There would never be anyone else who made him feel a million things at once.
He tapped out a quick sentence and sent it before he started overthinking too. I’m sorry. Can you meet me at Grim’s? I found something.
Merrick forwarded the address before he could doubt himself. His words would come off shallow, short, and far too distant. He looked at the ceiling. Amaya had turned on the shower. He never left her alone. She’d probably rinse off, then sleep all afternoon. He didn’t want to invite her, get her hopes up in case he was wrong. He checked the time on his phone. He scanned his texts. Turned his phone off, then back on to make sure he wasn’t missing anything.
Coral did not respond. She was still mad. Of course she was. He’d blown it.
One thing at a time, Merrick. One thing at a time.
He could be to the lighthouse and back in an hour if he hurried. Grim’s car was in the garage since Nikki had picked him up.
I’ll be gone an hour. An hour. That’s it.
Merrick scribbled a quick note and left it on the counter where Maya would see it if she returned to the kitchen. He grabbed Grim’s keys off the hook and headed out into the late summer sun.
By the end of the day, everything would be back to normal.
Forty
Coral
Coral stared at the computer screen. She read the list again. Blinked. Her name remained.
She was a finalist? Coral’s short story was going to the statewide Young Literary competition? She sucked in her lower lip. She should tell Miss Brandes the news. But school didn’t start for another week and she doubted her counselor would be in her office.
Coral would have to wait until Wednesday when they had their weekly library meeting. She had finally started to feel comfortable around the group, and that was partly due to Merrick. She found herself searching for him now, hoping he was at the library. Dreading it at the same time.
After logging out of her email on the library’s computer, Coral pushed away from the desk and walked casually down each aisle.
He’s not here. You’re not going to run into him.
I’m not trying to run into him. I’m looking at books.
Sure you are. Keep telling yourself that.
The argument with herself was not one she could win. She missed her best friend and it had only been a few hours. He’d hurt her, but after taking a step back, she wanted to give him a chance to explain. She should have done as much this morning, but the pain of his seeming rejection blinded her. Now all she wanted to do was apologize and try again.
His kisses were real. He was real. They were real.
It couldn’t have all been a fantasy. Their story was no fairy tale, but he was kind and understanding and patient.
She loved him.
She would finally tell him so.
Coral stepped out into the sun and found a shady spot on a bench outside the library. When she turned her phone off silent mode, relief expanded her lungs. The text from Merrick nearly made her drop her phone.
I’m sorry. Can you meet me at Grim’s? I found something.
Routing the address with her map app, she saw the beach house where Merrick had been staying wasn’t far. She could walk the few miles easy. She could even follow the shoreline there.
No looking back. Not this time.
A tower of steps met Coral at the beach below the house. She stared up at the white wood, rolled her shoulders, and unlatched the gate to the stairs. When she reached the door, she focused on all she wanted to say, then knocked, one, two, three times.
No one answered.
She checked her phone again. No new texts from Merrick. She looked at the time from the original text. Three hours old? Sent shortly after he left her and now it was after noon. She hadn’t texted him back. Had her idea to surprise him been foolish?
At first glance, the house seemed empty. Dark. She peered in through the window with her hands cupped around her eyes. Knocked again.
Nothing.
A sour feeling in her gut churned. It’s nothing. I’m sure he’s fine.
Except Merrick wasn’t fine. He was a complete mess. Her heart won over reason and any sense of propriety. She turned the knob and opened the unlocked door.
She cleared her throat. “Hello? Merrick?”
Nothing.
Something stirred upstairs. Footsteps padded across the floor. Had Merrick heard her?
The sound of a door clicking closed followed by the squeal of pipes sounded. She moved deeper into the house and waited for Merrick to come down.
Eventually, the water turned off. Any minute Merrick would come downstairs, say something to make her melt, and they would make up. He’d explain and she’d listen as he had listened to her so many times before. She would be for him what he had been for her. She wouldn’t abandon him the moment he needed her most.
No one came.
She bit her lower lip and shot him a text. What’s taking so long?
He responded with a question mark.
I’m downstairs at the house. Are you coming down?
It took a minute before he replied. I’m not there. Explain soon. Amaya is home. Check on her for me?
Despite how awkward it felt to intrude farther into a stranger’s house, Maya wasn’t supposed to be left alone. Coral was surprised Merrick had left her here by herself at all.
She didn’t want to startle the girl, but she also wanted to make sure she was okay. Coral stepped lightly up the stairs and found herself in a long hallway. Steam seeped under the only closed door. When she neared, she knocked with a single knuckle.
“Amaya? I’m Coral, your brother’s friend.” No answer. She heard the water from the faucet drip, drip, drip into what sounded like a filled tub. “Maya?”
She stayed there for a full minute. Waiting. Listening. Coral tried the door handle. “Maya?” Nothing. “Amaya.” Silence. “Amaya, this isn’t funny. Come on.” An emptiness filled the air, so thick Coral could drown in it. “Answer me.”
For once, the presence of nothing was far from welcome.
Shoulder braced for impact, Coral shoved her entire body against the door. It only took two tries to get the old thing to open. Steam filled the room. A discarded towel lay in her path between door and tub. The half-closed shower curtain left a scarce opening where Coral could see a hand, just a hand, hanging over the tub’s edge.
“Amaya?”
She didn’t move.
Coral tore the curtain aside. All feeling drained from her face. She’d been here before.
She was running.
She was dying.
She was still here.
Amaya lay slumped in the tub. Her hair, soaked and matted, covered her face.
Two words formed on Coral’s dry lips. She forced them out, if only to expel them from her being. “Red. Tide.”
Several things happened next. Too slow and too fast and completely blurred together.
Coral dragged Maya from the bloody water, wrapped her wrists in towels. Her clothes stuck to her in soaked bunches of denim and cotton.
“Stay with me, Maya. Stay with me.” Coral repeated the same phrases over and over and over again. As if they held some magic spell that could bring a person back from where Red Tide had taken them.
Coral shook and fumbled. Frantic. Her phone rested on the counter downstairs. She looked up at the sink. A phone that had to be Amaya’s sat on the edge. She was able to dial 911 without a password. The operator dispatched an ambulance, then kept Coral on the line.