by Abbi Glines
That one word made her cheeks even brighter. “Why were you climbing a fence?” I wasn’t letting her out of this. I needed the story. From the way she was fidgeting with her hands, I knew it would take my mind off the shit in my head.
“Does that really matter?” she asked and gave me an innocent smile that did not belong on a Finlay’s face. Not even this angelic looking one. But damn she looked good trying.
“Yeah, it does.” The challenging tone in my voice had her narrowing her eyes. I waited while she debated telling me or continuing to stall. Either way, I had her attention and I was good with it. She made the other stuff fade away and I needed that more than anything else.
She shifted on the ground, but that regal poise of hers didn’t relax. How she could make sitting there without a slight slouch in her shoulders look so damn natural was beyond me. It was a talent I’d never actually seen before. The long pale hair of hers, that I knew from seeing her mother’s hair wasn’t from a bottle, draped over her left shoulder. She cocked her head slightly to the left and I watched as it brushed the cleavage she was showing with the low-cut Guns and Roses vintage tee shirt she was wearing. It had been altered at some point by being cut in a V-shape at the neck and cropped to just hit her waist. Most people would assume it was bought this way and not an original. But her grandfather was a rock legend and I knew the shirt was, in fact, a legit Appetite for Destruction 1987 tour shirt. That kind of vintage you couldn’t manufacture.
“Fine,” she sighed dramatically. “I was climbing the fence of a guy’s house that I had been dating.” When she paused this time, a slow wicked grin touched her lips. It didn’t matter what she said as long as she kept smiling like that. Damn if it wasn’t a welcome distraction. “He had wanted us to be exclusive and I’d decided I didn’t want to see him anymore. It got ugly at least on his part so I left in a hurry. But when I got home, I went to take off my jewelry and remembered my grandmother’s bracelet was still on the table beside his hot tub. In my need to get the hell away from there, I’d forgotten the bracelet. My mother’s mother passed away before I was ever born. My grandfather had the bracelet and gave it to my mother the day I was born as a gift. The day I graduated high school my mother gave it to me. It’s a very special bracelet.” She focused on something over my shoulder and for a moment her thoughts had gone somewhere else. Why was I so interested in her, in what she was thinking, in every damn thing about her?
“I wasn’t sure if he’d give it back or just continue to be dramatic. I didn’t want to see him again and hoped to avoid him until he got over us. So, I just waited until the middle of the night when I knew he’d be asleep and went back to get it.”
There was the urge to smile tugging at me, but I couldn’t. Not even with the image of Ophelia climbing a fence. Allowing myself to smile felt like a betrayal that I couldn’t face right now. I used the humor to distract me enough to push back the darkness that followed these thoughts. Yet the image of Ophelia scaling a fence to go retrieve her bracelet just because she wanted to avoid a man had been enough to make me want to smile. She made me forget the bad. Nothing I’d tried, no female, no activity, nothing had been able to make me want to move on in life the way she did. The way Ophelia saw life, went after it, lived it, made me want to be close to her. As terrible of an idea as that was. Why did it have to be this woman that brought back the life in me I didn’t think existed?
She had no idea the inner battle inside me. That her presence was causing more conflict than I wanted to deal with. To her I was a guy, dealing with the news my grandmother could very well leave this world soon. She thought she was distracting me or entertaining me. The beauty beside me had no idea she was breathing life where I thought there wasn’t any.
“I was unaware you were a criminal.” I finally said something. I knew she had hoped for more from me. A smile or a laugh. She’d gone out of her way to be dramatic with her storytelling. If she only knew how close to smiling without realizing it I’d been. The power she had to give me a rare moment of amusement.
She rolled her eyes. “I’m not a criminal. I was taking back what was mine.” She was fighting back a smile now. “Besides, I didn’t get caught.”
“But you have been arrested,” I reminded her. I’d heard Bliss mention it before.
She pretended to look annoyed but the pride in her blue eyes were unmistakable. “It was a misunderstanding.”
I was sure it was. Little rebel. I didn’t push for more.
