t be silly. You did no such thing. I’m so delighted. This has been the best day I’ve had in a very long time.”
Hailey stepped between them. “Does that mean we can play tomorrow too?”
“I’m always available to supervise and give a little castle-building advice.”
“And shells,” Hailey added. “You know everything about shells.”
“So it would seem.” Maeve pushed her hat back on her head. “Don’t you love the beach after a couple good rainy days?” She inhaled deeply. “You can really smell the salt in the air once the pollution gets blown to bits.”
“What’s pollution?” Hailey’s nose wrinkled.
“Bad stuff in the air, like smoke and car exhaust.” Amanda hadn’t noticed until Maeve had mentioned it, though. “Yes, you’re right. We also appreciate how much easier it was to get over that dune today. Sometimes that deep sand is a real killer.”
“Especially on the walk back,” Maeve said. “Am I right?”
“You are.” Hailey inched closer to Maeve.
The tide was coming in. The water lapped at their legs above their ankles now. “When I was a little girl,” Maeve said, “it was such a long walk to the beach. The dunes were taller back then, and our house was so far away from the beach that some days I thought I would never make it back. Over the years, the tides have taken a toll on the coastline. I don’t know if that’s how nature means it to be or it’s some by-product of our human impact on things. I like to believe the ocean realized I was getting older and too tired for that hike and so it met me halfway.”
“So when we’re old, we won’t have to walk this far either?” Hailey asked.
“Probably not.”
“That’s very, very good.” Hailey threw her hands in the air. “I’m going to like that very much.”
“Me too.” Jesse jumped up and then landed in his favorite superhero stance.
“I’m going to walk on down the beach.” Maeve picked up her shell bag and hung it over her shoulder. “I hope I’ll see you here tomorrow.”
“We’d like that,” Amanda said. “I usually pack a lunch. Will you join us?”
“That sounds wonderful.”
“Noon?”
“I’ll see you all right here tomorrow. I may even catch you on my way back if you haven’t already gone home for the day.”
Hailey waved as Maeve turned to walk on. “Don’t fall in our pond when you come back,” she yelled through cupped hands.
“I’ll keep a lookout.” Maeve swished her feet in the water as she walked away.
It had been a good day. Amanda looked at Hailey and Jesse, who’d returned to sitting in the water, dripping sand into tall piles. Connecting one to the next. It was like Jesse’s first Christmas when all he wanted to do was sit in the box that Hailey’s Barbie Dreamhouse had come in and make truck noises rather than play with all the toys they’d so carefully picked out for him.
Keeping it simple. That’s going to be our new motto.
—
The next morning, Amanda busied herself in the kitchen. She looked forward to Maeve joining them for lunch on the beach. It was nice to have someone to chat with who knew more than she did. Not just about the area but about life.
On the kitchen table, she’d set out a platter with grapes, cheese cubes, strawberry slices, and melon balls for the kids to make their favorite caterpillar kabobs for lunch. They loved assembling them, and she thought Maeve might get a kick out of them. She chopped veggies and mixed them with cream cheese to spread on tortillas, then rolled the tortillas up and sliced them into pinwheels. They looked pretty sitting in the container. Then she made a couple of PB&J sandwiches and cut them into fourths. It would be a nice little assortment.
She stopped and looked at everything on the table. Clearly, simple was not in her nature, but the kids loved her fun recipes. She’d have to find other places to simplify.
Hailey climbed into a chair at the kitchen table and ran her hand through her hair. “Are we making caterpillars?”
“You noticed.”
“We love eating caterpillars!” Jesse climbed into the seat next to Hailey and rose up on his knees. Slowly, he extended a hand, his eyes wide, like he was going to sneak a strawberry.
She pretended not to notice, then spun around and scared him. “Are you stealing caterpillar faces?”
He sat back on his heels in a fit of giggles. “Maybe.”
“There’s plenty. You can have one, but don’t ruin your appetite. We’re going to Tug’s Diner for breakfast.”
Hailey and Jesse locked eyes, then squealed.
