Life and Other Inconveniences(99)

“It’s pretty out here, isn’t it?” I asked.

“Sure,” he said.

“Do you come here a lot?”

“Not really,” he said with a shrug. “My parents aren’t outdoorsy.”

“Do you like being an only child?” I asked.

“Yeah! I mean, I don’t know what it’s like not to be, so I better like it, right? Do you?”

“I’m not an only child. But I guess I sort of am.”

“Is it weird, having brothers who live so far away?”

“Yeah. But it’s nice. They worship me.” I gave him a sideways glance.

“Of course they do.” He smiled.

Crap. I liked-liked him. My first crush ever, and on a younger man.

“So show me where this kid disappeared,” he said.

That, of course, was why we were here. To track Great-Uncle Sheppard’s last known location.

“The articles all talk about Otter Point, which is this way,” I said, and we walked down the path, side by side, our shoulders bumping occasionally. We could hear other people laughing and yelling—the ubiquitous Mommy, watch me!

“Do you get along with your parents?” I asked. “I mean, it seems like you do.”

“They’re the best,” he said. “Seems like you do, too.”

I nodded. “My mom is amazing. She was a teenager when she had me, you know.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. Single mom, worked her butt off, put herself through school but she was always around. Came to all those dopey parent things at school. Science Night. Math Night. Girl Scout stuff.”

“She seems fun,” Rav said, and it was so nice, having a conversation about how great our parents were! Mikayla, Jenna and Annabeth back home loved to dis their parents. You’d think they were chained in the basement or something.

“How about your dad?” Rav asked.

“Yeah . . . he’s a good guy, too,” I said. I picked up a tiny pine cone, examined it and put it in my pocket, a souvenir for when I was back in Downers Grove. “He’s kind of . . . I don’t know. Childish. Childlike? Not in a bad way, really, but my mom seems so much older and wiser.”

“Do you like your stepmother?”

“Oh, she’s all kinds of fabulous,” I said. “And she’s incredibly nice to me.”

“Why wouldn’t she be? You’re pretty great, too.”

I felt my cheeks getting hot. No hiding a blush when you’re a redhead. “Thanks. Oh! Here we are.”

A faded wooden sign said Otter Point, and underneath that was a newer sign: Swim at Your Own Risk. No Lifeguard on Duty.

Given the purpose behind our trip, the words were creepy.

This side of the lake was farther than the other swimming spots and little beaches. No one was this deep in the park just yet, having taken the beach spots closer to the parking area. Plus, it was only around ten in the morning, still early on a summer day. It was definitely pretty here, with big pine trees and huge gray rocks. A blue jay called, and a crow clicked and clucked nearby.

I told Rav what I’d been able to find out. I knew my grandfather and his brother had been playing while Garrison London packed up the car. He called the boys, and only Clark came.

“So Sheppard probably drowned?” Rav asked.

“They dragged the lake four times and never found anything,” I said. “But the bottom of the lake is really mucky, so . . .”

“Wouldn’t he float?”

I’d done a lot of reading on that. “Yeah. In almost all cases, bodies come up. That’s why Gigi thinks he was taken.”

“Man. That’s grim.”

We looked out at the lake, which seemed ominous now. I was glad our moms had forbidden us to swim, because I had an excuse not to.

Sheppard might have drowned here. Almost all bodies came up . . . but not all.

Or he’d been kidnapped and raised by someone else, like in that movie I’d found when I Googled “forced adoption.”

Or he was just taken and maybe raped and murdered. It happened way, way too much.

This view might’ve been the last thing he saw. Poor Sheppard. I hoped he hadn’t been scared.

“Was there anyone else out here that day?” Rav asked.

“Not according to what I read. I guess my grandfather thought there might be someone in the woods, but he was only five.”

“What did he say?”

“I barely know him. I think I’ve met him, like, twice in my whole life.” Rav had told me all four of his grandparents were coming from India to stay with them for two months. To say I was jealous wouldn’t have been a lie. The Finlay grandparents had ignored me all my life (and all summer). That was fine, because if I saw them, I might’ve flipped them off.

But I had Pop, and now Gigi and Donelle. I was hardly a pathetic orphan.

“Let’s climb up there,” Rav said, pointing to the giant rock at the edge of the little beach. “See what we can see.” He went first, offering me his hand, and when I clambered up, he didn’t let go right away.

I could feel my heart thumping. Man, all those clichés were embarrassingly true.

The view was gorgeous. Across the lake, we could see the bright little specks of color, people having fun with their families. I wondered if they knew about Sheppard.