Page 46 of The Edge of Always

‘You artists are so dramatic,’ Mae said. ‘Couldn’t paint the sunset, could you? I’m joking, I’m joking,’ she tacked on quickly. She knew that Luna worried about the fact that she didn’t want to draw or paint nice things. That she worried that there was something dark inside her.

‘We don’t paint things Mae, we paint—’

‘Feelings,’ she cut Earl off. ‘I know, I know. Always the drama.’ They were both smiling, though.

‘We’ll meet you at the beach, Earl.’

Luna dumped her brushes in the bucket they kept for cleaning.

‘Can we go home first, Mae? I need to change.’

‘I wouldn’t go home,’ Mae warned her, still waiting in the sun by the entrance. ‘Mum is in the garden with Eyebrow Clive. She’s wearing a bikini. It has frills.’

‘Jesus.’

‘I know, what a time to have eyes.’

Luna felt like there was a rock in the bottom of her stomach, as if she was weighed down by guilt. It was impossible to ignore the fact that their mother had been spending an awful lot of time with Eyebrow Clive.

Mae told them how Eyebrow Clive had asked her mum to apply some bronzing oil as she’d gone into the kitchen.

‘The door was open – I heard it all. Who wears bronzing oil any rate? It’s like dousing yourself in butter and getting cooked. No wonder his skin’s so leathery. So that’s when I decided to make a run for it. It’s four o’clock anyway.’

Four. Wow, the whole day had passed Luna by, though time always seemed to speed up the less they had of it. Luna had been surviving off a family-sized bag of cheese crisps; the tips of her fingers were stained orange. Dorito dust and sand were not a good combination, experience had taught her this, but she’d no desire to see her mum with Eyebrow Clive either.

‘Okay,’ she agreed. ‘I’ll take your word for it. We can go straight to the beach.’

Luna looked a mess. She was sure of it. The heat of the garage had made her frazzled and her clothes were paint splattered. She thought of Ariel, the mermaid, and how great she looked on the beach in that sparkly dress. Unfortunately, Luna was not Ariel. She felt like the love child of King Titan and Ursula.

‘Excellent,’ Mae says.

Earl’s garage was just on the edge of the village, alongside three others; an old couple let him rent it because they didn’t have a car. They called goodbye to Earl and headed towards the beach, cutting across the bowling green and behind the castle to get there.

Luna kicked her flip flops off; the sand hot under her toes. She loved this beach. No beach that she’d ever seen was as nice as this one.

She and Mae trekked along it as Luna tried to commit every detail of the scene to memory. They wouldn’t be back for another year. Even with all the darkness swirling around inside her, she still loved it here more than anywhere else in the world.

Mae snaked an arm over Luna’s shoulders and Luna realised that she was crying again.

‘Is it because The Man Plan failed?’ Mae asked, hanging back and looping an arm around Luna’s shoulders.

‘No, it’s not the Man Plan. That was a terrible idea. You made me sound like a sex addict.’

‘When in reality, you’re more like a nun.’

‘I just don’t want to go home.’

Mae linked their hands together. ‘Don’t blame you, it’s a hellscape there. But the end of summer means we’re another year closer to getting out.’

‘Yeah, that’s true.’ Luna didn’t exactly feel great about getting out either. It was just hard to envision a future that involved quite so much writing, quite so little drawing.

‘And maybe this year you really will get a boyfriend, since Emmett and Cadence have lasted way longer than I’d predicted. I’d wonder what he sees in her, since they always fight.’ Mae thought about it for a second. ‘Her tits are great, so it’s probably that.’

It was impossible not to laugh.

‘Speak of the devil,’ Mae said, nodding ahead. Emmett sat alone on the beach, just down from The Edge.

‘Couldn’t fall for someone a bit more cheerful, could you?’