Page 96

I started running again, my eyes so closely focused on my brother and sister on the beach that I nearly missed the sound. Someone was yelling.

My first thought was someone was in trouble. But when I scanned the river, I didn’t see anything but fast-moving water.

And the island, dead ahead.

But the island wasn’t vacant. I stopped again for the second time in only a couple of minutes.

“What—”

There, on the island, was a figure—tall, trimmed beard, broad shoulders, waving his arms.

In front of him, on the shore, was an elaborate row of driftwood.

I stopped when I reached the trail over where my brother and sister stood.

It was Blake, I realized, as I clapped my hand over my mouth. And he was yelling. It was difficult to hear over the rush of water, loud here against the rocks, but I was pretty sure he was saying the same thing I finally saw was spelled out on the beach in thirty feet of driftwood.

I LOVE YOU CASSANDRA KELLY

My body began to shake uncontrollably.

“Whoa, hey, you’re gonna fall in the river again if you’re not careful,” Griff said, scrambling up the slope to me.

On the island, Blake had stopped yelling. He was too far for me to read his expression, but his body language said he was concerned.

“It’s alright!” Griffin boomed, so loud I remembered myself. When he turned back, he was reaching up to me, hand outstretched. “Come on,” he said. “I didn’t come out here for a constitutional. Unless you don’t wanna go? I’m good either way.”

Wordlessly, I took Griff’s hand, and if I didn’t know better, I thought I saw him smile.

“Thanks for getting her here, kid,” Griff said to Chelsea as we passed by. My baby sister wrapped her arms around me briefly, then kissed me on the cheek. “Go easy on him, Cass.”

I was still too numb to speak. I looked back at Chelsea one time to see her walking back the way we’d come. She’d only come out here for me.

After that, I only looked forward. By the time Griffin had gotten us over to the other side, Blake was down by the water, his eyes on me. His expression was so filled with a mix of fear and dread and hope that Griff, once he helped me out, said, “Put the man out of his misery, would you?”

“I’ve got a few things to do,” he said. “I’ll be back in an hour.”

Blake nodded. “Thanks,” he said, his voice hoarse.

I didn’t turn, didn’t take my eyes off Blake. The outboard whined, then diminished as Griff drove to wherever Griff went when he was out here.

Then, and only then, did I speak.

“You came back,” I whispered.

Blake took a step toward me. “I think I always knew I was going to come back,” he said. “I left my fishing rod behind, didn’t I?”

I laughed, but it came out a half sob, and that’s when he came to me, taking my hands. “I’m sorry I didn’t say it back then, that last night,” he said. “I felt it, but I just… I didn’t know how to say it in a way that would make me believe it was okay to do it.”

“To do what, Blake?” I needed to hear the words again, up close, while he looked into my eyes.

He smiled, his expression so earnest I wanted to brush the stray hair from his forehead. “I love you. I love you, Cassandra Kelly, and I want the whole world to know.”

I smiled as he grew blurry through my tears. “How long did this take you?”

“An hour.” He shrugged. “A couple of hours. A bit longer than that.”

He pointed his chin upriver, where, to my astonishment, I saw a banner hanging over the Quince River Bridge. It said the same thing.