When an hour had passed and Murphy hadn’t returned, I dressed for the weather and headed out to find him. His bike was still there but he was nowhere in sight. There wasn’t any wind and the stars were out as I walked the beach in search of him. I trod past the motel and glimpsed Tory and his boyfriend on a blanket close to the shoreline, laughing at something and warming themselves by a fire and in each other’s arms.
I stopped at the spot where I normally rested in my morning walks. In the overhead streetlight, I could see Murphy sitting on a rock, his expression lost and tears running down his cheeks. I sat next to him and kept quiet, letting him be the one to break the silence, if he wanted to.
“He was the only love I’ve ever known. It’s so hard to let him go,” he said, and started sob
