Prologue
“Last one to the pier gets dish duty all week!”
Tessa’s voice rang through the the summer breeze, over the crashing ebb and flow of the expanse of waves at Last Point Beach. Soft thuds of footsteps in the sand immediately followed but were almost drowned out by Tessa and Rebecca’s musical laughter. Tessa’s short midnight brunette curls bounced as she tried to catch up with her taller, more athletic friend. Becky was a classic beauty who could have easily made it to college on an athletic scholarship. Unfortunately, Rebecca wasn’t afforded many luxuries in life, such as the chance to focus on further education.
When Tessa and Beckie were together, they always had a riotous uproar of fun. To any unsuspecting bystander, the giggly friends seemed carefree. Their laughter and girlish chatter only masked the fact that they were victims of broken families, courtesy of Willowbrook’s most notorious gang, the Nightshade Syndicate.
Rebecca’s mom was an abusive drug addict who would have sold her very soul for a little of anything that would keep her inebriated. Her dad was…God knows who. He was probably too drunk, too dead or too incarcerated to know that he had fathered an angel.
Tessa’s dad, Marco, was one of the most trusted members of the Nightshade Syndicate. Emilio Barbieri, the gang’s leader, was Marco’s longtime best friend and he was Emilio’s ever faithful send-out-bitch. For a long time, Marco was also Tessa’s hero. He was her only family. Tessa’s mother died shortly after her birth from a rare and incurable illness that caused her to waste away in a matter of weeks.
Despite all his faults, Marco Ricci was a fairly good father, just as he had been a fairly good husband. He tried to be dutiful to his little girl and he did what he could to prevent his criminal lifestyle from making her childhood any different from that of her regular peers with regular law-abiding parents. Unfortunately, it is the nature of things that happen in the dark to come to light.
Life took a downward turn for Tessa when Marco’s gambling addiction forced him to take additional work from Emilio to keep up with his indebtedness to a horde of shady gangsters. Marco wasn't the most involved dad but he was never withdrawn either. Tessa suspected that the nature of the work must have taken a toll on her dad but, she knew that there was no way out for him.
At any time, someone could try to hurt her as retaliation for the offences of her father. Gang business was dirty business and Marco was only able to keep the dirt off his doorstep through Emilio’s...kindness, if the term kindness was interpreted loosely. Either way, Marco was obligated to Emilio for ensuring Tessa’s safety and for enabling him to provide her basic needs.
Occasionally, Marco had no choice but to take Tessa to “work” at the Nightshade Bar and Lounge which served as the Syndicate’s headquarters. On these visits, he always insisted that she stay in his field of vision while he met with other heavy hitters. As a result, Tessa had much opportunity to consort with Rebecca and the other waitresses who staffed the lounge. Tessa knew the ins and outs of the Lounge’s operations by the time she was sixteen.
Tessa didn't know as much as Rebecca, whose mother was a waitress at the lounge before her drug addiction stripped her of her ability to keep her sticky fingers out of the establishment's nightly profits. As soon as Beckie's mother was booted from the Lounge, Beckie took her place on staff. Rebecca was working the lounge like a pro at just fifteen, serving drinks she wouldn't be legally able to drink for another half a decade.
Even though Tessa didn't learn through having to actually do the job, like Beckie, she was a keen observer and she had developed the pragmatic attitude necessary to command the attention of Uncle Emilio.
Despite Marco's well masked displeasure at Emilio’s notice of his teen daughter, he pushed Tessa to accept Emilio's offer to have her work as a waitress at the Lounge for holidays and weekends. Emilio also guaranteed her a full-time job when she finished high school. Tessa accepted that she didn’t have the opportunity and resources to ever leave Willowbrook and so she adopted that plan for her future without issue. She had a good head on her body, and she knew the business and the people, so it just made sense. It helped that she’d always be near Rebecca.
In Tessa’s memory, it often seemed like she and Beckie ran for a lifetime before they reached the end of the pier, always just in time for sunset. Tessa stooped to catch her breath. Once her heartbeat slowed back to regular pace, she sat beside Rebecca, mirroring her position on the edge of the waterworn wood. Tessa released a long sigh as she allowed the waves to wash over her bare feet.
“Penny for your thoughts Tessie?” Rebecca asked kindly, her soft voice like a siren song to Tessa amidst the waves.
“Just wondering why I try to race you knowing I lose every time.” Tessa lied.
Rebecca shot her an accusatory look of reprimand for her poor attempt at concealing her feelings with humor.
“It's nothing really.” Tessa replied sheepishly.
The whine in her tone indicated otherwise.
“Nothing but…?” Rebecca challenged playfully.
“Hmmm, I guess…I’m almost eighteen and no one’s interested in me. No one asks me out. Is something wrong with me?” Concern laced Tessa’s voice as she spoke, splashing her feet through the water nervously.
“What do you mean Tessie? Enzo asked you every day for a month.” Rebecca responded with a chuckle.
“No! Not that womanizing idiot. Enzo just asks me out to piss me off. He knows he’s a brother to me. I mean, like, someone who makes sense. Boyfriend material.”
“Ohhhhhh, you sound like you already have criteria. So, it’s someone specific huh?" Rebecca squealed excitedly.
“This I must hear. In all the years I’ve known you’ve never admitted to crushing on anyone.”
“Oh shut up!” Tessa squealed back with a shy laugh, hiding her face with her palms.
