I WAS AN IDIOT. FREAKING dumb. Silly. A young, foolish, stupid girl who couldn’t stop thinking about the bottle and its letter. Not even if I tried. And I did. I really did.
“What’s that you got there?” Mel nodded to the piece of paper in my hand.
Busted. Totally busted. But it wasn’t the first time in the three days since I’d found the note that I’d studied it. I’d done more than study it, really. I’d obsessed over it. Looking for any clue as to who could have possibly left it. I’d scrutinized the hardly legible letters written haphazardly on a ripped piece of white notebook paper, deciding it had to be a boy or a man. Only a male would write with such carelessness, I’d decided. And I’d flipped the paper over a thousand times it felt like. In the quiet of my room. In the classrooms at school. When I should have been paying attention at etiquette classes and like right now when we were just getting ready to start with dance classes. I couldn’t seem to stop myself. Whenever my mind was idle it seemed to always wander to the letter and figuring out who might have left it.
Quickly folding it, I placed it in my jeans pocket and smiled. “Nothing.”
“Reeeallly?”
I let out a nervous. “Yes, really.”
Her wide pink lips pursed. “I’m calling bullshit. Is it a love note?” Her eyes were bright at the prospect of a secret love affair. My cheeks were flushed even though it was the farthest thing from it.
Now I really did giggle nervously. “Hell no. You know no one on this island likes me but you.”
She quirked an eyebrow at me. “Bullshit. Again. And Braden really likes you.” She made some kissy noises that made me even redder and I laughed.
I shook my head, confounded. “I don’t even understand that.”
She pulled her blond hair into a ponytail. “What’s not to understand? You’re gorgeous and smart.”
She said that like I’d always been gorgeous and popular, and everyone knew it. That wasn’t the case. I’d never been one of the cool kids here. And not a damn kid at our school cared how academic I was. Until last week, that is. Now Braden seemed to notice me a little too much. I had no idea why or how this was happening all of a sudden. I just knew I wanted it to stop.
I gave Mel’s shoulder a nudge with mine. “You don’t suck either. But still, I don’t get it. He’s never shown interest before,” I said, sliding on a pair of heels.
She glanced down at my breasts. “It could be the twins. They seemed to really come in this past summer.”
I glanced down at them. She wasn’t lying. I’d gone from almost flat-chested to full-on Pamela Anderson in a short four months. I was a late bloomer but a bloomer nonetheless. Unfortunately.
I pulled the front of my shirt away from my breasts, trying to make room in it for those bad boys and nodded at Mel. “It could definitely be the twins.”
“Girls,” Ms. Donnelly said from the middle of her living room. All of the furniture had been pushed to the corners and she was standing in the middle in a pink monstrosity I’m sure she considered a dress. The pink heels almost made my eyes roll but honestly, I was used to it. This was the same getup as last week.
“Pair up!” Her eyes darted to me and Mel. “Not you two. Find other partners.”
Jesus, but that woman hated us.
I paired up with Olivia Drake. She was like a perfect robot child, so I had a blast. Not.
After class, I walked home alone since Mel’s mom picked her up to go to dinner. I was salty as hell and I didn’t know why. Maybe because of the talk about Braden. Maybe because of the twins. Or maybe because of the debutante classes I was just downright sick of. But I knew it wasn’t any of those things. I knew it was because I wanted more than to just examine that note. I wanted to go back out there. To the field. To see if the Coke bottle was still there. It was dangerous, but I was so curious.
Curiosity killed the cat, Liv, I gave myself that pep talk the whole way home. And again later in my room as I lay on the bed with Harry. And when the stars rose in the sky I felt like I was beyond jittery. I tried not to think about the note in the bottle or the field even though I loved it there. It was the last place I’d spent meaningful time with my daddy. But I knew I didn’t need to go out there to talk to him now. I could talk to him right here from my bedroom.
Still, I grabbed my blanket and Harry’s leash and I was gone. I was practically running down the street and across the bridge. It was humid and sweat poured down my brow and pooled at the small of my back. Harry panted and I worried he might get too hot and I hadn’t brought water, so I slowed even though the anticipation damn near killed me.
Finally, we entered the field and Harry and I ran to our spot. I didn’t lay out the blanket, but I did push my hand into my pocket to feel for the letter from the last time I’d been here. Knowing it was safe, I searched for the clear Coke bottle in the area I’d found it before, butterflies in my belly, goose bumps on my skin.
And if I thought for one second that I had belly flutters before, I was wrong because when I saw that bottle sitting there with another piece of paper in it, it wasn’t just butterflies. It felt like birds.
I raced forward, almost too scared to touch the old glass bottle, but unable not to. I had to know. I picked it up carefully, like it was precious and not just some old discolored bottle in a field.
I slid my pointer finger inside, Harry’s leash long forgotten on the ground. But I never worried about him. He stayed with me always. That leash was there more for the comfort and reassurance of others. My finger brushed the paper and I felt a spark of something. Something that felt bigger than me. Maybe bigger than the stars. It was more than excitement. It was like coming alive. It was electric and it lit me up from the inside until I felt like all of the stars above my head were suddenly all living inside of me.
The note slipped out and into my hand and I looked around the dark field again, desperate to see who had left it here.
Harry lay down on my foot while I unfolded the note. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t what I saw.
