ERIN

As soon as we got home I threw on some spandex running shorts, my light blue sports bra, and grabbed my sneakers, before tearing out the door. It was too much. Everything had gotten to be too much-- dealing with the lawyers today, making preparations for the funeral tomorrow, and then Mary dropping that bombshell about Matt.

I shook my head while starting down the overgrown path in our backyard that led to the beach. I still couldn't believe it. Matt had been in Mary's life since I was thirteen years old. He was practically part of the family, although a dysfunctional one. I turned up the volume on my iPod right when my sneakers hit the sand, and picked up the pace.

With stride through the sand, I thought about a different memory involving Matt, like the night he picked Mary up for their first formal dance and brought her one single lily, or the time he surprised all of us with a real tree one Christmas and spent half the night cursing as he tried to work it into the stand. And then there was the time he picked me up from my track meet because Mary was sick with the flu and took me out for ice cream to celebrate my 1st place win. Matt had become like a big brother to me over the years, making the news of his betrayal all the more shocking.

What was even more shocking was Mary's reaction. I would've expected her to be a mess, her whole life was essentially tangled up in Matt's, but she wasn't. Christ, she didn't even tell us about it right away.

"I didn't know they made lawyers like that," Lexi commented appreciatively as we all climbed back into dad's car. Mary was driving and I was sitting next to her up front, with Lexi in the back, just like always. The whole car smelled like dad and it was almost painful being inside it.

"You went to high school with that guy?" I asked Mary as I buckled myself in. She started the car and pulled out of the lot, nodding but not adding anything else.

"Did he have a crush on you or something?" Lexi teased, leaning forward and wedging her body between our seats. "He really looked like he had a crush on you back in the day."

Mary shook her head and a small 'v' appeared between her brows. "He didn't have a crush on me, now put your seatbelt on," she grumbled, making a right turn. "We barely even knew each other back then."

"Too bad," Lexi said, dropping back against the seat and buckling herself in, "because that was one good looking guy."

I whipped around and faced her. "Ugh Lexi! Mary's engaged!"

"So?" she bit back. "She's engaged Erin, not dead! She can appreciate a good looking man when she sees one!"

"Really? And would you say that if Matt were sitting here?"

Lexi smirked and nodded. "Yep, but he's not, so talking about other men is fair game."

"Where is he anyway?" I asked Mary. "I thought he'd be here for the meeting with the lawyers."

"He's not coming," Mary replied, sliding her dark sunglasses down over her eyes and concentrating on the road.

"What do you mean not coming? Like today? Or at all?" Lexi questioned.

"Did he have to go back?" I asked, even though I couldn't in any way see how the team could need him more than Mary did right then, but it was obvious that something was going on and I needed to tread lightly. Lexi, of course, didn't approach things in the same tactful way.

"That's bullshit! He wouldn't have just left! What happened? Did you guys have a fight or something?"

It was a weird question. Matt and Mary didn't fight, like ever. Lexi knew that as well as I did.

"No, we didn't have a fight," Mary sighed. "As far as I know he's at his parents' house."

"What do you mean 'as far as I know'?" I asked gently even though I was on high alert, sensing that something was wrong.

She pulled the car over on the side of the road and dropped her head to the wheel. "He cheated on me! I don't know how many times! He said only once b-but... I saw a text--" She heaved in a sob. "It was a p-picture!"

In one movement I had my seatbelt unbuckled and my arm around her, reassuring her that everything would be alright. Of course I didn't know if it would be. Mary's life was Matt just like it was ours before him. My head was spinning and it was all I could offer her right now.

"That motherfucker." Lexi hissed from the backseat. "How dare he!"

I swiped my head around and fixed my sister with a look. I knew she was pissed but...not now. Mary didn't it. Lexi didn't give any indication that she noticed my glare, but she didn't say anything else so that was something. She just folded her arms across her chest and fumed.

"The thing is..." Mary leaned her head against me. She was still crying, but the worst had passed. "I haven't been happy in a while. I love Matt, I really do," she said as if she needed to convince us, but she didn't. We both knew how much she gave to him; how much Mary always gave.

