Page 43 of Until We Break

“That you’ve been in love with her since the first time you saw her.”

I didn’t have a comeback for that one. There was nothing I could say to wipe the smug know-it-all look off my next-door neighbor’s face. Josie had grown up side-by-side with me. Every grade. Every teacher. Every homework assignment. Every birthday party. She was like a sister to me. Only, maybe more annoying. I didn’t have a sister, so I wasn’t sure about that part.

She wasn’t wrong. She had been there that summer. She saw exactly what happened when Margot Delaney left Marshoak Island.

SEVEN YEARS AGO

I stood in the alley behind By the Page with a cigarette pressed to my lips. I inhaled and leaned against the brick exterior. A flock of seagulls glided overhead.

“Put that shit out, man. If Mom sees you smoking behind her shop, she will literally kill you.” Jacob came out of nowhere.

“Mom’s not here,” I answered. “I’m unloading some boxes for her and then I have to take off.”

He nodded. “Shit, if she’s not here then give me one.”

I glared at him but opened the pack anyway.

“What are you doing here?” I asked. I hadn’t seen my older brother much all summer. I knew it was because I spent as much time as I could with Margot. He worked odd jobs when he wasn’t on base.

We stayed busy.

He shrugged. “I’m off the next two days. I had to get out of the barracks.” He blew an almost perfect ring of smoke near the dumpster. “Might go up to Raleigh.”

I nodded. “Could be fun I guess.”

“Want to go?”

I stared at him. He never asked me to go anywhere with him. I blinked. “I can’t.”

“Why not? That girl?”

I cleared my throat, stamping the cigarette out in a nearby puddle. “She has a name.”

“Yeah, well no one has met her.”

“You will,” I added. “I’m headed over to see her now. But not tonight.”

He laughed. “I’ve tried to warn you about summer girls. What are you thinking? You’re leaving anyway.”

The knot formed tight and hard in my stomach. That was the problem. I had stopped thinking. When I was with Margot there was nothing but her and me. The rest of the world seemed to spin out of view. I wasn’t a romantic. I wasn’t even an optimist. I wanted time to stop. I wanted summer to stop.

“You don’t get it.” I waved my hand in the air. I needed to head to the Blue Heron.

“Enlighten me,” he pleaded.

“Maybe another time. Margot’s waiting. Have fun in Raleigh. Watch out for the city girls. I heard they don’t stick around either.”

I turned and headed for my truck. I didn’t need to hear any more shit from my brother. As I drove around the island to the far side where the Blue Heron was located, I thought about what I would say to Margot. I wanted to tell her there was a way to stay together even while I was in the academy. I’d never done long-distance before, but I had a plan. More than anything I wanted her. I was willing to put myself out there and let her know the truth. I had fallen in love. Hard.

The gravel crunched under the truck tires. I parked near the cottage and jogged up the stairs. I knocked on the screen door, expecting Helena to answer. I stepped back when Walt appeared in the doorway.

“Caleb.”

“Hey, Walt. I’m here to pick up Margot.”

He shook his head. There was something different in his eyes. Was that a tear? “She’s not here.”

I looked behind me. Helena’s car was gone.

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