Page 47 of The Risk Taker
I glance at the beautiful woman in my arms, her head resting on my chest. It’s nearing midnight, but I don’t want to go to sleep. No, I want to enjoy every moment with Fallon before we have to go back to the real world.
“Interested in that walk?” I ask her.
She stretches and in a soft voice murmurs, “As long as you promise not to dunk me.”
“I promise,” I say and drop a soft kiss onto her head. “Let’s go.”
We both slide from the bed, dress and a few minutes later we step out into the dark night. On the beach I catch a few couples walking in the moonlight. Waves lap gently against the shore, and the sound soothes my soul. Fallon’s flip flops snap against her heels as we walk and when we reach the water, she takes them off.
She squeezes the sand between her toes. “Much cooler than this afternoon,” she says.
“Yeah, but you’re still hot,” I say and glance at her frayed shorts and snug t-shirt.
“Food and sex. Are those the only things you think about?” she teases.
“Hockey, don’t forget hockey,” I say.
“Right.”
As the moonlight falls over us, and it’s just the two of us on the beach now, I capture her hand. She glances up at me, and gives me a small smile.
“It feels weird not having Chase with me.”
“It’s okay to have some time for yourself, Fallon. It’s been a rough year.”
“For all of us,” she says and gives my hand a little squeeze.
We’ve only been here a coup
le of days, but already she seems like a different person. We walk for a long time, until we reach the cove where the cottage is for sale. As I take in the quaint place with the white fence, and matching shutters, I suddenly picture myself in the yard with Chase, playing ball, or shooting pucks in a net, knowing later that night I’d be falling in to bed with the woman I love. In a perfect world, that’s how my life would have played out.
“What do you want, Fallon?” I ask.
“What do you mean?” she asks.
“In a perfect world, what would you want?”
“Well you know me, I’m a simple girl from Spokane, and I never needed much to make me happy.”
“I always liked that about you.” The wind pushes a lock of honey blonde hair across her face, and I touch her cheek, slide it behind her ear. “You were different like that.”
“I didn’t come from a lot, so material things aren’t that big to me. I’m more about family, relationships, integrity…loyalty.” I note the way she emphasizes the word loyal. Was Ethan not loyal to her? “But I have to say, I sure could get used to having a place like this on the ocean,” she teases as she looks at the cottage on the cove.
“Sara and I were going to...”
“I know.” She swallows, her eyes big and a bit haunted. “Have you…heard anything from Sara after she left?” she asks.
“No, nothing. She just took off. She hates me, and I don’t blame her.”
She stops and turns to me, her eyes narrow, worry on her face. “Why do you think she hates you?”
I scoff. “I was supposed to take her to her appointment that day. I was the one who was supposed to be driving, not Ethan. If practice hadn’t run late and I had made it home on time, maybe none of this would have happened. I’m to blame for everything.”
“Wait, you think they were on their way to some appointment?” she asks, incredulous, like I’m wrong about that.
Why would I be wrong? I briefly pinch my eyes shut, and rewind to the week before the accident. Sara had told me she had a doctor’s appointment the next week. I remember I was texting with Ethan, and was only half listening. But after the accident I apologized a million times for not being the one to drive her to her appointment. She never said she wasn’t on her way to one, and agreed that I was to blame for everything.
“Yeah, she had a doctor’s appointment.”