You Make Me by Erin McCarthy

Author:Erin McCarthy [McCarthy, Erin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-04-15T22:00:00+00:00

I told myself I wouldn’t watch for him, but I knew when the ferry came. And I knew how long it would take him to walk up from the dock. So when I got a text that said he was coming up the drive, I’d already seen him out the window. He walked the same way he had the first day, with confidence, not bothering to look left or right. His eyes were trained on the house. On me.

Given that I had already encouraged him to come ninety minutes away and across the bay to see me, there was no point in pretending that I wasn’t glad to see him. I yanked the door open and jogged down the steps to meet him. “Hey,” I said, stopping in front of him and pulling a stray hair out of my mouth. “I can’t believe you came up here.”

Of course I was still upset about Ethan, but it was a totally separate thing from the cautious giddiness I felt when I saw Heath. Without thinking about the consequences, I threw my arms around him and gave him a hug. He gripped me back, hard, and kissed the side of my head.

After the last time I’d seen him, it felt amazingly comforting.

“Of course I came. I’m sorry about your father, by the way, if I didn’t say it before. You know I liked and admired him a lot. He was one of the only people who was ever nice to me.”

“He cared about you,” I said truthfully, pulling back to study Heath. “How did you know he died?”

He just shrugged. “I made sure I knew what was going on back here. I really wanted to come to the funeral but I was in Afghanistan then.” Heath took my hand in his and led me up the stairs, glancing around the porch. “It looks exactly the same. Nothing’s changed.”

“Everything’s changed,” I whispered in disagreement, though I didn’t mean the peeling paint or the plastic chair in the corner. “So you haven’t been back at all?”

“I’ve been to Rockland but this is my first time on the island since the day I left four years ago.” He let go of my hand and paced back and forth, gripping the banister and surveying the yard, the wild overgrown grass and the gravel drive. “So why doesn’t Brian live here?”

That made me snort. “Please. There isn’t enough entertainment here for Brian. Or women to take advantage of. Everyone on the island knows exactly what a tool he is.”

“That he is.” Heath glanced back at the house. “Is everything still on? Power? Water?”

“Yes, surprisingly. But it’s freezing in there. You know the windows and insulation suck. I’m spoiled now. The thought of a January here in this drafty house makes me shiver.”

“Are you thinking of spending January here?”

“No, of course not.”

“Where do you go for winter break?” he asked, walking to the end of the porch to inspect the wood pile that was still there.

The stack of logs was probably housing an entire colony of mice at this point.

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