Page 15 of These Rough Waters

I couldn’t escape the woman, she was at the lodge, in the town, popping up everywhere I turn and now she’s here, at the docks walking with Ruthie and her daughter skipping ahead. They don’t look to me where I stand in the boat, ready to head out for some morning fishing but I see them.Her.

The bruising on her face is much lighter now a week has passed, her skin less pale and sunken like just being here for a week has been the best medicine for her. She smiles brightly to whatever Ruthie is saying to her and goddamn, her whole face lights up when she smiles.

And then I’m kicking myself for noticing such a stupid fucking thing.

A little heavier handed than necessary, I throw my equipment down and storm to the wheel, getting the engine going before I speed away from the dock.

I didn’t know why her presence bothered me so much or why the view of her sent a different kind of twinge through my body, but I didn’t like it. Not one bit.

I spend the rest of the morning out on the boat, heading back in just after lunchtime, finding the docks quiet once more and anchor up, hauling the catches of the day off the boat and head towards the huts, selling them off for the town businesses before I go home.

I was sweaty, tired and wanted a damn shower, but I was getting no peace from that smile on Maya’s face this morning. I see it every time I close my eyes, see how she gives everything in her smiles. And I wanted that smile aimed at me.

It wasn’t sitting right, that she was occupying my thoughts and that my curiosity was starting to take control of my impulses. That I wanted to make her smile the way Ruthie did this morning.

The door thuds as I enter the house, dropping my keys in the glass dish on the table close to the entrance and kick off my boots. The house was isolated, the only neighboring building was the two bed cabin that had been vacant for five years now and would likely stay vacant long after. I hadn’t stepped foot in Grace’s old cabin since that day, had even refused it when her mother, may she rest in peace, had tried to hand it over to me after she had died and now it sits like a haunted, dark house across from mine.

Though the house haunts me daily, I couldn’t move from here. This house I’m in was built solely for us, close to the water so Grace could watch the storms out at sea like she loved to do from the wall of windows on the upper floors. It was far enough away from the town I wasn’t bothered by anyone, and close enough to the water to get out on it quickly in the morning. It helped I was also close to the trails that would lead me through the seemingly never-ending forests that dominate this small town, right up to Ravens Peak that provides miles and miles of pure ocean view.

My brother had a cabin up in the woods, though it sits dormant more often than not.

As if he knew I was thinking about him, even just for a second, his name pops up on my phone, the device buzzing loud against the oak wood counter.

Everett was three years younger and married to the job.

“Rett,” I answer just before the line can cut off. He’ll only keep calling.

“Tor!” He greets boisterously. My youngest brother had never quite grown up, I both loved and loathed that about him. “You coming out of retirement yet?”

“Fuck off.”

He scoffs, “You gotta get off that damn island brother, it’ll turn you soft.”

“This island suits me just fine, Rett.”

“Look, I’ve given you space, time, what else do you need? Pussy? I can arrange that.”

“What do you want?” I sigh impatiently, collapsing down onto the couch and rest my head back on the cushions.

“It’s been five years.”

“Grace has nothing to do with my life choices now.”

“Bullshit. She died. It’s sad. But it’s not like we haven’t dealt with death before.”

“She was my wife,” I growl, “My son died!”

Silence crackles between us.

“And it’s been five years.”

“I’m not coming back on the job, so save it.”

“They ask about you.” He says, “Our old contacts, fuck, even new ones, they want to know what happened to the infamous Torin Avery. The man without mercy. The one who never missed. Offer to pay double to get you on a contract.”

He was trying to feed a long dead ego. Sure, that shit back then would have got my blood pumping, my heart racing… Instilling fear into the circle of people who knew who we were, being sought after for high profile cases because they damn well knew I’d get the job done without a question.

It’s what got me on that damn boat the day Grace and Leo passed.

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