fifty-one

Where’s Bonnie?” Peyton and Lisa were saying their goodbyes at Aunt Gert’s when he realized she was missing.

“She’s on the sleeping porch,” Peyton’s mother said, “and I think you’ve got some unfinished business before you go.”

He walked around back and stepped onto the porch, where he found Bonnie curled up on his bed, looking out at the river. She had been crying. Peyton sat down next to her and brushed her hair out of her eyes. “You know I’ll be back, right?”

Bonnie nodded. “But not forever. You’re gonna leave again at the end o’ the summer. Aunt Gert said so.”

“That’s right. I’ve got to finish school—and you’ve got to start.”

Bonnie climbed onto his lap and put her head against his shoulder. “I never been as happy in my whole life as I was with you an’ Lisa.”

Peyton stroked her hair and held her tight. “Remember in the hospital cafeteria when you told me I was grown? Well, I’m not. I’m more grown now than I was in Atlanta, but I’ve still got a ways to go. And you do too. You’ve done your level best to be a mama to Jasper. And you did a fine job. But now it’s time for you to just be a kid without worrying about feeding anybody or protecting anybody. Let Aunt Gert and Finn look after you and Jasper, because they’re real excited about it.”

“Don’t forget me—okay, Peyton?”

Peyton drove his new Chevy over the bridge to Anastasia Island and parked close to the water. He and Lisa were on their way out of town, back to Savannah, back to the real world, away from their island. But before they left, he wanted her to see the place where his parents met, his father’s final resting place.

They took off their shoes and crossed the dunes hand in hand. In the morning light, they could see a sandbar just beginning to peek through the tide. Silently, they stood together, feeling the warmth of the sun on their faces and the Atlantic spray at their feet. Peyton reached into his pocket, took out the abalone ring, and slipped it on Lisa’s finger. He wrapped his arm around her waist, held her face with his hand, and gave her a kiss that held a promise—of love and protection for a beautiful girl who smelled like gardenias and tasted like a summer rain.