“It’s okay. Bailey didn’t go anywhere. He and Javi are with me. We took a walk up the beach to get some fresh air,” I say, grabbing my clothes out of the sand as Bailey whistles for Javi.
“What?”
“We just took a walk to give everyone some space. I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking,” I say, feeling guilt crawl up my spine for not telling anyone what we were doing. They’ve probably all gone to the worst-case scenario, especially Hunter after he told Bailey to leave again.
“You’re with Bailey? He didn’t leave?” he asks, his breathing beginning to slow.
“And Javi,” I add, and Bailey plucks the phone from my hand before I can hear Hunter’s response, catching me by surprise.
His voice is a deep rumble, and Javi’s frowning as he gets closer to us. “It was my fault. I’m sorry I didn’t tell anyone where I was going,” he says, and I need him to give me the phone back. B’s trying to make it better, but he’s going to make it worse.
“Give me the phone,” I say to Bailey, and he shakes his head, turning away from me.
“Do we have to go?” Javi asks, tugging at my hand, distracting me for a moment.
I don’t want to yet, but I’m worried about how upset Hunter is.
“We’re on our way back now,” I hear Bailey say, and I’m struck by how much I don’t want to go back yet. I’m worried I hurt Thalia and Bash, two of the nicest people I know who have waited so long for their son to come back. I’ve been there through all the panic of the family realizing he was gone, how no one could seem to find Bailey, and the increasingworry he wasn’t going to come back. I know I need to talk to Hunter, but I also want to talk to Bailey.
Unfortunately, I have a feeling the moment for Bailey to say anything about the last two years has passed.
“B, I don’t want to go yet,” Javi says, flashing the best damn puppy-dog eyes I think I’ve ever seen at Bailey while I step into my shorts, tugging my shirt over my head. My swimsuit is mostly dry now anyway.
“The ocean isn’t going anywhere, but we gotta go back to the house,” Bailey says, passing the phone back to me. I stuff it in my back pocket, trying not to overthink the lines I might’ve crossed by leaving the house with them.
“There’s plenty of shark teeth and shells in the beach right behind the house,” I reassure Javi, wishing I’d had a chance to ask Bailey more about the little boy.
He looks up at me, his dark eyes glittering. “Are you going to stay with us? Be part of our family?” he asks, the question so innocent, it hits me square in the chest.
I crouch down next to Javi, giving him a smile. “I’m not going anywhere,” I say, brushing his tangled, wet hair out of his forehead.
He smiles a toothy grin, lurching forward to wrap his arms around my neck, hugging me. There’s no hesitation when I hug him back, but I do steal a glance at Bailey—only he’s already looking at me with his emerald eyes, as if I’m a puzzle he can’t solve.
Javi lets go of me, but he’s quick to grab my hand and Bailey’s as we start walking back in the direction of the beach house.
I want to ask what Hunter said to Bailey after he took my phone—to know if he apologized for what he said—but whatever happened between the twins three years ago has me swallowing the question.
It wasn’t a lie when I said I didn’t know if Hunter wouldtalk to him while he’s here. He doesn’t talk about Bailey, but he hasn’t needed to. The ghost of Bailey’s absence haunted all of us, constantly lurking under our skin, never letting us forget.
How could we, when Hunter was a mirror, giving us a glimpse of our lost boy—the other side of the same coin?
One brimming with a smoldering fire, ready to combust at any point. The other, cool and collected, able to weather any storm.
Any storm except the one swirling around Bailey.
He’s the one thing capable of causing my calm and gentle boyfriend’s underlying personality trait as a Walker to show through.
I’ve always wondered how Hunt could be so level-headed when the rest of his family is so emotionally charged. I don’t mean it in a bad way—it’s just who they are, although some of them more than others. Whenever Bailey’s temper flared, usually during an argument with Mira, Hunter was the voice of reason. I’ve witnessed it more times than I can count, but now, it seems they’ve traded places.
“Ça va?”?1Bailey asks, after Javi pulls out of our grip, his French unsure and rough.
I consider lying and saying I’m fine, but he can very clearly see I’m not. Even if I can’t read him, he’s always been able to read me. “No. Hunt has every right to be upset with me,” I say, choosing to answer in English. I don’t think he’s spoken French since the day he left.
“Why?”
I shake my head, trying to figure out where to draw the line in the sand between my hopes for a friendship with Bailey and my relationship with Hunter. It doesn’t feel right to talk to Bailey about an argument with his brother, even ifthe argument was about him. “Because I should have told someone where we were going.”
“It’s not your fault. They have every reason to not trust I wouldn’t leave again, but my brother shouldn’t be upset with you, he should be upset with me,” Bailey says, and I wish it could be that simple.
