Chapter Eleven
Cipher
Our parents are due to arrive any minute, and I keep glancing at my watch. While I might check in with my mom every day, I haven’t seen my parents all year. They don’t live close by and have to fly in to visit. I wanted to pick them up from the airport, but Dad insisted on hiring a car.
Noa is vibrating with energy beside me, since his mom and siblings will be here any minute as well.
They live about eight hours away and are driving too.
Valli has cleaned every square inch of the shed, even though they’re not staying here.
Nixie has cleaned a guest house for them, while other family members visiting will stay in RVs.
All the night chases are suspended for the week leading up to Christmas and for a few days afterward to allow family to stay, something Nixie does for most holidays.
It allows us to take a much-needed break, and we still keep the island open during the day, and families are welcome to participate and have a good time.
“Cars are coming!” Noa exclaims, taking Valli’s hand and dragging her toward the front entrance while I follow behind them.
Once the minivan parks, Noa releases Valli’s hand and takes off running.
His mom is the first out of the van, and Noa runs into her arms. She is a tiny woman and not at all what I expected, since Noa is not a small guy.
Noa catches her and lifts her off the ground.
Behind her, I watch as his siblings pile out.
My parents park and both get out of the car much more sedately in comparison as I walk closer, my mom smiling at me and signing, “You look thin.”
I sign back. “I’m fine. You look well.”
“I’m always well.”
She smiles and steps forward, putting her arms around me and holding on tight. When she’s done, she pulls back and looks at me, then at Valli, who has stayed close. Not that I blame her with the noise coming from Noa’s family.
“Is this her?”
“Yes, this is Valli. Love of my life.”
Valli has no idea how to sign. She told me as much, and was freaking out, but I assured her it’s fine.
I will help teach her if she wants, but for now my mom can read lips.
My mom steps around me and takes Valli’s face in her hands, and Valli goes incredibly still.
When my mom releases her, she signs to Valli, who then looks at me.
“She says you are already hers. She has claimed you,” I explain.
Valli looks back at my mom with a shy smile as my father joins us with their luggage.
“It’s nice to finally meet you, Valli,” my father says politely, which I made him promise to do. Otherwise he can be a bit hard-headed at times.
“It’s nice to meet you too,” Valli says, grabbing at the hem of my shirt.
My father nods and looks around. “This place isn’t what I expected,” he says. This is his first visit to the island, since I normally always travel to see them.
“Valli!” Noa shouts.
She turns to Noa, releasing my shirt as Noa runs over and takes her hand. He pulls her closer to his family, and I watch Noa’s mom, Kelly, take Valli by the shoulders. She gives her a look, followed by a huge smile, then pulls her into her body and wraps her arms around her.
“I told you,” Noa says to his brother Lach. “I told you she would cry.”
After Noa introduces Valli to his family, he yells for everyone to follow him. So everyone grabs their bags, while I find Valli and take her hand, not wanting to lose her in the chaos.
As we walk toward the cornfield, Noa’s brother stops. “This place is incredible. Is that the cornfield? Why are there Christmas trees instead of cornstalks? Noa said that someone lives in there.”
“No one lives in there,” Noa says.
“But you said . . .”
“Cave used to live there, but he isn’t here right now,” I explain, hoping that will be the end of the conversation.
“He now lives with us,” Valli adds. “But the cornfield is his.”
Lach looks at the field of trees and nods. “I want to meet him.”
Noa’s older brothers, Ellis and Mack, have been less vocal, but his younger twin sisters are clearly displeased that they have to walk and drag their bags behind them—typical sixteen-year-old girls.
Leni joins us on our walk and introduces herself. She falls into a natural conversation with Nelli and Rory as they want to be called, though Noa insists on using their given names—Lenora and Aurora—which I think is because of how they react to them.
We manage to get everyone to the guest house and their things unpacked before Kelly announces that it’s time to eat.
She wanted to make us a meal, but the houses are not stocked with food, as everyone on the island eats at Ares’s Bar, and we don’t keep anything more than non-perishables and breakfast foods handy.
By the time we take a seat, Noa’s family fill two tables with Noa directing the moving of furniture to accommodate everyone. I sit at one end with my mom sitting beside me, and poor Valli is down the hectic end with Noa.
My father sits across from me, next to Kelly, and she proceeds to talk his ear off.
“He is proud of you.”
I look at my father and back at Mom. “He hasn’t said so.”
My father didn’t want me to move so far away from him; being their only child, he wanted me close. But when a job opened here, and I came for a trial, I never left. I love it here.
“He doesn’t say things aloud. You know where you get it from. How is your boyfriend doing?”
Mom knows everything about Cave. She was afraid for me at first after what I shared about him, but she trusts me to make the right choice.
“He is doing okay. He should be home soon.”
“And you?”
I don’t want to lie to my mom, but I refuse to tell her that a piece of my heart feels like it’s been ripped from my chest. That it hurts.
“Better, Valli makes me feel better.”
My mom looks at Valli, who is laughing at something one of the twins is telling her.
Then she looks back at me and places her hand over mine.
Our meals are brought out, and the chaos calms a little.
Noa is in his element, entertaining everyone and jumping between conversations while his mom sits back watching him with a smile on her face.
I excuse myself and go up to the bar to get a water jug when my father joins me. “I like her,” he says, and it’s the closest thing to a compliment he has ever given me.
“How’s the other one?” he says, meaning Cave. He is still having a hard time processing that I have a boyfriend, since he never even knew I liked men, though I honestly didn’t know either until I met Cave. “When does he come home?”
“Hopefully soon.”
