Arielle melted in a puddle at Blake’s feet. Her knees grew weak as she stood on her tippy toes and kissed him, putting as much feeling into the kiss as she could manage. When she pulled back, she grabbed both of his cheeks with her palms. “Gosh, I love you.”
He smiled. “I love you too, babe. And don’t worry, I didn’t forget what tomorrow is.”
Arielle’s heart sped up. “Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. Your seventeenth birthday! I have something special planned.”
“I can’t wait.”
She climbed inside the tent and he followed. He didn’t pressure her for anything more than her presence, which made her melt a little bit more. Every moment she spent with him she fell for him even more.
Blake wrapped her in his arms and she put her head on his shoulder. Her arms and legs felt like they weren’t even there and with heavy eyelids and a slow, steady heartbeat, she fell asleep.
The next morning, Blake sat cross-legged, smiling down at her when she woke up.
She blinked a few times and took him in. “What’s up?”
“Happy birthday!”
She sat up and ran a hand through her long hair. “Thanks.”
He held out a pastry. “I got this for you. It’s a cheese Danish, so I hope you like it.”
“Love them. They are, like, my favorite things ever.”
“After you eat, I’m going to take you to the boardwalk, and around four, I made reservations at the best beach restaurant around, Crabtastic Vittles. Don’t let the name fool you. They have the best seafood around.”
Arielle made a face while biting her lip. “I don’t know if I like seafood.”
“Guess we’ll find out.”
They walked on the boardwalk for a long time. There were game booths and even a Ferris Wheel, something she’d never seen somewhere like this. Not that she’d ever been to a beach, because she hadn’t. This was a first, but the experience took her breath away. She never wanted to go home.
At dinner, she tried crab legs for the first time and she loved them, although they were a bit messy. It was one of the reasons she wouldn’t eat chicken wings. She hated getting all that food all over her face, and a napkin only did so much.
After dinner, Blake took her back to the tent, where he had a chocolate cupcake with pink frosting and a glittery pink candle on top. He pulled a lighter out and lit the candle. “Make a wish.”
She had nothing to wish for. Everything she’d ever wanted was right there in front of her, but she blew the candle out anyway, wishing for everything to stay the same.
It had been the perfect birthday.
“One more thing, Ari,” Blake said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small black velvet box.
Arielle’s heart raced as he handed it to her. “What’s this?”
“Your present. Open it.”
“You didn’t have to do that, Blake. You’ve done so much already.” But she opened the box, flipping the lid up to reveal a silver heart necklace with rubies all around it.
Blake took the necklace from the box, clasping in around her neck as she held her hair out of the way. “Do you like it?”
“I love it. It’s beautiful.”
“Since you already have my heart, I thought I would give it to you in the form of a necklace so you can wear it always.”
She swooned, she couldn’t help it. Then she kissed him, pushing him back until she lay on top of him. In that tent, she wanted to do more than kiss him, but she stopped herself, knowing she still wasn’t ready. Blake understood and they fell asleep wrapped up in each other for the second night in a row.
***
The next day, Blake’s mom called his cell phone and asked him to come home for dinner. Since it was Arielle’s last day with him, she said they should, so he took her back to his house.
It was nice, but Arielle could cut a piece of malice pie from the tension in the air between Blake and his dad, which made a little bit of tension leak from his mom too.
Arielle could tell she had no clue what to do or how to help the situation, so she did the best she could. It didn’t help she had a high stress, lots of hours job at a hospital as a nurse. Which meant she wasn’t home anywhere near as much as his dad.
Arielle’s heart ached for this family. Blake and his mom were so great and so nice. She didn’t know much about his dad since he never made an attempt to talk to her or get to know her, but she was sure he wasn’t so bad under all the layers.
She wished she could find a way to help them. There were a lot of levels of hurt which needed to be healed, but both men had to be on board for it to happen, and Arielle had a feeling Blake’s dad would be the kind to not admit he had any problems.
After dinner, Blake grabbed the painting he’d given her and they went back to their “beach home” and spent their last night together under the stars, skipping the tent. Blake laid a blanket on the ground and they fell asleep with the stars shining above them.
When they woke, Blake took her to the airport. “I don’t want you to go.”
She wrapped her arms around him outside the entrance. “I don’t want to go, but I have to. We’ll see each other soon. A couple more weeks, right? Then you get to stay a whole week.”
He kissed her. “Yes. A couple more weeks. I can’t wait.” He leaned into her, pushing her against the wall of the building, and pressed his lips against hers, forcing her mouth open with his tongue. Shivers shot down her spine and she kissed him back with a fierceness she didn’t know she had in her. When he pulled back, he left her breathing heavily. “Love you.” He smirked.
“So. Not. Nice. But…I guess I love you too…” Arielle said as she wandered into the airport, then hopped on the plane that took her home sweet home again.
Chapter 20
Home Sweet Home
Arielle got right back into the swing of things at home. With no friends and no boyfriend to hang out with, she didn’t have much else to do but to help around her house, so she threw herself into work. She weeded the garden, watered it, fed the chickens and the dog and the cat. She didn’t see much of Reed because he was always with his football friends, so she didn’t even attempt to find him, not that she’d want to since she couldn’t stand him, but he would be better company than nobody.
