Page 105 of The Edge of Always

Emmett shrugged. ‘Okay, mostly. She’s going to stay with her sister for a couple of weeks, later in summer.’

‘That’s cool. We can have sleepovers. I’ll paint your nails and curl your hair.’ Luna laughed to cover the awkwardness of talking about sex without talking about sex.

‘My hair is already curly.’

They were kissing then, pushed up against the wall of the gardens in the centre of the village. Luna felt the scratch of the rough brick against her back.

‘We don’t have to do anything,’ Emmett said.

‘I want to,’ Luna rushed out, and they kissed some more as a low-burning heat worked its way up her spine. ‘I really want to,’ she told him, pressing her forehead against his.

They spent some more time scandalising the local tourists before walking finally to The Edge. Luna felt that the caravan park looked more run-down this year, as if Earl’s health was tethered to it somehow. And if The Edge looked decrepit, so too did Earl.

‘Little Luna,’ he smiled. He was sitting outside on a reclining deck chair, a blanket over his legs. Zadie and Ahmed had taken up positions on either side of him. Ahmed closed a poetry book.

‘Hi guys.’ Luna tried to smile, zeroing in on Earl. He looked sick, really sick, so much worse than he did at Christmas.

‘Thank fuck you’re here,’ Zadie said, standing up and stretching. ‘Maybe this one will cheer up a bit now.’ She nodded her head towards Emmett. ‘Is Mae at the cottage? I think I’ll go and call for her.’

‘Yeah, she’s there. Go save her.’ Zadie saluted and sauntered off, sucking on a red lolly that had stained her lips extra pink.

‘What a tragedy.’ Ahmed looked after her. ‘Did you know that Zadie was a lesbian, Luna?’ he asked.

‘Yes, and I don’t really think it’s a tragedy, Ahmed.’

Not in the same way that Earl dying is, Luna thought, but didn’t say.

‘No, I suppose not. One day, I’ll find someone else, I’m sure.’ Ahmed stood up too, ready to begin that search right now. ‘I’ll leave you guys to catch up. Nice to have you back, Luna.’

Then it was just the three of them.

‘How’re you feeling, Earl?’ Luna asked, sitting down in the space that Ahmed had just left.

‘Much better now, little Luna, don’t you fret. I’ll be back on my feet soon.’

‘It’s really knocked him, but we’ve turned a corner now, haven’t we, Earl?’ Emmett was chipper. He fussed around Earl, tucking his blanket in, and Luna thought that maybe it was only because she knew what she did that it seemed completely obvious to her that they were dealing with more than a chest infection. Earl was so thin. His eyes were bright, but they were the only part of him that Luna recognised.

‘Yes, almost better now.’ Earl caught her eye and smiled sadly. ‘But enough about me. Tell me about you, Luna. You will carry on drawing, at law school? I should be very sad if you stopped. You must promise me?’

‘I promise.’

The afternoon stretched into evening, and it was comfortingly familiar, being together here, in the place where Luna had grown up. She sketched Earl in his chair, with Emmett next to him and at the end of the night, she gave Earl the drawing.

‘I will treasure this, Luna.’ He folded it and held it to his chest, and Luna felt that her heart might break. ‘You have a gift.’

Emmett smiled and kissed Luna on the forehead. Luna had never known him to be so persistently upbeat.

When Emmett left, with money from Earl to get them fish and chips, which Earl wouldn’t eat, Luna tried again to speak to him about Emmett.

‘I’m really worried about him,’ she said.

‘I am making some preparations,’ he paused, ‘for after. This brings me peace. It is my choice, to protect him from this, and there is still some time, Luna. It will be better for him not to see the end. He has seen too much death already.’

‘I worry about you both,’ she answered.

‘Do not worry about me, Luna. I am painting still; I have you and Emmett around me. And the others. I find that I am quite content. This is, as you say, the natural way of things. Only art lives forever.’

No one ever told Luna that growing up felt like sitting on the edge of this cliff, looking out at a future as uncertain as the seas. But for now, in this moment, they were here. And maybe that had to be enough.