by Oliver, Tess
“I had every intention of not speaking to you again. But then I saw you standing there looking worried when the wave took me under--”
He faced me now and his nearness made me realize that my feelings for him were as strong as ever.
“You know, Echo,” he said quietly, “these last few days have been torture.”
“Because your dad’s been here?”
“No. Because you haven’t been. I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”
I knew guys well enough to know when one was handing me a line, but the expression on his face, the intensity in his gaze and the set of his jaw made it clear that this was no line.
“I confess that you’ve crossed my mind a few times in these past few days as well.”
He smiled faintly. “A few times? I guess that’s better than never.”
“Well, maybe more than a few.” I dug my feet into the hot sand and hugged my knees. “Do you think the arrest has soured your dad’s desire to own this town?”
He shook his head. “If anything, it has strengthened his resolve. Now he’s determined to replace the police department too.”
“And just when I thought there could be no one more horrid than your brother.”
“Yeah, my dad makes Reeve look like Peter Pan.”
My heart sank as it dawned on me that this relationship was more than ill-fated, it was impossible. “It feels like we’re on opposite sides of a barbed wire fence, and no matter how badly we want to be together, the wire stops us.”
“I’m pretty good at jumping fences.” He reached up and trailed his fingers down my cheek and across my lips. My eyes drifted shut as I absorbed the sweet sensation of his caress. Then a throat cleared behind us breaking the spell.
Reeve had three pieces of surgical tape across his nose, and his blue eyes peered out from black rings. I made no attempt to hold back a smile.
“Go ahead and smile, Sweetie. We’ll see what happens to that smile when Dad razes this strip of ancient houses to the ground.” He turned his attention to Jamison. “Hate to interrupt this touching scene but Dad wants to see you. Now.” He continued to stand over us, managing to glower even through the swelling and bandages.
Jamison stared up at him. “You can go. I know how to get there from here.”
“Sorry, Bro, I guess I’m just anxious to watch Dad annihilate you. I’ve never seen him so pissed.”
“That’s because you only see his good side. You are, after all, the good son.”
I did not need to be touching Jamison to feel his muscles tensing.
“You’ll have your fun soon enough. Now get out of here,” he said tersely.
Reeve turned hard on his heels and managed to kick up a cloud of sand as he left. We sat there for a moment watching the water.
“Annihilate is a strong word,” I said quietly. “Is your dad a violent man?”
Jamison continued to look out at the ocean. “Nah. Especially not now that I’m bigger than him. He always threatens to disown me. Maybe this time my wish will come true.”
It was hard to tell if he truly meant it, but there was no sadness in his tone when he spoke of being disowned. I knew first hand that being dumped by a parent was a harsh life lesson that no one should have to endure.
“Does he really think Reeve is the good son?”
“Reeve is just like him, vain, ruthless, and lacking a conscience. Dad’s proud of that. I guess I should go.” He took hold of my hand, lifted it, and pressed his mouth to my palm. “I wish things weren’t so damn complicated. I wish we were out on that fishing boat together.” Then he pushed to his feet and walked back home.
Chapter 18
Jamison
Dad was on his phone as I slid open the screen door and stepped inside. He waved a hand at me telling me not to go anywhere. Reeve was on the couch with his legs propped on the coffee table and his eyes closed. He looked pretty miserable, and I didn’t feel an ounce of guilt. My mind was still reeling with the sensation of having been near Echo again, and the heaviness in my chest assured me that my feelings for her were still strong.
“Where’s Matt?” I asked.
Reeve did not lift his head from the top edge of the couch but waved toward the beach. “He’s out in the water.”
Dad put down his phone and pulled up a stool to sit. His lips were drawn tight, and the side of his jaw was twitching, a sure sign that he was about to let loose on me. He paused for dramatic effect, and I sat on the arm of the couch and graced him with my best ‘I don’t give a shit what you say’ expression.
His arm flew over the kitchen counter sending this morning’s cups across the room and crashing into the adjacent wall. Leftover coffee dripped down the ivory walls and puddled along the ridge of the baseboard. Reeve sat up but I didn’t flinch, and that angered Dad even more.
“Look at your brother. His face is a mess.”
“It’s a friggin’ broken nose. He looked the same after the homecoming game in high school. Besides, he deserved it.”
“You’re his brother!”
I stood. “He nearly killed someone.”
His mouth moved to speak, but he stumbled over his words, a rarity for my dad.
“It’s a tough to have an argument for that, Dad, isn’t it? He was inches from taking a life.”
The tension in his broad shoulders seemed to lessen as the reality of my words sank in. For the first time in forever, my dad turned an angry glare on my brother. “Reeve, what the hell were you thinking racing through town like that?”
“What do you mean?” Reeve asked. “Look what he did to me? It’s all because he’s lusting after that bakery girl.”
Dad sat on the stool and loosened his shirt collar. “I sent you boys out here to stir things up a bit and get some of the locals upset. I thought it might be easier to get them to sell out if they thought a bad element had moved into their quiet town. I know things have not been great between you two for awhile, but . . .” He looked straight at me. “I didn’t expect you to be beating the hell out of each other. Forget the girl, Jay. She and her odd grandmother will be out of here soon.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Let’s just say that I’ve already gotten enough of her neighbors to accept my offers. Angel Beach is as good as mine.”
