Page 92 of Holding On

Chapter Twenty-Two

Maya Hamilton

I don’t understand how the Russos keep their figures with all this amazing food. It takes an hour for everyone to leave, and people are still scarfing food till the end. Nic and Jackson just left with Rose—she has to be at the conference in Portland by three. Travis offered to take her himself, but Cory fell asleep on top of him so he whispered a goodbye.

She put her number in his cell phone, and he promised to call her before her flight back to Atlanta. She knelt down to pat his arm, and as she rose, he held her hand for a moment, squeezed, and then let her go.

I walked her out to the car and said goodbye, and when I return, Travis is asleep on the library floor, Cory still on his chest. I slip a pillow under Travis’s head and slowly close the door, making sure the “Private Event” sign is facing out.

Audrey is just walking by with Andy, when I turn to her. “I need to talk to you about something.”

The smile fades from Audrey’s face when she sees the look on mine. “What’s wrong, sweetie?”

We had debriefed over the phone and had a couple of long conversations from my sickbed right after the concussion, but this is the first time we’ve seen each other in person.

“I need your help” I say, and I can’t stop myself from glancing at the closed door.

“You got it. What do you want?”

“It’s a big ask.” And I don’t like to ask anyone for anything, I want to add.

“Go for it.”

I swallow and begin.

***

Travis rubs his eyes, yawns, and wipes his face. “How long did I sleep?”

“Apparently, not long enough.” I kiss him on the shoulder. He hoists himself up and stands in the doorway, swaying slightly.

“Hey. You okay?” I rub his back for a second.

He blinks and looks around. “Where’s Cory?”

“He graduated from high school, Rip Van Winkle.”

“Wait. Where is everybody? It’s so quiet.”

He seems really disoriented, but it’s adorable. I slip my arm through his. They’re down at the Memorial Family Garden. I think they’re waiting for us.”

“Oh God. Now what?”

“This is your family. Be nice.”

I can’t tell if his grumbling is real or not.

But by the time we walk down the dirt road and through the trees, everyone has left. They must have walked back on the beach.

“Why are we here?” he says again, scratching his face. The late afternoon light leaves gold tinting on all surfaces, trees, the ground, rocks, and plants.

This is such a bittersweet day for him.

Finn lost his pregnant wife, and it was his dream to make a garden by the sea where parents who had lost children themselves could come and have a place to reflect. Most of the plantings were very new, and he had hired a landscape architect to help him figure out what plants went where, how much light they could take, and stuff about soil composition. But there are areas that still need work.

Today, as Travis slept, his sisters and the Colton clan took the larger rocks collected by Maggie Russo from the garden, the clinic, and The Inn, and brought them here. They left the small stones on the windowsills and by vases. But these larger ones of granite and quartz, they carried through the trail that snakes its way through the pine trees and spills out into the one-acre garden.

The eastern edge of the garden curves up to a hill overlooking the ocean. That’s where the rocks are piled now.