by Sara Mullins
She was now convinced that this guy was too good to be true. She glanced at him a few times while they walked, wondering what was wrong with him. There had to be something wrong with him. He closed the gate when they walked out, then he led her to the back deck. They climbed a few steps before entering the deck area. He had some patio furniture and a grill set up underneath the beautiful pergola that covered the entire space.
“This is where Bentley and I hang out a lot. We like to sit outside and listen to some tunes,” Mark said.
“I don’t blame you. It’s pretty awesome out here. I love it.”
“Thanks. I built it last spring,” he added.
“You built this?” she asked.
“Yes, ma’am. You surprised?”
“No, I’m impressed. I’m not really surprised,” she told him.
“Well, come on in. I’ll go get a quick shower and then we can go for a ride,” he said.
“Sounds good.”
Mark directed her toward the living room. “Make yourself at home. The kitchen is right around the corner if you want anything. And the remote, the remote . . .” he faded off as he hunted around the living room, “. . . is right here if you want to watch TV or something. I’ll be right back.”
“Great, thanks,” she replied.
He took off down the hallway and she flipped on the TV to occupy her time while she waited. The dog curled up at her feet and didn’t budge. Mark finished fairly quickly, then she heard him go back into the bedroom to finish getting ready. She refrained from looking down the hall and kept her eyes on the TV. Bentley jumped up and ran down to check on him. A few minutes later, Mark walked back into the living room wearing a new set of holey clothes.
“Alright, now we can go,” Mark said. “You can leave your purse on the table if you want.”
“Okay.”
She followed him through the laundry room and into the garage. He pushed the button to open the door. The light flooded in from outside and revealed the beauty within. His four-wheeler was parked right in front of them, and on the other side of the garage sat a 1965 Shelby GT350. The car was obviously a project for him. Mark had part of the engine torn apart and the body needed some work and a paint job. But she found it to be gorgeous, nonetheless.
“Oh, my God! That’s . . . that’s a Shelby!” she shouted with excitement.
Mark smiled ear to ear. “Yeah, you like it?”
“Like it? I love it! It’s my favorite.”
“So, you like classic cars and you like classic rock. You’re full of surprises, aren’t you?” he asked. “Are there any other interesting facts that I need to know?”
“Well, both of my parents listened to rock, but my dad especially. I spent a lot of time with him and I swear he always had that radio on. But I think his true love was classic cars and racing. Seemed like every weekend we were either at some drag race or car show. I guess he rubbed off on me a little.” Nicole’s eyes were full of excitement and she could hardly contain herself. “You are so lucky,” she said.
“Yeah, I am. It was my dad’s project car and he gave it to me when I moved. He told me he was planning on giving it to me, anyway. Now, here it is and I’m just trying to fix it a little bit at a time when I have the money,” he said.
“That’s really awesome,” Nicole replied.
“Well, maybe I’ll get it runnin’ soon.” Mark looked over at her. She stood there and gazed at the car like a child at a fire truck. “Let’s go for a ride,” he said, walking down the steps toward the wheeler. “It’s not as pretty as the car, but it’ll be fun, trust me,” Mark assured her. “Have you ever been on one before?”
“Nope.”
“Okay, I might take it easy on ya,” Mark told her. He stepped up and straddled the seat and let her get on. “This is a pretty simple one. It’s kinda like an automatic car. You just turn the key to start it and shift it into drive or reverse. This is the switch for the headlights and this one puts it in four-wheel-drive. Oh, and here’s the throttle and the brake. That’s kind of important.” She watched over his shoulder while he showed her everything.
“Looks easy enough,” she said.
“Alright, let’s go. Just hold on.”
Nicole had absolutely zero objections to holding on to him. She reached her arms up and wrapped them around his torso. He turned the key, put it in high and pulled out of the garage. They started slow, putting around the yard, then he pulled up to the edge of the grass. There was a long trail of green that divided two fields. This stretched for as far as the eye could see and ended in a wooded area. He stopped and looked down the path ahead of them.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
“I’m ready,” she said with no hesitation.
