Tough Tackle

by Harper Lauren

  There was a light knock on the door, waking me up from my reverie.

  “Come in please,” I said, sitting up on bed. My heart was suddenly pumping harder as I expected to see Drake’s face.

  I felt disappointed when it wasn’t him who peeped inside. It was their helper Annie whom I’d been introduced to earlier.

  “Hello, Dr. Hill,” she greeted warmly. “I’m sorry to disturb your rest, but Sir Drake has asked me to inform you that dinner will be served in fifteen minutes. You can join him at the dining hall then.”

  I glanced at my watch, then looked up again. I didn’t realize it was that late already. “Okay, thank you, Annie,” I answered.

  She smiled and closed the door gently behind her, leaving me all alone again with my confused thoughts and chaotic feelings.

  I rested for a while longer, trying to get my act together. The moment I left the room, I had decided I must immediately leave once Gramps seemed fine or once the nurses arrived. I didn’t want to impose anything, plus I really had to correct him on his impression that I was Drake’s girlfriend.

  I was temporarily distracted by the framed paintings hanging on the walls of the hallway leading to the dining area. They weren’t the usual portraits that you’d expect in a wealthy family’s mansion. Instead, they showed various people at work. One was farming, another one was weaving a basket, and another one meeting with some people. What I noticed, though, was that all the subjects had an uncanny resemblance to Drake, his father, and his grandfather. These were obviously their ancestors whose talents, skills, and nature of work or business had been captured in the paintings.

  Soon I came upon the enclosed dining hall with glass walls that showed the garden outside. It was decorated in soft neutral colors, with modern rustic-themed furniture. There were ten chairs in all, each one different in shape, size, color, and design. Yet everything seemed to go together in a unique, artistic way.

  As I went in, I saw Drake sitting at the far end. He stood up with a smile and motioned to the delicious-looking food on the table. “Hi, Georgia,” he said, his deep voice sending a tingle down my spine. “Please join me for dinner.”

  My stomach silently grumbled in response. I realized I hadn’t eaten for hours. The smell of the food tickled my nose and made me hungrier.

  “Thank you, Drake,” I said as he pulled back a chair for me. I sat down, amused by his gentlemanly ways. Somehow, my resolve to avoid him and just go on with my life without him had dissipated. Just this morning at the lodge, I had been so decided and determined to go back to the city without talking to Drake anymore.

  Now, sitting right beside him, I could no longer deny the growing attraction. It wasn’t just physical, too, which is making it harder to ignore and shake off.

  “How is Gramps?” I asked, attempting to make small conversation as we ate.

  “He’s sleeping now,” Drake said. “Don’t worry too much. He’s a tough old guy.”

  “That’s good,” I said, smiling. There was an awkward pause after that, then I said, “Your house is beautiful.”

  “Thank you,” he answered. “My parents love extravagant things, though they actually haven’t renovated this one in many years. Gramps is usually the one staying here. He just has it maintained as is.”

  “But it’s even more luxurious than the mountain lodge,” I said in surprise. At the mention of the lodge, I remembered the convention. Suddenly, an image of us being intimate with each other flashed in my mind. I could feel myself flushing.

  He didn’t seem to notice. He just went on eating.

  “You must be starving,” I said a little jokingly.

  He was still chewing his food when he looked up at me with a semi-amused expression. A grin began to form on his lips as he finished chewing. “Aren’t you?” he asked then.

  “Yeah, I guess,” I admitted. I was just kind of distracted and somehow uncomfortable about the whole situation.

  He suddenly reached out and placed a hand on my arm, causing my body temperature to shoot up. “Hey, you better eat some more,” he said. “We wouldn’t want our resident doctor to get weak and just faint at any time. Then we wouldn’t have anyone else to take care of us.”

  That made me laugh a little. “You’re right,” I agreed. “I should eat more.” It somehow broke the awkwardness between us. As we ate more, we got to talking about our favorite dishes and restaurants. We became more at ease just chatting like old friends, except for the real issue left unspoken.

  After finishing the mouthwatering dessert, I felt so full. To my horror, I gave out a little burp. “I’m sorry,” I said. “Now that’s embarrassing.”

  He chuckled. “Hey, you’re a doctor, but still human. It’s perfectly normal, so no apologies please.”

  I laughed. “Well, okay, you’ll have to know then that I’m usually like that. I burp when I’m full, so I try not to eat too much in public places and during social gatherings.”

  “You’re not in a public place and this isn’t a social gathering,” he pointed out. “Consider this your home too, Georgia. Just be yourself. No pretensions.”

  The serious look on his handsome face, combined with his intense gaze, seemed to take my breath away. I took a deep breath and smiled. “Okay,” I said. “No pretensions.”

  “Come on, let me show you something,” Drake said abruptly, his eyes lighting up. He took my hand and led me out to the garden.

  The night was naturally cold up in the mountains, so he took off his overcoat and wrapped it around my shoulders. It was a really sweet gesture, which warmed not just my body but my heart. He put an arm around me as we walked across the carefully manicured lawn with the surrounding mountain wildflowers. The moon was out, gently illuminating the stone pathway we were walking on.