Before she knew it, there was only one more week before Blake came to visit. That morning, she got up and bounced down the stairs. She ate a bowl of cereal for breakfast, then noticed Dad in his chair in the living room.
“Hey, Dad. What’re you doing?” she asked, walking in and sitting on the couch.
“I was thinking about going fishing. You want to come along?”
Arielle grinned from ear to ear. “Would I ever? If boredom was a sickness, I’d be in the hospital by now.”
“Good thing, ’cause I already packed the truck.” Then Dad narrowed his eyes at her. “And how about a little less of the dramatics, young lady?”
She stared at the ground, hating the feeling of being scolded by Dad. “Sorry.”
When he stood, he came over and patted her back. “No harm done. I’m just a little bit cranky today. Ari, I’m real glad you like this kind of stuff. Reed hates it and sometimes I want to take my kiddos fishing.”
Arielle grinned. “I love fishing with you, especially since you do all the hard stuff: putting the worm on my hook and taking the hook out of the mouths of everything I catch. If I tried to do those things, I’d barf.”
He chuckled as they headed out the door, hopped in the truck, and took off to their favorite pond. It wasn’t far and was owned by a friend of the family so they wouldn’t get in trouble for trespassing. The owners made sure it was stocked and clean so the fish were okay to eat, but they never kept any of them. Well, Arielle didn’t keep any, although Dad did sometimes. It killed her to eat anything she killed. Sure, she ate meat, but she didn’t have to kill it before she ate it. It was already dead when Mom bought it at the grocery store.
Maybe that was the wrong w
ay to look at things.
On the bank of the pond, Arielle cast her pole out, watching her bobber float on the water. “So, what’s been going on around here?”
Dad smiled. “Same ol’, same ol’, I guess. I don’t know, Ari. I’ve been awful tired and my temper has been makin’ me crazy. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
Arielle glanced at her dad, really looked at him. His face was pale and he had dark circles under his eyes. “You do look tired, Dad.” She reached over and put the back of her wrist against his forehead. “You feel fevered. Maybe we should go home or to a hospital.”
He waved the suggestion away with his hand. “Phooey. I’m fishing with my daughter today. The rest can wait until later.”
Arielle smiled, although inside she couldn’t be sure Dad’s plan was a good one. If something was wrong with him, he should go to the doctor, not sit here and fish.
Her stomach hurt, and though she’d been hungry when she’d left, the pain wasn’t from hunger. In fact, she’d lost her appetite. A bad feeling stirred in her veins, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on where it came from.
She tried to put it behind her and enjoy the time with her dad. “Dad, do you like Blake?”
Dad smiled at her before reeling in his line, then threw out another cast. “I would have told ya a long time ago if I didn’t like the guy. You should know how I work by now. I think he’s well-mannered and treats my daughter nice, even though he had a bit of a rough start. So yes, I like him.” He paused and glanced over, keeping his eyes on her this time. “Why do you ask now? After you’ve been with him so long?”
Arielle shrugged. “I guess I wanted to make sure. Your opinion means a lot to me, Dad. You and Mom are kind of my role models, I guess. Just don’t tell people.” She winked.
“Ari, you are a strong girl already. You’ve got a great head on your shoulders. Best of all, you’re kind. We might be your role models, but we are more than proud of who you are and even more excited to see who you become.”
A warmth spread through Arielle’s chest. All she’d ever wanted was to make her parents proud. A lot of kids out there didn’t care to anymore, but she would never be one of them.
Mom and Dad had their moments, but being in public with them didn’t embarrass her because she loved them, embraced who they were. Her parents were her best friends and that didn’t make her feel sorry for herself. It made her happy to be able to have that kind of relationship with her family.
Fishing ended early when they hadn’t caught anything after a few hours. When Arielle got home, she helped Dad put the poles away in his back room and then went inside to call Blake.
“Hey. One more week, right?” she said when he answered.
Blake remained silent for too long. Arielle held on to the chair she stood behind, cradling the phone between her ear and shoulder. “What’s wrong?”
Blake cleared his throat. “I’m not coming up.” His voice was hoarse, like he’d been yelling.
“What happened?”
“Mom wants me to go to this retreat with Dad for the week. We are supposed to be able to have some sessions with a renowned shrink and maybe work through some of our problems.”
Arielle sighed. “I can’t say I’m not disappointed, but I’m happy you might be able to work out some stuff with your dad. What about the week after?”
“Mom said it will be important to be here after we go so we can continue to work on our relationship. I’m sorry, Ari, but I won’t be back up there for a while, maybe not until the next holiday.”
“I can’t wait that long to see you, Blake! How are we supposed to make it if we never see each other?”
“Ari, I love you. I will always love you. But for now, maybe we should see other people or something. I mean, I don’t want to, but we are so far away and we can’t see each other right now.”
Arielle’s jaw dropped. When she’d called Blake, she had no idea he’d be breaking up with her. Again. She didn’t know what to say or do. Her fingers shook as they gripped the chair harder. She wanted to kick something, but she also wanted to cry. Deep down, she’d known this would happen. She’d put her heart out there and it got stomped on again.
