Andrew woke the next morning to Noah swearing at the tiny coffee maker that sat on the strange linoleum desk. He opened his eyes and sat up, shaking vague dreams out of his head as he did so. Noah was in only his jeans, standing there and glaring at the coffee maker. “All I’m trying to do is get it to make some simple hot water,” he said without looking at Andrew. “I wanted to make you some tea. But no.”

Andrew had had Noah’s tea before and, while he appreciated the gesture more than he could say, he was also slightly relieved to not be drinking it right now. “I believe the front desk has complimentary tea and coffee,” he said instead.

Since Noah was more dressed than Andrew was, he threw on a shirt and went to the desk, coming back a few minutes later with a cup of hot water and a still-wrapped tea bag for Andrew and a cup of coffee for himself. Andrew took the offering gratefully, doing his best to make some semblance of a cup of tea with what he had. They sat together against the bed’s headboard in a silence that seemed to grow steadily bigger and heavier as the reality of the morning bore down on them.

“Maybe I shouldn’t go back,” Andrew blurted out.

He was still partially under the covers, unwilling to change back into his muddy clothes from last night. Noah turned to him. Andrew waited for him to say something, but he just looked at Andrew expectantly.

“I mean, I lost my job,” Andrew continued. “And my home, and I don’t know, Noah, maybe I should just stay out here.”

“Would you be happy?”

He wanted to say yes. Andrew wanted to say yes so badly, but even as he opened his mouth to do so, he knew it was a lie. 

“You should go back,” Noah said, taking Andrew’s hand. 

“I don’t want to lose you again.”

“Who says you have to?” Noah asked. “It was never the distance, not for me at least. And I don’t want that either.”

Andrew gripped his hand like a lifeline. “We have the Limerick,” Noah continued, and Andrew could see now that it was taking him effort as well. “Or whatever it becomes. We’ll rebuild. If not in New Winslow, then nearby, I don’t know. Or in some form. Once this is really over, then we can start making plans there. If the curse is lifted, then the danger of coming back is gone. It’ll be like any other town.”

“You know there’s somewhere on the Cape that’s cursed too,” Andrew muttered, his voice thick with tears that were threatening more and more every second. “You bloody well know it.”

“Then that’s their problem,” Noah said. “You wouldn’t be happy here and we both know it. And I’ve got too many responsibilities to go there permanently. But it’s not that far.”

“Will you be okay?” Andrew asked.

He regretted asking the second it was out of his mouth. Noah looked stricken, just for a beat. He’d been talking about Noah’s health, but that was what he never asked last time, was it? 

“I’ll be fine.”

Andrew wasn’t sure he believed him, but Noah’s tone left no room for arguing. He nodded quickly and Noah set down his coffee, then turned and held him again. “We could just stay here,” Andrew said against his shoulder.

“No, I saw a family of bats over by the vending machine,” Noah said. “And I’m pretty sure this coffee is from yesterday.”

Andrew wanted to go home. But first he had to figure out where home was going to be.

———

Cleo arrived at the motel around ten with some fresh clothes for Andrew. He took them gratefully, having been modestly tucked under the covers for far too long. When he was done getting dressed, he came out of the bathroom to see Noah on the side of the bed, tying his boots, and Cleo in the chair by the window.

“Baxter’s alive,” she said. “They didn’t tell us much, but he’s alive. Not that there’s any real proof against him for anything.”

“We can still find Evelyn Harbinger’s missing pages,” Andrew said. “I’ll go back and we’ll keep looking. They won’t hold up in a court of law and they’re not about him anyway. But maybe-”

“No, you need to stay away, remember?” Cleo said. “A few weeks, just in case?”

“And you’re out,” Noah said, his voice a little rough. “That’s what matters. You’re out and you’re safe.”

“He tried to blame you for the fire, though.” Andrew said. “And he kept this secret for years. Decades. Things could have been so different for so many people, but he kept it to himself.”

“And we’ll keep looking,” Noah said. “But you need to stay out, just for now.”

“I talked to Edie more this morning,” Cleo said to Andrew. “They say you’re welcome to stay with us for as long as you want.”

