Shoreline Drive (Sanctuary Island)

by Everett, Lily

  Instantly more at ease, Taylor shivered in delight at the mystery. When the glow of the street lamp caught the edge of his sharp jaw, Taylor leaned back against the white bandstand railing and let a smile curl her lips.

  “No more hints,” she told him, blood sparking with the thrill of something new, something different, something exciting.

  “What, you don’t want to know who I am?” He sounded surprised, his deep voice cracking a little on the word “know.” Taylor breathed in and let the night air fill her lungs. An enigmatic pseudostranger was better than a smoke, any day of the week.

  “Nope. But you know who I am, don’t you?”

  “Taylor McNamara,” he answered promptly. She couldn’t see his smile, but she could hear it in his voice. “Sanctuary High’s resident bad girl.”

  “Not anymore,” she protested, feeling the burn of shame across her cheekbones. Hopefully it was too dark out here for him to see it. “I turned over a new leaf last year. Not that anyone noticed.”

  “Sorry if I touched a nerve.” He held up both hands in a placating gesture. “At least I recognize you. Whereas I’m clearly so forgettable that I’m invisible in a class of less than seventy. Besides—”

  He pushed past her before Taylor knew what was happening, bending down to swipe his fingers through the dirt. When he straightened up, there was a crumpled pack of cigarettes in his hand, and even in the shadows, Taylor could see the lift of his dark brows.

  “About that new leaf,” he started dryly.

  “Okay!” Taylor lifted her chin. “The new leaf is … a work in progress. I have the occasional backslide. But whatever, I only do it out here, at night. Nobody else gets my secondhand smoke, my dad never has to know—it doesn’t even count, really.”

  “I’ve got a new name for you: Sanctuary High’s resident rationalizer.”

  “Shut up!” Taylor’s mouth twisted to hide a smile. “Seriously, I’m not, like, a smoker or something. I’m not addicted. But sometimes…”

  She hesitated, but the darkness, the chilly air, and the anonymity of the quiet boy in front of her made it easier to talk. “Have you ever felt like the walls of your room are closing in? Like the whole house is heavy and pushing down, trying to smother you, and you just have to get out and away?”

  The boy cocked his head to one side, and the angle of it tugged at Taylor’s memory. “Yeah,” he said softly. “I know what you mean.”

  They shared a silent moment of understanding that warmed Taylor more than her hands jammed in her pockets. “Anyway,” she said, tossing her hair back. “You don’t get to go all judgy on me—we’re both lurking around the town square in the middle of the night.”

  “And on a school night, too,” he murmured with a little laugh. “Which is why I’m out here. Couldn’t sleep—first-day jitters.”

  “Funny. I’m actually looking forward to school starting,” Taylor confessed. “Or maybe I’m just ready to be done with my summer job.”

  “You work out at Windy Corner Stables, right? I would’ve thought that would be a cakewalk since your dad is dating Jo Ellen Hollister. Doesn’t she own the barn?”

  Small towns, Taylor reflected gloomily. Everyone was all up in everyone else’s business … but still only aware of half the story.

  “It’s complicated,” she hedged. Pulling herself up by the railing, she swung up the steps and slipped onto the bandstand stage under the friendly darkness of the gazebo roof.

  The guy followed her, his long legs taking the steps two at a time and carrying him over to sit down next to where Taylor had settled on the floor with her back to the wooden railing.

  “You don’t like Jo,” he guessed. “Worried she’ll end up as your evil stepmother?”

  “No, you’re way off.” Taylor rested her head against the wooden slats, content in the knowledge that her face was now as shadowed as his. “I love Jo. She and my dad have been together, off and on, for a long time. She’s already like a mom to me, ever since my mom died.”

  “So what changed?”

  Her real daughters showed up.

  Before Taylor could swallow down the sudden lump in her throat and decide how to answer him, a pair of headlights swept through the gazebo in a glaring flash.

  “Crap!” Nobody on this sleepy little island was out driving around this late except the cops. Scrambling to her knees to peek over the railing, Taylor searched for the lights. They weren’t shining out of Sheriff Shepard’s SUV, and she went limp with relief for about five seconds.

