Outside

by Michelle Mankin

  His words were teasing but his voice was noticeably thick, perhaps remembering the passionate tangle from the other day. Hmm, I needed to keep him busy and myself out of that kind of trouble. I smiled, a little wickedness rising up within me.

  “Well…” I paused for effect. “I usually start by cleaning the restroom.”

  After tackling that chore without any complaint beyond rolling his eyes Linc had followed me around the shop as though he were my shadow. A gorgeous nearly six foot two shadow whose scent gave me palpitations.

  The dozen customers who came in gravitated toward him and he won them over effortlessly just as I had predicted. I was pretty sure they had all purchased more than they’d planned just to see him flash his dimpled smile.

  I understood the allure. Completely.

  “Hey, gorgeous.” His shirt settled back into place and the tantalizing glimpse of skin disappeared as he popped the last box of Roxy flip flops into position on the top shelf. He had organized them all for me by sizes. I never seemed to have enough time to do that. “It’s noon. You want me to run over to the Mexican place and grab us a couple of takeout burritos?”

  “Yeah, sure.” My mouth watered. Churro power could only take a person so far. “That would be great.”

  He moved toward the door but I stopped him just as he put his hand on the glass.

  “Linc,” I called.

  “Yeah?” His sandy brown hair brushed over his shoulder as he looked back at me.

  “Thanks for helping out today.” I swallowed powering through to say the rest. “It’s been really nice having you around actually.”

  “You sound surprised.”

  “I am a little, I guess.”

  He looked a little sad for a moment then smiled the Linc dimpled special. My heart summersaulted just like it used to way back when.

  “We were always good together, Mona. Better together than apart. It will be my pleasure to help you remember.”

  The shop bell jingled just as I was putting away some of the winter things in the back. I was trying to be productive while I waited for Linc to return with our lunch. I climbed down from my ladder and dusted off my cutoffs, a smile accompanying my greeting when I peeked at the camera and saw who it was.

  “Hey,” I began.

  “Where the hell have you been?” Patrick’s voice echoed off the shop walls as he came barreling toward me in his Hodad’s t-shirt and jeans.

  “You mean this morning?”

  “Yeah this morning.” He stomped toward me limbs noticeably stiff and the closer he got the more I realized how worked up he really was. Waves of intensity rolled off his tall frame. “A guy tells a girl things like I told you and they share a kiss like the one we did and that guy has certain expectations, Simone.” Grey eyes stormy he grasped my shoulders and pulled me close removing all the distance between us. “You’re always at the beach. Every morning.” He stroked my cheek with a finger. “I was worried.”

  I thought there had been a choice between him and Lincoln but I’d been deceiving myself. What man could ever compete? The only choice really was whether or not I was going to risk my heart being broken a second time.

  “I had breakfast with Lincoln.” I pulled in a fortifying breath. “And he’s been here at the shop helping out today. You’re a terrific friend, Patrick. One of the few I’m lucky enough to have. One of the few people I trust.”

  “Oh, hell no,” he muttered gaze sliding away. “Do not give me the I want to be just friends speech.” His smoldering grey gaze drifted across my features and lower before it came back up darker than before. “You seem…different,” he decided. “What’s happened?” He frowned. “Don’t tell me you slept with him?”

  I brought my hands up to Patrick’s forearms. He was such a large guy my fingers looked puny resting on top of them and when I flexed my fingers I realized how rigid his corded muscles were. “That isn’t any of your business.” I kept my gaze level with his by craning my neck back.

  “Not true.” His raven black brows came together over sexy eyes almost as mesmerizing in their uniqueness as Linc’s. “And I already laid out the reasons why beneath the pier the other day. What’s going on Simone? You’re not the type to get her head turned around just because a guy’s famous and some of his music videos have near a hundred million hits on YouTube. Something’s changed with you and with us. I can tell, and I wanna know what and why.”

  “Nothing’s changed. Not really.” I pulled in a deep breath for courage before saying the words aloud. “But you were right. I am still in love with Lincoln.”

