by Amber Stokes
The kiss finally trailed away, but their faces remained close. Derrick could feel Brielle’s smile. His own rose up from some satisfied place within.
“Dance with me?” He was surprised at the impulsiveness of his own mouth. There was no regretting the pleasure that radiated from Brielle, though. He pulled his ever-present iPod out of his jeans pocket. Brielle tried to peek at the small glowing screen, but he held it in front of his face and above her view as he selected a song.
Before he pressed the center button to begin the song, he gently tucked one earbud into Brielle’s right ear and the other in his own.
The first lines of “If My Heart Was a House” by Owl City swelled as he placed one hand on the small of her back and caught up her other hand. The steps of the waltz she had taught him at the square dance came out clunky as the two of them stepped in a square pattern through the sand.
Then she released his hand and slid her arms back around his neck. Yeah, swaying did work better.
He held her close through the remainder of the song, then walked with her back up the hillside to the parking lot. Somehow, in those moments, this small part of the world he had come to resent didn’t seem quite so bad after all.
Chapter 7
Turned out Derrick was a sucker for puppy-dog eyes—as if he needed a reminder. Trisha convinced him without any words that he needed to come to church with them that Sunday morning. And since he was still in a fantastic mood since his time with Brielle the night before...and that kiss...he gave in without much of a fight.
Despite McKinleyville being a rather small town, he had found it surprisingly easy to avoid attending the same church as his family the past few years. Yet now, eating another of his mom’s filling, homemade breakfasts and piling into the car with his parents and sisters, he found himself enjoying the familiarity of their routine, wondering why he had avoided everything to do with his family for so long.
The one thing that would make the morning absolutely perfect would be Brielle in the empty chair to his left in the sanctuary. But his whole family had agreed that she should be allowed to sleep, especially if the noise they made while eating breakfast hadn’t disturbed her. Derrick only hoped she found the note his mom had placed on the dining table, and that she didn’t feel abandoned when she woke up to an empty house.
While the band warmed up, the worship leader cleared his throat directly into the microphone, then sheepishly said, “Before we begin, I’d like to read from Psalm 138 this morning.” His voice grew louder, stronger as he continued. “From the King James Version: ‘Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly, but the proud he knoweth afar off. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me.... Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.’”
The man glanced around the room with an ever-widening smile. “Let’s all stand, shall we?”
Derrick stood alongside his family, recognizing the first tune. While his mouth automatically sang the words, his heart echoed the verses that had resonated within. Revive me. Don’t forsake me.
Funny thing was, he felt like God had already been answering that prayer.
∞∞∞
When Derrick entered the house through the garage, he expected Brielle’s smiling face to greet him from the dining room down the hall. Instead, empty chairs and a lifeless quiet greeted him. The grin that had crossed his own face in anticipation of hers fell.
His family filed in behind him, his dad and mom still discussing the sermon and Chloe giggling as she told Trisha about some new guy she’d noticed. Derrick headed straight for the table, spotting the note they’d left for Brielle. His eyes darted to the stairs, wondering if it was possible she could still be asleep.
“What’s wrong?” Trisha came up behind Derrick and glanced at the note.
Derrick tightened his grip on the top of the chair in front of him. “Could you go see if Brielle is still in the guest room?”
“Sure.” She bounded up the stairs.
Chloe came up beside him and cocked her head. “She must have been awfully tired. I can never seem to sleep past 8:00, even on a Saturday.”
Derrick didn’t answer, his gaze glued to the stairs. After a moment, Trisha appeared once again at the top, biting her lip. Her eyes met his. “She’s not there. Her dress is gone, too.”
Derrick shut his eyes and let out a breath. Gone. Could she have called a taxi? But why the heck would she have left without saying goodbye?
“Is there a note?” he finally asked as Trisha joined them in the dining room.
She touched his shoulder. “I didn’t see one. Don’t you know her phone number? Email address? Surely you guys exchanged something.”
Besides a kiss? Not a thing. How could he have been so stupid?
His mom walked into the kitchen and started pulling items from the refrigerator. “Maybe she just had to run an errand or something. We were only gone for a little over an hour.”
Derrick turned toward the front door, staring at the crashing waves visible through the big window when he stood in just the right spot. “I don’t know. I doubt she knows her way around, and it’s not like she had a car to use.”
“Maybe she borrowed your bike?” his dad chimed in as he hung the car keys back on the wall and shrugged out of his jacket.
Derrick shook his head. “Not in that dress.” If she had gone anywhere, she would have walked. He thought of all the places within walking distance as he glanced out the window again. And suddenly, he had a very good idea where he might find her.
“I’ll be back,” he told his family as he rushed out the front door.
∞∞∞
Samantha sat on a bench by the sea, her legs curled up to her chest and her chin resting on the soft white fabric of what was supposed to have been her wedding dress. She took a deep breath in through her nose, out through her mouth, stirring the lacy material like dainty clouds scudding across the sky. The sun beat down upon her, and yet the coastal air carried a constant chill.