  Until she recognized the dented rear bumper of the little gray four-door currently idling at the edge of the town square.

  “Crap on a cracker!” Taylor squatted back down out of sight as the driver’s door opened. Her heart flapped against her rib cage like a seagull’s wings. Dropping her head into her hands, Taylor moaned, “Oh God, please let her get back in the car and drive away.”

  She so didn’t want to deal with this tonight.

  “Is that…?” The guy’s deep voice trailed off as he twisted to get a glimpse through the wooden slats.

  “The reason I’m glad to go back to school? Yeah. One of my insta-sisters,” Taylor confirmed with a groan. “Merry Preston.”

  “Taylor, is that you?” Merry called across the green.

  Busted.

  “You might as well come out. I know it’s you.” Merry was smiling like this was all a big freaking joke to her, and the indignation over that was enough to propel Taylor to her feet.

  Propping her elbows casually on the gazebo railing, Taylor gave Merry her best bored stare. “What?”

  Merry leaned against the car and peered over her shoulder into the darkened backseat. Swiveling her head to look at Taylor again, she said, “Come over here. If I keep shouting across the town square, I’m going to wake Alex up. Not to mention the rest of the island.”

  If the baby was in the car, Taylor realized, then there was no way Merry was going to catch them if they decided to run. Every muscle in her body tensed for flight, but then Merry got this look on her face.

  Kind of a resigned, knowing look. As if she could tell what Taylor was thinking and had already decided how Taylor would act.

  And if there was one thing Taylor hated, it was being predictable.

  “You don’t have to go down there if you don’t want to,” the guy beside her whispered. “I’ll make sure you get home okay.”

  Taylor bristled, the warm intimacy of secret-sharing and trading confidences shattered. “I don’t need any help getting home, I’m fine on my own. But if she yells, someone could wake up and call the cops on a disturbance,” Taylor pointed out. “I’ll go see what she wants.”

  “Do you want me to come with you?” He stood up, and for the first time that night, Taylor got a good look at his face.

  Her jaw dropped open. “Fatty Matty?”

  Ever since he and his mom moved to Sanctuary Island a few years ago, Matthew Little had been short and pudgy, round all over—from his moon-shaped face to the thick lenses of his glasses. But the guy beside her was no fatty. He’d shot up almost a foot over the summer, and his shoulders had widened while the rest of him slimmed down. Taylor could hardly believe her eyes.

  Matthew froze into shocked stillness, like she’d whipped off her shirt and flashed him. His lean jaw hardened as he ground down audibly on his back teeth. “Not anymore. I’ve changed, and I thought you had, too … but obviously, I was wrong.”

  Without giving her a chance to apologize or even catch her breath from the shock, he marched down the gazebo steps and away across the cut grass of the town square.

  Taylor felt sick to her stomach. Kids at school all made fun of Matthew Not-So-Little, just not usually to his face. But the surprise, the unexpectedness of who her midnight confidant turned out to be— Taylor swallowed.

  There was no excuse. She’d have to apologize to him at school tomorrow.

  Great, there were the first-day jitters she’d denied having.

  Sighing, s
he slunk out of the gazebo and trudged over to Merry’s secondhand car. Taylor prepared herself for one of those dumb grown-up questions like “What are you kids doing out here so late?” But what Merry said instead was, “Hop in. I’ll give you a ride home.”

  “What if I’m not ready to go home?”

  Merry glanced over Taylor’s shoulder. Turning her head, Taylor caught a glimpse of Matthew Little from behind, head down and strides long as he walked in the opposite direction, toward the Harrington house, where he and his mom lived as caretakers.

  When did I turn into such an awful person? Taylor wondered as her heart squeezed like a lemon.

  “You’re ready,” Merry said gently. “Come on.”

  She’d been running on adrenaline and the thrill of breaking the rules for hours. Now, having driven away the one person she’d found who seemed to actually understand her, Taylor didn’t have the energy to fight. For once.

  Shoulders slumping, she slouched around the front of the car and climbed in without another word.

