Page 14 of Always a Chance
I narrowed my eyes and stared back, sticking my tongue out at the last minute. Gianna giggled.
“Girls,” Dad snapped. “Remember where we are.”
“Ah, yes,” I said, forgetting for a moment how all our relationships had changed as an old familiar line came to mind. “The Beach Club, where we don’t know how to park our own cars.” I turned my nose up.
“And the night isn’t complete unless we’ve made at least one person cry.” Johnny remembered. That shouldn’t have made me as happy as it did or blush so furiously. We’d never known if anyone actually cried at the Beach Club—I guessed not—but as teenagers, it was what we imagined happened in such a strict, fancy place.
“Evening, everyone.” Johnny clapped a hand on my dad’s shoulder before moving to Gianna and pressing a kiss on the top of her head. “Birthday girl. Long time no see.”
She looked up at him adoringly. “You came over this morning.”
“Did I?” He laughed, sliding into the seat on my left. “Talia.”
Where was the man who’d walked away from me when he first saw me back in town? I straightened in my chair and pulled my hands into my lap to avoid being so near Johnny at the small table. At my rigid posture, his smile fell, and he turned to my sister.
“You’re wearing the necklace.”
She touched her throat, where the delicate chain rested against her skin. I hadn’t noticed it before, but now I looked closer, wanting to know what hung from it.
“I love it.” Gianna’s voice was distant, her eyes on something beyond Johnny.
It was then that I made out the shape as she removed her hand. A manatee. Was this some kind of joke?
“Seriously, Johnny?” All the anger I’d held onto the last ten years surged forward, and I shoved back with so much force my chair almost toppled, taking me with it. “I need some air.” I stood, ignoring the eyes on me, and hurried across the dining room to where an outdoor seating area overlooked the beach.
This part of the club was only open for dining during lunch, so it was blissfully empty, the chairs piled onto tables. I didn’t stop moving until I reached the bronze railing near the stairs that led down to the sand. Dark water crashed against the shore, kicked up by the rains and winds we’d had all day.
The air still smelled of rain, but the sky was clear, the night bright under the full moon. I breathed in the fresh scent, trying to calm the turmoil inside me. This was Florida. We had manatees everywhere. I couldn’t walk into a single shop without seeing the image. Yet, to see that necklace against my sister’s skin…
I closed my eyes, listening to the sound of the sea that had taken so much from us. Nearly ten years ago, a manatee swam close to shore the night of the graduation bonfire. The noise didn’t scare it off, and neither did the people crashing into the water to get closer when the lights from the Surf Hut reflected off its curious eyes as it surfaced.
Kids who shouldn’t have been swimming at night. Ones who’d have known better if they hadn’t been drinking.
“Tal.” Johnny’s voice dragged me out of the memory, and my eyes slammed open.
“What were you thinking?” I turned to face him—all six feet, beautifully made man of him. The suit he wore only added to the allure, reminding me how easy it had been falling once.
Johnny pushed a hand through his hair that he’d tamed with gel and pushed to the side. “You don’t get it.”
“Get what?” I crossed my arms. “Please, oh wise one, explain it to me.”
His lips twitched as his eyes met mine.
“What?” I snapped.
“That was such a Talia thing to say.”
He didn’t know what was me anymore. “I liked you better when you were walking away from me.” I turned back toward the water, knowing it was safer than continuing to look into his eyes.
“Hey.” His fingers grazed my elbow.
“Please don’t touch me.” I shifted away. I couldn’t take it.
An audible sigh rushed out of him. “Gianna and I… we’ve had a lot of conversations over the last few years. She doesn’t remember much of the accident.”
That had my anger draining away, and I faced him once more. I’d always been too scared to find out just what she did or didn’t remember. If she didn’t offer it, I thought it best not to ask.
Johnny continued. “But she’s had me tell her the story.”
