My lips pressed into a hard line, the lock to keep all of my secrets back. “Nothing, really.”
Caelyn reached out and squeezed my elbow. “You know you can trust me. My past isn’t an easy one, but letting people in, letting them help me instead of shouldering it all on my own has made all the difference. I’d love to help lighten your load if I can.”
My eyes burned at her genuine kindness. I’d known Caelyn since I first moved to Harbor. She’d been working at The General Store the first time I’d gone in for supplies. She’d been warm and welcoming when I’d been scared and homesick. But we’d never gone past that first layer of pseudo-friendship. Yet I’d grown to know her character over the years, and it was that of a person I could trust.
“I have a family member that I don’t want to know where I am. It’s a long, complicated story. But what matters is that I’ve been safe here. And I’ll stay that way just as long as I can remain as anonymous as possible.”
Caelyn tried to read between the lines of my statement, assembling guesses that I knew wouldn’t be correct. “I’ll do whatever I can to help. And I’m always here if you need to shine a light on the ghosts. Maybe exorcise them a bit.”
I grinned. “Are you going to burn some sage around me?”
“Don’t judge it till you try it.”
I held up both hands in surrender. “I wouldn’t dare. And, Caelyn?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you. You have no idea how much your kindness has meant to me over the past few years. I don’t think you realize the impact you have on people’s lives. They pass through the store, and you light up their days. Give them a touchpoint when they might not get that anywhere else.”
Caelyn’s eyes glistened in the afternoon sun. “Why do you have to make me cry like that?”
“Because I’m evil.”
She bumped her shoulder with mine. “You really are.”
“But now you’re stuck with me,” I chirped back.
“I guess I’ll just have to struggle through it.”
This was friendship, I realized. One freely given. Not hampered by a brother who would rage and hurt if he thought I might have another playmate. One where I could simply be without worry or fear. And it was one of the greatest gifts I’d ever received.
15
Brody
I grinned as I rolled the dice around in the Yahtzee cup. “You’re sure you want to play another game? It’s past your bedtime.” The last time I’d checked the kitchen clock, it was past midnight. Shay was usually in bed by ten at the latest since she got up at the crack of dawn every day.
“Shut up and roll the dice, James.”
I couldn’t hold in my chuckle. “What does that make the tally? Six games to one?”
She straightened in the booth of the breakfast nook. “Just you wait. I’m going to make a comeback, and it’s going to be epic.”
“Out of the dozens of times we’d played this game, how many times have you succeeded in a comeback?”
Her expression soured. “Once.”
I couldn’t help needling Shay. It was too damn fun, and she was such a sore loser. Not in any area of her life other than Yahtzee. Maybe it was because she was so bad at it, and the woman probably hadn’t been bad at anything else in her life. If Shay wanted to master something, she went after it with a vengeance. Gardening, raising chickens, fixing heavy machinery. If she didn’t know how to do it, she learned. If she was bad at it, she practiced. But no matter how many games of Yahtzee we played, she never got any better.
“You’re pretty adorable when you pout.”
Her head snapped up. “I’m not pouting.”
I swallowed my laugh. “Sure, you aren’t.”
She collapsed back against the cushioned seat. “All right. Maybe I’m pouting a little. I don’t understand if I have the world’s worst luck, or if I’m just horrible at mentally calculating odds.”
My brows rose. “Are you trying to dice count?”
“I’m pretty sure that only works with cards.”
“Remind me never to take you to Vegas.”
Her nose scrunched up in adorable disgust. “No, thank you.”
“Not a fan of Sin City?”
She shook her head. “I went once when I was a kid. Too many people. Too much cigarette smoke.”
“There’s pretty good food, though.”
“I can make good food from the privacy of my own home.”
Shay had managed to do just about everything from this island. But as I studied her in the dim light of the kitchen, wisps of hair falling free and framing her heart-shaped face, I couldn’t help but wonder about everything she was missing out on. To truly experience life, you had to live it in community. It was something I needed to remind myself. “We should go out this weekend.”
Her head snapped up. “Go out…”
“Yeah, you know. Get dinner, maybe hit up The Catch. Hunter told me they have live music on Saturdays and Sundays now.”
Shay’s mouth worked as if she were struggling to form the words she wanted. “I don’t know if it’s such a good idea.”
I reached out and squeezed her hand. “I’ll be with you. And I honestly think the more normally you live your life, the less people will ask questions. And you’re the master of vague answers if they do pry.”
Her lips curved, drawing my attention. My gut tightened. We were close. Just a few feet away. I could lean over and close that distance, sink into that gorgeous mouth, lose myself. Shay cleared her throat. “I’ll think about it. That good enough?”
I shook myself out of the stupor she had me in. “It’s a start.” And I wouldn’t stop asking.
With one last flick of the wrist, it was done. I stepped back from the canvas, surveying the image in front of me. Closer. Not quite there yet but closer to the image in my mind. It was another of Shay. This one was of her on the beach. The waves were crashing in around her, trying to take her out to sea, but her arms were outstretched, creating a sort of forcefield that kept the water from stealing her away. It was her power and strength and sheer force of will. But there was darkness, too. Swirling around her. Doubts. Fears. The ugly voices that I got a sense had a pretty powerful hold on the woman I’d become fascinated with.
I studied the curves and the sharp edges. The battle taking place in the image. It was the best thing I’d painted in months. Progress. I still ended up with a few destroyed canvases each week, but I was finishing more projects, too. And they seemed to be morphing into something a little different than my past work. I couldn’t put my finger on how exactly, but I liked the direction things were moving.
I peeled off my gloves and tossed them in the trash, then set my mask down. Just as I was about to head for the kitchen for a snack, an incoming call sounded from my laptop. I strode to my desk and hit accept. Carson’s face filled the screen. “You bastard.”
He’d said it smiling, but my brows still pulled together. “Right back at you.”
“You’ve been holding back on me.”