Page 90 of Fall onto me
My father’s face was plastered on every television and newspaper in the city.
‘Millionaire tax mogul,Kent Johnson, arrested with fraud and conspiracy to commit murder… of his own child and wife.’
While I didn’t like being calledhis child on the headlines, it did have a nice ring to it to make the general public aware of how evil he really is.
I didn’t read them, the articles. But I may have bought a copy of a newspaper to keep as a souvenir.
The wind streams against my skin as we zip down the darkening roads as the sun begins to settle in for the night. It’s nearly half way down, which creates the most killer of skylines.
Foster places his hand on my knee when we get to the long stretch before the curve, the feeling of his hands, reaching back to touch me when I’m already nuzzled against his back sends the butterflies swarming through me like lightning against the ocean.
We pull up to our spot that’s illuminated by the pink, golden skies.
But something isn’t right.
Our tree…
It’s gone.
We walk to wear it was, in silence. It’s astounding, the feelings of being here, but not seeing it. There’s nothing in its wake besides thick, winding roots and a haphazardly dug hole to show it was ever there. “This tree took so much away from us, Sky.” Foster frowns.
I know it’s fucked up that I miss it, but so much has happened here, it makes me sad that it’s gone. Being turned to mulch. A tear escapes me, but I don’t let him see it.
He tucks one arm behind me, holding his guitar with his other hand. “Come on, Shadow.”
We walk through the small arch made of greenery, and onto a dock. The sand normally greets us here, “Who put up a dock?”
It stretches straight out and veers right. The sun is edging the horizon, the sky a brilliant shade of pink and lilac now.
It smells like salty water and coconuts here.
It smells like everything that creates joy.
“I wanted to turn the memories into something worth believing in.” he tells me.
He did it, he got the tree cut down and made us a new path. “Foster!” We walk down and turn right at the split; I can’t peel my eyes away from the beautiful dock, made from our tree. “Won’t you get in trouble for building something here?”
“Well,” he crooks his finger under my chin, pulling my gaze up. “we can build whatever we like here.”
To my right sits a small concrete foundation, the breeze has blown a little sand on it. “I only poured the foundation; the rest is yours to build.”
I’m speechless for a long moment, just trying to take it all in. “I know we’ve got money now, but… how did you afford prime Miami real estate?”
He pulls a piece of paper from his pocket, dangling it between his inked fingers. “This is from your grandfather.”
He hands me the blueprint, showing what would be here, if my grandfather had gotten to building it. “Grace told me, that when he bought this stretch, he couldn’t let it go commercial, so it sat with the family.”
“It’s ours.” I breathe.
“It is. We’re going to start our lives here, whichever way we see fit, with no one holding us back.”
I smile, a stupid, cheesy grin that I can’t seem to get rid of.
“The dock is from our tree, and our house will be too. The rest is being treated at the lumber yard now and will be ready in a few weeks. Tell me how you want to build it.”
I turn in the direction of where our home will be. “I want floor to ceiling windows throughout the entire home.” I bring my hands to make a frame, “A breakfast area to the right, a garage for our bikes and cars to the left.” My heart is thundering in my chest from the excitement of planning our future. “And of course we’ll need to build an en suite for Adeline and Sophie.”
He smiles, “How about down there?” He gestures to the other end of the stretch, “so we can have privacy.” When he wiggles his brows, I nearly double over in laughter.