“Ari, say something.”
“There isn’t much to say.” Her voice cracked as she tried to hold back her tears. “What do you want me to say? I’m okay with you breaking my heart again? Because I can’t. I’m not going to lie to you, Blake.”
His voice broke too. “I don’t want to lie either, which is why I am doing this. I don’t want you to be bogged down in a relationship with someone you can’t see. I want you to be happy and experience things. We are young. And if nothing else ever compares to what we have, then we’ll find our way back to each other.”
Arielle saw his point. He was making plenty of sense, but it still felt like someone had rammed their fist through her chest and ripped her heart right from it. At least this time he wasn’t doing it to be mean or because he was scared. He was breaking up with her because he believed it was the right thing to do, not that it made it any easier.
“When do you leave with your Dad?” she asked, somehow still holding back the tears.
“Tomorrow morning.”
“Well, I want to wish you good luck. If the last memory I have is of our time together on the beach, then I will be happy. Goodbye, Blake.” She ended the call and let the tears out. She didn’t stop crying for a good hour.
She stood up when the front door slammed. Reed came into the dining room, where she sat on the floor, wiping her tears.
“Sis, what’s wrong?” Reed asked, squatting down in front of her.
“Blake broke up with me.”
Reed clenched his fist. “That little…I’ll break his wrist.”
Arielle laughed through the tears because as hard as Reed tried, he still sounded like Dad. “Thanks, big brother, but it’s not necessary. I won’t see him for a while, so he’s setting me free so I can be happy. We are going to date other people, but if nothing works out, we’ll find our way back to each other.”
“Okay.” He threw his hands up as he stood. “Whatever. Gross and sappy aren’t my thing. In fact, I hate it. If you are going to be okay, then I’m outta here.”
“Thanks for checking on me, bro. Even though you’re a buttmunch, I love ya.”
Reed stuck his finger down his throat and mimicked gagging. “Ick. Enough with the ‘I love ya’ crap. Sheesh. What do I have to do to have my sister hate me again?” His voice faded as he walked out of the dining room, then he thumped up the stairs to hide in his room and Arielle couldn’t help the smile stretching across her face.
Arielle peeled herself off the floor and stood. Her legs were hard to walk on as they tingled with each step, having fallen asleep from sitting in the same position too long. She kept moving, though, knowing it was the one thing that might help.
Arielle’s gaze circled the room. “Dad, are you in here?” No answer. She raised her voice. “Dad? Where are you?” Still nothing. She walked through the whole house calling out for Dad, but he didn’t answer.
He must be outside, she thought.
Arielle went out the kitchen door in search of her dad. She patted Stubs’ head as she went by him. “Have you seen Dad, boy?”
He whined as if in answer. The sinking feeling slammed into her stomach, the same one she’d had earlier when fishing. She tried to shake if off again, but this time it wouldn’t go away.
She took a deep breath and kept moving, calling her Dad’s name. He didn’t answer, not one time, which surprised Arielle because he always heard everything.
She checked his back room, but he wasn’t there, so she backed out, pulling the door shut, and walked toward the chicken coop.
“Dad?” she called, walking through the coop door. As soon as she took a few steps, she found him lying face-first half inside and half outside the coop.
“Dad!” she screamed, and ran to his side, flipping him over. He was breathing, but sha
llow, and his lips were tinted blue as if he wasn’t getting enough oxygen. “Someone help! Someone! Anyone! Help!”
She pulled out her cell phone and dialed 911, then ran to the house and shouted for Reed, who came running out the door. She jogged after him, breathing heavily, not able to control her shaky limbs. She fell when she ran up the small hill and scraped her elbow on a tree, but she didn’t care. She had to get to her dad.
It didn’t take long for the ambulance to arrive and Mom came almost at the same time. She was frantic. Dad wasn’t speaking, but he was breathing. When the EMT guys asked her what happened, she told them she didn’t know, only that she’d found him lying there.
They loaded him on a stretcher and hurried him off to the hospital. Mom went too, but asked Arielle and Reed to stay behind in case anyone called so they could let everyone know what was going on.
Arielle and Reed went into the living room and sat down on the couch in silence, waiting to find out what had happened.
Chapter 21
No Good News
The phone rang around ten p.m. and Arielle tripped over Reed as she rushed to answer it. “Hello?”
It was Aunt Margie. “Arielle? What happened? We had a call about your Dad…” Her voice broke. “Did he die?”
Arielle dropped the phone. She heard her aunt on the line, saying “hello” over and over, but she couldn’t snap out of the spell, completely frozen where she stood.
Reed came in. “Ari, what’s going on?”
She shook her head, not able to do anything but point at the phone. Reed picked it up. His face went white as a ghost as he listened.
He held the phone out to Arielle and she took it from him, placing it against her ear as she finally found her voice. “Aunt Margie…Dad went to the hospital and Mom went too, but we haven’t heard anything. I’m sure he’s fine.”
Crush: A YA Romance Collection Page 89