I hold my hand up, and my breath is heavy. “I think this…” I twirl a finger in the air, “is my cue that I might need to leave early today. I’m freezing, and I think…” I blink, trying to adapt to being back on land.
Holden holds his palms up. He’s trying to suppress a laugh. “Say no more.”
“What? What was that?” Nash cups his ear with his hand, pretending to try and listen. “Pick up milk from the grocery store since we now have a truce and I need to up my baby-whispering game from a two? You got it.”
A rumbling sound rolls up my throat.
Was this a turning point for us? Arguing in the water to have transparency about our current situation…
…except our situation just became more complex. We now have a new kind of tension.
9
NASH
Isit quietly at the kitchen table with a beer bottle in hand, doing my best to run through the facts that I’ve learned. Truthfully, I don’t know how to process it all. I don’t doubt that Summer and Zac had their own kind of relationship. One that, if I’m honest with myself, gave my brother solace before he passed.
It’s just, now I’m under the same roof as Summer and wondering what happens when we bury the past and start on a fresh page, if we can.
The sound of feet walking down the stairs doesn’t snap me out of my subdued mood. Hearing Summer’s steps slow doesn’t change the feeling, either. Still, my eyes flick up to watch her delicately enter the kitchen as she dries her hair with a towel.
“Hi.”
I take one sip of my beer. “Hey.”
Our eyes meet, and it feels like we have reached a gate with each of us on opposite sides. Summer swipes her hair to the side, and her small scar confronts me the way it always does when I least expect.
“So… that was that.” She’s trying to approach the subject.
It causes me to smirk slightly to myself. “What can I say? That dock does stupid shit to people. Some weird possessed sacred piece of wood over water.”
“That’s one way of looking at it.” She slides onto a chair and pulls her knee up to wrap her arms around her leg. “I’m sorry.”
“For what, Summer?”
She seems to brace herself. “That we ended up in Lake Spark. There was probably a better way to have discussed this all.”
My shoulders lift. “It is what it is.”
“Some days, I don’t even know how to process the last two years. It’s a lot.”
My lips wrap around my beer bottle for another sip, but beer is doing fuck all to simmer me down. “You did what you felt was right, and you have a son that makes you happy.”
Warmth washes over her face. “He does.” It’s a long moment of silence as our sight stakes the other. “You and I called a ceasefire.”
“So we did.” And I have zero clue how non-angry us will be.
Her eyes seem to wander around as her fingers tap on the table. “We should probably break the ice again… between us, I mean.”
I laugh to myself. “And how do you propose we do that?”
“Hmm…” Her eyes catch on something. “How about we play a boardgame?”
Now I have to smile at her absurd suggestion. “A boardgame?”
“Yeah. We have a bunch. Remember, your brother had a whole collection? We also have the old-school game system, but that’s in a box somewhere.”
She stands and eagerly finds her way to a cupboard against the wall. There are a bunch of candles on top of what looks to be a refurbished antique dresser. She opens the door, and her finger taps her chin. “I know. We can honor Zac by playing one of his favorite games. That boardgame where it’s like medieval times. There are like three different boxes, I guess for new levels or new kingdoms or something weird like that.”
