For a moment, she let herself be reassured, as if he would save her, as if he could love her, as if he would be there for her
through all the Bad Things that life threw at you, like adolescence and illness and demons and death.
Except he was leaving.
Absently, she stroked the kitten in her lap. She had always known he would leave.
The only question was, how many pieces of her heart would he take with him?
Zack stood just inside the doors of the community center gym. Testing the waters, haha.
The odor of sweat competed with the smell of fresh coffee and stale popcorn drifting from the lobby. Moviegoers eddied
and swirled around him. He recognized some of them from the store, summer people dressed from the L.L. Bean catalogue or
the outlet in Freeport, islanders in faded jeans and ball caps. Kids squirmed on laps or ran around the wooden floor. Family
groups settled into the rows of folding chairs that straggled from foul line to foul line.
He spotted Emily, sitting near the front with a skinny, dark-haired kid her age. The friend from day camp, Zack guessed. At
least one of them was making friends. The tall dude who was with them must be the kid‟s dad. He couldn‟t go sit with them.
The generations appeared to mix more on the island than they did back home in Chapel Hill, but he was pretty sure such a
move would brand him forever as untouchable. A loser.
The big cop who‟d picked him up for questioning was there with a really pregnant woman. Her face looked like something
in a magazine, all lips and eyes. Her breasts and stomach stuck out about a mile. Zack didn‟t know where to look at her or if he
should look at all. He felt his face getting red and glanced away.
There she was. Stephanie.
His heart beat faster.
She sat with a bunch of her friends on a pile of mats under an extra hoop at midcourt. She waggled her fingers when she
saw him, but she didn‟t get up or wave him over.
Zack stood frozen. Uncertain.
“ The next move is up to you ,” she‟d said.
That big asshole, Doug, sprawled beside her, leaning close to whisper in her ear. She laughed and punched him in the arm.
Zack walked over. “Hey, Stephanie.”
She glanced up, her smile lingering in her eyes. “Hi, Zack.”
He nodded to Doug. Todd was there, too, and a couple of girls he hadn‟t seen before.
“Everybody, this is Zack. Zack, everybody.”
“Hey.”
“Hi.” One of the girls dimpled. “Cute accent.”
“He‟s from Alabama,” Stephanie said.
“North Carolina.”
“Redneck flatlander,” Doug said.
“Yankee asshole,” Zack replied without heat.
Introductions concluded, it was easy enough to fit into the space on Stephanie‟s other side while they waited for the movie
to begin.
A woman who looked like somebody‟s Italian grand-mother, with hard red nails and lips and black athletic shoes, got up in
front of the screen to welcome everybody to the summer movie series on World‟s End.
“Who‟s that?” Zack murmured to Stephanie.
“The mayor. Antonia Barone.”
The mayor announced the movies, Transformers II and something else. He was distracted by Stephanie, by how close she
was and how good she smelled, like strawberry Jolly Ranchers.
The back of his neck crawled. Warning.
He looked at Doug, but the older boy had his hand draped on a girl‟s thigh, Hailey or Bailey or something. He didn‟t seem
like a threat at the moment.
Zack took a deep breath, willing his muscles to relax.
The tall man sitting with Emily suddenly stood. Zack felt his own pulse accelerate as the man scanned the crowd. His gaze
collided with Zack‟s, and this time the sizzle of warning shot clear down his spine.