“Oh, my mom and I moved a lot. Never very far but lots of different small towns in the middle of the state,” I explain. It’s more than I’ve told anyone about the life Mom and I lived— even Aunt Claire— but it feels natural and right to tell Zack.

“It must be kind of cool to get to know different places. I’ve always lived in the same house. Sometimes I wish we’d move. A new place. Seeing things for the first time. Sort of like starting over.”

“I don’t know about cool. My whole life, I’ve wished I could live in the same house for years on end. I always thought it would be fun to know your neighbors. Maybe have barbeques and share things. I’ve never had real neighbors like Aunt Claire does. She talks to them all the time. I bet your family does the same thing.”

Zack turns from our conversation, leaving his back facing me. What the heck did I say this time? Every time I begin enjoying his company, he disappears on me. I’m starting to get familiar with what happens, I just don’t get why it happens. But this time I feel braver and intend to find out.

I walk around, giving Zack no choice but to face me. I grab his hand, hoping to restore our connection…get a reaction of some sort at least. But he looks down at me blankly. “What happened? You were right here with me a minute ago and now you’re gone. Did I say something? Do something?”

He shakes his head, mute.

“Okay. But whatever it was, I can’t promise not to do it again if I don’t even know what I keep doing that upsets you.”

“You don’t upset me.” Zack brings his eyes back to mine, briefly, then looks away again. Whatever it is, it’s causing him pain and I want it to go away. I just want the anguish I see in his eyes to disappear.

“It’s okay. We don’t have to talk about it.” I look down at my watch. “It’s probably time we head to meet the group anyway.” I squeeze his hand and take a step toward the car, our hands still locked. He tightens his grip, but doesn’t move with me. It stops me in my tracks.

“I had a girlfriend,” he begins. His voice is low and he looks down as he speaks. He pauses and I wait anxiously for whatever is to come next.

“Her name was Emily.” Zack lowers himself to the ground and sits on the tuft of grass in front of the car, staring out at the sun setting over an ocean that is bluer than I ever thought it could be.

Forgetting my anxiety about getting so close to Zack, I sit down next to him and wait, knowing that whatever he’s about to share brings him only pain. I want to support him. Just be here for him.

Zack turns to me, and with just enough light left from the setting sun, I see a fullness in his eyes that only fighting back tears can bring. I’m surprised when he speaks. “She was my neighbor for ten years. She died in a car accident six months ago.” And with those two short sentences, Zack has told me more about who he is than a lifetime of words could ever tell me.

I close my eyes, realizing the pain I must have caused when I told him all I ever wanted was a neighbor. Nothing I can say will comfort him…I should know that from experience. So I don’t try to give him words filled with false hope that things will get better, because I’m not sure they will. Instead, I rise to my knees, crawl between his parted legs, wrap my arms around his neck and just hold him. No words. No promises. Just silence and whatever comfort my arms can bring. He’s tense for a few minutes. But I stay steadfast, keeping myself wrapped tightly around him, even if he doesn’t hold me back. Until eventually, his shoulders soften and I hear his muffled tears.

We stay that way until the sun sets behind the ocean and all the light fades away. A lighthouse flashes occasionally in the distance. After a while, Zack pulls back and finds my eyes. “I don’t talk about it, Nikki,” he whispers. “People are afraid to talk to me about it, so they just pretend it didn’t happen. Allie tried to talk to me once, but I shut her out and she knew better than to try again. I don’t want to shut you out. I feel like you understand me. I felt that way even before you told me about your mom.”

I lean my head against his shoulder. A few minutes pass and the flicker of the guiding light off in the distance catches my attention again. “I’ve always been drawn to pictures of lighthouses,” I say. “I never understood why.” As if on cue, it flickers again, revealing itself for a few seconds before it fades back into the darkness. “There’s just something solitary about them, but at the same time they draw people in…guide them…maybe even save a few, just by giving them light in the darkness.” Zack exhales audibly and rests his head against mine.

We stay that way, in the darkness, in silence, the only sound the waves crashing against the shoreline below us. Only thirty minutes pass before we climb back into the car, but it feels like thirty days. We’re close enough now, even in the car, that our bodies touch, but this time there isn’t a sexual energy. It’s different. Acceptance— and understanding. Around Zack, I feel…at home. Like I belong. Something I never thought I’d feel again.

Chapter 24

Zack

The minute the front door opens, I immediately catch on that Keller is wearing a clean shirt and has dosed himself with cologne. My mind darts back to the football field conversation. Keller plans on asking Nikki to the homecoming dance. Shit.

“Hey. Oh, you came together. Okay, great.” Keller raises an eyebrow to me as he lets us in.

“Zack lost a bet and had to buy me dinner,” Nikki says more to tease me than in response to Keller.