“Henry. Please?”
I scrutinize her expression: earnest, eager, a little madcap. We walk on.
“What do you have in mind?” I finally ask.
She turns to smile up at me. “Let’s go to the park.”
“What, like a playground?”
“No! Jeez, are you eight? The Marine Conservation Park.”
“But it’s closed.”
“I know.”
I tug her to a stop, confused. “I was there earlier. You worked a six-hour shift. Why go back now, in the dark?”
“Because, like you said, it’s my home away from home.”
“I don’t know, Piper.” I reach up to rub the back of my neck. Like a loser, I ask, “What if we get in trouble?”
“We won’t.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I’ve been sneaking in for years.”
I balk at the nonchalant way she admits to trespassing. “We could end up in deep shit, though.”
“Henry, you worry too much.”
“Well, yeah. Someone’s got to.”
She squints, like she’s seeing the real me for the first time. She frowns, unimpressed, apparently.
“Okay,” she says. “Then I’ll go by myself.”
She starts walking—not toward the Towers, where we were headed before, but in the opposite direction. Toward the Marine Conservation Park.
My choices are simple. I can let her go alone, ensuring that the possibility of misfortune stays far from me. Or I can tag along, make sure she’s safe, and live a little. Like Whitney used to say. Like my dad still says.
I keep thinking about how it felt to dance with Piper on the pier.
How freeing it was to let go.
What’s the worst that could happen?
You could get caught, my conscience whispers.And if you do, you’re fucked.
But Piper’s been going after-hours for years—she just said so. I don’t know what happened with her sister earlier, but she obviously needs to reclaim her center. While I recalibrate by going on a run, she goes to the Marine Conservation Park, where her parents’ memory lingers on clean paths, in cool pools, and through the protection and preservation of ocean life.
Who am I to judge?
I watch her retreat in her frayed denim shorts and loose white tank. Her ponytail swings, and her hips sway. Her Reefs slap the pavement as she marches down the sidewalk.
Instead of trying to get to the bottom of her mood, instead of trying to help her, I’m letting her walk away, this gorgeous girl who has decided to let me into her world.
What an idiot I can be.
