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“If you’re waiting for me to tell you that it’s because of the ice, it will never happen.” His smile in response is small, but my heart stupidly picks up speed at the sight of it. I shift on my feet, then tell him quietly, “Thank you for the ibuprofen. If you tell me what it cost, I’ll give you the money back.”
“It was only a couple of bucks,” he mutters, tucking one hand into the pocket of his shorts, his other hand clenching the T-shirt he’s holding. I don’t know if it’s because he knows I know he’s the one who left them for me or because I offered to pay him back, but either way, he suddenly looks uncomfortable.
“Well…” I glance in the direction I was headed. “I’m going to check out the tide pools around Haystack Rock since I haven’t had a chance to really explore them when the tide’s been out. Have a?—”
“Do you want some company?” He cuts me off, and I rub my lips together.
I should tell him no, but when I look into his eyes, I know I can’t. He’s just as lost as I am, maybe more so, and that makes me feel connected to him in some twisted way. Like we’re two ships lost in the neverending ocean and somehow came across each other.
“Sure,” I say quietly.
Dragging my eyes off his, I focus on my feet while he falls into step with me while putting on his T-shirt.
“How long have you been here?” he asks, and I glance up at him and find his gaze focused up the beach toward Haystack Rock.
“Five months.”
“And you’re still living at the hotel?”
“I never planned on sticking around, so there wasn’t a reason for me to find a permanent place in town,” I tell him as I bend to pick up a seashell sticking halfway out of the sand. The seashell is chipped along one side, but still somehow perfect.
“Are you still planning to leave?”
“Yes.” I tuck the shell in the pocket of my sweater as we continue walking. “My next stop is the Redwood Forest, and after that, the Golden Gate Bridge. Then Vegas and the Grand Canyon. I’ll probably stop for a while after that and find a job somewhere for a few months to make some money before I move on again.”
“Are you running from something?”
“No,” I tell him quietly, but it feels a lot like I’m lying. I tip my head back to look up at him, and he dips his chin to meet my gaze. “My mom passed away a little over six months ago.” Surprise and empathy filter through his eyes. “Before she passed away, we were going to visit all the places on her bucket list. We only made it to one, so I plan on leaving a little bit of her everywhere we never made it to.”
“Jesus, Elora,” he whispers.
Ignoring the tightness in the back of my throat, I pull my eyes off his. “So I’ve been here in Oregon, waiting for the funeral home to send me her ashes.” I let out a breath and wrap my arms around my middle. “They got here yesterday.”
“You’re leaving soon, then?”
I nod. “Monday.”
“And you’re traveling alone? Where are your friends? Your family?”
“No one understood. They all thought I was crazy when I told them my plan, and…”
“And?”
“My mom’s family was absolutely against me doing what I’m doing.” I slow as we reach the edge of the tide pools and smile at the two young kids guarding the area to make sure no one picks up any of the sea creatures that call the small pools of water home when the ocean calls the tide back out to sea.
“What about you? How long are you staying here?”
“I’m not sure.” He tips his head back to look up at the rock wall in front of us. It reminds me of him, beautiful but dangerous with all its jagged edges. His chest expands on a deep breath as he drags his fingers through his thick hair.
“Are you going back to New York?”
“I should.” He looks down at me. “When you’re done, are you going back to Wyoming?”
“I don’t know.” Wandering away from him, I walk to a pool of water surrounded by black rock and squat to get a closer look at a brightly colored starfish clinging to the edge.
The truth is, I don’t even know if I’m welcome in my hometown anymore. Not with my broken engagement and all my family drama. My mom owned a huge plot of land she bought with my dad from my grandparents when they got married. My father has been out of the picture for years, so when she decided to stop her treatments, she asked her siblings if they wanted to buy it from her. None of them did, so she signed the deed for the property over to me.
With all her medical bills, taxes, and the other bills that piled up, I put the land up for sale so bill collectors and the state wouldn’t be able to just take it out from under me. It’s the only choice I’ve made that I think my mom would have been disappointed about. I know my aunt and uncle hate me for that decision, but my hands were tied.
