The Early Years
Teagan
My palms began to sweat as the car pulled up in front of a stone building; it wasn’t very big, but it was intimidating. A new school.
Mrs. Marks turned from her spot next to the driver, whose name I learned was Sam. “You’ll be fine, Teagan. I know it’s scary, but you’ll adjust and maybe you’ll even make a friend or two.”
My throat worked as I attempted to keep myself from bursting into tears. I hated this, every bit of it.
“Come on, Teagan,” Kane called as he climbed from the car. Starting fourth grade in a different school midyear was not going to be fun. At least Kane was in the same school as me, even if he was a sixth grader.
His head poked back through the open door. “Come on.”
“Bye,” I said to Mrs. Marks and Sam.
“See you after school,” Mrs. Marks said, her voice kind, her smile encouraging. Dragging myself across the seat, I climbed out, but my feet refused to move me any farther. Kane grabbed my hand and started pulling me toward the building.
“You’ll be fine, don’t worry,” Kane said.
Easy for him to say. The smell of chalk and disinfectant filled my nose as soon as I stepped through the front doors. My stomach was already churning with nerves, and the added scents didn’t help. Continuing down the hall, we stopped just outside one of the classrooms.
“Mrs. Texler is very nice, so relax. When the day is over, they’ll call for car riders first—that’s us. I’ll meet you out front. You’ll be fine. And after school, I’ll take you out for something to eat. Mrs. Marks gave me money and cleared it with the office that we’ll be walking into town after school.”
I took a few deep breaths as Kane yanked the door open for me. He seemed to know I needed reassurance, so he smiled. “Ice cream after school.”
Nodding, since words would not come, I stepped into the classroom and every eye turned to me. Mrs. Texler rose from her seat at her desk and walked around to join me. Her hand on my shoulder felt surprisingly comforting, her smile reassuring.
“Class, this is Teagan Harper, she will be joining us for the rest of the year. Please make her feel welcome.”
And they did. I think the other students knew what had happened to my parents, because everyone in class stopped by my desk to say hi. And even though I still had butterflies in my belly, I wasn’t as terrified.
When the bell sounded for the end of the day and the lady over the speaker called for car riders, I didn’t run from the room like I thought I would that morning. For a first day, it had been pretty okay. Stepping outside, I looked around for Kane. When I saw him, something moved through me, an emotion I’d never felt before. He was talking to a girl with long brown hair and big blue eyes. She was older—his grade, I was sure. Kane leaned against a tree, laughing at whatever she’d just said.
I supposed I should have realized that he had a life, friends outside of Raven’s Peak. Now that school was back in session, he’d probably start playing with his friends and forget about me. That hurt, though he was two years older than me. Why would he want to hang with a little kid? My feet moved a little slower at the thought, because I wanted him all to myself. He was my only friend so far. Selfish, that’s what my mom would say. I was being selfish. And just thinking of her sent tendrils of pain through my chest, squeezing so hard my eyes burned.
Turning from Kane and his friend, I started down the path toward home. He should take his friend into town for ice cream. Yet I hadn’t gotten very far when I heard Kane calling my name. He appeared at my side, breathing hard from running after me.
“Where are you going?”
“Back to the house.”
“I thought we were going to get ice cream.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I know I don’t. I want to.”
“But what about the girl you were just talking to?” I said.
Absently, he glanced behind him. “Camille? What about her?”
“Don’t you want to go with her?”
“No.” He said it as if it were obvious. The feeling in my belly eased. “The parlor makes the best sundaes. We’ll get one and share.”
“Okay.” I sounded almost giddy—I was happy he wanted to get ice cream with me.
His eyes found mine and he flashed me a smile. “And then you can tell me all about your first day of school.”
“Let’s go. Murder waits for no one.” Mrs. Marks was in rare form that evening. We were all heading to the library, because it was time to play our monthly game of Clue. She was Miss Scarlet, of course, dressed in a red gown, her hair up like it usually was. She was carrying one of those cigarette holders, minus the cigarette, because smoking was a “dreadful habit.” Her first name was Veronica, but she never let anyone call her that. I often wondered why, because she wasn’t stuffy or overly formal. It felt odd that she preferred Mrs. Marks, especially since I didn’t think there was ever a Mr. Marks. I had asked Kane if he knew the reason, but he didn’t know either.
Mr. Clancy was Colonel Mustard; Mrs. T was Mr. Green, dressed in an eighties leisure suit. I was Mrs. Peabody. Mrs. Marks found me the ugliest tweed suit with old lady shoes to wear, and not even Mrs. Marks wore pumps like the ones she forced on me. Kane was Professor Plum in an ascot and khakis and a corduroy jacket with patches on the elbows. He was not happy. In the months since I had come to live at Raven’s Peak, he and I had become inseparable. Mrs. Marks and the others often teased us; if you saw one, the other was surely close behind. Despite how close we had become, I grinned at his discomfort, because he looked ridiculous.
“I hate that I have to wear an ascot. Only Fred from Scooby-Doo can pull that off. I look like a dork.”
“You are a dork, Kane. Deal.”
His head snapped in my direction. “Careful, Teagan.”
“Or what? You’ll lecture me to death?” Having recently turned ten, I’d just learned the word “lecture” and, since he was Professor Plum, I thought I was being very clever.
He started for me, but Mrs. Marks stopped him. “There will be no bloodshed until the game begins. Now, everyone must assume their positions. Once the lights go off, it’s action. Does everyone remember their parts?”
Mrs. Marks loved this, loved mysteries and whodunits. I enjoyed watching her enthusiasm for the game. It created lightness in the sad circumstances.
“I have just polished the candlesticks, so if one of them is the murder weapon, I would appreciate that whoever uses it cleans it,” Mr. Clancy said. He was trying to sound serious, but I saw the way his lips turned up on the one side. They really were the strangest group of people, and yet Kane had been right: they were a lot of fun.
“Well, we’ll have cake when this is all done. Nothing works up an appetite like murder,” Mrs. T suggested.
“You can say that again,” Kane agreed, but he was looking at me, and I had a terrible feeling he was the murderer and I was the victim. The look he was throwing at me was sinister.
“All right. Remember, only the murderer knows who the victim will be. As soon as the lights are out, make yourself scarce, because even if you’re the target and you’re about to die, your murderer should have to work for it. If you’re the victim, be sure to scream loudly, so we can find your body, and then the game begins.” The lights went out. “Action!” Mrs. Marks called.
I took off, almost running, but I felt Kane behind me gaining with every step. I reached the kitchen before he caught me, his arms coming around me and pulling me back against him.
“Sorry, Teagan.” But he didn’t sound sorry at all.
I laughed through my entire death scene because Kane’s method for killing me was to tickle me to death.
