Chapter 10 - Sunshine Without Shadows
A year and a half after the incident at Miramar Beach, the summer heat rolled back into the Hudson Valley.
This time, there was no six-hundred-dollar-a-day private cabana. There was no anxiety over corporate promotions, no walking three paces behind someone staring at a smartphone, and no heavy cooler breaking my back.
We were at a small, sun-drenched lakeside park twenty minutes from our new home.
The water of the lake was crystal-clear, reflecting the brilliant blue of an open July sky. A wooden dock stretched fifty feet into the water, where Mason and a dozen of his soccer teammates were taking turns doing cannonballs into the deep end, their laughter echoing across the water.
On the grassy bank beneath a wide, weeping willow, Sarah and Lauren sat together on a picnic blanket, reviewing legal disclosures for a nonprofit youth arts center they were co-founding.
Over the past year, Lauren had become one of my closest friends and most trusted collaborators. Removing Ryan from Apex Solutions had cleared the toxic rot from her department, and under her leadership, the regional office had achieved record-breaking community engagement.
I stood near the edge of the blanket, pulling a bottle of sunscreen from my canvas tote.
“Claire!” Sarah called out, shielding her eyes with a hand. “Do you want me to do your back?”
I paused, looking down at the bottle in my hand. For a split second, the memory of Miramar Beach flashed through my mind: the burning sand, the dismissive sigh, the humiliation of being told I was an embarrassment.
Then the memory vanished, swallowed whole by the warm breeze and the sound of my son’s joyful splash in the water.
“No thanks, Sarah,” I smiled, stepping out into the full, glorious light of the afternoon sun. “I reached every inch of it myself this morning.”
I walked down to the edge of the wooden dock.
Mason surfaced from the lake, his wet hair plastered to his forehead, splashing water with his arms. He saw me standing there, wearing a bright yellow sundress, the wind catching the hem, my skin glowing and free.
“Mom! Watch this one!” Mason yelled, swimming toward the diving platform. “It’s a double flip!”
“I’m watching, Mason!” I called back, my voice loud, strong, and carry-free across the water. “I’m watching the whole thing!”
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He climbed onto the platform, looked back at me with a dazzling, triumphant grin, and leaped into the air.
As he soared between the sky and the water, suspended in pure, unburdened joy, I felt the sun warming my shoulders—soaking deep into my skin, without a single burn, without an ounce of shame, and without a single shadow left to hide behind.
