Mee-Maw’s retirement fund covered the rest.
I finally found the courage to call her again the day I learned about Hope. This time she answered. I expected Mee-Maw to be mad. Waited with bated breath for her to remind me of how horrible I’d been. Her words became the salve I needed to soothe my scarred soul.
“Hush now. We’ll get through this. Together.”
I hold on to those words as I stare through the glass, only the faintest outline of my flat expression visible in the window. With as much hurt as I’ve experienced at the hands of my family, Mee-Maw never abandoned me.
Maybe humanity isn’t completely lost after all.
Thirty-Six
Merrick
The remainder of July was filled with quiet moments beneath the pier and stolen kisses in the attic.
Merrick and Coral had found their rhythm.
So why did he feel as if he was trying to convince her to stay?
It wasn’t that she pushed him away. She kissed him back and didn’t withdraw when he held her hand. He kept waiting for the right time to take her by the house, introduce her to Amaya and Grim and Nikki. But that moment never came. Anytime he’d bring it up, she’d avoid or redirect, changing the subject to his mom.
Maybe she didn’t want to be found. What if Coral and Grim had been right all along?
The idea broke something inside as Merrick turned off the computer in the office and made his way downstairs to the kitchen. Amaya was there, not eating. Again.
Merrick checked the clock on the stove. Late afternoon. “Did you just get up?”
“Yeah. So?”
She hardly spoke lately. Was she tired? Depressed? What about PMS? She was eleven now, and Merrick didn’t have a clue what to do. If she sent him to the store for tampons, he might lose it.
Maya needed Mom.
What now? He couldn’t call his dad. The beach house was quiet. Grim was gone, off with Nikki on another adventure. Maybe Merrick could ask Nikki to talk to his sister when she came back. She’d know about that stuff, right?
Merrick studied Maya’s eyes. Dark circles made her look years past her age. September would be here before they knew it, and she’d need to start her online courses again soon. How was Merrick supposed to get her to do her homework if he couldn’t even get her out of bed?
“There’s leftover pizza in the fridge.” He grabbed a cold slice from a storage bag and tore off one corner.
“Not hungry.” Maya grabbed a water bottle and moved to the stairs.
“It’s a nice day. Why don’t you sit on the deck and get a little sun?”
“No, thanks.”
“What about—”
She rounded on him. “Which is it, big brother? Do you want me to go out or stay in? Because I’m pretty sure you’ve made your point that I’m safer if I stay inside so Dad can’t find me, isn’t that right?”
Whoa. “I didn’t mean—you know I’m trying to find Mom, right? For you? This has all been for you.”
“Right. This is all for me.” She waved her arms in an arc. “It has nothing to do with the fact you hate Dad and love that it’s killing him not to know where I am. Where you are.”
Merrick’s fists clenched at his sides, but he kept his cool. Maya was tired. Frustrated. She was allowed to lash out. He needed to let her vent.
“Did you ever ask me what I wanted? Did you ever think maybe I didn’t want to come here and play board games and wear disguises while you go off with your girlfriend doing who knows what?”
She was emotional. She didn’t realize what she was saying. “Myyy-uh.” Merrick drew out her name on purpose. He couldn’t say the wrong thing and make matters worse. “Dad was going to send you away. Remember? You didn’t want to go. You said you loved hanging out with Grim and Aunt Ashley and Nikki. I’m doing everything I can so you can have a better life. So you can be free.”
She laughed.
The lifeless sound sent a chill through Merrick’s bones.
“You call this freedom?” She narrowed her eyes. “Maybe I don’t know what I want, but it isn’t this, Mer. It isn’t this.” She turned, her fiery hair whipping around her like a whirling flame. Every stomp up the stairs drove the nail in Merrick’s resolve deeper.
No more messing around. He’d let himself get distracted.
He’d find his mom before summer ended.
Even if it meant his summer ended all too soon.
Thirty-Seven
Coral
Coral’s sneezes always came in threes. After the third “ah-choo,” she sniffed, blinked, and rubbed the dust from her itchy eyes.
Coral had been in the attic for hours, scrutinizing old photos her grandmother kept in a box. Her notebook lay open on the floor beside her. She jotted down notes with one hand and flipped through the album with the other. She would find Merrick’s mom. He couldn’t possibly leave her then.
Fear festered. Coral awaited an impending disaster. Any day Merrick would wake up and realize he didn’t care. That she was nothing to him.
She swallowed the lump in her throat and flipped another page.
The steps below creaked and Coral smoothed her hair. She adjusted her posture and blinked away the fatigue.
Merrick appeared at the top of the steps and her heart skipped one, two, ten beats. He had a way of making her forget the simplest tasks. Like how to swallow or think or string words together into coherent sentences.
Coral wished he would stop.
“Hey,” he said as he made his way through the mess.
The scattered stacks of boxes and crates made it smell like a retirement home and old nails. When Merrick sat beside her, he leaned in and kissed her cheek.
Coral melted into the kiss. They never had enough time. Why couldn’t this last longer?
“Find anything good?” His halfhearted words stung.
Coral placed a hand on his knee and told her anxiety to control itself for once. He wasn’t sleeping enough. His distance had nothing to do with her and everything to do with the fact his mom remained nonexistent, forever out of reach.
They never found anything. Not since the newspaper clipping weeks ago.
She wanted to lift his spirits. To give him back the childlike hope he’d carried when they’d first met.
“Look in that box.” She gestured toward an open one a few feet to her left. “I found it this morning stashed in the rafters.”
“New stuff?” His eyebrows perked but his shoulders remained heavy.
“More of the same. Albums, newspapers, some yearbooks. It’s a treasure hunt up here. I can’t believe my grandmother collected all this stuff from people’s estate sales over the years.”
“Hoarded is more accurate.” His tone exuded cynicism.
Coral inhaled and brushed off the comment. He’s not frustrated with me, just the situation. We’re close and he’s taking it out on me. It’s fine. We’re fine.
Merrick crossed to the next box. The contents would probably lead them to more dead ends, but she kept quiet. She wanted her Merrick back. She would do whatever it took to keep his hope alive.