“You won’t like mine.”

“I’ll risk it.”

I held his arm on the beach. We bumped against each other’s shoulders. I felt reckless, like someone else, another girl. Lucas could hide in his room all night. He could sleep up on the attic bed. He could spend the night at the lighthouse. I wanted to forget him, just for one night, for an hour or two.

“Oh,” Cole said, suddenly. My house was in front of us, and he stopped and stared at it. He looked over his shoulder as if orienting himself. The houses of the island all perched like seabirds on the sand—squatting gulls nestled against the wind or long-legged herons keeping safe from waves on rickety stilts. Our house was among those, looking out across the bay, over Vineyard Sound, toward Martha’s Vineyard and Cape Cod. It was a rambling house with big, generous windows, shingles the color of the sky on a cloudy day. Now its windows were dark except for one upstairs bedroom, and the kitchen.

“Is something wrong?” I asked Cole.

“Nothing.” He shook his head. “I think I noticed your house from the ferry today, that’s all.”

“Impossible. The ferry comes in on the other side of the island.”

“I guess a lot of houses look alike.”

Inside the kitchen, he took my wrists and pulled me toward him. I closed my eyes, waiting to feel his mouth. But a moment went by and when I opened my eyes, I saw that he was studying me, examining my face.

“Is this an inspection?” I asked. “Am I going to pass?”

“Sorry,” he said. “I was just—you’re beautiful—”

“I already invited you home with me, so you can relax with the flattery,” I said.

And then the door from the living room swung open and Lucas walked in.

I hated watching Lucas freeze when he encountered someone new, his shoulders hunching into little mounds. I saw his body go rigid, his posture tense like a rabbit. He dropped his eyes. I waited for him to back out of the room, disappear.

But instead, Lucas seemed to see something—I saw the little jerk of recognition. He pointed at Cole’s legs or feet. He moved toward Cole, and then bent over to examine his legs.

“I’m guessing this is the brother,” Cole said.

“Lu?” I said. “What’s going on?”

“Are you...?” Lucas looked into Cole’s face. Then he turned to me. “It’s him,” he said.

“Who?” His eyes were suddenly glassy, and I felt a tremor of fear, something rising up from the earth, through the floorboards, entering the soles of my feet, and racing through my veins along with my blood as it hurried toward my heart.

“Lydia,” Lucas said, “it’s Baby B.”

Chapter 3

3