Page 88 of Chasing Blue
I press my palms into the top of my head as it starts to ache again.
“I . . . I honestly don’t know what to say,” my dad almost whispers while giving another of his eternal headshakes.
“Me neither, old man, me neither,” I tell him honestly.
“I think you should go to her. I know I said not to earlier, but fuck me, that girl’s got a lot going on right now and probably needs you. Explain the Eden sitch, support her through this with her mum, then ask her about the baby later, let her grieve first.”
Me and my dad both turn to Nate as he speaks.
“I don’t know if I can,” I tell him honestly. “If she had a baby, if she did that, behind my back . . .”
“No,” my dad says as he stands. “That poor fucking girl has just lost her mum, you set all that aside, and you go to her. The rest of it you can deal with later.”
I watch as he stands, heads for the cupboard next to the fridge, pulls out a bottle of bourbon and three glasses, setting one down in front of each of us before half filling the glasses.
“Eighteen years, right? If that all happened eighteen years ago, and as soon as you see each other there’s something there, then that’s worth holding on to. That’s something worth fighting for. She was a kid, probably didn’t have a lot of options and did the best she could.”
He sits down, and I take a large swig of the amber liquid in front of me.
“Tonight, we drink. Tomorrow, you go find your girl,” my dad tilts his glass towards me as he talks. Nate and I both tap our glasses against my dad’s and drink.
* * *
After a late nightand far too much alcohol, it’s late afternoon before I finally make it to Asher’s bar.
When I pull up outside in the truck I’ve borrowed from my dad, I’m surprised to see it open. Given the circumstances, I wasn’t sure what to expect.
The place has undergone a major refurb since the time Scarlett worked here, and now has a restaurant, a shop selling boards and clothing, a coffee and ice cream type kiosk as well as offering a board hire/repair/lessons shop at the very end of the building.
Nate had told me Asher had quite the little empire going on, and he’s not wrong.
The Fugees, ‘Killing Me Softly’ is playing over the sound system when I walk in, and Scarlett’s brother looks up from where he’s chatting to a bloke sitting on a stool on the other side of the bar, and right at me.
“Nah,” he says immediately and starts moving towards me. “Not happening, Cole, I don’t need your shit right now, and she definitely doesn’t.”
I hold my hands up in a surrender stance as he moves my way. “I just need to know she’s okay. Are you okay? I’m so sorry to hear about your mum, dude, so very sorry.”
“How’d you know?” he asks when he reaches me, everyone in the bar watching us.
“Zoe told me. I’m really sorry. Listen, I know the timing of all this sucks, but I really need to talk to her.”
“Not fucking happening.”
“Eden lied. I don’t know what the fuck she was playing at, but she lied. It’s her,” I admit. “It’s Scarlett I want to be with. I lost her once, and I’m sorry, man. Whether you like it or not, I’m not letting that happen again.”
Asher’s hands go to his hips, and he looks me over for a beat. At six-foot, I’m not short, but I’m also not overly tall. Ash has at least a couple of inches on me, but I’m not intimidated like I was eighteen years ago, and I’m not gonna leave until I at least get to explain my side of the story.
“You fuck with her . . . fuck me, why am I even doing this?” Asher says as he combs his fingers through his hair and turns away from me. “Just know, I’ll rip your nuts off and make you watch me feed them to the fishes out in that surf you love so fucking much. Then, I’ll drown you in it.”
I fold my arms across my chest and wait. The whole fucking bar waits, the only sound coming from Lauryn Hill’s husky voice.
“She’s on the beach,” Ash says without turning around, just pointing with his raised arm in the general direction of the beach opposite. “She’s had a shitty couple of days, so be fucking gentle,” he adds, but I’m already heading out the door.
* * *
Spotting her immediately,I cross the road, wordlessly sit down on the sand next to her, and stare out at the waves rolling in from the South Pacific Ocean. A young family walks along the shoreline up ahead in the distance, but the beach is otherwise empty.
“I named her Zara, after your mum,” Scarlett says from beside me, and my heart crashes down into my gut.