“Hold on tight now,” he instructed her, as he turned his hat backward.
She squeezed her arms tight around his ribs and started to tell him “okay”, but he didn’t wait for her to finish. It started with a soft “o” and ended with a loud, drawn-out “kay!” The front two tires left the ground for a few seconds and Nicole looked up at the sky. Mark laughed and a wide-smiled expression spread across his face. The tires came back down to earth and they zoomed between the fields. Her ponytail whipped back and forth behind her. The rush that she felt from the speed and the wind was unbelievable. It was a feeling she had never experienced before; exciting, yet surprisingly relaxing. She looked at the fields and up to the sky. It was baby blue all over except in the west, where a wall of dark clouds was lingering. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the cool morning air.
He eventually let off the throttle as they approached the woods, which now looked much bigger than they had from the house. Upon closer examination, she could see a narrow path leading into the trees. They left the grass and entered the forest, following the trail. The canopy closed in above them and, in just a moment, daytime seemed to turn to night. The temperature dropped and the air filled with the smell of old leaves and white pines.
At first, the path was smooth and easygoing. He followed the tracks that had formed from years of riding. Suddenly, he stopped.
“Having fun yet?”
“This is awesome. I love it,” she exclaimed.
“Those clothes you’re wearing aren’t, um, your favorites, are they?” he asked, with slight hesitation.
“No . . . should I ask why?”
“Oh, no reason,” he muttered.
As hard as it was for her to do, she took her gaze away from his face and looked ahead of them. The trail seemed to disappear. Her eyes followed the tracks as best as they could until she was looking at the water at the bottom of the hill.
“Are we . . .?” she began.
“Yeah,” he answered the unfinished question.
“We are going there?”
“Yup.”
“No, I don’t think, I don’t know, what if . . .” she stammered.
“Nicole, do you trust me?” He turned to look at her. “Trust me.”
“Okay. Okay, I trust you.” Once again, she practically cut off his air supply, squeezing him as tight as she could. Then she laid her head on his back.
“Okay, we’re gonna lean back just a little. It’s not as bad as it looks. It’ll be alright,” he said, trying to comfort her.
“Ha, okay,” Nicole replied nervously
He slowly rolled forward and let the front tires lead the way down the hill. Mark controlled the speed and helped her lean back by holding his frame back. She grabbed hold of his shirt and closed her eyes.
“Alright, pick your feet up,” he told her.
Nicole opened her eyes and picked up her feet as high as she could. The wheeler plunged into the water, engulfing the tires. They made their way to the other side and started up the bank.
“Now lean forward,” he instructed her.
“Okay,” she replied.
They climbed to the top of the slope and leveled out again. He stopped and turned to look at her. She seemed a little shocked at first, but then a gr
in appeared on her face and she started laughing.
“Oh, my God, that was so much fun!” she exclaimed. “That’s so cool. I didn’t know they could just plow through the water like that.”
“Yup. As long as it isn’t too deep, it will go right through it,” he said. “You ready to keep going?”
“Hell yeah, let’s go.”
“You got it.”
They stayed on the trail, which was much easier now, but still a blast. The sky continued to grow darker and Nicole found herself glancing up to see if it was still daylight. A drop of water left the clouds above and began its journey to the ground. It fell between two oak trees, missing the branches and leaves that were trying to get in its way. It grew closer and closer to the dirt then splattered on Nicole’s forehead as she flew by. She reached up and wiped it off with her right hand.
“I just felt a raindrop. Do you feel any?” she asked him.
“Yeah, I just felt one, too. Damn it, so much for our ride.”
“It’s alright, I’m sure we can finish,” she said, trying to encourage him.
The drops increased gradually at first. But then, in what seemed like an instant, it was as if someone tipped over a bucket from the heavens above them. A bolt of lightning flashed through the sky and a booming crack followed right after.
