Cody’s mom had passed away from breast cancer their first year of high school.
“He came into the house that night, and I’ve never seen him like that before. He’s a strong boy, a good kid, but the person who came into my living room that night . . .”
Mr. Seaton stopped, and Sidney could see that he was remembering.
“That wasn’t my son,” he said, shaking his head. “That was just a shell.”
She felt even more uncomfortable, wanting to quickly open the door and run out into the storm. Yes, she would rather have been out in the storm than in the office.
“It was a tough night,” Sidney agreed. “But it had to be said.”
“You were done with him,” Mr. Seaton said. “It was fun while it lasted, but now it’s time for you to move on.”
“It’s not like that.”
“Accepted to a fancy college on the mainland, all kinds of new doors will be opening for you, so why would you want to have anything to do with what’s back here?”
“Mr. Seaton, I don’t think . . .”
“Clean house, tie up loose ends, move on, and start fresh. I get it. I’d probably do the same if I was like you.”
The words hit her like a blow to the stomach.
“Like me? What’s that supposed to—”
“I never could understand what he saw in you,” Mr. Seaton went on. “I always figured you were just hanging around until something better came along.”
“You know what?” Sidney could feel the anger surge, and her eyes burned with tears. As if sensing her emotion, Snowy moved to stand with her. “I think I’ve heard enough.”
“Watching my nineteen-year-old son cry made me think of all the things I’ve lost, and how I’d never wanted Cody to ever feel as bad. And yet, I think he felt worse.” His voice trembled with emotion.
Sidney managed to get the door open.
“I won’t tell him you were here,” he added as she and Snowy stepped out into the storm, slamming the door behind them.
Sidney stood trembling in the rain, not from the raw dampness, but from hurt and anger. Things she wanted to say raced through her mind, and she was tempted to go back inside and really let him have it, but something held her back.
Was he right?
Sure, she had loved Cody as much as any fifteen-year-old high school girl was capable of loving somebody, but that love had changed as she’d gotten older and began to realize that the world was a much bigger place than Benediction Island. Was it sad that their love had lessened? Sure it was, but it didn’t mean that what they’d shared had been a lie. They’d loved each other once and that was great, but now . . .
She reached up with a trembling hand to wipe away the scalding tears that were running down her cheeks. Snowy was watching her with curious eyes.
“I’m all right, girl,” she lied to the dog. “Let’s go back to the Jeep.”
She had just started to jog with Snowy by her side when she heard the car horn. A red Honda Accord was coming down the drive, and she watched as it pulled into a parking spot not far from where she’d left her Jeep.
Rich Stanmore climbed from the car, pulling the collar up on his jacket as he approached.
“Hey,” he said. “Did you talk to Cody?”
“No,” Sidney started, just as Cody’s blue pickup truck pulled up in front of the marina’s office. Could things get any worse?
“Hey, there he is,” Rich said cheerfully.
The door to the pickup swung open, and Cody climbed out, holding a large white bag.
“Hey, bro!” Rich called out, waving.
“Don’t,” Sidney warned, already getting a sense that things were about to become very bad.
Cody started toward them, his pace quickening the closer he came. When he dropped the lunch bag onto the wet parking lot ground, she realized that her biggest fears were about to come true.
Cody had never liked Rich or her friendship with him. It had always been a sore spot in their relationship. He had even accused her of breaking up with him to date Rich. Having Rich here now was a recipe for disaster.
“I asked Sidney to talk to you, but since I’m here—”
Before Rich could finish, Cody lunged at him with a curse-laced growl, grabbing him by the front of his coat and pushing him back onto the hood of his car.
“Dude!” Rich yelled in surprise.
“Cody, no!” Sidney cried, trying to pull her ex from atop her friend, as Snowy barked frantically.
“I knew it!” Cody lifted Rich up and slammed him down onto the hood again.
“What the hell are you . . .” Rich asked, still trying to figure out why he was being attacked.
Sidney grabbed at Cody’s hands.
“That’s enough, Cody,” she said firmly.
“I can’t believe you two,” he said, lost in his anger. “Coming here to rub my face in it.”
“It’s not what you think,” Sidney said, and she managed to rip one of his hands from Rich’s jacket, slapping it away as Cody attempted to grab it again.
“It’s not what you think!” She screamed this time, thinking maybe the louder she said it, the better chance it might have of sinking in.
He batted her hand away and she shrieked. It hurt like hell, and for a second she was afraid of him, afraid of the boy she used to love.
It was her scream that took things in another direction. Cody stopped for a second, concern appearing on his face, giving Rich a chance to collect himself.
Pushing off from the hood of his car, Rich punched Cody in the jaw, sending him stumbling to the right. Snowy was going wild, barking and growling crazily, trying to involve herself in the violence, wanting it to stop. Sidney grabbed the dog by the collar, pulling her away from the fight. Rich didn’t let up, following through with another punch before Cody could recover.
“What is wrong with you?” he shouted, hitting Cody again. “I didn’t do shit to you!”
Cody blocked Rich’s next swing, coming in low in a tackle, sending them both to the wet ground in a heap of swinging fists.
