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No. This was the right one.
But the sand is completely unbroken here. No footprints. No chairs. No debris.
Just pure, smooth beachfront.
“What the hell?” Mendo asks. “Shouldn’t your hut be, like, right here?”
I try to answer him, but my voice is as lost as the bar I once tended.
Mendo moves to where the hut stood. “How did it just ... fly away? Wasn’t there concrete or joists or anything?”
There wasn’t. It was a plain wood construction sitting on the ground. Every so often we’d have to pack in sand to keep it level.
And it flew into nothing.
Sarah catches up to us. “We found a few bottles in one of the courtyards,” she says. “And the blackboard. It’s remarkably unharmed. It’s in the office.”
I lift my hands to my head, elbows outstretched. So that’s it. I won’t ever be able to convince Tillie to come here and work with me. I don’t even have a job myself.
I don’t have a bar. I don’t have anything.
“You’ll get insurance money, right?” Mendo asks.
I nod. I will get a check. Not a big one. It will only be for the contents of the hut. The fridges. The register. The dishwasher. Maybe some of the inventory.
I turn to Sarah. “I guess they don’t have a timeline for when they’ll rebuild?”
Her gaze darts away. “I, uh, don’t think they plan to. Dorian will call you. The bar was never something he wanted. It was a legacy structure from before he bought the complex.”
“Well, damn,” Mendo says.
I don’t look her way.
Because that’s it.
I’m definitely starting over.
Chapter 37
TILLIE
It’s three days before I hear from Gabe. Three long, horrible days.
Then the call comes.
I’m on shift at Badger’s, but I walk straight out of the bar and into the night. I couldn’t care less if nobody gets a drink tonight. Badger’s there. He can pull beer.
“What’s happening? Where are you? Is everyone okay?”
His voice is smooth and unconcerned. “Hey, slow down. We’re all right.”
I sit on the curb. “You have power?”
“Mom does. My apartment is still out.”
“But you’re okay?”
“No casualties on the island. Just a lot of rain and downed trees. The marina is toast, but Mendo moved his boat.”
