The Bookstore on the Beach - Brenda Novak Page 0,27

“Hey, you two want to get in on the next round?”

Taylor held her breath. She was afraid Sierra would agree and the conversation would be over, but Sierra said, “Not right now.”

“I’m fine, too,” Taylor said.

Sierra popped a few peanuts into her mouth, which was about the only other food on the table she could eat. “So what type of things do you do when you’re in Florida?”

“Hang out. Shop. The usual.”

“Do you miss Tampa?”

She looked down into the dark liquid of her soda as she said, “Not really. I’m glad to get away. Things have been...weird the past couple of years.”

“In what way?”

She’d promised herself she wouldn’t tell anyone in Sable Beach about her father. Having to respond to everyone’s curiosity about it was like rubbing salt in the wound. She didn’t want to start that up again. And yet, she found herself wanting to share her pain with this unusual girl. Sierra approached life so differently than any other friend Taylor had met. She hoped Sierra might have some answers for her, some way to cope that she hadn’t figured out for herself quite yet. After all, Sierra seemed to have had plenty of her own problems, not having a mother and trying to get along with a father she described as difficult and demanding. “My dad went missing eighteen months ago.”

Her eyes widened. “Really? From where?”

“Ukraine. We think,” she added with a frown.

“You don’t know?”

Taylor shook her head.

“Were your parents married when he disappeared?”

“They were. My dad went on a business trip one day and never came home. My mom’s been searching for him ever since.”

“What was he doing in Ukraine? Is that where he worked?”

“No. We believe he went there because he was doing something for the FBI, but we’re not sure what, and no one will say.”

Sierra studied her thoughtfully. “So he was here one day and gone the next.”

“Pretty much.”

“That sucks. I’m sorry.”

Her empathy somehow made a big difference. “Thanks. My mom’s about to give up. She’s talking like it’s time for us to move on.”

Sierra reached for more nuts. “You’re still hoping he’ll come back?”

“I’ll always hope. But I don’t know if I can expect her to keep going. So far, she’s devoted eighteen months of her life to finding him. Where does it end?”

“You should get a tattoo,” she said simply. “Your father’s name. The date he went missing. A symbol or saying he loved. Whatever is significant to you.”

Although Taylor had never considered a tattoo before, she found the idea to be comforting, as if Sierra had suggested a way to reclaim a small piece of her father, one she could carry with her always. But she knew her mother would never allow it. Although she’d never asked for a tattoo, Caden had asked several times, and her mother always said he couldn’t get one until he was old enough to do it without her permission. Tattoos are too permanent to decide when you’re still in high school, she’d said.

“I can’t,” Taylor told Sierra. “Not yet, anyway. I’m only seventeen.”

Sierra finished her water before looking over at those who were playing pool. “I know someone who would do it for you,” she said under her breath.

“You do?”

“If you’re positive you want it. I wouldn’t want you to regret it and then blame me.”

“I’d never blame you even if I did regret it. But...my mother will freak out.”

“Get it somewhere your mother will never see—maybe on your hip. You could hide that easily enough.”

“True.”

“Think about it and let me know. It’s not a decision you should make quickly,” she said and popped a final handful of nuts into her mouth before going over to play pool.

Taylor would’ve followed. She was fascinated by this girl who seemed old beyond her years, strong and wise and willing to forge her own path through life, even if it meant facing the judgment and criticism of others.

Most kids wanted to fit in. Sierra bravely stood out.

Taylor thought of a saying one of her teachers had put on the chalkboard and left there for the entire semester: Courage is as contagious as fear.

Now she believed it.

* * *

Autumn’s phone dinged with a text as she climbed the stairs to her apartment over the garage.

I’m sorry that Laurie embarrassed you at the restaurant. She probably doesn’t remember that you used to talk about Quinn so often.

Her mother hadn’t mentioned Quinn since he left their table, not even after they arrived home and Laurie and Chris were no longer