“Wow! Okay, now I need to get you out of here. But then again, we don’t need to ride across an open field, either.” He paused to think for a moment. “There’s a place up ahead where we can stop and kind of take cover. It’s just a fallen tree. It’s not much but it will help,” Mark said.
“Let’s go for it!” she screamed back at him, in an attempt to drown out the sound of the rain.
The back tires slid left and right. They drifted around the turns in the trail. The mud flipped high into the air and landed on anything in close proximity. Nicole was having a blast just zipping through the muck.
Mark pulled the four-wheeler up as close as he could to the fallen tree. He hopped off and helped her down. They crouched down and squeezed through a narrow opening in the brush. Once they were under the humongous trunk, it was more like a little shelter. They were protected above by the tree and all around them was a wall of green from the thick growth of the forest floor. Nicole felt like a kid again, playing with her sister on the farm.
“Wow, this is so amazing,” she said, looking all around her. “It’s actually pretty dry in here, too.”
“Yeah, isn’t it cool?”
“Very,” she answered. Nicole examined the bark above them and watched the ants march on a mission. She turned her head and peered through the small opening that they had entered through. The four-wheeler was barely noticeable, now camouflaged in brown. She looked back to the right, at the sea of green made up of countless ferns and baby trees. The ground beneath them was covered in a layer of old leaves and fallen branches. She grinned and wiped away the water that was dripping down from her eyebrows.
Mark sat across from her. He did not look at the tree, he didn’t look at the ants, and he never turned his head to admire the ferns. He looked at her. She was drenched from head to toe, shivering, with her legs tucked underneath her body. There was a giant clump of mud stuck to the side of her face. He could only focus on how adorable she looked sitting there and how much he wanted to wrap her up and keep her warm.
Nicole felt his gaze and she turned to look at him. “What?” she asked. “Is my hair crazy? I can only imagine what it looks like,” she said, using her hands to smooth her hair.
“Your hair looks great,” he said.
Mark got up on all fours and crawled toward her. He stopped at her knees. She could smell his soap in the air. His legs lightly touched hers and his gaze had now turned serious. She grew a little nervous, having no idea what to expect. He raised his hand, reaching for her cheek and Nicole cringed. Flashbacks began to haunt her. Sensing her uneasiness, he stopped his hand dead in its tracks and looked into her eyes.
“I would never hurt you,” he promised.
“I know, I’m sorry,” she said looking down.
He placed his hand under her chin and gently lifted her head so he could look at her. “You have some mud right here.” He moved his hand over to her cheek and picked the clump off.
“Oh,” she replied, turning a deep shade of pink.
“And you don’t have to apologize to me,” he added.
Mark kept his hand close to her face and never backed away from her. He maintained eye contact. Nicole’s body went into shock and she could hardly breathe. She looked back into his eyes, not knowing what to think or say.
“You’re so beautiful,” Mark said.
Her eyes began to water. She turned her head away and focused on the ferns. A tear ran down her face. Mark reached behind her head and ran his fingers into her hair under her ponytail. She turned her gaze back to him. Her heart was pounding out of her chest. He looked down at her lips, leaned in, and pulled her close. She reached up with both hands and held on to him as he kissed her softly, the rain pouring down all around them.
Chapter 7
Sirens interrupted the quiet streets of Carolina. The ambulance raced through town en route to Williams Memorial Hospital, twelve miles away. The EMT’s onboard worked to mend Nicole’s open wounds and stop the bleeding, but her injuries were too severe for them to handle. Employees of the veterinary clinic watched in shock as the ambulance flew by. It was very unusual for the locals to hear commotion like this.
“Oh, my goodness,” Sherrie exclaimed.
“God, I wonder what happened?” Becky asked rhetorically. She and Ashley shook their heads and turned to walk to the back to get ready for the day.
The ambulance came to a stop in front of the emergency room doors and they rushed Nicole inside. Blood had soaked through the bandages on her head. Her baby blue scrubs were splotched with deep red.
