Immortal Sea Read Online Free PDF

does,” Liz said automatically and then stopped.
    When he was a little boy, Zack had loved the water. From the time he could hold a pole until Ben’s illness four years ago, their annual fishing trip to the pier at Holden Beach had been the highlight of Zack’s summers. Now he wouldn’t swim, wouldn’t even walk barefoot on the beach, and wore big, black, laced-up combat boots all the time. He had spent the ferry ride from Rockland buried below deck, ears plugged and eyes glued to his iTouch. Liz didn’t know what her son liked anymore. What he wanted. What he was doing all those hours alone in his room.
    “Why don’t you grab a sweatshirt,” she suggested. “We’ll take our walk now, and when Zack gets up, I’ll make us all some pancakes.”
    “Cool.” Emily scrambled off the couch and bolted for the hall as if afraid her mother would change her mind. Her flip-flops slapped up the stairs.
    Liz smiled and reached for the bottom of the box.
    Ah.
    Her hand froze.
    Her heart clenched.
    She recognized the swaddled lump at once by the weight, the feel of it in her hand. Her doves. Ben’s doves. She lifted the package carefully from the carton. With trembling fingers, she pulled at the bubble wrap to expose the heavy sculpture: two birds blown of lead crystal, joined at the base and their beaks, Ben’s gift to her on their first wedding anniversary, an unexpected and utterly romantic gesture from her normally prosaic husband. “ One heart, ” he had written on the card.
    Sudden, hot tears flooded her eyes.
    Bernardo Rodriguez had been dead three years. Long enough for his scent to fade from his pillows and their closet, long enough for her grief and rage to recede to a faint throbbing like an aching tooth.
    She stroked a finger along the smooth crystal breast of a dove. They nestled together in their plastic wrapping, their perfection undimmed by time. Beautiful. Complete. Whole.
    Emily clattered on the stairs. “Hey, Mom.”
    Liz blinked. She didn’t want her daughter to catch her crying. Not now. Not here, where they were making a fresh start.
    She swiped at her eyes, reaching blindly to set the doves on the mantle. The crystal slipped through her fingers.
    Crash.
    Splinters shimmered on the cold stone hearth. The heavy base rolled on its side.
    Oh, God. Oh, no.
    “Mom?”
    Liz fell to her knees on the carpet, her mouth opening in a silent cry. Not broken, please, not . . .
    Cracked.
    Upstairs, a door creaked. Footsteps shuffled in the hall.
    Zack’s voice, rough with sleep and adolescence, drifted down. “What happened?”
    Liz lifted the doves from the hearth, ignoring the glittering dust of tiny shards. The fall had knocked off a chunk of tail, a corner of the base. A crack ran through the crystal’s heart like a flaw in ice.
    “Shit,” Emily said in a small, awed voice, and Liz couldn’t even find the words to correct her.
    Her children stood in the door to the living room. Zack towered at his sister’s back, a black T-shirt hanging off his broad, bony shoulders, his dull black hair sticking up in every direction.
    Liz pulled herself together. “Stay back. You’ll cut your feet.”
    Zack scowled. “You’ll cut your hands.”
    “You’re bleeding ,” Emily squeaked in distress.
    Liz glanced down. Sure enough, a thin red line welled on her finger. She pressed on it hastily, offering her daughter a shaky smile. “It’s okay. I’m okay. It doesn’t hurt.”
    Emily frowned, unconvinced. “But . . .”
    “You heard her, she’s fine.” Zack poked his sister’s shoulder. “Come on, let’s get out of here so she can clean up.”
    Em tipped up her face. “Will you take me to the beach?”
    “No, but I’ll buy you ice cream.” Zack’s gaze, deep black rimmed with gold, met Liz’s. Were his pupils a little too dilated? But he’d just woken up, she reminded herself.
    “You want a broom?” he asked.
    This was the boy she remembered, thoughtful, responsible, compassionate. Like Ben.
    She