  “Ridiculous, Simone. No way. How can you be? That all was so long ago.”

  “I know it’s hard to understand but Linc and I are like two halves that make up one whole. We don’t work right apart. I think we were always meant to be from the very beginning. Even with so much against us.” Still against us. Unless I put myself out there again, came to terms with the past and gave us another chance to move forward. “You deserve to know the truth. That I wake up missing the comfort of his arms around me. That I go the beach every morning because that’s where I feel the closest to him.” Where the memories were the strongest. Where we made love so many incredible times. “And that I go to sleep…”

  “Enough.” He shrugged away from my touch, his eyes hooded but not so much that I didn’t see the flash of hurt within their grey depths. “That’s enough. I get the picture.” His voice was deeper than I had ever heard it and I realized in that moment as we held each other’s gazes that I’d been deluding myself in another way. Patrick Donegal wasn’t a boy. He was a man, all man and at the moment he was a heartbroken one.

  “I’ve been patient with you. Too patient it seems. No more. I’m not the kind of guy to give a woman ultimatums but in this case I think it’s my only recourse.” He reached for my hand, lifted it to his mouth and ran my fingertips across his firm lips while watching me with heated eyes. I felt a warm shiver roll through me. Patrick was an intense good looking guy no doubt. I cared about him deeply and he cared about and had looked after me for a while now. But he wasn’t Linc the boy who had rearranged my world fifteen years ago and the man who had returned apparently determine to do it once more. Permanently.

  The scales didn’t weigh in Patrick’s favor that when he brought my hand to his lips it reminded me of when Linc had done something similar only hours ago. Only with Linc I hadn’t just felt a body shiver, it had been my heart that felt his passion and my soul that had been stirred by his words.

  “Patrick, I…”

  “Two years,” he cut me off. “He’s been back less than a week. Don’t throw us away and the potential we have to be so much more. Don’t decide now. Think about it. Come to our show. Tell me your answer then. Choose me, Simone.” He gently framed my face with his strong hands. “The more I could give you if you’d only let me,” he whispered low and passionately, “would rock your world Simone Bianchi. Guaranteed.”

  Simone was strangely distant when I returned with lunch. I didn’t have time to question her or to push to get us back to the easiness we’d found earlier because we got too busy. A bus full of women from an intramural softball team descended on the shop. It took the two of us working nonstop together till closing snagging bites of cooling food between turns at the register to take care of all of them.

  “We did it.” She gave me an exhausted smile after escorting the last customer out the door and flipping the ‘closed’ sign over.

  “You did it,” I clarified. “You’re really good with the customers.”

  She shrugged seeming uneasy with my praise.

  “You barely ate anything.” No wonder she wasn’t eating right. She really needed two people at the shop. “Why don’t we go to dinner together?”

  Her lush lips flattened. “I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

  I didn’t even attempt to hide my disappointment, though I was grateful for the day with her. Every minute I spent with her was a gift.

&nbs
p; “I’m really tired.” Her expression was gentle, her eyes full of the sparkle I had missed. Another bittersweet arrow to the heart. How had I ever let her get away from me?

  “I understand.” I did for sure, I just didn’t like it. “Would you let me walk you home past the pier? I’d like to show you something.”

  She raised a brow.

  I laughed. “Nothing like that. Something I’ve been working on. Something Ash and I have been working on together. I think you’ll like it.”

  “Ok,” she agreed and we set off together after she powered off the POS system, turned off the lights and locked up the shop.

  Downtown was busier than it had been in the morning. A line stretched down the sidewalk to get into Hodad’s so we moved to the other side of the street. When we reached the public parking lot by the beach I steered her to the left placing my hand in the small of her back. I was extremely pleased when she let me keep it there. I kept glancing at her. She was so beautiful with wisps of her sun burnished cinnamon hair floating around her face. I couldn’t get over the fact that I was with her again.

  “What?” she queried noticing my interest. “Do I have burrito in my teeth or churro sugar in my hair?”

