Chapter 24
Faith

It was impossible to sit at that breakfast table and pretend like the conversation on the beach hadn’t happened. But apparently, that was exactly what Alex expected.

“Another flapjack, dear?” Mama asked.

“I’m stuffed,” Faith said as she refilled her mug of coffee. “Thank you, though, Mama. They were delicious.”

“Uh huh,” Mama said. “Not too stuffed to pour more of that slick oil down your throat, I see.”

“Mama!” Caleb said with a laugh. He happily piled another stack of flapjacks onto his plate and drowned them in syrup.

“What?” Mama asked. “I just tell y’all things for your own good. That stuff’s addictive,” she said. She picked up her own cup of morning tea. “Tea’s good for you.”

“Not with all that sugar you put in it,” Caleb said.

“Hush, now,” Mama said. “There’s nothin’ wrong with sugar.”

Alex seemed morose and picked at the dry squares of protein bread coated with a thin layer of sugarless jam. He’d already torn through the bacon and egg whites Gwen had cooked up. “How you gonna call all that fat healthy?” Mama had asked.

“Protein,” Caleb had said at the same time as Alex. Alex had just given him a look of warning.

Once Mama and Caleb finished breakfast, Faith still worked on her coffee. It didn’t look like Alex was going to move, either. What kind of standoff is this?

Faith snatched up a stack of design magazines she’d picked up in Savannah and started to flip through them. “That’s nice,” Mama said as she wiped up the table. “That house needs a womanly touch.”

“Well, design is still a long ways off,” Faith said. “But I like getting ideas.”

“What style you like?” Mama asked.

“I’m thinking French country. A touch of shabby chic, you know, but balanced with a little midcentury modern. Some living edge pieces, maybe.”

“I don’t have a clue what you just said. But I’m sure it’ll be real nice.”

Caleb busied himself in front of the fridge, where he packed up some of the berries from the U-Pick farm up the road. “Hey, Caleb?” she asked. “You busy today?”

Alex glanced up at her but looked away.

So that got him curious.

“Not much,” Caleb said. “Why, what’s up?”

“I was wondering, maybe we could go for a ride around the island today? It seems like good weather for it.”

“A ride?” Caleb asked. He popped one of the blackberries into his mouth. “Sure, we can do that. On the boat, you mean?”

“Yeah,” Faith said with a smile. Alex finished his toast in two bites.

Caleb looked at Alex, opened his mouth but snapped it back shut. The last thing Alex looked like he wanted to do was get on a boat.

“You ready?” Faith asked.

“Now? You wanna go now?” Caleb asked.

“Why not? Looks like you’re packing a boat-friendly picnic anyway.”

“Well. Yes, ma’am,” Caleb said. He tipped an imaginary cowboy hat at her.

“Cool, I’ll meet you out front. I just want to get my sunblock.” She winced at the memory of the sunblock on Alex’s sandbar. But that seemed like so long ago. And as if it were with a different person, too.

Caleb was still in the kitchen when she traipsed down the stairs.

“Come on,” she said.

“Guess we’re goin’,” Caleb said.

“Y’all have a real good time,” Alex said. His tone was like ice. Why do you care? Faith wanted to ask.

Caleb held the truck door open for her, and she climbed inside. “I’ve never been in—”

Caleb flipped the ignition and the truck roared to life. “You’re gonna have to wait till we get to the dock,” he called to her. “Can’t hear nothin’ till then.”

It was the first time she’d sat in silence with Caleb. It’s nice, she thought. Faith watched him maneuver the big truck Mama kept around for island errands with ease. The hair on his arms had gone white from the summer sun. The blond on his head had lightened dramatically, too, offset with the natural Georgia tan.

Caleb pulled up to the boat dock and killed the engine. The sudden silence was overwhelming. As she climbed out of the truck, the sounds of birds chirping and fish splashing in the water could be heard.

“There’re no sharks, right?” she teased Caleb with a grin.

