“You don’t want to sell the house, right?”
“No way. There are too many memories, and it meant so much to Nana. I’m going to use it this summer and then maybe eventually rent it out if he agrees to it.”
“So, you have no idea how he plans to use his half? You’re just going to show up there in a few weeks, and if he’s there, he’s there, and if he’s not, he’s not?”
“Pretty much.”
“Oh, this is going to be interesting.”
***
The boy that Nana started watching this summer was sitting outside of her house. There was no way I could let him see me looking the way I did right now. Peeking through the curtains of my bedroom window, I wanted to just watch him without him knowing I was there.
There was little I knew about him. His name was Justin. He was about ten years old like me, maybe eleven. He’d just moved here to Rhode Island from Cincinnati. His parents had money; they had to have if they could afford the large Victorian house they bought next door to Nana’s. They both worked in downtown Providence and paid Nana to watch Justin after school.
Now, I could finally see what he looked like. He had shaggy dark blond hair and was apparently trying to teach himself how to play the guitar. I must have stood there at the window for almost an hour watching him strumming the strings.
Out of nowhere, a sneeze escaped from me. His head whipped upward toward the window. Our eyes met for a few seconds before I immediately ducked. My heart was pounding because now he knew I’d been watching him.
“Hey. Where did you go?” I could hear him ask.
I stayed crouched down and silent.
“Amelia…I know you’re there.”
He knew my name?
“Why are you hiding from me?”
Slowly standing up with my back facing the window, I finally answered, “I have a lazy eye.”
“A lazy eye? Is that like a wandering eye?”
“What’s a wandering eye?”
“I’m not sure. My mom always says my dad has a wandering eye.”
“A lazy eye means I’m cross-eyed.”
“Like cock-eyed?” He laughed. “No way. That’s so cool. Lemme see!”
“You think it’s cool to have an eyeball that goes inward?”
“Yeah. I would love that! Like, you could look at people, and they wouldn’t even know you were staring at them.”
He was starting to make me giggle.
“Well, mine is not that bad…yet.”
“Come on. Turn around. I want to see it.”
“No.”
“Please?”
Unsure of what came over me, I decided to let him see me. I couldn’t avoid it forever.
When I turned around, he flinched. “What happened to your other eye?”
“It’s still there.” I pointed to my right eye. “This is just a patch over it.”
“Why do they make it the same color as your skin? From here, it looked like you had no eye. Scared the crap out of me for a second.”
“It’s under the patch. My eye doctor is going to make me wear this four days a week. Today is the first day. Now you see why I didn’t want you to see me!”
“It’s nothing to be ashamed of. It just startled me at first because I didn’t know what was coming. So, your cockeye is under there? I want to see it.”
“No, actually, the covered eye is my good one. The doctor says that if I don’t use my good eye, the lazy eye will strengthen and straighten out over time.”
“Oh…I get it. So, can you come outside now? Since you don’t have to hide from me anymore?”
“No. I don’t want anyone else to see me.”
“What are you gonna do when you have to go back to school tomorrow?”
“I don’t know.”
“So, you’re just gonna stay inside all day?”
“For now. Yes.”
Justin didn’t say anything. He just dropped his guitar, stood up and ran over to his house.
Maybe I did really scare him off after all.
Five minutes later, he came running back toward his spot in front of Nana’s. When he looked up into my window again, I could hardly believe my eyes. (Well, “eye.”) Covering his own right eye was a gigantic black patch. Justin looked like a pirate. He sat down, lifted his guitar and started strumming. To my surprise, he then began to sing a song. It was a take on Brown Eyed Girl, except he’d switched the lyrics to One Eyed Girl. That was when I figured out that Justin Banks was equal parts insane and adorable.
After he finished singing, he took a black Sharpie marker out of his pocket.
“I’ll color yours in, too. Will you come outside now?”
A feeling warmer than I’d ever known filled my heart. Thinking back, that was probably the exact moment that Justin Banks became my best friend. That was also the same day he first graced me with a nickname that would follow me through our teenage years: Patch.
It was definitely the calm before the storm; I just didn’t know it yet.
The property was in good shape because the neighbor, Cheri, who was also Nana’s good friend, had been looking after it. Two weeks into my stay at Nana’s summer house—my summer house—I was knocking on wood that the peace and quiet would continue. No word from Justin. No word from anyone. Just me, myself and my books as I enjoyed a tranquil start to summer amidst the salty ocean air that surrounded me on the island.
Never in my life had I been more appreciative of this kind of peace. It was just over a month ago that it felt like my world had ended. Not only had Nana just died, but I’d also just discovered that Adam, my boyfriend of two years, had been cheating on me. The night I found out, we’d just had sex when he went to the bathroom to dispose of the condom and take a shower. He’d left his phone by the bedside, and that was when I saw all of the messages from this bitch named Ashlyn. He normally always took his phone everywhere with him, even to the bathroom, but that night he slipped. I later looked her up on Facebook and saw that half of the pictures she posted were of the two of them. Over the six months prior, I’d been feeling that something was off with him. That was my final confirmation. Just before I left for the summer house, I found out that Adam moved to Boston to live with her.
So, this was a major time of transition for me. At twenty-four, I was single again and starting a new life in Newport for the summer. My teaching job in Providence afforded me summers off. My hope was to find a temporary job for the season, but for now, I just wanted to enjoy a few weeks of relaxation.
