Tenderness

Chapter 64

JOEL

Outside the house, the ground smelled like salt, as if the rain had flooded the lawn with ocean water.

The clouds were still a thick wool overhead.

Joel could not see any stars, and inside, he felt an echo of this emptiness, like his body had lost all light.

The party continued at his back. Once he found William and knew for certain Shay was safe, he would return to the hotel, drink enough water to fill a bathtub, and go to sleep.

At the edge of his vision, there was motion. Two figures walked across the blue grass, away from the cliff that broke off into the ocean. A man and a woman, their skin the same pale flower, their hair shorn to a nearly identical length. A brother and a sister.