Tripp leaned back against the countertop and crossed his ankles and waited.They’d been friends for almost twenty years, since the summer Rafe’s parents had sent him to the island for military camp in an effort to turn him around.They’d met when Rafe had snuck out of the facility with some other delinquents one night and joined the beach party Tripp was at.After that Rafe had come back every summer for a week or two, along with...
He pushed the thought aside before it could take hold.Rafe had been silent way too long.“Okay, so when’re you gonna tell me why you’re really here?”he finally asked.
Rafe looked up at him.“Whaddya mean?”
“You really think I believe you left the station and drove all the way up here just to say hi and hang out for a free coffee?”Tripp’s place was fifteen minutes out of town.
Rafe sighed and leaned back in his chair.“All right.I came to tell you something.”
His somber tone and expression, on top of coming here to tell him in person, made Tripp’s stomach tense in warning.“Okay, what?”
Rafe hesitated, confirming whatever he was about to say wasn’t good news.“I just heard this morning and thought you should know.”His amber eyes were troubled.“Willow’s coming back to town.”
Tripp’s chest seized, his fingers squeezing his mug until they were bloodless.Simultaneous waves of elation and dread hit him.
No.Not dread.
Apprehension.Cold and slick, coating his insides like a corrosive liquid.
“When?”he asked, his voice surprisingly calm even though his ribcage was being squeezed by an invisible vise.
“She’s supposedly on the ferry right now.”
TWO
W
illow stood at the bow railing of the ferry, her long hair whipping in the wind as the island she hadn’t set foot or eyes on in four years appeared through the haze up ahead in the distance.
Skeleton Island.A hauntingly beautiful place of tangled memories, and her new home.
Winds and currents from the open Pacific to the west always made the Strait of Juan de Fuca a bit rough, even in calm August weather.The car ferry rocked gently from side to side in the small waves, little whitecaps visible across the surface in every direction.A clear, cerulean-blue sky stretched overhead, dotted with puffy white clouds.
It was the perfect summer day in the Pacific Northwest.A good omen for this brand new chapter of her life she was about to begin.
She should be excited.But now that she was almost there, anxiety began to churn in the pit of her stomach.
