The Charm Bracelet(31)

“I’m glad I’m here, Grandma. Until we arrived, I’d been so stressed. I feel bad about what I said earlier,” Lauren said, a look of sadness on her face. “I’d never want to upset you or my mom.”

Lolly sighed. “I’m so sorry the problems of others have affected your life so deeply. Humans are like dominoes. Once we start to fall, we tend to take everyone along with us. I promise we will work this out, okay? Now, we can’t solve everything this minute, but we can have a beach day.”

Lauren nodded, and the two sprinted hand in hand toward the water, both still in the bikinis they had worn earlier that morning. They rushed past Arden and into the lake like wild horses.

“Wheeeeeeeee!” Lolly screamed, jumping headfirst into the water, before coming up and shaking like a wet dog.

“Wheeeeee!” Lauren echoed.

“There’s only one way to tackle life, enjoy a day at the beach, and jump into a Great Lake: Headfirst!” Lolly yelled. “Okay, my dear! Your turn!”

“Mom, it’s too cold!”

Arden was still standing at the edge of the clear, cold water, her arms overhead, her teeth chattering. Lolly began to splash her daughter. Lauren followed suit.

“Mom! Lauren! Stop it! Grow up!”

“No!” they replied. “You grow down!”

“Stop it!”

“No!”

“MOM!”

“ARDEN!”

“LAUREN!”

“MOM!”

Water was now running down Arden’s face.

“I’m already wet!” she yelled at them, spewing water.

Arden gave her mother a menacing look, took off her glasses and tossed them back onto the sand where they landed with a soft whoosh, and sprinted directly into the lake toward her mother, screaming like a banshee.

Arden dove into the water, grabbing her mother as she submerged, the cold of Lake Michigan taking her breath away. The two opened their eyes as they plummeted toward the sandy bottom.

Arden—sans glasses—watched her mother through the prism of the rippling water, smiling, now laughing, the sun reflecting off her head and off the water, the ripples erasing her age, making her look smooth and young.

As the two rose to the surface, Lolly messed up Arden’s hair, and laughed, huge air bubbles leaving her mouth and revolving around her head, like a character in a cartoon strip who has a lot to say.

And then Lolly reached in to hold her daughter, and, for the first time in ages, Arden felt safe, weightless, protected under water—even for just an instant—and when they came up and headed toward the shore, Arden watched their reflections—mother and daughter—dance in the water.

“I love you more than anything,” Lolly said to her daughter, and Arden felt overcome with happiness.

Lauren was waiting with towels for her mother and grandmother as they came out of the water, the sun-dappled droplets shimmering on their skin like glitter.

“Are you ready, Grandma?” Lauren asked, smiling.

Lolly stared at her granddaughter. “For what, dear?”

“Our surprise.”

Lolly cocked her head at Lauren as she dried her face.

“Grandma?” Lauren said, starting to frown. “Remember?”

Lolly studied her granddaughter’s face, searching for a clue. She shut her eyes for a few seconds. “Oh, yes,” she started. “The … the…”

Arden and Lauren stared at her.

“I can’t come up with the word,” she said.

For a moment, Lolly stared into her daughter’s eyes, and they gave each other a look that seemed to say, “What are we going to do?”

Without warning, Lauren took off running across the beach. Arden walked over and put her arm around her mother.

“It’s going to be okay,” Arden said, as much for herself as for her mother.

“Here, Grandma,” Lauren gasped a brief moment later, out of breath. “I think this is what you were looking for … the kite.”

Lolly’s face lit up. “Yes. Yes, my dear. That’s it.”

“Here,” Lauren said, thrusting a handmade kite made from the Sunday funnies into her mother’s hands. A long tail of fabric scraps that had been haphazardly tied together dangled onto the sand, leaving a shallow trail—all the way along the beach where Lauren had just run.

“What’s this?”

“Haven’t you ever seen a kite before?” Lolly laughed, shaking her head like a dog, her hair drying quickly in the sun and frizzing into an impossibly adorable version of cotton candy. “That’s why I told you my story. I realized I never made you a kite.”

“We made it for you this morning,” Lauren continued, “but I didn’t know the whole story until just now.”

“What do I do with it?” Arden said, feeling a mix of emotions.

Lolly walked up to her daughter and put her arm around her goose-pimpled back. The two began to walk the edge of the shore, the waves churning at their feet, erasing their footsteps as quickly as they left them.

“We have so little in life that we can control,” Lolly said to her daughter over the surf. “But our happiness is one of those things. That’s what your grandmother was trying to teach me: That no matter what happens in life, we can still have fun and be happy.”