Page 10 of Ten Years Later
“Why would I know a teenage girl?”
“Because you know everyone. Do you know her?”
Weirdly, that name seemed vaguely familiar. Yet Mia answered, “Can’t say that I do.”
5 /CURRENT DAY
Keaton droveto Zane’s place—a rented house just south of St. Augustine in Butler Beach. Zane’s work van sat parked in the driveway, theBrothers’ Paintingdecal faded. Keaton followed the sound of Def Leppard around to the back.
He found his brother on the deck, dressed only in board shorts, waxing a surf board. Sure, they were identical twins, but slight differences existed—like Zane carried more muscle and Keaton sported thicker chest hair.
“Hi,” Keaton yelled over the music.
Zane ignored him.
Def Leppard blared from the phone that rested on the cushion of an outdoor loveseat. Keaton crossed over and turned it down.
“I’ll make it right,” Keaton said. “I’ll call the homeowner and tell them I had an emergency.”
Zane still didn’t look up. “Cora called me.”
“Which means you know why I didn’t show up for the job.”
“Yep.”
“I’ll make it right,” Keaton repeated.
“You do that.”
“The girl is Vivian, Zane. I know it.”
“Just like the girl last year and the one before that, not to mention the two others?”
Keaton expected this response from everyone else, but not Zane. He was the only person who always backed Keaton up.
Zane finished waxing the board. “There’s only an hour of daylight, so if that’s it, I’m heading to the beach.” He finally looked up then and froze. “Holy shit. Look at you.”
For a second Keaton forgot that he had shaved and cut his hair. “I wanted to mirror how I appeared back then so she’d remember me.”
Zane groaned. “Please tell me you didn’t make contact with her.”
“I did.” Keaton felt giddy. “She’s great, Zane. You should see her. She’s got Cora’s hair and my eyes. The birthmark. Her voice is raspy and deep. It’s not at all what I imagined it’d be. But remember Grammy’s raspy voice? Vivian must have inherited it from her.”
Zane released a heavy and deep sigh. “You can’t do this. Need I remind you of the restraining order the last family filed because you wouldn’t stop following their daughter?”
“I made a mistake. I apologized.” Keaton waved it off.
“Brother, you are on your own with this one. I don’t want to get involved. If you wind up in jail again, call me, sure. I’ll bail you out. Other than that, no.” Zane grabbed his board. “I used to see her all the time, at first, but we’ve all moved on. You need to as well. Please call that homeowner from today and apologize. We need the job.”
Carrying his board, Zane walked past Keaton.
“I’m sorry,” Keaton said again.
As a response, Zane simply threw up a hand.
On the way home, Keaton called the homeowner in Ponte Vedra. He apologized and pleaded for a second chance. They reluctantly gave one.
Keaton left a message for Zane with the good news.
