Chapter 7: The Rain on Shore Road

The rain started when they reached Shore Road.

It came in off the bay in a grey sheet, and Eli slowed the car to a crawl.

"Did you say it?" Matilda asked. "At the wedding, to Zach."

"Yes."

"That he was the luckiest man alive."

"I meant it." Eli kept his eyes on the road. "He was."

She watched the wipers go back and forth.

"Term three," she said. "How long have you been waiting?"

"For what?"

"Zach wants me to ask."

Eli was quiet for the length of a long bend.

"For someone to stop apologising to people who didn't deserve it," he said.

It was an answer, and it was not the one she had asked for.

She noticed that and let it go, because her hands had begun to shake and she was tired.

Water was standing across the road below the lighthouse, deeper than it looked.

Eli braked, and the car went into it anyway.

The engine coughed once and died.

For a moment there was only the rain on the roof.

"That's not good," Matilda said.

"No."

He turned the key twice. Nothing happened.

"I'll look," he said, and got out into the downpour in his good coat.

He came back four minutes later, soaked to the skin, with water running off his chin.

"It's drowned. A tow truck is coming from town. Forty minutes."

He pulled the door shut and shoved the wet hair off his forehead.

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