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“This is it,” Drew announced before he got into the car. “Take care of my baby.” He patted the side of the Airstream.
“I will.”
He reached his hand out for a shake, but when I took it, he pulled me in for a hug instead. “Good luck, dude.”
Patting his back before pulling away, I said, “Thanks. I’ll need it.” My eyes spotted Charlee a little way down the beach with Midnight.
“Take care of that one, too.” He followed my glance and tipped his head in the direction of Charlee.
“I will.”
If she would let me.
I waited until he pulled out of the campground and then headed down the beach to find her.
Charlee
It was more private near the cliff rocks, so it had always been my place to sit as Midnight did her usual game of running at the waves, barking when they charged back at her. Genesis, my best friend from high school, and her boyfriend, Jayden, adopted a dog and brought him here a lot when we hung out. He was a chocolate lab and loved running into the ocean to fetch whatever we threw out there. I missed Gen, even now, although I hadn’t spoken to her since after we graduated. She helped me get through losing my parents. My dad had been sick for a long time before he passed when I was nineteen, but my mom’s passing was sudden a few years later. One day I went to go check on her because I hadn’t seen her all morning, and she was just lying unmoving on the bed. Her heart had just stopped. If it wasn’t for Genesis, I never would have gotten through it.
Genesis held me in her arms on my couch, stroking my hair. “We could get a place together like we always talked about.”
Just having buried my mom, it was hard to think about all the plans Genesis and I had made. It was hard to think about anything right now.
“You will always have Bridger and me, Char. You’ll never be alone.”
It felt like a kind of promise that seemed impossible to keep. There was always the possibility that Bridger and I would break up and Genesis had always talked about moving across the country. There were so many what-ifs tied up with promises. And the biggest one of them all, what if they died?
It was a dark thought, but possible, and I was in a dark place where awful things bloomed.
“Or we could live here if you want?” She motioned her hand around the room.
Everything that was my mom’s was mine now, including the house I grew up in.
I shook my head. “I can’t.”
Living here without my mom seemed implausible and I had already decided to sell the place. Bridger’s dad had offered to handle it through his company.
I grabbed another tissue, wiped my face, and piled it on top of the other used ones on the coffee table. “I don’t want to hold you back, Gen. You have always had big dreams.” She went to New York City to train at one of the top cosmetology schools in the country, straight out of high school, and she and Jayden had planned on moving to downtown somewhere in Los Angeles for her apprenticeship.
“I can still have my dreams and be your best friend.”
“But what about Jayden?”
“He won’t mind if we all live together. We could even rent a house with you and Bridger if you want.”
It sounded fun, and Bridger was gone a lot on surf tours, so it would make sense. I wouldn’t have to be alone all the time. “I can talk to him about it.”
She squealed loudly and hugged me tight. “A fresh start, Char. That’s all you need.”
The fresh start never happened. Jayden was killed a few months later in a head-on collision down the mountain on his way to the beach. The other driver had lost control and veered into his car, pushing him over the edge. The officials said he died on impact, as if that would somehow make the tragedy easier to digest. In the end, consoling Genesis hadn’t been enough and she packed up and left for her aunt’s farm in Tennessee.
I never heard from her again.
After sending Levi away yesterday, I stayed in the trailer the rest of the day, too mentally exhausted to get out of bed. Today, I felt refreshed, though, and had brought Midnight to play in the water. When she was finished, Midnight ran back up the beach and plopped in my lap. She was worn out, so I carried her back to the trailer and then headed to the café to grab my morning latte. It was a little busy, so I snuck back to my booth instead of bothering Beverly.
Beverly seemed worried as she approached the booth. “How you doing, hon?” She dropped off my favorite muffin, blueberry, and my latte.
“I’m alright,” I replied as more of a question. “Why?”
