Summer in Montauk

Waiting for Him

It had been a week. I didn't know what to do. I hadn't gotten his phone number. He still hadn't called. I mean, there's a point where busy changes into rude, right? He couldn't shoot me a quick text? A short "I'm sorry, I won't be able to text you for a while. Don't be worried" wouldn't be that hard.

An advantage to this is that I finally have time to clean out the cabin. If you call that an advantage. For the whole week alone, I dusted the whole house, washed the sheets, and swept the sand out from the floor. It kept me busy, but it gave me too much time to think.

The birds chirped as the sun came up, illuminating the room. I heard a knock on the door. I wasn't expecting anybody. Maybe it was him.

I threw on a hoodie over my t-shirt and leggings, and then ran to the door. I was a mess, but I didn't care. I just wanted to see him, pathetic as it was.

I opened the door.

"Hi, are you Sally Jackson?" The mailman said. "Sign here." He handed me a package and then left.

I brought the package into the kitchen and unpacked it on the table. The new plates that I ordered because of the terrible conditions of the old ones had finally arrived. I had forgotten all about them.

I stroked the beautiful new plates with shells along the side that I had absolutely adored online. Now, they didn't seem as exciting. I put them away, wondering what to do with the old ones. I would probably end up just throwing them away, but that would be such a waste. Before I lost everything, I was always a bit of a hoarder. I couldn't stand wasting things.

20 Years Ago:
My father throws his newspaper into the trash. I scramble to take it, to make sure that it's not wasted. This would make a very nice book for my doll.
"Sally, what're you doing with that?" My father says in a teasing tone. By now, he was used to my hoarding ways. He grabbed me and pulled me into his lap.
"What're - you - doing?" He says, poking me in the belly between words until I was laughing so hard that I was crying.
My mother came and saved me. She pulled me into her arms, saying, "Give the kid a break. She'll be dead useful, this one. She's always doing DIY projects.
"Now come on, I need to know that these cookies are alright for tomorrow. A 5th birthday is a very important day, and I want it to be peeerfect for you!" She said, poking me again in the stomach so that I was sent into even more peals of laughter as we walked over to taste the snickerdoodle cookies that my mother had put in so much effort to make.

I was lost in the past as I heard a knock at the door. I pulled my hair up into a ponytail, and then walked over to the door, still mesmerized by the instant déjà vu that I had just felt.

I opened my door and was immediately snapped out of it when I saw Don's perfect face.

"Hi," he says softly.

I explode.

"You think that you can come around here after a week? For all I know, you could be dead, not that I care, but at least a little warning would be nice!" I say trying to slam the door in his face. But he caught the door before it closed.

"I don't want you to be mad at me. I went on a fishing trip. And, you know, there's not always good reception in the middle of the ocean." He smirked.

"Smart Alec," I muttered as I turned around and walked away. He seemed to think that that meant "come in."

"I came here to ask if you would go out to eat with me?" He asked.

"It's one o'clock. I just ate lunch." I would have taken up his offer any other day, but I was still bitter about my week of solitude.

"Okay then, let's go somewhere else," HA said. Apparently he didn't get the hint that I wanted him to just go away. One minute I wanted him there and the next I wanted him gone. I wish that I could make up my mind.

"C'mon!" He said, grabbing my hand. "Let's just go to the beach. Just talk to me. Please?"

"I can't go like this!" I said, gesturing towards my baggy sweatshirt and leggings.

"You look beautiful," he said as he kissed my forehead. He then dragged me by the hand outside towards the beach.

I let him lead the way for a while before or jogged to catch up with his longer strides.

We sat down on the beach, still holding hands. It was cloudy and a bit drizzly, but that had never stopped us before.

He stared at the ocean while I looked at his face. He was so handsome. I had not even realized how much I had missed him.

"Why?" I asked out of the blue. "Why did you leave me?" The real reason that I missed him so much when he left was that I didn't believe that he would come back. I was too plain, too ordinary. But he was perfect.

He sighed and then turned to look at me. "I didn't want to leave you," he said. "I had to, and I missed you, every second, I was thinking about you." He leaned closer to me.

"And why do you care about me? Why did you come back?" I asked curiously.  "There's nothing special about me."

"I care about you because you're amazing. You're beautiful and don't let that get to you. You're stubborn, and you make sure that you get what you want. You've had a hard life, but you're still the nicest person I know. You've been lonely for so long, and I want to fix that. I came back for you, Sally."

He leaned even closer. There was a tangible tension in the air. He had a mischievous glint in his eyes, and as he leaned forward, I jumped back.

"Well, we had better get back." I said. The serious moment that we had just had was gone, shattered like a glass bowl. I had broken it. I wasn't ready.

He stared at me, and then got up slowly. He held his hand out for me to grab, and then helped me up.

We walked back to the cabin, and I wondered if I had made the right choice.