Luna,
It’s a very clear night, so find the brightest star in the night sky. That bright star, Sirius, is the head of Canis Major Constellation. It almost looks like a stick figure. Can you see it?
I looked up for the brightest star in the sky and sure enough if I followed it down, it looked like it had a body with arms and legs. I smiled at the sky before looking back down at the note.
Canis Major represents the famed Greek dog Laelaps. There are a few origin stories, but the common theme is that he was so fast he was elevated to the skies by Zeus. Laelaps is also considered to be one of Orion’s hunting dogs, trailing behind him in the night sky in pursuit of Taurus the bull, much like your dog trails after you.
Until next time I see you beneath the stars.
That was it? Nothing else? Not a name or a hint? It was the same scribbly writing as before on the same kind of notebook paper. And now I was completely convinced it had to be for me. He’d referenced my dog, for goodness’ sake. Was he watching me? But he’d said Luna.
I whipped my cell phone out of my pocket, beyond frustrated, the excitement I’d originally felt ebbing. I pulled up my web browser and Googled the hell out of Luna.
Luna commonly refers to: Earth’s Moon · Luna (goddess), the ancient Roman divine personification of the Moon.
The moon? A goddess? But something to do with the moon? I wanted answers.
“Are you there?” I called out into the dark. “Hello!” I spun in circles in the field. What kind of game was this person playing? For a second I thought maybe it was Braden or Sebastian and that thought made me sick. What if this was all just a big joke at my expense? Or maybe it was the guy from the other night. The one who’d tried to get Boone away from me.
I half expected the blond guy to pop out at me any moment and be like “Gotcha!” But that never happened.
I looked back up at Canis Major, but I didn’t smile this time. For once, I didn’t want to look at the damn stars. I wanted to know who was doing this. I wanted to know where they were. When they left the damn note. I had approximately five thousand questions and no one to answer them. I was beyond frustrated. So, I snatched up my blanket and grabbed Harry’s leash and got the heck out of there. I could admit that I was irrationally pissed at the mystery person who was leaving the notes. I wanted to know why! I wanted to know how!
I stomped like an angry child all the way back to the house, which required more energy than I realized. I was tired when I came upon the mansion, so I didn’t notice the police cruiser in the driveway. So, when I opened the door and saw Sheriff Rothchild in the foyer I paused, stunned. It was late. Why was he here?
“Ms. Montgomery!” He smiled at me like it wasn’t 10:00 p.m. and he wasn’t standing inside my house.
I gave him a weak smile. “Hey, Sheriff. Something wrong?” In my opinion, the law didn’t show up for late night calls unless something was terribly wrong. And I didn’t see anything alarming.
Georgina’s heels clacked against the tile as she entered the foyer and shot me a smile through red lipstick that was too sweet. “Not at all, Livingston. The sheriff was just stopping by to talk some business with me. You know I’m planning a fundraiser for the police department.”
She looked too good for 10:00 p.m. Her bleach blond hair was perfectly coifed, her makeup flawless. Her black slim-fitting dress didn’t have a wrinkle to be seen.
And I didn’t give a hoot what she did or didn’t do with her free time especially for a police department. Hell, I didn’t even see why the police department would need a fundraiser. Sheriff Rothchild himself was loaded. Everyone was here.
I looked back at the sheriff and he gave me a wink and a smile that reminded me all too much of Braden. It shouldn’t be a surprise since Sheriff Rothchild was Braden’s dad. They looked a lot alike and some of their mannerisms were so alike it was downright scary especially since Braden only lived with the sheriff on the weekends from what I heard. His parents had been divorced for as long as I’d been on the island at least.
The sheriff looked me and Harry over. The blanket under my arm drew his attention. “You’re out late for a school night.” His tone was all at once accusatory and questioning, but I wouldn’t feed into it. It wasn’t his business what I did, so I just smiled.
“It is very late,” Georgina piped in. “I hope you didn’t miss your lessons this afternoon.”
“No, ma’am,” I answered her while letting Harry off his leash.
Flipping her hair over her shoulder, she nodded. “Good girl. I’m just going to walk the sheriff out.”
I rolled my eyes. That woman didn’t give a crap what I did as long as I did the things she wanted me to. She didn’t care how late I was out or who I dated. Not that I did. Or where I went as long as I didn’t miss the classes or social events she wanted me to attend. She was a great example of stellar parenting.
“Night, Livingston,” the sheriff called over his shoulder as I made my way to the stairs.
I gave him a quick wave over my shoulder and darted up the steps and through my bedroom door, my hand already in my pocket.
I pulled the letters out and unfolded them both, holding them in my hands. And even though I was still mad at this mystery person, I’d never forget how they felt. They frustrated me. But more than that, they scared the hell out of me. And not because I had a random stranger leaving me notes in a bottle in a field. That fact should have frightened me, but it didn’t. Because my life here on the island frightened me more. No, those letters, they felt an awful lot like dreams on paper. Even if they were only directions on where to look in the sky to see the magic of the stars. They seemed like more. Like maybe my daddy who had told me to look up had left them there for me to find. I knew that wasn’t the case. So, I could only believe he’d sent someone to me instead. Someone who would get me through. Someone who gave me something so scary, my hands trembled around the papers. Hope.