‘Kayden, what the heck!’ she cries through her laughter, pounding on my back as I rush toward the water and wade in until I’m waist deep. We’re not in our swimsuits, but shorts, and the water is lukewarm, and still not comfortable. Still it’s fun.
‘This is for turning me into a sap,’ I tease, pinching her ass before I lower her into the water with a splash.
She lets out a squeal as the salty ocean seeps through her clothes all the way up to just below her chest. ‘You are a mean, mean boy.’
‘No way. I’m a sappy guy, thanks to you.’ I give her a lopsided grin as I grab the front of her shirt and pull her closer to me. Her hair is dripping wet, water beads her skin, and her clothes cling to her body. She’s ridiculously sexy and I just want to lick the water right off her skin.
So I do.
Dipping my head toward her neck, I lick a path across her collarbone, ignoring the salty taste.
‘Kayden,’ she gasps, her fingers tangling through my hair.
She pulls me closer and I smile against her skin as I drop my head lower as my hands glide up to her stomach. I kiss a path to the collar of her shirt then pull it down to suck on the curve of her breast. She struggles to stand upright against the intensity and the waves rolling toward us, so I reach down, grab her thigh, and hitch it around my hip. She gasps and rocks her hips against me, seeking more. The moment is perfect and I’m about to give our bodies everything they’re craving when a large wave slams against us and knocks us apart.
‘Holy shit.’ I struggle to get my footing as Callie comes up from out of the water.
‘Serves you right’ – she laughs and swims toward shore – ‘for throwing me in there to begin with,’ she says as she crawls out of the water and drops down on the sand exhausted.
I wade out and lie down beside her, completely unconcerned that the sand is getting caked to my clothes. Then we stare at the sky, getting lost in the peace of just being near each other. But it’s when the clouds roll in that I’m reminded why we’re here.
‘We should probably get ready to go,’ Callie whispers softly with her arm draped over her forehead.
I slowly nod. ‘Yeah, you’re probably right.’ It takes me a minute to move, though, and in the end, I wish I could have stayed.
Just her and me.
Callie and me.
The warm sand.
The peaceful ocean.
That’s all I want.
But deep down, I know it’s time for me to go say goodbye.
Dylan and Liz show up at our hotel a few hours before the funeral to take us out for lunch. Callie’s wearing a black dress that looks a lot like Liz’s and Dylan and I are wearing black pants, a white shirt, and a black tie. None of our moods seem as sullen as our outfits, though.
‘I can’t believe you’re a writer,’ Liz says to Callie from across the table at the fast food place we’re eating at. ‘That’s so cool.’
Callie seems a little self-conscious with the attention focused solely on her. ‘Yeah, I guess. But I still have a lot of stuff to do if I’m going to make writing my career.’
I drape my arm around her and comb my fingers through her hair that still has the faintest scent of the ocean. ‘You are going to be one. It’s what you love to do.’
She scrunches up her face. ‘I just don’t want to think of it as a job, you know. The internship is great and everything, but I don’t know. It’s just not as fun as writing stories.’
‘You should write stories, then. If that’s what you want to do,’ I say, picking up a fry and popping it into my mouth.
‘Easier said than done.’ She dunks a fry into my cup of ranch. ‘Do you know how hard of a career that is to get into?’
‘You can do it,’ I say with a smile. ‘And I’ll take care of you while you do.’ I promised I’d take care of you, I mouth.
‘You guys are adorable,’ Liz interrupts our little moment. When I look across the table, I realize she and my brother are watching us with fascination. ‘Seriously, like the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.’
Dylan rolls his eyes. ‘Don’t worry. She thinks everything’s adorable. Puppies, kittens, bedding, cars, movies, old people.’ He flashes her a grin and she smiles, playfully swatting her hand against his chest.
‘Oh, whatever,’ she says. ‘You get all misty-eyed during movies, too.’
He keeps grinning at her and she throws a fry at his face, but he opens his mouth and catches it. We’re all having fun and I almost forget why we’re here, until Liz gets up from the booth.
‘It’s time to go,’ she tells everyone with a sigh as she glances at the clock on the wall.
This somber silence sets over us as we’re forced back to reality and the real reason the four of us are here hanging out in North Carolina.
To say goodbye.
‘I guess it is,’ Dylan mutters as he gets up and heads for the door, fumbling to get the car keys from his pocket.
We all follow in silence and get into the car. The drive to the church doesn’t seem long enough. I wish I could make it last forever. We ride with my brother, sitting in the backseat where I hold Callie’s hand the entire way, which helps me to breathe easier. The air is humid, the ocean is the scenery for most of the way. It’s calming, but I still feel my heart thumping deafeningly inside my chest the closer we get to the place.
This is it.
Can I handle it?
Finally, we arrive at the small, almost rundown-looking church that’s centered in the middle of the small town with the cemetery on the same street. The parking lot hardly has any cars in it, which makes me wonder if we’re at the right place. But I don’t say anything as Dylan seems positive this is where it is, since ‘this is where the GPS took us.’ When we’re walking up the sidewalk, though, he grabs my arm and pulls me back, motioning at Callie and Liz to go ahead.
Liz and Callie give us both a strange look as they pause in front of the large doors.
‘It’s okay,’ Dylan says at the same time I say, ‘I’m fine.’
With reluctance, they both go inside, leaving Dylan and me standing at the bottom of the stairs in the shadows of the trees.
‘So, if things start to get too heavy in here, just say so and we’ll go,’ he says, fiddling around with the watch on his wrist. He seems as uneasy as I feel.
‘Okay.’ I glance up at the door and then back to him, realizing that once I step inside, things are going to change. A chapter in my life is going to be closed and however I feel about it, in the end I’m saying goodbye forever, like when Dylan left the house at eighteen. ‘I have a question, though … about how Dad died …’ I have no clue why I’m asking, other than it seems like I should know before I walk in there, before I say goodbye and close the chapter. ‘Do you know what happened exactly that put him in the hospital?’