Cocooned as she was, though—hidden from the realm she’d always known, wrapped tightly in unfulfilled whims—the cold couldn’t quite touch her. If only she could stay in this very spot.
If only she didn’t have to face the consequences of her choice, no matter which decision she made.
She didn’t know how long she rested on the bench, pretending not to feel the stares of people jogging or biking along this trail that got much more traffic than the one in Trinidad. The daylight might have had something to do with that.
She sighed again and closed her eyes tight. She really ought to return to Derrick’s family so they wouldn’t worry about her. And so she could get a ride back to her car.
A gentle touch on her shoulder caused her head to pop up. Derrick.
He clasped his hands together and leaned his elbows on the top of the bench, close to her raised knees. “I thought I might find you here. You can’t seem to stay away from the ocean, can you?”
“Maybe I really am a starfish,” she quipped. She smiled faintly, unable to keep herself from lighting up in his presence. To think she had been a few hours away from attaching herself to someone else for life, when Derrick found her. Obviously, she hadn’t been ready for such a commitment.
Derrick’s dark hair seemed to absorb all the warmth of the sun, as the nearness of him caused her face to flush. “I’m glad you found me that day,” she whispered.
His blue eyes, as vivid as his mother’s, glanced her way, curiosity filling them.
She swung her legs down and patted the wood beside her. He rounded the bench and took a seat, resuming the clasped hold of his hands, his elbows now resting on his knees. “You gave me a scare when we got back from church to find you and your dress long gone. Why didn’t you leave a note or something?”
“It didn’t seem like such a long walk to the beach. I figured I could be here and back before you got home.” She tugged at a loose string on the poufy skirt of her dress.
“I guess I just got caught up in my thoughts.”
They were quiet for a moment, listening to the kicked gravel of a passing runner behind them and the steady roar of the sea before them. Finally, Samantha couldn’t hold it in any longer. “You’ve been so kind to me, taking me in. But I’m not who you think I am.”
To her surprise, he chuckled. “If you’re referring to the star thing, I know.”
She blushed, but before she could start to explain, he continued, “I also know a wedding dress when I see one. My guess is that you’re a runaway bride.”
Her face grew hotter, and she groaned. “Please don’t use that phrase. It sounds so...petty. And ridiculous.”
“But it’s true?”
“Yeah.” Her gaze settled on the incoming waves, unable as she was to look at Derrick.
His hand rested on hers, and she was surprised at the sting of tears the gesture caused. His voice was low as he asked, “Why a star? It’s not as if we knew each other. You didn’t have to make up a story.”
Didn’t she? Maybe she hadn’t needed to, but it had felt so good to pretend to be someone else—something special—if only for a few days.
She took a deep breath. “I’ve always been fascinated by the stars, I guess. There’s nothing as beautiful or spectacular as a starlit night in the country, right? I guess I just wanted to see what it would be like to be something as brilliant as a star...to someone.” She laughed. “I’m sure I just came off as crazy. I could tell by your reaction. But when you asked me if I was high, you just made me more determined to have you believe it.”
She paused, and Derrick squeezed her hand. Her next words came out as a whisper. “I was just so sick and tired of having people not believe in me.”
Derrick released a half laugh, half grunt, causing her to duck her head. What he must think of her! She let her hair fall forward and cover her face.
He released her hand, but his next words offered more comfort than his touch. “I know exactly what you mean.”
Thinking over the past few days—the obvious lack of faith he had in himself—made her believe that maybe he truly did understand.
With that reassurance, the rest of the story rushed forth from her heart. “I’m a student at U of O, majoring in Art. Painting, specifically. But I haven’t been doing as well as both my parents and I had hoped. I got good grades in high school, and now...I don’t really know what I’m doing anymore. My grades aren’t great. My passion’s slipping. And it’s driving me crazy that I can’t make my parents proud the way I used to. I’m scared they’re ashamed to talk about me, when they used to brag about my work.”
Her fingers trembled, and she clasped them together. “And there was this guy I met at one of the football games who made me feel like I was worth something to him. That I was beautiful and smart. So when he proposed after only a few months of dating, I said yes.” She bit her lip. “I didn’t tell my family. I was on my way to meet up with him after spending winter break at home in Ukiah—we were going to elope that night, before the next term started—when I stopped in Trinidad. And met you.”
She stood, clasping her arms around herself. “I know I’m not ready to get married, and I don’t love him the way I should. Stopping in Trinidad to take a nap and clear my head was the best thing that could have happened to me.” A shudder coursed through her. “I’m too impulsive for my own good sometimes. I just can’t believe I was going to make such a huge decision on little more than a desire for my life to be different than it is.”
When Derrick offered her his sweater, just as he had that first night, she held it tightly under her chin and snuggled into its warmth. She finally felt like she could breathe, even though she was scared to death about all the things she’d soon have to face. A jilted boyfriend. Shocked parents. Another school term with another chance to disappoint herself and her family.
