My eyes drift down the beach to the lighthouse, and I let them rest there for a moment. I remember how big it felt when we were kids. Like we were climbing into the sky, where no one would ever be able to find us. My lips twitch with a smile as I think of all the time we spent in there, and I watch the clouds drift over it while it continues to stand strong and steady against its ever-changing surroundings.
Like a symbol of everything we’ve been through.
As I turn back to the water, I catch Silas glance between me and the lighthouse.
I nod towards it. “Spend much time there anymore?” I ask.
His eyes flick to it briefly, then back to Winston in the water, and he shakes his head. “Not since we were there last.”
All I can do is stare at him. He hasn’t been to the pub, the lighthouse… He kept all our places exactly where and how we left them.
My gaze slides past him, up the stretch of beach on the other side, where we used to walk to meet our friends, tie our boats, and dig for clams. This place is full of memories we shared together, and I can't think of a single moment I spent here that doesn't have Silas somewhere in it. It was where nothing else mattered, and we could let everything go.
And the lighthouse was where we climbed above all of it. Where we pulled each other out of the dark and turned on the light.
A smile tugs at my lips as I tap his arm, and I tilt my head towards it as his eyes meet mine.
“Race ya.”
THIRTY
Levi’s eyesdance with excitement, and I can’t help but smile as I recognize the look in them. The same one he’s shown me so many times when we were kids.
A dare to try to beat him, and a challenge to have some fun along the way.
My eyes flick to the lighthouse behind him, and the familiar flicker of resistance moves through me. I haven’t been there since he left, because it was never just a place. It wasourplace. Forus.
But… we’re together again.
It feels like we can be usagain.
So without another thought, I take off running.
“Fucker!” Levi yells behind me with a laugh, and I can’t help but let out my own.
He’s cheated more times than I can count. I earned this head start.
Winston barks and explodes out of the water to join, and I run faster as he falls into step beside me, kicking up sand behind us.
But then, Levi passes me.
What the fuck?
I push harder into the deep red sand as competition rises inside me, but he’s already ahead, and I can’t close the gap.
Fuck… he’s fast.
He was never this fast. He was never faster than me.
Levi reaches the lighthouse door and turns to me with a wide, breathless grin as I pull up in front of him with my chest heaving. Winston plants himself at my feet and stares up at us both with his tongue hanging out of his mouth, panting as he waits to see what’s next.
I narrow my eyes at Levi, but he just laughs, lifting one shoulder in a shrug like he can't help it.
“I run marathons now,” he says.
I huff and shake my head, not all that surprised by this overachiever. “Of course you do.”
His expression softens as he tilts his head towards the door. “Want to go in?”
