Every Breath(28)

His tail wagged harder at the sound of his name.

“I had a dog once,” Tru said. “He wasn’t around long, but he was good company while I had him.”

“What happened to him?”

“You probably don’t want to know.”

“Just tell me.”

“He was killed and eaten by a leopard. I found what was left of him in the tree branches.”

She stared at him. “You’re right. I didn’t want to know.”

“Different worlds.”

“You’re not kidding,” she responded with an amused shake of her head. For a long while, they merely sipped their wine, neither of them saying anything. A moth began to dance near the kitchen window; a windsock fluttered in the gentle breeze. Waves rolled ashore, the sound like shaken pebbles in a jar. Though he kept his gaze on the ocean, she had the sense that he was watching her as well. His eyes, she thought, seemed to notice everything.

“Will you miss it here?” he finally asked.

“What do you mean?”

“When your parents sell the cottage. I saw the sign out front when I was dropped off yesterday.”

Of course he did. “Yes, I’m going to miss it. I think everyone will miss being able to come here. It’s been in the family a long time, and I never once imagined that it wouldn’t be.”

“Why are your parents selling?”

As soon as he asked, she felt her worries resurface. “My dad is sick,” she said. “He has ALS. Do you know what that is?” When Tru shook his head, she explained, and added that there was only so much the government and insurance would cover. “They’re selling what they can, so they’ll have money to modify their house or pay for in-home care.”

She rotated her glass in her fingers before going on. “The worst part is the uncertainty…I’m scared for my mom. I don’t know what she’ll do without him. Right now, she seems to be pretending that nothing is wrong with my dad at all, but I worry that it’s only going to make it even worse for her later. My dad, on the other hand, seems at peace with the diagnosis, but maybe he’s just pretending, too, so that all of us will feel better about it. Sometimes it feels like I’m the only one worrying.”

Tru said nothing. Instead, he leaned back in his rocker, studying her.

“You’re thinking about what I said,” Hope ventured.

“Yes,” he admitted.

“And?”

His voice was quiet. “I know it’s hard, but worrying doesn’t help them or you. Winston Churchill once described worry as a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind that, if encouraged, cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained.”

She was impressed. “Churchill?”

“One of my grandfather’s heroes. He used to quote the man all the time. But Churchill made a good point.”

“Is that how you are with Andrew? Worry free?”

“You know by now I’m not.”

Despite herself, she laughed. “At least you’re honest about it.”

“Sometimes it’s easiest to be honest with strangers.”

She knew he was talking about her as much as he was about himself. Glancing past him, down the beach, she noticed that all the other homes were darkened, as though Sunset Beach were a ghost town. She took a sip of her wine, feeling a sense of peace coursing through her limbs and radiating outward like the glow of a lamp.

“I can see why you’re going to miss this place,” he said into the silence. “It’s quite peaceful.”

She felt her mind drift to the past. “Our family used to spend most of our summers here. When we were young, my sisters and I spent almost all of our time in the water. I learned to surf over there near the pier. I never got really good at it, but I was okay. I spent hours floating out there, waiting for good swell. And I saw some amazing things—sharks, dolphins, even a couple of whales. None of them were very close, but one time, when I was around twelve or so, I saw what I thought was a floating log, until it surfaced just a few feet away. I saw its face and whiskers and my whole body froze. I was too terrified to even scream because I didn’t know how long it had been there, or what it was. It looked like a hippopotamus, or maybe a walrus. But once I realized that it didn’t intend to hurt me, I just began to…watch it. I even paddled to keep up with it. In the end, I must have stayed out there for a couple of hours. It’s still one of the most amazing things ever to happen to me.”

“What was it?”

“It was a manatee. They’re much more common in Florida. Every now and then there are sightings off this coast, but I’ve never seen another one. My sister Robin still doesn’t believe me. She says I was making it up to get attention.”

Tru smiled. “I believe you. And I like that story.”

“I figured you might. Since it featured an animal. But there’s another really neat thing that you should see while you’re here. Before it rains.”

“What’s that?”

“You should visit Kindred Spirit tomorrow. It’s past the pier and on the next island, but you can walk there at low tide. When you see the American flag, start angling toward the dunes. You can’t miss it.”

“I’m still not sure what it is.”