He just raised his brow at her and untethered the boat. Caleb held his arm out to her to help her in.

“Thank you kindly,” she said in a terrible southern accent. “What’s wrong?” she asked Caleb when she got no response.

He sat across from her in the boat and pushed off. “You wanna tell me what’s goin’ on?” he asked. Any flirtatious act was gone, and he fixed those blue eyes squarely on hers.

“What do you mean?” she asked. She was thankful for the sunglasses perched on her nose. Caleb kept his tucked into his shirt.

“You know what I mean,” he said. “Y’all been acting off for days.”

“Who has?” she asked.

“Playin’ dumb don’t work on you,” he said. “You and Alex, who else?”

“Oh,” she said. Faith looked at her hands cupped in her lap. “You noticed that, huh?”

“Helen Keller would notice that.”

“Caleb! I think that’s wrong.”

“Don’t change the subject,” he said. Caleb picked up the vintage oars from their storage bin. They were kept perfectly polished but were rarely used. Most of the time, he fired up the engine.

Clearly, this is going to be a long—and serious—discussion. “Sorry,” she said softly. “I don’t know. I mean, how much do you know?”

Caleb shrugged.

“Alex and I, we . . . it’s that obvious, huh?”

“Nah,” Caleb said. “I was exaggeratin’ a bit. It’s not obvious to everyone, but it is to me. Lee and Matt, I think they’re oblivious.”

She noticed he didn’t say one way or another about Mama. “So if you know that he and I are . . . were . . . whatever. Why have you been so flirty with me?” It was awkward to get that question out. There, on that still water where she could still see all the way to the bottom, it was all cards on the table.

Caleb grinned at her. “ʼCause it drives Alex nuts when I do. It was fun to watch, for a while.” Caleb looked into the distance. “But now? It’s gettin’ painful. It’s not a game no more.”

Games. Always back to games. She wished she could have taken back that night at the bar with the stupid pool table. Or do I? Maybe it wouldn’t have started otherwise.

“So what gives?” Caleb’s voice broke into her thoughts.

“Well, since you don’t want to tell me how much you know, we were intimate. Okay?” She blushed as she said it, but surely Caleb had figured out that much.

“Wait. Y’all had sex? I thought . . .”

“You thought what?” she demanded. Shit. He hadn’t known.

“I mean, I thought all this was over a kiss.”

She turned bright red. “A kiss?” she asked.

“Well, yeah. That night at the bar.”

“Yeah, no,” she said. Faith tucked her hair back behind her ears. She didn’t know what to do with her hands.

“Man,” Caleb said. He shook his head in wonder and stared into the water. “He must be really gone on you, then.”

“What? Why?” she asked. “I mean, not that I’m the most experienced person in the world, but this isn’t normal behavior. How he’s acting.”

Caleb chuckled. “Maybe not for most. But it is for Alex. I swear, I heard him say at least a hundred times, he wasn’t never gonna get as strung out over a woman as he did with Rebecca.”

Rebecca? Was Caleb really comparing her to Rebecca? “I don’t—”

“Now, hold on. I’m not comparin’ you to her,” he said. “I’m just . . . I haven’t seen him like this since then. Since those years.”

“Oh,” she said. Faith nibbled at her lip. “Is that good? Bad?”

“Guess it depends who you ask, ma’am,” he said. That glint in his eye was back, and she was grateful. She could only take Serious Caleb for so long.

“Look, I don’t want to get up in y’all’s business. Or tell you what to do, but—”

“Tell me!” she said. “Please. God, I could use some direction.”

“If direction’s what you’re after, I’m afraid I can’t help you.”

“Oh,” she said sadly. “Then what? What were you going to tell me?”

“Just don’t hurt my brother.”

“Hurt him?” She was shocked. First Mama, now Caleb. Do they think I’m some kind of heartless bitch?

“He’s done been hurt enough. Had plenty o’ heartbreak in his life. And, well, he just doesn’t deserve anymore,” Caleb said. He shrugged and put his sunglasses on. “That’s all.”

