by Daya Daniels
The light from the full moon bounces off the water beautifully and thick clouds float by in the sky, obscuring its light every now and again. I take easy steps along the sand, feeling the coolness of it on the soles of my feet and between my toes. My clothes are dry finally and so is my hair.
I pass a few houses, most of which are in complete darkness, but a few of them have one or two lights on inside. I guess I’m not the only night owl who lives along this beach.
Folding my arms across my chest, I see our house just up ahead. It’s beautiful even under the night sky with its bleached-white exterior and rustic outdoor lamps along the back porch.
The wind whips around me, taking my long strands with it as I keep walking. Getting near the edge of the water is out of the question in my exhausted state. I don’t know what I was thinking earlier. Or if I was thinking at all.
Letting out an exhale, I make it to the edge of the dunes that are about fifty feet away from my house. Slowing my pace, my eyes narrow. I keep myself in the dark, watching the spectacle in front of me.
Two people.
A man and a woman.
Fucking. Kissing. Their bodies pressed together and their limbs tangled in a vicious embrace.
They’re under the pier, in the darkness, using one of the pylons as a leaning post.
The water around them reaches their calves and splashes everywhere as it rushes in. The woman’s body is vaulted upward as the man fucks her. Soon, it’s over. I caught them mid-act it seems. He slumps against her, burying his face in her neck. They emerge from the darkness and I dip back into it, staying out of sight just behind the shadow of the dune. The rustling sound of the beach grass mixes with the wind.
At the sight of a thick head of hair blowing around, I take a few more steps. I don’t need to see his face to know it’s Noah.
He has a gait just like Trav once did and his build is somewhat similar but smaller. Noah jogs back down the sandy path toward our house and takes the stairs up to the porch two at a time.
I walk faster, curious and a little in shock. My stomach nosedives to my feet as my gaze flickers from my house to the girl walking away. The hem of her short dress flips up with the wind, exposing toned thighs.
I lean forward some more, stupidly thinking that’ll help me find out who she is under the cover of darkness.
I keep my eyes fixed on her.
A familiar silhouette.
Long, blond hair.
Curves for days.
“Ivy?” I whisper.
CHAPTER TEN
Callie
“MOM,” ETHAN PULLS ME in for a big hug then Zac follows, making all sorts of manly noises and kissy sounds, forcing me to laugh.
I back away to stare at the two of them as we stand just outside of the house the next morning.
I’d gotten up early despite that I’d only had a few hours of sleep.
I awoke excited and ready to start the day. I hadn’t seen these two men in three months. We talked to each other on Skype all the time, but still there’s nothing like seeing your children in the flesh so you can give them a hug or a kiss on the cheek.
“You both look so good!” I giggle, squeezing their arms and patting their backs.
It’s just after seven o’clock in the morning.
I’d just finished watering the plants and the yellow roses that decorate the front of the house when Ethan and Zac arrived.
The neighborhood is quiet.
The smell of bacon and fresh coffee wafts through the open windows of houses around here. Dogs bark. Crickets chirp, and occasionally a seagull flies overhead.
The air is balmy, reminding me that it’s the height of summer. And a soft salty breeze blows by from the beach in the distance, making me feel like a mid-morning swim might be wonderful today.
Zac stands in front of me, running a hand over his shaved head. Ethan’s long dark hair is gone too and cut close to his scalp.
It shocks me how much all three boys look just like Trav did twenty years ago—tall and athletic. But Ethan and Zac are the only ones with big gray eyes that throw a lasso around your heart each time you looked at them. Noah has my eyes.
“You both look just like your dad,” I tell them as they stand in front of me and admire me like they’ve never seen me before.
“Yeah, we know, Mom,” Zac drawls as a charming smile spreads across his face, showing the dimple in his left cheek.
“And you look hot, Mom,” Ethan says playfully, his eyes roving over the tank top and shorts I’m wearing this morning. “I’ll have to keep you away from all my college friends,” he jokes.
