Page 38 of Heart of Stone
Jade put her arm around my shoulder, and we pressed our heads together. My throat thickened as I thought about how lucky I was to have my friends. For days I’d beenconvinced that Mom had killed herself. I blamed myself for not stopping her to see what she’d taken from the kitchen. I assumed it had been our candles and matches for emergencies. She’d had that lucid moment, giving me the advice to chase happiness, and I had pieced it together as a sort of suicide note.
But all my assumptions had been wrong. The fire inspector and the coroner had both concluded that the fire had started in the wall, an electrical wiring problem. Mom had died of asphyxiation. I puzzled it out that the dresser had been in front of her door to keep out aliens. She hadn’t planned her death. She’d been a victim of her rampant paranoia. I still hadn’t squared away my feelings about it. I wasn’t sure which would have been easier to hear— that she’d taken her own life or that she’d died accidentally. Either way, I’d lost her for good.
Colt pulled a bottle of vodka out from under his coat. He held it in front of me and flashed that easy smile of his that suddenly made the day seem less gloomy. “It’s that weird marshmallow flavored kind you like.”
I took the bottle. “I like it when it has chocolate liqueur and whipped cream. Not too sure about it straight.” I twisted off the top. “But today, anything will work.” I hopped on my toes and kissed his cheek. “And thank you for thinking of it.” We all gazed out at the rippling water. The ashes had disappeared, and the small, intimate funeral at sea had been joined by a group of seagulls. There were days when the horizon looked so far away, it seemed you could travel forever and never reach the end of the world. Today wasn’t one of those days. Today there was a solid barrier of slate gray between us and forever.
I held the bottle up. “Here’s to humming show tunes, keeping out the aliens and the voices being silenced for good, Mom. I’m sorry life wasn’t better for you.” I put the bottle to my lips and winced as the burning liquid hit my throat.
I handed the bottle to Jade. She lifted it. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Linton, that I didn’t know you better, but you had to be cool because you raised an amazing daughter.” She took a drink and handed it off to Slade.
He swallowed hard and stared down at the water. He nodded as if he was telling himself that it was all right to say something. “Hey, Mrs. Linton, I never told anyone about that winter you saw me walking into school with a short sleeved shirt.” He smiled weakly. “I was freezing my fourth grade ass off. I guess it was my own pride. I didn’t want anyone to know. I told everyone I’d found the coat. No one else knew but you and me. And I never really thanked you. Thank you for the coat.” I pushed my fingers against my mouth to stifle a sob as he lifted the bottle and drank.
He handed the bottle to Colt. “I guess we all have our secret stories about Mrs. Linton.” I looked over at him and swallowed to ease the lump in my throat.
“I think I was in fifth grade when the teacher sent me to the nurse with a raging fever,” Colt continued. “I’d had it when I left the house in the morning, but our mom sent me anyhow. The nurse couldn’t reach anyone at home, and Sarah was on my emergency card. She rushed over to the school and took me home to her house, even though our mom was at home. She tucked me under a blanket on the couch and gave me soup.” He raised the bottle. “I’m sorry, Sarah, about the bad stuff. You were a good person.”
Their stories were adding a layer to my mom that I hadn’t even known, and hearing them now made me love her more.
Jade pulled out some tissue and handed me one and kept one for herself. There had been nothing salvageable after the fire. My entire life and the remainder of my small family were gone with one misfire in an electrical wire. I’d gone to stay with Jade and Colt. Jade had been thrilled to be able to return the favor of lending me some clothes just like I’d done for her when the guys had found her on their boat.
Hunter had his hands shoved in his coat pockets. As usual, at times when emotions were high, he curled in on himself like an armadillo rounding into his protective shell. I knew it was his way of dealing with stuff, and I was used to it. Growing up, he’d had to be the silent, stoic, ‘take it like a man’ brother and that skill of being unflappable had never left him. But I knew he’d been grappling with some anger about not getting to my mom in time. Even though she was most likely gone long before he’d pushed into the room, he was still trying to reason how he could have done better.
Colt handed off the bottle to Hunter. Bucking tradition, something that was, ironically enough, tradition for Hunter, he took a drink first. His face scrunched up and he pressed the back of his hand against his mouth as he swallowed. “Fuck, that’s awful.” He pulled a chrome flask out of his pocket and unscrewed the top. He held it up. “To Sarah. I know I was the last person you wanted to see hanging around your daughter, but you never said an unkind word to me in a world where I was used to hearing a lot of unkind words.” He paused. Seeing sadness wash over his handsome face made my own tears flow faster. Jade took hold of my hand. “I’m sorry I didn’t get to you in time. And,Sarah, thank you. Thank you for letting Amy be part of my life”—he looked at Colt and Slade—“our life. We’ll take good care of her.” His chest rose with a deep breath. “I’ll take good care of her. I promise.” The silver flask glinted in the few strips of sun pushing through the unstable layer of clouds as he pressed it to his mouth and tipped it back.
We stood there for a few minutes longer, but the steel gray horizon urged us to head back into the harbor. Jade and I stayed at the bow watching the storm roll in while the brothers got theDurangoback to the dock. Then we all piled into Colt’s truck and headed back to his beach cottage.
Everythingin my life had changed dramatically, but nothing had changed between Hunter and me. I was still just as unsure of where I stood with him, and I was still ridiculously in love with the man.
As we climbed out of the truck, the sky grew even thicker with rain clouds. The first lightning bolts lit the sky over the water and the taste of electricity filled the air. I held shut the coat I’d bought myself and followed blindly behind Colt, Slade and Jade as they headed for the house.
Hunter’s hand grabbed mine before my foot landed on the first step. “Stay out here with me a few minutes, Street.”
I looked back at him. “It’s going to rain.”
His grasp on my hand tightened. “I know.” He led me back to the truck and opened the bed. He grabbed my waist and lifted me up to sit on it and then jumped up next to me. We both pulled our collars up to block our ears from thecold wind.
He gazed out at the ocean view for a second. Then his long lashes dropped and he stared, seemingly, at his booted feet as they hung off the tailgate. “You need to pack up your stuff tonight and come home with me.”
“Why?”
“Because your place is with me.”
A dry laugh shot from my mouth. “My place? And should I bake cookies for you when you have one of your infamous slumber parties?”
He shook his head. “Told you it’s always been you, Street. I don’t want anyone else.”
“Shit, if only I could believe you. The insurance company will be sending a check soon, and I’ll have money to buy my own place. I’ve decided not to rebuild on the lot. It’ll bring back too much pain.” I hopped off the truck and walked toward the house. I hadn’t heard him follow.
He grabbed my wrist and spun me toward him. His eyes were dark with emotion as he took hold of both my arms and kissed me. My hands were flat against his chest, and I fought the urge to throw my arms around his neck and hold him closer.
He lifted his face. “Marry me.”
A laughed again. “This isn’t funny, Hunter. I just lost my mom, and I’m about as vulnerable as a sugar sculpture in a heavy rainstorm.”
He kissed me again. It was a hard, urgent kiss. Not the kind that led to amazing sex but the kind that told me he was serious. His chest lifted and fell as he seemed to be searching for the right thing to say. “That night when Iraced into the house, I remember thinking that if you”—he swallowed hard—“if you were dead then I knew I wouldn’t walk back out of that house.”
“What are you saying?”
