Chapter 21
This Year
T HERE ARE FIREMEN AND ambulances and even more sirens in the distance. Alden and Sloane watch their dream home burn, their arms wrapped tightly around one another. Chloe’s eyes keep skimming the crowd, looking for Luke. She barely notices Wyatt’s hand at her back, Marianne clutching her arm, the salt water still beading on Chloe’s skin from her impulsive swim.
After Luke walked in on Chloe and Wyatt that morning, they all scattered, escaping to different corners of the house, making excuses for errands they didn’t need to run, so that they could lick their wounds without being overwhelmed by their collective messiness.
Wyatt left Chloe alone, giving her the space she needed, but now he’s pressed so close to her body that she wonders whether she’s hurting his bruised ribs.
The five of them huddle together on the fringe of the property. Chloe stares at Sloane and Alden, unable to tear her eyes away from their heartbroken faces. Chloe wonders whether Sloane is thinking about all the furniture she spent years sourcing from the high-end designers she coveted for so long. Or maybe Alden is calculating the damage to the custom equipment he designed for his home office. Or maybe their pain is about more than any single physical object; it’s the utter destruction of all of their dreams.
Sloane and Alden spent years wanting and designing and executing a perfect house that they’re now watching burn. No one should ever feel prepared for a moment like this, but perhaps they are better equipped than most. Because as Chloe recently discovered, Sloane and Alden spent the last year fighting for the dream of a child that only slipped further and further away. It seems unfair that they would experience even more loss. And Chloe knows that one catastrophe doesn’t make others any easier to bear.
“It’s gone,” Sloane says as tears slide down her cheeks. Alden pulls her into his chest and rocks her back and forth.
“But we’re here. Together,” Alden murmurs.
Not for the first time this week, Chloe feels like it’s an intimate moment that shouldn’t have an audience. She takes a step away as Sloane buries her face in the crook of Alden’s neck. Sloane murmurs words to Alden, and he wipes away her tears. The intensity of their conversation deepens, and Chloe walks farther away, giving them the privacy they deserve to unpack how to move forward in the face of so much loss.
Chloe can’t stop scanning the house and the growing crowd of people as she searches for Luke. She was waiting for him to emerge from the cloud of smoke, but now the flames around the house are too big to hold on to that hope any longer. Instead, she looks for him in the crowd, searching for his sandy hair and cocky stride.
Chloe can’t believe that just moments earlier, she was dreading an interaction with Luke, waiting for dinner to start and wondering how she was going to navigate yet another tense meal with her ex. The whole week has been a series of disasters, but no one could have predicted this catastrophe. Chloe wrings the water out of her hair as she scans the scene: the tables of food that have been turned over, platters of grouper lying in the sand, the catering crew rightfully more concerned with their safety than Sloane’s ruined dinner party. Chloe finds her crumpled dress and slips it over her damp body as she continues searching, her heart in her throat as she realizes she’d give anything to see Luke again.
“Have you seen him?” Chloe asks Wyatt. “Was he”—she chokes out the next word—“inside?”
Wyatt shakes his head. “I don’t think so. But I hadn’t seen him for a few hours.” There’s already a purple bruise under Wyatt’s left eye.
A perimeter is set up around the house, roping off the burning building from the spectators who have gathered to watch this tragedy. As the crowd grows, whispers are exchanged about the house on fire, speculation rising about how it started and whether anyone got hurt.
The firemen work, truck after truck of water being poured onto the home, the fire slowly being contained, and then the smoke pushing them farther and farther away, until the five of them are forced away from the house and in search of their missing friend.
No one has seen Luke. They are all thinking some variation of the same horror. Was Luke inside? The only time anyone speaks, it is to reassure themselves and everyone else.
“He probably went for a walk,” Marianne says.
“Maybe he went to Bud instead, she’s infuriated. She looks at her rumpled dress, her half-wet hair, the smell of ash that is stuck to her skin, and she says, “We didn’t know where you were.”
“All of that smoke is from Alden’s house?” Luke asks with a lack of awareness that makes Chloe even madder.
“Yes,” Chloe says. “Alden and Sloane’s house is completely destroyed.”
“Is everyone okay? Is Alden safe?” an unfamiliar voice asks.
It’s only then that Chloe realizes Luke isn’t standing alone. He’s with someone. A woman.
“Lucy?” Chloe asks. It’s been a few years since Chloe has seen Alden’s little sister Lucy, and clearly she’s grown up in that short amount of time.
Chloe looks back and forth. “Does Alden know you’re here?”
Lucy’s eyes meet Luke’s, and she shakes her head. “It’s a surprise.”
By now, everyone else has realized what made Chloe run. Alden and Sloane catch up, with Wyatt and Marianne trailing behind.
Alden hugs Luke and says, “We’re glad you’re okay. You scared us.” Then Alden spots his little sister and says, “Lucy, what are you doing here?”