  A car ride with one of her least favorite people in the world, who now had something to hold over Taylor’s head—as if it weren’t enough to swoop in and claim Taylor’s family as her own. And tomorrow, on Taylor’s first day as a junior, she’d have to suck it up and apologize to Matthew Little for being a total bitch.

  Oh yeah. This was going to be a great year.

  *

  Merry checked on her son in the rearview mirror as she pulled smoothly away from the curb. Yep, still out like a light.

  The sullen teenage girl next to her sighed loudly and made a point of staring out the passenger window for the first ten minutes of their drive. After the last few months of Jo and Harrison’s rekindled romance, Merry knew the way out to the McNamaras’ big white house overlooking the beach, but she almost asked for directions just to have something to say.

  Merry saw a lot of herself in Taylor. They’d never made much of a connection, especially after the way Taylor had snooped around and made trouble between Ella and Grady. But there was always hope.

  “So, who’s the guy?” Merry tried.

  “Nobody,” Taylor muttered, leaning her temple against the glass of the window.

  “He was pretty cute, for a nobody,” Merry observed, remembering the lanky kid with shoulders that showed the promise of breadth when he grew into himself.

  “Surprise, surprise.” Taylor snorted. “Not like it matters, I’m sure he hates me now. Whatever.”

  Merry recognized the thrum of pain and regret under Taylor’s attitude, and boy, did that bring back her own misspent youth. She wanted to ask why the boy would have reason to hate Taylor, but she didn’t truly need to.

  The feeling that no matter what, she’d always be a screwup clutched at Merry’s throat, but it was only a reflection of the angry flush on Taylor’s cheeks. Changing the subject, Merry said, “I guess I should probably tell your dad or Jo about this. It’s the responsible thing to do…”

  “Tell whoever you want.” Defiance pulled Taylor upright in her seat, her glare burning across the dimness of the front seat. “I don’t care.”

  “You do care,” Merry said. “You care like crazy. But maybe I’m missing the point of all this curfew-breaking and running around with boys in the middle of the night. Maybe you want your dad to find out.”

  “What?” Taylor scoffed as only a sixteen-year-old girl can scoff. “That’s stupid. Of course I don’t want him to know, I’d be grounded till prom.”

  Merry, who had once been a sixteen-year-old girl with massive parental issues, said, “Sure. But at least you’d have his attention. And maybe Jo’s, too?”

  Taylor jerked as if Merry had slapped her across the face, her pretty features tight with shock. “I’m not trying to get anybody’s attention! I’m not some dumb little kid who needs her dad to watch her go down the slide at the playground or something.”

  “Sure you are,” Merry told her. “We all are, no matter how old we get. It’s one of the facts of life you learn as you go along. You never outgrow that need for your parents’ approval, and that’s okay. Just don’t go overboard with it.”

  Taylor narrowed her eyes. “You mean like uprooting your whole life and moving to Sanctuary Island to live with your mom, even though you’re a grown-up?”

  Zing! “Okay, that’s fair,” Merry acknowledged. “But clearly, that makes me an expert. I know what I’m talking about here.”

  “So I should listen to you? Please. As if I’d want to end up like you, with a kid and no husband, no job, and no life.”

  “Ow,” Merry said, giving Taylor two raised brows. “Words hurt, you know.”

  Interestingly, Merry thought she detected a slight sheen to Taylor’s brown eyes, even as the little brat sneered. “The truth hurts,” Taylor said crushingly.

  And it was the truth, Merry realized. The least flattering take on it possible, but still, nothing Taylor had said was a lie.

  “You’re right,” Merry said slowly. “I can’t say I regret much about my life—if I’d made other choices, maybe I wouldn’t have Alex. And I’d never give him up for anything. But if I’d had him when I was your age … I can’t imagine. I’d be even more dependent on my family for help than I already am. And maybe it’s time for me to realize I am a grown-up. I have options; I can choose.”

