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“What does that mean?” he asked again, his tone frighteningly quiet.
The magma of smoldering emotions wanted to burst forth again, but she wasn’t going to erupt. Not anymore. She put up a finger. “I’ve gone over and over this. I don’t understand why you’re moving.”
Matt stuffed his hands into his pockets. “Luce, the best thing for Tatum is to have both parents in her life. That’s what was missing for me my whole childhood, and I can’t have that missing for her.”
Lucy wanted to argue, scream, go over all the facts again, but she shook her head. “Listen, I know you are doing what you think is right. That’s fine. But Matt, Charlene is using you. I know it.” He started to argue, and she wagged her finger at him. “No. No. Let me finish.”
Matt stopped.
All the energy suddenly drained out of her, and she had nothing left. “You won’t see me next weekend.” The thought of not seeing him or Tatum about killed her.
“Luce …”
She continued, “I love Tatum. I love you.” It wasn’t the first time she’d said it.
“I love you too,” he said, reaching for her.
She stepped back. “I’m done, Matt. Until Charlene is officially not the one calling the shots, I’m done.” She turned and stormed away.
“Luce!” he called. “Luce, that’s not fair, and you know I have to go now.”
Her emotions were giving her whiplash. Angrily, she spoke over her shoulder. “Then go!”
“Luce!”
This time, she didn’t turn back. She got to the beach and kicked off her pretty shoes she’d worn that day, breaking into a run.
“Luce!” she heard Matt call out again.
He never followed her.
Much later that night, as she walked into her cute little beach home on the south side of town, she felt lonely. She thought this would be the home that Tatum and Matt would share with her one day.
She looked around. She’d decorated it with seashells on display. It had a beachy feel of whitewashed floors and turquoise, with beach landscapes on the walls. The moon was bright as she went to the cozy, functional yet elegant couch in the living room and stared out the glass back door, which opened up right to the beach.
How many times had she imagined that she and Matt would get married and have more children walking through that door and down to the beach? How many times had she mentally recited something to yell at them: “Close the door and wash off your feet in the faucet before coming inside!”
More tears streamed down her cheeks as she punched her perfectly pillowed couch. “No!”
She punched it again and then crumpled into tears, her body finally releasing the last couple months of stress from the unknown. She’d waited for Matt to ask her to marry him and to go to Raleigh with him. He hadn’t. She’d waiting for him to call things off with the move. He hadn’t. She’d waited for something, anything to catapult their relationship forward. But nope.
She sucked in long breaths, dried her tears, and then turned to see the beautiful picture of her family on the coffee table. Her parents were young, and she was probably Tatum’s age. She picked it up. They were so happy there on the beach. She was licking an ice cream cone and giggling. She remembered that day with such clarity.
As she stared at it, she wondered if things would have been different if her mother had never died from a surprise heart attack ten years ago. Would things have been different if her father had quit smoking and not died from lung cancer five years later? Would her life have been different?
She stared at the stupid cigarettes. In the picture, he was smoking one.
Lucy almost threw the picture at the wall and let the glass shatter. Instead, she pulled it into her chest and cried harder. “I miss you guys. I miss you so much.”
Chapter 2
Almosttwo months later
Raine Birch liked his new beginning in South Port. He’d bought a dump along the south part of the beach, and he was fixing it up, dropping way too much money in the process. Not that he cared.
He had followed Pastor Henry’s advice and started reading the Bible. He’d read it through once already, and since then, he’d been reading or listening to it every day. He felt different, changed, and he liked it.
He walked into Hank’s hardware store, which was a little ways down from the main part of the tourist area in South Port. He liked this small town. He felt like he could finally breathe here. Not too many people, but enough that it wasn’t like every eye was on him.
