| |
Kate looked in the mirror. Her black eyes had faded into a light twinge of olive green. She wondered what her heart would look like if it were on the outside. She now knew what shame looked like.
The hurt in Matt’s eyes when he walked away said everything. She had used him. And worse, she treated him badly. It was one thing to assume the worst, but to become so ugly to someone who had only been kind to her... always. Even the day Matt stole her heart, he had been nothing but kind to her.
She could still remember how hot it was that day. She came out of the library with a pile of books in her hands. Her refuge from the mundane routine she had fallen into with Vivi that summer. As soon as she stepped into the sun, the heat hit her and sweat dripped down her face. She stopped walking and wiped the sweat off with the back of her hand, balancing the books in her arms.
That’s when he pulled over.
He rolled down the window and called out, “Your name’s Katie, right?”
She slowed, wishing that of all the times to run into him, it hadn’t been on the hottest day on record in Maine. She was already drenched after walking out of the air-conditioned library and hardly a block up the street.
“Um, yeah.” She didn’t want to admit it, hoping she could have a second chance run-in when she had actually showered and didn’t have her hair up in a rat’s nest on top of her head.
“Do you need a ride?”
Kate looked at him, embarrassed by her glistening exterior. “No, thank you.”
He then introduced himself. “I’m Matt, Matt Williams. My grandmother is friends with your aunt. You’re the girl from Minnesota, right?
She nodded, surprised that he still remembered her. “You’re the sea glass kid.”
A smile grew as he nodded. “Are you sure you don’t want a ride?”
Her sunglasses slipped as she studied him. The boy she had met those summers ago was no longer little. He was a young man. His green eyes drew her in. And his killer smile left her tongue-tied. His tan arms were defined with muscle she hadn’t seen in the sixteen-year-old boys back home.
She absolutely wanted a ride. Then, all of her insecurities piled higher than the stack of books in her hands and she chickened out. “That’s okay. I can walk.”
She turned before he could say anything else and walked away, but as she did, her bundle of books slipped from her hands and tumbled to the ground. Covers opened like butterflies, pages splayed in the grass.
Matt cut the engine before jumping out of the car, and helped collect the books off the ground.
“I haven’t read this one.” He held up My Travels with Charlie. “You’ll have to let me know if you liked it.”
“Have you read Steinbeck before?” She picked up the rest of the books from the ground. Books filled with adventures she had only dreamt about.
“For school, but I liked him.” Matt shrugged. “Do you?”
She nodded as he continued to stand there. Her throat tightened up, unable to continue a conversation.
“Are you learning to surf?” Matt asked, pointing to one of the books in her hands.
She looked down at the pile and felt as though he could see inside her soul from her choices. She looked back up at him. “I don’t have a surfboard, but I saw that you can rent them at the beach.”
“I could teach you.” Matt blocked the sun’s rays with his hand and looked out toward the harbor. “Tomorrow morning will be high tide. We can meet at Perkin’s beach. Where I took you before.”
At first, she didn’t answer; just bit her bottom lip to keep from smiling too widely. He remembered her from collecting sea glass. A bead of sweat rolled down her forehead, slipping onto her ear. What did she have to lose?
“That would be incredible.”
His smiled as he asked, “Are you sure you don’t want a ride?”
For the rest of the summer, they spent every day together. She remembered the urgency to see him, that feeling of wanting to be near him, even if it was only for a second. Just to see him. She thought of nothing else but him. She fell in love with Matt Williams that summer.
Now, as she looked at her reflection in the mirror, she realized she never stopped loving him.
Just then, a buzzing broke out. Everything in the house turned back on, taking over the silence and stirring her out of her thoughts. Without stopping to think, she picked up the phone and dialed the 1-800 number on the back of her ticket.
As soon as someone picked up, she said, “I need a flight out of Portland as soon as possible.”
***
MATT STOOD, SPEECHLESS, looking at the one corner of Maggie Mae still visible above the waterline. Alex Martinez stood by his side as the Coast Guard investigated his boat.
Matt rubbed his beard with his hand. Justine’s words haunted him.
“Do you know anyone who would want to do this?”
Matt shook his head. “Nope. I haven’t heard anything.”
Matt didn’t need to lead him to Freddy Harrington. If Freddy was involved like Justine said, then the connection would be revealed at some point. Plus, Matt wouldn’t mind getting to him before Officer Martinez. In the meantime, what was he going to do?
“I’ll call some other marinas and see if they’ve seen anything.” Alex pulled out his radio. “If you hear anything, you need to let me know. Don’t follow some old fisherman’s code when it’s your livelihood on the line.”
Matt nodded as he looked at Maggie Mae. Things couldn’t get much worse than this. Everything he had worked for had literally sunk into the harbor’s waters. It would cost tens of thousands of dollars to fix her. He hoped insurance would cover it.
His eyes traced the harbor’s shore to Katie’s cottage. Even with everything happening around him, he couldn’t stop thinking about the way he’d talked to her. It wasn’t fair to bring up the past. The fact was, he didn’t even care about his boat at this point. She was all he cared about, and now he had lost her again.