“You ruined everything,” Sidney heard Cody say as he crawled atop Rich, directing punches at his face.
She couldn’t stand it anymore, again going in to try and break it up. She also let Snowy go, and the dog darted in, snarling and snapping threateningly at the two.
“Get off of him,” she commanded, wrapping her arm around Cody’s neck in a headlock and using all her strength to pull him off. Rich managed to get his leg under him and kicked out, hurling Cody away.
She hadn’t seen Mr. Seaton come out of the office, and he was suddenly there, between them, cell phone in hand.
“Am I going to need to call the police?” he asked, loud enough for them all to hear.
“You son of a bitch,” Cody spat, getting to his feet.
“C’mon,” Rich urged angrily. “Let’s see how good you are when I’m ready.”
“Did you two hear me?” Mr. Seaton asked. He got in front of his son, thumping him back with his chest. He then turned around to face Rich.
“I’ll have you both thrown in jail for fighting on my property without thinking twice.”
He glared at them, one and then the other.
“Go ahead . . . try me.”
No one moved, and Mr. Seaton abruptly turned and headed back to the office.
“Cody,” he called as he walked. “Where’s my lunch?”
Cody managed to tear his gaze away from Rich, then walked to the rain-saturated white bag and picked it up carefully, bringing it to his father and leaving Sidney and Rich alone outside.
“What the hell was that all about?” Rich asked, touching his lip and checking his fingers for blood.
“We broke up the other night,” Sidney said, watching the door to the office.
“You broke up?”
“Yeah, and he thinks it was because of you.”
“Because of me? Shit.”
The door of the office opened, and Cody stepped out. Sidney had to
grab Snowy’s collar to keep her from running to him.
“No more, Cody,” Sidney warned.
“Go,” he said, waving them away with his hands. “My dad wants you both off the property immediately, and so do I.”
Sidney couldn’t stand it anymore.
“What is wrong with you?” she demanded, not bothering to hide her anger.
“Back off, Sid,” he told her. “Take your new boyfriend and—”
“Cut the shit, Cody,” she screamed. “You know full well that Rich isn’t my boyfriend.”
“It’s true, Cody,” Rich said. “The only reason I’m here is that I asked Sidney to find out if you could give me a hand with my sailboat.”
Cody looked at her hard, she could see that his eyes looked hot—moist. He was on the verge of tears.
“You can tell me. I’m a big boy.”
“There’s nothing to tell, Cody,” she said, bringing the volume down. She let Snowy go, and the dog went to him, hungry for his affection.
“Dude, if I’d known the two of you weren’t together I never woulda asked,” Rich said sympathetically.
“So why are you both here . . . together?” Cody asked.
“Because I came to ask you the favor alone so something like this wouldn’t happen, but you weren’t here. I had a lovely chat with your father, by the way,” she added sarcastically.
“And I hadn’t heard from her, so I thought I would come down and ask myself. Then I saw that Sid was here and . . .”
“Shit,” Cody said, lowering his gaze and focusing his attentions on Snowy, which was fine by her.
“Yeah,” Sidney agreed.
“I called you, and you didn’t get back to me,” Cody went on. “So my imagination was already running wild when I pulled into the parking lot and saw the two of you. . . .”
“Understandable, I guess,” Rich said.
“No, it isn’t,” Sidney answered angrily. “I told you why we were breaking up, and it had nothing to do with anybody else, but you still didn’t believe me and had to come up with some reason to make me look even worse in your eyes than I already do.”
“Sid,” he started, looking up into her angry gaze. “I’m sorry.”
“You should be,” she shot back. “And you hit me back there.”
“I was slapping your hand away and—”
“You hit me,” she said more forcefully. “If you even think about doing something like that to me again I will most certainly press charges. Do we understand each other?”
She could see the shock in his expression, and she genuinely did believe that he was sorry, but she needed him to know that it wasn’t cool in the least to put his hands on her. Ever. No matter the situation.
“Yes,” Cody said. “I’m so sorry.” Nervously he started to pet Snowy again.
“Then we don’t need to mention it again,” she said.
Things then got awkward as they stood there in the rain, each of them hoping that the other would say something to shatter the uncomfortable silence.
Sidney concentrated on the weather. It was getting worse, the wind and rain picking up, the clouds in the sky above them moving and swirling about so quickly they could have been smoke.
She was just going to comment on it when—
“Sorry I attacked you,” Cody finally said to Rich, eyes darting about nervously. “There was no reason for it, and I feel like a complete ass.”
“It’s cool,” Rich said, then stepped forward and extended his hand.
Cody looked at it for a moment before taking it in his. They shook firmly then quickly let go, stepping back. Sidney doubted the two would ever be best friends, but it was a start.
“This weather’s getting not so nice,” Sidney said to change the subject, squinting as she looked up into the ferocious sky.
“The weather guys said that it would be getting bad in the afternoon,” Cody added.
“Which makes the timing on that favor even more crucial,” Rich said.
“What’s the favor again?” Cody asked. “Probably the least I could do after kicking your ass.”
