Picturesque

Chapter 28: Salt Taffy

Waking up was always hard to do. In the years following Greg, every morning I awoke, his death was the first thing that hit me. It washed over me in a cold wave of grief that tainted my first few minutes of consciousness. That next morning, my first thought and sight was Jo. She was sleeping next to me, her arm thrown over my stomach, her face resting on my shoulder. Under the covers, where our naked bodies slept, her legs were tangled with mine. The ends of her hair were strewn across my chest. When she woke up, her green eyes looked around for a minute until they caught me, her pupils pulsing as she focused on me, and then she cracked that wide Donnelley smile.

It was like that for a few weeks. Stolen glances, stolen kisses, nights spent in my room. It was getting much harder to look Marty and Katie in the eye, but I didn't feel ashamed. In fact, I was happier than I ever was. Jo swept me up in her liveliness and energy. She breathed me back to life when I didn't even know I was dead.

Of course, we were not deafened to the times. Even in California, in 1964, we couldn't just walk around showing our love. Even her friends did not know, but I don't think it was out of shame. Bobby was gay, and so was Jo, and the others were open-minded about it, even Johnny who finally started hanging around again. I think Jo wanted to keep it to herself because it was special. She showed a different side of herself around me, a comfortable and vulnerable side that reminded me of a child. Nonetheless, she wanted to keep up appearances.

It was relatively easy to sneak away, with Marty and Katie always busy doing something, and the kids always outside playing. Jo spent all her days at home now, with me. She was careful when we were around her family, which was mostly at dinner time, but I was grateful for that, too.

There was one day when we were down at a different beach than Hermosa, one that didn't have any piers or hotels, where we were the only ones in sight besides a few cars that passed down the road up away from the beach. I wore the pink bikini she had given me, without covering myself up.

Still, I was hesitant to get in the water, but Jo was so persuasive. "Come on, Becks," she said as she held both of my hands, wading us backwards into the sea. The water was already at our knees.

"No!" I shrieked, though I was also laughing.

"Nothing's gonna get you!" she exclaimed, giving me another tug and pulling me out further into the water as the waves slapped up my thighs.

"The water is what's going to get me!"

"You swam that day in the pool!"

"That was a pool, Jo! This is the damn ocean!"

Her eyes widened, and her mouth slowly opened into a wide laugh. "I've never heard you curse before! Do it again!"

I rolled my eyes. "You're a shit-head."

She laughed harder, and I started to giggle, leaning against her and feeling her body move with the force of her laugh. The California sun was glaring down brightly upon us, and I was so giddy with laughter that I didn't even notice that the water was up to our waists now.

Suddenly, I felt something coarse brush my leg, and out of pounding fear, I screamed, grabbing onto Jo's shoulders and clinging to her. "There's something in the water!" I shrieked, holding onto her and looking down at the murky water below us.

Jo squinted her eyes and looked around until she saw a dark spot floating in the water. "That's just seaweed, stupid."

Hot embarrassment flushed my cheeks, and I felt dumb, but I just chuckled and gasped, gently swatting her arm. "Don't call me stupid!"

"You called me it first!" She grinned and held my waist, turning me around in a circle so that the water splashed up on us. I laughed and held onto her, just letting her spin me around like a toy and pretending to be scared when actually I felt safe with her. I felt so safe with her.