Love Always,

by Sonya Loveday

  “You can tell that just by looking at those clouds?” I asked in amazement as I sat beside her.

  She wiggled her eyebrows at me. “I can. There’s not much about the sea that I don’t know,” she said surely. Had that particular comment come out of anyone else, it would have sounded smug, but from her, it didn’t.

  It was just another layer of Maggie uncovered and open for all to see.

  “This place is special to you, isn’t it?” I asked, watching something like joy cross her face as she took a deep breath and leaned back on her hands, letting the air whip the strands of her hair around her face in wild abandon.

  “It is,” she answered. “I grew up here. My father… he’s a fisherman. Delivers fresh fish for the majority of the local restaurants around here.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. As a child, I used to sit here and wait for him every single day. Watch the way the water would come and go. The way it sort of danced with the wind and moved for the sun. So many daydreams were created at this very spot.”

  I looked down at the wood we sat on. The weathered, time-beaten boards that held Maggie’s childhood form, and I could almost see her as a little girl with freckles on her cheeks, gazing up at the clouds.

  “No matter what I do or where I go, the ocean will always be my home,” she said, looking over at me with the most incredible, nostalgic look in her eyes. “And that’s what’s great about it—the ocean—we’re all connected to it. It surrounds us. It feeds us. It sustains us. And no matter where I choose to land in the world, it will always be there. Just a drive, a flight, or a train ride away.”

  She took in another lungful of air and let it go slowly before asking, “What about you? If you could jump on a boat, any boat, where would you go?”

  I thought about it. Really thought about it, but I drew a blank. A huge black hole sort of blank. “I don’t know,” I answered honestly.

  “I guess that’s a pretty loaded question.” She laughed. “Let’s start simple. Say you jumped on a boat and grabbed the wheel… would you go right or left?”

  I thought about it for a moment, and then looked over at her. She was sitting to my left, eyeing me with curiosity. Watching me as if I were the only person in the world. The way the light illuminated her hair made it look as fiery as the furnace beating down on us.

  “Left. I’d go left and follow the sun.”

  If we were playing make believe, then I’d allow myself what little time I could to make the most of it. Maggie on my left with hair as brazen as the sun would be my captain, and I’d sail alongside her as my true north, guiding me on my first adventure.

  “That’s a good start. But what about when the sun went down? Where would you go then?” she asked, sounding truly intrigued. Her enthusiasm fed my own, making me want to dream bigger. Louder.

  “I’d drift until the sun came back, and then chase it again,” I said without thinking, winking at her.

  She pushed herself upright, folding her hands in her lap, completely absorbed in our little daydream. “Well, if I were to jump on just any old boat, I’d set sail for the most exotic places. I’d make my way from port to port like a modern-day pirate. Minus the plundering, of course,” she said, lifting her sunglasses from her face to look at me.

  I laughed at that because somehow, I could see her doing just that. “And how long would you be at sea if you sailed to all those places?”

  A huge smile spread along her lips. A smile I could get used to looking at. “I’d keep sailing until I’d seen it all, and then I’d do it all over again.”

  “Born for a life on the sea. Sounds interesting and lonely at the same time,” I bantered back, catching a piece of her hair and rubbing it between my fingers before tucking it behind her ear.

  Her finger came up between us, cutely wiggling back and forth as she replied, “Not lonely at all, because I’d know that someday, at one of those ports, my handsome friend Phillip would be waiting for me. You see, before I left, he’d tell me he’d meet me at the edge of summer when the last rays of sunlight turn the sky to cotton-candy pink.”

  My heart somersaulted and slammed against my breastbone.

  “Sounds like a good friend, this Phillip you speak of,” I said, playing along, trying to even out my breathing.

  “The best,” she answered, taking her daydream-filled eyes off me to look back over the water.

  “What exactly is the edge of summer, and where would this best friend Phillip be?” I asked, my heart still hammering against my chest.

