Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 120230 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 601(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120230 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 601(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
“Sure.”
“Is it possible we went to uni with Grace? It’s just that I feel like I’ve seen her before.”
Relieved at the innocent explanation for how he’d stared at the other woman last night, I shook my head. “No, remember? Aaron mentioned she went to boarding school in Switzerland and stayed in Europe for her tertiary studies. I’m pretty sure he said she speaks French and Italian alongside English.”
He winced. “To be honest, I can’t keep up with the chat when I’m working.”
“I get that.” He probably craved sleep more than scrolling through the group’s messages. “Hey,” I joked, “maybe you ran into her during your backpacking adventure with V. You went through Zurich, right?”
“I’m pretty sure the closest Grace has been to a hostel has been seeing one outside the limo window,” was the dry response. “V and I were on the bones of our arse during that trip. Survived on ramen, cheap bread, and bad chocolate.” But he was smiling as he said that.
Thinking back to their shiny, happy faces after they returned, I smiled with him. “Is it possible you saw Grace at the hospital? Patient or visiting a patient?”
“Yeah, that’s probably it,” he said, then shrugged. “I’m looking forward to the day I become a specialist and stop having so many patients that they all blur together.” He leaned one shoulder against the wooden support beam on one side of the veranda steps, his gaze on the view. “Worth the spinal adjustment on that gravel bit of the road.”
“Absolutely.” I watched the line of sunshine in silence. Soon, the frost would be gone, my photographs all that remained of this sublime and fragile teardrop of time.
The sound of the kitchen door opening.
“What’re you two doing out here?” Arms hugging her own body, Darcie walked down the steps. “Oh, the frost.” Dressed in pajama pants and a pink puffer jacket, her hair in a loose knot, she knelt down to touch her fingers to a lattice of frost on a patch of ground cover. “I’d forgotten how stunning it is on days like this.”
She looked up, the bruises under her eyes almost purple against the pale hue of her skin. “You’re lucky. Takes perfect conditions for this to happen.” A tone soft with memory. “Bea and I used to sneak out of bed and crunch our way through the grass, but we found treasures, too. Once, Bea found a dandelion perfectly preserved in frost.”
My entire soul keened in memory, but I fought not to push us back into the past. Darcie had obviously had a tough night. She didn’t need me screaming at her about a decision she’d made in the maw of grief.
The aquamarine burned against my chest, a searing indictment of my choice to stay silent, as we’d all stayed silent for near to a decade.
“I took a thousand photos, I’m sure,” I told her. “I don’t know how I’ll ever choose my favorites. It’s days like this that make me realize just how much I love photography.” Even if the knowledge twisted the knife deeper, made it even harder to face the future.
“I’ll go start making breakfast.”
Phoenix was gone before I could process the curt interjection. “Maybe he’s not a morning person.” Though he’d seemed perfectly happy to keep me company prior to Darcie’s arrival.
“No, he likes mornings,” she said in a tone that was too sure, before she seemed to shake herself out of it and rose to her full height. “Sorry for my freak-out last night.”
“No, I got it. Me and the others, we were thinking maybe Bea came down here after she disappeared?” I didn’t take my eyes off her. “Left her doll behind and could be a cleaner found it and put it there for you.”
Darcie’s face was an oil painting in the morning light, lovely and without movement. “Yes, that must be it.” Flat words. “She probably thought I’d find it after, but I never came back down here. Not for years—and even after that, it was just day visits to make sure Jim was doing his job. It’s only recently we’ve spent more time here.”
Shivering, she rubbed her hands over her upper arms, over the soft bulge of her jacket. “God, I’d forgotten how cold it could get even in spring. I’ll see you inside.”
I stayed outside for ten more minutes after she left, not wanting to be stuck in the kitchen with her and Phoenix. Secrets, or just morning moodiness?
“People are weird,” I said, my breath a plume of white. “Don’t worry about them. You have your own issues.”
I watched my breath, focused so hard on creating the memory that I didn’t realize I was gritting my teeth until my jaw began to hurt.
Breathe, Nae-nae. You’re such a serious little bug.
I inhaled and exhaled on the echo of Bea’s advice, on the memory of her fierce hugs and even fiercer love. She’d seen me in ways no one had, not even Vansi. Right through to the core.