Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 102167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 511(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 511(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
Beau cuts off her tormented tirade by pulling her and Addy into his arms and pressing a soft kiss to June’s forehead. “It’s okay, Juniper June. Don’t focus on the what-ifs, baby. Focus on the fact that both Avery and Henry are safe.”
“Avery and Henry!” June wails into his shoulder. “That’s all I’ve heard for the past two weeks. Avery and Henry have been missing for forty-eight hours. Avery and Henry have been missing for five days. Ten days and the rescue teams have still not been able to find Avery and Henry.” She sobs harder and pulls me back into her arms, and with a quick glance over her shoulder at my brother’s tired eyes, I start to wonder if he’s had it harder than me after all.
Sure, I was hungry and thirsty and I missed my creature comforts, but for thirteen days, he’s had…this.
“Don’t ever do that again!” June yells at me, but her face is pressed into my shoulder, and her voice is muffled through her sobs. “You’re never allowed to travel anywhere, Ave. And if you go anywhere, you need to tell me first. I don’t care if it’s to your stupid Botox appointment. You need my permission.”
My poor June. She’s a mess.
“I love you. I’m safe.” I squeeze her tightly, gently rubbing my hand up and down her back. “And I promise I won’t travel anywhere without your approval, okay? You can even come to my pap smear appointments and hold the speculum if it makes you feel better.”
“Okay.” She nods and sniffles, which makes me smile. Volunteering for OB-GYN duties without a degree is the definition of being in a bad way.
Eventually, she leans back, shaking her head as she does, and Beau reaches forward to swipe a few tears from her face. He also takes Addy from June’s hip, and June releases me from her Hulklike hold and steps into Beau’s side.
“You’s okays, Auntie?” Addy asks, and I rush to press a kiss to her cheek. This has to be so confusing for her, and I imagine I look nothing like she’s used to either.
“Yes, Addy. I’m okay. Promise.”
Addy smiles and even holds out her hand to give me a high five.
My grandma Bev shoves out of my grandpa Phil’s arms and wraps me in a hug clogged with expensive perfume. It’s a popular older ladies’ scent apparently, as I’ve learned over the last year.
I hug her back, squishing into her plush, blood-red sweater and breathing her in. My grandparents are the ritzy type—not the cookie-baking, sleepover-holding, lollipop-doling-out kind I’ve heard of online—but their love and loyalty is immeasurable, and I can’t imagine the strain of watching their own children long for me.
“Love you, Grandma,” I whisper into her ear, and she just purses her red-stained lips and pokes the tip of my nose before retreating back to her posse.
I know my other three grandparents are dying for hugs, too, but staying back to keep from smothering me, so I go to them instead, pulling them each into my embrace and holding them as tightly as my arms will manage.
My grandfathers both pull back quickly, trying to conceal the shaking embodiment of their tears. My mom’s mom, Judy, though, she lays a wet kiss on my cheek so moist, I’m pretty sure if I spread it around, I could use it as a shower.
“Never scare us like that again,” June threatens as I step into my own space, a jack-in-the-box on repeat, and I smile at her.
“No more island adventures. I promise.” It’s a truth and a reminder at once, urging me to find my source of comfort in the crowd now that I can breathe again.
It doesn’t take long to find Henry where I saw him last; I’m too attuned to him at this point to struggle. The woman I can only assume is his girlfriend, Ashley, clings to him even tighter.
She’s pretty—blond, petite, and well-dressed—and very clearly emotional over him. She cares. Maybe even loves him. And I can’t even fucking blame her.
Henry Callahan is the real deal.
He leans in, speaking softly to her, and the visual feels like someone has buried a knife straight into my chest. Which is stupid…right?
She’s his girlfriend. I’m just the woman he survived with, the woman who coerced him into taking her virginity even when he fought it because he’s a good fucking guy. The woman who wishes she were right there, in his pretty girlfriend’s place.
Before I can dwell on it further, another voice cuts through the chaos, a raging bellow of an irritable man who I find quickly fighting with Coast Guard security to get through. “Avery!”
Oh God. Justin. My…boyfriend. Even if I did blame Henry for clinging to me while we were there and then running back to Ashley upon arrival—which I don’t—it’d be the literal definition of calling the kettle black.