Page 46 of Diving In

CHAPTER 17

Cal collapsed over me, heaving deep exhales as he fell back onto the bed and took me with him. My head was spinning, completely exhilarated and overcome with euphoria. I felt safe, sexy, and completely fucking satisfied.

Cal and I laid in silence for a while, our bodies still intertwined, and as I looked around, I couldn’t help but giggle.

“You better be laughing at something truly comical and not about anything you just saw,” he joked.

“The fact that I’m twenty-nine years old, lying naked in my childhood bed after just having sex with one of my brother’s friends… It’s really a full circle moment for me.”

“Oh yeah, and why is that?”

“I used to lay here and write in my journal about what I thought it would be like to have sex, wondering if I would ever do it in this bed. And somehow, despite me thinking I would never step foot in this house again, here we are…”

“Was it everything you imagined?” He smirked.

“It was better,” I said, raising my eyebrow.

As we laid together, tracing each other’s skin with our fingertips, my mind started to wander and I knew I couldn’t put it off any longer.

“When did you find out?” I asked.

“Find out what?”

I gave him a look that told him I knew he knew what I was asking about, and I saw the moment he relented.

“Ah… I knew the day Lauren found out she was pregnant,” Cal admitted.

Lauren.

“Lauren Williams was a summer girl, and even though she was only on the island for a short time, she had your brother wrapped around her finger. She came into town every summer, and just like clockwork, Fletcher’s world instantly revolved around her every move.”

“I guess I didn’t realize how close you and Fletcher were back then. I mean, I remember seeing you around every now and then growing up, but that was it,” I said.

He broke eye contact before muttering, “We got close.”

I wanted to respond, to ask him a million questions, but I could tell he was trying to decide what else to share.

“Fletcher and I were the only two who consistently worked at the dive shop, so between work and school, we ended up getting pretty close over the years. And honestly, I’m so glad that we did. Fletch offered me a genuine friendship when I needed one most. I’m an only child, and after moving to the island at the start of high school, I found myself struggling to fit in all by myself—some might’ve even used the term loner—but Fletch didn’t care. He treated me like all of his other friends, and that made me feel like I belonged somewhere,” he shared, his eyes staring off into the distance, reliving those past memories.

I smiled, remembering just how special Fletcher made everyone feel. “Generosity was his thing,” I said, giving Cal a little nudge.

“That it was…” His voice was reminiscent. “Anyway, with Fletcher and I working together, I watched the relationship between him and Lauren play out over the course of a few summers. When he found out Lauren was pregnant… I’ll never forget the look on his face. I was the first person he told, and he was fucking terrified.”

I stared off into space as I tried to accept the fact that Fletch had kept Lauren a secret from me. Fletcher was my best friend. We did everything together, and Ithoughtwe’d told each other everything.

How could I never even hear him say the name Lauren? Not once had Fletch ever mentioned her, let alone the fact that she was fucking pregnant.

“I thought I knew everything about Fletcher, and yet I didn’t know this. Something so big, so substantial, so… life-changing. What does that say about our relationship?” I staggered.

“No one knew about her besides me, I swear. And that’s only because I was working with Fletcher the first summer she showed up in Sullivan’s Island in 2006. She came into the dive shop with her family, looking to charter a boat for a private trip. The second she stepped foot inside, your brother was entranced.”

“Summer of ’06…” I trailed off, scouring my brain. “I was only 12, which means Fletcher would have been 15. Looking back, I actually remember that summer was when Fletcher started to become different, a little distant. Only slightly, but enough for it to make sense.”

“How so?” he asked.

“We still spent a lot of time together, but it felt like he was growing up and I was staying the same. Back then, I had assumed he was just busy with the dive shop. It was the first time he’d had a serious job, so it didn’t seem that off to me. But from that summer on, we spent less and less time together, and now I know why.Lauren,”I stated, unable to ignore the disdain dripping off her name. I was already angry at her, and I didn’t even know her.

“You have to believe that Fletcher had his reasons for keeping Lauren from you, or at least trust that he would’ve eventually told you about her, about Beau, had he not passed away,” he assured me. “He might’ve been a little different those last few summers, but trust me when I say he always saw you as his best friend. You were always the person he thought of first. I remember the very first thing he said to me after he found out about the baby was, ‘What is Georgia going to think?’”

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