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My stomach plummets as I stare at those words at the bottom of the page, scrawled in my brother’s unmistakable handwriting.
I love you, Orca Monroe.
I scan the page for any indication of when it was written. And sure enough, smart-ass Adam was dumb enough to write the date in the top corner of the entry.
06/21/97
That was the morning I flew out to Orca’s island to bring Adam back home. The first time I saw her. I remember the sun in her hair. The way Adam hugged her before we left. The way she cried as she watched him go.
It hits me like a kick in the balls.
He’s been in love with her this whole time.
He’s been lying to me this whole time.
That first night he came back home, I asked him if anything had happened between him and Orca. And he looked at me like I was crazy to think so. He said, “No. Nothing happened.”
When, earlier that very same day, he’d written her this letter.
My fingers tighten around the journal, crushing the edges of the pages. Burning ropes of jealousy coil around my chest as memories from the past week come racing back with new meaning.
All those looks I caught between him and her.
All those trips to track down her relatives.
The smudge on Orca’s cheek that morning she was under the truck with Adam.
The way Adam lectured me after he saw us together on the boat.
The way Orca shies away every time I try to kiss her.
Like she’s in love with someone else.
My brother.
I slam the journal shut, storming down the hallway and across the house to my parents’ bedroom. Mom is vacuuming the floor, the power cord looped over her arm.
“Where’s Adam?!”
Mom looks up, turning off the vacuum when she sees the murderous look on my face. “What’s the matter?”
“Where’s Adam?”
She hesitates, looking like she’d do anything not to answer that question. “He… took Orca home.”
“What?”
“She wanted to go back—”
“You mean he took her without even letting her say goodbye to me?”
Mom sighs, parking the vacuum and crossing the room to put her hand on my shoulder. “You weren’t here, Jack. You were off partying with your friends.”
“No, don’t give me that bullshit. I know what this is. This is Adam. He’s wanted to take her back since day one. Now he waits till my back is turned and flies her home just to spit in my face—”
“That’s enough,” Mom snaps. “Orca is the one who asked him to take her. She would have said goodbye to you if you’d been here. Don’t be angry with your brother—”
“Oh, my brother is always the goddamn saint around here, isn’t he?” I roar, making Mom bristle. “If you knew what he did to me, you wouldn’t be kissing the ground he walks on!”