Faith was silent. They’d drifted farther from Saint Rose than she’d realized. From here, it looked so peaceful. You’d never imagine it is some kind of sex trafficking hub. Is?

“Don’t think on it too much,” Caleb said quietly.

She smiled at him. He is worried about his brother, that’s all. Same goes for Mama. But is that what’s happening? Am I causing Alex heartache? That was the last thing she wanted.

“And just so you know, I know you aren’t like Rebecca.” Caleb shivered when he said her name. “Not that that says much. There’s nobody like her. Thank the Lord,” he said.

She gave a soft laugh. “You disliked her that much, huh?”

“Hated her. Don’t look so surprised! Southern boys can hate,” he said. “And it wasn’t just after the first time I heard about the affairs, neither.”

“The first time?”

“Who knows how many times she did. Or how many times it got out or Alex told me. But way before then? I knew she wasn’t no good,” he said.

“Really? How could you tell? Why didn’t you say something to him?”

Caleb let out a belly laugh. “Say somethin’? To Alex? You think anyone could change his mind or even get him to listen more than a second once he’s got his mind on somethin’? I might as well have been talking to the moon.”

“Okay, you got me,” she said. “He certainly comes off as stubborn.”

“That’s a light way a puttin’ it,” he said. “But you asked how I could tell? Now, if I’m honest, I didn’t even meet her in person till their senior year. Right before they got engaged—”

“Really? No holidays or anything?”

He shook his head. “I went to Ole Miss,” he said. “I was young, wild, stupid an’ selfish. Holiday breaks were the best times to party,” he said. Caleb leaned forward and stage whispered to her. “Not much faculty or staff round to keep us outta the girls’ dorms.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she said. “I get it. So tell me.”

“Well,” Caleb began. He pursed his lips and gazed to the sky. “I got a glimpse of it. You know? In the photos I saw of her? Alex, he always had this big shit-eatin’ grin on his face in those pictures. And his arm was always on hers real tight. But she . . . she always looked like she’d practiced that smile a long time in the mirror. Like one of them girls that has a gummy smile and has to practice to hide it?”

“Nice,” Faith said with an eye roll.

“Hey, I wasn’t talkin’ ʼbout you! You don’t have that.”

“Go on,” she said before he could distract himself again.

“And, well, in the photos, she was always leanin’ away from him. And rarely lookin’ right at the camera. Like she wanted to seem single in case someone that caught her fancy was lookin’.”

“Huh,” Faith said. “You got all that from pictures?”

“I notice more than you think,” he said. “But you? Anyone can tell just by looking at you that you give a shit.”

“Nice,” she said with a laugh.

“It’s true! Might not be too eloquent, but it is. And I just wouldn’t feel right about not taking the opportunity to tell you not to mess Alex round.”

Faith squinted as she thought of a response. Behind Caleb’s head, in the distance, a plume of smoke appeared. “Oh my God,” she whispered.

“Huh? What?”

“There’s . . . there’s smoke,” she said and pointed. “On the property. My property.”

“Jesus,” he said. Caleb reached for the engine pull.

Faith did the calculations. Where is the dock? How far are they from the house?

“It’s the house,” she said. “The house is burning!”

The last word was drowned out as Caleb brought the boat to life. For however long they were on the water, it seemed to take a year to reach a dock, but eventually reached one near Faith’s property.

They jumped into a golf cart that was sitting by the dock and Caleb started to barrel toward Lydia’s old property. “Do you think—God—maybe it’s another cross? Maybe someone sneaked onto the island for a campfire? Maybe—”

“It’s the house, Faith,” Caleb said. It was with such certainty that she didn’t even bother coming up with more excuses.

Of course it was the house. She’d known as soon as she saw the smoke. Please let it be okay, she thought. Faith was a little surprised at how much the thought of the house being gone pulled at her heart.

Just let it be okay. She would will it into reality.