Summer Sunsets

by Maria Rachel Hooley

  Halfway through the graveyard, I see her, sitting on the ground, her back pressed against one of the taller stones. She’s drawn her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them to keep them stable as she lays her head on her knees. More tears.

  Sighing, I force my steps to have a measured pace so that even though I’m not exactly calm on the inside, Skye doesn’t have a clue. She has many great skills, but she can’t read people; I don’t know why. I just know that’s part of what causes her problems. She takes all the wrong cues and runs with them. Like now.

  I’m almost to the stone when I feel the first few raindrops. Granted, the sky had looked even-tempered enough when I drove to Skye’s house, but maybe it’s just as fickle as everything else.

  Stopping in front of her, I look down. “Is this seat taken?” I gesture to the ground next to her.

  “Help yourself,” she says gruffly, not looking up.

  Easing myself to the ground, I try to pretzel my legs across each other as I lean against the headstone next to her. A cold raindrop splashes my temple and I look up at the fast-moving clouds above.

  “How ‘bout this weather?” I ask.

  “What weather?” She finally looks up, puzzled. Just then a big fat raindrop smacks her in the eye, causing her to squinch her eyes shut.

  “It’s raining, or hadn’t you noticed?”

  “Yeah, I got that,” she agrees, rubbing her eye, “right in the eye.”

  “I’m willing to bet the sky opens up any minute.”

  She, too, scans the heavens. “Yeah, right. Just for that, I’ll take your bet. You never get the weather right.” She leans against my shoulder.

  “So what do I get right?”

  “Huh?” I see her cut her eyes toward me. It takes her craning her neck slightly, but she does it.

  “Skye, I must be doing a million things wrong for you to keep running from me. So tell me one thing I’m doing right. Just one.” I lean my head against the stone and watch her face, waiting for an answer.

  “You do everything right, Devin.”

  With that answer, I burst out laughing. More drops. I have a feeling in about five minutes we’re going to be soaking wet. “Yeah, right, Skye. Remember when I beat the crap out of Kellin when it was Tyler I should have dealt with? That was…not right, and we both know it. And every time I turn around, you want to run away. Why?”

  She slips one arm beneath mine and wraps hers around it as she leans closer. “Devin, you’ve always tried to make everything wonderful for me. You’ve never once failed me, not when you knew what was going on. The other was my fault, not yours….” Her voice dies away.

  I kiss her on the forehead. “So? Don’t you want to be with me?”

  “Of course!” The answer explodes from her.

  “Then what?”

  Her arm tightens around mine. More rain drops. She shivers as the cold wetness lands on her upturned face. “Devin you are so good to me. I couldn’t ask for a better friend or someone to love me who is more self-sacrificing….”

  “But?” I interject. “I know it’s coming. I feel it even though she doesn’t say it.”

  “But I can’t do this.”

  “Why.” I pull away slightly and stare at her willing her to meet my eyes. “Just tell me why. I know you love me. You just don’t want to seem to let me love you. Why?” I slide my finger under her chin, desperate to understand.

  “I’m not good enough.”

  “What?” The word almost sounds like laughter. Actually I just can’t even believe she went there.

  “I don’t deserve you, Devin. Look at my past.”

  “Bullshit,” I snap, staring into the wide brown eyes which refuse to blink even though there’s a pool overflowing from them. “You know better.”

  This would be a great time for her to say something, but her lips just part and tremble. That’s when it hits me. She really believes that. Once I get it, all the pieces fall into place. Trouble is I feel like I’ve been sucker punched because there’s this hole in my chest where my heart used to be. God, how could she even think that?

  “Goddamn it, Skye, I don’t care what you believe. The past is the past. I love you. I’ve always loved you. I will always love you, no matter what you do and no matter what you think you’ve done to become unlovable.”

  “Devin,” she whispers. It sounds like a warning, and suddenly I know by the swell of tears overflowing and pouring down her face, I’ve finally made it inside that wall. She feels naked and vulnerable, and all these things I never meant. I just wanted to love her.