Walking down the sloping backyard of Raven’s Peak, I glanced back at the huge house—although, “house” didn’t even seem to be the right word. The place was just that big. Grass and trees wrapped around the property, and then it just dropped off as the ocean met the land. It wasn’t a long drop, but even still, it was scary. A set of stairs, with railings on both sides, led down to the beach below. Raven’s Peak sat on a point; a walkway had been carved into the cliffside, curving around the point as another way for people to get to the beach. Taking the walkway, I started down. The sound of the waves crashing against the rocks was music to my ears. White sand, that I bet felt wonderfully warm in the summer, met the cliff, but only for a small stretch. In the distance, the water crashed up against the cliffs, the sight violent but pretty.
Walking along the beach, I held my coat closed tightly around me. Though spring was coming, it was still cold. I looked out at the island that sat just off the beach. It wasn’t very big, maybe the size of a couple football fields, oddly shaped, and about a half mile from where I stood. There were trees—I could see them even from my distance. I wondered how it had formed there, so close to the mainland and yet off on its own. It seemed like it would sink if anyone ever stepped on it.
“Nice, isn’t it?” I hadn’t heard Kane approach, so I jumped a few feet in the air when he spoke.
“Kane!” I smacked him on the arm.
“Sorry, I thought you heard me coming.” He turned his face to the sea. “Mrs. Marks owns that.”
“Really?”
“I’m going to swim out to it when I’m older. When I’m a strong enough swimmer.”
My eyes went wide. “You’re going to swim out there?”
“Yep.” His focus turned to me. “You can come.”
“I can’t swim.”
I couldn’t lie. I wanted to swim out there with him, but I was afraid of the water. “When you’re ready, I’ll teach you to swim. Deal?”
I could do that, when I was ready. “Deal.”
“Dinner’s ready.”
We started back to the stairs. “Did Mrs. Marks have the steps and walkway added?”
“The steps. The walkway was done when the house was built back in the day. Pretty neat the way they carved it right into the stone. I like taking the steps, they’re scarier.”
“I like the walkway.”
“Then we’ll take the walkway. Mrs. T is making potpie for dinner. I love her potpies.”
Since I hadn’t yet had one of Mrs. T’s potpies, I couldn’t comment, but since everything else she made was the best I’d ever tasted, I couldn’t wait. I wondered if Kane’s obsession with food started after he’d come to Mrs. Marks’s to live. I could understand that if it were the case. “You and food. Do you ever think of anything else?”
His smile was just a bit wicked. “Sometimes.”
“You’re not going to share what else in your world could possibly compete with your love of food?”
“I shouldn’t need to share it, I think it’s pretty obvious,” he replied.
In response, my body turned warm all over and my heart rolled in my chest. Could he possibly be talking about me?
He answered my unasked question. “On the Kane’s scale of likes, you are neck and neck with food.”
It didn’t sound like a compliment, but knowing Kane as I did, it was the highest compliment he could give. He looked a bit uncomfortable, and I knew he was feeling it too when he changed the subject. “You doing okay?” His question surprised me. As did his steady stare. Maybe studying me was a better word, since he looked like Mrs. T looked when she was reading through a problem in my math book.
“About my parents?”
“Yeah.”
“I miss them, but when I think about them, I don’t feel like I have to cry as bad as I did before.”
“That’s good.”
“What about you? Are you still sad when you think about your mom?”
His head turned away, and I think he was trying to hide tears. “She left me, and I don’t know why, so it’s still as hard now as it was then.”
I reached for his hand, and his closed tightly around mine. “I’m sorry she left you, Kane, but in some ways I’m not.”
His head jerked to me with tears in his eyes. “Why did you say that?” He sounded mad.
“Because if she hadn’t, we probably wouldn’t be as close as we are.”
I watched as his anger faded and a little smile curved his mouth. “Looking at it that way, I’m glad for it too.”
Mr. Clancy was sitting in the kitchen having tea when I came home from one of my walks on the beach. Kane was off at the boatyard, shadowing Mr. Miller to learn about boat building, a dream of his. He had invited me to join him, but the few times I had previously, I could tell he felt as if he needed to entertain me. He didn’t, of course, but that was Kane’s way. Mr. Miller was willing to apprentice Kane, so he needed to focus on that, not me.
“Teagan, would you like a cup of tea?”
I never drank tea. My parents had been coffee drinkers, but I was willing to give it a try. It smelled good. “Okay.”
With the skill of someone who did it often, he poured the fragrant liquid into a china cup. “Milk? Sugar?”
“I’ve never had tea,” I confessed.
“Have a touch of sugar.”
Seemed like a good plan to me. “Okay.”
He smiled at me as he prepared my tea and then studied me as I took my first sip. It was delicious. His smile turned even wider. “Good, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“It’s a special brew I get from Harrods in London.”
“Tea all the way from London. Fancy.”
Mr. Clancy winked.
“Can I ask you something?” I asked.
“Sure.”
“How long have you worked here?”
“I grew up here. My father used to be the butler when Mrs. Marks’s father was alive. As I do now, he lived here with my mother and me.”
“You’ve lived here your whole life?” I liked the thought of that, being connected to the same place through your entire life’s journey.
“Yes. Back in the day, the house was filled with people—immediate and extended family. Almost every room was occupied, but it didn’t feel crammed, just the opposite, in fact. Mrs. Marks had two brothers who were significantly older than her, but we all played together when we were kids. Some of my fondest memories are the days the four of us had our adventures.”
“Where are her brothers now?”
“They died in World War II. I remember when the telegram came for Robert, the younger of the two. I’d never seen her father cry, but he cried that day. Only two weeks later, a telegram came for Gerald. The house had always been one of laughter, but after their deaths, a solemnity settled over it and never really lifted until Kane’s arrival.”
I wanted so badly to know more about Kane, but I didn’t know if I had a right to ask. Mr. Clancy obviously had no trouble reading my thoughts.
“Kane’s mother worked here. Rebecca kept the house—cleaning, doing the linens. When she learned she was pregnant, she was thrilled and terrified because she was a single woman who needed her job. But there had never been a question that we would all help with Kane so that she could have both. I remember the first day she brought him here. Even as an infant, his eyes were the exact shade of blue they are now. Watching him grow, hearing laughter in the house again, brought life back into this old place.
“Rebecca leaving took me completely by surprise, because she adored Kane. But she had been a rolling stone in her youth. She had dreams of leaving this town and making a name for herself. I’d thought she had moved past that, but clearly I was wrong. I didn’t know her as well as Mrs. Marks had, though I always had the sense that Rebecca’s decision to leave surprised even her.”
I heard the anger and censure in his tone, and I had to agree. Leaving your child was wrong.
