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Adam squeezes my hand. “I can never thank you enough for saving my life.”
A tether pulls taut between our hearts; I can almost feel the threads snapping. How can love be so beautiful and so agonizing at the same time? I may never fathom the depths of its meaning. But I know one thing for sure—I can’t let him leave without kissing him.
There’s just one small problem: I can’t reach his lips.
“Can you sit?” I ask softly, my heart racing as I gesture toward Papa’s bed.
Adam frowns. “What?”
“Can you just… sit down? For a moment?”
“Okay…” He follows my request and sits on the edge of the bed, looking puzzled.
I take one step closer to him and lay my trembling hands on his shoulders, a rush of nervous warmth coursing through my whole body.
Slowly and carefully, I lean in close to his face and gently kiss him. The rest of the world vanishes in a single breath. All that remains is the soft warmth of his lips moving under mine, the weight of his hands on my hips, my fingers relaxing their hold on his shoulders as I unravel inside.
For a moment, time stands still.
The clocks stop, and the earth ceases to turn.
I ease back from Adam’s lips, my heart pounding furiously as my eyes flutter open to meet his gaze.
“Did I do that right?” I whisper against his mouth.
He smiles and touches his forehead to mine. “Perfectly.”
* * *
I walk down to the beach with Adam and Jack to where the plane is tied down. Jack climbs inside to start the engine while I say goodbye to Adam.
I wrap my arms around his torso and press my face to his chest—breathing in his scent, wishing I could bottle it up and keep it with me, along with the encompassing comfort of his strong arms around me.
“Goodbye, Orca.”
I have no voice to reply.
He rubs one hand over my upper back, then lets go.
The tether between us snaps.
I stand frozen in place, staring as he walks away—every step carrying him farther away from me until he climbs up the plane’s ladder and disappears inside.
“Orca!” Jack’s lively voice jolts me out of my heartbroken daze. He leaps down from the plane’s starboard float and jogs up to me, still grinning. “Don’t be sad. This isn’t goodbye forever.”He pulls me into his arms, hugging me tightly. “Okay?”
When he steps back and looks at me, I see wild determination sparkling in his hazel eyes. He glances toward the lighthouse, where Papa stands watching on the ledge.
“I’ll see you again,” Jack says, fierce confidence in his voice. “Soon.”
With that, he runs off to the shallows—splash, splash—and jumps up onto the portside float of the seaplane, climbing back in and closing the door behind him. I try to catch one last glimpse of Adam through the windshield, but the propeller is spinning too fast.
I feel hollowed out, unable to move, as I watch the plane pull away from the beach and glide out to open water.
BRRRRRAAAAAAAM!
The engine roars as the plane picks up speed, skidding fast over the tops of the waves, finally tilting upward and taking off. Slowly but surely, it climbs into the cloudless sky and soars away, sunlight flashing on its wings. I watch the aircraft shrink smaller and smaller as it draws closer to the Otherworld and farther away from me.
I watch until it disappears.