  “The last day of summer, when the days tumble into fall. As far as where… that’s for Phillip to decide,” she answered as she looked over at me under a fan of dark lashes. Her voice wistfully low.

  It was my turn to fill in the mysterious place. To breathe life into this small bubble of happiness we had created for ourselves. Exotic, she’d said. An Island, but not just any island. It had to be the right place. A place Maggie could flourish in. A place where Maggie could find happiness.

  I combed through my memories, thinking back over all the things I’d heard or seen. Lessons in geography. Dinner conversations, until I finally came up with the perfect place. “Rum Cay in the Bahamas.”

  Her eyes snapped wide as her mouth hung open.

  “Good place?” I asked, putting my finger under her chin. I couldn’t keep myself from reaching out to touch her. It was like my limbs were magnetized to her skin. Her mouth closed, but her eyes remained huge. “I can pick another place,” I added quickly, not wanting to disappoint her, but she halted me as she latched onto my arm, squeezing in excitement.

  “No… no, that’s perfect! I just didn’t expect you to come up with that. It’s actually been on my top five list of places to see before I die.”

  “Oh?” A flicker of something like pride rolled through me from seeing the look of pure satisfaction on her face.

  As her eyes settled on mine, the excitement on her features transformed into something else. Something deeper… something that could get both of us into a lot of trouble.

  She leaned in close, her mouth just a breath away from mine. “It’s perfect, Phillip,” she said, her voice just a whisper. Her lungs hitched on the air, just as mine were. “The absolute perfect place to meet again.”

  Time danced around us as our little fantasy played out between us. I wanted to kiss her in that moment. I needed to, if only to seal our daydream in place, but she forced her eyes off mine and let go of my arm, looking back to the ocean.

  I automatically missed the warmth her skin had brought to mine. The breathless feeling her gaze alone gave me.

  Clearing my throat, I said with finality, “At the edge of summer, we’ll meet on the dock of Rum Cay. And then what?” I knew I was playing with fire by continuing our daydream, but Maggie was a flame I couldn’t resist. I didn’t want this moment to end. I had never felt so connected to anyone before. So connected to a moment, which was exactly what Maggie was all about.

  She started as if lost in thought, picking up where we had left off. “Oh, then we’ll hit the first restaurant available and have dinner. After that…” She shrugged, looking down at her feet dangling back and forth over the edge of the wharf.

  “We’ll play it by ear,” I added for her.

  She smiled at me, but there was sadness hidden behind it, reflecting back at me from the dulled brightness in her mesmerizing eyes. “You’re pretty good at this game, Phillip.”

  Too bad it was just that—a game. The story she’d wove around us was so tangible that it felt like I could reach out and touch it. I wanted to touch it. But if I did, would the illusion pop, taking along with it all of what could be?

  Shaking my head to stop that runaway thought, I stood, putting my hand out to help her up as a small fishing vessel slowed in the water, heading for the dock.

  Maggie shot up from the deck, waving madly at whoever it was in the wheelhouse.

  As the boat slowed, I noticed another figure making his way to the f
ront of the boat where he tossed a string of bumpers over the side. He lifted his arm in a long, sweeping wave as Maggie shouted, “Toss me the line!”

  A long line of rope sailed through the air. Maggie caught it and darted in front of me as the boat bobbed in at a low idle. The engine noise changed, kicking up a high RPM as the captain maneuvered the hull alongside the wharf and shut the motor off.

  The boat titled Miss Maggie was home from sea.

  But who was the captain?

  “We all tied off, Maggie girl?” a rough, leathery voice called out as the door to the cabin opened.

  “Aye, captain!” she called back as she walked back over to where I stood.

  “Been a long time since you’ve seen me in at the dock,” the captain, rigged out in yellow rubber pants that covered him up to his chest like a pair of overalls, called from the deck of his ship before turning to the other man onboard with what sounded like final docking instructions.

  Maggie moved over to the ladder mounted to the wharf and swept the old man into a hug with a smacking kiss to his cheek. “Hello, Daddy. Did you catch a big one?”

