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thinking about Paisley Logan. She was definitely a pretty girl. In fact, she was beautiful. She looked to be about five feet, six inches with an athletic body. Her light brown hair with a subtle touch of blonde complemented her green eyes. She appeared to be okay on the outside, but when I looked into her eyes, I saw the same emptiness inside her that I had. I turned up the volume on my music as I ran. I was running from something and running to nowhere.

Chapter 9
    Paisley
    I climbed out of bed, grabbed my phone from my nightstand, and scrolled through my emails. Romeo was already sitting by his food bowl in the kitchen when I walked in.
    “Good morning, Romeo,” I said as I opened up a can of Fancy Feast and dumped it in his bowl.
    As I popped a k-cup in the Keurig, I suddenly remembered it was Halloween and I was expected to be over at my parents’ house at around five o’clock. My phone beeped with a text message from Keaton.
    “You up?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Unlock the door. I’m outside.”
    I opened the door and he stood there with a smile on his face.
    “Good morning, sis.”
    “What are you doing here so early?” I asked.
    “You’re going surfing with me today. Grab your stuff and let’s go,” he replied as he walked inside.
    “Not today, Keaton. I have things to do.”
    “What could you possibly have to do? It’s Halloween.”
    “Coffee?” I asked as I walked to the kitchen.
    “Sure. One cup before we go.”
    “I’m not going.”
    “Why not, Paisley? We haven’t been surfing together in a long time and I miss our fun. Besides, I can tell the parents that we went today and they’ll get off your back about not leaving the house and doing things. It’s a beautiful day out.” He smiled.
    Romeo walked up and rubbed against his leg. “What’s up, Romeo?” He bent down and picked him up. “Come on, Paisley. We won’t be gone for that long and whatever it is you claim you have to do, you can do it when you get back.”
    If I didn’t go, he would hound me. That was what he did. He hounded people until he got his way.
    “Don’t you have a website to design or something?” I asked.
    “I don’t work on the weekends. You know that.”
    “Fine. I’ll go.”
    “Yes! Thanks, sis. Is your surfboard still in the garage? I’ll load it in my truck.”
    “Yeah. It’s out there. I’ll go get ready, but we better not be gone long.”
    “We won’t. I promise. Did you hear that, Romeo? She said yes.”
    I rolled my eyes and smiled as I went and got ready.
    ****
    K eaton wasn’t kidding when he said it was a beautiful day. We grabbed our surfboards and as we were heading down the beach, we stopped and waited for the joggers to pass by. I looked up and was shocked at who I saw. He stopped and looked at me.
    “Hi, Paisley.”
    “Ben. Hi.”
    “You surf?” he asked, out of breath.
    “Yeah. You run?”
    “Yeah. Every day.”
    We stood there awkwardly in silence and I prayed that Keaton didn’t say anything.
    “Well, it was good seeing you. Happy Halloween.” He smiled.
    “Good to see you too. Enjoy your run. Happy Halloween.”
    As Keaton and I headed down towards the water, he wouldn’t stop staring at me.
    “Are you going to tell me what just happened and who that good-looking guy was?”
    Shit. I had no intention of ever telling him where I went last night. I could have lied and said he was someone from the paper, but I didn’t.
    “Get in the water and I’ll tell you.”
    We put the surfboards in the water and climbed on. As we paddled our way out, I told him about last night.
    “Instead of going straight home last night after dinner, I stopped in at that support group.”
    “Way to go, sis. And?”
    “Ben, the man we just saw, was there. It was his first time attending the meeting and his wife passed away about a year ago too.”
    “Wow. He looks around your age. How crazy is that?”
    “I know.”
    “Did you talk?”
    “Just a few words. I just wanted to get out of there and