Page 46 of A Sea of Unspoken Things

“Yeah.”

I meant it. They were good. Better than a lot of the self-indulgent, overdramatized work of the students I’d been surrounded with at Byron. This was a unique point of view. The photographs felt inhabited, somehow. Lived in. To be honest, it reminded me of Johnny’s work.

But when my gaze focused on a small mark in the corner of each of the photographs, my stomach twisted. It was a five-pointed star with looping ends, just like the one that marked the note I’d seen pinned above Johnny’s desk.

You changed my life.

I could see it now, the distinct way the proportions of the shape were intentional. It was a star, but it wasn’t. It was anA. An artist’s signature forAutumn.

Slowly, the words I’d read became misshapen, contorting themselves into a number of possible meanings. But in the context of what I’d learned in the last couple of days, they felt intimate.Toointimate.

“This series got her an interview for a grant program at Byron, and Johnny pulled some strings through CAS to get her considered for a scholarship.”

That made me pause. If Johnny had wanted to pull strings, why hadn’t he done it through me? I was an alumnus. I’d even served as a visiting artist for a stint a few years ago. But Johnny had never mentioned a thing about it.

“We weresoexcited when she got accepted. All the teachers took up a collection to buy her bus ticket and the other stuff she needed to get started—prepaying her cellphone for the next year and getting her books. All of that.”

“That’s…incredible.”

“It is. Like history repeating itself, you know?” She pushed her glasses up again, her eyes locking with mine.

She was talking about me now, but the turn of phrase was a little too close to the unnerving feeling I’d had that day in the gorge. Like this place—this forest—was telling the same stories over and over again.

“Some people are just lucky,” she said, a little more quietly.

I stared at the lightning-struck tree, emotion gathering in my chest like a storm. Autumn’s life and mine felt uncomfortably similar.

“Does she come back much to visit?” I asked, trying not to sound overly interested.

“Oh, no,” Olivia scoffed. “Honestly, I doubt we’ll ever see that girl again. She couldn’t wait to get out of here. I’m sure you know what that’s like. And really, Autumn doesn’t have anything to come back for.”

But that didn’t line up with the story that Johnny’s photographs told. She’d been in the gorge in November.

“So, she hasn’t been back at all since she left?”

Olivia’s gaze grew more focused on me, as if she was trying to puzzle me out, and I instantly regretted pressing the question. “No. Why?”

I let my eyes wander over the paintings on the wall next to me, trying to appear distracted. Like my insides weren’t twisting with the uncertainty of what all of this meant. If Autumn hadn’t been back since she left for school, then how could she have been with Johnny that day? Unless she’d never come back to Six Rivers. It was possible she’d made the drive from San Francisco and met Johnny at the gorge.

“I was just thinking maybe I’d get a chance to meet her while I’m here.”

“I’m sure she’s got herself very busy down there in the city. I mean, Autumn is really just a typical teenage girl. Emotional, passionate, looking for adventure. During high school, she spent pretty much all of her time out shooting or in the darkroom, and if she wasn’t doing that, she was with Ben.”

That got my attention. “Ben?”

“Yeah, she dated Ben Cross for a couple of years before graduation.”

“Sadie’s son?”

Olivia nodded. “Yeah. Kind of a fragile kid. I never understood what she saw in him, honestly. Autumn was such a…force. But he was crazy about her and absolutely devastated when she left.”

The fact that Autumn had a boyfriend was at least some comfort, but I still didn’t like the way things looked. Judging from Micah and Olivia’s casual take on Johnny and Autumn, I seemed to be the only one concerned about it.

Olivia’s phone chimed and she went to the desk, picking it up. She hissed, wincing. “Sorry, I gotta go.”

“Oh, no problem. I appreciate you letting me come by.”

“Of course.” She smiled, reaching for the ties of her apron. “Any time.”