“It’s a lobster,” she whispers before bursting into tears.Mom wraps an arm around Piper’s shoulders as Piper cries.This is a little intense, given her boyfriend’s nickname is Uncle Lobster.I rub my forehead, trying to keep my shit together.
“Hey.Look at this.”Asher nudges me, passing me the stretched canvas frame.I take it from him, my gaze washing over the image.It’s my father in his early twenties, looking every inch a handsome bachelor.He’s leaning against the trunk of a vintage coupe, smiling and laughing at someone off camera.It’s grainy, late-eighties perfection.On the back of the canvas, somebody wrote:
I’m casting off the known for the pleasures of the unknown.I’ll risk it all.I know it will be worth it.– F.R.E.
I draw in a shaky breath, looking at the picture again.I don’t know what F.R.E.means, but the rest of it sure as hell makes sense.
Not that my father could have known then.
“Oh, wow,” Mom murmurs, taking the picture from me as she inspects it.She shakes her head.“This must have been taken right before we met.I think it was when he started that road trip that led to us meeting and falling in love.Looks about that age.”
“I’m gonna take some pictures to send Jett and Dane,” Asher says, sniffing.
I nod, turning the canvas over in my hands.
I don’t know if this is a message from my dad, but I’m feeling the urge to get in my truck and drive.Roughly six hours west, until I find the person who makes me willing to risk it all.Then I will get on my knees and beg her for a second chance.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CASEY
The rolling garage door of the storage unit slides up, breaking the humid morning air.It’s Tuesday, my second full day in Chicago.The city is hot, with traffic noises filling the background of my attention.But for once in this city, I’m not worried about when the L gets to my stop or whether it’s too cold or rainy or whatever to walk to work.
I’m here to organize my things for the moving truck and leave.
Once and for all.
“Coffee time!”My friend and former-future-roommate Becca reaches into the front seat of her sedan, pulling out two coffees she brought for us.She can only help me for a couple hours before she has to go to work, but we wanted to squeeze in as much time together as we could before I return to Bayshore.
“You’re the best.”I grin at her as we tap our to-go cups together in a toast.Despite how good I feel about this hometown plot twist, there’s still a deep ache behind my smile.
Because the hero of my latest story has dipped out and declined to continue.
Sure, he texted me yesterday to ask if I arrived in Chicago, but I could see that for what it was.Just a decompression.A way for him to say “see, I care” while continuing with his life.
It’s going to take me probably a full year to recover from how hard I fell for that man.If I’m lucky.Part of me worries I’ll never stop thinking of him.I carried a torch for him for so long that coming back to Bayshore allowed it to turn into a blaze.Now I have to focus on cooling off those embers.
I’ll be okay until next summer, I suppose, when he breezes back into town.But I won’t be “doing this all over again” with him then.Oh, no.If he can walk away from what we shared, he doesn’t get to have it on a part-time, at-will basis.
“You okay?”Becca nudges me.I’ve been frowning at a stack of boxes in the storage unit for a bit too long.
I sniff, looking around.“Yeah.Just stewing over Griffin again.”
She sighs, shaking her head.“Men.They’re great until they aren’t.”
“Yeah.”Sadness trickles though me again.I still struggle with accepting that Griffin isn’t the great man I believed him to be.He was great…until it came to choosing love.Choosing a shared future.Choosingme.
Becca sets her coffee down, cracking her knuckles.“You tell me what to focus on first.Consider me your storage unit mule.”
I snort.“That sounds like a new breed.Could you go through those boxes back there and figure out what’s in each of them and label them?I want to throw away stuff if it’s not absolutely required.I’m not sure how much space I’ll be working with in Bayshore.”
Becca weaves through the packed unit, heading for the boxes.“Do you have any idea where you’ll be living?”
“I’ve been on the hunt for an apartment,” I tell her.“I’ll be checking out a few places when I get back later this week.”
“And who will you stay with until then?”
My heart hurts as I think back on the house I just moved out of.“I have a plethora of options, luckily.My sister Claire offered me her spare room until I get on my feet.Plus my friends Roxie and Sara both have spare rooms they said I could use.I always have my parents, too, in a pinch.”