“Trudy’s just fine.” She spoke quickly, almost before he’d finished. “She lives with me.”

“Ah. I see. I’m glad you have someone with you. So you’re not—?” He stopped.

“So I’m not what? A lonely old woman?” She smiled to take the sting out of her words.

He lifted his cane and set it down again a couple feet ahead. “You’re not an old woman, but yes, I’m glad you’re not alone. Or lonely.”

She shifted her backpack off her shoulder and dropped her pencil and clipboard inside. “Trudy’s a good companion.” Quiet but steady as a heartbeat.

Back at the lounge chair that marked the beginning and end of their route, Frank lifted his face toward the sun and closed his eyes. Violet watched him a moment—his broad shoulders just a little bit stooped, the line of his jaw softer, his thick eyebrows wiry with age, and those same full lips—then she turned her face up too. The sun’s rays were still soft, a little hazy in the morning breeze. Above them, gulls cackled to a nearly empty stretch of sand. Just Violet and Frank standing still as the years pushed against them. Leaning toward the sunlight.

* * *

Liza waited until the rest of the Observer staff had gone home for the day before she paused in front of the gallery wall of old Sugar Bend photos and newspaper clippings. She focused on one photo snipped from a 1981 front-page spread. She’d perused the gallery wall in the office many times since beginning her job at the paper, and while she’d seen this particular photo, she never paid it any particular attention. Today, though, she couldn’t pull her eyes away.

The yellowed clipping showed a man with a wide smile. He held a string of just-caught fish in one hand, and the other rested possessively on the steering wheel of a green boat with a blue stripe across the side. The man was charming—cute and a bit flirty, as if he were trying to get a smile out of whoever was holding the camera. His hair was pleasantly disheveled, and his taut chest muscles gleamed in the sunlight. She thought back to the strange dream she’d had after seeing the boat washed up onshore—the fists and tears, the sound of a boat motor and broken glass. None of that jived with the affable face grinning from the photo.

The caption beneath the photo read, “Owner of Friendly’s Ice Cream, Jay Malone, with his catch of the day.”

* * *

The Sugar Bend Observer, Sugar Bend’s Community News Source

Letter from the Editor, Liza Bullock

June 2022 | Volume 11, Issue 6

As I’m sure you’ve noticed, several new housing developments are under way in Sugar Bend. Each development is spearheaded by architects and builders intent on preserving beauty and charm while also renovating and rebuilding sections of the area that have fallen into disrepair. One of those areas is a neighborhood just up the river from downtown Sugar Bend. Carl Waters, with Southtown Contractors, has begun work on a new subdivision called Fox Cove. I recently visited Fox Cove, and Mr. Waters’s teams are already in place beginning renovation work. The development will be anchored by River Ash Road, and a majority of the homes face the upper sections of Little River. I hear the sunset views are second to none!