Came to a fork stuck in the road
My mind is crystal clear
I know exactly where to go
Anywhere but here
All the stars shine so bright
Maybe I should pack my things and fly into the sky
Diffuser, "Breakaway"

Joanne adjusted the brim of her straw hat and reclined in her beach chair. She lowered her Kate Spade sunglasses slightly and gave her son a glare.

"Hunter Johnson-Jefferson, do not bury your sister," she scolded. The six year old guiltily put down the plastic shovel he was wielding with a mischievous grin on his face.

Maureen returned from the beach house with a small cooler tucked under her arm, sweat beads rolling down the side of her face. "Okay," she sang. "I've got juice boxes for the kiddies and beers for the mommies—Hunter! Don't bury—"

"Oh-kay!" muttered Hunter.

Maureen knelt to brush the sand off Nina, who was wearing a pink and white sun suit with a matching hat covering her dark curls. "Next time, I'm throwing that shovel into the ocean and you'll never see it again." She scooped up the toddler and placed her on the cheery yellow blanket that was spread out in front of Joanne's and her chairs. She then reached into the cooler and pulled out a juice box. Nina whined as Maureen dug the straw into the box and wouldn't settle until she had it in her hands.

"Hunter, why don't you go take your shovel and see if anyone wants to play?" Joanne suggested. She gestured casually to a nearby family with a little boy about Hunter's age, with his sister who looked to be older, digging quite a large hole. "Maybe they need some help over there on their dig to China."

"I don't want to!"

Joanne rolled her eyes. "Fine. Sit here and do nothing, then."

After several seconds of stone-cold silence, Hunter gathered up his beach toys and stalked over. Joanne watched as Hunter shyly approached the siblings and, within moments, was happily digging with them. Joanne gave a wave to the other children's parents and, once she was sure Hunter was occupied, reached into the cooler for a beer, taking one out for Maureen as well.

"Thank you," Maureen replied, twisting off the cap. She took a sip from the sweating bottle and then pressed it to her forehead. "It's so damn hot out." She wore a red string bikini with black trim; her slender body glistening from perspiration and suntan lotion.

"You should be wearing a hat, baby," Joanne admonished, wearing a bright blue one-piece. "You want me to grab you one from the house?"

Maureen glanced sideways at her partner, "And look like I'm about to hit the Oregon Trail with Maw and Paw? No thanks. Hand me the SPF one-trillion."

"Suit yourself." Though Joanne knew that with Maureen's Irish ancestry, she had no chance in the sun. She'd be as red as her bikini by the time the sun went down.

The Johnson-Jefferson family was currently spending their vacation in Long Beach Township, New Jersey, in a small and recently developed area known as Loveladies, where the majority of the properties were privately owned by upscale residents. Joanne's family had owned a large-scale beachfront home in Loveladies for at least twenty years, and was one of Joanne's favorite vacation spots. They had been taking the children there since Hunter was an infant.

"Do you feel guilty at all," Maureen reached for her vintage cat's-eye sunglasses, "that we're here and everyone else is back in New York?"

Joanne raised an eyebrow and sat up. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, with Collins not doing so well…do you think we should have cancelled this year?"

"You're not serious. I don't think Collins would want us to cancel our vacation."

Maureen was silent in thought. "Do you remember where we were when my father died?"

"We were in Stamford for that GLSEN event."

"Yeah, well—thing is, I should have been there. Instead I was in a hotel ballroom in Connecticut, drinking red wine and discussing Wendy Wasserstein!"

"Maureen, your father had a heart attack. No one could have predicted that."

"You don't know what it's like," Maureen continued. "When we got back to the room and I found that message on my phone from Richie—it's a helpless feeling, to know that someone you love is dead and there was nothing that could have been done and you weren't there!"

"Maureen, calm down," Joanne slid off her beach chair and sat on the blanket with Maureen and Nina, who was busily scooping dry sand into a plastic bucket with her hands. She gently rubbed her back in an attempt to soothe her.

"I'm sorry," Maureen whispered. "I don't know why I'm acting like this." She swiped at a renegade tear trying to escape the corner of her eye.

