“I don’t mind,” he said. “It’s the least I can do.”
Audra paused behind the chair Jeff had occupied only minutes before, her fingers gripping its top. Her gaze fixed on the crumpled napkin he’d used. She imagined the group rambling through the trees and back onto the beach, heading toward the duo of tents she pictured were a lot like Mary Poppins’s magic carpet bag. Bigger on the inside. Persian rugs and giant beds. Dozens of silk pillows tucked into impossibly deep corners of those tiny nylon wigwams. And there, in the center of the lush purples and reds of her imagination, was Jeff the Angel. Jeff the Protector. Jeff the All Powerful. The fixer of all things broken.
A familiar, nagging doubt held her motionless where she stood. What would she do if, a day or two from now, she took Shadow onto the beach and those tents were gone? What if she lost them to the ocean? What if she couldn’t find them again through the rain?
“How long do you think you’re staying?” she asked, casting her gaze up to Deacon’s face.
He lifted a single shoulder in a shrug as though, to them, time was irrelevant. They could live on the beach forever, or maybe they’d pack up and leave that night. “The weather has been pretty bad,” he said. “The boys don’t mind it too much, but the girls are getting restless. We may need to find somewhere calmer.”
Audra held her tongue, bided her time, took a moment to consider, then reconsider. If she made the offer, she was making a commitment. Her sanctuary of silence and solitude would be gone, erased from her life for the foreseeable future. Could she handle that?
“Why?” Deacon asked. “You want to come with us?”
She shook her head. Something told her that those tents weren’t quite as big on the inside as she pictured them to be.
“No?” The clinking of plates. The jingle of silverware.
“Maybe you should stay here,” she said. It was a crazy proposition, but it was also an empty house. There were three bedrooms with only one person to fill them while nine people battled the wind and rain a quarter mile away. “I mean, if you all want to stay in Pier Pointe longer.” She lifted her shoulders, dismissing the enormity of her suggestion. Did Deacon understand how big of a step this was for her? Could he possibly fathom how much courage it took? She’d been a loner for her entire life; to have him accept for the group was to change everything.
When Deacon didn’t respond, she pulled her attention from Jeffrey’s napkin and dared to peek up at him. She found him standing just as still as she was. He balanced a stack of dirty plates in his right hand, a glass of silverware in his left. A moment later, he was placing the dishes back on the table. He stepped around it, paused to look her in the eyes, and then drew her into a tight embrace.
“Thank you,” he murmured against the top of her head.
“Thank you,” she whispered in return. Because the promise of a new life was far bigger than the solitude she’d miss.
10
* * *
VEE STOOD DEEP in the orchard, her phone held aloft and the camera app focusing in on a straight column of trees. It was a great shot, one that would get her at least a few likes and comments on Facebook and Instagram. She texted the shot to Heidi.
Cherry orchard behind the house.
At least it’s pretty here. But boring! What’s up?
She considered cutting to the chase and asking about Tim, but she didn’t want to be obvious about it. Vee was pretty sure her best friend knew she had it bad for her brother, but to Vee’s relief, Heidi hadn’t ever brought it up. Then again, it would have been nice to have someone keep an eye on Tim for the next two months, keep her in the loop, let her know if anything weird was going on. It wasn’t as though Vee and Tim were a thing, but she had her hopes. He was the first boy she daydreamed about. She’d even practiced kissing her pillow, though she’d take that little detail with her to the grave.
Her phone blipped in her hand.
Cool, but looks like the boonies! LOL
Not much. Going 2 the movies 2nite.
Vee frowned at the text. She bet Heidi was going with Clara and Laurie. Maybe, since Vee was missing, they even invited Jenn along even though Jenn was a total drag. Jenn was the type of kid to rat on her friends if her parents so much as suspected she’d been doing something she wasn’t supposed to be doing. It was why the girls tended not to invite her to hang out. Clara liked to curse and Laurie loved dirty jokes, and both Vee and Heidi were “weird” with their dark clothes and choice of music. It wouldn’t have taken much for Jenn to blab to her mother after hanging out with a motley crew like them.
What movie? With Tim?
She bit her bottom lip and busied herself with Instagram while waiting for a reply. So what if Heidi knew Vee liked Tim? Wasn’t that what friends were for? If she and Tim ended up going out, it would just be an excuse for Vee to spend even more time at Heidi’s place. Heck, if she and Tim ended up getting married, she and Heidi would kind of be like sisters, and that would be pretty cool.
Don’t know yet LOL
Vee glowered at the screen. Don’t know what? she wanted to know. Don’t know what movie you’re going to see, or don’t know if Tim is going? Didn’t Heidi get that this was important? Vee was an entire country away, nothing but her and her dad—a father that, sooner rather than later, would forget all about her, lost in his work—and all Heidi could do was reply with her stupid LOLs. Vee squeezed the phone tight in her hand, attempting to subdue her mounting frustration, then began to type up a response:
Don’t know what?
Delete.
Don’t be a jerk.
Delete.
Why can’t you just answer?
Delete.
Stop being such a bitch!
No.