To the Sea (Follow your Bliss) Read Online Free

right.
    She
crept out of Jeremy’s side of the bed and went downstairs. Kira quietly
whispered, “Where would you like to rest?”
    The
dim moonlight made the dark urn look almost sinister. She rubbed goose bumps
off her arms.
    Next
thing, Kira heard a crash and rushed to the hall closet, where the umbrella
she’d used earlier appeared to have opened and fallen. As she picked it up to
refasten the snap, the shiny white and buff surfboard Jeremy had used all
summer stood like a beacon leaning on the wall in the closet.
    She
ran her fingers over its smooth surface, imagined him paddling out, and riding
a wave. She’d never actually seen him surf; he knew she didn’t like the beach
and its unkempt landscape. She preferred pools to fresh or salt water, and even
that stretched her far beyond her comfort zone. Kira preferred the certainty of
dry land. She imagined Jeremy’s tousled, wet hair and sly grin as he rode a
wave triumphantly to shore.
    He
took up the sport last summer, gone for long weekends. Like so often, his
repeated absence irked her, but now she would give nearly anything to get those
moments back. Loss chewed her up, spit her out, and then trampled her heart.
    Nevertheless,
in that moment, Kira knew the ocean was the place to bring Jeremy’s ashes. It
wasn’t a place they’d shared in common, but given how much he went over the
summer and the glow he had when he returned, she knew it must have been special
to him. He grew up by the beach on the Cape and paddled the Charles with crew;
he belonged back in the water.
    Resolved,
Kira leaned the surfboard on the wall by the door. Taking a deep breath, a
single tear fell. She let it run down her face, and plop onto her shirt.
Another followed, and another, until she could taste the salt in her mouth.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

 
    Chapter Three
     
    Another
sleepless night haunted Kira with memories. Like pages in a scrapbook, images
of the past flooded her mind, including Jeremy and his fraternity brothers
teasing and jesting, nights studying side by side, frat parties, and a trip to
the stacks on the fourth floor of the library, where he convinced her to have
sex. Then the feeling of pride that Jeremy picked her over countless
girls who were crazy for him, along with sleepy breakfasts, café lunches, and
dinners.
    She
recalled a ski trip to Vermont, where she matched him on the slopes in ability.
Kira watched in slow-motion the graduation party, walking down the aisle to
Jeremy’s side, their night in Nantucket. Then there were hours spent touring
houses and sending him photos from her phone, finally signing the deed, trips
to home goods stores with his credit card encouraging her to buy the entire
line of Martha Stewart innovative organizational products, followed by
unpacking and decorating. All the while, ceaseless pain snaked its way into
each image.
    The
memories marched on as the tears ran relentlessly down Kira’s face, and then
the deluge abruptly stopped. She realized there weren’t any more memories
unless she counted pale mornings waking up beside Jeremy, dashing off to work,
and waiting for him to come home, but falling asleep before he returned. Her
curtailed marriage forced further sobs to sweep through her.
    She
went to the shower. Like a stream converging with a river, tears ran into the
warm water as it rained down from overhead. This time the tears weren’t about
the past, they were about the lost future.
    Kira
returned to the edge of the bed, wrapped in a robe, and stared out into the
predawn darkness. An early bird chirped outside, signaling a moratorium on
Kira’s doleful thoughts, and a plan formed in her mind. 
    Cradling
the black urn in the crook of one arm, Kira took the sleek surfboard in the
other. As she exited, she caught a breath of crisp night air on her way to the
black Mercedes.
    The
surfboard didn’t fit into the back of the SUV without blocking her rearview.
She found ties in the garage,