"You've known Collins for a long time," Joanne said. "It's okay. I understand. You guys were roommates for years."

"He was like my brother. He was such a companion to me before he got that job at MIT."

"If you want to cut the vacation short," Joanne offered, "you can go back to New York and I'll stay here with the kids and finish out the week."

Maureen bit the inside of her cheek. "I just don't want to be the last to know."

"I know, baby, I know."

Maureen kissed Joanne's shoulder. "Could I borrow your cell phone, pookie?"

"What for?"

"I want to call Mark. He'll know what to do." She didn't want to let Joanne know that, even after all these years, and despite every conflict, Maureen still trusted Mark's opinion over everyone else's.

Joanne raised an eyebrow and dipped into her green canvas tote and pulled out her sleek LG. "Why don't I take Nina down to the water," Joanne suggested. "Come on, Ninarina—let's go see the waves."

Maureen watched Joanne walk with Nina down to where the waves crashed onto the shore and crept up to the sand. She observed with a small smile Nina squealing with enjoyment as soon as the cold seawater touched the tips of her toes. After a few minutes, Maureen flipped open the cell and searched Joanne's contacts for Mark's office number. Speed dial seven, Maureen discovered, as she punched the numeral with her thumb.

"Mark Cohen," Mark answered on the fourth ring, in a clipped, business-like tone.

"Mark. It's Maureen."

A pause. "Hey, Maureen." Another pause. "Where are you?"

"In Loveladies with Joanne and the kids."

"Why are you calling me then?"

"I need to ask for your opinion."

"Oh…alright."

"Should we come back?" Maureen blurted.

"Huh? Back where?"

"Back from vacation. Back to New York. I don't know. It seems wrong that we're here and Collins—"

"Maureen?"

"Yeah?"

"Didn't we have this conversation like, two weeks ago?"

"…I think so."

"So…why are we having it again?"

"You still think it's okay for me to be on vacation?"

"Collins wouldn't want you to cancel your vacation because of him. You know that more than I do. Look, worse comes to worse, you're only, what, two hours away?" Mark confirmed. "This is your va-ca-tion," he stressed, talking to Maureen as if she were Nina. "Forget about New York, hunt for seashells with your kids and take a long nap. We'll all be here when you get back. Okay?"

"Okay," Maureen said in a small voice. As clueless as Mark could be, he really did have his valuable moments of clarity. "Thanks, Mark."

"You're welcome, kiddo. Have a great time. Love to Joanne."

"Thanks." They bid their farewells and Maureen snapped the phone closed just as Hunter returned to the blanket.

"Mama, I want juice," he announced. Maureen was known as "Mama" to Hunter, who couldn't say Maureen when learning to speak, and opted for just repeating the first syllable of her fist name.

"Please," she reminded him as she reached for the cooler, pulling it close to her. "Do your new friends want some? Here, we have plenty." She handed him three juice boxes and raised a hand to wave one mother to another.

"Thank you," he said as he meandered away, trying to balance the three boxes.

Joanne returned with Nina, her sun suit soaked in seawater. "We have a mini-mermaid on our hands," Joanne reported with a chuckle. "She had a blast."

"Oooh, really?" Maureen cooed as Nina happily toddled into her outstretched arms. "Did you have fun in the water, baby?"

"What did Mark say?" Joanne asked. She sat on the blanket and reached into her bag, this time for a box of baby wipes to clean the sticky sand from Nina's feet and hands.

"What do you think?" Maureen took the box from Joanne.

"I think we should go out for dinner tonight."

"Sounds like a plan."

A/N: This chapter is actually based on a semi-true event. Three days before I was set to leave for a ten-day trip to England, my grandfather suffered a heart attack and underwent bypass surgery. I fretted over whether or not this would affect my trip and considered cancelling, but it was my grandfather who urged me to go anyway. "Bring me back lots of pictures!" he said.

Also, I obviously don't know if Maureen is really Irish or not. I just kind of guessed, considering the fact that "Maureen" is a very Irish name.

And by the way: GLSEN is an acronym for the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network. It's a wonderful organization that works to put an end to discrimination, harassment and bullying based on sexual orientation and gender identity in schools all over the US.