“You kicked my ass?” The favor was suddenly pushed aside by his ego. “If there was any ass kicked today it was me firmly placing my foot against your—”
“C’mon, don’t you think I’ve had my fill of this crap today?” Sidney asked with disgust. “Ask your favor please, before I lose my patience,” she told Rich.
“I was hoping that you could help me get my sailboat out of the water before the storm,” Rich said.
Cody looked up into the angry sky. “Looks like you might be a little late.”
“Yeah, but if we hurry we might be able to miss the worst of it. What do you say?”
Cody looked to Sidney. “Probably the least that I could do, huh?”
Sidney agreed. “Probably.”
Yes, Rich mouthed, pumping the air with his fist.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The storm had grown from bad to even worse in a short amount of time. Sidney was having a difficult time seeing through the deluge assailing her wipers. She was following Rich’s car back to his parents’ place, with Cody following her in his truck. For an instant back at the marina, Sidney had considered leaving the boys to handle this on their own, but something told her that might not have been the best of ideas, the potential of a fight breaking out all too real. So here she was.
“Really coming down, eh, Snowy?” she asked her dog, who leaned forward from the backseat, peering through the torrential downpour. It was like somebody was spraying a hose directly onto the windshield.
Up ahead she saw the flash of Rich’s brake lights, followed by a left-turn blinker, which told her that they had arrived. Rich pulled his car over to a spot in front of the large two-story house, and she took one right beside it. She waited, listening to the incessant sound of pelting rain as Cody parked his truck near the two-car garage where the boat’s trailer had been left.
When Cody had asked why the sailboat hadn’t been taken from the water sooner, Rich had said that he and his parents had hoped to have at least a few more weekends of sailing before the inevitable end of the summer season. Normally his dad would have taken care of removing the boat, but he’d been called away by bank business, which meant that Rich could either take the risk of leaving the boat out during the hurricane or do something about it. He loved the boat and decided a quick weekend trip to Benediction, and hopefully some assistance from friends, would be in order.
“Do you want to stay here or come out in the rain?” Sidney asked Snowy.
“Woof!” the shepherd said.
“I thought so.” Sidney rubbed the dog affectionately behind the ears, then she opened the car door, and they both got out into the pouring rain.
Cody was already backing the truck up toward the trailer so Rich could attach it.
“That’s good!” Rich yelled, and the truck came to a stop.
He began to attach the trailer to the hitch as Cody jumped out of the truck and headed back to help. Sidney was glad to see them getting along so well, for the moment anyway.
“Anything that I can do?” she asked, voice raised to be heard over the heavy rainfall.
“We’re good,” Cody said, inspecting the connection. Rich gave her a thumbs-up as the two of them returned to the truck cab.
Why am I here again? she thought, becoming more and more rain-saturated each passing second. Oh yes, so my ex-boyfriend and my friend don’t kill each other. That’s it.
The truck pulled away with the boat trailer in tow, and she considered going back to her car to wait until they’d finished, but since she was already soaked . . .
“C’mon, girl,” she said, motioning to Snowy for her to follow. “Let’s go see if the guys are gonna be able to do this.” She followed the side road, which went down to the beach and to the Stanmore’s private dock. The wind was really getting intense, and a few times she thought for sure that it might topple her over. She considered that the weather mig
ht have gotten too bad for the guys to pull this off.
They must have sensed that their time was limited as well. The water of the bay looked almost black, reflecting the anger in the shifting clouds in the sky above, and Sidney felt the concern for her friends growing as they began to interact with the rough waters. She moved closer, watching carefully as they worked, Rich now on board the sailboat, its masts already removed, as he used the engine to carefully drive the boat onto the partially submerged trailer.
Sidney held her breath as the boat was secured, with Cody turning the winch that gradually pulled the boat onto the trailer. The sky had grown even darker, the blackness of it all seeming to be pressing down, coming closer to the land. There was a feeling in the air that she didn’t like, a growing apprehension that seemed to foreshadow that something terrible was about to happen. A sudden tingling across the surface of her flesh made the tiny hairs on the back of her neck stand at attention. Snowy had begun to whine, telling her that something was most definitely up.
“Are we almost done, guys?” she yelled as she moved closer. They of course ignored her, as they finished hauling the sailboat from the water.
“Guys?” she called again.
“Yeah,” Rich said, pulling on the straps that secured the boat on the trailer.
“Almost,” Cody answered over the increasing wail of the wind.
It felt as though there was an electrical current suddenly running through her arms and legs, and she stamped her feet on the saturated ground to try to dispel the strange, tingling sensation.
“Something isn’t right,” she said as she noticed Snowy suddenly tensed, hackles raised, lips peeled back in a savage snarl as she, too, reacted to the bizarre atmospheric change.
Sidney didn’t know what to do or how she should react. The sky was black and churned and swirled above her, and at the moment she didn’t believe that there was anyplace where she would be safe.
She was about to call out to them again when she noticed that Rich and Cody were both returning to the truck, Rich now giving her the double thumbs-up as they climbed into the front seats. The engine of the vehicle revved loudly, and the truck slowly advanced, pulling the trailer and sailboat from the water. She had started to walk back up the road toward the house when it happened.