“And now you’re here. I’m sorry for the circumstances that brought you to us, but I love watching as you and Kane take up where Mrs. Marks and I left off.”
Touched, I couldn’t form any words in reply, so I offered a weak smile and took a sip of my tea.
“Kane Doyle, that’s it, you creep. I am getting you back. That is the last toad you will be putting in my bed.” I heard him laughing, even though I didn’t know where he was hiding in the massive house. I had been living at Raven’s Peak for seven months and for four of those I had found toads in my bed, usually in the early evening when I liked to come to my room and read before dinner. I had named all of them—I was up to Kane 102.
I really didn’t mind the toads, and I didn’t think Kane was a creep for doing it either. I didn’t know how I would have gotten through those months without him. He had the uncanny ability to know when I wasn’t happy, when a memory of my parents came out of nowhere. He was always there at my side. Most times he did no more than offer a shoulder, but he was always there.
Even still, I had to get him back for the toads. In the four months since he started with his gross joke, I’d attempted to get even with him: spraying all his clothes with perfume and adding hot sauce to the ketchup, knowing how much he loved that on his fries, but my efforts didn’t deter him. It was time to kick it up. Running to the kitchen, I saw Mrs. T behind the stove creating something wonderful as usual. “Mrs. T, I was wondering if I could help you with making a special dinner for Kane tonight.”
Her old gray eyes twinkled at me. She knew that Kane and I dedicated our lives to getting the better of each other. “How special, dear?”
“Well, you know how he loves his potpie. I was thinking we could try a different kind of potpie with worms. Is there a way to do that without harming the worms?”
Her cackle of laughter filled the kitchen. “That is really gross.”
“I know. It’s awesome.”
“Worms in my kitchen? You do ask a lot of me. You found another toad, I’m guessing.”
“Yep.”
“Very well, get me the worms, and I’ll whip them up into a pie of sorts. No harm will come to them.”
“You’re the best.” And then I hurried off to do just that.
At dinner, we all sat in the kitchen like we always did. Mrs. Marks preferred its coziness over the cavernous space—that’s what Kane called it—that was the dining room. The staff usually ate with us.
“That smells delicious, Mrs. T. You seem to have outdone yourself,” Mrs. Marks said. And then she winked, so she knew about the joke we were playing on Kane. It was not surprising, because she knew everything. Mrs. T looked as if she had just sucked on a lemon, and Mr. Clancy was careful to keep his focus away from Kane.
“God, I’m hungry.”
“You’re always hungry, Kane. It’s amazing you’re not the size of a barn with the amount of food you eat,” I said.
His eyes narrowed at me and I just knew he was plotting again. “Jealous.”
I was, of course, since I didn’t eat like that and yet I was a little round. Didn’t seem fair. Instead of answering him, I just stuck out my tongue. I couldn’t wait to see his expression when he saw all those worms squirming around in his dinner.
Mrs. T placed Kane’s pie in front of him. It was like a ritual, the way Kane ate a potpie. He always pulled the top crust off to eat the insides before eating the crust with melted butter. Trying not to grin was hard as I watched Kane dig in and saw the anticipation on his face. It took a minute, once he removed the top crust, to understand. His eyes grew wide and he jumped back from the table.
“You better run, dear,” Mrs. Marks said as Kane’s gaze met mine. I ran right out of the kitchen, down the hall, and through the front door. I didn’t get far before I felt his arms around me. He pulled me to the ground, wrestling me until he was on top. I tried to knock him off, but he was stronger and bigger.
“Good one, Teagan.” I didn’t even get to gloat before he smashed a fist full of mud in my face. “That’s a good look for you.”
After our showers, Kane and I walked down to the docks. He loved looking at the boats and I loved looking at the water.
“I can’t wait to build my own boat one day,” he said as we sat side by side on the pier, our feet dangling.
“Do you see it in your head—the boat you want?”
“Yeah. And I’d like to do it in teak. I’ll drive it all over, from here down the coast.” Peering at me from the corner of his eyes he said, “You can come with me if you want.”
“I want.”
He seemed to like that answer. His lips turned up at the sides.
“What are you going to call your boat?”
“I don’t know, but the name of a boat is very important. It has to be meaningful, special, because the boat is like a part of you. I’ll figure it out.”
In the next second, Kane jumped up and started jogging down to the end of the pier where an older man was trying to carry too much at once.
“Let me help you with that, Mr. Miller.”
“Thank you, Kane. You’re a good boy.”
Kane flashed him a smile in reply. He did that a lot, offering a hand when someone needed it. He didn’t even need to be asked. Mrs. Marks said he had a big heart. They loved him, Mrs. Marks and the others. I envied the closeness they had with each other. They would do anything for him, and he would do anything for them. He had a family again and, even though I felt like an outsider sometimes, I didn’t begrudge him what he had found.
I had been searching for Kane for almost an hour, retracing my steps because I couldn’t find him. When I circled back around to the beach, he was there, but he wasn’t alone. Camille Bowen had joined him. Had they just been to the island? Kane and I often spoke of that island and how we would explore it together. Had he forgotten that promise because his interest in Camille was stronger than his friendship with me?
She was trying to hold his hand, and the fact that she was even reaching for it made it seem like they had held hands before. Were they dating? Had they dated? Remembering my first day of school, seeing the two of them talking, I couldn’t deny they had looked good together: friendly and comfortable. Maybe they were an item, and I had misunderstood him that day. Maybe it wasn’t disinterest in taking her for ice cream in general, just that day in particular, since he had already made plans with me.
I hadn’t made a sound, and I was quite a distance from them, but Kane’s head snapped in my direction and his gaze seared me. Embarrassed for getting caught, I hurried back up the path to the house. He didn’t need his privacy invaded by me, especially since he had given so much of his time already to help me fit into my new life.
“Teagan, where are you going?” I heard from behind me.
Turning to Kane, I knew my cheeks were flushed because I felt awkward. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you had company.”
“Yeah, that.” He sounded disgruntled. “Camille and I—”
“Kane, you don’t owe me an explanation. It’s none of my business.”
“I know I don’t owe you one, but I’d like to give you one just the same. Camille sees us as a couple, but I’m not sure I want to go there with her.”
“Why not? She’s very pretty.”
“Yeah, she is—there doesn’t seem to be much more to her than that.”
The question was out of my mouth before I truly knew I was planning to ask it. “Did you go out to the island together?”
He looked hurt at that. “No. I promised to take you.”
Relief, waves of it, washed over me. “I couldn’t find you, and then there you were on the beach, so I just assumed I couldn’t find you because you were over there.”
“That island is ours, Teagan. We explore it first.”
“I feel the same. I just wasn’t so sure you still did.”
“Because of Camille?” he asked, his eyes bugging out in disbelief.
“Yeah.”
