They arrived at Kinsey’s car parked on the road that ran along the Schooner’s Bay cliffs, which led to a trail above them. Together, they walked the trail that Emma had walked so many times before, a perilous trail with cliffs on one side and a rocky drop on the other. This part of the trail led to a safer scenic outlook that most kids in Schooner’s Bay eventually took full advantage of as a make-out place after dark. But it had its perils. Like now.
Kinsey stood on the side of the cliff, staring at the rocks below and at the ocean of blue that stretched out before her. There were tears in her eyes as she paced across the edge of the cliff, furiously puffing on a cigarette. Emma saw how she might have been mistaken for a man that night in the dark with her short-cropped hair and boyish look.
Emma’s heart clenched. This was what she’d feared. Kinsey had always presented a tough exterior to the world, but she knew that inside she was fragile as a sparrow. She should have been more careful with her words, with her friendship. “Kinsey,don’t!”
“She canna hear ye.”
“I know.” But how long had that been going on in real life? Kinsey, being unable to hear her? Or grasp how she’d felt about her? Too long. “You need to talk to her for me. Tell her what I say. Word for word.”
“Ye want me to let her see me?”
“Yes, Connor! Yes.”
“Even if I do, she willna remember me later. Or even what I say.”
“Then I’ll tell her. If I can. We’ll worry about that then. For now just, please, do as I ask. Do it for me, Connor? This one thing.”
Reluctantly, he nodded, walking gingerly toward Kinsey on the cliff.
Hearing his footsteps behind her, Kinsey whirled back in Connor’s direction, and he threw his hands up before him to indicate that he meant her no harm.
“It’s Kinsey, isn’t it?” he asked in a quiet voice.
“Who are you?” she demanded. “Go away!”
“I’m not here to hurt ye, lass. I’m here to help ye.”
“I don’t want your help,” she said, stepping closer to the cliff’s edge. “Leave me alone!”
“I’m here for Emma,” he told her.
“What?” Kinsey blinked at him, confused.
“Emma James. I know ye’ll find this hard to believe, but she wants me to tell ye somethin’.”
“Emma James is dying. She can’t tell me anything.” She tossed what was left of her cigarette over the cliff.
“Oh, but yer wrong there. She’s right here, watchin’ ye. She wants to speak to ye.”
“You’re…you’re crazy,” Kinsey said, her eyes going wide. “Stay away from me! Get back!”
“All right, then. I understand why you’d think that, but—”
“Tell her you’re an angel,” Emma said beside him. “Tell her you’remyangel.”
“Och, that should seal the deal,” he muttered, unconvinced.
“It can’t get any worse,” she pointed out. “Tell her. Word for word.”
Kinsey was staring at him now, seemingly uncertain which option posed her the most danger, this stranger talking to himself or the rocks below.
“Ye see,” he began slowly, holding his flattened palm out to Kinsey, “I’m not exactly…what ye think. I’m no threat to ye, Kinsey. I’m Emma’s guardian. Her guardian angel.”
Kinsey’s eyes widened in fear. “Her…what?”
“I know how it sounds. But ’tis true. Believe it or don’t, but she wants ye to know somethin’.”
“Okay. I really am losing my mind,” Kinsey breathed as soil crumbled beneath the toe of her shoe. “I was right. I’m crazy.”
