Reckless

by Lori Bell

  “Nonsense, I’m only a little tipsy. Hardly drunk.” She smiled, and he returned a sincere look to her.

  He stepped toward her then, and she knew he was going to kiss her. This was not what she wanted. She placed both of her hands on his chest, and gently pushed him away. “We work together now, Mr. Reid.”

  He smiled. “Maybe I should have declined your business offer and taken you to bed instead.” Edie laughed, and left his comment or implication at that. Because that was all it was. A suggestion from a man who found her attractive. But, she was uninterested.

  They stood in the dim lit parking lot, and within minutes a taxi had arrived. She watched him leave, but had not gotten very far in the parking lot before she heard the door of the bar open behind her. It was Tate. He had been watching them the entire time.

  “Your friend left?” he asked, feeling some serious hope building up inside of him. He had also seen her reject another man’s attempt to get close to her, to kiss her under the dark sky in the parking lot.

  “Colleague,” she corrected him, wishing she had already made it to her car.

  “Right,” Tate agreed.

  “Tate, I have to go,” she told him matter-of-factly.

  “You shouldn’t be driving back to Dover,” he said.

  “I will be fine,” she stated and believed her own words because she no longer felt affected by the wine. In fact, she was sober enough to feel the ache in her heart, the one that this man put there. It never helped to see him again.

  “Let me drive you,” he suggested, and she giggled. “What?” he asked.

  “You’re hardly a good choice for a designated driver tonight!” she smiled and even in the dark Tate could see she had smiled with her eyes. God how he missed when her whole face lit up like that.

  “What are we doing apart, Edie?” He just threw it out there. Said the words he was thinking. And then waited for her to come up with the words to tell him one more time. That’s the way it had to be. Suck it up buttercup. Let it go. Tate believed she was stronger than him. She didn’t need him anymore. That’s how she wanted him to perceive her. But that was not at all close to the truth.

  “I can’t do this,” she said to him. “I need to go. You need to go. And while we are both going our separate ways, we need to let go of what we shared.”

  “You mean I need to let go? Because you already have? I know that, Edie. Dammit, I can see that you are not at all affected by us, who we used to be, and what we could still be together. I don’t know how in the hell you do it. Please, tell me so I can be a man and, as you say, let go.”

  Edie was taken aback. This was her chance to ride with it. She had been successful at making Tate believe she was just fine and over them. She should have reached for his hand, or been

  as bold to give him a quick hug, and then walk away. But, those tears never gave her a chance. The tears that always forewarned her of their attempt to surface. There was no warning this time. Just her eyesight blurred from them, and when she blinked they spilled over onto her cheeks. She abruptly brushed them away with her fingers and then the back of her hand. Tate looked just as startled as she felt. He had never seen her cry before. That’s an emotion she always forced away or hid from him.

  “Edie…are you okay?” he asked her, moving closer.

  She looked down and more tears began to freefall. “Ignore me, I’m just feeling emotional. I–” She never got another word out. Tate wiped the remaining tears on her face with his fingers. His touch was electrifying. Another move closer and the palm of his hand was underneath her jawline and his lips met hers. This was the kiss in the parking lot she wanted. This was the man whose hands on her she welcomed with desire. She kissed him back, and the two of them were so close not even air could seep between their sealed bodies.

  Chapter 25

  He knew she wished they would not have done it. He believed she thought they took things too far. That’s why, in the parking lot of Lantern Inn last night, Tate had let her go.

  Neither one of them had spoken a word after they separated from each other’s arms and from a kiss that resurrected an even deeper passion between the two of them. Edie had just gently touched his face and moved her long French-tipped finger nails through the end-of-the-day scruff near his chin. And then she turned and hurried to walk away.

  Tate didn’t let it end there. He followed her all the way home, until she safely turned her car into the parking lot of her apartment building. And that’s when he left. He wondered if Edie had known he followed her. He even hoped for and awaited a late-night text from her after he drove away. There was, in fact, a text written by Edie. But it remained on her phone screen, purposely never sent. It read, Thank you for safely seeing me home. That’s just another thing that’s going to make you impossible for me to get over.

