“You’re not going to sacrifice yourself at all.”
“I’m going to get my grandfather back.” Some people, including Galen, called me stubborn. They were right. “I’m going to figure out a way to get him back and make sure Declan doesn’t get over here. I don’t know how, but I am.”
“We’regoing to do it,” he corrected. “We’re a team. I need you to remember that.”
“I could never forget.”
“We have other members on our team too,” he added. “It’s wise to utilize their strengths on this one.”
“What are you suggesting?”
“I don’t know yet, but we’re going to figure it out.
15
FIFTEEN
Iwas stuffed after dinner so Galen suggested a walk. He tried to hold my hand, but it was humid and the sweat was too much. We walked, my shoulder bumping into his arm, and he didn’t force me to talk.
Sometimes he would push an issue until I wanted to explode. Times like this, though, when he knew I was really troubled, he let me go at my own pace.
We drank enough that he didn’t want to drive back to the lighthouse. Instead, he collected Declan’s file from his truck. I thought we would walk to the lighthouse but he led me in the opposite direction.
“Where are we going?” I asked, confused.
“To see your mother.” His eyes were soft. “You haven’t been to visit her in a long time. I thought, tonight, you would want to see her.”
A lump formed in my throat. That was a thoughtful offer. I couldn’t speak for fear I would start crying.
He didn’t say anything for the walk to the cemetery, letting me collect myself. By the time we reached our destination, I felt composed.
“It’s a nice night,” I said as we walked along the wall that surrounded the cemetery. “It’s a little hot.” I paused a beat. “You don’t have to sit here with me if you don’t want to.”
He didn’t mention that there was a dhampir trying to get his hands on me. He didn’t point out that my grandfather was missing and he wanted to keep the same thing from happening to me. His response was simple. “There’s nowhere I’d rather be.”
We sat on the bench near the viewing window and watched the zombies — my mother among them — shamble around the enclosed cemetery. When I’d first moved to Moonstone Bay I’d been horrified by the cemetery situation. That had quickly morphed into curiosity. For a time, I sat outside the cemetery nightly just to catch a glimpse of her.
Galen would come with me some nights. He eventually pointed out that spending my time focusing on the past wasn’t conducive to moving forward. I started tapering back my visits. I went from watching her nightly to once a week, then once every few weeks. I hadn’t been back in months.
Galen started flipping through the file as I watched my mother. She kept going back to the door of the storage shed, as if there was something inside calling to her. There was no activity in her mind. She was a shell and nothing more.
“Do you think she was excited when she found out she was pregnant?” I asked out of nowhere.
Galen jerked up his chin, surprise on his face. “Um … definitely.”
“I never asked my dad if I was planned or if I was a surprise. Maybe I should.”
“Why?”
I shrugged. “It might help me think about her differently.” I couldn’t meet his intense gaze.
“Hadley, you can’t blame yourself for what happened to your mother.” He sounded exasperated.
“If there had been no me she might still be alive.”
“Something tells me your mother would trade herself for you over and over again.”
“Why do you think that?”