  “I don’t care what you think about yourself, Skye. I know the goodness in you, and that’s all I have to know.” I tug her into my arms and kiss her forehead as she cries. Feeling her tremble and sob against me unleashes my own tears, and all I can do is hope she knows that I won’t leave. I’ll never leave.

  Never.

  The sky opens with hard, fast rain. As it pours down, I hear Skye inhale sharply and let out a strangled gasp from the cold. The wind picks up, howling furiously with the storm.

  “Looks like I win,” I yell, forcing myself to my feet.

  “You probably planned this,” she accuses as I offer my hand to help her up.

  “Oh yeah, I just wanted to get doused, Skye. C’mon. Let’s run.” I turn and start jogging toward the exit. More lighting that blinds me, and thunder pounds through me. Damn, this is one hell of a storm.

  I risk a glance back to see that Skye is no longer following me so I double back, despite the raging wind that makes going that way so hard. I can’t even see all the well right in front of me with the driving rain that stings like small pellets of hail, which is probably why I almost reach her before I know it. She’s lying on the ground, her hands clutching an ankle, probably a sprain. She probably couldn’t even see where she was running.

  “You okay?” I yell, but my voice is lost in the storm so she doesn’t answer. She probably can’t walk on it. It’s hard enough to see her with the rain, but her long dark hair is plastered to her face so I can’t read her expression. I start toward her.

  That’s when another lightning bolt cuts across the sky and strikes the huge elm tree near her. I hear a sizzling, snapping sound. Then I see a massive branch teetering precariously. Like it wants to fall right on top of her.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Skye!” I yell and rush towards her. The wind pushes me back, and the branch snaps, falling. It lands right in my path, almost right on top of me, and it completely blocks my line of sight.

  And it’s right where she was.

  “Skye!” I yell again, and race around it. All I can think is please let her be okay. Please, God, let her be okay.

  It takes a moment for me to find her amid all the rain and branches, but she’s there, half-buried in the tree. I propel myself toward her, gripping the tree branches for leverage. Then I squat in front of her and start unburying her.

  “Skye! Can you hear me?” I call, seeing a body without a face. Immediately, my mind jumps ahead and I start to see blood where there is none. Panic makes my heart jump into my throat. She has to be all right.

  At last I see her face. There’s a huge gouge on her forehead where blood runs a small river amid the rain. Her eyes are closed, and she looks pale; I can’t tell if she’s breathing. There’s too much noise and fury.

  “Skye!” I call and lean closer, holding my cheek just above her nose, checking for breath. At first, I don’t think I feel anything, but then, just as I’m about to start compressions, a soft, warm breath touches my skin.

  Thank God.

  My shoulders sag in relief, and I lightly touch her face. “Skye! You’ve got to wake up, baby!”

  At the feel of my fingers, her eyelids flutter slightly before finally opening. Her lips part and she groans.

  “There you are,” I whisper, thankful.

  “What happened?” she asks, blinking repeatedly. She looks dazed and confused. And then there’s the big tree branc
h across her lower body.

  “A branch came down, and you were in the way. Let me see if I can get it off you.”

  I turn my attention to the branch and clear away smaller debris. When I come down to the last of it, even through the cold rain, I see Skye has been lucky. Her legs seem to have slipped into a groove in the ground, saving them from being smashed by the tree. While she’s wedged there, at least she’s probably okay, and that’s a miracle.

  I look back at her and point to the tree. “I’m going to have to try to find a way to move this branch so you can scoot your legs out from under it. I need you to get ready, okay?”

  She nods and forces herself to lift up enough so she’s almost sitting. “Go ahead.” She’s shivering, and her teeth chatter loudly.

  As I bend low to start lifting, rainwater spills into my eyes, threatening to blind me. Overhead, lightning lances the sky, and thunder roars around us. I grit my teeth, trying to focus on moving the tree instead of thinking of all the branches that might fall around us. Bracing my hands on the log, I start to shove it.

