Page 34 of Bring me Back

Hmm. I wanted to ask a billion things, but all of them were about his relationship. I fixed my eyes on the flower and kept working.

“Do you have a boyfriend, Hallie?”

I whipped my head up in alarm. “What? Why would…? No.”

Daniel chuckled. “I assumed if I asked something personal it would show I don’t mind you asking the same?”

I nodded stiffly, licking my lips. “What happened to your wife?”

“Left. And after her I dated only one time, but it wasn’t very serious. Anything else?”

He replied it all so matter-of-factly it got me dizzy. He called himself an open book, but it felt like I was only reading the badly written summary.

“Nothing else,” I decided to say.

“Ok, then. So tell me about school.” He tried again with a grin.

I chuckled at his persistence. “School was hell.”

“Tell me one thing,” he pleaded. “If it’s too broad, just tell me one example. One thing they did.”

A little movie played in my head. Of all my sins, the one I regretted the most was to let it interfere with my relationship with Dad.

“I used to go fishing with my dad,” I told him. “It was our thing. The kids started going to the beach… playing around at first, but they would stay the whole day and…” I measured my words. “They made me uncomfortable, and I gave up. I took it during class and in the hallways, but the weekend was supposed to be my time of peace and…”

“What did you do?”

“I stopped going. I told Dad I wasn’t into fishing anymore. And that was the end of that. We never went again; we have nothing in common anymore. School was a string of mistakes, fear and regrets.”

Daniel took what I was saying, his eyebrows furrowed. The candlelight burned and brought dancing shadows to his features.

“You have to take it back.”

“Excuse me?”

“That’s it,” he said, looking at me, forgetting all about his flower. “These things you just gave away because people were horrible. The college you didn’t enjoy. The hallways you walk in fear. The damn beach. It’s time for you to take them back, Cricket.”

I chuckled. “There’s no need for a take back.”

“You’ll feel better if you do.”

I cocked my head to the side. “You think so?”

“I know so.” His confident voice resonated. “You’re used to be quiet, but what if you took it back? You don’t need words, just actions.”

“Do you mean going to the beach and demanding to have it back?”

Daniel blew off his candle and leaned on the table. “Tell me about the last time you went.”

I bit my cheek, stopping myself from replying. Last time I went was a week before theincident.

“Just go. It’s your town too. It’s your place to be. It’s your goddamn beach. I’m not saying to go over and make a speech, Cricket.” I chuckled, and he did too. The idea of me arriving at the beach and saying any words was comical. “What I’m saying is go over, bring earphones and that’s it. Nothing else. Just sit there.”

“Just sit?”

“Just sit.”

I thought for a second.

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