If At First

Part 14 - Chapter 13

"We didn't camp at all." He frowned, "Are you disappointed?"

"Devastated." I said, relaxing against his arm.

Haven laughed. "Yes, that's what I thought." He said before putting his arm around me and pulling me closer. I caught a curious glance from Greenleigh in the rearview mirror.

"I do have a question though."

"Yes?" Haven said guardedly.

"I've been wondering about the story behind 'Pete's Beach'" I said, "Why do you all go there, was Pete a local or something?"

Haven exhaled and smiled mischievously, "Well, so they say."

"Who says?"

"Um, me." He chuckled, "My brother and I named it that when we were kids. There was this old guy who told us the story of a man whose wife had drowned in the water there. Apparently he was so distraught over it he climbed the embankment to jump off and kill himself. His wife's ghost returned to save him and he forever stayed in that spot, waiting for her to come back. But he never saw her again. He's buried somewhere nearby and his ghost wanders that stretch of beach searching for her night after night." He laughed "I'm not sure how many of us ever believed it, but we used to scare the begeezus out of each other."

"-And his name was Pete?" I probed. Seemed like an awfully informal name for a ghost.

"No, we never knew the ghost's name, the guy who told us the story was named Pete." We both laughed loudly at that.

"How old were you?"

"Maybe thirteen, and Weston must have been ten or so when we bought it."

"You bought beach property when you were thirteen?"

"Sure. We all did. So we'd have somewhere to hang out."

"'Somewhere to hang out'." I repeated, beginning to understand just how out of my league I was.

"Fitch and I found it one day kayaking along the coast, and decided it would serve our purpose."

"And what purpose would that be?"

"To find a place where we weren't haunted by the frenzy of our parents' obsession with themselves. It's one thing to perform the role of dutiful offspring, but sometimes you need a chance to just relax without worrying whether someone will make it into a headline the next day."

The car slowed to a stop on the main street of Townsend where Haven exited. He handed me out holding the umbrella, and we stood in front of the vet's office. Haven beamed his achingly gorgeous smile, reminding me that I didn't belong with him. "Dr. Dorsey called about an hour ago to tell me our charity case was ready to be picked up."

"He's okay?" I asked, delighted.

"He is. She said he's been a mess since we left earlier and wouldn't stop howling. And because there was no real damage, she thought he might be better off...er, outside her care. -But I do have a confession to make." He grinned ruefully. "She insisted on a name and I didn't have a chance to consult you first."

"So what'd you go with?"

"Jack," He grinned, "short for Jackal."

I laughed, "He doesn't look like a Jackal!"

"He certainly behaves like one."

We entered the lobby for the second time that day, only now rather than the monotonous ticking of a clock, the office was filled with impatient wails. Jack was a blur of happiness bounding straight for Haven. He leapt into his arms from across the room. Haven caught him, replacing him to the ground and commanding, "Down!" while patting him affectionately on the back.