“Well, that’s just stupid. You’re you and Camille is just a girl.”
I couldn’t stop from smiling. “Where is Camille now?”
“On her way home. She had a minor temper tantrum over having our ‘moment’ interrupted, as she puts it.”
I felt the heat creeping into my cheeks again. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be. I’d much rather be hanging out with you. You said you were looking for me. What’s up?”
“Oh, right, I almost forgot. Mrs. T is baking peanut butter cookies.”
He grabbed my hand and started pulling me toward the house. “I’d definitely rather be hanging out with you.”
Had someone told me when I’d first arrived at Raven’s Peak that I would find contentment, happiness even, I would have thought they were crazy. I had, though, and I owed that mostly to Kane. I’d never had a best friend, but I had one now. We understood each other, almost as if he were an extension of me and me of him. My eyes drifted to my nightstand. A small smile touched my lips. Every morning, for the year that I’d been there, I had awoken to find a glass of chocolate milk with whipped cream waiting for me. That first morning, Kane had brought it hoping to help ease the pain he knew I was feeling. I loved that he still did it—it was such a small gesture, but one that meant a lot to me.
I wasn’t as happy as I usually was, because it was exactly a year ago that Raven’s Peak had become my home, which brought my parents’ deaths front and center in my thoughts. I reached for the picture of them and felt my heart twist in my chest. It was my favorite photo, taken during their university years. Dad was smiling down at Mom as she lovingly looked up at him. She was wearing her Boston University sweatshirt, one she wore often, one that I now owned. I missed them, but I had learned to live without them, and I owed that to Kane. Without him, I would never have survived that first night, let alone the 364 that followed. I climbed out of bed, as I did every morning, before I walked to my door and held it open for him. He was usually leaning up against the wall waiting for me so we could start our day.
“Morning, Tea.” That was what he called me, because he thought Teagan didn’t fit my personality. I liked that he’d given me a nickname—one that was only his.
His bedhead indicated he’d only just gotten up, time enough to bring me the milk.
“Morning.”
Taking the milk to the balcony off my room, we sat together on the little sofa with the blanket from my bed wrapped around both of us. I handed the milk to him after I took a sip. The sun breeched the horizon, the large sphere casting an orange hue to the sky. A lightness filled my chest, from the view and from feeling Kane next to me. We did this every morning. Sometimes we just sat there in silence, sometimes we talked about anything and everything.
I had started contemplating what I would be when I got older. The one clear goal I had was that I wanted to attend Boston University, wanted to follow in my parents’ footsteps. Outside of that, I didn’t have a clue. Kane, two years older than me, must have figured it out already. “What do you want to be when you grow up, Kane?”
He shrugged, which was his usual response until he thought about a question. “I don’t know, but whatever I do, I want it to be here. I can’t imagine any place on Earth better than this.”
I followed his stare. He wasn’t wrong. We could hear the sound of the waves crashing against the cliff of Raven’s Peak. Mrs. Marks spoke of her house as a bird sitting on the topmost branch of a tree, and she was right, it really was.
“Sometimes I think it would be neat if Mrs. Marks would turn this place into one of those family-run inns. There are so many rooms that I don’t think even we’ve discovered them all, and we’ve really looked. It seems like a waste that so much of the house goes unused. We could run it, you and me.”
I thought of the conversation I’d had with Mr. Clancy over tea a few months back. To know there had been a time when the house was filled with family was as comforting as it was sad.
“Would you really want to be around strangers all the time?” I asked.
His head turned to me, those clear blue eyes looking into my green ones. “No, we would live on our island in a little house.”
I sighed. “I like that idea. A little blue house.”
“No, green.”
“Blue, with window boxes just like my dad made for my mom.”
His hand found mine under the blanket. “Window boxes, but a green house.”
“Fine, if I get the window boxes, you can paint the house green.”
“What about you, what do you want to be?” He looked very grown-up all of a sudden.
“I don’t know. I do know that I want to go to BU, want to find a connection to my parents by experiencing something they had.”
He squeezed my hand in understanding. “Sounds like a good plan.”
“And after college, I think I’d like to travel, so maybe I’ll get a job where I can travel a little, but what I really want is to be near you.” And it was true. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do for a career, but I did know that I always wanted to be close to Kane.
His shoulders relaxed and the biggest smile covered his face. “We can travel, since I’d like to see places with you, but we would come home here.”
“Sounds perfect.”
He jumped up from his spot and took the glass from me. “Come.”
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.”
He pulled me through the house until we ended up in the library. My feet just stopped in the doorway, my focus on the Christmas tree, the biggest one I’d ever seen, all lit with white lights. Mrs. Marks and the staff were in the room, all of them smiling at me.
“We know this time of year, this day in particular, is very difficult for you, Teagan, but the day doesn’t have to be a reminder of your parents’ deaths. We can celebrate the memory of their lives.” Mrs. Marks was wearing one of her lacy dresses, this one green, and she held two porcelain angels. “One for each of your parents,” she said. “We thought you’d like to hang them on the tree.”
My throat hurt, my stomach felt all funny, and my hands were shaking. Before I reached for them, she added, “It was Kane’s idea.”
Kane watched me with a sad little smile, and in that moment my young heart was no longer my own.
“It’s not that hard, Tea. Just relax.”
Three years after Kane and I had discussed swimming out to our island, I was finally ready to learn how to swim, but I wasn’t having much luck. “I’m trying, but I’m scared.”
“We’re in three feet of water. I won’t let you drown.”
“Okay.” Resting on my back, I tried to float like he’d showed me, but I kept sinking.
“Too many cakes, Tea. You’re dropping like a rock.”
“Are you calling me fat, Kane Doyle?”
“Round, not fat. Come on, you want to swim with me out to the island, but to do that, you need to know how to swim.”
“Okay. Let’s try it again.” I forced myself to relax, took a couple deep breaths, and almost felt lighter. For the first time all morning, I really thought I could do it. “You can let go.”
“I did already.” My eyes flew open and he was grinning at me. “Way to go, Tea.”
For the next hour I did float, for some of the time anyway. Though Kane was as eager as me to swim out together to our island, he never got angry or frustrated. Later, we did go to our island, taking the boat that was docked on the beach of Raven’s Peak.
We pulled the boat up on the sand, something we had done countless times. Kane fell silent, unusual for him. We started walking along the beach, but instead of engaging me in conversation as he always did, he just stared off at the horizon.
“You okay?” I asked.
“Yeah, I was just thinking about my mom.”
As much as I knew about Kane, he rarely talked about her. “Why don’t you ever mention her?”
“This is going to sound strange, but I don’t really remember much about her. What I have are impressions more than memories. She could be so happy sometimes, wanting to bake two hundred cookies, and we’d laugh and throw flour at each other, and she’d hug me and tell me how much she loved me. And then she’d be so sad, she wouldn’t climb out of bed for days. Mrs. Marks tried to explain to me that my mom was manic-depressive or something.”
