Mom bought this house thirty years ago. The mortgage is paid off. They can’t do that. There’s no way.”
“Jules, I’m not sure we can do anything,” Chloe whispered. Julianne felt her heart plummet from her chest.
They couldn’t possibly have to leave the house where their parents were married, and where Julianne and Chloe were born. The house where their mom had died.
“No. Absolutely not,” Julianne said, rising to her feet.
She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. This couldn’t be happening. “No, they can’t do this. This is ridiculous!”
“Girls, I am so sorry,” their father whispered. “I don’t know if there’s a case here or not, but, either way, we don’t have the money to fight it. I am so sorry. I am so, so sorry.” Dad buried his head in his hands. Slowly, Chloe pushed her chair back from the table and went over to wrap her arms around her father.
“Daddy, it’ll be okay,” she whispered. “It’ll all be okay.”
Julianne felt like someone had poured gasoline down her throat and dropped in a match. Her entire body was twitching, burning. She couldn’t take it anymore. She couldn’t just stand there and watch her family hurting.
She raced out of the house—not even bothering to shut the door behind her—and ran down to the beach. The wind off the ocean was cold and sharp, and the sand felt unstable under her feet. She ran all the way down the beach, her feet rolling under her with every step, until she reached the edge of the water. She thought, vaguely, that the Moores would probably try to have her arrested if they found her down here. Silently, she dared them to try it. Just go ahead, she thought. Julianne stood there until what was left of the day had slipped by and night had begun to roll down onto the beach. She stared out at the ocean, a mass of darkening ripples against the rising moonlight. The reflection of the moon was tossed off the waves, like someone had drizzled the water with liquid gold.
She sat down at the edge of the ocean as the night sky deepened, her feet tucked under her and her arms wrapped tightly around herself. Almost imperceptibly, she began to whisper. She couldn’t even hear the words forming. She felt ridiculous, but Julianne needed her mother right now, and the beach had always been their special place.
“Mom, please. I don’t know what to do. I can’t let them take us away from you. I don’t know what to do.”
Fat tears started to slip down Julianne’s face and she knew she was babbling, but she couldn’t stop calling out to her mother. “Mom, I don’t know how to make it better. I don’t know how to keep us together without you here to show me. What do I do?” Julianne put her head in her hands and just sat there, listening to the tide pumping in and out like a heartbeat. She wasn’t expecting to hear from her mother, but breathing in and out in time to the pulse of the tides, she knew she wasn’t alone.
Chapter Fourteen
Julianne snapped awake when the weight of a hand touched her shoulder. She looked up to find the tousled brown hair and concerned face of Remi Moore. Silently, Remi sat down next to Julianne.
Keeping her gaze on the ocean, she told him flatly, “I don’t want to see you right now.”
“So don’t look at me. But you shouldn’t be alone.
It’s almost midnight. You’ve obviously been crying.
You’re a total wreck. Someone should be here with you.” Concern poured out of every syllable Remi spoke.
“I came looking for you as soon as I heard about the papers.”
“I don’t need you trying to take care of me right now.” Julianne’s tone remained completely flat. She was shocked to hear her own voice sound so dull. “You’ve done enough already,” she finished.
“Julianne, I … I don’t even know what to say.”
Remi’s voice was tinged with regret.
All of a sudden, Julianne’s voice came coursing back into her body. She turned to him. “I don’t want to hear how bad you feel, how sorry you are. I don’t want to hear any of it. I am just so tired of this. I’m done. I can’t walk around with all of this negativity and worry all of the time—it’s going to consume me. I can’t care anymore. I just can’t.”
The sand looked blue-gray, spilling out under the night sky. Julianne stared absently out at the ocean.
“I hate this.” Remi’s voice sounded like it was choking in his throat. “I … I hate this.”
“What?” Julianne finally turned her head toward him and stared at his profile.
“I hate this. I hate everything about this situation,”
Remi repeated. He was tracing tiny circles in the sand.
“There is nothing about this that feels okay to me right now. I mean, I love my dad. I know how important these plans are to him. He’s a great architect and I hope I can be as successful as he is some day. But I don’t want it to happen like this. It’s not right. I hate looking out the window of my bedroom and seeing the landscape being chipped away every day. I hate that I can already see that, and I haven’t even lived here three months. I hate what it’s doing to you and your family. I hate that every time I see my parents, I think about what they’re doing to you. I know it’s not enough, and I know it probably doesn’t matter, but Julianne, I am so, so sorry.”
They sat there for a while, staring alternately at the ocean and the sand. Julianne didn’t know what to say, but somehow, hearing Remi apologize made everything feel a little bit better. She knew it wasn’t his fault—he was just as powerless as she was. Nonetheless, hearing him say the words meant something. It felt like there was possibility buried in there somewhere, like she had been right when she