“You’re a ruthless ass.” My jaw was tightly clenched, but the words came out clearly and Dad reacted immediately. His massive arm came across my shoulder, and even though I was ready for it, the impact knocked me across the room and into the screen door. As I bounced off of it a flash of yellow caught the corner of my eye in a place where I should have only seen the deep green of the ocean. My gaze shot to the porch where Matt’s yellow board had been this morning.
I looked at Reeve, who actually looked more shocked than pleased that Dad had just thrown me into the door. “Did Matt go out on his board?”
“Stop trying to change the subject,” Dad snapped.
I looked back toward the water, and there it was again, the yellow flash. Matt’s board was being tossed around by the waves, but my brother was nowhere in sight.
I threw open the screen door and raced onto the sand. “Matt!” I yelled. Dad and Reeve followed. The sand felt as if it stretched on for an eternity.
“Matty!” Dad’s terrified voice sounded like it came from a stranger.
A small crowd had already formed at the water’s edge. I plowed into the waves, and Matt’s empty board floated past me. “Matt!” My heart beat in my throat as Reeve and I searched frantically for some sign of him in the water.
Dad plunged in behind us. He held his chest as if he might collapse from a heart attack. “Where the hell is he?” he asked with a weak, trembling voice.
Reeve pointed out to the waves. “Look over there!”
A dark mass floated just beneath the green, g
lassy surface of the water, and before I could swim toward it, the figure sprang through the surface and gasped for a breath. It was Echo and she had my unconscious brother under her arm. She was struggling to keep his face above water. I swam hard toward them.
“The board knocked him out. I got to him pretty fast, but he was underwater for awhile,” she said between crying and gasping for breath.
I took Matt from her arms and swam toward shore with his limp body. I pressed my cheek against his forehead and pleaded with him. “Come on, Matty, don’t die, God, please don’t die. Come on, little bro, I need you.”
Reeve and several onlookers ran to meet me, and we carried Matt to dry sand. Dad was on his phone calling for an ambulance. I’d never seen him look so pale in my life.
Echo pulled Matt’s arms up over his head and some water and sand dribbled out of his mouth. I wiped it away and leaned down to see if he was breathing. There was nothing.
Echo grabbed my hand. “Put the heel of your palm right here.” I followed her directions, and one of the onlookers kept an eye on his watch to let me know when to push again. During the intervals, Echo breathed into Matt’s mouth.
“Come on, Matty,” I said. “Please, Buddy, come on breathe.”
Reeve dropped to his knees at Matt’s head and leaned close to him. “Matt, breathe.”
Time seemed to be moving in slow motion as I pressed on Matt’s chest and stared down at his pale face. He looked as if he was just sleeping off a long night. I could hear Dad sobbing but didn’t dare look away from my brother.
Then there was a sound. It was the slightest sound, but it had come from Matt’s lips. I went to press again but Echo grabbed my arm. “Wait.”
Matt coughed and sputtered as he drew in a breath and then another. His eyes fluttered open and then drifted shut again, but he was breathing.
Dad dropped onto the sand and pressed his cheek against Matt’s forehead. Even the onlookers, complete strangers, broke into sobs. Sirens drew closer and a few people raced to the street to flag them down.
Dad sat up and reached over to grab hold of my arm. Then he reached for Reeve with his other arm, and we huddled around Matt until the emergency crew arrived.
The paramedics took Matt’s vitals and worked on him. Eventually I could hear him answering their questions and slowly the adrenaline that had coursed through my blood stream just a half hour before subsided. Aside from the tremble in my hands and arms, a weird feeling of calm overcame me.
I heard Dad on the phone as he followed the gurney to the waiting ambulance. I did not have to listen to more than two words of his conversation to know he was talking to Mom. And I knew she’d be freaking out on the other end. Even though we didn’t see her much anymore, she still worried like only a mom could. Dad was to ride with Matt to the hospital, and Reeve and I would follow. But first there was someone I had to see.
The crowd had dispersed. I searched for Echo but couldn’t find her. I grabbed the arm of the guy who’d been keeping time for me. “Thanks for your help, Sir. Did you see where the girl went?”
“The beauty who pulled your brother out?” the guy asked and turned toward the water. “She’s walking down there with her dog.” He looked back at me. “I guess your brother owes her his life.”
“He sure does.” I watched her walk down the beach with her long-legged stride. Sun bleached strands of her wet hair curled against the smooth brown skin of her shoulders. Riley trotted along beside her.
The guy watched her walk away too. “It’s not every day you come face to face with a real live angel.” He laughed. “Maybe that’s why they call it Angel Beach. Good luck to your brother.”
“Thanks again, man.” I shook his hand then raced across the sand toward Echo.
“Echo!” Riley spun around instantly and ran back to greet me. Echo stopped and turned around. There were tear streaks on her cheeks, and she could not have looked more beautiful. Her usual cool confidence had taken a beating, and she appeared shaken. For the first time since I’d met her, she looked vulnerable.