  She never sent those words to him. She couldn’t. If she had been strong enough to walk away from Tate in that parking lot after sharing a kiss like only he could give her, she would also have to find the courage inside of her to continue on with her life, without him.

  Despite a splitting headache, Tate woke up feeling better than he had in several months. Maybe not as soon as he would like, but eventually he was going to get Edie back.

  *

  After the fourth consecutive Saturday of showing up at the institution to visit Sydney, Mary Lou was able to walk by herself from the parking lot to the inside of the building. Tate was unsure at first, but his mother insisted. He watched her intently from the driver’s seat of his truck, where he promised he would be when she was finished, or beforehand if she need-ed him. She did fine walking steadily on her own, and Tate felt immense gratitude witnessing how far she had come. His mother was a fighter. But, he feared her fight to change Sydney or to reconcile her with Edie was a losing battle.

  Sydney, who always wore that same gray sweatsuit with all-white tennis shoes, stood up from the table in the corner, which had become their usual meeting place every week. She had known Mrs. Ryman was working hard to regain her strength and she was both surprised and happy to see her walking. Sydney only wished she was half as determined as a woman like Mary Lou. Her life had not been about setting goals and pressing forward. She always seemed to be in a rut, and never cared enough to pull herself out of it. Being sentenced to live in a mental institution had not helped her mindset.

  “Look at you!” Sydney could not contain her excitement when Mary Lou reached their table. “You didn’t overdo it, did you?” Sydney asked, feeling protective of her now. Mary Lou had quickly become a friend, or even like a mother to her. She was definitely someone Sydney trusted, and really Mary Lou was her only companion left in her isolated world. Everyone else had kept their distance, assuming she had gone crazy.

  “I assure you, I am fine,” Mary Lou received both of Sydney’s hands in hers and the two of them began to sit down.

  “I know you hope to sprinkle peace on the world,” Sydney was now comfortable expressing her cynical sense of humor to the friend she had found in Mary Lou, “and while I do doubt any sort of peace will happen in my life, I do want you to know how very much I look forward to and cherish your visits.”

  Mary Lou smiled. If only everyone could see in this girl what she did. She was funny, often witty, kind, sensitive, and straight-forward.

  “I want to share something with you today that I believe you will appreciate knowing,” Mary Lou spoke in a tone so serious that Edie suddenly felt jittery around her. “If you do not, then I’m wrong and we will just move on.” That’s what Sydney enjoyed about this woman. She never pressured her to feel any certain way about anything they spoke of. “When Tate first introduced me to Edie,” the mere mention of her name made Sydney feel tense, “I immediately concluded that I did not like her. Rumors flew in Camden after what happened in my kitchen that day…and most were false. It’s not that I did not think she was good enough for my son. It’s that she was too good, too much, too into herself and not enough into others, especially T
ate. I was wrong. They were quite a match. I had no idea how lost my son would be without her.”

  “Wait…What?” Sydney interrupted. Mrs. Ryman implied that Tate and Edie were no longer together. Sydney suddenly found herself back there. Back to the person who fed off of her obsession. The one, with blinders on, who believed anything could happen if she wanted it badly enough. “Did Edie leave Tate?”

  Mrs. Ryman looked down at her own hands folded on the tabletop. “Several months ago, he was caught up in anger and he ended their relationship. His head is much clearer now. He realizes he was wrong to let her go.”

  “Unbelievable,” Sydney stated, and it was as if she went entirely somewhere else. Mrs. Ryman watched her closely. Sydney was sitting right beside her, but yet she was so far away and lost in her thoughts. And it was obvious what had just happened. Mrs. Ryman knew Sydney had some sort of renewed hope. But, oh my, how it was a false hope.

