“Do you think I could come down for the summer since I didn’t come for spring break? I could get a job and—”
“Do you really want to, Blake?”
“I promise not to get in your way or anything.” She leaned against the wall, head down, voice unsure. Her demeanor was so unlike the vivacious, loud Blakely Quinn.
“Absolutely you can come. You could work at the paper or the Starlight skating rink or one of the coffee shops. Delilah might want help at the Sands.”
“Honest?” She brightened and stood tall. “I’ll help out, won’t get in your way.”
“Hey, come here.” She patted the bed beside her, and when Blakely crawled in next to her, Emery wrapped her in her arms. “I love you, and I’m sorry if I ever made it seem like you were a nuisance or a bother. Or that I wasn’t interested. That’s on meand my fears, okay? You’re amazing, Blakeley Quinn. I’m so very happy you’re my sister.”
And so Emery had her first sisterly laugh-cry with Blakely, then determined June would be the best month for her to come down. When she ran off yelling, announcing her plans to Dad and Joanna, Emery listened to Simon’s message.
“Emery? Simon here. You won’t believe it, but our special guests are returning. Small private gathering. Buttheyare”—he put a lot of emphasis onthey are—“coming back. Rex said you’re out of town. Let’s talk when you get back. Hurry home.”
The Royal Blues were returning? What? How? Why? Ah, who cares, the royals were coming.
Emery jumped off the bed for a quick jig around her room. Thank God!
“Emery?” Joanna’s soft voice sounded through the door. “I’ve been thinking about your missing ads and—”
Emery opened the door. “You’ve been thinking about theGazette’smissing ads?”
“Convalescing gives one time to think. Look, this is probably not on the same scale, but we had an issue with the café network going offline.” Joanna laughed at the memory. “Drove us nuts. As it turned out, someone on our cleaning crew was unplugging the modem....”
CALEB
Because Cassidy promised Bentley an adventure, and because she spent two days in the bathroom crying, and because Principal Tucker gave Bentley another day of excused absences, Caleb, Cassidy, and Bentley went exploring.
In between the Africatown Heritage House, Richards-DAR House Museum, the Colonial Fort Condé, and USS ALABAMA Battleship Memorial Park, Cassidy whispered her story to Caleb.
“Maybe it’s too late for me to come home. Too late to turn thisTitanicaround.” She motioned to herself. “Iceberg ahead.”
“There are millions of people across the globe who turn their lives around. Who avoid the iceberg.”
“Yet I keep running into mine. I try to change, and I end up right back where I started. Ripped apart. He was right ... I’m nothing. No one wants me.”
“Okay, enough of that, Cass. Who is this jackwagon who said you were nothing?”
“Look at Bent. He’s having a blast.” She smiled toward her son, who was snapping a million photos of the USSAlabama’s torpedo room with Cassidy’s phone. “It all hit me this weekend. I’m trash. Then I imploded with all the stuff I’ve been holding in. The tears wouldn’t stop. I locked myself in the bathroom so Iwouldn’tscare Bentley.”
“You scared him anyway.” He bent to see her face. “How are you trash? In all the years Dad told me to take out the garbage, never once did he say, ‘Don’t forget your sister.’”
She smiled for a second, then sobered. “Coach Sanchez.”
“Sanchez?Sanchezsaid you were trash? When? Why?”
“Wow, it’s tight in here.” She bent to walk through the ship’s watertight door, following Bentley for the rest of the tour. “The spring of my junior year, I met him at a party on the West End. At Ty Carson’s house.” Ty had been a star tailback for the Panthers. Ended up washing-out at the college level. “The moment I saw him ... I can’t explain it, something happened to me. He drew me in with some sort of pheromone-producing magnet. I couldn’t look at anyone else. Thanks to Dad, I knew who he was—a former Florida State defensive end who’d gone pro until an injury ended his career. I never expected to see him in Sea Blue Beach. Never expected him at Ty Carson’s place. Never expected to be so bowled over by him.”
“He grew up in Pensacola,” Caleb said. “But we were all surprised when he took the West End coaching job.”
“Yeah ... anyway, he winked at me, smiled, nodded in that sexy dude way for me to come talk to him. Ifloatedover, literally, I’m not sure my feet hit the floor. Of all the girls in the room—and there were plenty—he picked me. I told him I was eighteen, on a gap year playing travel softball before going to Florida State. He pouted like he didn’t want me to go away. Said something like, ‘And just when I’d just met the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.’ I was putty under his charm. He started telling me about FSU, the best places to live on or off campus, where to hang out, and named people he’d introduce me to once I got there, talking about how he’d come visit me whenever he could. Visit me? He made me feel so special. So wanted. And it’s not like I didn’t have that with Dad or you or Grandpa. But you’re family. This guy, who could have any girl he wanted, pickedme. Right then and there, I decided I’d met the love of my life.”
“Didn’t he have a fiancée?”
“Mom, look at this.” Bentley pointed to the mannequin dressed as a World War Two sailor standing in the radio room.
“Cool, Bent. Think you want to join the navy some day?”