“Tell! Tell! Tell Tell!” Rebecca began to chant while pumping a fist in the air repeatedly, in mock protest.
“Fine! But only if you shut up!” Tessa responded.
Immediately, Rebecca mimed closing her lips with a zipper.
“It’s Chase Emerson.” Tessa muttered shyly.
Becca’s mouth dropped open to gasp in mock surprise before she rolled her eyes at Tessa’s admission.
“You knew!? How?! Don’t roll your eyes at me like that, Beckie!” Tessa exclaimed with a laugh while tucking a lock of her short black hair behind her ear.
“Of course I knew, Tessie girl. You’re my best friend. I know you. I just wanted you to say it out loud for once.”
Rebecca grinned enthusiastically as she continued to speak.
“You’ve liked him from the first day you saw him. Of course I noticed. It’s been what? Ten years?”
Tessa laughed at her friend’s exaggeration.
“Just almost four, silly. Your nineteenth birthday was the day before.”
“I remember. We were hanging out at the Lounge and Enzo brought him over for the first time. I realize that whenever Enzo brings him around you go silent even though you’re usually such a chatterbox.”
“I am not! You take that back!” Tessa exclaimed, playfully slapping Rebecca on the shoulder, causing her playful smirk to grow even wider.
“You are, though! You talk my ear off every day but the few times he comes around you suddenly have nothing to say. This is cute! I love this! You’re finally ready to admit that you’re interested in him.”
Tessa turned beet red at Rebecca’s statement.
“He probably doesn’t know I exist.”
“Well he will know soon enough. Look at you. Brains, beauty and booty. Triple threat.” Rebecca said, before a mischievous glint appeared in her eyes.
“Whatever harebrained scheme you're about to suggest, forget about it." Tessa said, her dark eyes narrowed in feigned annoyance.
“No way, bestie. I think I know what you should do! You should ask him to homecoming.” Rebecca rambled on, excitedly.
“I could never,” Tessa responded, rolling her eyes in dismissal of Rebecca’s suggestion.
“Only because you’re worried about what would happen if he says yes.” Rebecca teased, puckering her lips and sticking out her tongue to mime a sloppy kissing face.
“You’re a regular mind reader, you know me so well." Tessa sarcastically teased.
“You’re my kindred spirit, my little sister from another mister. Of course I know you.” Rebecca joked.
Her mocking tone did not diminish the genuineness of her words.
“Ohhh, we're sisters now but you won’t tell me who you’re seeing?” Tessa teased.
Rebecca sighed.
“Sometimes big sisters have to protect little sisters, even if that means keeping secrets. Just know that I love you and, whatever happens, you’ll always find the truth in our macaroni shell box. Don’t forget, okay?”
She looked serious.
“The silly box we made in elementary school?” Tessa asked, a puzzled look caused the porcelain skin of her face to scrunch.
When Rebecca looked off into space, forlorn, Tessa knew that this was one of those moments when her friend had zoned out into her own troubled world. She wasn’t going to get any further explanation. Rebecca mentally chastised herself for the solemn turn the conversation took.
“Okay, I won’t forget. I never forget anything you say.” Tessa whispered as she put her arm around Rebecca’s waist, leaning on her shoulder just like a real little sister would.
They sat in comfortable silence.
After almost half an hour, Rebecca broke her reverie.
“My suggestion, I know you heard it but you deflected again like you always do, Tessie.”
Tessa laughed with a half-hearted groan.
“I was hoping you didn’t realize.”
“Well I did! Ask him to homecoming! Do it at the Nightshade Barbecue next week. You’re waitressing and I’m sure he’ll be there. Enzo won’t show up without his wingman.”
“I guess. I don’t know. I’m nobody. Why would he say yes?” Tessa replied sheepishly.
“We really need to do something about your confidence. You’re by far the hottest girl in this entire town. You could easily pull any guy you want. You just don’t see what everyone else clearly sees.” Rebecca stated with calm conviction, punctuating her emphasized words with elaborate hand gestures.
“I can’t take your word for it”, Tessa chuckled. “You’re my friend. You’re supposed to say all that.”
“I wouldn’t be your friend if I couldn’t truly say that you are beautiful inside and out. Everyone else sees it too. They talk, so I know.” Rebecca retorted with a well placed emphatic blink of her eyes that made her seem even more convincing.
“Really now? What do they say then?”
Tessa received no response as Rebecca had resumed her habit of pensively staring into the horizon. The sun continued to set. Tessa couldn’t help but to notice Rebecca’s angelic beauty as the sun bathed her in warm golden rays and the wind gently rustled her hair.
As always, Tessa silently wondered where her friend’s mind went when her eyes glossed over as she stared into the distance. After a few more moments of silent contemplation, Rebecca spoke, her voice almost a whisper.
“I love you, Tessie. You’re the only good thing I get to have in this world.”
Rebecca didn’t look away from the sunset that seemed to hold her glossy eyes captive, but Tessa knew that she meant what she said with all her heart.
“I love you too, Becca.” Tessa replied with a sad smile, regretting the fact that her friend would never reveal to her the reason for her sadness.
She rested her head on Rebecca’s shoulder, and they sat comfortably in the silence of their companionship for what felt like hours more, watching the waves crash ashore as the tide rose.
This moment was ingrained in Tessa's mind, a beautiful memory that she vividly replayed a million times when she felt overwhelmed by grief. This memory was her only solace. At least she told her friend that she loved her, before she lost her.
