Page 94 of Skalterra By Nightmare
He rested his chin against the bars of the railing and reached his hand to rest on top of mine. “But thank you. It’s nice that someone else believes he might still be alive. It’s exhausting keeping up hope.”
“I won’t give up. Even if you do, I’ll believe he’s still alive for the both of us,” I promised him. His fingertips curled around my palm. “And I’m sorry about your parents.”
“Did Ethel tell you?”
“Gladys and Sarah.”
“That makes more sense.” He chuckled softly, and a tiny smile finally cracked the grief that weighed on his face. “It made for a good sob story for Von Leer at least. I was waitlisted, just like you, so I played up the dead parents thing in my in-person interview.”
“That works?” I cocked an eyebrow at him and leaned against the wooden bar of the railing.
“You should’ve seen the poor admissions officer.” Liam whistled. “Nearly had him in tears. If you get the same guy, you should try it.”
“My mom’s not dead,” I reminded him. “She’s just in Europe.”
“And your dad?”
“I already used the absentee father thing in my admissions essay.”
The setting sun turned the harbor orange, reminding me of Ciarán, and I pulled my hand out from under Liam’s.
“Then use Riley.”He pulled apart a bit of hamburger bun to drop to a couple of bufflehead ducks floating on the water below. “He’ll think it’s funny.”
“I don’t know enough about Riley to make that convincing.”
“You heard all about him at the beach the other night.” He looked up from the ducks to meet my eye.
“I heard his friends talk about him, sure, but you didn’t say much.”
He picked at the railing, the setting sun turning his hair a bright honey color.
“Riley would do anything for anyone. He’d drop whatever he was doing if someone asked for help, and after my parents disappeared, I needed a lot of help.”
The furrow between his eyebrows returned, and the smile the ducks had brought to his face slipped away.
“I didn’t mean that you have to talk about him now,” I backtracked. “It’s okay. Tell me about architecture class. What’s that like?”
Liam sighed and shook his head.
“He sold a ton of his things to make room for me when I moved in, and then used the money to buy me a new mattress. When he left for school, he came back every weekend to see me, until Uncle Teddy made him stop because his grades were slipping. And then Riley started buying me train tickets to visit him whenever he could afford it.” His eyes turned glassy. “When Mom and Dad died, he was all I had left. I mean, yeah, I had Uncle Teddy and Aunt Olive and Ethel and Sabrina, but Riley was different. He was home.”
He cleared his throat and brushed a hand across his cheek.
“He sounds amazing,” I said. “If he was even half as kind as you—”
“I just wish I knew what happened.” He struck out against the railing, and the salt-weathered wood cracked beneath the hit. “I just want to know where he went! Where Mom and Dad went. And why. Why does everyone have to leave me?”
He buried his face in his arms, disappearing behind the blue sleeves of his hoodie. His shoulders shuddered, then stilled, and a tentative quiet fell over our deck.
I wished I knew how to help. I wished I knew how to find Riley for him, or at least make him feel better. But I was useless.
“I’m not leaving you,” I whispered. “I know I’m not Riley, but I’m here.”
He raised red-rimmed eyes out from behind his arms, and his throat bobbed as he swallowed hard.
“You keep passing out, and you don’t even care.”
I shifted closer until our shoulders touched.