  “No. You’re just so damn beautiful you take my breath away.”

  She stumbled a step and I helped right her. “I’m just wearing the sweats I slept in last night and flip flops, Linc,” she muttered.

  “Doesn’t matter. Beauty like yours doesn’t need outer trappings. Hey, hold up. We’re here.” I pulled out my keys and took her hand to stop her.

  She looked up at the door to the dilapidated building Ash and I had purchased at a bargain price. “Why are we stopping at Patrick’s apartment building?”

  I frowned. “He lives on the third floor?”

  She nodded looking perplexed so I clarified by opening the door and flipping on the lights.

  “Whoa,” she said glancing around at the interior and I imagined seeing it for the first time. Wires hanging from the ceiling. The soundproof floors covered with protective paper. The wood frames where the walls for the individual recording rooms would be. “What is this? A studio?”

  “Yeah.” I tried not to look too proud but I was. Excited, too.

  “You and Ash are putting together a recording studio here in OB? Right by the pier?”

  “Yeah, gorgeous. I told you. Where you are is where I want to be.”

  “Ash, I don’t know alright? I brought her the churros. You were right she still loves them. I showed her the studio. I laid everything out for her.” Even so I didn’t see a whole lot of evidence that she was softening. I ran a frustrated hand through my hair and looked around at my empty hotel room. “She’s definitely listening though. It’s just…”

  “You giving up already?” He sounded irritated. “You gonna run away from her again just because it might be hard to win her back? We talked about this. You knew going in the tide was going to be against you. That you were going to have to be patient. That it was going to take time and more than just words. You just need to keep showing her that you two belong together.”

  “I know, asshole,” I grumbled without any heat. He and I were at a real good place. Had been for a while but even more so since he had come clean about everything with her. Knowing the truth, knowing the man I loved like a brother and the woman I loved with all my heart had never slept together helped make things a lot less complicated between the three of us. “But you know how I feel about her. I’ve waited so long and she’s right here.” Where the memories were so strong. With her, her tempting bright smile, her intoxicating scent. With all that she meant to me.

  “Yeah, then what’s the real problem? I get the idea there’s something else.”

  Someone else. “There’s another guy,” I admitted. Younger. Good looking. Kind to her. Serious competition.

  “They exclusive?”

  “Hell, no.” She hadn’t even realized he was into her until I had pointed it out. “Just another interested party.”

  “Surprised there’s just one,” he muttered.

  “Not helping, brother,” I grumbled.

  “Sorry, dude. Just keeping it real. Listen you just need to be honest. Tell her that letting her go was the biggest mistake you ever made and keep reminding her every chance you get how well you guys work together. What? Ok.” I heard another voice. “Hey Linc, hold on for just a minute. One of the contractors needs to ask me something.” There was a pause on his end and the sound of a buzz saw and hammering got louder. I heard him speaking to someone else before he spoke to me again. “Simone still as pretty as she was back then?”

  “Even more beautiful.”

  “Damn.”

  My cell beeped in with someone on the other line. “I’ve got another call. I better take it.” In case it was Simone. Ash clicked off and the other call came on. I froze solid knowing something was wrong the instant I heard her panicked voice.

  “Linc, I need your help.”

  “Absolutely. You’ve got it. What’s going on?”

  “It’s Chulo. I need to get him to the emergency clinic but my car won’t start.” Her heavy breath puffed into my ear. “He chews everything. Paper especially. I can’t even put toilet paper on the holder or he gets it, shreds it and strews it all over the house.”

  She was so nervous and talking so fast that her words were running together. “Slow down, babe. I don’t get why that’s relevant. Did he get into something dangerous?”

  “Yes, I think. A gag gift Karen sent me. She knows how much I liked the Fifty Shades of Grey movie.” She did? That was news to me. Very interesting news. But I set that aside for future reference focusing on the rest of what she was saying. “The Christian Grey figurine inside was one of those sponge type things that swells up to twenty-five times its original size when you put it in water.”