  He returned her hug, lifting her off her feet. “Biggest sucker fish in all the ocean!”

  She busted out laughing as he set her on her feet. His eyes moved over to where I stood. “And who’s this?”

  My spine stiffened as I stretched my hand out to him. “Phillip Warrington, sir. Nice to meet you.”

  His hand engulfed mine, warm and calloused. “Sean Fairchild.”

  Maggie, who was practically her own sun, beamed even more standing next to her father. It caught me off guard, seeing the pride shining in both their eyes.

  And, truth be told, I also felt a twinge of jealousy.

  “Did you already unload?” Maggie asked as her father and I held each other’s gaze as if sizing each other up.

  She tugged his arm, gaining his attention as the cell phone in my pocket rang. I pulled it out. Seeing Mother’s name on the screen, I made a quick apology and headed to the end of the dock to answer.

  “Where are you?” Mother demanded.

  “I—”

  “It’s one thing to have food poisoning and not make it to dinner. It’s quite another to be so rudely late for lunch,” Mother’s voice slapped against my eardrum.

  I flinched, pinching the bridge of my nose as if that would help me come up with something excusable enough to say to her. Taking a deep breath, I let it out quietly and said, “My apologies, Mother. I would have called you, but I’m still having stomach issues and haven’t been keeping an eye on the time.”

  “That’s not a good enough reason to miss lunch with Sophia again,” Mother bluntly replied.

  “Lunch with Sophia? I didn’t have any sort of plans for lunch with her. I assure you, Mother, had I been able to make it to lunch, I would have. Please tell her I’m sorry.” I scuffed the tip of my shoe against the weathered dock, ready for whatever else she’d hiss through the phone at me.

  “You can make it up to her at dinner,” she said, sighing harshly into the phone. “And, Phillip? If you so much as think of making any more excuses, I’ll head straight to your room and escort you there myself. Do I make myself clear?”

  I bristled at that. I wasn’t a child, and I didn’t need ultimatums. “Perfectly, Mother,” I bit out right before the phone disconnected in my ear.

  Short of introducing myself to Maggie’s father, I hadn’t had a chance to talk to him before Maggie came bounding up the wharf where I stood clutching my phone so tightly the case threatened to crack.

  “Everything okay?” she asked, eyeing the phone.

  I slid it back in my pocket, doing my best for a smile that felt forced as I fell in step beside her.

  “Today was fun,” she said, filling in the silence between us. I could tell she was feeling me out.

  I shoved away my brewing anger, realizing that in less than an hour I’d part ways with Maggie and the fun we’d had, trading it for the heavy cloak of responsibilities and unwanted dinner plans.

  “It has been fun,” I agreed, thinking back on all that we had talked about. About pink skies and summer breezes. A thought popped up and, before I knew it, I’d blurted it right out. “You do realize that we’re almost at that fated edge-of-summer moment, right?”

  She laughed, shoving her hands into her pockets. “Yeah, but I doubt either of us will make it to Rum Cay at this rate. My bank account alone is laughing hysterically at me for even thinking about it.” She nudged into me. “And you’ll be hitting the books soon.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh along with her, even though my heart sort of plummeted. Not because I was delusional and believed we would really do all the things we had talked about, but because it was the first real spark of hope I had when looking to the future. I didn’t want to let go of the lightness it brought to my life.

  “Well, in that case, I guess we just need to make the most of what little time we have left then.”

  She looped her arm through mine and rested her head on my shoulder. “I agree completely. So, can you sneak out tomorrow?” she asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

  My stomach tingled with anticipation. I felt like a parading peacock with her on my arm, proud and ready to show off for the entire world. Or the seaport on this small stretch of The Hamptons at the very least.

  “Tomorrow, after lunch though. Sound good?”

  “Sounds like you’re trying to schedule that with me,” she said, trying to pull away.

  “No. Well, yes, but it’s not to fit you in… believe me. It’s only that if I miss lunch with Mother again, it’ll raise her curiosity, and then I’ll never get a moment’s peace from her,” I said, hoping I didn’t sound as pathetic about it as I felt.

