Page 41 of These Rough Waters

I glance toward the woman again, seeing her whip her head around quickly so I don’t catch her staring at me, seeing a pretty pink blush creeping onto her cheeks.

“You know what, kid, I think I have.”

Maya’s throat bobs with her swallow and she meets my eyes for just a second while Harper hurries off to place the chicken back where it belonged but then she shuts the door with a soft click, and I’m left staring at it as if I could see right through.

I end up in the diner, any warmth the sun had given the island long gone with evening now fallen upon us. I could see the frost setting in on the ground outside the windows, but it doesn’t stop the townsfolk from decorating the streets ahead of the annual festival tomorrow. We were all used to the early snow that hits this small island and I wouldn’t be shocked if it came earlier this year.

I sip at the beer I ordered when I got here and watch them all laughing, wrapped up in their thermals as they hang the bunting from the archaic buildings.

“How you doing, Torin?” Shawn asks as he pours beer from the tap for one of his regulars.

A shrug of my shoulders is the only answer I give him. Ruthie’s son had been there that day, he was the one who found us washed up on the beach, and I had to watch as he helplessly tried to save Leo and Grace. I was useless, too weak and injured to do anything of use, and I had to watch while Shawn tried to bring them back. I know that day haunts him as much as it haunts me in different ways. Seeing a woman and her child dead would be one thing, but both him and his wife, Imogen, had grown up with Grace. Imogen was Leo’s godmother.

And the weeks after, they tried to keep me sane, tried to keep me company but I’d shut them out and after a while they stopped coming.

Everyone stopped coming.

“Mom tells me you’re getting friendly with the new girl in town,” Shawn continues as if I hadn’t brushed him off the first time.

“Define friendly,” I bite.

Shawn grins knowing he has me now, “Having dinner, sharing wine, ya know?”

“I forget how easy gossip is to spread in this town.”

“We’re a population of less than five hundred,” Shawn chuckles, “The only fun they have is to talk about everyone else.”

“You’ve got the tourists,” I remind him, “That easily pushes the population up.”

“Not the same, Tor, you know how it is and newcomers that stick around always draw a few wagging tongues.”

“Yeah, well I don’t think Maya would appreciate being the subject of conversation.”

Shawn grins knowingly, “Is that so?”

I accept the fresh beer he passes over and take a sip, turning my attention back to the windows and where the decorations for tomorrow are almost complete.

“Imogen likes her,” Shawn continues, “Says she’s had it rough.”

“I wouldn’t know, Shawn,” I grunt, “I’m not one to gossip.”

“You’re not one to say much of anything,” Shawn says, “But hey, she must be doing something right. This is the first time you’ve been here since Grace died.”

“Yeah well,” I chug half the drink, the beer tasting sour, “Sometimes isolation is the best medicine.”

“Or punishment,” Shawn says to my back as I abruptly get up from the stool and head for the door, I’m almost free of the diner when his voice carries over to me, light with amusement, “Guess we’ll catch you tomorrow, hey, Torin, since Maya’s helping Imogen on the stall.”

My teeth bite into my tongue. I had already planned to make an appearance, try and get Maya alone to talk but if she’s helping Imogen, I’m not sure how that’s going to be possible without half the town seeing it.

Maya didn’t need a spotlight.

I certainly didn’t, not with what they would whisper and this whole thing now seemed a hell of a lot more complicated than anything I had ever done before.

Fuck, killing a man was less stressful than this.

Twenty

The streets are packed, the residents of Ravenpeak Bay flooding the town to support the many businesses that keep this town afloat. Tourists linger, spending their cash that’ll keep the town running through the winter until it reopens in the spring.

---