15. Jack
15
JACK
WHAT’S IN A NAME
“T here you are!” the librarian said as she spun around the corner. She took a bespectacled look at the book in my hand and nodded. “ Oh , I see you’ve found Wander Whitlock . Great choice. That author has a gift. I swear, I can never keep the whole series on the shelf at once, so it’s your lucky day. They’re always checked out.”
Aurora’s eyes fell to the floor, and my gut twisted.
The librarian shifted the stack in her arms. “ Now , I’ve got good news and bad news.” She handed over the letters. “ The good news is that you’re correct. They are manuscripts from a local author who wrote historical romance, and I found the books they came from. The bad news is that they’re all checked out right now, so I can’t give them to you. But I can put you on the waitlist and give you a call when they're turned in.”
I reached for Aurora , keeping her book tucked under my arm for safekeeping while I held her hand and helped her to her feet.
“That’s okay. I’m not local. I don’t have a library card here,” Aurora said. “ Thank you, though. That’s very kind.”
“I do,” I said. “ I’d like to read them.”
Aurora’s lip curled as she lifted a what-the-fuck eyebrow.
“I’ll get your information down at the desk when we head back there. Now , for the good news.” The librarian beamed as she handed over a paperback. “ I do have the author’s autobiography on hand, if you’re interested in learning more about her.”
That seemed to pique Aurora’s interest. She looked up at me. “ Will you check it out for me?” she whispered. “ I love autobiographies.” She turned back to the librarian. “ I’ll take really good care of it.” She pointed at me. “ On his honor. And he’s a firefighter.”
If Aurora asked me for the moon as a nightlight, I would give it to her. A book was the least I could do.
The librarian laughed. “ You seem like a book lover. And any bibliophile is a friend of mine.”
The old lady had no idea. She handed the autobiography to Aurora and patted her hand. “ I’ll be back up at my throne if you need anything. I’ll check you out when you’re done.”
Aurora looked down at the book as the lady waltzed away. The title text on the cover read, What’s In A Name . In fine print above the much larger author’s name, it read, Juniper Whitlock writing as Aurora Archer .
Holy shit.
“That’s my aunt,” she whispered with soft, trembling lips as she opened it up to the first page.
Instead of a plain chapter title, the book started with a handwritten note printed on the page. The swooping script matched the letters Aurora found in the house to a T .
Aurora is the best name. It’s the scream of the ocean as it churns and rages. It’s the flippant moodiness of the sea. It’s the glimmer of lights in the night sky, dancing without care or reason just because she can.
* * *
“You okay?” I asked as I shifted my hand on the steering wheel, getting comfortable for the drive back to Cedar Island .
After leaving the library in a haze of shock, I took Aurora for a bite at Jokers , a honky-tonk bar off the beaten path, before heading back.
The entire time we ate, her nose was in the book. I was half-convinced she was going to finish it before we even left Beaufort .
She had curled up on the truck bench seat with the receipt from the bar holding her place in the book. An odd energy wafted off her like tendrils of smoke. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. It was a mystic magic, dancing between good and evil.
“Huh?” she said as she looked up from the page she was reading.
I rested my arm across her shoulders and gently stroked her hair. “ I feel like we just unlocked Pandora’s box.”
To my surprise, Aurora shut the book, leaned into my touch, and closed her eyes. “ I never knew she was an author.”
“Were you two close?”
Aurora shook her head. “ No . I need to call my mom and see what she knows. Aunt Juniper . . . She always seemed like a piece of family lore. She was the weird aunt, you know? Not the kind that people avoid, but the kind where she was always doing something crazy. Like a 'big catch' story. Every time it's told, the fish gets bigger, the catch gets more harrowing, and the story gets more fantastical.”
“Aurora Archer . . .” I worked the pseudonym around like a question and a statement all in one. “ That’s a pretty badass name.”
A fleeting smile graced her lips as she traced the edge of the book cover with her finger. “ I always felt like the odd one out in my family.”
“What do you mean?”
She shrugged. “ It’s just my mom and me. I never knew my dad. Mom is . . . she’s very analytical. She has her own hobbies. But it’s like she’s left-brained and I’m right-brained. But instead of complimenting each other, we don’t understand each other. Everything is literal to her. If it’s imaginative, she dismisses it as being childish and frivolous. She doesn’t listen to music. Doesn’t watch movies. Definitely doesn’t read for fun. If she reads, it’s non-fiction. Don’t get me wrong—she’s a great mom. But we don’t . . . speak the same language. She never understood why I chose to try to be an author. She just accepted it because I was making money and doing fine. And when it all went to hell, I could feel her disappointment every time she looked at me.” She clutched the book a little tighter. “ But this . . . Maybe I’m more like my family than I thought.”
