Page 62 of Until We Break

“You want to keep it?” he asked.

“Oh no, you found it. I can’t take one of your shells.”

Lucas looked at the shoebox full of shark’s eyes shells. “I’ve got enough. You take that one.”

I clasped it in my hand. “Thank you, Lucas.”

There was a knock on the flimsy door. “Lucas? Margot? It’s time for dinner.” I smiled at Caleb when he poked his head in the door. His eyes widened at the sight of all the shells scattered on the floor.

“Whoa.”

“Lucas collected all of these,” I explained. “He says he’s been working on it for a long time. He gave me this one.” I revealed the shark’s eye. It was such a beautiful shell with twists of lavender and peach, swirling together.

Caleb held it. It looked much smaller in his hand. “It’s a nice one.” He nodded toward the house. “We better get back in there. Dinner and all.”

I helped Lucas put the shells back in their boxes and the three of us walked into the house. I noticed the flowers I had brought were now in a vase on the kitchen island. Maybe some of the ice had thawed between Carrie and me while I was with Lucas.

The table was set. I noticed the taper candles flickering in the centerpiece. Carrie sashayed toward us, placing a casserole dish in the middle of the table. “You’ll have to excuse the mess, Margot. I threw together a place for you to sit at the last minute. I’m not even sure if I got the forks right. And, oh shoot. I need to find a water goblet for you. I’ll be right back.”

“It’s fine. Really. I don’t need a water goblet.” I wouldn’t have known anything was thrown together. I only knew that Carrie wanted to continue to make the point I wasn’t an invited guest tonight.

She returned with a crystal glass in her hand. “Here we go.” She placed it at my seat. “And I chilled another bottle of wine since I don’t know that the one Caleb and I opened will serve all of us.”

I bit my tongue. There were new pockets of jealousy starting to form under my skin. Was she trying to lay claim to him tonight? Was this a first-dibs situation? I glanced over at Caleb. If he noticed what was happening, he was good at hiding it. I pulled out my chair and took a seat.

“I want to sit next to Margot,” Lucas announced. He scooted his seat closer to mine. It was more comforting than any gesture I could have imagined.

Caleb sat across from me. He didn’t let the awkwardness of the evening get in the way. He lifted his plate when Carrie served a heaping of casserole on his plate. I had no idea what was in it. It was unlike anything I’d seen. I leaned over to Lucas.

“What is it?” I whispered.

“Oh, that’s my Aunt Iris’s famous casserole she makes. Mom doesn’t cook.”

“Lucas! That’s not true. I cook plenty for you.”

He shrugged and looked at me. I smiled at the little boy. It was amazing to see him like this. Alive. Vibrant. He was funny and sweet. I’d wondered since the night in the hospital if the connection to him was fabricated or if it was really there. I’d felt bonded to this child and that was before he ever opened his eyes.

He held his plate toward his mother. “Just a little bit. Please,” he added.

Carrie ignored him and gave him a huge serving anyway. It was hard not to laugh at the way he crinkled his nose. I was worried about what was headed my way. She sat and poured another glass of wine for herself and topped off Caleb’s.

He jumped in, trying to cut the tension. “Well, I had kind of crazy thing happen today when I was on patrol.”

Lucas’s face lit up. “What was it?”

“The boat?” I asked. It might have been petty and territorial, but I wanted Carrie to know that Caleb and I shared things. I was privy to information she wasn’t. I didn’t know how smart it was to draw that distinction now, but I did.

“Yes. It was the boat,” he answered, grinning. “The one I was called in for this morning.”

I smiled. Caleb was willing to build the alliance with me in front of her too. I wanted to kiss him right then in that moment, but I kept the emotions tamped down and listened.

“Whose boat was it? What kind of boat?” Lucas had twenty questions.

Caleb cleared his throat. “Well, I was the first cutter at the site. She was floating just under the water. Enough for the sonar to pick her up but I had to really look to see her. If I had been riding past, not knowing there was a boat out there I never would have her.”

Carrie piped in. “That’s awful. Will the owners be able to recover it?”

Caleb glanced at me across the table. “It was Dean Waters’s boat.”

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