“Stoppp.” I giggle and whack him in the shoulder.
I kiss them both on the cheek and look toward the house from where we’re standing in the driveway. “Do you want breakfast? It must’ve been a long drive here. Your bedrooms are ready,” I say, ushering them to the front porch and up the stairs.
“Yeah, I’m starved.” Ethan removes his hat and looks back toward the jeep they drove here in that has two surfboards secured to the back of it. “I’ll come back for that stuff after we eat.” He smiles. “I’m thinking bacon, eggs, pancakes...the works.”
I giggle.
“I’ve been living off fast food and noodles,” he says. “All I could think about coming back here, Mom, was the food you cook.”
“Helen does a lot of cooking now, but I still make breakfast every single day.”
Ethan nods. “Sounds marvelous!” He fakes a British accent.
“Where’s that fucktard Noah?” Zac questions, yawning.
“He’s still asleep. Please don’t start any trouble with him,” I beg, lifting my hands in surrender.
“Yeah, and watch your fucking language,” Ethan snaps, slapping Zac in the back of the head.
They both skylark for a moment as though they’re ten years old again. I roll my eyes and make my way up the rest of the steps. As soon as we make it to the top, Trav wheels his chair outside.
“DAD!” the boys shout dramatically, causing me to jump.
“Hey,” Trav says, hugging them both.
I giggle at the over-the-top greeting that’s simply their way.
Ethan punches Trav in the arm. “So, what have you been doing, Dad, while I’ve been gone? Cooking? Have you been hanging from the stripper pole? Going for long runs on the beach?”
Trav laughs. “Yeah, honestly, I’ve been playing baseball, whacking homeruns right out of the park.”
Ethan and Zac look at each other and belt out a laugh.
Shaking my head, I make my way inside, pressing a kiss to the top of Trav’s head. “Do you want coffee?”
He looks up at me with a big smile. “Yes, please.” He waves at something just behind me.
When I spin around, Austen is running by with Digby and Mila on their leashes. He’s wearing a muscle tank and black shorts. A baseball cap covers his hair. He gives us all a terse wave, clearly observing all the action on our front porch this morning. He keeps his eyes on mine for a beat as he jogs past.
“Who’s that?” Ethan asks, narrowing his eyes.
“He lives around here,” Trav says.
“Oh,” Ethan mumbles.
“He’s Greg’s brother,” Trav adds.
Ethan and Zac look at each other mystified. “Brother?”
“Yeah.” Trav smiles. “He runs an architectural landscaping and restoration business around here now. I guess Callie can explain it to you better than I can.”
My eyes stay fixed on Austen’s back as he continues on running past the rest of the houses at a fast pace. “Well, come on, guys. Let’s get something to eat,” I tell them, ushering everyone inside.
~
I stand just outside on the porch after lunch, shielding my eyes from the sun that beats down. I’d put on a bathing suit and covered it up with a baggy T-shirt and slipped on some flip-flops.
Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain” sounds from the stereo in the den. I find it amusing to watch Trav sing
along to the song a little, humming it in between.
It’s windy today, so Zac is already out on the water surfing, catching most of the waves that roll in.
Trav watches him using a pair of binoculars. “He’s pretty good.”
“He isn’t better than me,” Ethan says, making his way out the doors, flexing his muscles.
“Oh, sit down, you idiot,” Noah says in a bored tone as he makes his way outside behind Ethan.
The three of us watch Zac catch another wave, which he rides until he takes a dive in the water again.
“Are we going in the water or what?” Ethan asks.
“Um, yeah,” I say softly.
Ethan drops a hand on Trav’s shoulder. “Are you going in, Dad?”
Trav pulls his baseball cap farther down on his face. “No, no, no. You guys go ahead. I’ll watch you from here.”
“Oh, fuck no,” Ethan says loudly, holding on to the armrest of Trav’s chair and just as quick, Noah picks up the other side of the wheelchair. They carry Trav down the stairs as he protests.