  Soon we were at the center of a grass landing in the midst of thick bushes. “Wait here,” he said, then took off to one direction and seemed to be digging under the bushes. After just a minute, he fished out what looked like a colorful treasure chest. He carried it back to me with a wide grin on his face that made him look like a little kid.

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “It’s my special treasure chest from when I was maybe eight or nine years old,” he explained. “It was actually a birthday gift from Gramps who made it himself. I was the one who painted it.”

  “Wow, I didn’t know you were artistic, too,” I said, examining the box he was holding.

  “I’m not,” he said. “Just look at the crude painting I did!”

  “Well, it isn’t so bad,” I told him honestly. “Besides, you were only a young child then.”

  He shrugged and then laughed. Opening the treasure chest, he said, “Since then, I’ve always hidden this here. Every time I felt alone or worried or stressed, I would open it and bring out things that reminded me of happy memories.”

  “Mmm…” I said, quite interested at what those things were. I was also very much astonished and pleased that he was opening up like this to me.

  He put the chest down on the grass with its lid open. Then he pulled out a woven blanket and spread it out on the grass. He sat on it and then patted the place beside him. I grinned and went to sit, too. “This blanket was made by my grandmother, Gramps’s late wife. She’d always been more like a mom to me while I was growing up.”

  “I see,” was all I could say. It must have been hard for him to grow up without his real mother’s constant presence. It was a greatly different scenario from my own childhood. I was very close to my mom.

  He pulled out a framed picture of himself as a little boy holding a football proudly. “This was the very first time I’d scored a touchdown in football. Playing in this league somehow made me feel important. It’s that feeling that had driven me to pursue a professional career in football.”

  I nodded, simply listening to him. “Why are you telling me this, Drake?” I wondered. “You don’t seem like the type who would suddenly just open up about your past or share such personal details wi
th a person you don’t know that well yet.”

  He stopped to look into my eyes. “You’re not a stranger to me, Georgia. At least I don’t feel that you are. I feel like I can be me with you, and it wouldn’t matter. You wouldn’t judge me or anything…”

  “That’s true, but it’s just strange…” I said. “Not that I don’t appreciate it. I really do.”

  He smiled then and just continued sharing about all the things inside the treasure chest. He pulled out a rag doll of a boy in business attire. “Check this one out! Who does it remind you of?”

  “Uh, you?” I said, chuckling at the sight of the doll. “You really keep that there? So what is its significance?”

  “It actually reminded me of my father whom I had idolized for some time,” he explained. “Can you believe that? At some point, I did want to become like him. Unimaginable!” He chuckled and shook his head in disbelief.

  “Well, you are following his footsteps now, though…” I said.

  “Yeah, perhaps in business, but I definitely won’t be like him when I have my own kids,” he said.

  “I’m sure you’ll make a good dad,” I added without thinking.

  He paused for a while then nodded with a smile. I was suddenly very conscious of our proximity and the way he looked at me. “Thanks,” he whispered. He seemed to want to add something, but he held back and just stayed quiet.

  “So these are your good memories, huh?” I asked, wanting to break the silence and mounting discomfort about the current topic.

  “Sort of,” he said. “But there’s one more here I haven’t showed you…” He placed a hand inside the treasure chest again and then brought out a single dried rose with ribbons. It looked very old.

  “What’s that? From your first girlfriend?” I guessed.

  “Nah…” he said, shaking his head. I couldn’t help watching the strands of his hair fall across his eyes. I found myself gazing into his deep gray eyes, which now seemed to take on a look of sadness.

  “I’ve never had a serious girlfriend, Georgia,” he revealed. “I dated some, but no one serious. Or perhaps no one who had made me feel like I wanted to go steady with her.”

  He slowly twirled the rose around with his fingers, seeming to be in deep thought. He was silent for a few seconds before speaking again. I narrowed my eyes as I simply waited for him to go on. This item appeared to remind him of something hurtful in the past.

  “This rose came from a girl I was beginning to like… seriously…” he began. “But then, I ended up hurting her so much, just because I caved in to peer pressure…”

  For some reason, my heart began to beat fast. I felt something twist inside of me as my eyes shifted from Drake’s face to the dried rose in his hand. A faded memory began to resurface.

  He went on, not looking at me yet but just staring into the distance. “She was the first real person I had met, someone I could be myself with. But I don’t know… I felt like I had to stand up to the image people had of me…”

  I nodded in understanding as it began to dawn on me that he was talking about us. I couldn’t believe he’d kept the corsage I remember pinning on the collar of his coat. The pain in my chest heightened. I couldn’t speak.

  Drake moved closer to me then. “I’m so sorry, Georgia,” he said sincerely as he looked into my eyes, his finger tipping my face higher.

  “It’s fine,” I whispered, smiling. “You don’t need to apologize over and over.”

