At one point, he’d apologized for the sheets, insisting he’d had them since he was eleven, and they were in good shape, so he had no reason to throw them out. Gemma smiled and nodded, but really she thought it was sorta cute how geeky he was.

For a while they just lay there, not saying much of anything. They lay next to each other, looking up at the ceiling but slightly tilted toward each other, so their sides touched. Alex was holding her hand, and sometimes he squeezed so tightly that she could feel their heartbeats between their fingers, pounding in time together.

She rolled over, snuggling closer to him and resting her head on his chest. He put his arm around her, holding her against him. He kissed the top of her head, then breathed in deeply.

“You always smell like the sea,” he said, his voice quiet.

“Thanks.”

He pulled her even tighter to him, but it was a good tight. It only made her feel safer.

“I don’t know what’s going on with you, and I don’t know why you can’t tell me. I wish you could. But whatever it is, I’ll be there for you. Whatever you’re going through, I’m here. I want you to know that.”

Gemma didn’t say anything. She just closed her eyes and held on to Alex as tightly as she could. At that moment, she vowed that nothing in the world would take her away from him. Not even sirens or age-old curses.

18. Discoveries

EIGHTEEN

Discoveries

The wall between them was almost visible. Whenever Harper even tried talking to her sister, Gemma would shut down. It didn’t matter what it was about, either. Gemma just didn’t want to say anything to her.

After her talk with Daniel on the boat, Harper wanted to approach their relationship from a different angle, but it was as if Gemma didn’t want a relationship of any kind.

Even when Brian came home, her attitude didn’t get much better. Dinner conversation was stilted and tense. The sad truth was that it was actually a relief when Gemma excused herself and went to her room.

Harper had the next day off, so she drove Gemma to swim practice. Gemma’s car still wasn’t fixed, and with the way she’d been behaving lately, Brian had no intention of fixing it anytime soon. She didn’t seem to care all that much, though. But then again, Gemma didn’t seem to care about much of anything anymore.

After she dropped Gemma off, Harper did something she never thought she’d do—she rummaged through Gemma’s stuff. In a way, Harper almost hoped she’d find drugs. At least that would explain what was going on.