In response I reach for my wallet and locate an object in one of the interior pockets. It was one of the only possessions I took from the Coral Beach house and I’ve never shown it to my mother. I’ve never shown it to anyone. Now I lay it on the table in front of her.
I don’t know when it was taken. He looks far younger here than I remember him. It’s a profile shot and he’s on a boat with the wind in his hair while he faces the ocean. From his expression it seems he was in the middle of laughing. This is how I like to remember him.
Her eyes widen when she sees the photo and then a tear falls down her cheek. But ultimately she smiles.
I take the keys from the nail beside the door. “We should talk about him.”
“Yes.” She nods. “We should.”
When I get to Camden’s house, Frankie is outside, talking to some of the neighborhood girls. He grins and waves when he sees me.
Camden’s dad answers the door and greets me with a fair amount of caution, which I can’t really fault him for. But her mother welcomes me with a broad smile and asks if I’d like something to eat.
Camden is drawn by the sound of my voice and she flies right into my arms. She looks sleepy and adorable in her sweat pants and robe and I don’t want to let go of her, not now, not ever. But her dad is standing nearby with his arms crossed and a vague frown so I disentangle her legs from around my waist and set her down.
“Are you okay?” Camden touches my face, my arms.
I grimace when she runs her hands over my chest. “Ribs kind of hurt but other than that it’s just a few bruises. I’m fine.”
“We’ll leave you two alone,” says Adela. She taps her husband on the arm and he finally gives me a nod of respect before following his wife down the hall, presumably to their bedroom.
Camden tenderly runs her fingertips over my jaw, which is slightly puffy. “I was so worried.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
The memory of last night returns to her and her eyes fill with tears. “I was afraid he was going to kill you.”
“He might have if it weren’t for you.” I lean in and kiss her, using my tongue to draw hers out and settling my hands on the soft curve of her hips. I’d love nothing more than to spend an endless stretch of hours lying next to her but I can’t do that. Time is short and there are things to say.
I end the kiss and look into her eyes. “You asked me once for an interview.”
She’s confused. “Yes. I did.”
I take her hand. “You can interview me now.”
“Now? But-”
“I can’t stay long, Cam. I need to leave for the airport in a few hours.”
She deflates a little and then nods. “All right. You can have a seat at the kitchen table. I’ll be right there.”
I don’t need to wait for very long. Camden returns promptly with her trusty notebook and the fountain pen I gave her for Christmas. She places her phone on the table and in a professional tone asks if I mind being recorded. I don’t mind at all.
With pen in hand and her phone recording she dives right into the first question. “Who are you and where are you from?”
I take a deep breath and begin the story. “My real name is Bennet Drexler…”
Camden is good at this. She listens without interrupting and asks the right questions when I pause. She keeps her emotions in check until I get to the part where I witnessed my father’s murder. Then her lip trembles and she reaches for my hand. She lets me finish telling the rest of it, right up until I started attending Black Mountain Academy.
When there are no more secrets left to tell she stops recording and sets down her pen.
“What happens how?”
“I fly back to Coral Beach with my mother today. I’ll have to give my statement and then testify if the authorities decide to try and charge Angus and his father. I don’t know if they will. There’s a lot of power behind the Drexler name and my cousin Grey seems confident they’ll have no trouble discrediting me.”
“Are you in danger?”
“Maybe. But there are a lot of people watching now. It’ll be a news story. Won’t be so easy to just make me disappear.”
“How long will you be gone?”
“I don’t know.”
She’s looking down and I know she’s trying so hard to be brave, not to cry. I tip her chin up and briefly kiss her lips.
“I’ll come back.”
She manages a tearful smile. “You promise?”
“I promise.” I stand and kiss her forehead. “Trust me.”
“I’ll trust you forever, Ben.”
My keys are in my hand. “You were right. People will want to hear this story. You should publish it in the Bulletin.”
“If that’s what you want then I will.”
She walks me to the door and we kiss one last time. It’s killing me to walk out on her and for a second I’m sure I’ll cry too.
I know she remains there at the front door watching as I walk away. I know she’ll keep watching until I’m gone. Halfway down the front walkway I pause and turn around. I give her the only thing I can give her. I hope it’s enough.
“I love you, Camden.”
And then I leave without looking back a second time because whether I want to or not, I need to go.
Camden
Trina literally drags me out of the newsroom at lunchtime. “You can’t keep moping around in there and eating sad little ham sandwiches by yourself. “
“I’m not moping,” I grumble but I allow myself to be propelled to that high energy den of gossip and drama known as the cafeteria.
School has been back in session for a week and just when I think it’s impossible to miss Ben any more than I already do, I walk to the bus stop the following morning and the ache deepens. No one except Trina minds when I keep to myself. Everyone’s busy talking about the hockey team or college applications. And today they’re also talking about the front page article in the latest issue of the Bulletin. I don’t need to talk about it. I know every word by heart. I wrote it.
Trina talks me into getting a stir fry bowl and then shepherds me to the table where her boyfriend, Kent, sits with a couple of his buddies. It’s not really my crowd but I know Trina wants me here so I sit across from her and try to act cheerful.
Kent pecks his girlfriend on the cheek and gives me a curious look. “How’s it going, Camden?”
I move my rice around with a plastic fork. “Not bad.”
Kent pauses. “Have you heard from him?”
There’s a thud as Trina kicks her boyfriend underneath the table and Kent complains, “What the hell, babe?”
She gives him a withering look. “Does nothing I say ever sink in?”
Kent gives that some thought. “You said not to hassle Camden about Ben because she’s in, like, a delicate condition or something. But I wasn’t hassling her.”
Trina moans and puts a hand to her forehead. “I did NOT say the words ‘delicate condition’. Do not repeat that because it doesn’t mean what you think it means. I said my friend is feeling fragile because she is worried about her boyfriend and you ought to have some compassion.”