Nichole Giles - Ocean So Wide

Descendant

Birthright

Legacy

Sea so Blue

Water so Deep

eBook Edition

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, dialogues, places, and incidents either are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume responsibility for author or third-party websites or their

content.

Published by Jelly Bean Press

PO Box 548

Osawatomie, Kansas 66064

Copyright 2017 by Nichole Giles

Cover design by Melissa Williams Design

Author photo by Brekke Felt

Formatted by Melissa Williams Design

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors rights.

Purchase only authorized editions.

Nichole Giless author website is http://nicholegiles.blogspot.com

For all the survivors.

March 17

22 days since departure

A THICK LETTER FROM ORANGE Coast College glared at James from the kitchen counter. He wasnt sure when his father had left the house and made the fifty-yard journey to the mailbox, or why a college was sending him recruitment packets two months before graduation. It felt wrong that any school might want him when hed deserted his team during playoffs.

By some miracle, hed maintained a league shot record for the season, and though hed all but dropped his pursuit of scholarship offers, a handful of recruiters continued to reach out to him.

A label pasted on the slim brown envelope hinted that the package was more than simply junk mail, especially since said labelslightly askewappeared to have been placed by hand. His stomach jumped with nervous anticipation as he turned away, ignoring the mail. He didnt have time for college. Awaiting his high school diploma had become little more than obligational torture, since every morning he forced himself to classmainly to keep the promise that he wouldnt waste his life while hoping for a miracle.

Though shed begged him not to, he continued to wait for Emmas return. Every day, for however long he could manage, he trekked to the private cove and planted himself in the sand, where he shared the details of his life. He imagined the wind spiriting his love across the mighty expanse, reminding her of all shed left behind, and inspiring her to find her way home. Though he knew his words couldnt reach her, giving voice to the tumbling thunder of emotions provided a method of therapy.

But as his grades crashed, his bank account drained, and his social life died a silent, empty demise, awareness plunged him deeper. Promise aside, he couldnt keep this up forever. Not if he wanted to build a life, a future.

Desperation clawed at the torn halves of his soul.

Though she hadnt materialized in his presence, he knew with every fiber of himself that Emma had visited the cove, at least once, maybe more. Her sense of timing must be off from living fathoms below the deep, dark blue. He couldnt guess how the Mer measured time, but on one particularly tough day, only weeks after shed left, hed arrived to find a tiny, white pearl sitting on the ledge where she used to leave her cell phone. That pearl had become the seed of hope that kept him afloat.

His motorcycle key chimed as he twirled it around his finger, grabbing a water bottle on his way out the door. As he stepped onto the porch, curiosity turned him around and marched him back to the kitchen to shove the letter in his pocket. Hed left his earring on the ledge in place of Emmas pearl, and though over a week had passed, it hadnt been moved. He hoped she would return soon. Even if only for a moment, seeing her could bolster his courage, giving him the strength to survive a while longer. More than anything, he needed her to know that he hadnt given up.

On school.

On basketball.

On life.

Or on her.

Even if the letter was junk, she would know that he still had options. His father had collected a stack of college correspondence, all addressed to James. Maybe it was time to open some.

The idea of college still felt like a pipe dream. He wasnt sure there was still a scenario in which he would magically be handed a scholarship, but though hed never considered them before, he realized that there were other ways to pay for his education. Financial aid, grants, government programsand probably more if he invested time to research.

He strapped on his helmet and straddled Lolathe name hed given his bike. After Emma vanished, loneliness had threatened to crush him. Hed spent hours, even days, riding to everywhere and nowhere, but always on Lola. Shed become his go-to, the only thing left in life over which he had control. The engine rumbled as he balanced her weight between his thighs and accelerated down the driveway, setting his sights on the cove.

After Emmas sudden disappearance, the police had kept him on their radar. From what he could tell, he wasnt under constant surveillance, but it wouldnt have mattered. Paranoia followed wherever he went, as though walls and roads and trees had eyes that unpeeled his skin, layer by layer, until theyd revealed each secret James kept buried. To safeguard Emmas private sanctuary, hed developed a habit of taking a different route every day, including multiple detours that led inland and across town.

At a strip-mall intersection, a young man sold flowers out of a bucket, holding a sign that read:

Dont wait until its too late.

The sentiment flooded James with nostalgia. Hed never had a chance to bring Emma flowers, or take her on dates, or buy her giftsand there was a part of him that desperately needed that opportunity. He waved the man over and offered some bills in exchange for a single aqua rose, wrapped in cellophane. He tucked the flower inside his jacket, zipping it close to his heart to protect it from the winds harsh battery.

If only hed been able to protect Emma the same way, keeping her next to his heart, where she would be safe from everything and everyone.

Since the police knew his motorcycle, rather than park along the curb, he pulled into the thick vegetation growing at the top of the cliff and rolled Lola into a shrub that curved into a C just above the top of his handlebars, creating a canopy of vines that stretched back toward the dirt. He dropped his helmet on the seat and navigated the narrow, twisted path, using the sheer cliff-face as a handhold to steady him. Far below, aqua waves lunged at the rocky shoals, foam-tipped giants that rose, shrunk, and then swirled back out across the wide expanse of ocean.