THE STORM THAT TESTED GREYHAVEN
Chapter 15
The following morning, Ethan arrived at the workshop early.
Walter was already there.
He looked at Ethan.
“You ready?”
“For what?”
Walter pointed toward the harbor.
“Another section of the pier.”
Ethan smiled.
“Let’s do it.”
They walked toward the water.
The town was waking around them.
A truck passed.
Someone opened the bakery.
June stood outside the diner with a cup of coffee.
Lily rode her bicycle down the street.
She spotted Ethan.
“Ethan!”
He turned.
She stopped beside him.
“Look!”
She pointed at the bicycle.
“I fixed it.”
Ethan looked at the crooked handlebar.
“You did?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
She smiled proudly.
“I used tape.”
Ethan laughed.
Walter shook his head.
“Good enough.”
Lily rode away.
Ethan watched her.
Walter picked up a plank.
“You coming?”
Ethan looked at the harbor.
Then at the town.
Then at the people.
“Yeah.”
He picked up the other end.
Together, they carried the plank toward the pier.
The storm had taken pieces of Greyhaven.
Roofs.
Boats.
Trees.
Windows.
Memories.
But it hadn’t taken the town.
Because the town was never really made of wood and stone.
It was made of people.
And when the storm came, those people had stood together.
Ethan had stood with them.
That was the part he would remember.
Not the destruction.
Not the fear.
Not even the night the electricity disappeared.
He would remember sunrise.
He would remember tired faces.
He would remember hands reaching for tools.
He would remember people sharing food.
He would remember Walter saying:
“Still here.”
And maybe that was what Greyhaven had given him.
Not a promise that life would always be easy.
Something better.
A reason to stay when it wasn’t.
Ethan looked toward the horizon.
The ocean was calm.
The sky was clear.
He tightened his grip on the plank.
“Let’s rebuild.”
Walter nodded.
And together, they kept walking.
