Then There Was You (Twist of Fate)

by A. J. Daniels

  Chapter 6

  After the kids have left and I’ve packed away the last of the science books, there’s a knock on the classroom door and then Nathan strolls in wearing dress pants that look like they were stitched together around him. The sleeves of his blue dress shirt are rolled up, revealing a tattoo on his right arm, and the first three buttons are undone. This man is sexy.

  “So, after your class thoroughly kicked our asses, which I expect a rematch by the way, I realized that seven seems a long time to wait,” he grins sheepishly.

  “Oh?” I ask, carrying the books back over to the shelf. When I turn around to grab the rest, Nathan is standing behind me, the remaining science books in his hands. “Thank you.” I take them from him and finish putting them away.

  “I’ve decided that we should just go now. We can drop off your car on the way there. No sense in taking two vehicles,” he says as if we’ve already decided.

  “Is that right?”

  He grins, leaning back against my desk, the sleeves of his shirt pulling tight against his biceps when he folds his arms over his chest. I have a better view of his tattoo now. How I missed it before when he was at my house or earlier this morning on the field I’ll never know. But it looks like a black and white realistic tattoo of a lion. Actually, it looks so real I feel like it may actually be looking back at me when I stare into its eyes.

  “Where exactly are we going?” I ask, snapping my eyes away from the lion and up to Nathan’s.

  “I know a place,” he shrugs, looking around at my desk behind him. “Are you almost ready to go?”

  I take a quick glance around the classroom. The kids did a surprisingly good job at cleaning up their craft projects earlier and aside from a few stray pencils, there’s not much more that needs to be cleaned. The cleaning staff will get the tiny loose paper shreds on the floor when they come in to vacuum later.

  “Yeah, just let me put away some of the pencils and gather my things.”

  I can feel Nathan’s eyes on me as I move around the classroom, gathering the pencils that were left behind and putting them in the holders in the middle of the round tables. I notice one of the kids left their blazer on the hook with their name and I make a mental note to remind them to grab it before they leave tomorrow.

  “All ready,” I say, after I’ve slid the math assignment into my bag and grabbed my purse and coat from the chair.

  True to his word, Nathan follows closely behind me until I pull into the carport. He’s still sitting behind the wheel, his car idling at the bottom of my driveway when I walk out and close the garage door behind me. It’s still one of those old doors where you have to physically push up to open and pull on the string to reel it down to close. I shake my head as I thread the lock through the handle at the bottom and secure it. I really need to bring this house into the twenty-first century. An automatic garage door that opens and closes with a click of a button would be so awesome. Then I begin thinking of how much something like that would cost me here and I’m suddenly okay with the manual way of doing things.

  “Do you plan on telling me where you’re taking me? I feel like I need to send a text to a friend just in case I go missing or something,” I say, when we’ve hit the N1 freeway.

  Nathan chuckles, wiping a hand down his face. I can’t help but stare at his arms as the muscles pull with each movement. I was always an avid lover of arm porn. A man’s arms - and eyes - say as much about him as I need to know upon the first meeting. I’m drawn to arms that could make me feel safe and protected, while still lifting me up and slamming me against a wall as he kisses me like his life depends on it, amongst other things. And eyes I could look into and have the eerie sense that I know what he’s thinking. Nathan has both of those and more. Like a perfectly round ass that looks bitable in a pair of jeans. His hair is thick and full, and I can definitely picture running my fingers through it before tugging. I haven’t seen his chest yet, but if the way his shirts mold to his body are any indication… my mouth waters at the thought of running my hands up the hard ridges.

  “It’s a surprise, but don’t worry there’ll be plenty of people around.”

  It feels so good to be able to spend time with a guy again that isn’t Xander or Caleb. The last man I felt this comfortable around was Jack. It still hurts to think about him, but I’m at the point now where I realize he wouldn’t want me to become a cat lady, too overridden by anxiety and fear to leave the house. He’d want me to meet new people. Hell, maybe he’d even want me to fall in love again, but that is something that feels so far off.

  My head rolls against the headrest and I watch Nathan as he drives. One hand casually slung over the steering wheel as his thumb drums out a beat to the music flowing from the radio while his other hand rests on the gear shift, ready to change gears at a moment’s notice. I wouldn’t mind if anything happened with Nathan. If we’re both single then who does it hurt? I mean, I don’t know about him but I’m not looking for anything serious right now. I just moved countries, bought a new house, and started a new job. I don’t have time for anything serious. Nathan turns his head to me, and I lazily match his smile. Yeah, definitely not looking for anything serious… but something casual with him might just be what I need.

  “We’re here,” he says forty minutes after we’ve left my house.

  I glance out the windshield to see a small parking lot just off a small strip of beach with mountains on both sides. I recognize the mountains and beach farther down on the right side as Nathan parks the car, but I’ve never been this far down.

  “Is that Hout Bay?” I ask.

  He looks out his window to see where my gaze is pointing at. “It is. Technically, we’re still in Hout Bay. Fish on the Rocks is down that way. So is the Hout Bay night market,” he replies, gesturing to across the way to the harbour.