  Taylor looked interested against her will. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, thanks for the tough talk.” Merry smiled into Taylor’s confused, suspicious face as a sense of possibility rushed through her like an ocean breeze. “You helped me see that it’s time for a change. And in return, I’ll let you decide whether I keep your secret about what you were up to tonight.”

  “Whatever. You’re a whack job.” Taylor rolled her eyes, her slim fingers fidgeting fretfully with the hem of her T-shirt.

  Silence stretched through the car, broken only by the soothing sound of the tires on the road. Merry flicked off the headlights and turned in to the long, winding driveway that led up to Harrison McNamara’s house on the bluff, overlooking the ocean.

  Slowing the car, she looked at Taylor. “What’s it going to be? I can let you out here, and chances are you’ll get away with tonight scot-free.”

  “You really do know all the tricks,” Taylor said, unwillingly impressed.

  “Babe, I’ve forgotten more tricks than you’ll ever know,” Merry told her. “Really, when I look back, I’m surprised I’m still alive.”

  “Drama much?” Taylor rolled her eyes again, then bit her lip. “I guess I’ll get out here. I don’t care about getting in trouble, but my dad has a lot going on right now at work, and he’s so happy to be back with Jo. I don’t really want to make trouble.”

  “Sometimes you just can’t help it though, right?” Merry held back the sympathetic smile that tugged at her lips. “I get that.”

  Taylor only huffed and climbed out of the car. But she didn’t slam the door shut—after a swift glance at the sleeping baby in the backseat, she pressed the door closed quietly, then hesitated for a moment.

  Hitting the button to roll down the passenger side window, Merry asked, “You okay?”

  “Yeah.” Taylor wrapped her slender bare arms around herself, and Merry fought down the urge to remind her to bring a jacket the next time she snuck out. Mother of the Year, she was going to be!

  “I just wanted to say thanks.” Taylor squinted into the distance as if worried that meeting Merry’s gaze would reveal too much. “For the ride, and everything. And for not saying anything to my dad or Jo. I don’t really care about getting in trouble for the curfew, but if my dad caught me out with a boy, even one I’m not going out with or anything…” She grimaced. “Bad news. Anyway, Dad and Jo are happy. They don’t need to be stressing about me right now.”

  Merry didn’t know how to explain what she’d only recently come to understand, herself—that parents always worried, but even that worry was a joy and a privilege because it went along with a love so deep and pur
e that it was worth any amount of stress.

  “It’ll be our secret,” she said instead, and was rewarded with a quirked, reluctant half-smile before Taylor disappeared up the hill toward the white house.

  Connection made.

  As Merry backed slowly up the driveway, she felt that same flutter of possibility she’d gotten during the conversation with Taylor. The sense of the world opening up before her like an empty road unfurling into the horizon—that was something she’d felt before in her life, but only a few times.

  Most recently was when she decided to keep her unborn baby and raise him without any help from his father … and then again when she’d made the choice to stay on Sanctuary Island, against the express wishes of the older sister who’d taken care of her since they were kids.

  Cold night air blew in the open passenger window, invigorating and refreshing against her hot cheeks. She’d made a life-changing decision tonight, with no more thought and reason than that it felt right.

  What the heck, she thought, checking the rearview mirror to see her baby boy, plump and flushed with sleep, drooling onto his own shoulder. It’s worked out okay for me so far.

  “What do you think, Alex?” She kept her voice soft, not wanting to wake him. But he had to be included in this momentous decision, because it was all for him. “Wish me luck, baby boy. Tomorrow, Mama’s getting engaged.”

  Chapter Five

  What was a girl supposed to wear to her own engagement?

  Merry smoothed a hand down the front of her black Misfits T-shirt and wished she owned something a little more businessy. After all, this was more of a straightforward contract negotiation than a romantic love scene.

  Bet Miss Manners never covered the dress code for the modern marriage of convenience.

  Anyway, it doesn’t matter, she decided, lifting her chin and raising a hand to knock on Ben’s office door. He can take me as I am, no illusions, no bull, or not at all.

  The idea that she might have missed her chance at this sent a weird tingle of unease to tighten the hairs at the back of her neck. She had no idea if she’d be relieved or disappointed.