“She sustained a large gash on her left temple,” the EMT informed the doctors as they rushed her back.
“Car crash?” the doctor asked.
“Yes. The driver’s side slammed into a tree.”
“Has she shown any response?”
“No, she’s been unconscious since we arrived on the scene,” the EMT replied. “9-1-1 dispatch had her on the line until the accident, then the call was dropped.”
“She called 9-1-1?”
“Yes. She reported that a truck was chasing her.”
“Okay, thank you,” the doctor replied. The EMT’s left and the hospital staff took over. They immediately began working to assess her injuries.
Back at the veterinary clinic, the first patients of the day had arrived and were back in the exam rooms. Sherrie glanced out the window one last time then nervously strolled to the back. “Have any of you heard from Nicole?” she asked.
“No, she hasn’t said anything to me,” Becky answered. The rest of them shook their heads.
“That’s so unusual. She’s never just not showed up before,” Sherrie said.
“She probably just stayed up too long with her boy toy,” Ashley said. “I’ll call her.”
“Alright, let me know,” Sherrie said. She turned and walked back up the hallway to her desk. Her knees began to bend to sit back down in her chair, but her butt never touched the seat. She stopped midway and turned completely pale. Her jaw dropped, eyes gazing out the front windows. “Oh my God, you guys, come here!” she screamed.
The crew ran up the hallway to her desk. This wasn’t Sherrie’s normal frantic voice. They entered the waiting room and noticed her staring outside. Then they saw it. Stopped at the town’s only stoplight was a red tow truck carrying a somewhat familiar car, from what they could tell, anyway. Nicole’s mangled little car rested on the back of the truck.
Ashley’s phone continued to ring as it fell to the ground. Her hands shook, covering her mouth in shock. “Oh no,” she mumbled through her fingers.
“That was her in the ambulance?” Becky asked.
“Try to stay calm. I’ll
call the police and see if they can give me any information,” said Dr. Smith.
Sherrie made her way to the file cabinet. She flipped through the files while Dr. Smith spoke on the phone. He hung up and looked at the group.
“Is she okay?” Sherrie asked.
“They took her to Williams Memorial,” he said. “They wouldn’t tell me anything else.”
Sherrie flipped open the file that she had pulled from the drawer. She picked up the phone and dialed the cell number listed in the information section. It rang. It rang again.
“Hello?” a groggy voice answered from the other end.
“Mark? This is Sherrie from the Carolina Veterinary Clinic.”
“Hey, how are ya?” he replied cheerfully. “I didn’t forget to pay my last bill, did I?”
“Oh, you’re fine. That’s not why I called,” Sherrie said.
“Is something wrong?” Mark asked.
“Um, I really don’t know what to say . . .”
Chapter 8
Mark’s pickup truck rolled down the highway. The rising sun glared through the driver’s side window. “Wake up,” he told Nicole. “Aren’t you excited to be up so early on a Saturday?” he asked sarcastically.
“I’ll be a little more excited once I drink this coffee,” she said, holding the cup up with a smile.
He laughed and looked ahead at the mass of steel and concrete forming the bridge in front of them. Nicole turned her head and looked out the window. She had seen the Ohio River once, when she was a little girl, but didn’t remember it being this big. She grabbed her camera from the bag next to her and snapped a few shots of the sun hovering over the water. They continued into Kentucky, talking to each other non-stop about whatever came to mind.
At first, Kentucky seemed a lot like Indiana. There were fields of corn and beans on either side of the interstate, speckled with distant barns and silos. And the horses; there were horses everywhere. Nicole began to notice a changing landscape, though, as they went farther south. The fields were replaced with trees. The concrete path beneath them flowed up and down with the rolling hills. At times, she stared at a wall of solid limestone that seemed to go straight to the sky. The rock was still scarred from the blasting that man had done to it long ago to make space for the road that remained there now.