  I feel like such a tourist. I should know that, but whenever I think of Hout Bay I think of Fish on the Rocks restaurant as well as Snoekies, two of the best fish and chips places in Cape Town. My stomach growls at the thought of fresh fish and slap chips.

  “C’mon, let’s eat before that monster decides to break free,” Nathan says, and I can see he’s trying to hold back a laugh.

  I huff but follow him up the sandy steps and onto the restaurant’s patio. When a server comes to seat us, Nathan asks for one of the couches on the patio. It’s not too long until we’re seated, both of us facing out to the ocean with the restaurant behind us.

  “This is incredible,” I say, taking in the water and the mountains.

  Dunes Beach Restaurant & Bar is what’s printed in a circle on the drink coasters on the table in front of us.

  “I seem to always forget this place exists until I feel like going somewhere for a drink. They have one of the best sunsets in Hout Bay.”

  I glance at my watch, noting that it’s only now six ‘o clock and the sun is still going strong. I haven’t been paying much attention to what time sunset has been since arriving back in Cape Town. It’s almost like the sun is shining one minute and the next it’s dark outside.

  “We can stay to watch it,” he says, having seen me glance down at my wrist.

  I sigh, leaning back against the couch. “I don’t think I’ve watched a sunset since I’ve been back.”

  Nathan thanks our server when he comes back with our drinks and orders us a calamari starter.

  “How long has it been since you’ve been back?” he asks when our server has left.

  “Oh gosh, I don’t know. I had just turned thirteen when we left so about fourteen years.”

  “Did you ever think you’d be back here?”

  I sip at the gin and tonic I ordered, squeezing a bit of the lime into it, then take another sip before I reply. “For a vacation? Sure. To live? Not really. I didn’t know how much I missed it until I was back here, but it was never really in the cards before. Heck, I was surprised when my parents decided they were moving back. I never thought they would.”

  “Why did
they?” Nathan asks. His dress pants and shirt look so odd against his casual pose of sitting back against the couch with an ankle resting over the other knee, a beer in hand.

  “My ma isn’t doing so well so I guess Dad wants to be close to her. My pa passed away several years ago so Dad’s all she has left now, and I guess he feels guilty for not being here after Pa died.”

  Nathan hums. “Guilt is an interesting one,” he says, sipping at his beer, his eyes trained on the ocean in the distance.

  “How so?”

  “Guilt makes us believe we’re responsible for how someone else feels but we can no more control that than the setting of the sun.”

  “Aren’t we, though?” I ask, squeezing lemon juice over the newly arrived calamari. “Responsible for how someone feels,” I add.

  Nathan drops his other foot and scoots forward on the couch to put his beer down on the table before picking up a piece of the battered fish. “We can only be responsible for ourselves and how we feel. If someone makes us angry, it’s not their fault that their actions inspire such emotion. We choose to feel the way we do.”

  “I have a bookshelf full of romance novels that say otherwise.”

  Nathan grins. “Love is different. You don’t see that shit coming until it’s hitting you over the head with a shovel.”

  I laugh. “That’s some description.”

  “Blame it on the reruns of CSI.”

  We lapse into a comfortable silence after that when the server brings by our dinners and refills our drinks. He’s right though. We do choose the way we feel or how we react to situations, but I also think it’s human nature to feel responsible for having a hand in how someone feels. He’s also right that it’s an interesting one. I wouldn’t feel guilty for making someone happy, but I would if I had inadvertently made someone angry or upset.

  “Dessert?” Nathan asks, drawing me out of my head.

  “Don’t mind if I do,” I say, looking over the menu.

  Nathan orders the ice cream with chocolate sauce and I go for the chocolate brownie when the server comes back to collect our dinner plates and ask if we want refreshers. I order another drink but Nathan switches to water since he has to drive later.

  “What made you decide to be a primary school teacher by day and carpenter by night?”

  “Ah, the superpower,” he jokes but then his expression turns serious. “The man that used to own the company before I took over was a close friend of the family. So close in fact that he was my father. My mother died when I was a year old and left me to my grandparents. Apparently my mom never told my father that I existed. He only found out when he came back and discovered she had died.”

  “Oh, wow.”

  Nathan nods. “I guess it was my grandparents’ way of punishing him, by not telling me he was my father. He could’ve told me himself when I was old enough, but he chose not to. He left me his business instead.”

  “Did you… were you two…” I trail off not really sure what I want to ask.

  “He was allowed to come by the house. When I got older he brought me to his workshop and let me play around with the leftover pieces of wood. He helped me build a jewelry box for my gran and a spice rack for their kitchen.” A slow, sad smile spread across his face. “I think by the time I was sixteen, they had a storage room full of little things I had made.”

  “They were proud of you.”

  “Anyway, when he died and left his business to me, I couldn’t say no. I love my job at the primary school, but I also love fixing and rebuilding things. I kept on the guys who were already working there and made the decision to help out as much as I could on weekends and school holidays. I guess Pete had started giving them more and more of the work the sicker he got so they already had things covered, even if I wanted to take a more hands-off approach with the company.”

