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She takes an unsteady breath. “I don’t know where to begin.”
“At the beginning, Skye. Just give it to me straight for once.” I hate the desperation in my tone, but my whole world was just upended. Seeing him again brings back all the old feelings I’vespent so long suppressing, convincing myself that it was only an isolated event and could never happen again. Not to me. Not to someone I love.
She nods, taking a deep breath in an attempt to still the trembling of her hands. “My mother’s name is Sarah Matthews, and she met and married my father, Nathan Matthews, in Gray’s Cove, California. That’s where I’m from.” She unties her tank top from around my bicep, then uses a clean cloth with a strong smelling antiseptic to clean the wound.
“California,” I echo. “Figures.”
A hint of a smile lifts at the corners of her lips. “My mother had me and Paige on a surfboard before we could even really stand. I never knew how deep her love for surfing went until a few days ago. At your shop.” She pauses, and my eyes meet hers. There’s an unfathomable pain swimming just below the surface, so deep I can’t reach it. “My mother had a whole life I never knew about. She never told us about her past, and I never asked. I mean, she and my father died in a car crash when I was six. Paige was three. So I never knew to ask. But she had another name. Sienna Lassiter.”
My eyes narrow. “What?”
“The woman on the wall in your shop, who won the surfing competitions when she was only a kid. Kaos Surf’s first sponsored surfer. She was my Mom.”
I shake my head. “That’s impossible. She died in a fire.”
“It didn’t make sense to me either, but then I started researching. They found her boyfriend’s body, Dylan Knight. But they never found her. They only presumed she was in the fire because Dylan was, and her car was in the parking lot. I don’t know what happened, but she escaped. She faked herdeath. She left Pelican Beach for California, changed her name, and started a new life.”
“But why?”
She shakes her head. “I don’t know. I wish I had answers, but I don’t. All I know is that she left. My Mom had me four years after that photo on your wall was taken. She wasn’t that different when I knew her, and there is no doubt in my mind that Sarah Matthews and Sienna Lassiter are the same person.”
“Shit,” I say, thinking back to all the times I’ve passed those photos on the wall at Kaos, and never knew. I reach up and rub at the ache forming in my temples. “I’ve heard stories about Sienna my whole life. And now I’m sleeping with her daughter.”
“Trust me,” she says, rolling her eyes. “It’s a mindfuck for me too.”
“Okay, so crazy family history with unknown ties to Pelican Beach. What does this have to do with Evan and Cyrus?” I ask, struggling to connect the dots.
“Buckle up, it’s going to be a bumpy ride,” she warns. “This is only the beginning.”
I suck in a pained breath when the antiseptic stings my wound, and she apologizes.
“My Mom left something in Pelican Beach, and Paige came here to find it,” Skye continues, setting the cloth down on the table as she reaches into her backpack. She pulls out a book with a worn white cover, and black lettering across the front that readsThe Collected Poems of Sylvia Montclair.
“She left a poetry book?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.
Skye shakes her head. “This is hers. This book is one of the only things I have left from my mother. I don’t know why, but Icould never bring myself to read it. I found it in Paige’s things when I went to her apartment.” She opens it to the back cover, and shows me the library check-out card with the name Sienna Lassiter on it. My eyes meet hers.
“So it is true,” I say in shock.
She nods. “Then I found this.” She pulls the dust cover off the front and carefully detaches a Polaroid picture taped inside, handing it to me. My eyes glance over the photo, studying every intricacy of the scene, my heart speeding in my chest. The woman I recognize on the bed, the newborn wrapped in a Kaos Surf shirt, the dated motel room, and the name scribbled at the bottom.
Raven.
“Um… hold on. What?” I ask.
“Sienna was Raven’s Mom too. She was pregnant when the Pier burned down, and Dylan died. When she left Pelican Beach, she left Raven. I don’t know why, unless she was in trouble. Maybe she was responsible for the fire. But that’s why Paige was here. She found that photo and came here to see if it was true. She never told me any of this. I was completely blindsided. I never knew why she chose to come here, all the way across the continent. I just thought she wanted to travel and experience a different life. But this is why. She came here for Raven.”
I look into her eyes. Really look at her, and think about Raven. The shape of her face. The haunting green eyes. I lean back into my chair. I can see it. “Fuck. What about Alice? Raven has a Mom.”
She nods. “I’ve been thinking about that too, and the only thing I can come to is this.” She points to the Polaroid in my hand. “Who do you think took that photo?”
“Alice knows.” It’s not a question. “She kept it a secret all these years.”
“Maybe she was afraid the state would take her away. Maybe she promised Sienna she would take care of her. Or maybe she thought Raven would leave if she knew the truth. Whatever that truth is, only Alice can tell us. Because clearly, no one else knows.” Skye takes the photo back from me and sticks it into the book’s dust jacket, tucking it back into her backpack.
“Paige started working at the Sandbar to get close to Raven,” I state. “Raven works at the Aurora, Paige starts working at the Aurora. She went to Jupiter Crash concerts.”
Skye nods. “Paige would send me her music all the time. That’s how I know all the lyrics to a local band. I’ve been listening to her for months, never knowing she was my sister.”
