Crushing Tides
by Beta fixture b8ba0476-d5eb-4cb0-a55b-f4f069f113a9
8 min of reading, free
Chapter 2
Barefoot Bay Resort
Book One
Crushing Tides
Copyright © 2022 by Molly Maco
All rights reserved.
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Table of Contents
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Chapter 1
Chapter 1
Lexie was trying to get her sister to stop sobbing. It was heart-wrenching listening to her from this far away, and she wished that Ramona could be here in Tidal Bay at the Barefoot Bay Resort that her and their other sister Ada ran. The sisters were all so close, and yet distance definitely harmed them all as situations arose where they couldn’t support each other in person due to different time zones and locales. This monumentally horrid move on the part of her brother-in-law Neal was beyond anything they had dealt with before. She was reeling as she tried to get all the details.
“Ramona,” she said gently. “Please try to stay calm and tell me exactly what happened. I’m sorry, but I’m having a hard time understanding you.” It was understandable how upset she was and yet not conducive to communication. Additionally, it sounded like they needed to develop a plan of action, and for that – Lexie needed all the information possible.
“Okay,” Ramona sniffled. Lexie could hear her sister take a deep, cleansing breath and start again.
“The girls graduated college today,” she said. “Thank you, by the way, for sending along the amazing gifts. They loved the tickets.”
“No worries,” Lexie said, waiting to hear the punch line of what should have been the best day of Ramona’s life.
Her sister had made a lifetime commitment to her family and was the best stay-at-home-mom possible to her girls. Now, as they were twenty-one and graduated college, Ramona was looking forward to the next chapter in her life. She and Neal had been growing apart, and she confided in Lexie that with the girls out of the house, they hoped they could travel or maybe find activities to share to start solidifying their relationship. Her sister believed in marriage being a contract for life and was not about to give up as long as there was life left in her marriage, so Ramona remained an optimist in that regard despite a few rocky years.
“So, we all went to graduation like one big happy family,” Ramona sounded like the event had been anything but happy, though Lexie didn’t say that as it would have added fuel to her sister’s anger and grief. “Then we came home, and this woman was in my house. A pretty little thing that looked to be in her late twenties, and she had mine and the girl’s things packed in suitcases on the front lawn.” There was a loud round of sobs at that statement, and Lexie tried to remain calm, though her blood started to boil.
“What! How dare he? Neal has another woman. How long has this been going on?” Lexie shot questions off, trying to focus Ramona and get a clearer picture of the horror and injustice her sister had faced today.
“A while, considering she has a five-year-old son by him,” she said, causing Lexie to slump into the chair behind her. Now that development would definitely put a bit of a wrinkle in things, to be sure.
“I don’t understand. Has he been living an entirely different life this entire time? I thought you told me that you had started counseling last year and that you had high hopes that this upcoming vacation working things out between you.”
“I did, but he obviously had a different endgame than me, and I think he just needed time,” Ramona said. “He handed me a thousand dollars in cash and divorce papers. Then he told the girls he had deposited all the money they would get into their checking accounts and walked calmly into the house and slammed the door in our face.”
“I have never heard anything so harsh in all my life,” Lexie said. “Where are you now?”
“The three of us are sitting in a hotel room trying to figure out what we are supposed to do now. Lexie, he has papers drawn up that say I get nothing. That because he brought everything into the marriage and was the primary breadwinner, it goes to him – all of it,” she said in disbelief. “I have to believe that can’t be right. He wouldn’t be able to do this legally, but considering that he is a financial wizard, I’m afraid he figured out a way. I just,” she stopped again, and Lexie could feel her heart breaking. She had no idea how Ramona was even holding it together at this point; she would be in jail after whooping Neal if she was there.
“Okay, wait, did you try to talk to him or break into the house, or anything?”
“I did bang on the door until two of the neighbors came out to ask what was going on,” Ramona said quietly and sounded beaten at this point. “So we called the police, which, as you can imagine in this neighborhood, will be the gossip for weeks.”
“Great, so what did the cops say?”
“They told me it was a domestic issue, and Neal’s name alone is on the house.”
“You aren’t on the deed or anything?”
“You know we bought this right after the wedding and have built on and refurbished over the years,” she gave a small whine. “I honestly didn’t get into the finances much considering Neal was so adamant that with his financial planning background he had it.”
“I know. He seemed good at it, too, from how you described it. So, the police, did they talk to him?”
“Yep, he and his sweet little thing came to the door as a team and let the police know we were going through a divorce. He said I was deranged and had been stalking him.”
“He did not!” Lexie could feel rage building. This was a man that had been part of her family for close to twenty-five years. How could someone do this to his own family?
“He did, and Lexie, I couldn’t continue to put Luna, myself, and Rose through that – we looked like the pathetic party. Besides, the police said that they couldn’t let us back in the house as it appeared it could be unsafe for all parties and recommended I seek legal advice. I’m out of options,” she said as she blew her nose.
“Well, you know what you have to do,” Lexie said immediately. “Head south to Florida. You always said if things changed, you could come here and be happy. So why don’t you and the girls head in this direction?”
“Actually, Luna got a job here as a teacher that starts in a couple of weeks,” Ramona said with a small sigh. “Apparently, there is enough money in the account Neal supplied plus from her job during school for her to put security down on an apartment. As for Rose,” she sniffled, “she already had this backpacking plan with friends for six months – she is going ahead with that. I’m the only one that seriously has no plans. Lexie, even if I get there, what am I going to do? I'm a forty-three-year-old woman, over the prime of her life and not a cent to my name.”
Lexie chuckled as a long-held secret surfaced in her mind. She didn’t need to burden Ramona with the details in her current state, but if she could get her here, she was certain her sister would thank her – or at least, she hoped she would.
“Listen, you know those bungalows you loved last time you got to visit? We ended up purchasing that dilapidated property a couple of weeks ago and were going to get around to a rehab project on them. I will get Jason on it now, and soon we should have you your own cute little bungalow and maybe even a kitchen to start that catering business you’ve always talked about. We don’t have anyone here in Tidal Bay that can cook nearly as well as you,” she was truthful and a little selfish. Having her sister nearby was a dream come true for Lexie, and her cooking was just a bonus.
“I don’t know,” Ramona said. “I don’t want to leave the girls and just turn tail and run.”
“Ramona, you are forty-three, not dead. I might kill Neal if you make me come up there and get you,” she said determinedly. “Come to Florida! A little sun, fun, and wine on a beach could be just the thing you need to come up with a plan.”
Ramona sighed. “Okay. You are right. I could use a fresh perspective and, being with you and Ada is exactly what I need right now. Give me a day or two to get the girls all settled on their paths, and I’ll let you know when I’m on my way.”
“Yay!” Lexie squealed like a teenager and not the nearly fifty-year-old woman she was according to the calendar. “I’ll get working on your new home and workspace.”
“We can hold off on that,” Ramona said, “I didn’t agree to stay long-term.”
“Oh, you will,” Lexie interjected. “I will see you when you get here,” and before another argument could be had, she hung up.
“Ada,” she said, walking through the house they shared on the property of the Barefoot Bungalow Resort. “Turns out Mom and Dad knew what they were talking about,” she said with a sigh. “You’ll never guess what that scumbag did to Ramona.”
The story keeps going.
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