11
931 Words
CHAPTER 11
The Truth We Keep
A week passed.
Life settled into a rhythm that felt almost too perfect.
Leah worked at Whitmore's Bookstore during the day.
Marco taught surfing in the mornings and helped around the marina in the afternoons.
Every evening, without fail, they met.
Sometimes on the pier.
Sometimes at the lighthouse.
Sometimes on the beach with nothing but the sound of the waves between them.
Neither of them ever had to ask.
They simply knew where to find each other.
---
Saturday morning arrived with bright sunshine and a cloudless sky.
Marco was already waiting outside the bookstore with an old camera hanging around his neck.
Leah tilted her head.
"You own a camera?"
"I borrowed it."
She laughed.
"Did the owner agree this time?"
He grinned.
"Yes."
"I almost don't believe you."
"You wound me."
"I've learned not to trust your definition of 'borrowing.'"
He placed a hand dramatically over his heart.
"I've changed."
"It's been... what?"
She pretended to count.
"Three days?"
"People grow."
She laughed and shook her head.
"So, what's the camera for?"
Marco lifted it.
"I realized something."
"What?"
"I don't have any pictures of us."
Leah blinked.
"You're serious?"
"I am."
She smiled softly.
"I like that."
---
They spent the morning wandering around Seabrook while Marco insisted on photographing everything.
Leah laughing at a seagull that stole a sandwich.
Leah sitting on the harbor wall with her feet dangling over the water.
Leah pretending to read while secretly watching him through the pages of a novel.
"Stop moving," Marco called.
"I wasn't moving."
"You blinked."
"People blink."
"Not in photographs."
She laughed.
"You sound like an old man."
"I feel like one."
---
Eventually, Leah stole the camera from him.
"My turn."
Marco immediately looked uncomfortable.
"I don't like being photographed."
She lowered the camera.
"Why?"
"I just don't."
She frowned.
"You've taken about fifty pictures of me."
"I know."
"So it's only fair."
He hesitated.
Then forced a smile.
"Okay."
She snapped a photo.
Then another.
By the third one...
He wasn't smiling anymore.
He looked... guarded.
Almost as if cameras reminded him of something he wanted to forget.
Leah noticed.
She quietly lowered the camera.
"Sorry."
He looked at her.
"For what?"
"I think I pushed."
He exhaled slowly.
"No."
"You just..."
He searched for the words.
"...made me remember."
She reached for his hand.
"You don't have to tell me."
He nodded gratefully.
"Thank you."
“Come let's take on together”
“You sure”
“Yea I am”
He took the camera from her, asked a passerby for help and he stood close to her his hands awkwardly placed on her shoulders
And they both smiled.
---
That afternoon, they spread the printed photographs across the table in Mrs. Dawson's garden.
Mrs. Dawson adjusted her glasses as she picked one up.
"Oh, this one's lovely."
It showed Leah laughing with her head thrown back while Marco looked at her instead of the camera.
Mrs. Dawson smiled to herself.
"He wasn't taking a picture of the beach."
Leah looked closer.
He hadn't been.
Every photograph he took...
Somehow centered on her.
She looked up.
"Marco..."
He rubbed the back of his neck, caught.
"I might've gotten distracted."
Mrs. Dawson chuckled.
"I should leave you two alone."
She disappeared inside, still smiling.
Leah looked back at the photograph.
"You weren't even looking through the lens."
"I know."
"What were you looking at?"
He met her eyes.
"You."
Silence.
The afternoon breeze stirred the photographs across the table.
Leah felt her cheeks warm.
"You make me nervous when you say things like that."
"I make myself nervous."
She laughed.
"Good."
---
As the sun began to set, they walked toward the lighthouse.
Halfway there, Marco stopped.
"What is it?" Leah asked.
He looked across the road.
A black SUV drove slowly past them.
It didn't stop.
But the driver looked directly at Leah before continuing.
Marco frowned.
"You know him?"
Leah turned to look.
The SUV had already disappeared around the corner.
"No."
But something about it...
Made her stomach tighten.
Marco slipped his hand into hers.
"You okay?"
She forced a smile.
"Yeah."
"I probably imagined it."
He nodded.
Still...
He glanced back down the road one more time.
---
That night, Marco couldn't sleep.
The black SUV lingered in his thoughts.
He had seen it before.
Twice near the marina.
Once outside the bookstore.
And now...
Near Leah.
He sat on the edge of his bed, staring at the old photograph hidden inside his wallet.
The picture of two brothers.
His thumb traced the younger boy's face.
"It's happening again."
His voice was barely audible.
"I promised I wouldn't let anyone get hurt again."
He closed his eyes.
This time...
He wasn't sure he could keep that promise.
---
Miles away, Richard Bennett stood inside the luxury hotel suite, listening as his investigator gave another update.
"Miss Bennett appears completely settled."
"And the boy?"
"Very protective."
Richard smiled faintly.
"As expected."
The investigator hesitated.
"There is one concern."
Richard looked up.
"He noticed the surveillance vehicle today."
The room fell silent.
Richard walked to the window overlooking the sea.
"Then it's time."
The investigator frowned.
"Time for what?"
Richard's expression turned cold.
"To remind my daughter..."
He picked up Leah's latest photograph from the desk.
"...that no one runs from the Bennett family forever."
Outside, thunder rumbled over the distant ocean.
A storm was coming.
Neither Leah nor Marco knew it yet.
But the happiest days of their lives…. Was slowly coming to an end.
- Writer
