Chapters (47)
- Title Page
- Copyright Notice
- Dedication
- Epigraphs
- Prologue
- Part One
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- Part Two
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Newsletter Sign-up
She wanted to ask—still remember? But there was too much to focus on, like the way his hair curled over the top of his ear, and his green eyes, like the unbroken green waves she’d have to paddle out to surf.
“Anyway, I can take off if you want, or if I stick around, I can help you get the house cleaned up, finish the big sextub. That’s what your dad called it.” He smiled. “I’ve held off because I wasn’t sure what you’d want done, and I got busy with my welding—I own a welding shop, it’s more like a hobby but whatever. The shop is slow right now. So I guess I’m trying to say I’ve got the time and I work for free in exchange for lodging.”
“Yes! God, yes. I’m so glad you offered. This place is like the Land of Unfinished Projects.”
“This is a great house. I’ve thought of buying it myself if I can make it work. They don’t make ’em like this anymore. I love these old Victorians.”
“I’m up for selling it to you. I’d give you a good price. I don’t plan to be here long.”
“Where to next?”
“The Cape house. One last summer.” She wanted to get there soon, while the winds were still good, before the swells disappeared. “I thought about moving in there, but Ann wants to sell that house, too, and I’m not in a position to do much about it.”
“Then what?”
“Oh God, I don’t know. There’s always someplace to go to,” she said, although she was so weary from winter and grief that the thought of going back to her old lifestyle exhausted her. “Ann says I need to start investing in my future.”
Brad laughed. “Sounds like Ann.”
“I tell her she needs to learn how to live in the present.”
Brad said, “The present is a hard place to be sometimes.”
In her yoga classes she’d tell her students in warrior two not to reach for the future or the past. Finally, her advice made sense, even to herself. The future? She really had no idea what was in store for her. And the past? Well, that was complicated. For Poppy, the present was all she had.
Brad said, “I don’t mean this in a creepy way or anything, but would it be OK if I just, like, gave you a hug? You seem like you need one and I guess I could use one, too. It’s been really lonely here without your parents.”
Poppy nodded yes. She did need some human connection, he was right. She felt his warmth, and also something else, an electric jolt. She buried her face in his coat. It smelled like snow, metal, and musk. He smelled real.