The Pelican

The Beach House

CHAPTER 6 - JULIA

Without the need for another word, the two women got out of the car and pulled Julia's luggage from the trunk. Rachel led the way, carrying the suitcase. Its wheels were completely useless on the sandy footpath that connected a group of beach houses nestled in between the dunes. She headed south, towards the cottage furthest away from the access road. Halfway down the path, she stopped to turn and check on Julia, whose duffel bag strap kept sliding off her shoulder.

"You OK with that? Why don't you put it down and I'll come back for it?"

Annoyed, Julia replied, "I'm alright, stop it! Four weeks ago, you would have told me to move my butt."

"Four weeks ago, I didn't know." Rachel objected but carried on walking.

"Neither did I." Julia's voice sounded flat.

The duo reached the front porch of a cozy wooden beach house, white with blue window trims and a weathered red front door. While Rachel fumbled for the key in her purse, Julia put the suitcase down and looked around. A bench swing on the front porch overlooking the beach cove was just waiting for someone to spend a warm summer night on its thick cushions.

Julia took a minute to take in her surroundings. To the north, a tall, towering rock with a rugged peak bordered the small, picturesque cove. The collection of tide pools at its base had to be the perfect habitat for sea anemones, starfish, crabs and whatever native wildlife was fortunate enough to have found a home here. It brought back memories of a field trip to the local aquarium she had chaperoned for Mel's fourth-grade class, a lifetime ago. Mel's excited squeals as she had held a prickly sea urchin at the touch tank still sounded in Julia's ears as if it had been yesterday. Oh, how Mel would have loved this place!

A long stretch of sandy beach extended to her left. Everything was exactly how she had always pictured her home by the ocean.

The sound of a key turning in an old lock and the rusty squeak of the hinges as the door opened pulled her out of her thoughts. Julia closed her eyes as the sun broke through a thick cloud and washed over her face. She soaked up the welcome warmth, took a deep breath, and smiled.

"All right," Rachel called out from inside the cottage, "welcome home then. Courtesy of Larry Shaw. Thanks, buddy!"

Julia left her duffel on the porch and followed Rachel into the cabin. Sunlight filtered through the gaps in between the curtain panels and lit up specks of dust that were dancing through the room, stirred up by the fresh sea air that was drifting in from the porch.

"Let's get some light in here." Rachel opened the curtains one by one.

The wooden flooring, the comfortable mismatched sofa and arm chairs, and the handcrafted wooden chest in the corner all perfectly matched what you would expect to find in this kind of setting. Julia felt as if she had stepped into the "California Beach Living" edition of a lifestyle magazine. She spotted her favorite feature in any house, a wood burning fireplace and was already looking forward to lighting a cozy fire. Curling up on the sofa with a blanket and a cup of tea sounded like heaven round about now.

A breakfast bar towards the back of the room separated a small but functional kitchenette from the rest of the living room. This place was more than perfect.

"Where do you want your stuff? The bedroom? You can sort it out there." Rachel didn't wait for an answer. She snatched the duffel from the porch, grabbed the case she had carried, and disappeared through the only door in the wall on the right before Julia could even try to help.

All Julia could do was shake her head and follow. After all, she knew quite well that any attempt at stopping Rachel would have been like trying to stop the ripples on water after a pebble had hit the surface. Rachel had always been a force of nature, which was one of the things that Julia admired and appreciated about her. If you needed someone to keep you moving forward, with moral support or with elbow grease, Rachel was your girl; loyal and supportive to those that earned her friendship, no matter what. And that was exactly what Julia needed for the weeks, maybe months ahead.