  I barked a laugh imagining it.

  “Yeah, I thought it was funny, too. Karen’s got a quirky sense of humor. And at first I was amused when I saw Christian’s little orange arm hanging out of Chulo’s mouth, but then I got to thinking. What if Chulo actually swallowed one of the pieces? What if it swells up in his stomach, Linc? Won’t that hurt him?” Her breath hitched.

  “Don’t think like that,” I said firmly swiping the jeep keys from the hotel dresser in my room. “I’m on my way to the car to come get you. Check the house. Try to round up all the pieces that you can. Maybe he didn’t eat any of them. Try to see if you can put Christian back together. But we’ll take him to get an x-ray just to make sure.”

  “Ok.” She was quiet for a moment. Looking for parts of the Grey doll, maybe? “Thank you, Linc.”

  “No problem. Hold tight, gorgeous. I’ll be there in a couple of minutes.”

  I clung to Linc’s hand while we waited in uncomfortable plastic chairs at the emergency veterinary clinic. I had found a lot of the pieces. Enough to reassemble most of the doll on the kitchen counter but there were still enough pieces missing to give me cause to worry.

  “What time is it?” I asked Linc again.

  “Five minutes since the last time you asked,” he said gently.

  “Ok.” My fingers flexed in his while my stomach rolled. “I love him so much.”

  “I know you do, babe.” He swiveled, the motion stretching the black Henley he wore tighter across his chest. His jean clad thigh pressed into my bare skin. I had been at home in my cut offs and a Roxy t-shirt planning dinner when I discovered what Chulo had done. “You dote on him and he adores you. Anyone can see that.” Studying me closely as he spoke Linc took both of my hands and tucked them into his. “How long have you had him?”

  “Since he was a puppy. After my mom died, I was lonely.” Lonelier would be more accurate. I’d been missing my other half, lost and adrift from the moment he and I separated. “Karen suggested I get a dog or a man.”

  “Gotta say I’m glad you chose the dog.” His ocean blue eyes were soft, his hair a wild halo around his head that I wanted to
run my fingers through. He smiled his dimpled smile, familiar and comforting and I was distracted enough by its appearance to forget my present worries if just for a moment.

  “Yeah, me, too,” I said offhandedly without even realizing how much those words gave away. Linc squeezed my hands and I cast my glance back to the door they had taken Chulo through.

  “Was he cute as a puppy?”

  I nodded, my gaze returning to Lincoln’s handsome face. “He was so tiny he fit inside my hand. He used to lie on his back and sleep on my lap while I worked on the computer. He follows me everywhere…” I trailed off as the door to the back suddenly popped open. I jumped to my feet and Lincoln stood with me, steadying me with his strong arm around my shoulder.

  “The x-rays were completely negative.” The lab tech emerged with Chulo in her arms. Lincoln gave me a celebratory hug and pressed a firm kiss onto the top of my head. Chulo squirmed in the tech’s arms and I reached for him taking him from her and then sagging into Lincoln’s side. He turned so he could wrap his arms around both Chulo and me. Warm, protected, held in his familiar embrace I felt something settle into place inside of me, a piece that I had been missing for a long time.

  I pulled the jeep into her driveway and parked right alongside her marooned Accord. Seven thirty exactly. I killed the ignition and stared up at the brightly illuminated porch. I recalled another night, one when she had snuck out and come to me and slept in my arms for the first time.

  I closed my eyes trying to slow my hammering heart. This was so important. She was so important. I still was having trouble believing that she had agreed to go out with me. But then again, maybe some of those old feeling were beginning to awaken in her.

  I wiped my sweaty palms on my dark jeans and got out pocketing the keys, slamming the car door closed and raking my hair from my eyes as I turned.

  She must have heard me pull up. She was already on the front porch seeming frozen in place as she returned my perusal. Was that sparkle in her eyes because she was just as eager as I was to go out on this date together or just a reflection of the porch lights?