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Urgency and patience don’t go together well, but somehow I manage to harness both in this conversation.
“You know where Jane lives?”
“Apartment downtown, on the water. Yeah.”
“No,” he corrects me. “That’s her mom’s place. Jane’s in some middle-rent apartment complex by the I-5.” He gives me an address. “I didn’t tell you that.”
“You also didn’t give me two hours.”
“Didn’t do that, either.” He looks pointedly near a cluster of bushes at the edge of shore. I see a suspicious blonde ponytail poke up among the greenery.
“This conversation never happened.” I mouth the words Thank you.
“You never happened.”
And with that, one of my best friends walks away, leaving me by the ocean. I have a new mission.
I don’t exist.
“Drew?”
Maybe I do.
Her voice is tentative, so hesitant it’s like she’s peeling my skin off, one strip at a time.
“Drew. I saw the video. Oh, God, Drew.”
Chapter 17
Ever walk on stilts? That’s how it feels as I make my way across the sand toward the cluster of shoreline brush that dots the beach. The carefully landscaped grounds of The Grove have to give way to untamed nature at some point.
That line is here.
Right between our bodies.
There’s no moon tonight, just a cloudy grey sky that doesn’t leave witnesses. No one can see us unless they’re trying. I get the feeling Mark’s given the rest of the team explicit orders to give us space. I also know my time is limited.
Whatever’s about to happen needs to be swift.
Bold.
Complete.
I don’t say anything as I stop a few feet from her, waiting. None of this is within my authority. Lindsay calls all the shots.
“I saw.” The wind picks up her words and carries them out over the ocean, the words licked by salt water, diffused into the enormity, made part of the water and sent to parts unknown, where dragons live.
“You did.” I don’t ask.
“I saw enough. I didn’t need to watch the whole thing – oh, Drew. Why didn’t you tell me?”
And there it is. Four years of anticipating that question.
And it’s happening now.
I open my mouth to answer and nothing comes out. I widen my eyes to see her better and my vision pinpricks. I flex my hands to reach for her and I freeze.
I can’t.
