1
Harvey
My jaw droppedwhen I saw the fifty-foot metal sign on the side of the highway.
Big Dicks Lube and Service
Seth had told me to look for it, but I’d thought he’d been kidding. The familiar blue-and-cream of the logo was already rusting at the edges, the apostrophe in Dick’s long gone—the spot where it had once been almost rusted through.
I pulled over to the side of the road to take a photo and send it to Seth, imagining my favorite cousin’s laughter as I climbed back behind the wheel, groaning with the effort. The only way to get to Otter Bay was a road trip from Portland, and the only rental car available at the airport had been a 2011 Volkswagen Golf. It wasn’t the smallest car ever made—I’d googled it to find out—but it sure as hellfeltlike it.
Seth:I told you so
Harvey:I’ll never doubt you again
Seth:that would be unwise
Seth:get back on the road, we’re holding off on brunch for you
Harvey:I’ll be there in fifteen
I tucked my phone back into the laptop bag on the passenger seat and pulled back out onto the highway, thunder rolling overhead as I crested the hill that looked down on Otter Bay.
I’d never seen it in the fall, with the maples dotted around town turning from bright summer green to warm yellows and reds and every color in between. Otter Bay meant summer to me, overripe peaches stolen from the neighbors’ tree, dancing from foot to foot on hot sand as we ran down the beach to dive into the waves, long nights huddled by a campfire or looking up at what felt like every star in the universe.
It’d been so long since those summers. Eleven years since I’d last seen the place.
Last time I’d seen Big Dick’s, it was a little garage in town, perched at the top end of Main Street, and we’d taken turns daring each other to steal the apostrophe off the sign. If someone had stolen it this time, Otter Bay’s delinquent teenagers were getting braver, smarter, and more determined than we’d ever been.
Despite all the time that’d passed, a thrill of excitement ran through me as I drove by the Welcome to Otter Bay sign, childlike joy welling up in the pit of my stomach.
Almost all of my happiest memories were from here. I’d waited all year for summers in Otter Bay at my grandma’s house. The thought of coming back as soon as school ended had gotten me through some of the hardest, loneliest times of my life.
Raindrops started falling as I turned onto Main, a broken-down car blocking the road.
My phone buzzed as I waited behind it, debating whether or not to get out and help push it out of the way—on the one hand, it looked like there were more than enough people helping already. On the other hand, Seth and his friends were still waiting for me.
The decision was made for me before I could get out, one good shove getting the car far enough out of the way that I could squeeze past it. I gave the people pushing a grateful wave and rolled further down the street, spotting a big rooster statue on top of one of the shop fronts that must have been what Seth meant when he told me to look for the giant metal cock.
Puddles started to form on the pavement and in the road as I searched for an empty parking spot.
I hadn’t brought an umbrella. Obviously. Otter Bay was a land of perpetual summer to me, I hadn’t evenconsideredthat I might need one.
My phone buzzed again, and then a lot of things happened at once.
I glanced toward it, looking away from the road for a split second.
I heard a voice call outTheo, and looked forward again to see a blond man running across the street, right in front of the car.
I slammed on the brakes, throwing up a shower of rainwater…
… and stopping maybe two inches too late to save myself from hitting the guy with a sickening thud.
Cold dread filled my stomach as I yanked on the handbrake and stumbled out of the car, heart racing.
Please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead.
“I’m so sorry, I should’ve been paying attention, this is all my faul…”
