Page 41 of When the Smoke Clears

The shore is a short distance, and we walk side by side before staring out at the stretch of water.

As I allow the past to permeate my thoughts, I can’t help but replay the memories of teaching Isla to skip rocks in this very place. She was endearingly terrible at it. She’d choose the wrong stones, always the round and heavy ones that never skimmed.

Her throws were all wrong, too. They were more of a dunk than a skip, creating a loud “plop” and sending endless ripples that startled every fish in the vicinity.

Finally, Isla’s voice breaks the tension. “You asked Gabe to look into my life.”

“Yes,” I reply, my voice ice-cold and unyielding, not a shred of remorse to be found. “I also instructed my deputy to keep watch over the inn and your mom’s house. That’s how I knew you were at Gabe’s.”

“Why?”

“After the accident, I was concerned.” I stoop down and pick up a smooth, flat rock, before turning it over in my hand like it holds the secrets I need answers to. “I wasn’t trying to invade your privacy.”

Isla kicks up a spray of pebbles, sending a gritty explosion of dirt into the air.

“It’s nearly impossible to protect you when I know nothing about you.”

Her chin juts out, defiance etched into every angle. “I’ve managed to keep myself safe my entire life. I don’t need your help.”

“Except for when you almost died in a fire,” I counter, each word a blade. “Or when you were nearly run down in the street.”

Isla’s eyes ignite with fury, and she spins on her heel, her footsteps pounding against the earth. “Take me home.”

“Where is home, Isla? Let’s start there.”

Her breath escapes sharply. “San Francisco.”

Just as I suspected.

“And what does Isla’s life look like in San Francisco? A pristine home with a white picket fence? A husband? Two kids and a dog?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Take me back to Gabe’s.” Her voice cracks, desperation threading through every syllable.

“You’re not staying with Gabe.”

She recoils as if struck. “I can stay wherever I want.”

“Except with Gabe,” I say, my calm demeanor a thin veneer over the storm beneath.

“Fuck you, Luke!” Tears cascade down her face like a torrent unleashed.

The echo of her voice ripples across the lake, carrying our history on the wind. All the words we’d swallowed, all the years we’d wasted pretending they didn’t matter.

Heaviness settles in my chest, but I refuse to relent. I need answers. “Tell me why you left, Isla.”

She won’t meet my eyes, arms wrapped around herself.

“You were my forever, and you vanished. No goodbye. No reason.” My voice breaks, sharper than I mean it. “You quit on us.”

Her arms flail as she screams. “If you hate me so much, why do you care where I stay while in town?”

“Because you’re tangled in something dangerous, way over your head. I need to protect you while you’re here, no matter how I feel about you.”

“Then I’ll just leave town.”