“What happened to her?”
“She just left one day. I was in the hospital. I had tripped down the stairs and broken my leg. She never came to see me, and then the social worker came with Mrs. Marks, who adopted me.”
I couldn’t imagine my parents just leaving me without a word, being in the hospital scared and alone and having the one you needed to see the most not showing up. “I’m sorry, Kane.”
His next words were so softly spoken I almost didn’t hear him. “Don’t ever leave, Tea. You and me. Promise?”
Linking my fingers with his, I made the promise. It was an easy one to make, since I never wanted to leave him. “Promise.”
We returned to the house just before dinner, but Mrs. Marks didn’t join us. In the four years that I’d lived there, every year on the same day Mrs. Marks didn’t leave her room. Whenever I asked Mr. Clancy why, he only ever replied that she just needed a day to herself.
Kane and I were in the bathroom washing up for supper. I asked, “Why do you think she stays in her room?”
“I don’t know. I’ve asked her about it, but she never answers, but you know that tomorrow she’ll be her normal self. I heard her crying through the door last year. She sounded so sad that I was going to walk in and check on her, but Mr. Clancy stopped me. He told me that she just needed the day.”
“That’s so sad. I wish she’d talk with us about it, especially since she’s seen us through our own heartbreaks.”
“I know, but the best thing we can do for her is exactly what Mr. Clancy asked: give her space.” He started from the room. “Race you to the table, winner gets the other’s dessert.”
“Cheater!” I screamed after him, but later I watched as he devoured my pudding too.
I sat on the front steps of Raven’s Peak, my attention on Kane as he walked to his car with his friends. He was seventeen now and had worked a bunch of odd jobs so he could afford the car. It wasn’t much to look at, but he was convinced the heart of a panther lived in his dilapidated blue Camaro. I wanted to go with them to the movies, but I was only fifteen and felt uncomfortable.
His black hair was messy, even though I knew he had just been to the barber and it had grown out almost overnight. He used to be only a few inches taller than me, but now he was at least a head taller. He had a bar in his room where he did chin-ups. It mesmerized me, watching his muscles move under his skin; he had a lot of them. I couldn’t do it. I’d tried but couldn’t even get my chin to the bar.
The leather jacket he was wearing had been a gift from me. Mrs. Marks had helped me buy it; it suited him and his collection of faded jeans. And even with all the changes he’d been through the past year, his crystal-blue eyes were still my favorite; I saw my Kane in them. But at the moment, those eyes were staring down at Camille.
Camille had started coming around the house a lot asking for him the past year. I had thought she’d gotten over her crush on him but apparently not. She walked around the place like she owned it. You could see her thoughts: She was imagining living with Kane in the house that overlooked the town. Her family came from money, lots of it, and they had the fanciest house in town. Actually, it was the second fanciest house after Raven’s Peak, and that burned her ass. She wanted Raven’s Peak as much as she wanted Kane. I didn’t like that he was going to the movies with her. He claimed they were just friends, but the way she looked at him was anything but friendly. Regardless, he was my Kane. But I looked like a boy with my flat chest and nonexistent hips, and she looked like a woman. I hated Camille.
“Want me to bring you back an ice cream?” Kane called. I knew he was trying to be nice, but it only made me feel more like a kid.
“No.” I jumped from my spot at the door and ran to my room. I didn’t stop running until I reached my bed, threw myself on it, and cried. I didn’t even really understand why I was crying, only that seeing him go off without me really hurt.
Later that night, Kane came to my room. Sitting on the edge of my bed, I rolled to face him, my hands under my cheek.
He brushed my hair from my eyes. “Are you still mad?” he asked.
“I wasn’t mad, I was upset.”
“Okay. Are you still upset?”
“I guess not. Did you have fun?”
“No. Camille tried to put her tongue in my mouth.”
My muscles tensed, and I tried to tell myself it was just a reaction to the idea of her tongue in his mouth—gross—but I knew there was more to my response than that. “You didn’t like it?”
“It’s not that. I just didn’t want a kiss from her.”
“Why not? She’s pretty.” Why was I encouraging this? I’d been secretly jealous of Camille for years, so why was I almost telling him to kiss her? Clearly I was insane.
“I guess, but I wasn’t into it.” He lowered his head and I knew he had something on his mind.
“What are you thinking?” I asked.
“I wanted a kiss, just not from her.”
Oh. He liked someone. I understood, he was really cute and sweet, but I kind of always hoped that one day he would like me in that way. He was my friend, though, so I tried to be his.
“If there’s someone you want to kiss, you should just kiss her.”
His head snapped up at that. “Seriously?”
“Well, yeah, but she better be deserving of you.”
A strange look passed over his expression, like he wasn’t sure if I was teasing him. “I want to kiss you, Tea.”
I understood the expression “fluttery heart” in that moment; mine felt as if it had wings. “Me?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay.” Sitting up, I tucked my hair behind my ears as I attempted to calm down, because I was equal parts nervous and excited. I’d fantasized about Kane kissing me for years. To know that he’d been thinking the same made me feel giddy. He shifted so we were facing each other.
His finger touched my cheek before running down along my jaw, and goose bumps immediately appeared on my skin. It felt different, the way he touched me—unlike the countless times he had before.
“Are you sure? This isn’t just a kiss. It’ll be different between us.”
“What do you mean?” I didn’t want to lose him; he was my best friend.
“I don’t want to just kiss you, Tea. You’re not ready for the rest, so I’ll wait, but I feel different about you. And I think you feel it too.”
“I do. Have for a while.”
“So when I kiss you, I’m not just kissing you. You’re mine. I want you to be mine.”
My heart moved into my throat; his words mirrored exactly how I felt. “I want that too, I really want that.”
His eyes turned dark, and the sexiest look swept his face. Fearing I was about to faint—I felt so lightheaded—I sought to ease some of the intensity. “Okay, you can kiss me now. Wait, did you brush your teeth? Maybe you should rinse your mouth with disinfectant.”
And then his mouth was on mine, despite my joke, his lips brushing mine lightly. My eyes closed on their own and my heart sighed. His hands framed my face before his tongue ran along my lips, just the tip tracing the curve. Wanting to taste him, my mouth opened and he pushed his tongue in. It was awkward at first, I wasn’t sure what to do with my tongue, and then it was as if our bodies took over, fueled by the emotions we were both feeling. His tongue swept my mouth as my tongue sought his. It felt incredible, stirring feelings that I had felt before around Kane, but heightened. When Kane pulled his mouth from mine, he looked hungry.
“Are you okay?” I asked, because he looked a bit like the Big Bad Wolf at that moment.
