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She running on a compound fracture. She’s out of her mind.
No, I mean…
I don’t know what I mean. Something in her eyes. The way she grabbed me. Hurled me with a dislocated shoulder. What she said. That guttural voice.
You promised to look after me. I gave you everything, and you made an oath, and youbrokeour pact.
Am I losing it? Hypothermia can have lasting mental effects. Confusion and disorientation, just like I’m seeing with Sadie. AmIthinking straight?
“We need to get you to the house,” Kit says firmly. He hugs me, being careful with my shoulder. His mouth moves to my ear, letting him lower his voice. “If we see Sadie, I’ll try to bring her in. If we don’t, I’ll leave you in Jayla’s hands and take Garrett. Sadie will come out for Garrett. We’ll find her, and we’ll help her.”
I nod against his chest.
Another light squeeze, and then he releases me.
“Let’s go.”
TWENTY
I take the long way back to the house. KitknowsI’m taking the long way and says nothing. This is the direction Sadie ran. I keep telling myself we’re bound to see her. How much farther can she go on that leg? Yet I don’t catch so much as a glimpse of that pale shirt or her blond hair, even when the downpour subsides.
“Storm’s letting up,” Kit says beside me. We can talk in normal voices now, and the sun filters through gray clouds overhead. “We’ll get Sadie, and we’ll figure it out.”
Figure it out how? Hope that someone decides to head out for an autumn boat ride while storm clouds still threaten?
I don’t think I’ve ever comprehended what would happen if I were stranded on the island. All those times Kit tried to buy me a sat phone, even he hadn’t pushed too hard. After all, we had a motorboat and canoe, and even a kayak could do in a pinch, Plus, I never came up without letting multiple people know where I’d be and for how long. Then there was Nate, who always “popped by” if I visited for more than a few days.
“Did you ask Nate to check on me?” I say.
The question startles Kit, but after he recovers, he shrugs. “I wishI could take credit, but it was his idea. I knew you’d want to be able to write undisturbed, but when he suggested it, I agreed.”
“And paid him.”
It’s not a question. Kit knew how to strike that perfect balance, like he had with those anonymous gifts while Anna was sick. Nate would have volunteered, and to assume he wanted pay would be insulting. Yet Kit would find a way to compensate him.
“I…” He shoves his hands in his pockets. “I opened a college fund for him. His aunt helped. When he was ready to go back to school, she’d have told him it was some kind of post-pandemic scholarship fund for students experiencing hardship.”
His hands dig deeper into his pockets, shoulders rising as he must think the same thing I do. Nate won’t need that fund now. The money will go to his funeral instead.
“His aunt has a couple of kids still in high school,” Kit says. “I’ll make sure they’re covered if they want to go to college.”
I loop my arm through his and say nothing. Kit isn’t looking for virtue points. That’d be easy to do in his position. Sprinkle money here and there and point neon arrows at it. He follows his parents’ example and just does it, and if he’s concerned it’ll draw attention to him as the benefactor, he slides it under the radar and hopes the connection won’t be made.Genuinelyhopes it won’t be made.
“Earlier, I asked when Sadie last contacted you,” he says. “That wasn’t a random question.”
“Okay.”
“You said it was after we got married.”
“Right.”
“Did you—?” He stops short to look off to the left, but when I glance over, there’s nothing there, and he keeps walking.
“Did I what?” I ask when he doesn’t continue.
He shakes his head. “I know you didn’t, and Ishouldhave known, but I was never quite certain about the state of things between you two.”
“Between me and Sadie?”
