Wednesday
Picture 2
Kimmydon's Choice: both
Title:
I was still finding new and interesting places along the coast. I’d come to research the setting for my novel and stayed... for Simon. I had to start admitting that to myself. Lucy knew. She’d seen through me right away.
She and Martin had stayed with me in the lighthouse after the hurricane passed. They’d both teased me mercilessly about my infatuation. Then she’d taken my baby with her when she left. She was going to read it, type it, red-pen it. I’d have to move out of the lighthouse before she finished so I could receive her email.
The rocky cliff I clung to was covered in scrubby trees and bushes, but I turned to look out over the town, not far below me. Ugly clouds rolled in, threatening more rain and wind. It blew my hair across my face and out behind me as it rushed away from the ocean. Salt stung, and tasted magnificent.
“Kristen,” someone called from above me. I looked up into grey eyes that mirrored the sky. He appeared like in one of my fantas... er daydreams - a knight to help the endangered damsel. Well, I wasn’t in that much danger, but the cliff was steep. “You’ve found it,” Simon said, a grin breaking his face. He scurried down to me, some shale breaking loose and showering around me.
“What have I found?” I asked, looking. There were the same bushes all over the steep side of the tor. Well, maybe this one was especially sparse.
“The burned bush,” he said triumphantly, an arm coming around my shoulders. “Not Moses’ but mine.”
“Yours?” I asked, quirking an eyebrow.
He chuckled, ducking his head a little. The warmth of that sound filled me now as it had the first time I heard it. How many months ago now? Four? Five? Why hadn’t I gotten the nerve to tell him? Because I’m a writer, a shy introvert. I only met him because his mother refused to let me be until he came to fix the door of the lighthouse. I would never be able to thank her enough for that.
“Yeah, mine. When I was twelve, my friends and I were out here. With matches. Somehow this gnarly old thing is still alive.” He nudged it with a sneakered toe and the bush refused to budge. “Burned really pretty, but it didn’t burn down.”
I ran a hand over one of the twisted branches. The bark was surprisingly smooth.
“What are you doing out here?” he asked. “Don’t think I’ve ever seen you outside the lighthouse except for groceries.” He chuckled again.
“I...” I wasn’t sure what to tell him.
He rubbed my shoulder, arm reaching around me. “You’ve been writing. I’m just surprised you aren’t writing now.”
“Lucy took my draft with her,” I said, sounding as empty as I felt.
“Oh, so... you’re not busy tonight?” Before I could say anything he went right on. “I think that storm is going to break and you might want to be indoors. I’ll volunteer my place.” His smile was glorious. “If you don’t mind a couple hooligans running roughshod through the place.” He rolled his eyes as he referred to his two sons.
“Of course I don’t. You know I love them.” My hand went to my mouth. That was too much, wasn’t it?
“I won’t tell them if you don’t. It would probably put them off. I mean you are a girl after all.”
It was my turn to laugh. “Noticed that, did you?”
He missed a step in his decent, muttering. If the wind weren’t still coming straight towards us it would have blown his words away. As it was, I heard, “hard to miss.”
At the base of the cliff, I took Simon’s hand. “I would love to spend the evening with you and your boys. Or without them.” I let the thought hang as I walked ahead a few steps, feeling his eyes follow me.
“I’ll see what Mom’s doing!” he shouted eagerly, loping over the few strides it took him to catch me up. His hands found my hips and he spun me to face him. “I’d rather have you to myself.”
His arms were strong around me, just as I’d imagined since I’d seen them wrestle with rusty hinges and heavy doors. His breath was salty, like the sea. And his eyes roiled like the sky, making me want to be there when they broke.
I hoped I wouldn’t burn away.
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