“Yeah. You should probably get some sleep.” He stood and started from my room.
“Was that bad?” I asked, because he’d sounded almost curt.
His head turned to me when he reached the door. “No, Tea, it was not bad. It was perfect. You’re mine. Remember that.”
“Forever, Kane.”
“Good. See you in the morning.”
And then he was gone, his words still rolling around in my head. He’d kissed me. He’d liked that he’d kissed me. Take that, Camille.
In the morning, I woke with butterflies in my stomach. Kane had kissed me. My fingers unconsciously brushed over my lips, the memory of his mouth on mine caused chills to shoot down my arms. My feet didn’t quite seem to touch the floor as I walked to the door. He was standing there, like normal, but the look in his eyes was anything but. He moved to me without speaking a word, his fingers threading through my hair as he tilted my head for his kiss. Unlike the night before, there was nothing awkward about the way his mouth claimed mine, his tongue stroking my own. Reaching for him, I fisted his shirt in my hands to keep myself upright. My scalp tingled, as did the rest of me. Clearly I wasn’t the only one who had spent the night thinking about our first kiss.
“Good morning,” he whispered.
“It really is a good morning. That was a great way to start off the day.”
He chuckled. His thumb brushed over my lower lip, his eyes tracking the motion. His gaze lifted and he whispered, “Mine.”
My heart skipped a beat.
After the last bell rang, I headed for my locker. Kane was in my thoughts, as he had been for every second in the weeks since our relationship had started. I loved him, had for a long time, but I realized it wasn’t just love, not like you’d love family. I was in love with him. The tragedy that had sent me to Raven’s Peak had also given me Kane. Talk about a silver lining.
“Tea.”
Chills raced down my arms. Turning, I watched as Kane made his way to me. His legs were clad in faded denim and the Henley shirt he wore so perfectly hugged the muscles of his chest and arms. He walked right into me, his mouth fusing to mine. Fear accompanied my joy, because Kane was graduating soon and I worried over what was next for us. He must have seen something in my expression when he pulled away.
“What’s wrong?” He tilted his head and really studied me. “Not here. Get your stuff, and we’ll go somewhere to talk.”
It was uncanny how well he knew me. Swapping my books to his other hand, Kane reached for my hand as we walked to his car. He drove to the docks, a place we often visited, sometimes together and many times alone. It was a great place to think.
We walked to the end of one of the piers. Pulling me into his arms, he turned so my back rested up against the railing. His focus was completely on me. “What’s going on?”
“You’re graduating.”
“Yeah. So?”
“Are you going to college?”
His focus shifted to just over my shoulder, his expression thoughtful. “I don’t think so.”
I couldn’t help the joy I felt, since I wanted him with me, but I was also curious. “Why not?”
“Maybe I’ll feel differently in a year or two, but right now, I’m just not interested. I want to work, want to start putting money away, so when we’re ready we can start a life together.”
Happiness filled me, so intense it brought tears to my eyes. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah. I meant it, Tea. You and me forever.”
Burying my face in his chest, I felt the worry that had weighed me down instantly lift. He touched my chin and forced my focus on him. “You thought I was going to leave you?”
“I did.”
“First, I wouldn’t make that kind of decision without talking with you. Second, even if I did go to school, there are places close enough to home that I could commute to.”
And that thought brought back my fear, because I still wanted Boston University, had been working really hard to get the grades that would get me in. If he had a life here, how could I ask him to give it up? As was his way, he read my thoughts perfectly.
“If you go to Boston, I’m coming with you. There was never a question.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely.”
“And you would be okay with that, even if you had a job?”
“I can always find another job.”
“And if you’re in school?”
“I can transfer. Jobs and schools are plenty, there’s only one you.”
“We’re young. You might feel differently in a few years.”
His expression turned serious. “I’ve known you for six years, Tea, and my feelings for you have only grown deeper in that time. A few more years and I’ll really be sunk.”
Love for this boy washed over me for how easily he spoke those words. “That’s a good answer, Kane.”
His grin was adorable. “You good?”
“Yeah.”
“Time for ice cream.” But instead of releasing me, he moved his body closer and bent his head for a kiss that turned my bones to goo.
Kane had been right. In the two years that we’d been dating, we had grown even closer, and not just romantically. There was something to be said for dating your best friend. He had started working full-time at the boatyard and, though he wanted to get his own place, he would only consider actually doing it if I moved in with him. As much as we wanted to take that step, I was only seventeen, and we suspected that Mrs. Marks wouldn’t approve. I finally learned how to swim, and we swam out to our island every week. Kane usually beat me, since he was a much stronger swimmer, but I held my own. That day, we took the boat so we could bring a picnic. After eating, we went to play in the water, and Kane tried to dunk me against my will. The only way I could stop him was by wrapping my arms and legs around him and squeezing tight. He went dead still.
“Kane?”
“You win. You can let go.”
“What’s the matter with you?”
“Nothing. I think maybe I’ll take a swim.” But he climbed out of the water and reached for his towel, wrapping it around his waist. As I followed him out, he turned to me.
“You have the same look on your face that you get when looking at one of Mrs. T’s cakes. What’s going on with you?” I asked, my hands moving to my hips. His black hair partially covered his face, and those blue eyes, usually so cool, looked hot, sizzling hot.
“It’s just, you’re different.”
“I’m different. What are you talking about?” He looked down to my chest. “Oh, these. I know, right, they grew overnight.”
He swallowed as if that was hard for him.
I had breasts finally, and my roundness, as Kane called it, had thinned out so I could wear a bikini. It was about time. There were a few boys at school interested in taking me out, but I was Kane’s. We kissed a lot but we never did anything more. Partly because I hadn’t been ready and partly because we lived together and we weren’t sure how Mrs. Marks would feel about it. I could admit that I was ready now. I wanted to go all the way with Kane.
“What? I’m not the only one who has changed. Look at that.” I poked his shoulders. “Your arms never looked like that before. And that”—I ran my hand down his stomach over the muscles, all six of them—“I like that.”
My hand brushed over something hard, and I pulled away at the same time he did.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Yeah.” It came out in a strangled voice.
“Did I do that?”
“Yeah.”
“Does that happen often?”
“Yeah, whenever you’re around.”
“It happens to me too.”
He looked almost hopeful. “What do you mean?”
“Sometimes when you hold me or kiss me, I feel tingles in my belly and my breasts feel fuller and I get an ache . . . down there.”
He was gulping, like he was trying to draw breath into his lungs without much success. “You shouldn’t be telling me this.”
“Why not?”
“Because I want you, Tea. You know I do.”
I wanted him too, but I couldn’t help teasing him. “You want to poke me with that?” I pointed, since he wasn’t really covering it very well with his towel. “I don’t think so.” And yet my toes curled.
