Page 8 of Along Came Summer

“I’m going to miss you too, Ayls. Who knows, I might be back before you can miss me too much.” I tease.

Ayla pulls her head back and peers up at me, “You better, shithead.” We pull apart and I look over her shoulder at the front door.

“Is… Mira home. I’ve not said goodbye to her yet.” I ask, my gaze dropping to hers.

Ayla shakes her head, “Uh, no, she's not home. She's spending a couple of days at my aunt’s house. You just missed Devin actually, he was here a couple of minutes ago, looking for her too.”

My stomach sinks deep into my gut as disappointment spans across my chest. “Oh, right,” I try my damned hardest to keep the discontent out of my voice. “Well, tell her bye from me, I'll catch up with her at some point.”

“Yeah, of course.” Ayla assures, and her eyes narrow slightly like she wants to say something. “Don't you think it’s weird that she's not here? Mira's been in a stroppy mood for a couple of days now and Devin's not been around ours either. I expected them to be soaking up every second they have with each other until he left, but it seems they’re not even talking. Has Devin mentioned anything to you?”

Ah, perhaps this is why Devin's been walking around with a face resembling a slapped arse lately. They've clearly had a falling out over something rather substantial. That's why they’ve been avoiding each other the last couple of days. Otherwise, like Ayla said, they would have spent every moment they had left together and there is no way Mira would have missed saying goodbye to my parents.

Strange.

I make a mental note to ask Devin about it later. “No, nothing. He’s been moping around since he found out we were moving, but it wouldn't surprise me that they've had some sort of fight. Their last fall out dragged on for a week, remember?”

Ayla laughs, “Oh God, don't remind me. Mira was an absolute nightmare to be around.” And then her warm brown eyes grow wider, and she groans, “Oh fuck she's going to be ten times worse this time around with him being gone all together, isn’t she?”

I purse my lips and nod my head in response. “I imagine so, but at least he tried to make things right before he left. That might soften the blow if you’re lucky. Do you know where he’s gone by the way?”

“Oh, uh, I think I saw him moseying off in the direction of that weird-looking tree they loved going to.” Ayla shrugs, her eyes darting over my shoulder to look at the electric blue series 1 BMW pulling up outside her house. “Oh, I better go, that's my ride. But hey, good luck and have a blast out there… but not too much that you forget to keep in touch, alright?” She playfully punches my arm before we hug one last time.

“I would never.” We pull apart and I watch her jog the short distance to the car and jump into the passenger seat. Ayla waves at me, and her friend Tasha, in the driver seat leans over, grinning broadly and wags her fingers at me flirtatiously.

Smiling, I wave back at her awkwardly before I walk off to find Devin before my dad’s head explodes that he’s gone AWOL when the cab is waiting, and we have a plane to catch.

The walk to Mira and Devin's ‘mystical tree’ is more or less five minutes from our house. When I get there, my eyes scan the area and see no sign of my brother. I do, however, see Mira's friend Sydney kneeling at the trunk of the tree, looking down at something in her hand. I shift behind another tree to keep myself out of sight and try to get a clearer view of whatever it is that she has in her hands, but her hair cascading around her shoulders and face is concealing it.

My eyes narrow, “What are you doing here?” I utter under my breath. Hold up, was Devin here with Syd? Is she the reason Mira and Devin have fallen out? Yowza, I was convinced Devin was in love with Mira, but it seems I might have been off. Why the hell would you choose a girl like Sydney Williams overMira?

My phone vibrating in my pocket pulls me from my musings. I see a text from Devin flash across my screen.

Devin:

Cab is loaded and waiting. Dad is losing his shit.

Where’d you go?

I must have just missed him, which means he really was here with Sydney. In a place that is supposedly special to him and Mira. What an idiot. I drop him a message to say I popped to the shops, and I would be there in a minute.

Before I turn to leave, I glance back at Sydney one last time and discreetly make my way back to the main road and jog back to the house.

Oh Mira, my brother is a fucking fool, because if it were me, I would always chooseyou.

Eight years later...

Phuket - Thailand.

“Watch the fin, watch the fin. Shit, alright, on the next wave we roll her again.”

“You got it.”

Sucking in a deep breath through my nose, I exhale slowly, watching the tide approaching. It’s been four hours since we stumbled upon this gorgeous female Orca washed up on the shore. Thankfully, as the hours tick on by, more and more locals jump in to assist in rescuing the twenty-eight-foot and give-or-take ten-thousand-pound whale. Firefighters and the civil defence showed up an hour ago, and despite all these people we’re still struggling to save this poor animal.

The tide is strong, and each time we make progress the tide washes her back to shore again. We have a rope tied to her tail to help pull her in while the rest of us push to get her head facing the ocean.

The Orca whines and thrashes in distress, so I run my hand over her side soothingly. “I know, sweetheart, I know, just stay with me a little longer. I’m going to get you home to your family, I promise.” We're running out of time. Every minute she’s not in that water is diminishing her chances of survival. The muscles in my arms ache, and my stomach burns where I’ve inadvertently ingested quite a bit of sea water.

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