I walked closer and stopped a few feet from her. It was hard to speak around the tightness in my throat. “I-- I just wanted to thank you.”
She didn’t say a word, and she didn’t need to. Her expression said it all. I ran to her and grabbed her in to my arms. She collapsed against me and pressed her face to my chest. She wasn’t crying anymore, but her entire body trembled beneath my embrace.
“Just when I thought I couldn’t care about you more than I already do . . .” I said quietly. She said but nothing but pressed harder against me, and I tightened my arms more.
The ocean breeze whipped up around us and saltwater sprayed our skin as we held each other. It felt as if nothing could ever part us again.
We stayed that way until Reeve’s voice broke our trance. “Jay, we need to get going.” Reluctantly, I released my hold on her. Reeve stepped toward us. I’d never seen my brother look contrite in his life, but now even under the strips of surgical gauze, he had a sincere look of remorse as he nodded politely at Echo.
“My brother has been right all along. You are amazing.” The intensity of what we’d just gone through still lingered in Reeve’s tone.
“I’m just glad he made it,” Echo said weakly.
He turned to me. “We need to get over to the hospital, Jay. I told Dad we’d be right behind.”
“I’ll be right there.”
Reeve walked away. I turned back to Echo and took hold of her hand. “That was almost surreal. I’m sure it won’t last, but for a moment there, I could swear that my brother had grown a conscience.”
Echo smiled. “This is definitely not an ordinary day.”
“No day is ordinary with you . . . Coco.” I leaned down and kissed her.
Chapter 19
Echo
Mimi burst out of the office, her eyes wide with worry. She looked at me. “Something has happened.”
“Yes, but everything is fine.” I headed into the kitchen to pour myself a glass of juice. The incident had drained me of all my energy and I felt shaky. I sat down with my glass, and Mimi sat across from me, silent with patience, waiting for me to explain. Her intuition had never been the same as an average person’s. And today, it seemed, neither was mine.
I’d been heading home from my swim when an icy feeling gripped me. As I spun around and looked toward the water, I saw the yellow board come down on the surfer’s head. Then he disappeared beneath the waves. At the time I hadn’t realized it was Jamison’s brother.
Several sips of juice helped relieve the sensation of weakness. “The youngest Freely brother nearly drowned.”
Mimi’s mouth dropped open.
“He’s fine though, I think. He was conscious when they took him to the hospital.”
She relaxed back with relief. “What happened?”
I gazed out the window. The waves rippled in with deceptive serenity, but incidences like today were always a harsh reminder of how easily the ocean could take a life. “I was walking home when something didn’t feel right.” I took hold of her hand. “His board knocked him out and I saw him go under. I don’t know what made me turn back.”
Mimi squeezed my fingers and smiled knowingly, and I realized how deeply connected we were in every way. “So you pulled him from the water?” she asked.
“I raced in to grab him before he could be dragged away by the tide.” A small shudder ran through me when I thought about how easily his limp body would have been ripped from the shore and never seen again. “At first I’d reached the spot where I’d seen him sink below the surface, but I couldn’t see him. I panicked, sure that I was too late and that the tide had already taken him.” My voice trembled as I relived that moment. I remembered frantically treading water and tears springing from my eyes as the bleak possibility hit me. “Then something brushed my leg. It was his h
and. He’s not as big as his two brothers, but it was hard keeping his head above water. Waves kept washing over us, and I was making slow progress toward shore. Then suddenly, the Freelys were in the water, even the father.” I stopped a moment and my mind drifted back to the scene on the beach. I’d convinced myself the man had to be a monster, but seeing him out there, pale as a ghost and close to collapsing when he thought he’d lost a son, had put him in human form again. Mr. Freely, the cutthroat, greedy businessman was just as susceptible to heartbreak as the rest of us.
“Jamison swam out and took his brother from me. We gave him CPR and eventually he took a breath. It seemed like an eternity, but I think it was only a minute.”
“You saved the boy’s life,” Mimi said quietly.
I stood and carried my glass to the sink. “I doubt this will change Mr. Freely’s plans for Angel Beach if that’s what you’re thinking, Mimi.”
“Probably not. But you never know,” Mimi said with that eerily confident tone as if she could see the future.
It was hard to know if this near tragedy could warm a ruthless businessman’s black ice heart, or change Reeve Freely’s rude and arrogant disposition for good, but the entire event had solidified one fact for me. I was head-over-heels in love with Jamison Freely.
Chapter 20
Jamison
It was so strange hearing Mom’s voice in the morning, I temporarily thought I’d been caught in one of those weird dreams where you were convinced that you were awake but you were still fast asleep. When the screen door slid open and Mom leaned over to kiss my forehead, I knew I was not dreaming. The smell of cinnamon rolls had followed her out to the patio where I’d slept on the lounge all night. It seemed a better choice than the thinly carpeted floor of the house. Reeve had staked out the couch so Dad could sleep in his room, and Mom had slept in mine. It was the first time we’d all slept in the same place in ten years, but we were missing one member of the family. The doctors had assured us that Matt would make a full recovery, but they’d decided to keep him overnight for observations.