“I was just telling Chloe. I came to surprise you.”
“Terrible timing,” Sloane jokes, hugging her sister-in-law. “The house burned down and before that, these two were cage fighting.” Sloane points between Luke and Wyatt.
Chloe doesn’t know how Sloane can joke. How she can seem so composed and together when everything has just crumbled? But that’s Sloane’s superpower. She’s good in a crisis and good at pretending everything is okay.
Lucy raises her eyes and says, “Well, that explains all the bruises.”
Chloe looks between the two men, and it’s clear Wyatt bore the brunt of this fight. There are red welts and purple bruises streaking his face. She can only imagine that the rest of his body is worse.
“Since we no longer have a home, we’re staying at a hotel up the road,” Sloane explains to Lucy. “Where’s your stuff?”
“It’s in my rental car,” Lucy says. “I feel terrible. I should have called first. I can try to find another hotel room.”
“Don’t be silly. We’ll have a girls’ room and a boys’ room.”
“No way,” Luke says, “am I sharing a room with Wyatt.”
Six sets of eyes stare down Luke, disappointed and yet not surprised that he could be so petty at this moment.
“First of all, you don’t have another option,” Alden says. “Second, I get that you’re pissed. We are all a little bit surprised by this development between Wyatt and Chloe. But you cheated on her for years. Stop being an asshole.”
Luke starts to protest, but Alden shouts over him. “It’s what friends do. They support each other, even when it’s messy, even when you’d make a different choice, you still support the life they want.” Alden stares at the sky before adding, “Plus, my house just burned down. I don’t need more drama tonight.”
Lucy doesn’t wait for Luke to respond to her brother’s lecture before blurting, “Wait. Chloe and Wyatt? Is that what the fight was about?”
Chloe looks away, still embarrassed by the situation. Wyatt answers for them both. “Yes.” There’s no remorse in Wyatt’s voice, and that seems to infuriate Luke.
“How did you find out?” Lucy asks Luke out of the side of her mouth.
“I walked in on them in bed,” Luke answers through gritted teeth.
Lucy looks around the group, and Chloe wonders what she sees. How broken and hurt they all are? The glaring signs of pain and regret and anger and sadness that are illuminated on each of their foreheads?
Lucy presses her lips together and then bursts out laughing. “You guys are a disaster.”
“We know,” they all answer in unison.
“Noah is here,” Marianne says, pointing to the minivan parked across the street.
Noah rolls down the window and waves, then he does the universal head-tilt-on-palms-pressed-together to indicate that baby Teddy is asleep.
“No fighting in the car,” Marianne instructs. “Everyone get in quietly. Do not wake my sleeping baby.”
“Maybe Luke should ride with me,” Lucy helpfully suggests. “To ensure a quiet ride.”
Marianne gives Lucy the address of the hotel. They head in opposite directions, Lucy and Luke toward her rental car, everyone else toward Marianne’s minivan.
But Chloe hangs back. Before Luke walks away, Chloe reaches out her hand and grabs his. “I’m really glad you’re okay, Luke.”
Luke turns to leave, but Chloe doesn’t let him. For the first time in a very long time, she keeps talking and finally tells Luke how she feels.
“I’m glad you’re okay. And I hate that you lied to me for so long. I hate that you didn’t care enough to tell us you left and we spent the last hour wondering if you were alive. I hate that I spent most of our relationship wondering if you cared enough about me.”
“Of course I cared about you,” Luke says. The defensiveness in his voice makes Chloe angrier.
Chloe shakes her head. “You never appreciated me. I’ve made excuses for years, but honestly, you’re selfish. I’m tired of trying so hard to matter in your life.”
“Is that why you slept with Wyatt? To get my attention?”
“No. Your opinions don’t matter anymore.” Even though it’s not easy to say, Chloe says it clearly and with conviction.
“Good.” Luke shrugs.
His simple movement makes Chloe realize how little he cares.
He didn’t apologize for the terror he inflicted on everyone with his unexplained absence. He didn’t ask about anyone’s safety. He didn’t even express sympathy toward two of his closest friends when their home burned to the ground.
Luke takes the people around him for granted. Chloe can’t imagine a worse quality.
She takes one step forward, making sure his eyes are focused on her face before she speaks. “You lost me. But if you don’t fix yourself, you’re going to lose all your friends too. Ask yourself if that’s what you want. Figure out how to be a better person, Luke. It’s long overdue.”
Before Luke can speak, Chloe turns and walks away. After years of clinging to everyone around her, Chloe knows it’s time to finally leave him behind.
But the temporary satisfaction is erased the minute she sees her friends. They’re huddled beside Noah’s minivan, Sloane’s shaking shoulders being held by Alden as tears stream down her face.
“What’s wrong?” Chloe asks.
“The fire chief just called,” Alden says.
No one speaks, all eyes focused on Sloane.
“It’s my fault,” Sloane says. “I caused the fire.”