“It’s a good story,” I told her instead.
“I got the bracelet back. That’s the important part.” She paused and then added, “I also passed the cops as they sped by me on the way to his house. I didn’t know his security system triggered when one entered the backyard.”
The instant tug on the corners of my lips might have won that time before I could do anything to stop it. Instead of feeling instant guilt, it was pleasant.
MAY 26 / 2:43 PM
Ophelia Finlay
I LOOKED FORWARD to Sundays in the summer. They normally included sleeping late, eating brunch at the Kerrington Club with my parents, then enjoying a book while sitting under an umbrella on the sand. The smell of the salty breeze and the pina colada in my hand, mixed with the sound of the waves. It was perfect solitude.
Today, however, I was battling some unknown funk that I’d been in since arriving home just before noon. I’d woken up to the smell of breakfast. Bliss had grown up on a farm and she made the best biscuits and gravy I’d ever eaten. She also believed in bacon, sausage cheese grits, and eggs to go with the biscuits and gravy. It was a miracle my brother wasn’t fat with the way she cooked. But then neither were her brothers or her father.
I had enjoyed my morning talking with my brother and sister-in-law before packing up the few things I had in the bathroom and heading home. They were happy and I wanted that for Nate. He’d been in a toxic relationship when he’d met Bliss. One I had tried to warn him about. He had thought it was what he wanted but seeing Bliss again had shown him what real love was. She made him smile and that was enough for me. I didn’t worry about my brother anymore. Now I could focus all my worry on my sister. I wasn’t going to think about Phoenix right now though. I’d do that later. Besides, Phoenix wasn’t answering my calls and according to Nate, she was ignoring his too. We had discussed her for awhile this morning. I was home and needed to focus on me. Or whatever was bothering me.
Typically, the sight of home made me feel content.
Today though nothing was the same. I was in a terrible mood and putting on my bikini, grabbing a book, then heading across the street to find a spot on the sand didn’t sound at all appealing. Instead, I was sitting on the sofa in my sweats watching Game of Thrones from the beginning again and eating leftover Easter candy. I didn’t want to think about what had caused this funky mood. I would then have to accept it and dissect it. Neither things I was willing to do. Instead, I’d watch Jason Momoa have a lot of sex and I’d eat chocolate. Seemed rational.
The ringing of my phone interrupted my thoughts and I paused the episode although I’d already seen this season twice. I happened to enjoy an almost naked Momoa as did the rest of the females on planet earth. Like I always did, I would tell Daenerys Targaryen that her tears were ridiculous when that man was the one screwing you. Sure, she couldn’t hear me and talking to the television was weird, but I did it anyway.
I grabbed my phone just as the Khal Drogo took his wife from behind and smiled at the fact it was paused on that image. An unknown number lit my screen. Sea Breeze, Alabama was all it told me. Staring at the sex scene frozen on my screen I decided I’d answer the phone. Although I typically sent all unknown calls. . . . And some callers I did know to voicemail. My voicemail would then tell them that texting me was best. I didn’t listen to voicemail. Today though was the caller’s lucky day because it said Sea Breeze.
“Hello,” I said quickly.
“You left.” The deep voice that came over the line made me feel
warm. Deep down I’d wanted it to be him. I had just been too cautious to let myself admit it.
“Eli,” I said, realizing that I was smiling as I said his name.
There was a pause and I had a moment where I wondered if I had been wrong about the voice on the other line. Had I wanted it to be Eli so badly I had thought this was him?
“I went to see if you wanted to get lunch and Bliss said you’d left this morning.” It was Eli. Relief and excitement returned. It had been a long time since a man made me feel so giddy. My emotions were all over the place with this guy. Normally I ran from this or the idea of this but I craved everything to do with him. Yesterday I’d wanted to climb in his lap and kiss him until I was satisfied. I knew that was the wrong reaction to a guy who was outside a hospital dealing with grief over his gran’s illness. But my hormones had not seemed to care. They were lusting while he suffered.