"But I don't feel like I know who I am anymore, or what I want. I just followed him and forgot about me along the way."

She didn't have to explain. I'm sure Lexi understood as much as I did. This is what Mary did. Her greatest fault was that when she loved, she loved fully. She had given up her past for Lexi and me, and now she was giving up her future for Matt. I didn't know the first thing about love, but I was sure it didn't have to be like that. It just didn't seem fair.

The waves hit the shore to my left and I stared out at the view. I'd been running this beach for as long as I could remember and everything about it was familiar to me. The spot where my mother had taught me how to swim, the cluster of rocks where my dad would fish on the rare days he'd have off, and the cove where Tyler Cooper gave me my first kiss, everything about this place was familiar, but it hadn't felt like home in a long time.

Things changed when my mother left. Dad became even more withdrawn and the three of us only had each other. I always knew I wanted to escape from here, and I guess Lexi did too. We just did it in completely different ways. Mary though, she fought to keep this family together and it hurt to watch her have it all torn apart.

The sun was beating down on me; it was a little after four and probably too hot to be out running, but I loved getting out at this time of day when everything was winding down. It relaxed me. I stopped to take a sip of water when something up shore caught my attention. There was a guy sitting there in a t-shirt and jeans with a guitar in his lap and his bare feet curling in the sand. His head was tipped down and his sun-streaked hair fell a little long, and blocked most of his face.

I pulled out my earbuds, not liking the idea of being alone with a stranger out on the beach with one of my senses distracted by something else. I screwed the cap back on my water bottle and was just about to take off again when he started playing. I knew the song just from the first three chords and I stood still.

It was 'American Girl' by Tom Petty, one of my mother's favorite songs and I hadn't heard it played in years. I glanced back at the guy, staring down at his hands as he played. His voice was beautiful. It traveled with the wind down the beach to me, and then out over the waves. I closed my eyes for a moment and just listened.

It's not something I'd normally do. I rarely stop. But his voice had me standing still and memories I'd tucked away for a long time started to break free. My mother would dance anytime this song came on. She'd take my hand and twirl me around, singing the lyrics at the top of her lungs as she rocked Lexi in her arm and bumped her hip against Mary's. I hadn't thought about that in forever.

I didn't notice when the singing stopped, or when everything around me but the ocean grew quiet, but suddenly a deep voice broke through my memories, and I shook my head clear. The guy had his guitar laid on his lap now and was staring over at me. It was obvious that he'd said something, but I hadn't heard him.

"What?" I asked, stepping closer to where he sat, but still keeping a safe distance.

He pushed his hair back and uncovered his face, flashing a brilliant white smile that stood out against his tanned skin. He was handsome, in that rugged I-just-rolled-out-of-bed-looking-like-this kind of way, and I could tell from his complexion that he was a local, not one of the tourists we usually get around this time of year. I'd never seen him before though, and I knew everyone in this town. Of course, I hadn't been back in a long time.

"You running to something or from something?" He questioned in his slow southern drawl as he brought his clear hazel eyes up to me.

I scrunched up my face. What kind of question was that to ask a stranger? "I'm just running," I replied.

He cocked his head to the side, laid his hand flat on the side of his guitar and squinted down towards me with a smile. "I think maybe I should've put a hat out or something. Gotten a tip for that free little performance I gave you there."

"You're singing on a public beach." I placed a hand on my hip defensively. "No one asked you to play. Why would you expect a tip?"

"So you didn't enjoy the song?" I could hear the humor in his voice, except I wasn't sure if he was laughing with me or at me, so I shrugged my shoulders because I didn't know what else to do. He got up from the sand and brushed his backside off and I took a step back.

I watched his lean body move as he bent down and picked up his flip flops from the ground and shot a lazy smile at me. "You sure looked like you enjoyed it," he drawled, swinging his guitar over his wide shoulder and turning away from me. It'd been a long time since someone with that Southern twang made my pulse speed up, but he just managed to.

As he headed up the dunes I watched him leave. His jeans hung low on his hips and he hunched over, walking with that guitar on his back like it belonged there. I hated that he witnessed that moment I just had. I hated that some random stranger on the beach gave it to me. And I hated myself even more for wondering who he was.