  She sighed beside me, molding back against me. “Well, I suppose. I can’t really argue with that logic, now can I?”

  Relief rolled through me. Maggie and what she thought of me shouldn’t have made such an impact on me, but it did. What would I do when we went our separate ways?

  “Phillip?” She called my name as if it came to me on the wind.

  I turned my head, looking down into her endless blue eyes, and fumbled a step from the longing look on her face.

  “Yes?”

  “I know this sounds a little…” She battered her hand at the air as if uncertain on how to say whatever it was jamming up her thoughts before blurting out the rest. “Promise you’ll stay in touch. That we’ll be friends no matter where life takes us? I know that sounds needy, maybe even a little odd, but—”

  I placed my hand along her cheek, halting her words. “I promise.”

  She smiled, went up on her tiptoes, and kissed me on the cheek. “What is it about you, I wonder, that makes me antsy thinking if I never heard from you again it would kill something inside of me?”

  My heart tumbled, flipped, lodged in my throat, and then settled somewhere in my stomach all at once. “I don’t know, Hoops, but what I can tell you is that I’m glad I found you lying on that basketball court.”

  She nodded sharply once, happy that we’d made some sort of unofficial pact. “And you have to write to me, and I’ll do the same. Handwritten letters, Phillip. Not emails. Emails or texting… even phone calls are so generic. So easy. But writing letters… that’s romantic. Nostalgic. Even a little freeing.”

  “Is that all?” I asked, tucking her arm through mine again as we walked back to her Jeep.

  “For now, Silver Spoon. For now,” she said, doing some sort of half-step, hip check, making us bump alongside one another in companionable silence.

  “I’M COMING!” I SHOUTED AS a knock sounded on my door. It must be Hannah, coming to ask if I wanted to go to the beach with her later. Or coming to ream me about my lack of presence with our motley crew lately. It had been nearly a week since I’d hung out with her, and it was all due to Phillip.

  Ever since that day on the dock, aside from our daily responsibilities, we had been joined at the hip. Any spare moment
either of us had, we managed to meet up somewhere, even if it was only for an hour to sit and talk about life.

  I knew I treaded dangerous territory by allowing myself to feel butterflies and excitement, even at the mere thought of seeing him, but danger had never scared me before. I felt alive around Phillip. Felt my feelings growing into something much deeper than I’d ever felt with someone before. And I thought a lot of it had to do with the fact that we knew what to expect from our time together—nothing more than friendship.

  He made me feel safe enough to let my guard down. To let him in.

  And so I did.

  The knock sounded again. “I said I was coming.” I laughed, rushing to pull the door open. “Sheesh, Hannah, you act like I might be dead or some—”

  But it wasn’t Hannah standing there.

  It was Phillip.

  My stomach felt like it could take flight at any moment. “Hey, you,” I said, tucking the hair behind my ear as a smile lit up his face. “I wasn’t expecting to see you today.”

  “I know,” he said, bouncing forward on his toes, “and I don’t meant to intrude, but my schedule suddenly freed up, and I couldn’t think of anything I’d rather do but hang out with you. That is, if you want to.”

  My heart flipped behind my ribcage. I stepped back, welcoming him in. “Of course I want to hang out with you,” I said, playfully shoving at his arm as he walked past me in his freshly pressed khakis and the vintage T-shirt I gave him with Hannah’s brother’s band logo on it. “My day wouldn’t be complete without a little Phillip in it. I like the shirt. Whoever gave that to you has excellent taste.”

  He chuckled, stopping in front of the wall of my studio-style bungalow.

  “I-I was actually getting ready to head out,” I said, searching for my Converse.

  “Where to?” he asked, his eyes skimming over the hundreds of pictures I’d pinned up since I started working here.

  “To the community center,” I replied, shutting off the radio and coffee maker, and checking under the kitchen table.

  There’s one shoe.