  At first, it doesn’t seem to move. I push harder and harder. More lightning. The rain spits harder, if that’s possible. I look back at Skye and find her face is pale and troubled. She squints to keep the rain from her eyes, and blood seeps from the gash on her forehead. “You okay?”

  “Just cold.”

  “Hang on. I’ll get you out of there.”

  She nods and pushes the sodden hair from her face. Her tight lips form a line. Lightning arcs overhead, and the wind rips another branch from the tree, toppling it on me before I can duck. I’m lucky it’s not heavy, or I wouldn’t be much better off than Skye. It makes me lose my balance and tumble to the muddy ground.

  “Devin!” I hear Skye scream, her voice frightened and desperate.

  Fighting the wind, I scramble to my feet so she can see me. “I’m all right,” I call. I turn my efforts back to moving the branch from her legs. My feet seem to dig into the mud, kind of like the tree is pushing me instead of the other way around, but I keep adjusting the placement of my hands until I find a spot that seems to allow me to unsettle the branch. Granted, it’s not much, but it’s a starting place.

  I look back at Skye. “Okay, be ready! I think I can push it enough.”

  She nods again, knowing I probably won’t hear her over the storm. Turning back, I shove at the tree with all I’ve got. That does it. Skye awkwardly pulls her legs from under it, and once she’s free, I stop pushing.

  “Can you walk?” I ask

  “I don’t know.” She starts to scramble to her feet with me hovering nearby. The minute she plants her foot atop the sodden ground and puts her weight on it, the ankle gives. She starts to collapse, but I catch her before she hits the ground. Her face is contorted with pain.

  In a quick motion, I sweep my arm beneath her legs and hoist her into my arms. Even as she leans against me, I feel her shivering. Hell, I’m shivering, too. The rain and wind are chilling, and there’s no telling where the hell this storm came from. No, I hadn’t checked the weather, but I’m not sure anyone could’ve predicted this to hit so suddenly. The sun had been out earlier, so what happened?

  Skye tucks her head beneath my chin and clutches me tightly, as though she’s scared I’m going to drop her. It’s probably because she feels the force of the wind I’m fighting, and she knows how hard it is to see. I wish the damned rain would ease up.

  “Relax,” I say. “I’ve got you.” I start making my way toward the path. Around me, I see a few stones the storm and fallen branches have toppled. Nothing like an obstacle course in a storm. I ease my way around the debris and finally start toward the exit again, this time knowing Skye is right here with me.

  “How’s your ankle,” I ask.

  “Throbbing.”

  I nod. Just ahead I see the exit, and relief spills through me. “Do you think you need to go to the hospital?”

  “No,” she gushes, probably afraid I’ll actually take her. “I just want to go home.”

  I clench my jaw, well aware I could argue this point until I’m blue in the face. It’s better just to get us both out of here, drive to her house, and see what the injuries look like. While I don’t think the branch hit her too hard, that doesn’t mean it didn’t. It’s hard to tell if she just twisted the ankle or whether the tree made the injury worse. And then there’s the gouge on her head.

  Despite the wind’s force, I manage to get her through the gate and to the Jeep where I open the door and carefully deposit her into the passenger seat. I rush around, anxious to get the hell out of this rain. Once inside, I dab at my face, uselessly trying to dry it off with a wet hand.

  “Let’s get you to the house. Your mom will probably be freaking out.” Speaking of mothers, I reach into my pocket for my phone. Just as I thought, it’s soaked, and the display isn’t working. Shaking my head, I shove it back into my pockets and start the engine.

  As we drive home, I keep slowing down. If it’s not the rain, it’s the wind or branches which have fallen into the road. The crews are going to have a field day with clean-up, I’m sure.

  “You okay?” I ask, risking only a glance away from the road. The conditions are just too dangerous to give her the attention I want.

  “I’ll be fine,” she whispers. She’s shaking, so I reach out and flip on the heater.

  “Give it a minute, and it’ll warm up. Once we get you home, you can get out of those soaked clothes.

