Julian stood at the rail beside me, jacket zipped higher than usual. The island shrank behind us until it was just a dark line on the horizon, then nothing.
I kept looking back anyway. Stupid. There was nothing left to see.
Neither of us said much on the way. The engine just hummed. I could still feel sand in my sneakers, rubbing against my toes every time I moved. Every time the boat hit a swell, I felt the change, the air getting thicker and heavier.
Behind us was a flat rock where we’d argued for an hour over a crab’s name. Behind us was a boathouse he hadn’t set foot in for years, even if he still talked about it like it was last week. I kept my mouth shut. There was no way to say any of it without sounding like I was begging him to stay this way.
The car was parked right at the