  “And you sleep when exactly? Don’t you coach the U-13 boys’ field hockey?”

  Nathan grins around his spoon. “I sleep. Probably not as much as I should, but I sleep.” He gathers the dessert dishes and piles them up in the middle of the table before pulling open out his wallet. “Ready to make like a banana and split?”

  I groan.

  “What? Don’t like that one? How about, make like a tree and leaf?”

  As soon as the server comes to take the payment, I start walking back to the car trying to ignore Nathan’s corny one-liners and laughter behind me.

  * * *

  “I was going to hit up Lion’s Head this weekend if you want to join,” Nate says as he pulls up in front of my house.

  “Yeah, that sounds good. I was planning on a quiet weekend at home, but I wouldn’t mind the hike and fresh air.”

  “Great. I’ll pick you up Saturday morning. The earlier we can get up there the better. Before it gets too hot.”

  I gather my purse up from its spot at my feet and then pause to look back at him. “Thank you for dinner. I had a great time.”

  “Glad I could be of service.” His eyes drift down my face to linger a little longer on my lips and for a moment, I think he’s going to kiss me. For a moment, I want him to. But then he pulls back and says he’ll wait here until I’m safely inside.

  Disappointment swirls inside my belly as I step out of the car and make my way up the front steps of my house. I just have the key in the lock when I hear a car door slam behind me and then footsteps running up the driveway. I turn around just in time for Nathan to grip my hips and pull me into him.

  “I tried being a gentleman,” he says, his breath ghosting over my parted lips.

  “And?”

  “I’ve decided it’s overrated.” He kisses me, gently at first like he’s trying to make sure I’m okay with this, but I so am. I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him closer at the same time I deepen the kiss. His tongue dives into my mouth as soon as I open for him and I moan at the taste of beer and calamari and Nate.

  “Definitely overrated,” I whisper against his lips when he pulls away. “Do you want to come inside?”

  Nate kisses me again, pushing my back up against the front door, but all too soon he pulls away again, taking a step back this time and I whimper, wanting to pull him closer.

  “If I go in there, we both know I’m not coming out until morning.”

  “Is that so bad?” I ask, leaning back and allowing the door to hold me up. I don’t think I can stand even if I wanted to, Nate made my legs go weak.

  He cups my face in his hand and runs the pad of his thumb lightly over my lips. “It’s only our first date. I already broke one first date rule.” His eyes cloud over with lust the longer he stares at my lips. I press a kiss to his thumb and feel a flash of heat when his jaw ticks.

  “And what’s that?”

  “Never kiss on the first date.” His voice sounds raw and I imagine it’s from the sheer force of will of holding himself back.

  “That’s too bad then. Goodnight, Nathan,” I say, turning back to the door and pushing it open.

  “Goodnight, Annika,” Nate replies, and I close the door before I do something stupid like invite him inside for the second time. I hear his vehicle start back up several seconds later and then he’s gone.

  Nate’s invite for a hike over the weekend has another hike bubbling up from the depths of my memories as I set my purse on the table and kick off my shoes.

  “So, how long is this hike exactly?” I ask after we’re both showered, dressed, and pulling on our shoes.

  Jack pulls out his phone and it looks like he scrolls through something for a bit before putting it back and standing up. “Says about three miles downhill to get there.”

  I blanche. Three miles downhill to get there means it’s three miles uphill to get back to the car. I stand, hands on my hips and face my husband. “Remember during school when they’d have to test how many miles you can run in a certain time frame?”

  “Yeah.”

  “And remember how I was always conveniently sick during those days?”

 
; Jack turns to me, eyebrow raised. “Where are you going with this?”

  “Three miles, Jack. Three miles uphill.”

  He grins, throwing an arm around my shoulders and leading me out the front door before I have a chance to dig my heels in. “You’ll be fine, Princess. We’ll take it slow on the way back.”

  I sigh, following him down the hall to the elevator and then out to the car. “Fine, Mr. Navy-man, but if you have to carry me back, consider it part of your training.”

  He laughs. “Deal. Now get in. I already got a permit for us, but I want to hit up an outdoor store and grab a couple of those hydration backpacks.”

  “I love my husband. I love my husband. I love my husband,” I mumble under my breath as I get in the passenger side of the car and try to remind myself that he has to go back to base in the morning.

  Jack pulls into the parking area and parks in a spot close to the entrance of the trail. There aren’t many vehicles here which makes me think we may have a chance to have the watering hole at the falls to ourselves. The thought causes a grin to split my face as I step out of the car.

  Looking around I can’t help but feel blessed to live in such a beautiful state. It’s the middle of November and while it’s a cloudy day, we’re still able to go hiking and if the water temperature is right, we’ll be able to go swimming too. I mean, who else can say they’re able to do that? Aside from the other southern States, that is.

  “Ready?” Jack asks, rounding the car and handing me one of the hydration packs we bought less than an hour ago.

  “For the hike down? Yes. For the trip back? No.” I shrug on the backpack and then join Jack where he stands waiting at the entrance.

  “C’mon, Princess.” Jack slides his hand into mine and we begin down the trail.