Chapter 13 Jake #2
Jake lay on his stomach on his board, snorting out a sudden laugh at himself for being mad at a bunch of surfers who were nowhere near him, not bugging him at all.
He wasn’t mad at them, not really. He was angry at the toxic commenters on Facebook, the lazy, clichéd, ‘it’s always the boyfriend’ armchair psychologists.
And he was furious at the ‘expert profiler’ who publicly claimed he had Jake all figured out as a murderous, duplicitous psychopath.
Jake paddled hard, catching another swell, a sweeter ride this time, letting it take him north toward the shore.
It waned and he flopped back into the water, floating a while, his board bobbing nearby.
The sun dried his face, leaving salt crystals on his skin.
It was past noon, he’d been out here over an hour, and he was thirsty.
Reluctantly, he paddled back to shore and dragged himself out of the water, carrying his board down the beach, the southerly sun dazzling his eyes.
Every footstep took him closer to the reality of his situation, the nightmare of his current truth.
He could hardly bear to go back once again to his beautiful, empty home.
A home that was so full of Liv, in every fixture, every finishing, yet so empty of her presence.
Maybe he’d grab some lunch, rehydrate, then head back out onto the water. Maybe he should just surf all day. Who would stop him? He didn’t have anyone to go home to.
As he approached the pier, a woman caught his attention. Chestnut hair, red summer dress. She was obscured by a slim blonde woman, but something about the brunette was so similar to Liv, Jake found himself running across the sand without even realizing.
The women’s backs were to him as they climbed the steps to the pier restaurant. As he got closer he realized his mistake. No, not Liv. This woman was shorter, a little wider in the hips. Hair just like hers, though. She turned and smiled at her friend.
Charlotte.
Of course. She’d told him she had today off work.
“Hey. Char!” he called.
Charlotte turned, eyebrows raised, then recognized him and waved. He waved back. He approached her at a slow jog as she retraced her steps down to the beach.
“Jake, hey. I didn’t expect to see you out here. We were just going to grab some lunch at the Beach House.” She glanced at the board he carried. “You’ve been surfing?”
He wiped a lock of wet hair from his eyes. Did it look bad that he’d been out? Like he was enjoying himself? Like he wasn’t devastated about Liv?
“I needed to get out of my head, I can’t stand being at home without her.” He smirked humorlessly. “Didn’t work, though.”
Charlotte nodded, her gaze drifting over Jake’s upright surfboard. “Right. Sorry.” The woman she was with had also made her way back down the steps. “Oh, this is my friend Savannah. Have you guys met before? Maybe at my twenty-first party?”
Charlotte gestured to the tall, slim blonde, with ultra-long hair, wearing the kind of tasseled floor-length dress Liv would describe as ‘boho’. The girl looked like a willow tree, graceful and floaty. She was vaguely familiar.
“Oh, hey, yeah, I think maybe. I’m Jake, Charlotte’s soon-to-be brother-in-law . . .” He trailed off. What was he to the Graingers if Liv was no longer around to connect them?
“Hi.” Savannah gave a tiny wave of her bangled hand, even though Jake stood less than two feet away.
“I think we met at that party, yeah. I met Liv too. Charlie told me all about what’s happening right now, I’m so sorry for what y’all are going through.
I was hoping to cheer Charlie up with lunch today. ”
Charlie? Nobody called her that.
“Yeah, it’s rough on all of us,” he replied.
“You wanna join us?” Charlotte asked, not looking entirely like she wanted him to say yes. Probably because she needed as much of an escape as Jake did, and if he had lunch with them, the conversation would be about nothing but Liv and the police investigation.
“Please do,” added the friend, with more enthusiasm. “You’d be very welcome. It’s the least I can do, considering everything that’s happening.”
Jake half-smiled at her. She seemed nice. “Thanks, but I’ll leave you ladies to it. I need to go check my phone.” He turned to Charlotte. “I read that link you sent me earlier, the CNN report.”
Charlotte grimaced. “It was a bit brutal, I know. That so-called expert. But I figured you’d better see it sooner than later.”
“Yeah, I read the comments too. And there’s probably hundreds more since then.”
Charlotte shook her chestnut head. “Don’t read them. They know nothing. Social media brings out the worst in everyone. Right, Sav? Savannah is a social media influencer. She knows all about this.”
An influencer? That was a real job? Jake quirked an eyebrow at the blonde woman.
Savannah smiled at him, showing white teeth with a characterful gap in the front.
“It’s so true, unfortunately. So many haters out there.
But you should know there are many more people who care.
” She placed a small, manicured hand on his salt-encrusted arm.
“Most people just want to see Liv home, safe and well.”
Her eyes were a vivid blue, an August sky, even brighter than his own. Colored contacts for her Instagram, or genuine?