I cover my mouth with a hand and laugh, thinking that maybe if the boys were here all the time Trav would be different—maybe everything would be different. They’d make him do the things I could never get him to do on my own, like leave the house, go for walks, even just come out to the beach to get a little sun.
Noah and Ethan struggle to keep the chair steady as they move down the sandy path. Trav is laughing and shouting, and Ethan is making all sorts of crazy noises, barking and then arching his back, making crow sounds.
“Oh my God,” I say quietly to myself at the ridiculous sight just in front of me.
I miss this...
All five of us together spending the day on the beach fishing and swimming like we did when they were growing up before the accident. Trav would barbeque. Then we’d head down to the beach to make sand castles and play Frisbee.
Trav would teach the kids how to swim and how to take care of themselves in an emergency if they were ever caught in an undertow. And even now Ethan, Zac, and Noah are the best swimmers I know because of what Trav had taught them.
Noah and Ethan finally rest the chair down on the beach. Noah picks up the umbrella already resting there and stabs it into the sand before he opens it, positioning it right over Trav, so he’s shaded from the sun.
And then in a flash, Noah and Ethan sprint toward the rough surf.
“Come on, Mom!” Ethan shouts, waving his arm around.
Slowly, I descend the steps, holding on to my sunhat so that it won’t blow away, and make my way down the sandy path toward the beach.
Smiling, Trav looks just behind him and we meet eyes when he gestures for me to come and join him.
A silly laugh leaves me at how his handsome smile reaches his gray eyes, causing them to crinkle at the sides.
It’s a smile I haven’t seen in ages...
And for the first time in a long time, he truly looks happy.
~
Plopping down in the sand next to Trav, I take a deep breath before I lie out on my towel in the sun. He wiggles his hand for me to hold it. I reach up lazily and take it, watching his smile.
“How’s the water?” he asks.
“It’s lovely,” I singsong.
“Dad! You should come in!” Zac shouts, splashing around in the surf.
Trav shakes his head. “It’s bad enough I’m out here. Christ,” he grumbles with a laugh. Then he glances down at me. “I’m enjoying myself.”
I giggle. “Good!”
He stares out at the ocean through his dark sunglasses.
“I’m so proud of them, Callie.”
“Me too.”
“Dad, you should come in!” Zac shouts again, marching out of the water and toward us along the sand. Ethan follows behind him and I swear the two of them combined must weigh at least four hundred and fifty pounds.
“Come on, Dad,” Zac nearly begs, nudging his chin toward the ocean.
Trav lets out a grumpy growl.
Zac helps him to remove his shirt, then with a loud heave from the two boys they get Trav on Ethan’s back. I stand and watch them as they march toward the shoreline with Trav, moving through the waves that had calmed in the last few hours.
I fold my arms across my chest, just watching them.
Trav gives me a wave as they bob in the water and he looks so at home. The ocean was always his favorite place next to being up in the sky. And he hasn’t been in the ocean at all since the accident, even though it’s right out of our door. I’ve tried to get him in the water on numerous occasions when Helen was here to help. But it always failed.
Trav laughs and splashes Ethan and soon the three of them are frolicking in the water like a bunch of kids.
I plop back down on my towel to lie on my stomach so I can watch the rest of the show. My eyes stay on Trav and the beautiful pearly white smile on his face.
And I think about an unforgettable day we spent together on this very beach twenty years ago.
It’s late in the afternoon and chilly although the sun is high above us as we sit near the shoreline. Christmas is in three days. And school is on break. Trav is also back here...finally.
I missed him so much.
We’re wrapped in a blanket snuggled together on the beach a few houses away from Trav’s house. There’s a thermos of hot mint tea between us. We already finished the chocolate chip cookies his mother has given us. Soon my teeth start chattering, so I sip more tea, snuggling deeper against Trav.