  I force myself to focus back on the roads, and a drive that should take us about five minutes ends up taking twenty because of the storm. We get there in one piece to find numerous branches strewn around Skye’s yard. The driveway is empty except for Skye’s vehicle. I’m guessing Warren’s car is parked in the garage because he’s away. At least Skye’s dad is gone, and that’s a blessing.

  “Where’s your mom?” I ask, surprised she would

  consider getting out in this mess.

  Skye suddenly sits up straighter. “Oh, no. Warren’s flight is supposed to come in tonight. She’s at the airport.” Her voice is breathy and panicked.

  I gently grasp her shoulder. “I’m sure his flight has either been delayed or cancelled. They won’t fly in this storm.”

  “I hope you’re right,” she murmurs, staring out at the falling rain.

  “I’m always right. Even about the weather, and you know it,” I smirk, opening my door. “Wait for me to come around and get you. I want to take a look at your ankle before you try walking on it again.”

  “Yes, Mother.” She leans back in the seat, closing her eyes. The gash on her forehead is still bleeding, and I’m betting that whether Skye likes it or not, we’re going to end up at the ER to take care of that gash. I guess we’ll see.

  I step out into the hard rain and dart to her side. I jerk open the door. She reaches for me so I can carry her to the door. Neither of us says much of anything until we’ve finally made it inside, where I set her on the couch. Her teeth chatter, and she folds her arms across her chest, probably trying to hold in all the warmth she can.

  Before I look at her ankle, I go to the cordless phone in the kitchen and grab the receiver to take it to Skye. “Call your mom’s cell and find out what’s going on while I check your ankle.”

  “Thanks.” She takes the phone and starts dialing as she leans back. I focus on untying her sneaker and gently easing it from her foot. Even that slight motion brings a grimace to her face, and I mouth the word “Sorry” before gently prying the soaked sock from her foot.

  “Mom?” Skye says. “Where are you?” She pauses and frowns. “What’s going on with Warren’s flight. He’s okay, isn’t he?” Her voice teems with all the emotions she tries so hard to bury. She gasps, revealing just how tender the ankle is. It’s swollen—there’s no doubt about that. It could just be a horrible sprain, but it worries me.

  “Okay. Yeah, I’m here at the house. Devin is with me. We got caught in the storm, and I think I did something to m
y ankle.” She pauses, watching my fingers as though waiting for me to tell her something. “No, Mom. Don’t leave. You need to stay in case they do send the flight on its way. If I need something, Devin will be here. He always is.”

  With that I smile, aware Skye is disconnecting the phone. “I’m always here, am I?” I run my fingers lightly over the discolored area, trying to feel anything unusual.

  “Of course you are.”

  “I do. I was just waiting to see if you’d figured it out.” My finger happens upon a particularly sensitive spot, and she groans. The foot spasms beneath my touch.

  “Are you done yet?” she manages in a voice made raspy by pain.

  “Yeah, I think it’s probably a bad sprain.” I lift my hand and look at her. “What about Warren’s flight?”

  “Like you said, it’s been delayed.” She clenches her teeth, trying to still the chattering.

  “That’s a good thing.” I look towards the stairs. “You ready to get out of those wet clothes and into a warm bath?”

  I don’t wait for her answer but instead lift her into my arms.

  “You really want to take me upstairs?”

  “What, are you doubting I can carry you or something?” I challenge, aware of how dark her eyes look right now delving into mine.

  “The stairs are kind of steep,” she says, snuggling closer.

  “I think I can manage—as long as you’re still.” I head that way and start up, my gaze alternating between her face and the steps ahead. It’s not like I don’t know where I’m going. I know Skye’s house just as well as I know my own.

  At the top of the stairs, I pause before heading into the bathroom. I set Skye on the counter before turning to the tub, settling the drain plug in place and turn on the water, opting more for a very warm bath than not. Skye and her crazy love of hot water. When I turn back, she’s pulled off her shirt and bra.

  I inhale sharply as desire hits me—a punch in my solar plexus that steals my breath. She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. My hand knocks the shampoo bottle into the tub and I have to bend to fish it out. As I turn back, I see her about to hop down from the counter to get the pants off.