Moonglass

then I saw the bump of headlights flashing over the sand. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
    “Nope.” He scooted toward the ladder. “We should go.”
    “Wait a sec.” I had to smile at his nervousness. “You just got here. Stay. I’ll pretend like I was on a walk or something, then I’ll come back.” Tyler shook his head. “Nah, I should go. I got that game tomorrow anyway. But you go first.” He pushed himself back against the front wall of the tower and leaned back so I could climb over him. I paused when I got to his lap, and he looked at me, serious. “Anna. If you ever want to, we could go in there together. Your mom’s old place, I mean.” He shrugged. “Just … if you’re curious. I’d go with you.”
    I didn’t want to think about it. “Maybe one day.” I gave him a quick kiss, knowing I never would, then climbed over him to the ladder.
    “Think about it.” He leaned down and kissed me once more. “Good luck in your race. I’ll callyou when I get back from the game.”
    “Okay. I don’t think we’ll dive or anything with the storm that’s coming in, but we sometimes do pizza night when we can’t do Poke-N-Eat. I’ll let you know.” Tyler nodded and leaned back into the tower’s shadow while I jumped down into the sand, took a breath, and walked out into my dad’s low beams.
    He pulled around me and rolled down his window, looking at me with furrowed eyebrows. “Hey, hon. What’re you doing out here?” I shrugged. “I needed some fresh air. Thought I’d check out the swell that’s coming in.” Another wave hit with a low rumble. “It’s getting big out here tonight.”
    He looked out toward the water. “Yeah. It’s supposed to keep building until tomorrow night. Don’t think we’ll be doing any diving.” Another wave pounded the rocks. “Yeah. I wouldn’t want to be out there anytime soon.” A woman dispatcher’s voice crackled over the radio in the truck, and my dad turned it up and cocked his head to the side to listen. Something about the upper parking lot. He responded in code, the only part of which I recognized was his badge number. He leaned his elbow out the window. “I gotta go up there. Why don’t you go on into the house?” I nodded and turned to go, then paused. “Dad?”
    “Yeah?”
    I shook my head. “Nothing … I’ll see you in the morning. Good night.”
    He stuck his arm out and rested a heavy hand on my head. “Night, Anna. I love you. Now go back in and get to bed. You got your big race tomorrow.” I nodded and turned again to head back to home. As I did, the forceful clap of water on rocks made me jump before I jogged up the sand to our house, suddenly cold.
    Once inside, I watched my dad’s headlights move north up the beach, slicing through the darkness in front of them. And then, like they always did, my eyes wandered over to the beach cottage. Between what Tyler and my dad had told me, it sounded like my great-grandma had been there until the end, when they’d all had to leave. Which meant my mother’s room had been too. I sat for a moment, considering Tyler’s offer to take me in. When I grabbed the spare flashlight from the charger, I told myself I’d feel better if I looked inside just once, by myself.

CHAPTER 23
    The padlock was rusted through. I wrapped my hand around the crumbling metal and yanked down hard. It fell to the dirt with a clunk, and the door inched open. I looked around to make sure no one had seen, then took a deep breath and stepped over the doorway. The now-familiar smell of damp wood and stale air hung heavy around me in the darkness and sat utterly still, in contrast to my heart, which jumped and kicked in my chest. I hesitated, then clicked on the flashlight, keeping it pointed at the ground. Mouse pellets, dirt, and wood shavings covered the floor beneath my feet, and dark wood paneled all of the walls.
    My gut reaction was to get out—back into air I could breathe and back to the place I had kept myself in for so long, where my mother was just another one of my childhood memories that had long since grown hazy and surreal. But I had crossed the threshold, and now something in me forced my feet forward. I swung the flashlight in a slow arc around the edges of the room, which had probably once been the living area.
    To my left I could see an old stove through a small doorway. Beyond that lay a short hall way with another door off to the right. I crept past the kitchen, then stopped and