Page 25 of Into the Deep Blue

Climbing over the barrier doesn’t seem very dangerous.

The sky is peppered with clouds, and the waves roll in gentle lulls.

I kick off my sandals, leaving them in the sand, and push my bag behind me.

The expanse of earth soon narrows, and up ahead, giant boulders jut out from the sea.

I take a careful step forward.

The stone is hot beneath my feet, and seawater sloshes in the gap between it and the path.

Lightly, I step from one stone to the next until the rock surface narrows, and I’m balancing more than stepping between them, but I’m good at this.

I know how to balance. I look back. The barrier is barely visible, so I stop.

It’s a beautiful view.

Tiny sailboats dot the horizon, and a lone seagull hovers in the breeze.

A sweeping cliff is to my left, and I feel so small out here, my presence a speck in this landscape.

I slip my hand inside my bag for Mom’s camera.

When I imagine her holding it, she’s on a bent knee, a strand of auburn hair tucked behind her ear, and her face scrunched up like it always was when she looked through the viewfinder.

It’s the only picture that matters.

Whatever is on here will only be a reminder of her death—not her life with us.

A wave crashes against the rocks. Water splashes my legs, and I waver. The ocean only takes a second to change its mind, and the waves are crashing harder now.

“!”

My name rings out in the distance.

I turn and see Nick jogging down the shoreline.

Another wave breaks, spreading water over the rocks, and it trickles down the cracks before rolling out to sea. My shorts are soaked and a saltwater mist seeps through my lips.

“FIONA!”

Be still.

Nick scrambles over the barrier and runs until the ground ends. His eyes follow the trail of boulders. He does the math—tall, uncoordinated boy plus slippery rocks equals certain death. His chest heaves with panic, and he extends an unreachable hand. He spots the camera in my hand.

“So do it,” he yells.

I look out to the ocean. The tide is coming in. The waves multiply in the distance, each one larger than the last, and so much water pools around my feet that I slip for a second. Before I can find my balance, I’m pummeled again, and turn to shield my body from the impact.

Panic sets in.

“Do it!”

Nick yells, more urgently now.

The sun breaks through the clouds. It’s so bright, I raise my arm to shield my eyes. The water calms, and I take in the vast expanse of cerulean blue. The golden rays of sunlight shimmer across the surface, making the water glitter like diamonds.

It’s perfect.

With a sweeping throw, I let it go. The camera sails through the air and disappears into the waves—barely a blip on the radar of the universe. It’s gone in a heartbeat, like her. Hope surges through me. For what, I’m not sure.

“.”

Nick’s tone is low and stressed.

But it’s okay. It’s an easy pivot on my toes to face him. I glide from one stone to the next without missing a beat. See? I’ve got this, I want to say. This will be the easiest part of my day, but a rogue wave crashes and my foot slips. The rock slices along my calf, but I don’t fall because Nick’s hand grips my arm. He catches me.

He helps me onto the path and pulls me into him. I wrap my arms around his waist, and he rests his head on mine, and we stand that way for what feels like forever as the waves crash and spray all around us.

When he pulls away, he crouches down and wipes at the blood on my leg.

“We need to put something on this.”

He squints up at me, the sun bright in his eyes.

“Doesn’t really hurt.”

He stands and draws in a breath, holding back his words. He wipes his hands on his jeans.

“Then maybe we can call an ambulance for me because I think I’m having a heart attack.”

He stumbles back, clutching his chest.

“Sorry.”

I wince, grateful he didn’t go there.

He grips my shoulders and searches my eyes.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah,”

I say with a slight nod.

“What can I do?”

I reach for his hand on my shoulder.

“You’re doing it. And maybe get me some nachos.”

He slings an arm around me, and we head back down the shore.

“That, I can do.”

***

We spend the rest of the day on the beach, my leg wrapped in a bandage. A sea lion waddles over and plays in the sand nearby. Nick asks me to take a picture of him with it, so I take at least a dozen on my phone when a couple strolls by and asks if we want one together. It’s way more awkward than it should be. Nick hands over his phone, runs back and slides an arm around my waist. He flashes the peace sign. The sea lion slaps its fin against the sand in front of us and we laugh.

He texts me the pictures. There are two. The second is the good one. We’re smiling, the sun is setting behind us, our faces are sunburned and windswept, and the sea lion’s fin is raised in a perfect wave.

In the first photo, the one the woman said she had to retake, my mouth is open mid-laugh because I thought we were about to be attacked. Nick doesn’t even notice because he’s looking at me, his lips curled in an easy smile. The picture’s a little blurry, but it’s my favorite.

Soon, a silver glow from the moon replaces the sun. Nick is lying on the warm sand with his eyes closed while I sit next to him. It would be so easy to sleep here, listening to the waves rolling gently to the shore.

A loud whoosh escapes from the ocean, and a whale breaches the water right in front of us.

“Nick,”

I gasp, my hand instinctively landing on his stomach.

He places his hand on mine and bolts upright.

The whale expels a fountain of water and slips back into the inky sea.

“No way!” he says.

We share a surprised look, then glance around for other witnesses so this might seem more real, but the beach is empty. It was just for us.

He looks at me, eyes wide.

“Did that really just happen?”

It sums up how I feel about most of this summer.

“Yeah. I think it means we won at Monterey.”

He lets out a soft laugh.

“The elusive Monterey bingo.”

His phone buzzes beside him. Alex’s name is on the display, but he clicks it off without answering.

“It’s late. We should go inside,”

I say.

“And I’m hungry.”

Nick shakes the sand from his hands.

“There’s a few places on the strip. You want to go somewhere?”

I get up and make a face.

“Can you just bring something back to the room? Grab a slice or something.”

“Help me up,”

he says, holding out a hand. I grab it, and he lets out an exaggerated groan as he stands. “Cheese?”

“Pleeeaaaase. You have a room key?”

He pulls it out and waves it around.

With our shoes in our hands, we leave the beach behind.

***

By the time he comes back with a couple of slices, I’m already packing. The TV’s on, and he sits cross-legged on the bed with a maps app open, studying the route home between bites. He’s trying to figure out if it would take too long to drive the coastal route back and see all the sights he keeps discovering on Google. Alex’s texts are still buzzing through asking him to call her about the lawsuit, but he ignores them.

Since I’ve packed all my things, I start to pack his, too. He watches me fold one of his shirts and tuck it into his backpack.

“Thanks,”

he says with a warm smile.

The flip side of my heart.

Tears prickle in my eyes and I quickly turn, blinking them away.

It’s this picture of us.

It’s over too soon.