Page 55 of Fire Island
I shut the door, locking it behind me. How the fuck can a man forget someone like her? What the hell is wrong with me?
I sink onto the edge of the bed and shove my head in my hands, tugging at my messy locks. It makes sense now, the way she knows her way around the island and took up the routine so easily. Why her things are in my bathroom. Because I’m not just a man on his island anymore, I’m a ‘we.’ We must have had a life there together before the accident.
Her accident . . .
What’s that all about? Did she go out looking for me after the rescue? Was she coming home and got into a car wreck?
God, I wish someone would fucking tell me what the hell is going on.
Fifteen
EVIE
The nightmare I had three nights ago was so intense I was sure I was dying. The only thing—person—I wanted in the final moments of my dream was Cal.
And he heard me.
He came.
To find me amess. I can’t get the thought that I’ve ruined everything out of my head. Iris was quiet when we left, but I know she’s upset about what happened. I’m kicking myself now. How could I be so stupid? Of course the man would come if I was screaming out his name.
I drop my head onto the small table in the shack. The laptop in front of me is open on a blank page. Chapter four of this new project, and I’m stuck. Stuck in my own damn head. Never to return to reality.
It’s hard to work in an imaginary world when your real life is imploding all around you.
Urgh, I need a break.
From nothing.
From everything.
I wander from the hut and head for the tree line. Some forest time should help.
I cross the invisible line from island grasslands to forest and keep walking into its cooling embrace. I feel better already. After five minutes of wandering through the trees and inhaling as much fresh air as my lungs can tolerate, I stop and lean on a rough tree trunk. Eyes drifting shut, I let my mind meander.
“Don’t go too far,” a gruff voice calls from the tree line.
I barely hear his low tone over the breeze.
“Alright!” I call back.
I slide to the ground and listen to the beautiful sounds of nature around me. Those sounds are soon drowned out by heavy treads over the debris-covered forest floor. Steps halt in front of me, and I crack one eye, looking up at Cal.
“You okay?” I ask.
He looks conflicted. He has since we left Iris’s, if I’m honest. The awkwardness that’s been swinging between us since the nightmare is driving home the reason why nobody’s supposed to talk about his past.
Our past.
I’ve set him back, and I hate myself for it.
“Don’t get lost, is all.” He glances around the forest.
“I won’t.”
“You know your way around the forest?” His brows fall.
“Mostly.”
