“She told me she’d be home.” Caleb waited, listening, as Mom walked up the stairs, down the hall, opened Cassidy’s bedroom door, then came back down. “Well, where is she?”
Maybe at some bar. Hanging with a WestEnd coach.But Caleb didn’t want to add fuel to the fire.
“Do you think something is wrong with her?” Mom said. “Maybe she’s having a breakdown or something. In the spring she was doing so well in school and on the softball field.... Caleb, has she said anything to you?”
“Nope. I’ve asked.”
Dad suggested again that they make an appointment with a doctor. “She may need serious help.”
“I’ll be back,” Caleb said, his tone soft, sorry he snapped at his parents. “I’m going to see my friend Emery. Dad, her dad’s the guy you talked to a few weeks ago.”
“Fine, but don’t be—” He regarded Caleb for a moment like he wanted to say something parental but instead ran out of steam.
“I won’t be out late.”
In his truck, he took a minute to process.Couldsomething be wrong with Cassidy? He looked toward the lights of the kitchen. Maybe he’d just stay home and order pizza, see if Mom and Dad wanted to play a game. But it was almost eight. Mom took her nightly bath at eight thirty, and Dad sat in his chair with one of his many books.
Besides, Caleb wanted to see Emery. She made him feel like his world wouldn’t always be messed up.
At the Sands, he’d hoped to find her sitting by the firepit. But when he arrived, the courtyard was dark, except for the string oflights and the golden windows of the occupied cottages. From one of them came a bit of music and laughter. He glanced toward Cottage 7, still feeling knotted up from the all the day’s weirdness. Even Operation Revenge felt pointless and wrong.
He started to knock on Emery’s door but lost his nerve and turned to go.
“Leaving so soon?” Emery appeared in cottage doorway, the light from inside embracing her.
“Hey, sorry,” he said. “I didn’t want to disturb y’all.”
“Then why’d you come over?”
“It’s okay. I should probably go.”
Emery peered at him. “You need to talk, don’t you?”
“I thought maybe Delilah would have one of her summer fires going.” His weird way of saying yes.
“Dad,” Emery called over her shoulder, “can we make a fire?”
The man came out in socks and sandals, T-shirt and plaid shorts, greeted Caleb, and grabbed a few logs from the pile. “I feel I should remind you,” he said. “I know Krav Maga.”
Caleb saluted. “Noted, Mr. Quinn. I’d still like a few lessons.”
“Perhaps toward the end of our stay, when I’ll no longer need to reserve my secrets.”
While Caleb helped Mr. Quinn build the fire, Emery disappeared inside, returning a few minutes later with her hair in a braid and some gloss on her lips. “Let’s walk on the beach first. Dad, we’ll be right back.”
They walked in silence through the courtyard toward the runner of moonlight on the sand. Finally, he confessed, “Thursday night is family dinner night. Only my parents worked late, and Cassidy was a no-show. A friend’s sister saw her at a West End bar, drunk. She’s not even eighteen. It feels like everything is changing around me, and I can’t find a way to feel right about it.”
“Maybe you’re not supposed to feel right about it.” Emery’shand swung against his, so he hung on. That was all he needed for his world to get a little brighter.
“Maybe.” He squeezed her hand. “I feel a little stupid. Always complaining about my family.”
“Doesn’t feel stupid to me. If I had a brother, I’d want him to care about me like you care about Cassidy.”
“I like you, Emery Quinn. A lot.” He caught the edge of her white smile in the angled glow of the Beachwalk lamps.
“I like you too.” She held his hand a bit tighter.
“Are you going to break my heart, Quinn?”