He looks toward the sky where the colorful Bermuda-style kite we’re flying that he made a few hours before out of wooden sticks and tissue paper veers left then right in the breeze.
I shake my head at his dapper appearance.
His thick dark hair curls around his ears and neck. My eyes trace his angular jaw and take in the sight of his beautiful gray eyes that have always stolen away my sanity. He’s wearing a blue mock-neck sweater and jeans. He smiles and runs a hand over his clean-shaven face.
Travis Ethan Stone is handsome as hell.
And he’s gotten so big over the last few months from training since he’d joined the Navy that his muscular torso is nearly ripping through his sweater. And I’ve seen those muscles firsthand—well-defined pecs, washboard abs, firm ass, thighs like a goddamn power lifter, and a dick so big it scared the shit out of you at first glance. But after the first fucking, you learned to love it, to crave it...
It took me nearly a year just to agree to go out with him. Even though I knew he’d had the hots for me since our junior year of high school when his family had moved here to Mount Pleasant.
We’ve been out on a few dates. And things feel like they’re getting serious. It could be because of the earth-shattering sex we’ve had in the back of his dad’s truck last night, or maybe the way he said he loved how my tits jiggled when I rode him into oblivion. But mostly I think it’s because we just like each other. We finish each other’s sentences. We adore each other. And those eyes of his. They look at me like I’m the sun to his earth.
I swallow back a laugh when I think about last night, then bite my lip, remembering the first orgasm I’ve ever had in my life that has left me in tears. After, Trav kissed me and told me there’d be many more to come if I agreed to spend my life with him because he loved me.
I didn’t know if he was serious.
Guys say shit like that all the time.
But I’m already so in love with this man...
If he breaks my heart, I swear I’ll die.
Before we’d made ourselves comfortable out here this morning, Trav had taken off his sneakers and socks, edging to the water, and had put his feet in.
I swear this man loves the water more than the fish do.
“Aren’t you c-c-cold?” I ask, wrapping my fingers around the thermos.
“Nah,” he says, keeping his eyes squinted toward the sky. Then he looks at me and laughs. “We should get back inside before you turn into an ice cube
.” He leans forward and ties the string of the kite to the arm of the fold-out two-seater chair we’re sitting in. “But first, I know you’re thinking about something, Callie Olberson.” He nudges me in the shoulder and runs his fingers through my hair, cupping my jaw with his warm hand. “I meant what I said last night.”
My eyes widen, unsure if I heard him correctly.
He digs in his pocket and pulls out a purple velvet box and shifts to his knees, encouraging me to put the thermos I’m holding down and to stand. He takes my left hand in his.
The blanket falls to the ground as I look at him in complete shock when he opens the box, exposing a princess-cut diamond ring set in gold.
The wind causes his longish hair to lie across his forehead. He looks so handsome and I’m so nervous I’m about to cry. I’ve also suddenly forgotten about how cold it is out here.
“Callie,” he says, with a shaky voice. “Will you marry me?”
HOLY SHITBALLS!
“Of course,” I say.
“I promise I’ll take care of you.” A boyish smile spreads across his face. “One day we’ll live in that house just behind us. We’ll have kids, Callie. Stuff like that...whatever you want.”
I bounce in place like a giddy school girl. “Yes. Yes. Yes.”
Trav slips the ring on my finger.
And for a moment I just stare at it.
He eases to his feet, waiting for me to say more, but I don’t have words.
I launch at him, raping his mouth with a violent kiss. He lifts me from the ground in one swoop and soon we’re making out with no shame, my legs wrapped around his waist and my arms around his neck.
“I love you, Trav.”
“I love you. You’re the only girl I’ve ever loved. And you’ll be the last girl I’ll ever love, Callie.”
And the rest is history...
Austen
CALLIE ISN’T ANSWERING THE FUCKING phone.
I tuck my phone back in my pocket, staring at the last box on the ground. There weren’t many since I’d only really begun shopping for this place a few weeks ago.