  “I want to,” he insisted. “I know that I don’t deserve your attention or time, but I am hoping we can start over. Really start over.”

  I found myself nodding. I could feel the pain inside of me peaking and then slowly, gently frittering away.

  He leaned forward and took my hand in his. “You’re special, Georgia. You always were. I’m sorry I didn’t make you feel that way before. I was a stupid high school kid, a coward who doesn’t deserve someone like you…”

  He had opened up his entire life to me that day, and then now he was somehow baring his soul, being genuine and stripping away his mask. I had no words at the moment, but I knew in my heart that he deserved to be forgiven.

  “It was a long time ago, Drake,” I began, searching for the right words to express what I wanted to say. “I’m sorry if I suddenly avoided you after… after that night in the forest… I was confused and hurt, and there were so many swirling emotions that I didn’t know what to make of…”

  “I understand,” he whispered, his face inches away from mine.

  I could not deny the escalating attraction between us. My heart was pounding harder than ever, my entire body tense and hot.

  He kissed me gently, quickly. And then he took me in his arms, an embrace that seemed to dispel all the negative feelings I had about our past. It was a new start, and I was suddenly hopeful. I was giddy with excitement and optimism.

  That night, we checked on Gramps and then lay in bed together just wrapped up in each other’s arms. He was the perfect gentleman and did not even attempt to make love to me, despite the sexual tension intensifying in the air. We drank wine and talked some more, just enjoying each other’s company. It was actually refreshing and satisfying in a different kind of way, which I truly appreciated.

  Soon we fell into a deep slumber, still in each other’s arms.

  CHAPTER 15

  DRAKE

  When I opened my eyes, a smile flitted across my lips. But then, I felt the emptiness of the bed. I was all alone.

  I sat up in alarm and immediately checked the closet. Her clothes were still there. I gave a sigh of relief. For a while there, I thought she might have changed her mind again and decided to just leave.

  Walking across the hallway, I checked the various rooms and the dining hall and garden. She was nowhere in sight. The helpers and caretakers haven’t seen her either. I was actually beginning to worry.

  That was when I ran into our resident chef Albert. “Good morning, sir,” he greeted me. “Your guest had asked me to step out of the kitchen for a while, so she can prepare breakfast for you.”

  “What?” I said, startled.

  “Sorry about that,” he said.

  “Oh, no problem, Albert,” I immediately assured him before hurrying to the kitchen.

  The delicious smell of pancakes, bacon, and eggs wafted out of the huge kitchen. I went in to find Georgia wearing an apron over her shirt and leggings. She was barefooted and her hair had obviously been piled up hurriedly in a messy bun, with loose tendrils all over.

  I gaped at her in disbelief. She was so beautiful. I couldn’t believe she’d gone to all this trouble for me, and here I’d been thinking she’d left already.

  She suddenly noticed my presence after pouring fresh orange juice into two glasses on the center counter, our breakfast nook.

  “Hi, you’re up already,” she remarked with a lovely smile, her eyes twinkling while the sun streaming from the windows reflected light on her hair. My eyes drank in the entire scene with delight and wonder.

  “And you are up early,” I said, grinning.

  “I wanted to cook breakfast for you,” she explained, sitting down on the counter and pushing the other plate toward me. “I hope you like it, though it’s surely not the five-star hotel type of food you’re used to. Sorry I had to kick out the chef temporarily.”

  I chuckled. “He did look dazed, but don’t worry about it. Albert’s been with our family for more than a decade. He considers this kitchen his home.”

  “Oops,” she said, giggling.

  I took a bite and savored the taste. “This is fantastic,” I said.

  Her eyes widened, and then she suddenly laughed. “Don’t kid me!”

  “I’m not kidding,” I said. “I love it, really.”

  We laughed as we enjoyed our breakfast together, along with an easy chit-chat. I felt amazing. I could certainly get used to waking up like this.

  “Oh, by the way, Gramps is feeling mighty fine this morning,” Georgia informed me. “He ate
three pancakes. I mean, he devoured them!”

  I laughed. “Wow,” I said. “You gave him breakfast in bed?”

  She nodded, looking really adorable. I wanted to hug and kiss her and never let her go. “He was ecstatic to see me and was definitely crazy about my pancakes!” she announced proudly.

  “Perfect,” I said with a chuckle. “He’s never going to let you leave now. Ever.” Which is fine by me, I added silently in my mind.

  She simply grinned in response. “Gramps is a great guy. He must have been an all-around friend to everyone in his younger days.”

  “He was, yes,” I said, nodding. “And the women were all over him, too!”

  “I wouldn’t blame them,” Georgia said thoughtfully. “He’s handsome too, even now.”

  “Oh, don’t let him hear you say that! He might just lock you up!” I said jokingly. We both laughed again. It was undoubtedly the best morning of my life so far.

  After breakfast, we spent the morning roaming around the garden and the surrounding woods, just enjoying the cool weather and the beauty of nature.

  When we went back to the house for lunch, we were both astounded by who was waiting for us.