The wet sand sucked my feet down with each step I took out of the water. It was like it didn’t want to let us go.

“It’s colder out of the water than it was in it,” Penny said hugging herself. I wanted to put my arm around her to help warm her, but I was just as cold, and wet. Not to mention, as far as I knew, she still hated me.

“Hopefully, we’ll be indoors soon enough,” I said looking up and down the beach. I couldn’t tell which way would lead us to the city.

The sky was dark, and I couldn’t see lights anywhere around. Not even a reflection of them in the sky to indicate which way to go.

“Wonder if the power went out in the city,” I said gesturing for Penny to follow. I picked a direction at random and started walking along the beach.

“Maybe,” Penny said walking slowly behind me.

“Are you okay?” I asked glancing back at her.

She nodded. “I’m cold. I’m tired. My legs are killing me, but at least I’m on land.”

“You were always one to look on the bright side.” I pinched my lips together, so I didn’t say more.

Penny had always been more of a glass half-empty person, but I’d never minded. If anything, she balanced me. It wasn’t that I was too optimistic because I definitely wasn’t, but she always offered a different view. Things I hadn’t considered.

Except for that one time with her brother, I’d always made better choices when I’d been with her. Now, I didn’t even have a home to go back to. My home was at the bottom of the ocean with all of my things. Not that I’d had a lot.

Goddammit.

I dragged my hand down the side of my still damp face. What the fuck was I going to do?

I wouldn’t even be able to rent a hotel room since my wallet was at the bottom of the ocean. Not that I could even fucking find where the hotels were.

“Oof!” Penny grunted.

I turned around and saw her pushing herself up out of the sand. “You okay?”

“I fell.”

“I see that.”

“My legs are so tired.”

I stretched out my hand. “Here. Let me help you up.”

“It’s okay. I got it.”

But the second she was back on her feet she wobbled to the side. I caught her before she could stumble back down into the sand.

“We can take a rest,” I said looking down into her beautiful sparkling blue eyes. Even in a situation like this her eyes still held magic.

“Okay, yeah, maybe just a few minutes.”

I helped her down onto the sand and sat down next to her. Her body was shaking so vigorously I started to worry.

“I could try to start a fire,” I said already pushing myself to my feet. Maybe if she could warm up a bit, it would be easier to make our way back to civilization.

“You know how to do that?”

“I do.”

“That’s a useful skill.” Penny smiled. “I didn’t know you could do that.”

“Why would you? If I had a match, I’d use a match.”

Penny shrugged. “I just thought I… never mind. I’d love a fire.”

“Okay, wait here. Don’t wander off.”

“Where would I go?”

“I… I don’t know,” I said taking a step away but stopping to make sure she wasn’t thinking about running away. If I were her, I’d run away from me too. Hell, I’d tried to run away from myself, but turned out that was impossible.

Seeing her again brought everything back to the surface. There was no way she could ever forgive me because I couldn’t forgive myself.

I looked at the ground trying to find logs and sticks that would work to build a fire. There were dried fibers on a plant which I snatched up to get the ember started.

I had everything I needed to get a fire going, but I couldn’t move. It felt like my feet were sinking into the sand. I looked down but I wasn’t in quicksand, I was just standing there being a chicken shit.

I thought back to the night the cops were tailing her brother and me. It had been my bright idea to stop and quickly stash his stuff in her car. He’d had so much. I knew he was selling again, but I kept my mouth shut.

He was freaking out, begging me to help him. Trent was losing it, and I thought I was helping the family, but all I did was tear them apart.

If only I had taken my own car that night, she wouldn’t ever have been involved. It would have been me that was in trouble.

“What’s taking so long?” Penny said over her shoulder. “I’m scared.”

“Coming,” I shouted back.

If the cops hadn't had those stupid dogs, everything would have been fine. They wouldn’t have had to call Penny in. The cops cleared my name before they’d cleared hers.

I could still picture her mom asking me why I’d done it with tears streaming down her cheeks. Why did I have to get Penny involved? She’d never even stepped on an ant, well that wasn’t true most likely, but her parents had put her on a pedestal long before I’d met her.

I’d told Penny I was trying to help her brother, but the cops had been so mean to her. They’d kept her for questioning. Ugh.

I tightened my grip on the branches and sticks as I made my way back. It had been stupid, but at the time I was panicked. Trent was losing it, and the only thing I could think of was to hide the drugs.

Damn dogs.

Now Trent’s in jail, but the family hates me and Penny couldn’t trust me after that. I couldn’t blame her. It was a mistake I’d never be able to make up for, and one I’d never be forgiven for.

I plopped the logs down in the sand in front of where Penny was sitting and set up the twigs in the way I’d learned years ago. It was more than twenty minutes before I finally got a spark.

“Oh yay!” Penny said with a small clap. “I was just about to tell you to give up.”

“I felt like giving up fifteen minutes ago,” I said with a smile as the fire started to grow.

Penny scooted forward and held up her palms near the small flames.

“Don’t get too close,” I warned.

She waved her hand at me and shook her head. Yeah, I probably hadn’t needed to tell a grown woman to stay away from the fire. Especially not Penny. She was smart as a whip. Much smarter than I was, that was another reason it had been so easy to fall in love with her.

Fuck. I didn’t know why I couldn’t stop thinking about her. Even though I’d been the one to fuck everything up, there were times she was still infuriating, although, I couldn’t think of one.

“You think the city is that way?” Penny asked jutting her jaw out in the direction we’d first started walking.

“I’m not sure.” I scratched my head as I looked up and down the beach. “Neither looks very promising, but one eventually both ways should lead us somewhere.”

I pulled off my shirt and laid it down in the sand near the fire to dry. I’d have done the same with my pants, but Penny probably wouldn’t have approved.

“When the sun comes up, I should be able to make more sense of our surroundings. Maybe even spot a house,” I said.

“It’s crazy,” Penny said looking down at her feet.

“What is?”

She smiled. “When I was younger I loved beach parties and staying up all night. Now, I’d eat a bug just to be home in my pajamas with a tub of ice cream. Er, let’s make that hot chocolate.”

She tucked her still damp stringy hair behind her ears and blinked those crystal blue eyes at me. I swallowed down the feelings that stirred deep inside me. If she didn’t hate me, I’d have crawled over to her and kissed he on those perfect lips.

“Yeah, me too. Except my home was on that boat and I have no desire to live at the bottom of the ocean. The hot chocolate sounds really good though.”

She chuckled and wrapped her arms around her stomach. “I really wish I would have eaten dinner. My favorite thing at those parties are the seafood appetizers. I was going to feast on them.”

“You’re a good friend to Heidi,” I said wishing I would have kept my mouth shut.

“Why do you say that? I usually feel like a pretty crappy friend. I whined so much about this dumb party.”

“Well, that’s not your fault. Those stupid yacht parties are lame. Or rather the people on them.” I raised an eyebrow at her, and she nodded. “But there isn’t anyone I’d go to one of those parties for.”

That wasn’t true. If Penny would have asked me to go with her, I would have. But no one else.

Her face scrunched up like she’d swallowed a lemon. Shit. What had I said?

“You did stuff for people,” she said, and I knew she was referring to what I’d done for her brother.

“Penny, I—”

“Are there more logs we can put on the fire?” she said quickly standing up and turning away from me. “I’m cold again.”

She stopped when something moved in a nearby shrub. A black animal jumped out and barred its teeth.

Penny’s fists balled up and her sides. Her arms started to shake, and then, she screamed.