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We ventured out into the sunshine to discover that it was Sunday. I took Archie down to Seaport Village and we found a little cafe serving waffles and eggs on a heated patio overlooking the marina beyond.
“Out there is Coronado,” Archie pointed past the bridge. “I flew in and out a few times.”
“Yeah?” I stifled any surprise I felt that Archie was talking about his time in the navy. As far as I knew, that was a topic he never spoke about.
“Yeah. Gorgeous, every single time. I always hoped I’d end up stationed out there, but I was a Lemoore guy. I guess if I’d been on a different rotation, I would never have met all the guys, though. Your brother, Fake Tom, Sass, Brainiac...”
I nodded. “I think about that all the time. My mom held me back a year when I was in second grade. And at the time, I was really upset about it, but she wanted to give me time to mature because I was so small. When I graduated, I thought about what would have been different if she hadn’t done that. I wouldn’thave known any of my best friends in school. I can’t even imagine it.”
“Exactly,” Archie said. He lifted a bite to his lips and chewed thoughtfully, staring out at the bridge, but then turned back to me. “If I’d been stationed here, I might not have had the accident, though,” he said, an echo of pain in his voice.
“And if you hadn’t, we would never have met,” I reminded him.
Our eyes met, and we exchanged a look that told me we were both thinking of the incredible irony of being alive—the way tragedy and love and serendipity all combined on a daily basis to form the stories of our lives. I never would have chosen to lose my brother, but I’d also never choose a life in which I didn’t meet the man across from me. Fate chose those things, so I didn’t have to. We were all just passengers on an unpredictable and mysterious ride through the universe.
We ate in silence for a little while, letting the wonder of being together in that moment sink in and surround us. And then Archie pointed his fork at me, his eyes narrowing. “Let’s plan,” he said.
Lightness sparked inside me, excitement for the next adventure, and for the partner I’d share it with.
“I told the editor I’d get down to Costa Rica in the next few weeks,” I told him. “I’m guessing I’ll talk to the resort owner in the next couple days to set it up.”
“Okay,” Archie said, tilting his head. “And you’re sure it’s okay if I come?”
“You’re coming,” I told him. I didn’t want to go anywhere without him if I didn’t have to.
He nodded, an easy smile lighting his face. “Good. I think I need to go back to Kasper Ridge for a bit first. Kind of say goodbye.”
“You’re really moving away?”
He shook his head. “I’m just moving. Not away. Toward.”
“Toward what?” I asked.
“You tell me. We’ll go together.”
Happiness made my heart feel too big for my body as I soaked in the acceptance and love and hope I felt for the future. “We’ll go together.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
The Family You Make
GHOST
We went back to see Emily’s parents once more, to say goodbye. Her mother and father both cried as they hugged us at the end of the night, and Emily said they had never been the emotional types before.
“It’s like meeting you, accepting my brother’s death...it changed them,” she said.
I understood that. “It changed me too, meeting all of you.”
“I see it,” she said. “In small ways.”
We were in a cab, heading for the airport after Emily had left her car at her parents’ house. She’d given up her parking spot and apartment and rented a storage unit for her things, and we’d spent the last couple days moving her out.
“You do?” I asked.
“You talk about the navy now,” she said. “And about Jake. And you laugh more easily.”
I knew it was all true. It was as if something inside me that had been kept in a cage had been set free. Things seemed funnier in general, and I remembered a bit of the guy I’d been once, a guy who loved quickly, who told jokes, even.