My day would start with coffee on the upper deck that overlooked Easton’s Beach. Listening to the seagulls, I would peruse Facebook, read my
In Style
magazine or simply meditate. I’d then soak in the tub upstairs for as long as I pleased before getting dressed and starting my day, and by that I mean curling up on the couch with my book.
By mid-afternoon, I’d make lunch and bring it back out to the upper deck. Before nightfall, I would drive down to Thames Street in Newport and browse the shops, looking at blown glass, trinkets and nautical artwork. Then, I’d stop for gelato or coffee.
The day typically winded down with a trip down to the dock for some freshly-caught lobster or quahogs. I’d take them home in a bag and steam them in a pot outside in the yard. Then, I’d sit down to dinner with a bottle of chilled white wine while enjoying the sunset over the Atlantic.
This was the life.
My routine stayed the same every single day for a couple of weeks until my rude awakening hit.
***
Returning from downtown Newport with my bag of crustaceans one night, I noticed that the front door to the house was wide open. Did I forget to lock it? Was it the wind?
My heartbeat accelerated when I entered the kitchen to find a tall, leggy chick with short, cropped platinum blonde hair. She looked like a young Mia Farrow and was stocking the cabinets.
I cleared my throat. “Hello?”
She turned around before covering her chest. “Oh my God. You scared me.” Walking over to me smiling, she held out her hand. “I’m Jade.”
With fine features, high cheekbones and that pixie cut, Jade could have been a model. I was the complete opposite from her physically with my long, dark hair and curvy figure.
“I’m Amelia. Who are you?”
“I’m Justin’s girlfriend.”
My stomach sank. “Oh…I see. Where is he?”
“He just went to the market and the liquor store.”
“How long have you been here?”
“We just arrived about an hour ago.”
“How long are you staying?”
“Not sure really. We’re just gonna see where the summer takes us. Neither of us were expecting this development…you know, the house.”
“Yeah…I know.” I looked down at the French-manicured toes peeking out of her heels. “Do you work?”
“I’m an actress, actually…on Broadway. Well,
off
Broadway for now. I’m in between jobs, but I’ll probably be going back and forth to New York for auditions. What do you do?”
“I’m a middle school teacher. So, I get the summers off.”
“Oh, that’s really cool.”
“Yeah. It’s fun. Where does Justin work?”
“He works from home right now. He sells software. He can work from anywhere. He also performs. You know he’s a musician, right?”
“Actually, I don’t know much about him anymore.”
“What happened between you two anyway? If you don’t mind my asking…”
“He’s never told you anything about me?”
“Just that you grew up together and that you’re Mrs. H.’s granddaughter. Honestly, he never mentioned you at all until we got that letter from the attorney.”
Even though that was expected, it made me sad. “That’s no surprise.”
“Why do you say that?”
“It’s kind of a long story.”
“Did you guys ever date?”
“No. It was nothing like that. We were just good friends, but we drifted apart after I moved away.”
“I see. This whole thing is a little weird, right? I mean, inheriting a house like this out of nowhere?”
“Well, my grandmother was very generous, and she loved Justin very much. My mother is her only child, and Nana loved Justin like a son, so…”
“Your grandmother left the house to you and not your mother?”
“Mom and Nana had a bit of a falling out some years ago. Thankfully, they made amends before she died, but things were never really the same again.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Thanks.”
Jade opened her arms to pull me into a casual hug. “Well, I really hope we can be friends. It will be nice to have a girl around to shop with, check out the island.”
“Yeah. That’d be nice.”
“I hope you’ll have dinner with us tonight?”
I wasn’t ready to face him. I needed to make up a story and get out of here.
“Actually, probably not tonight. I’d better be leaving—”
“That’s what you’re good at, isn’t it?” a deep voice I hardly recognized interrupted me from behind.
“What’s that?” I asked, swallowing nervously and refusing to turn around to look at him.
“Leaving,” he said louder. “That’s what you’re good at.”
My breathing was ragged, but it was when I turned around that I nearly lost it.
Holy fuck.
Justin was standing in front of me, and I swear it was like the boy I’d left behind had been swallowed up by a lean mass of muscle. He just looked so different from what I remembered nine years ago. The anger on his face was transparent and somehow made him even more incredibly hot. It just would have been better if it weren’t directed toward me.
His skin was a beautiful shade of bronze that complemented the natural golden streaks in his dark blond hair. The smooth face I remembered was now rough and unshaven. A rope and barb wire tattoo wrapped around his bicep. He was wearing camouflage cargo shorts with a tight white ribbed tank that hugged his chiseled chest.
An indeterminate amount of time passed as I just took him in. Even though I was too stunned to say anything, my heart was screaming. I knew deep down my reaction wasn’t just because of my physical attraction to him. It was because despite all of the changes, one thing had stayed exactly the same. His eyes. They reflected the same hurt that I remembered from the very last time I saw him.
His name finally managed to roll off my tongue. “Justin…”
“Amelia.” The deep, throaty sound of his voice vibrated through me.
“I wasn’t sure if you were ever going to show up.”
“Why wouldn’t I have?” he sneered.
“Well, I thought maybe you were avoiding me.”
“You’ve overestimated your significance to me. Of course, I was going to come. This is half my house.”
His words stung. “I didn’t say it wasn’t. It’s just…I hadn’t heard anything from you.”