The fact he had come to see me today made everything seem brighter. My chest was light and the melancholy mood gone. I didn’t even care that it was a guy making me feel this way. Although I knew that most men caused problems and when they had this kind of power over your emotions, they could break you, I embraced it anyway.
“I have work tomorrow,” I told him. We had sat outside yesterday for three hours talking. Until his mom had texted him that his grandmother was out of surgery and he was needed. I hadn’t gone inside with him. It wasn’t my place, but I hadn’t wanted to leave him either. My mood had gone south the moment I watched him walk inside the hospital.
Bliss had told me that evening that they’d found the cancer had spread and chemotherapy could give her time, but they weren’t even promising a year. I’d gone to bed with an ache in my chest for everyone in their family but the sorrow I felt for Eli had been deep. I knew words of comfort were just that . . . words. It didn’t help. Getting Eli’s number from Bliss so I could call him was pointless. He needed his family, not some woman he barely knew calling to tell him she was what . . . sorry . . . praying . . . Hell, I didn’t even pray. He had been dealing with inner turmoil yesterday and I’d been trying to make him smile and imagining crawling all over him. Women with that kind of selfish mindset didn’t pray. God wouldn’t listen to us anyway. He knew we were full of bullshit.
“I know. I just hoped I’d see you one more time before you had to go,” he replied. My chest did that fluttery thing that I’d experienced last when I’d had a crush on a guy in eleventh grade and he smiled at me. I was being that silly over Eli Hardy. I needed to be slapped.
I should mention his grandmother at this moment. Say something to him, condolences maybe . . . but I wasn’t good at this kind of thing. I never had understood why people said things at times like this that didn’t help. If they could do something, then do it. That I understood. It’s why I took the donuts to the hospital. That was an action, not a promise for “prayers” or “keeping you in my thoughts” because honestly who cared about being in someone’s thoughts. They didn’t need my prayers and what good were my thoughts to them. I decided to forgo mentioning it at all. I was sure he’d heard enough from everyone else.
“If I had known you wanted to have lunch I’d have stayed,” I decided honesty was also something I could do here. Might as well not be vague with a man who just found out his grandmother was going to die. He had called me, gone by to see me.
“I should have come over sooner,” he said then, and I heard the regret in his tone.
“You have a lot going on right now. Letting some female know you want to have lunch probably isn’t the first thing on your mind and I don’t blame you.” Which was also true. I added then because I had to say something. Even if words could give no comfort here. “I’m sorry, Eli.” That again was the truth. My telling him didn’t help, but I was sad for him and the rest of his family.
“What about dinner?” he asked then instead of replying to my “I’m sorry.”
I’d been ready for an awkward response, not a question about my next meal. That confused me. “Dinner?” I asked, thinking I could have possibly misunderstood him.
“If I get on my bike now, I’ll be there in time for dinner.”
He was asking me if he could drive all the way here just to take me to dinner. “If you’re willing to drive that far for dinner then the least I could do would be to cook for you.” I was not the best cook. What the hell was I saying? I had very few items in my wheelhouse that I could make successfully and none of them were real impressive.
“Leaving now. I’ll see you before or at six.”
“Okay.” The simple word was not enough, but it’s what I blurted out. I should say “Wait, I can’t cook that well. Maybe we should get good food.” Or “How about another time you need to be with family.” Or anything other than . . .”Okay.” But I didn’t say more, and he didn’t give me time to think it through further. The call ended and I stared down at my phone confused, surprised and obviously, I was excited. Before putting the phone down, I saved his number and then added a little smiley face emoji beside it with heart eyes. It may be ridiculous, but when I glanced at it from a distance, I would recognize the emoji even if it was too far to read his name.
With a quick glance around, I knew I had a lot to get done in a short time. I grabbed the chocolate and went to stick it back in the cabinet where it belonged. Then took the remote and pointed it at the television. “Sorry Khal Drago. I no longer need to watch you have sex to make me feel better.” Which was saying a lot. Eli Hardy was more exciting than a naked Jason Momoa. I clicked off the television and laughed at my own habit of talking to the characters as if they could hear me. I would blame that on my living alone for so long, but the truth was I hadn’t actually lived alone that long. Lila Kate had heard me talk to the television more than once when we lived together. It had been a topic of discussion often.