  “You feel invigorated now, don’t you?” Mrs. Ryman called her out, and Sydney jumped back to reality. She felt her face flush. No one had ever been able to read her thoughts, especially her darkest. “You think my son is a free man, and when the next eleven months pass in here, you can waltz back into his life and turn his head this time? I have news for you, little lady, you couldn’t be more of a Looney Tune if that’s where you’re allowing your mind to go. You see, my son is not a free man. His heart belongs to your sister, yes it most certainly does. And I’m certain the two of them will find their way back to each other. With our help.”

  Sydney’s mouth dropped. She, too, was going to jump on this blatantly honest bandwagon. “Over my dead body.”

  “Excuse me?” Mrs. Ryman instantly became upset. She had not learned her lesson, or repented for her sins. “Is that really how far you would go?”

  “I’m not crazy, if that’s what you are implying,” Sydney told her, keeping her voice low, “but I would take my own life without a second thought before I would ever help my sister reunite with the man I’ll never stop loving.”

  “You do belong in here then,” Mrs. Ryman spoke as she shook her head multiple times. “You’ve disappointed me.”

  “What was I supposed to do? Lie to you?” Sydney continued to act unashamed.

  “No,” Mary Lou replied, “but you do need to stop lying to yourself. My son is here once a week. He sits inside of his truck in the parking lot. He does not want to see you.”

  “Maybe he is afraid of what might happen if we talked, really talked, like we used to,” Sydney spoke, again displaying obvious signs of being detached from reality.

  “Sydney…” The way she said her named sounded as if she pitied her. “I want to help you get out of here when your time is up. I think you deserve a second chance to make things right with your life. But, you have to change. You have to face your past and then let it go.”

  “You have no idea what you’re asking of me.”

  *

  Tate stepped out of his truck when he saw his mother walk outside of the building. There were still ten minutes left in the hour, he noticed when he glanced at his watch.

  “Time’s up already?” Tate asked his mother as he walked around the front of his truck and opened the passenger door for her.

  “I’m afraid I’ve done all I can do to help her,” Mary Lou spoke regretfully, as she allowed Tate to help boost her up onto the truck’s seat.

  “Really?” Tate asked, as he remained standing by the open door. He had hoped that meant his mother would no longer want a ride every week to this facility. In the beginning, he had promised her because she told him she needed to heal. Befriending Sydney was something she had felt compelled to do. Tate didn’t want to be there, and he didn’t want his mother there either. He did not trust Sydney. You don’t dial crazy one day and then become perfectly fine the next. “So you’re finished coming here?”

  “I will not come back here…alone,” Mary Lou leisurely added.

  “What? No way. Don’t even ask me to. Out of respect for Edie, I refuse to give that girl a second chance.” Tate was adamant.

  “Not you,” she responded. “That girl in there needs her sister. And you’re going to help me convince Edie of that.”

  Chapter 26

  No matter how many ways Tate tried to make his mother see that he had no clout with Edie anymore, she insisted he was the one to talk to her, to convince her that Sydney needed her help.

  “Why would she even want to help her?” Tate had asked.

  “Because they are sisters, the only family each other has,” Mary Lou spoke in defense of both of them.

  “There is no love lost between them,” Tate stressed again.

  “I can’t give up on this,” Mary Lou had sighed, and Tate furrowed his brow.

  “What is going on? Why is this so important to you? No offense, Ma, but you never cared about either one of them before.” It was time for Tate to know. As Tate drove her home, she told him the story.

  At first, he was skeptical, and had said, “First Edie, now you,” in a tone that blared of disbelief. But, then, he wanted to hear more. “So Pops wouldn’t let you stay with him, huh?”

  “He said it was not my time. He convinced me that you needed me,” she admitted.

  “I do,” Tate nodded his head.

  “Your father was adamant about me being the one to bring those girls together, or at least to the point of peace. He said if I didn’t try, you would suffer. What do you think that means?”

  Tate had just shifted his truck into park once he pulled up onto his mother’s driveway. “It could have just been a dream, Ma. Don’t risk everything on believing you are capable of making something happen that most likely will not. I want Edie back in my life, but trying to talk her into something she wants no part of will only chase her away.”

