1
Summer 2004
Something about the moonlight over Bluebell Cove was magical. Standing at the edge of the cliff overlooking the water, Juliet watched the white light play across the waves and felt her heart rise in her throat. At seventeen, she carried enormous expectations about what would happen to her in the years after high school. She had a sense that everything that had come before had been little more than a preview for the greater show.
Beside her, Callie, her best friend since they were three or four (maybe even before they’d begun to form real memories), threw her head back, letting her blond curls dance across her shoulders. There were tears on her cheeks. Only moments ago, Juliet had told Callie she would leave Bluebell Cove as soon as she had enough money and they graduated from high school. Juliet knew it was bad timing. Callie’s boyfriend Jeremy had dumped her last week, and Callie was fragile and emotional and feeling bereft.
Now, Callie whispered, “I don’t have dreams the way you have dreams.”
Juliet turned and gave Callie a look she hoped translated to but you can make up whatever dream you want! You’re young and alive! The world is yours!
Callie shook her head with what seemed like too much exhaustion, given her age.
Juliet tugged at her best friend’s elbow. “Let’s not think about that now. Let’s go.”
Together, they traced the slender trail from the top of the cliff down to the beach below. As they got closer, the water grew louder, becoming a roar. Clouds swarmed around the moon, but little flashes of light came over their faces when the moon ducked its head out again and again. Juliet knew the ocean was too violent for swimming. But she preferred the ocean when it was volatile and emotional, like her wild, beating heart.
Juliet’s mother had died when Juliet was five, but she remembered the way her mother had described her. “My wild one. My beautiful rainbow bird! You’re going to do amazing things. You’re going to be in the world in ways I never could.” At this, Juliet remembered her older sister Ivy, looking at Juliet with a mix of horror and jealousy. Ivy, the quiet, nervous, and responsible one, could never be described as a rainbow bird.
Does my mother love me more than my sisters? Juliet remembered thinking at the time.
Now, she didn’t think that was so. She simply believed that her mother had seen something in Juliet, something that reminded her of herself and her reckless spirit. The longer Juliet was alive, the more she believed that her mother had felt trapped in Bluebell Cove, that she’d burdened herself with the inn and four daughters and a husband’s cruelty. She hadn’t known how to get out.
Juliet would not have that problem. In fact, she’d been careful not to have romantic relationships or get too invested in Bluebell Cove events. Well, she’d been careful minus one person: Callie. When she left, she would miss Callie deep in her bones. Maybe she could convince Callie to come with her? Maybe Callie could have a future in the big city?
Even as Juliet thought it, her feet squishing through the sand, she knew it couldn’t be so. Juliet had to fly free on her own. Only then could she become what she was meant to be.
When Juliet and Callie reached the water, they removed their shoes and felt the chilly ocean against their toes. Juliet fought the urge to ask Callie about her dreams again. It felt sort of obscene to Juliet that Callie had no vision for herself. She’d apparently wanted to marry her high school boyfriend Jeremy, have his babies, and give up in the way so many other women in their small town had.
When the silence had gone on too long, filled only with the roar of the waves, Juliet unzipped her sweatshirt and threw it onto the sand. Callie watched her, furrowing her brow.
“Check this out, Callie. I’ve been practicing.” Juliet undid her bun and let her hair fly out behind her. Then she twisted around to “strut” like a model up and down the sand. She’d been practicing the model walk for a few months, certain that a career in modeling would help her enter the fashion world, introduce her to the right people, and help her to one day launch her own fashion brand. She knew her beauty would not last forever, that being somewhere between seventeen and twenty-two was probably the sweet spot for selling yourself as a model. She was prepared to soak up every moment and learn as much as she could.
And hadn’t she been sketching fashion ideas since she was a little girl? Hadn’t she mastered the sewing machine by the age of eight? Didn’t she make most of her clothes?
Her future felt foretold.
When she finished with her model strut, Callie clapped and hooted, then burst into laughter. “You look like the real deal.” She shrugged.
Juliet couldn’t tell whether Callie was lying, but she decided that it didn’t matter. She was going to be a model. There was no arguing with that.
Callie and Juliet sat far back from the water, wrapping themselves in the blanket they’d stolen from the Bluebell Cove Inn. If Juliet’s father knew they’d taken it, he would have grounded her. But Juliet was good at hiding things from James Harper. She’d always been.
Callie glanced at Juliet, looking secretive.
“What’s up?” Juliet asked.
“I don’t know. But like…” Callie wet her lips nervously. “What about Theo?”
Juliet barked with laughter. “Theo? Theo Maddox?” She knew it was a funny question. There weren’t any other Theos in their orbit. There weren’t any other Theos she was close with.
“I mean, he’s in love with you,” Callie said. “Isn’t he in love with you?”
Juliet felt a tenderness toward her best friend’s lovely spirit. “We’re just teenagers. I’m sure he doesn’t think about it in any real way. And it’s not like I’ve ever tried to make him fall in love with me. We only kissed, like, once. When we were twelve!”
“You don’t care about him?” Callie asked.
Juliet raised her eyebrows. Her instinct was to tell Callie that she didn’t care about Theo, her male best friend who looked at her as though she was the sun, moon, and stars put together.