I quickly looked in my kitchen at the supplies I had to determine what I needed to go buy in order to cook an actual meal. Going to the grocery store wasn’t something I enjoyed, but I found I was humming happily while I made a list and pranced . . . yes, I was prancing around my kitchen as well. When I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the window and saw the obvious joy, I paused.
My smile faded. My sour mood from earlier was gone. So quickly. The reason for my bad mood had been clear all along. I had noticed it and accepted it. But I hadn’t thought about the future complications. I was the queen of emotional walls. I didn’t let men get too close. Once I’d been young and loved freely. I had been taught the hard way that was stupid and painful. I walked into relationships with men carefully now. I didn’t fully commit. I never trusted. I protected myself. Which men always got tired of this and either demanded something more and I ended things, or they gave up and walked away.
It had worked. I hadn’t been hurt in a very long time. But when was the last time I was happy? When was the last time I felt this rush I was experiencing when I was near Eli? I couldn’t remember. I’d forgotten how it could be.
Leaving Sea Breeze had meant leaving Eli Hardy. Even if I hadn’t wanted to admit it that had bothered me. Now he was coming here, and I was happy again. The circumstances weren’t great ones. Other than the fact he had only returned for his grandmother. There were other things like . . . the Eli Hardy that was safe no longer existed. The one you could depend on, the rule follower, the . . . good guy, was gone.
The Eli Hardy that existed now wasn’t a guy anyone needed to get too attached to because he would leave again. That was the crux of it all. I was attracted to the one I could never trust with more than a good time. The guy he’d been before I’d never gotten to know. I never gave him a chance.
I shook my head and glared at myself in the window’s reflection.
“Don’t go making this into something it’s not. He makes you smile. He’s sexy and smart. Enjoy him while you can. Stop overthinking.”
I wasn’t sure if my reflection listened, but I felt better about it all.
MAY 26 / 5:39 PM
&nb
sp; Eli Hardy
THE LAST TIME I’d visited this apartment I’d been here for another woman. It was ironic that I was back. A place I never expected to return to. Not that I had any emotional damage from the time I’d spent with Lila. I knew now what I’d felt for her wasn’t deep or real. Losing her to another man hadn’t broken me. It hadn’t done more than hit my ego. The woman that lived here now eased the real sorrow I held inside. That’s why I was here. Ophelia did more to make me forget than the whiskey did.
The door opened before I reached it and Ophelia appeared. She was wearing a hot pink sundress that hung loosely and hit mid-thigh. She hadn’t put on makeup and I liked it. The whole natural sexy look. Even her feet were bare. There was no attempt at trying to impress me.
“You made good time on that thing,” she said. She was looking past me to my Harley.
“That thing goes as fast as a car does,” I pointed out the obvious.
She lifted her left shoulder as if that meant nothing. “Dinner will be done in about fifteen minutes. But I have cream cheese stuffed jalapeños wrapped in bacon for an appetizer.”
I hadn’t eaten since this morning and the mention of food sounded good. “Thanks, I’m starving.”
She beamed at that and I walked past her inside the studio to find it completely finished and very impressive. The last time I’d been here, it looked very different. Lila had done a lot with the place. “This turned out nice,” I said as I scanned the area.
“Yeah, it’s a great studio,” Ophelia replied. “Lila Kate has put a lot of hard work into it.”
I followed Ophelia to the back door. I knew the stairs that led to the flat were back there. Even if the place was finished now. It was the same layout structurally.
Watching Ophelia’s perfectly rounded backside as she climbed the stairs was a bonus. I needed a distraction today and this was the best idea I’d had. When I had tried to think of what to do or where to go to get my mind off Gran . . . Ophelia had been the only thought in my head. She eased the inner turmoil like nothing else. Finding out that Gran’s life was going to be cut short meant I wasn’t leaving Sea Breeze as soon as I’d planned. I could go nowhere knowing my time with her was limited.