Never Ever by Sara Saedi

around that, but did it matter anymore if his intentions were good?
    â€œDo you forgive me for bringing you here?” he asked.
    â€œI don’t know,” was the most honest answer she could give.
    â€œWhat if I begged and pleaded?”
    â€œThat might help.”
    â€œPlease forgive me. I could tell how much you love your brothers. I knew how much it would hurt to see one of them go to jail. I wanted to protect you from that.”
    â€œI don’t need protecting,” Wylie replied.
    â€œWe all do sometimes.” He sounded so earnest, it nearly made Wylie forget why she was mad at him in the first place.
    â€œI don’t date older guys,” Wylie blurted.
    â€œI’m only seventeen.”
    â€œBut you’ve been that age a lot longer than I have.”
    â€œWylie, what if for the next thirty years, you stayed your age? Lived in the same house with your parents and brothers. Went to the same school. Hung out with all the same people. If you were frozen in time just like all of us are here, believe me, you wouldn’t be a day older than seventeen.”
    Phinn’s argument reminded her of a conversation she’d had the month before with her grandma on her seventy-fifth birthday.
    â€œIn my head, I still feel as young as you,” she’d said to Wylie with a sigh. “And then I look in the mirror and I’m shocked.”
    Phinn was right. Living here on this island, without letting the aging process take hold, meant
being
a seventeen-year-old forever.
    â€œDo you think you’ll stay?” Phinn asked.
    â€œWhy couldn’t you have just told us you were bringing us here instead of doing it without asking?”
    â€œIf I told you about this place, would you have even believed me?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œI couldn’t take that risk. I couldn’t risk never seeing you again.”
    Before she even knew what she was doing, Wylie flung her arms around Phinn and breathed in his scent. His arms hung flat by his sides for a moment, and then he wrapped them around her waist.
    â€œI’m glad I saw this place,” she said.
    â€œI’m glad you did, too,” Phinn said, holding her even tighter.
    â€œGood night, Phinn.”
    â€œGood night, Wylie.”
    â€œNo matter what happens, it was really nice to meet you.”
    â€œIt was really nice to meet you, too.”
    And then she let him go and walked inside, prepared for battle.

CHAPTER SIX

    mea culpas
    family meetings were Maura Dalton’s favorite pastime. Halfway through Wylie’s freshman year in high school, she got caught cutting class, and her mom insisted they conduct the meetings on a monthly basis. It didn’t take long for the Dalton kids to realize that “family meeting” was just code for a lengthy, grueling parental lecture. Wylie usually zoned out and nodded her head at the appropriate times, while discreetly pinching Joshua and Micah for her own amusement. They always sat on opposite sides of her, and she liked to predict which one of her brothers would surrender to laughter first. It was usually Micah.
    But now, with just the three of them, this family meeting was unavoidable. And its outcome would determine the rest of their lives.
    They’d been talking in circles for hours, and so far the only thing they agreed on was that their decision had to be unanimous. There would be no scenario where Wyliewould stay on the island and her brothers would leave. If they were going to live here, they were going to live here
together.
    But the chances of that happening were growing slimmer by the minute. Joshua was as adamant about going home as Wylie was about staying. For every point she made, he swung back with the perfect counterpoint. Wylie wasn’t giving up easily, though. He could bully and debate her all he wanted, but she was not turning her back on this place. It wasn’t a surprise to either of them that Micah stayed neutral for most