My father nods and picks up a water jug placed down in front of us by one of the day staff. “You seem happy.”
“I am.”
Dad nods, and we move back to the table. “The work you have been doing on the house, you’ll have to send me pictures.”
“I will.”
Dad takes his seat beside Kelly, who immediately picks up the conversation with him again, and I laugh as I take a seat. Valli has stolen my seat, so I take the free chair beside her where Mom was sitting.
“Your mom taught me how to sign ‘thank you.’”
She shows me what she has learned. “Did I do it right?”
“Close enough that she will understand.”
“She put her hand on my face before dinner and didn’t sign anything. I don’t know what it means.”
“It means she sees you. It’s what she does when she wants someone to know they have been seen.”
I glance at my mom, who is now sitting in Valli’s seat trying to sign something to the twin I think is Nelli. She is attempting to sign back, and while enthusiastic, is very bad at it. My mom tosses her head back in laughter.
“I like her,” Valli says.
“She likes you.”
She holds my gaze for a moment and smiles. “I love you,” she whispers and my heart nearly explodes.
“I love you too,” I say back quietly. We do not need Noa to see this moment. It will become a thing and be broadcast to the entire table. I want this moment just for myself.
Though it’s quickly interrupted by shouts of Noa and Lach challenging each other to a race.
“We should probably stop them,” I say.
Valli laughs. “I don’t think we can. But it will be fun to watch.”
Everyone gets up and moves outside, Noa’s family hyping up the racers.
Lach announces the rules are open to interpretation—whatever that means—and Noa agrees, which shows this is not the first time something like this has happened.
Vero appears and notices something is going on, as if he has a sixth sense for chaos.
“You’re racing us,” Lach points to him.
“You don’t have to join in,” Noa tells Vero, who grins from ear to ear.
“I want to. But I have to warn you, I’m really fast. People underestimate me.”
Everyone spills out onto the main path, wanting to see what is going on.
Noa and Vero have an advantage of knowing the island, but Lach is so sure of himself.
Ares has come out of the bar, moving off to pull down the big screen in the stunt area, where he’ll have the security cameras up and ready to go.
Valli stands beside me, and my mom is next to her.
“Ready?” Noa asks.
Vero gets into his best running stance, while Lach jumps up and down on the spot.
“Should someone count us down?” Vero asks.
“Good idea,” Noa says, looking around.
“I’m full of ideas, just ask me,” Vero replies.
Ellis steps forward. “Three . . . two . . . one . . . go!”
Noa and Lach take off at the same moment, cutting down the path with Vero on their heels.
We all rush into the stunt arena to watch as they continue to run on the screen.
Lach tries to trip Vero as he gets closer, and Noa laughs but keeps running.
Noa’s mom is laughing hard, placing bets with her children on who is going to win.
They race through Sideshow Alley. Noa cuts between two buildings while Vero goes the long way. Lach follows his brother, and they shoot around to the graveyard where Noa has an advantage. We all watch as they circle through the cornfield, which is where the race gets closer.
All three men dart in between the trees at the same time, but we can’t clearly see where any of them are. Noa and Lach come out, side by side, both laughing, but Vero is nowhere to be seen. They keep running toward us when Valli spots Vero coming out of the cornfield, dirt on his knees.
Both brothers are neck and neck, but Noa reaches the stunt area first, with Lach hot on his heels.
Noa is still doing a victory dance when Vero finally makes his way back.
“You two cheated.”
Lach shrugs. “There were no rules stating we couldn’t.”
“Both of you coming at me at the same time is cheating.”
“Tom-ay-to, tom-ah-to,” Lach says. “The rules were that you could win by any means necessary.”
“Sometimes in life, when you’re competing against the best, you will encounter situations that feel unfair,” Noa says, placing his hand on Vero’s shoulder.
Lach straightens up after catching his breath. “It sucks to suck.”
Vero looks at Lach. “I want to run it again.”
“Absolutely not—all wins are final. There are no rematches,” Noa tells him.
“I will remember this, both of you. There will be another race soon.”
“I look forward to it,” Lach says.
Vero retreats to the bar when Brawley comes out to find him. Kelly comes over to Valli and me while Noa shows his sisters something.
“You’re quieter than I expected,” she says to me.
“Most people are quieter than Noa.”
She laughs. “Fair. He gets it from his grandfather.” That makes us laugh, and she looks at Valli. “He loves you a lot.”
“I feel the same way,” Valli says.
“And Cave, all of you actually. He talks about you all in every call.”
“Cave would find that mortifying,” Valli says.
“I just bet he would from what Noa has told me about him. I have faith that he will be okay when he gets home. He has too many people waiting for him not to be.”
My father joins us again, and we all watch as Noa attempts to teach the twins a new family handshake, one that has way too many steps for anyone to remember, all while Lach films them on his phone.
“He was always like this,” Kelly says. “Even as a boy. I used to worry about him until I realized he’d finally found a place that accepts him for who he is.”
“That’s the best thing about the island—everyone fits in here,” Valli says.
My father announces he wants to take Mom back to the house, as it’s getting cold outside, so everyone heads back.
The biggest mistake is us all returning at the same time.
Noa finds some old board games in the closest, and our quiet night turns into an all-out competition.
I’m not sure how we are going to survive the holidays if this is any indication of how it’s going to go.
When my parents turn in for the night, Valli and I walk back to the shed.
Noa tells us he will be back after he kicks his brother’s ass in some “guess the celebrity” game.
The stroll back to the shed is quiet, and I’m grateful, since it gives me plenty of time to process the fact that Valli loves me. For the first time since Cave was taken away, I feel like everything is going to be okay and that my heart can mend.