Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 74940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 375(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 375(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
“You and Jake weren’t close,” I say.
“Maybe I wanted to be.”
I cock my head. What the hell is he getting at?
“You know me better than anyone, River. I’ve let you in to places I’ve never let another, but there are still some things I don’t talk about to anyone. Things I don’t ever let myself think about.”
“About that night,” I say. “I know that. ‘A dream within a dream.’”
Brett threads his fingers through his blond hair. “You’re like a damned elephant, Riv. You never forget a thing.”
“Not about that time in our lives. Hell no, I don’t. It’s ingrained in my memory as if it’s etched in stone.”
“You think Misty’s telling the truth?” he asks. “Is she Jake’s sister?”
“I’d say we need to get a DNA test, but what good would that do? Jake’s gone. God knows where Lisa is. Who could we compare her DNA to?”
“Misty’s parents have money. They probably know where Lisa is.”
“My guess is they’ve paid her off to stay away. That was probably part of the deal.” I take another drink.
“Maybe. But damn, Riv. I almost want this to be true.”
I do a double take. Literally. I look at Brett, look away, and look back at him, meeting his gaze. “Say what?”
“See? You think I don’t care. You think it’s truly a dream within a dream for me. What you don’t know is I lost something fifteen years ago—something more important to me than my own damned life.”
My lips part, and I stare at my friend. At his mussed blond hair, his T-shirt, his bare feet. His blue eyes that now hold a hint of sadness. I take all of him in.
And I’m damned confused. We all lost something. What the hell am I missing?
“If this is true,” Brett says, “then we have a little piece of Jake right here on the island. We have his baby sister.”
My lips are still parted, and I close them. I’m more confounded than ever at Brett’s words.
“You’re going to have to throw me a bone here,” I say. “I don’t have a fucking clue what you’re talking about, Brett.”
“No, you don’t. But if you could read me the way I can read you, you’d know. Hell, you’d have known then.”
“You actually want Misty to be Jake’s sister?”
“It wouldn’t be the worst thing.”
I take another drink, look off toward the ocean, and try to figure out what the hell has happened to my best friend and why he’s been replaced with some kind of doppelgänger. “She’s been nothing but trouble since we got here. Within two damned days, she’s turned this whole thing upside down. Rachel’s in the hospital, for God’s sake, and Emily got a call earlier from Ginger, telling her that Rachel said not to trust her.”
“Not to trust who?”
“Rachel only said ‘her,’ but she had to mean Misty. Who else?”
“Could be anyone. Any of the women. Even Evie.”
“I don’t get you.” I rub the ache springing up in my forehead. “Why do you want to give Misty the benefit of the doubt all of a sudden?”
“If she’s Jake’s sister, she deserves the benefit of the doubt.”
“And why, exactly?”
“Because if she is, then we still have part of Jake. We still have—” Brett stops abruptly, takes the last drag of his cigarette, and then throws the butt to the sand and stamps it out. “I don’t want her to leave.”
“Fine. She stays. I already told her I’m leaving, anyway.”
“You’re what?” Brett takes a step toward me. “No way, Riv. We’re all in this together.”
“I’ll stay on one condition,” I say. “Misty leaves. You choose.”
“I can’t.”
“What? I don’t get it.”
“I know you don’t. You never knew me as well as I knew you.”
“Enlighten me then.”
“I don’t want you to leave, River. And I don’t want her to leave either. In fact, I’d like to get to know her better.” He smiles. “God, Jake hated me sometimes.”
“He did. But he also loved you. He looked up to you, Brett. We all did.”
“He thought I was a bad seed, and in some ways, I was. But man, I would have done anything for that kid.”
“Of course you would have. You would have done anything for any one of us.”
“Fuck. You’re not understanding what I’m saying.”
I look at him then. Really look at my friend standing in the moonlight. The look in his eyes is one of longing. As if part of his soul is lost. As if—
The truth hits me straight between my eyes. I know it as if it’s always been part of me, but I didn’t acknowledge it. Times were different, and we lived in small-town Montana. Brett was so popular with the girls. He loved the girls.
But...
He also loved someone else. And he didn't dislike Marnie. He was jealous of her.
“Fuck, Brett.”
“The only one, Riv. Jake was the only guy I’ve ever been in love with. Hell, I’m pretty sure he’s the only person I’ve ever been in love with. I love women. I love to fuck them. But I haven’t yet fallen in love.”