  “And just what exactly have you done to make her realize that you are remorseful and want her back in your life?” his mother asked him.

  “I’ve told her exactly how I feel, and I took her in my arms in the back alley of Lantern Inn and kissed her.” Tate smiled wide, and his mother chuckled under her breath and muttered something about him being just like his father.

  “Blame me. Tell her I sent you. Just go to her and talk about this. This will be my last try.” On those terms, Tate agreed to make an attempt to talk to Edie.

  *

  This wasn’t his usual stomping ground, but a gym in Dover twice the size of the one he frequented in Camden was where Tate ended up after two failed attempts to get Edie to text him back, or return his call.

  He walked in after he had seen her car in the parking lot. He had been there yesterday and bought a one-month member-ship. It was a total waste of money, but in order to get in the door when Edie was there, he did it.

  In his jeans, t-shirt, and boots, Tate walked into the men’s locker room with a backpack slung over his shoulder. He emerged five minutes later, wearing black gym shorts, a red sleeveless shirt, and charcoal gray tennis shoes. His eyes were searching for her as he walked through the gym. It was crowd-ed in there and all he could see were sweaty bodies, some fit, some not. His eyes rushed over the male biceps and sweat-soaked tshirts. He had never seen more fake boobs in tank tops in his life. At the moment he was considering switching permanently to this gym. Dover was a bigger city full of beautiful women. Tate smirked to himself. He was only interested in one beautiful woman. And he had found her.

  Against a far wall, which was nothing but windows, he saw her running on the treadmill. Her shorts were black spandex, her tank top was red – just like his own shirt. He smiled at how they had unknowingly dressed alike for the gym. Her hair was tied back in a high ponytail. He stood there for a moment and watched her push herself. The wire from her white earbuds was long and reached on her chest, bouncing off and on it again with every serious stride on the treadmill. Tate chose a treadmill right next to the one Edie was already on. He stood up on it, and she immediately turned her head. He remembered how she used to complain about pe
ople working out right next to her. She was a woman who sought space in almost any situation.

  She purposely slowed the treadmill as soon as she saw him. He just stood there on the conveyer belt of his machine, smiling. He heard her sigh and watched her slightly shake her head as she pulled just one earbud out of her ear. “What are you doing?”

  “Working out,” he replied, noticing that the sweat beads that had formed on her neck had begun to trickle down to her cleavage. God how he wished he was a sweat bead right now. He pushed his mind far from that thought before he hardened in his loose gym shorts.

  “Wrong gym,” she told him matter-of-factly.

  “Trying something new,” he responded.

  “I’m on my last mile, and leaving soon,” Edie said, as if to forewarn him that she wasn’t staying there with him, nor was she in the mood to talk.

  “I see,” he responded. “Guess I need to get here earlier tomorrow then.”

  Edie rolled her eyes, and placed the earbud back into her ear before she started up the machine to begin running again. Tate did the same, right beside hers. He purposely ran faster and harder than her. He was a man, trying to show off. He also was in great shape and always did enjoy a good, hard run. Just as much as his girlfriend. And that was the fire inside of him right now. He wanted her to be his again. He missed everything about her. The quirks. The misunderstandings. The drive she had to be the most successful in her career, to look the best in a tight dress. All of it was who Edie Klein was made of, and Tate was so completely in love with her that he couldn’t stand the thought of another moment of being apart from her. He only hoped, and sometimes found himself begging God, for her to feel the same again.

  When Edie slowed her treadmill to a stop, Tate followed. She removed both of her earbuds simultaneously, letting them drop onto her cleavage. Tate stared for a moment.

  “My eyes are up here, hot stuff,” she spoke to him, and he laughed out loud, and replied, “I know where everything is.” The sexual tension between them was high. Tate, however, felt he was suffering most from it. Edie, as usual, appeared calm and cool. And unaffected by her feelings. If she was feeling the way he was.