Page 4 of No Way Home
Charlie poked me in the side, wearing a disapproving look.
“What? If I’d never drawn that stupid six of hearts, none of it would’ve happened.” That Spartan race derailed everything.
“Did you ever stop to think maybe it was supposed to happen?” Charlie asked.
“It wasn’t.” I drew a line in the sand between my feet. The same way Ishould’vedrawn a line when it came to Griff’s girlfriend.
A shadow fell over us, blocking out the blazing sun. Cash cleared his throat, looming above. “Should I be concerned that you’re snuggling with mywife?”
I pulled Charlie tighter against me. “You mean my cousin?”
Charlie giggled.
Cash grinned and knelt on her other side.
The second he did, Charlie was a goner—arms around his shoulders, smashing her lips to his. “Hey, you,” she purred.
His grin grew wider. “Hey, beautiful.”
Her fingers twirled his wedding band. “Just chatting with Bowen about…things.”
Cash’s expression turned wary. “About Maggie?” he asked like he could not be part of any such discussion.
After the fallout, sides had been picked. Charlie had chosen me. Cash chose Griff. At least when it came to Magnolia. Maybe a normal couple would’ve argued over it, but it almost felt like they’d made a conscious decision to divide and conquer. As if they could watch over us both by splitting their loyalties. I wouldn’t be surprised if they regrouped every evening to share intel.
Problem was, a shift in Griff’s and my metaphorical tectonic plates had happened the moment Magnolia laid her lips on mine. Like a fault line waiting to crack open and swallow us up. Griff and I were on opposite sides, whether I liked it or not.
I did everything I could to hold that line firmly in place. It pretty much consumed me. Tiptoeing around him, pretending his hurtful jabs never landed—they did, every time. But I loved my mom too much to let us fall apart. So there I was, straddling that crack, holding on for dear life, while Griff jumped up and down as hard as he could, trying to speed up the impending quake.
A shout carried over the breeze. It sounded like Griffin. Or had I just imagined it because of the turmoil in my head? I glanced over my shoulder toward Uncle Ford’s beach house. Where was Mom? It looked like Aunt Peyton and Sage’s mom, Heidi, had taken over supervising the reception setup.
Cash caught my eye, the wariness shifting to something deeper. “Griff’s inside with your parents.” His jaw pulsed. “It’s not good.”
I sat up taller. “What’s going on?”
He was tight-lipped, wearing a look that made my blood run cold. “Hotshot stuff again.”
“At James’s wedding?” I scoffed. Griffin kept talking about moving to Arizona to become a wildland firefighter. I couldn’t understand it. He had his dream firefighting job right here. Why would he want to move somewhere hot enough to cook your organs and dig ditches for a living? “He can’t drop it for one day?”
When another shout reached us—this time from my dad—I hopped up. Brushing the sand from my pants, I took off at a jog. After another shout, I kicked into a full-on run.
I burst into the house and followed the sound upstairs to the room my parents always stayed in for beach week. I stopped outside the door to listen.
“Do you have a death wish? You’re not going!” Dad roared.
“Hate to break it to you,” Griffin said coolly. “But I definitely am, and you can’t stop me. I’m grown, Dad. I can make my own decisions.”
My hands shook slightly, worried I’d only make things worse if Griffin knew I was out here.
“Griff?” Mom sobbed. “Please don’t. It’s so dangerous.”
The gut-wrenching ache in her voice made the decision for me. I opened the door and slipped inside. The three of them turned. Mom’s mascara was running down her cheeks. Dad looked pissed and completely helpless. But Griffin’s expression was nonchalant, like he didn’t care about the heartbreak he was causing. And he was annoyed I was there.
I darted past them to the open window and quickly shut it. Then I turned and spoke calmly. “I could hear you all the way by the water.”
Griffin rolled his eyes like I’d just said something idiotic. But that was his response any time I opened my mouth. So normally, I just didn’t.
From the looks on my parents’ faces, I knew the megathrust was finally here. “What’s going on?” I asked hesitantly.
