Page 149 of Here & There

She books a hotel for us a few blocks away from Shelby’s, and even though Iamexhausted from worry and covering all of Redbeard Cove and the surrounding mountains and beaches on foot since three that afternoon, I lie awake for several more hours, finalizing the ridiculous plan I’ve got brewing in my mind.

I only pray it’ll work.

When I wake up, the sun is streaming in my window, and I smell coffee. I check the time—it’s nine a.m. I sit bolt upright.

Nate.

But when I blink awake, I see there are two people sitting at the table in the corner of the room.

One of them’s smiling at me. The other’s dressed in an oversized Vancouver Canucks jersey and matching sweatpants.

“Nate,” I exclaim, my throat already clogged with tears. I leap out of bed, rushing over and throwing my arms around my son.

At first he doesn’t move, probably because I’ve lifted him off the ground like a little kid and have also managed to pin his arms to his sides.

“I’m sorry,” I say, lowering him to the ground.

He’s trembling. “I’m sorry too.”

I look to Annie, questioning.

“Sorry I went and got him without you. You did look like you needed your sleep, though.” She looks over at her nephew. “And I needed to talk to Nate. I’m the one who needed to apologize. I should never have said what I did. I don’t know Nate well, but I know for sure the world is a better place with him in it. And I know he’s the thing his dad is most proud of.”

“Ever,” I say. “I don’t regret you for a nanosecond. In fact, I’d make all the mistakes in the world if it meant having you for even a day in my life.”

Nate’s chin wobbles. “I really thought she was going to stay this time.”

I wrap my arms around him once more, this time giving his arms room to breathe. And my heart lifts when he hugs me back. “I know,” I say. “There are some people who are just too lost to come home, you know? No matter how much they want to in their hearts.”

This is more than trying not to shit-talk Nate’s mom. I know, from what Annie told me on the way down here, that Nadine hates herself for what she does. “She’s not proud of what she’s done, Mac. But I’m going to keep working on her. Maybe one day I can get her to be a part of Nate’s life, if that’s what he wants.”

It’s what I love about Annie. Even when she hides away, she doesn’t give up on people. She fell away for years, but if I’d called her and asked her to come home, she would have. It’s why I never called.

We talk for another hour before going for breakfast and talking some more. By the end of it, Nate’s almost as upbeat as he was when everything was good with Shelby, back before it all started going downhill.

“What are you going to do about her, Mac?” Nate asks when we’re full of a spectacular brunch. I took notes for the Dinghy.

“That’s what I’m hoping you can help with,” I tell him.

Several hours later, we’re walking down a street with a giant board on wheels, the black garbage bags taped together to cover it flapping in the breeze. My hands are covered in ink and bits of tape. Deanie meets us at the door to Shelby’s office building. It’s Saturday, so there’s no one around.

“This better work,” Deanie says as she helps us maneuver the board into the boardroom. “My best friend is a wreck.”

Deanie’s treating me with a coolness I can practically feel, but when Nate pulls the plastic bags off the board, she presses her hands to her mouth. “Okay. It’s a start.”

I tell her the rest of the plan, and that I’ll text her when we need her to meet us here again, but she shakes her head. “This I have to see in person.”

“Actually,” Annie says. “Maybe you can help.”

She explains what we need to Deanie, who agrees but says she’s staying on team Shelby no matter what.

“I wouldn’t want it any other way,” I promise. I mean that.

My heart’s beating wildly by the time everything’s lined up, and it threatens to skip right out of my chest when Deanie confirms she was able to talk Shelby into going with her to the beach.

This is much better than what I had planned, which consisted of waiting around until I saw Shelby leave her building before executing things.

“This is the second most cockamamie thing I’ve ever seen,” Stu says when he picks us up on the dock.

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