He laughed. “It’ll feel good for both of us.”
“For you, maybe, but for me it’ll be like getting impaled.” Which it probably would the first time—and yet I still wanted him.
“No, it won’t. I promise you, you will want it. You’ll beg me for it.”
I would, I knew I would, but I wasn’t going to relent that easily. “Not likely.”
“I’ll prove it. Let me kiss you.”
I knew exactly where this was going, wanted it to go there, was thrilled that he’d waited to go there with me, so it was easy to agree. “Okay.”
He walked to me, reached for my arms, and wrapped them around his waist. Cradling my face in his hands, he kissed me. Just his lips at first, a slight brushing that I felt all the way down to my toes. When the tip of his tongue touched the corner of my mouth, I wanted more of it, more of him. Pressing myself against him, I opened my mouth and he slipped his tongue inside. He tasted so good, his tongue sweeping my entire mouth and, as if on cue, my breasts felt fuller and the ache started.
I pulled my mouth from his. “Kane?”
“Yeah, Tea?”
“You’re right, I do want you to poke me.”
He laughed, wrapped me in his arms, and carried me to the blanket. “Told you.”
“Can we?”
His eyes went wide. “Seriously?”
“I want it to be with you and I’m ready now.”
“Ah, well, I would like that too.”
He seemed nervous, so I kept teasing him because, despite what we were about to do, it was still us. “I only want you poking me.”
The grin caught me by surprise. “Stop calling it poking. You really want to do this now?”
“I really do. Did you bring a condom?”
Color bloomed on his cheeks. I giggled. “You planned this.”
“No, but I was hopeful, very, very hopeful.”
“To be with me?”
“Only you, Tea.”
Sitting up, I reached for the string of my bathing suit, but he stopped me. “Let me.”
His fingers shook as he lightly brushed them over my shoulders, then up my neck. I felt the slight tug before my suit top slipped to my waist. I was a little embarrassed, being exposed to him, but the heated look on his face made the uncomfortable feeling fade.
“So beautiful, Tea,” he said while his fingers brushed me, his touch making the ache between my legs intensify.
“Lie back.” His voice had gone all rough.
Lying back, he settled next to me on his side, his head on his hand, while his free hand cupped one of my breasts, his thumb brushing across the tip.
“How’s that feel?”
“Really good.”
“How about this?” he asked a second before his mouth replaced his fingers.
“Oh my God, Kane.”
A wetness accompanied the ache between my legs. My hips started to move, seeking relief. His hand moved down my body, slipping under my bathing suit, and his mouth continued to drive me wild. As soon as he touched the place that was aching, my hips lifted off the blanket.
Reaching for him, I touched the hard bulge in his swim trunks. He exhaled on a moan.
“I want to see.”
I didn’t have to ask twice. He jumped up and pulled his shorts off, his erection bobbing to attention. I giggled.
“What’s so funny?”
“It’s like it’s on alert.”
“You sure you want to do this?”
“With you, yes.”
He settled on top of me. Spreading my legs, I felt him right where his fingers had been, and he was so hard and smooth, it was my turn to moan.
“It’ll hurt the first time.”
“I don’t care.”
And then he was kissing me, full on the mouth, his tongue pushing past my lips, tasting and claiming. The ache was back, even stronger than before. His hands moved everywhere, touching and learning. And then his finger was pushing into me.
“Oh.”
“Does that hurt?”
“Yeah, but it feels good too.”
Our eyes were locked when he did it again, pushing his finger in slow and deep. The sound that came from the back of my throat was one of pain and pleasure. He worked me, in and out until my body adjusted to the intrusion, and then he shifted and reached for the condom. I was fascinated as he slid it on. He was so hard, and kind of purple with bulging veins, and yet he was beautiful.
Settling between my thighs, he wrapped his hand around himself and guided it right where it needed to be.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered right before his hips shifted and he pushed himself in. It hurt, he was only a quarter of the way in, but it hurt.
“Want me to stop?”
“No. Just do it fast.”
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
“It’ll hurt less if you just do it fast.”
And he did. With one powerful thrust of his hips, he was fully inside of me. Tears smarted in my eyes, because it really hurt. I almost told him to pull out, but as long as he didn’t move, it didn’t hurt.
His face was pinched, and I wondered if he was in pain too. “Does it hurt you too?”
He laughed out loud. Not the answer I was expecting. “No, it feels really good. It will feel even better when I start to move.”
“You have to move?”
“We’re not going to come if I don’t.”
The pleasant ache was gone; I doubted I was going to feel anything but pain, but I wanted him to come. Wrapping my legs around him, I pulled him deeper. His eyes closed on a groan.
“Move, Kane.”
He didn’t wait to be told again; he moved slowly and I felt the tingles in my stomach and my breasts started to feel heavier, but the ache between my legs was not the good kind. His hips moved faster, and I winced each time he thrust, filling me completely. And then his body stilled, but his expression, the look of euphoria, took my breath away. We stayed like that for a while, and when his eyes opened there was more than euphoria in his gaze—I saw love.
“Did you?” I asked just to be sure.
“Yeah, that was incredible. You didn’t, but I am nothing if not persistent.”
I laughed. He was such a clown. “I liked watching you.”
He pulled out of me and, as much as it had hurt, I missed being connected to him. “I’ll be right back.”
I wasn’t a virgin anymore and I was okay with that. I really wanted to feel whatever it was Kane had felt, but having him inside me, pain or not, had been perfect.
My eyes flew open when I felt a soothing coolness between my legs. Kane was there, back in his trunks, with a towel soaked in seawater, pressing it where I hurt.
“How badly did I hurt you?”
“Not so much.”
“Sorry you didn’t come.”
“I didn’t expect to the first time.”
“We’ll try it again when you’re not so sore.”
He looked down, his eyes where his hand was, before his gaze lifted back to me. “Love you, Tea.”
My heart stopped for a second and my chest got all tight, hearing this boy say those words to me.
“You don’t have to say them back.”
Sitting up, I moved to kneel in front of him, my hands coming to rest on his shoulders. “I lost my heart to you the day we hung the angels on the Christmas tree.”
His eyes widened. “Seriously?”
“Totally.”
Wrapping me into his arms, he kissed me so long that I begged him to poke me again. And this time, when he came, so did I.
As I sat on the sofa on the balcony off my bedroom, my thoughts remained on the day before: the day Kane and I had sex. He told me he loved me. I knew he did, but I kind of thought it was like the love someone had for a dog. Not that I was comparing myself to a dog, but I was a trusted companion. It wasn’t that kind of love he felt for me though—he loved me. I saw it in his face; even though he was very good at keeping his thoughts private, I saw it. He let me.
