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CHAPTER ONE

FLORIDA, 2019

"Pick me, choose me, love me," Meredith Grey cries to Derek Shepherd on my TV screen. After watching the same episode two times before, I'm no longer phased by the dramatic emotions at hand. I take another sip of my decaf coffee and continue to paint my toenails.

The doorbell rings, startling me, and my mind immediately goes into someone breaking into the house. Then two thoughts cross my mind:

1. What polite robber is going to ring my doorbell?

2. It's probably the pizza I ordered thirty minutes ago, stop borrowing trouble.

I quickly fan my wet nails and shuffle over to the front door, the wooden floors creaking every step I take as I grab my wallet from the side table and pull out a few bucks. As I open the door a young, freckled face boy stands in front of me with tired eyes.

"Ten dollars," He says, pizza box in hand. He wears Nike shorts and tennis shoes, a Sailfish Swim Team t-shirt, and a hat with a Leonardo's Pizza logo. I nod in agreement and unfold the wad of cash in my hand, as I flip through to find the right amount, I glance up at the tan, scrawny boy and make the connection.

"Aren't you the paper boy, too?" I ask, still counting through my money.

"Yeah, I've seen you on your porch a couple of times," He says, "I'm surprised you even recognized me. Usually, it's only old people who know me because, you know, they're usually the only ones up that early."

"You do the paper every morning?" I ask, he nods. "And do you deliver pizza every night?"

"Mainly weekends during the school year," He shrugs, "but more often during the summer."

"And you make all your deliveries on your bike?" I peer past his shoulder and see his red bicycle propped on its kickstand on my driveway.

"Yeah," He says, "gets me in shape for sports, plus I can't drive yet."

I look back at the kid, patiently waiting for his cash so he could leave, "You got many more orders to run tonight?"

"Nah, it's pretty dead the week before summer officially starts," He says, "Plus I have a physics final on Monday so I'm gonna run one more order and then go home and study."

I sigh and count through the money one more time, "What's your name?"

"Kyle."

I offer him half of the wad and he trades it for my pizza. He holds his head down and counts the change, "Thanks ma'am, have a nice night."

I close the door behind me and begin walking back to my couch until the doorbell rings again. I place the box on my coffee table and shuffle back to the door, opening it to see Kyle looking at me, the wad of cash in his hand.

"Ma'am, you gave me way more than you needed to."

"It's called a tip," I tell him.

"Twelve dollars?" He gawks, and I nod before he gives me a look, "Are you flirting with me? I know how ladies here get—"

"Oh, ew, no," I interrupt him, "It includes a tip for the paper! Gross! No, gosh, that's so illegal. You're, what, fourteen?"

"I turned fifteen two months ago," Kyle scoffs, "What are you? Twenty-two?"

"Twenty-one."

"I was close."

"Don't you have a pizza to deliver and a test to study for?" I remind him.

"Yeah, okay, bye," He says, turning around and walking towards his bike, "thanks for the tip lady!"

"It's Hunter!" I call out to him, flinching at the fact he called me lady.

"Okay! Bye Miss Hunter!" He calls out, biking away until the moonlight loses its light on him.

As I watch him bike down the empty street, I glance up to the sky and take a deep breath at the crescent moon and stars littering the sky. It's been a month since I moved down to Pelican Cove, and they still amaze me.

Maybe it's because of all the light pollution back home that would always block out the night sky, or maybe I'm actually learning to appreciate nature. Probably both.

I flip the lid of the box open and smell the aromas of a plain pepperoni pizza before I take a slice and take my first bite as I waddle back over to the living room and stare at the TV, thinking about what's going on back at school. It's a Friday night, so all of my friends are out at Paddy's for dollar vodka night, which makes me want to gag at the thought of downing cheap liquor and pretending to have fun. Hypocritical of me because I know if I were there I would be there with them. But times have changed. I need to grow up.

My phone ringing brings me back to reality.

I shuffle over to the phone left over by the coffee table and answer it.

"Hello?" I say through bites.

"Hi, hun," My mother yawns on the other line of the phone. At first I'm surprised she's up this late, but I remember these aren't usual circumstances.

"How's Patrick doing?" I swallow my pizza, taking a seat on the couch.

"Oh, you know, he's asleep," She sighs, "Your dad is taking over for the night. But so far no updates."

"Okay, well as soon as something happens don't hesitate to call me," I lean back, muting the TV, "What's up?"

"I just wanted to check in on you," She says, "It's been a month now, how are you doing? I feel like all of our attention is on Patrick—"

"As it should be," I interrupt her, "Mom, seriously. We talked about this, it's the whole reason I left; so you and dad can have Patrick's undivided attention, and so I can get a fresh start. And it seems like it's working."

"I know, I know... We just miss you a whole lot."

"I miss you guys, too," I smile, "Anything else new?"

"Well, other than Patrick, life is fine. I got another call from Jenny a couple of days ago."

This makes my blood run cold.

"And?" I press, wanting to know the outcome.

"I told her I was going to respect your decision to go off the grid, and she should too," She explains, "That they all should. But, Hunter, you all know how much they miss you and care about you..."

"If they really cared then we wouldn't be in this situation," I snap, immediately wanting to take it back as the line goes silent, "Sorry. Shoot, I'm sorry."

"It's alright, I know what you mean," She sighs again, "But, hun, you know it's not good keeping all this bitterness in, right? You will have to forgive them someday, they're your best friends."

"I just need time, Mom," I sigh, glancing around the room, "Listen, I have to go. I have first shift tomorrow at the beach club, I don't want to fall asleep if I need to save someone's life, right?"

"Okay, I love you."

"I love you, too," I say back, "Good night."

And with that, I hang up the phone and look back at my pizza, which now looks very unappetizing.