Again, a dangerous tangle of emotions made Andrew almost wish ridiculously that yesterday hadn’t happened. “Thanks,” he said. “I’ll get out of your hair soon.”

Cleo shrugged. “There’s no hurry. Iris still says give it a few weeks before you come back. She and Celine both said they’ll watch for any concerns until then. If there are aftershocks or anything lingering, they’ll know by that point. If you have to come back, I mean.”

He nodded. “We can ride back together now,” she said. “I know you have to check out in a few minutes. We’ll just get you set up at my place.”

Andrew looked at Noah. He wanted to ask him to come too, maybe just for a night. But then he thought of Liv and Mia. And how if Noah stayed for one night, then the second night when he left was going to be even worse because Andrew would have his memory in that flat. Noah looked back at him and nodded. “I should be getting back to New Winslow,” he said, forcing a smile. “I’ll see you soon?”

Andrew nodded and Noah stood up, pulling him in for a kiss that Andrew wanted to keep going forever. But that was impossible, and five minutes later he was climbing into Cleo’s car as Noah got into his truck a few parking spaces down. Noah turned and waved to him through the broken driver’s side window. Andrew waved back, then they were pulling out of the lot. Cleo turned left as Noah turned right. And once again, Andrew watched him drive away until the tail lights disappeared.

Cleo didn’t judge him when he cried. Instead, she just held his hand in silence as they got on the highway home.

———

Cleo’s phone rang as they were sitting in traffic on the Mass Pike, cutting off the podcast she’d been listening to as Andrew tried and failed to nap. “Hi Mrs. Stevenson,” she greeted.

“Hi sweetheart!” Mrs. Stevenson’s voice barely penetrated the fog surrounding Andrew as he stared out the window at the trees passing by, trees he never thought he’d see again. “I heard Andrew is out, how’s he doing?”

“He’s good,” Cleo said. “Here in the car with me, actually.”

“Hi Andrew,” Mrs. Stevenson said. “Sweetie, call me if you need anything, alright?”

“Thanks, Mrs. Stevenson,” Andrew said dully, eyes still locked on the trees that had been dragging slowly by.

“Cleo, I just called to let you know I moved those boxes from your mom’s house, the ones I told her I’d hang onto. They’re in the storage unit underneath the general store, next to the one the town uses. Let me know if you need anything from her kitchen for your new place and I can run down and get it. She told me there’s no kitchen in her suite, but she’s not much of a chef so she didn’t seem to miss it at all.”

Mrs. Stevenson laughed and the car behind them honked for Cleo to go. The trees were forgotten. Getting out was almost forgotten as Cleo and Andrew turned to each other at the same time. Then Cleo turned back to the road, now barely avoiding rear ending the person slowly moving ahead of them. “Um, yeah,” Cleo said. “Thanks, Mrs. Stevenson. I’ll check and let you know.”

“Alright. Take care, you two.”

Mrs. Stevenson hung up as Andrew tried to remember how to breathe. He reached forward without a word and called Noah from Cleo’s phone. 

“What’s up?” Noah greeted.

“It’s me,” Andrew said, his heart pounding in his ears. “Do you know the storage units under the general store?”

“Kind of?” Noah said. “Me and Charlie cleared out some Christmas ornaments down there a little while ago, but they were just kind of in the basement. I didn’t actually go in any storage units.”

“There’s one the town uses,” Andrew said, the words getting tangled as the reality of this really set in. “It might be nothing, but I need you to go check.”

“I’m across the street at the common right now,” Noah said. “Hang on.”

Andrew heard him cross the street and go into the general store. He could envision every step Noah took along the way. “There’s nobody at the register,” Noah said, then there was the creaking of a door and the sound of footsteps on wooden stairs. 

“Do you see anything?”

“There’s two doors along the far end,” Noah said. “I assume that’s them.”

“One’s the town’s,” Andrew said. “And I assume it’s locked.”

“Oh, it’s locked, alright,” Noah said. “I’ll call you back.”

———–

CONTINUE TO EPISODE 50

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