I can’t lie, that first time we had sex it hurt, and the second time too, but then the feelings swept in—the tightening in my belly, the rush, like a wave just getting ready to break, my body feeling suspended for just a beat or two. When I did fall, it wasn’t in fear, but in the most incredible sensation. I liked sex, loved it with Kane.
I think I might have been walking a little funny that day, but considering how I had become sore, I was okay with that. Kane didn’t want to have sex again until I stopped hurting. Earlier, he’d brought me a warm compress for the ache between my legs, wanted to help me place it, but I think that might have led to the very act he wanted to avoid.
I wondered if Mrs. Marks knew that Kane and I had had sex. She seemed to know everything, but I didn’t how she would feel about that, us both being her charges. I kind of thought we were a foregone conclusion. We’d been thick as thieves for eight years. I’d loved him for almost as long as that.
He had left an hour or so ago to put out a small kitchen fire in the diner. I really hated that he was a firefighter—one of the three volunteers in the town who helped the regular squad. He’d signed up as soon as he’d turned eighteen. He had witnessed a boat burning as a kid, and he couldn’t believe how fast it had gone up, how quickly the fire had itched to spread. Thoughts of that happening to people’s homes, with all of their possessions inside, was what motivated him to volunteer. I understood. It was who he was, after all, but we had fought about it. He promised he would be careful, focused. Yet every time he was called, I waited for his return with my heart in my throat.
Mrs. T was baking something sinful. The smell wafted up to me. Maybe it was pastries. I could eat them all before Kane got home, another downside to his foray into fire management. I didn’t actually reach the kitchen, because I heard voices coming from the library, rather loud voices, so I went to see what was up.
Before I stepped into the room, I heard Kane. That little bugger, he was probably already eating the pastries. I started into the room to give him a piece of my mind, and then I heard the second voice, Camille. My body just froze, except for my heart, which was pounding in every part of my body. What was she doing there?
“The way you handled that fire was very sexy,” Camille purred at my boyfriend. Sexy? Putting out a fire was sexy? He’d probably used a fire extinguisher. What the hell was so sexy about that?
“You said you needed to ask me something, so ask.” He sounded pissed. Pissed was good. I could work with pissed.
“Not here. Maybe we could take a ride out to your little island.”
No! I screamed in my head. That island was our special place—even more so now that we’d had sex there. Camille wasn’t welcome. I knew he felt the same way, and yet I still held my breath for his response. “Are you fucking out of your mind?” he asked.
He always was better at comebacks than me.
I could hear her pouting. “I miss us, miss you. Why can’t we give it another try?”
“We never gave it a first try. Despite your best efforts, the closest we got to a try was you sticking your tongue down my throat.”
“It’s her, isn’t it? You’re like her lap dog. Everywhere she goes, you’re right there at her side.”
“Lap dog.” Kane sounded as if he was pondering that expression. “If it’s Tea’s lap, I’m okay with that. She always wanted a dog anyway.”
My tummy flipped. He was my trusted companion too.
“What is it you really want, Camille?”
“You. And I want to be mistress of Raven’s Peak. I’ve wanted that since I was a little girl, and I’m used to getting what I want.”
Kane started laughing; he actually laughed at her. “You’re seriously fucked up. I live here. I’m not related to Mrs. Marks. I have no claim on this house. She was just kind enough to give me a place to stay. So even if I did lose my mind and marry you, I wouldn’t get the house. If anyone were to inherit, it would be Tea. And I know you are not her type.”
“Mrs. Marks adopted you. You would inherit.”
“She adopted me so I wouldn’t be put into foster care. Tea’s grandparents were Mrs. Marks’s best friends. She’s more family to Mrs. Marks than I am.”
I didn’t agree with Kane. He was like a grandson to Mrs. Marks.
“That old lady would give it to you if you wanted it.” The way she said that was like she knew something, hanging the carrot and hoping for Kane to bite. I would have; he didn’t.
“Let me make this clear to you. I love Tea, I want a life with Tea. Even if I didn’t have Tea, I wouldn’t want you. You will never have this house, so move on.”
“You’ll be sorry, Kane Doyle. You’ll be sorry you crossed me. I promise you that.”
“The door’s that way. Use it.”
Stepping into the shadows, I watched her leave the room and storm off. Her face flamed purple, not at all attractive. The sound of the front door slamming echoed throughout the house.
“You heard all of that?” My head whipped around to see Kane leading against the doorjamb.
“Yeah, sorry. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop until I heard it was Camille, and then I was wishing I had a glass to put against the door.”
“Meant every word I said.”
“That you love me and want a life with me?”
“Yep.”
“Well, as it happens, I want that with you, so we’re good.” My eyes twinkled. “I always wanted a dog.”
Sincerity turned mischievous and, in the next second, he started down the hall.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“Do you smell that?”
“What?”
“The delicious smell coming from the kitchen.”
“The pastries?”
“Yup. I’m going to eat them all.” And this was why I loved him so much; despite the fact that our relationship had evolved, we were still just us: the same people we’d been as kids. I smiled.
“Oh, no you’re not,” I called to him halfway to the kitchen.
But he did eat the majority.
Kane and I were at the ice cream parlor, sharing a sundae, when the bell over the door jingled, announcing Camille’s entrance. Her eyes scanned the room, landing on Kane and me. She looked smug. Why, I had no idea, since the last time she’d seen Kane, he told her no way in hell would they ever be together.
She settled at the counter, her legs swinging, smiling and laughing with the boy behind the counter, but every once and a while her eyes darted back to us.
“What’s up with Camille?” I asked Kane, which made him halt devouring his ice cream for a moment, his gaze turning toward the counter.
“Who knows, who cares.”
True, who did? We finished our ice cream, Kane leaving the money and tip on the table, before we started outside toward his car. Walking around to my side, he reached for the door, but stopped as if frozen. In the next second he said, “What the fuck!”
Following the direction of his scowl, I understood his anger. His tires had been slashed.
The door of the ice cream parlor opened and Camille stepped out and leaned up against the wall—her gaze in our direction, her expression satisfied.
“Fucking Camille.” Kane started toward her, but I grabbed his arm.
“We don’t know she did it.”
“We can’t prove she did it, but she fucking did it.”
I had no doubt he was right. “It’s what she wants—the reaction. Don’t give it to her.”
Kane seethed, his face turning red with anger, but he turned from her and moved back to his car. He reached for my hand. “You’re right.”
“Are you going to call the police?”
“Her dad’s a lawyer. What the hell is the point? Let’s see if the auto body shop has my tires in stock.”
“How will you pay for them?”
“I’ll figure it out. Looks like we’re walking home.”
“I like walking.”
He grinned. “I like you.” And then he kissed me. As we walked to the garage, Camille was nowhere to be seen.