Derrick’s voice snapped her out of her troubled thoughts. “Why Orion’s Belt, just out of curiosity?”
His question startled another laugh from her throat. “Seriously? After all my sad confessions, that’s all you have to say?”
He grinned as he stood next to her. “It seemed like the most burning question to me.”
She grinned back and offered a little shrug. “It’s the one constellation I never have trouble finding.”
He nodded.
After a moment, he broke the silence with another question. “So, what now?”
She stared at the horizon—one little line that represented so much surety and so much unknown. “I guess now I have to face reality. Go back to school, so I can start classes this week. Tell Alex I’m sorry I stood him up. Give him a real apology, not just the text I sent. And explain everything to my parents.” Her shoulders sank at how far she’d fallen, and how much effort it would take to make things right.
“Hey.” Derrick brushed her shoulder with his sturdy fingers, and she turned. His smile echoed the brightness of the sunlight around them. “This isn’t the end of the world. And don’t think you’re going to get rid of me that easily—’cause you’re stuck with me. I want to help you, like you’ve helped me.”
She felt her eyebrows float higher on her forehead. “I helped you? I think all I’ve done the past few days is burden you and your family. Not to mention the fact that I caused tension between you and your roommate. And badgered you about your job...”
His lips on hers stole away any remaining arguments. Her arms found their way around his neck without another thought—his embrace like a magnetic pull, or perhaps the sweet beckoning of moon rays on the ocean tide. When he kissed each corner of her mouth, her lips lifted into an answering smile. She lowered her head to his shoulder, content to simply rest there for a time.
“I have to ask,” his voice rumbled through her, “what’s your real name?”
“Samantha.”
“And what would you do, Samantha, if you could do anything?”
She smiled into his shirt, then pulled back to meet his blue gaze. The sweet sea breeze flowed over them as she replied, “Stick around long enough, and maybe we’ll find out together.”
Epilogue
Two months later...
Derrick stood outside Samantha’s apartment in Oregon, counting his lucky stars that he had been able to get the day off so he could spend the weekend with her. He knew he should check into his hotel first, but he didn’t want to wait any longer. Searching the first-floor apartments, he found Number 8 and knocked on the door.
The Friday evening was as cold as one would expect for Eugene in early March, but he felt quite warm as he waited nervously for her to open the door. When he heard the lock twist and saw her bright face appear in the opening, he couldn’t hold back his grin.
“Derrick! What are you doing here? I can’t believe it’s you! You never told me you’d be visiting.” Her words ran into each other as she stepped back and allowed him in.
He noted the canvas set up in her small living room, but as curious as he was, he couldn’t keep from turning back to Samantha. She closed the door and grinned up at him, her sky-blue day dress shimmering in the twilight, taking his breath away. “I thought we’d agreed to meet up for spring break—which is only in a few weeks, you know.” She crossed her arms in feigned frustration, but her laughter ruined whatever picture she’d been trying to make.
“I wanted to surprise you.” He noted the paint splatters on her fingers and face. It satisfied him like nothing else to see so clearly that she was finding joy in her work again.
“Well, you did—and you’ve totally made my day.” She tucked her lower lip between her teeth, blushing.
“Just your day? Come on, that was a six-hour drive—not to mention weeks of planning.”
“Okay, fine, you made my whole term. Happy?”
He laughed. “That’s better.”
She led him into the living room and plopped down on a worn gray loveseat. “Speaking of terms, how is yours going?”
He came and sat beside h
er. “Going well, although it’s strange to be taking classes again when I thought I was finished with school. And it’s hard to find enough time to get all my homework done while working part-time at the grocery store.” He had decided to find a job closer to home after applying for classes at HSU in pursuit of a degree in Oceanography. He missed his almost daily walks at Trinidad Head, but not the regular commute.
“I bet.” She placed her hand on his arm. “But I’m proud of you for trying something different.”
He nodded. “Oh yeah. Who knew a guy could have more than one interest?”
Her soft smile added an element of light to the quickly darkening room. She bounced up and turned on a nearby lamp, then whirled toward him with her brows lowered in concentration. “You’re still practicing your guitar, right?”
“Yeah, of course.”
She grinned. “I’m glad. Remember, you promised you’d play for me sometime.”
He settled into the cushions, feeling the most comfortable he’d felt in a long time. “Count on it. I brought my guitar with me, just in case you begged to hear one of my songs.”
Her laughter floated over to him from where she stood by the window.
“Are things going all right with your family?” he asked.
She nodded. “I talked with them over Skype the other day. My mom’s got everything planned for the few days I’ll be home later this month. You’re still coming with me, right?”
“Wouldn’t miss it.”
She smiled. “Good. How’s your family doing?”
“Fine. Trisha’s plugging away at her own schoolwork, I assume, and Chloe’s taken up running—at least until the next volleyball season.”
She played with the blinds before adding, “And your parents... You’re still getting along all right?”
He sighed. “Well, we have our moments. And there are days I still wish I had my own place.”