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not fucking funny.”
    “Lighten up, bro—” He stepped toward me, and I shoved him away, hard enough that he stumbled.
    “You’re gonna get decked, Tommy,” Kirk warned. “Let him go. Joke’s over.”
    Tom let me go, shoving his hands in his hip pockets. He’d pushed me past my boiling point frequently enough in our childhood to know it wasn’t a smart plan.   And really, only Tom could get me to that point, in the way only brothers can.
    Max stopped me as I stalked out of the workshop. “Seriously. It’s good to hear your voice, brother.”
    I clapped him on the shoulder, then left them all in the workshop admiring the bar.
    The churn of emotions in me lasted all the way from the winery to the beach. Once I stood in my shorts on the cold sand with the black sky lit by a bright half-moon and a brilliant wash of silver stars, I felt the jealousy and the anger and the confusion ebb away. The water lapped at my ankles, silence stretching and sliding around me, calming me. I shouldn’t have gotten so upset with Tom. He was just playing with me, and I knew it. He was a joker, and he didn’t always know when to let the joke go. But something about what he’d said had gotten under my skin.    
      I had no claim on Eden. No reason to feel jealous. Except, for some reason, she had been the one to get me to break my silence. And she hadn’t even really been trying.
    I moved out to deeper water, wading until it was waist-deep, ducking under the rope marking the designated swim area. I was about to dive under when I heard the cello. It was faint, distant. Low, sad notes rolled across the water. I stood with the water chilling my skin, listening. The sorrow was palpable, thick and raw, even from this far away.
    Something in the music made me want to wade back to shore, cross the road and barge into her falling-apart little house, wrap my arms around her and tell her it would be okay. Hold her until the sorrow went away. Take her sadness into myself. Even earlier today, when she’d been trying as hard as she could to pretend she was fine, to act like she didn’t need help, keeping her emotions buried deep, I had felt it in her. She could pretend to herself all she wanted, but I knew she wasn’t fine. I just didn’t know why.
    I dove in before my feet could betray me and carry me back to shore. The swim home was long, and hard, and cold. I crawled onto the deck, shivering and gasping for breath, dragged myself inside, grateful for the exhaustion.  
    The last thing I needed was to get involved with Eden, to get caught up in her drama. I had to focus on the winery. Get the bar finished. Get the new building finished. Make the tables and lay the floors, sand and polish everything, paint, hang artwork, make it perfect. Get the offices up and running, give Kirk and Max a beautiful place to do business. I couldn’t afford time for a distraction. Not for a girl, not even one as gorgeous as Eden. Especially not one with such a visible burden of trouble.  
    Yet, as I fell asleep, I knew I’d be at her house bright and early with a truckload of shingles. And I knew I’d get involved. For better or worse, I was getting involved.  
    I was an idiot.

EVER

learning to live; the importance of a kiss

    I could make a fist, but I couldn’t squeeze it. I could wiggle my fingers, but I couldn’t grasp a glass. I could mumble a word or two, sometimes even three in a row, but I couldn’t string a coherent sentence together. I could see and hear and smell and taste and feel. I could think. I was me. But…who I was had changed.  
    Eden had vanished. No one knew where she was. Caden said her phone was off, going straight to voicemail, and eventually her mailbox filled up. No one had heard from her in two weeks. She’d withdrawn from Cranbrook. Everything she owned was gone from her dorm. Her roommate said she hadn’t left an address or a destination. Nothing.
    I’d sensed the farewell in her last visit. I hadn’t been able