Page 5 (1/2)
Prologue
Golden Boy
October
The Day After My Mother’s Death
Fro father, an older doting sistereverything a boy could want We lived in theon vacation at the beach Mom stayed ho; we laughed, we played, ere very happy Nothing scratched our perfect existence until the night my father never came home And then our once shiny happiness was left forever dulled His sudden absence frayed all that was left of our perfect life, my perfect life
Just when I thought there was noit, Dahlia London irl with the tiniest of noses and pretty heart-shaped lips, she had a love of the beach that could only be matched in intensity by mine From the very first time I laid eyes on her, I knew she was perfect forpuzzle piece We grew up being best friends and then one day she was irl It was just that easy and it stayed that way for the longest time
As happens in lifeeverything between us changed as time passed We were five ethose twenty years we had created a bond that I thought couldn’t be broken I’d poured myself into our relationship and I knew she had, too But she was a little ilityelse
She was fourteen when her parents died and she needed ave her support She was sixteen when I knee felt so deeper for each otherso I loved her She was seventeen when her uncle died and she was left aloneso I gave up et in the way of me and my board It was an opportunity of a lifetiet to coo pro But thatDahl behind, and she had already lost too many people So I made a rash decision I chose to stay with her I threw the competition on purpose
It’s a day I’ll never forget The weather was perfect The sun was shining and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky Surfing conditions were optih I paddled out slow and caught my first wave on the shoulder of the peak Of course I knew better, but the announcer still made the comment that I’d acted too soon, that I didn’t wait for the steep face He blamed it on my nerves and I let him My score ell beloas expected froured it out—she never said a word, but I knew all along my mother knew And with the loss in that co on the professional circuit ca halt
When it cae, Dahl and I knee couldn’t be apart for four years—so ent together After college anted to start the next phase of our lives—so we ether Then once we had secured our careers, it was tiression—so I proposed But before we even set a date, the world shohat a cruel place it could really be I was once again forced into ether And that ti to throw—so I had no other choice but to leave her behind I had to protect her
That was three years ago and even though I ended up without her, I don’t regret my decision I had to keep her safe—I loved her too much not to Life presents choices at every curve and it’s the choices we ret everything up to that point, of course I do I was a duht I could outs back I should have seen it, but I’d investigated a story that I thought would put a No, not wrong—plain stupid The story led to an unbelievable choice I had to “die,” or I knew irl and me would both be killed I know it sounds absurd Shit like that only happens in the movies, but it was my reality I wanted to take her with me, I did, but that kind of life wasn’t for irl behind, and it wrecked ive her up to keep her alive—is one I could never regret
While I was gone, I lived day to day, never looking ahead, never letting anyone in That is until the unexpected day cao hoiven a second chance So I let my shield down and I never hesitated in the least to leave behind the life I had created Noould co I had done I went back thinking that getting her back wouldn’t be easy, but knowing in my heart it would be worth it
Never did I think soer feel the sa, irl would have fallen in love with soht I could win her back But like I said, the world is a cruel place She was gone fro her back Even if she hadn’t found out about what I’d done, I wouldn’t have been able to I know that now I should have let her go long ago, but I’d lost sight of as real, who she ho I was Without Dahl all I had left was , caring one in the blink of an eye A loss struck ain and just like when my father was taken—I was left utterly broken, but this tione
If there is a moment in time that comes to alter the course of your life forever—mine would be the day Caleb Holt told me I had to disappear I don’t even knoho I am anymore I’m alone and left to pick up pieces to a life I don’t have Rock bottoht I’d use to describe myself, but it’s the only one that fits
Chapter 1
Dead and Gone
The world spins faster as I stumble forward to enter the front door of what used to beround when I miss I leave therip the countertop tightly because the wallpaper see in and out I lean over the sink to wait for the sick feeling in ut to pass When I look up,her features, but I know it’s her because she’s wearing her pearls I have to touch her, feel her, so I press rab her and pull her to ainst the cool surface and try not to blink, not to lose sight of her But I can’t help it and when ain, I notice her hair isn’t blonde anyone, replaced by twinkling e the rooo away
rologue
Golden Boy
October
The Day After My Mother’s Death
Fro father, an older doting sistereverything a boy could want We lived in theon vacation at the beach Mom stayed ho; we laughed, we played, ere very happy Nothing scratched our perfect existence until the night my father never came home And then our once shiny happiness was left forever dulled His sudden absence frayed all that was left of our perfect life, my perfect life
Just when I thought there was noit, Dahlia London irl with the tiniest of noses and pretty heart-shaped lips, she had a love of the beach that could only be matched in intensity by mine From the very first time I laid eyes on her, I knew she was perfect forpuzzle piece We grew up being best friends and then one day she was irl It was just that easy and it stayed that way for the longest time
As happens in lifeeverything between us changed as time passed We were five ethose twenty years we had created a bond that I thought couldn’t be broken I’d poured myself into our relationship and I knew she had, too But she was a little ilityelse
She was fourteen when her parents died and she needed ave her support She was sixteen when I knee felt so deeper for each otherso I loved her She was seventeen when her uncle died and she was left aloneso I gave up et in the way of me and my board It was an opportunity of a lifetiet to coo pro But thatDahl behind, and she had already lost too many people So I made a rash decision I chose to stay with her I threw the competition on purpose
It’s a day I’ll never forget The weather was perfect The sun was shining and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky Surfing conditions were optih I paddled out slow and caught my first wave on the shoulder of the peak Of course I knew better, but the announcer still made the comment that I’d acted too soon, that I didn’t wait for the steep face He blamed it on my nerves and I let him My score ell beloas expected froured it out—she never said a word, but I knew all along my mother knew And with the loss in that co on the professional circuit ca halt