Well, shit. That was the most Aurora had ever opened up to me. There was hope in her voice on those last words, like she had found a kindred spirit in the memory of her aunt and the revelation of who she was.
“Tell me something,” I said as the road dipped into the forest that shrouded our end of the coastline from the rest of the world. “ The money-stealing ex.”
Aurora stuck out her tongue and pretended to gag.
I chuckled. “ You heard from him?”
“No. And I don’t want to.”
I shifted in my seat as we rumbled over a pothole. “ Not even to get him to pay you back?”
She huffed. “ I’d rather stay broke than deal with his bullshit. What about you?” Aurora nudged me with her elbow. “ Any exes drain your bank account?”
I didn’t expect her to turn the tables on me, but if she was feeling talkative, I wasn’t about to shut it down. “ Nah . Luckily , my bank account is safe and sound.”
But she wasn’t letting me get off that easy. “ What’s your story? Why are you still single? And don’t give me the 'just haven’t found the right one' bullshit. You’re a catch.”
“You think I’m a catch?” I teased, nudging her with my arm. “ I’m flattered, Roar .”
She rolled her eyes. “ I’m jaded, not delusional. Now spill, hotshot.”
“I think we’re all a little jaded, Roar . Life isn’t kind to anyone.”
Her eyes softened. “ What’s your story?”
“I’ve never gotten serious enough with anyone to let them around my bank account,” I quipped, but Aurora didn’t buy the joke. She just waited me out until I spoke up again. “ I lost my brother, Lucas , when I was twenty. He was sixteen. Went swimming and got caught in a rip tide.” I strangled the steering wheel, trying not to let the memory get the better of me. “ I was a rookie with the fire department when it happened. We were called for a joint response with the Coast Guard and EMS .” I bit the inside of my cheek. “ They found his body a few miles down the coast.”
“Oh, Jack . I’m so sorry,” she said softly as she squeezed my knee.
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “ My folks packed up and moved inland. They couldn’t bear to be around the water anymore.”
“But you stayed . . .”
It felt like I had swallowed sand. I licked my lips, but it was no help. “ Some delusional part of me thinks one day I’ll wake up and find him walking up the beach to the house with that stupid smile on his face like nothing ever happened.”
“That’s not delusion. That’s love.” She cocked her head. “ Is that why you freaked out about me and the girls drinking on the beach?”
“Maybe a little,” I admitted. “ I get a little neurotic about people I care about being near the water. I get overprotective when I get close to someone. It makes dating hard. I’ve never fallen in love. There’s a part of me that has to be disconnected to do my job. I don’t get attached. I wouldn’t survive if I responded to someone I loved having an emergency, and then lost them in the process. Some days, I feel like I died when Lucas did.”
Instead of saying a word, Aurora closed her eyes and rested her head on my shoulder, simply sitting in the discomfort of life and loss.
When I pulled up to the house and cut the engine, she hadn’t budged.
“You gonna do any more work on the house today?” There was plenty of time left in the day, but a morose fog had settled over the two of us. It was entirely my fault, but Aurora didn’t seem put off by it. I liked that.
“I don’t think so.” She let out a deep, weary exhale. “ I need to take a day and regroup.”
I glanced up at the house. “ You wanna come inside?”
I could see the hesitancy in her eyes. She was going to say no.
Aurora unlatched her seatbelt and grabbed her book. “ Okay .”
I could have been knocked over by a light breeze.
“Yeah?”
“I mean, I’m going to keep reading. But your couch is more comfortable than mine.”
I let out a laugh and picked up the copy of Halcyon I had checked out at the library. “ Fine by me. I have a little reading to do myself.”
Aurora groaned as she slid out of the truck. “ I’m going to regret this, aren’t I ?”
I shut my door and threw my arm around her shoulders as we walked up to the house. “ You ready for the running commentary?”
“No,” she groused. “ Keep your thoughts and facial expressions to yourself. Better yet, sit behind me so I don’t have to watch you read. And if you hate it, don’t tell me. I don’t need to know. It’s not my business.”
I unlocked the door and flipped on the lights before letting Aurora walk in first. She kicked off her flip-flops in the entryway and crept into the living room. Seeing her there again was a potent hit of déjà vu. I could still remember the way she felt stretched out beneath me. The way she tasted. The way she breathed. The way the two of us fit like a lock and a key.
I settled on the couch beside her. Aurora opened her mouth to argue about us reading side by side, but I turned and pulled her into my lap so that her back was to me.
"Is this alright?” I said, getting comfortable against the throw pillows and opening Halcyon to chapter one.
Aurora’s hair brushed over the page like a feather-light signature, claiming her words. “ You’re a nice chair.”
I inhaled the scent of honeysuckle and sawdust. Something distinctly her. “ Good . Settle in.”