the fire truck and the paramedics yelling for everyone to clear the way, all of it faded until only one sound remained.
The sound of Jack’s heartbeat.
He reached his brother and fell at his side. “Shane! Wake up!” He took his brother’s hand and squeezed it and in a blink they weren’t on the beach anymore.
Shane was running down the stairs ahead of him, Christmas morning ten years ago. And there parked beside the tree were a pair of bicycles. And Shane was saying, “That’s all I ever wanted. This is the best Christmas ever!”
And it was summer, a dozen summers, and Shane was chasing him down Maya Beach and Jack was yelling back at him. “You’ll never catch me, Shane. I’m too fast.”
Shane laughed. “One day I will, Jack. I won’t be little forever.”
And then Shane wasn’t little. He was a teenager and he was sitting beside his brother on the flight to Belize and he was staring out at the ocean and he was smiling. “I’m going to do something really special with my life, Jack,” he was saying. “Just you watch.”
Jack was nodding, because he already knew that. Shane was going to be President of the United States and the whole world would know his name. And Jack would be a Navy SEAL, but he’d have an office somewhere in the White House just so he could be close to his brother.
His best friend.
But then they were loading Shane onto a stretcher. “Keep the oxygen up,” a paramedic shouted. “Don’t stop!”
His dad and mom started running after the paramedics toward the ambulance and Jack jumped to his feet. Where were they taking him? Breathe, Shane. Please, God, make him breathe. He’s my best friend.
Jack blinked and he was in the front of the ambulance with his mother. And she was weeping, her hands over her face. Jack put his arm around her but he couldn’t catch his breath, couldn’t talk or think or let himself imagine if—
No! Everything was going to be okay! Shane had made it back to the shore. Of course he was going to be okay. But then Jack realized something. His father’s shirt and shorts had been drenched. Which could only mean… his dad had swum out and brought Shane back and now… now…
Jack closed his eyes and Shane was sitting beside him, football in his hands. You might have a little competition at quarterback, big brother.
And Jack was grinning because this was the third day of their vacation and they had forever till they had to go home again. A million hours of sun and sand and surf. And they were playing catch and the storm was moving on. They were still playing catch.
Please, God, let us still be playing catch.
But when Jack opened his eyes he wasn’t on the beach, he was sitting in the front seat of the ambulance and his mother was still crying beside him and when he looked back, his father was still there next to Shane. And Shane still wasn’t moving, no matter how hard the paramedics worked to make him breathe again.
The next two hours passed with Jack in the most horrible fog. He kept closing his eyes and finding himself in a place where yesterday lived. He didn’t fully realize what had happened or why they were in a hospital until his father found him in the waiting room.
Shane had taken in too much water, his dad was saying. The paramedics did everything they could. They needed to take his body home and…
“No!” Jack tried to stand, but he couldn’t make himself move. Instead he fell to the cold, dusty hospital floor and he could see the headlines. East Coast Teen Dies Saving Little Girl. And everyone would know his name. Shane Ryder. Not because he was President of the United States, but because his life had been cut short.
His best friend. His brother.
The ache in Jack was worse than anything in all his life. Shane, where are you? He couldn’t see, couldn’t believe it. Couldn’t move. And one single thought pulled at Jack harder than the ocean current.
All of this was his fault. It had to be. He should’ve swum faster, rescued the little girl and then made it back to help Shane. There had to have been a way. But now Shane wasn’t going to Georgetown Prep in the fall and Jack wasn’t ever going to play catch with him on the beach again. His brother was gone.
And Jack would spend the rest