Left in the Sand, Found by the Sea novel · Chapter 18 of 24

Chapter 18: The Heir's Ring

Eli's POV

I took my brother out on the water because he asked me to.

He had been at the cafe window since four with a duffel bag between his feet.

When I came down the stairs he stood up and said, "Show me where it happened."

"Where what happened?"

"Where I was told you drowned."

So I started the aluminum skiff on the second pull and took him out toward the point at first light, with Orla watching from the slip in my sweater and a mug in both hands.

Rocco sat in the middle seat, gripping the sides.

He was green before we cleared the breakwater.

"Look at the lighthouse," I said. "Don't look at the water."

"You said that when I was six."

"It worked then."

"I threw up on your shoes."

"You did."

He laughed, and it turned into a retch, and I held the back of his jacket over the gunwale until it was done.

He had grown up long and bony, with our father's jaw, but his hands were the same.

They shook the same way, too, and I still knew what to do about it.

"I'm sorry," he said, wiping his mouth.

"For what?"

"Everything. The funeral. You standing at the window last night, and me not knowing."

"You were fourteen."

"I should have asked for a body."

"You poured a glass every June," I said. "Papa told me."

He looked at his hands.

"I thought I was making you proud."

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