Sign Here by Claudia Lux

Author:Claudia Lux [Lux, Claudia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2022-10-25T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

—

“HEY, YOU.”

No matter the problem, the first harmonic of Gavin’s voice was the best and most immediate remedy. She wanted to call him again and again just to hear him answer. She wanted to hook herself up to the cell phone towers between them, align her heartbeat with the pause between rings.

“Gav.” She exhaled, her breath hard and quick as she crossed the lawn. “Something’s up. I think he knows.”

“Slow down,” Gavin said. “What happened? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” Her foot slipped on the morning’s dew, and she steadied herself. “I’m okay. He’s not here right now; I don’t know where he went. But he definitely knows something.”

“What happened, exactly?”

Lily entered the shadow of the boathouse and pressed herself against the wall. She felt briefly insane, flush with drama like a teenager. But the pounding in her heart was real.

“Okay, so, I did something for Sarah yesterday. Nothing special, just brought flowers to the clearing. For the anniversary.”

“Oh, Lily,” he said. “Thank you. What did you get her?”

“Poppies. I remember her saying something about liking flowers that could make drugs.”

Gavin chuckled at the memory, so adolescent. The dead don’t grow up.

“You’re the kindest woman I know. You know that?”

“I learned it from you,” she said, and for a moment she forgot why she’d called; she forgot anything else existed at all.

“So, then what?”

“When I went downstairs this morning, one of Sarah’s flowers—a poppy—was sitting right there, in the middle of the dining room table. He put it in a vase and everything. I didn’t even think he knew where we kept those.” She took a breath. “He wanted me to find it, Gav. He wanted me to know he knows.”

“Could he have just found it and thought it was nice?”

“After prom, Silas tried to replant my corsage as a surprise. Trust me, this wasn’t floral appreciation.”

“Do you want me to come get you? I don’t like you feeling unsafe.”

Lily leaned back against the wall.

“I’m fine,” she said, her pulse slowing simply from his voice. “I’m safe. He is probably just passive-aggressively letting me know he knows I did something for Sarah. But I can explain that easily enough. Sean just turned seventeen, you know.”

“Makes the whole thing real on a different level.”

Lily closed her eyes. She had always loved the boathouse. She loved the sounds it made: the slap of water over the rusted boat lift, the creak of the weather vane.

“He couldn’t possibly know about us.”

“No,” Gavin agreed. “Not from a flower.”

Lily could hear Gavin press the receiver into his neck as if pulling her close.

“Fuck, Gav. I really wish I could see you.”

“I wish I could do a lot more than see you.”

Lily leaned back against the wall harder, and then she heard the screen door slam shut and saw Sean shuffling down the porch steps.

“Shit, I have to go. Hold that thought, okay?”

“As if it ever goes away,” he said. “Would be nice to get some work done once in a while.”

“I love you,” she

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