Clallam Bay (A Fresh Start #2) Read Free Page B

Snuggling farther under my blanket, I looked out the window at my neighbor’s, knowing the time was coming for him to leave again. So it was no surprise when I woke that night to the sound of a screen door squeaking.
    It only seemed to rain on days he left.

Chapter Three
    “So, do you get to see Mr. Coll a lot?” Kaylee asked from her perch beside my desk. Playing with the hem of her shirt, she toed the carpet. “Are you friends?”
    I smiled at her small form, finding it quite cute how she’d been asking so much about him ever since he’d helped her.
    “Mr. Coll works a lot, sweetie.” I told her what I had every other time before. “I don’t see him very often. But if I did I’m sure we’d be friends.” That caused her to look up and smile. I shooed her to her seat to get ready for quiet time.
    We were ten minutes in when Alyssa burst through the door, exciting the classroom I’d finally gotten settled all over again.
    “Oh my God. Did you hear?” she blurted then covered her mouth. Looking at me, her eyes widened before turning to the class. “You guys heard nothing,” she warned with a point of her finger. A cluster of little heads nodded, and Alyssa straightened her blouse, heading over to sit on the edge of my desk. “There’s been an accident.”
    My heart jumped, and I thought back on the daily roll call making sure everyone was present and accounted for. I wasn’t missing any students that I could remember. Oh God. Was it one of Alyssa’s students? One of the parents? Another teacher?
    “What? Who? Who was in an accident?” I asked, getting more antsy by the second.
    “Not just who, but what. You know Kim McDaniels?”
    “The music teacher?”
    Alyssa nodded. “Mmhmm.”
    “Of course. What about her? Was she in the accident? Oh, no. Is she okay?”
    The look Alyssa gave me was grave.
    “Oh God. What? She’s not okay? What, Alyssa? For God’s sake, tell me already!”
    Checking to make sure the class wasn’t listening, we continued our whispered exchange.
    “You know that big storm we got over the weekend?”
    I nodded.
    “Well, I guess the worst of it was out at sea ‘cause it capsized one of the crabbers.”
    My heart sank.
    “And Kim McDaniels’ husband was on it.”
    A sadness settled over the classroom, quickly spreading like a fog throughout the town once the news broke. Not only had the sea claimed the life of Kim McDaniels’ husband, but all the men on board. The school closed. I was slowly losing my mind not having anything to do but sit and wrack my brain for the name painted on the side of my neighbor’s boat. For the life of me, I couldn’t remember what it was, if he crabbed, or hopefully just fished.
    The walks I took along the harbor to help jog my memory only made me feel more out of my element, almost as if I were intruding on the ceremonious memorials that were often taking place. I witnessed a handful of them. Stood back and watched idly as single white roses were clipped from their stems and tossed into the bay. A tradition, I was told. The flower tops, they floated for a while, all gathering together in a cluster that represented the fishermen’s souls. And once they sank, the town’s mourning period was over.
    Even though businesses reopened and school was back in session, it was still in the air. The sadness. The longing of the families who had lost their loved one. There was no putting a time limit on the pain they endured. Some came to the docks to cry. Others just stared, squinting out into the big, wide blue, but all of them prayed for the safe return of the rest of the boats. The whole community did. Myself included.
    With the lack of sleep I was getting, I ate more than ever, and, as a result, had permanently paced a line in the rug from fridge to window. Every night I hadn’t woken to the squeaking of a screen door, I would look out the next morning in hopes I just hadn’t heard it. But his truck was never there. He was never there.
    “I’m