Page 26 of Where the Stars Heal

“Argh, I gotta get going. I’m on the opening shift tomorrow at the coffee shop,” Tessa replies, glancing down at her watch, her bottom lip popping out in a pout.

Jace chuckles softly at her, pushing his chair back to stand. He grabs his keys and phone off the table. “I’ve got an early start in the morning, too. This was chill. Thanks for the invite, Hunt. It’s been too long since we’ve had a night like this.” He claps Hunter on the back and nods to the rest of us before heading toward the door.

Tessa passes Madi off to Connor, giving him a stern look. “Don’t let her drive, and look after her tonight, please.”

“Connorrrrrr,” Madi drawls with a wide grin as Connor pulls her down to sit next to him. “You’ll watch a movie with me, won’t you?”

He smiles at Tessa. “Don’t worry, we’ve got her, Tess. See ya in the morning for coffee.”

I catch Hunter across the table with his jaw clenched, watching on. Damn, I wonder what’s happened there.

Halle moves around the table, joining Tessa at the back door. “I’ll walk you guys out,” she offers with a small smile.

Fuck, she’s pretty when she’s shy. I bite the inside of my cheek, trying to keep my thoughts at bay. What would she be like behind that wall of shyness? I think about how she’d be when she finally lets go.

“Bye, guys!” Tessa calls out to us over her shoulder.

Hunter nods to her, Connor lifts his hand in a casual wave, and Madison yells dramatically, “Love you, girl!”

All night, I’ve wanted a moment with Halle to myself, but she’s stuck close to the girls as if they’ve been her safety net. Sitting in between them when we ate, hanging withthem inside, and if she had been around me, everyone else was there, too.

I stare at the back door to where she disappeared. Without a second thought, I stand and head inside to see if I can catch her before the night ends. The house is quiet when I move through the hallway trying to find her. Madison’s laughter and Ace’s barking float through the back doors as I glance into each room, but there’s no sign of Halle anywhere. Confused, I step out the front door to see if she’s still saying bye to Jace and Tessa, but there’s no one out here.

Not a soul in sight. A slight breeze carries through the front yard, cooling down the summer night. Frustration starts to gnaw at me as I scan the street. Where the hell did she go?

Her car is parked in the driveway, so I know she hasn’t taken off.

Grabbing my phone from my back pocket, I check for any missed texts. If she left with Jace and Tess, one of them would have let us know. I frown, scrolling through my notifications and coming up empty.

Shoving my phone back in my pocket, I jog down the few steps and hit the sidewalk. My pulse starts to quicken, and a lump forms in my throat, not knowing what to do here. Do I go and tell Hunter his sister disappeared, or do I keep looking? Running my hand through my hair, I tip my head back and stare out at the clear night sky, the stars… Like a rubber band, my mind snaps back to Halle. The stars. Fuck, of course that’s where she would be.

I take off toward the park, my pace quickening to where I found her that night on the swing, her words echoing in my head,“Sometimes turning it all off with the stars makes more sense.”

12

I THINK I LIKE IT HERE

HALLE

My feet drag along the sand as I push myself back and forth slowly on the swing. The chain rattles softly with the breeze, and the chirps of insects sound in the distance. The stars shine bright tonight, and for the first time all day, I feel like I can breathe.

I hate to admit it, but I think Sunlit Cove is starting to grow on me. I can feel it in my soul, the calling to find peace here. Every morning, I find myself down at Falls Creek, where the sound of water crashing against the rocks awakens my mind, the crisp fresh air calms my pulse, and the heat that beams down on me from the sun soothes the jitters I feel under my skin. Then there are the warm summer nights under a sky full of stars, where the world slows down and my mind finds the quiet. I think I like it here.

I’ve been taking it slow since Hunter asked me not to leave. We still haven’t had a real conversation about everything, not yet anyway, but we’re both trying. He’s more present in the house, asking me to watch movies with himbefore he heads to work for the night, having coffee with me when he wakes midmorning, and I’m doing my best to be more social with him, to not hide away in my room all the time. We head into town together to get groceries, and I even cook for us a couple of nights.

I smile at that memory. Hunter didn’t believe me when I told him I could cook. And why would he? When he was around, Mom always cooked. But when Hunter left and Mom started working longer hours, I had no choice. I had to teach myself how to cook, or we’d go hungry until she got home from work. And that’s when the yelling got more intense.

He laughed and said he wouldn’t risk it unless it was breakfast. That night, I made us pancakes for dinner. He raised his eyebrows at me after taking a bite drenched in maple syrup and said, “From now on, we’re doing Sunday night pancakes.” That’s how I ended up making them again last night for dinner. It’s apparently our new thing, and it feels like we’re slowly learning how to be brother and sister again.

Holding onto both chains of the swing, I push off harder, moving my legs in and out to go higher in the air. The breeze whips through my hair, and I sigh loudly.

It hasn’t gone unnoticed that Asher has been absent for the past couple of weeks. I’m not sure if that’s Hunter’s doing or if Asher has been avoiding me on his own. A pang of sadness hits me in the chest. Asher’s words hurt me, and they caused me to spiral, but I can’t help but think that they also helped me.

If I didn’t overhear those words, would Hunter and I be where we are now, attempting to move forward, or would we still be tiptoeing around each other? Not knowing what tosay or do. At least now, we’re both trying. There’s a small part of me that should thank Asher for that.

I had every intention to say thank you to him tonight, but then he got in my space and told me to say please. The moment those words left his mouth, my stomach dropped, and my heart thumped like crazy. The teasing tone he used completely threw me off. My brain short-circuited on me, and I lost my cool. After that, I avoided him for the rest of the night, always making sure I stayed close to the girls.

I tip my head back to gaze up at the sky, watching the stars blur as I swing higher, falling through the air. I wonder if Hunter ever comes down here or if he even remembers our long days spent in the park near our broken home.

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