by JL Redington
“I have to warn you,” she said playfully, “that was always my favorite date with my dad and I have a pretty good record at rock skipping.”
“Not as good as mine, I’ll wager,” he grinned back. “I’ve got the record for my high school of eight.”
“Eight kids? That’s not a very big high school. Where’d you grow up, anyway?” she teased, knowing full well what he’d meant.
“Very funny. Eight skips. That’s good and you know it.”
She smiled slyly at him, “Eight? Really? Well, that’s small stuff for me. My record is ten.”
He pulled into the gravel parking lot and parked the car.
“No way! You couldn’t have gotten ten. That is impossible. No way.”
He got out and came around to her door and opened it. As she stood up his hand went to the back of her neck and he pulled her into a kiss. He slid his hand down her back, to her waist, pulling her whole body into his.
Alexa wanted to run, she wanted to run so far no one would find her, but that kiss… She couldn’t deny the warmth it sent rushing through her body.
“You’ve got to stop doing that,” she said, “or I won’t be responsible for my actions.”
“I’ll take full responsibility for any actions you want to blame on me.”
With her last ounce of emotional strength, she moved away, her hand lingering in his.
The ponds were nestled amongst the beautiful fir trees native to the area. There was a small beach all the way around them with trees and brush lining the beach. Popular for camping and hiking in the height of the summer, the ponds drew people from all over the area. Not many outsiders used them, as it was pretty much a secret kept by the locals. It was beautiful and refreshing; a wonderful place to come and spend time thinking…but not tonight.
The two of them threw rocks until their arms felt like they were going to fall off, both competing against the other, trying for the longest skip. Alexa won with five.
“Wow. I must really be out of practice. And it looks like you are, too.” She laughed at their feeble scores.
They sat down on a couple lawn chairs Cayman had in his trunk. Everything was still wet from the day’s rain and if they hadn’t had chairs they’d have been soaked in minutes. No rain fell while they threw their rocks and chatted with each other, though, which made the evening even better.
“So, where did grow up?” Alexa tipped her head and looked at Cayman.
“Down the road about two miles, in Sultan.” Cayman responded
“Really? Where have you been for this past year? I’ve never seen you around before.”
“Working, mostly, out of the country.”
“And what do you do for work?” Now it was her turn for a piqued curiosity.
“I’m a spy for the government,” his eyes twinkled with the tease.
“Really? Like for the FBI?”
“I’d tell you but—“
“Then you’d have to kill me. Yeah, I’ve heard that one before.”
“Dang it, I thought I had you with that one. You’re not from Washington, are you?” Cayman asked her, smiling.
“Nope. I grew up in Page, Arizona,” she said proudly.
“Page? I’ve never been there. What’s it like?”
Alexa thought for a moment. “It’s beautiful. Not quite in the desert, not quite in the mountains. It was the perfect mix. I loved it there and all the places my dad and I would go. It seemed like there was something new to learn anywhere we went. We never had to travel far from home because there was so much to see right there.
She hadn’t realized how incredibly homesick she was until she started talking about the area. She missed her home, and her life there.
They sat in silence taking in the beauty of the pond. The sun’s rays were softly streaming through the breaks in the clouds and dancing on the surface of the water.
A movement to the left of them caught her eye and Alexa glanced in that direction. She saw someone standing on the shore, hands in his pockets, staring directly at her. He must have seen her look at him because he suddenly turned and disappeared into the bushes.
“What the--” Alexa was up and running toward the spot with Cayman in hot pursuit.
“Alexa! What are you doing? Hey! There are cougars up here, you know.” He was gaining on her and finally grabbed her arm, pulling her to a stop. “Where are you going? Was the date that bad?”
Alexa was in no mood for a joke. She tried to be calm but instead she began yelling at Cayman.
“It was my dad! I saw him again. He was here at the pond. I know it was him.”
“You didn’t say your dad lived here. Does he live in Startup?”
“No, actually,” she said taking a deep breath and trying not to sound sarcastic, “according to my records, my dad has been dead for going on two years.”
Cayman let go and stared at her like she’d lost her mind.
“You’ve seen him before today?”
“Yes, outside the diner, it was the same day you showed up.” Alexa was looking in the direction she’d seen him standing, nervous, anxious. “He was standing outside the window, in the rain staring at me. It was him, I know it was him! It was him.”
She nearly whispered the last words of the sentence as her arms fell limply to her side and she leaned hopelessly against Cayman’s chest, sobbing.
“I’m so sorry, Alexa. Someone is playing a cruel joke… You have to understand that.” Then tenderly he asked her, “You have to think about it. Why would your dad do something like this, Alexa? From what you’ve said he was a devoted father, not someone who would pull some cruel hoax on his only daughter.”
She pulled back and looked up at his face.
“I’ve thought this through a hundred times since I first saw him that night.” Looking down she wiped her eyes and then looked up at Cayman. “I know he’s gone. I saw his casket, watched them put him in the ground. It was a closed casket service because he’d been shot in the face…by my then fiancé.”
“Oh, Alexa, I’m so sorry. No wonder you were so distant. I had no idea. I wouldn’t have come after you like I did if I’d known.” His arms wrapped a little tighter around her. She could feel his sadness mix with her own and felt the warmth of knowing someone understood her pain and loss.
“Of course you didn’t. How could you? It’s not your fault. It’s not my fault. It’s just the way it is, and that was my dad.” She pulled slowly away, her hands lying softly on his chest. “It was my dad that night in the diner and it was my dad just now.”
Cayman hesitated for a minute before speaking.
“Let me look into this, Alexa. It’s…well…it’s kind of what I do. Let me make some calls and see what I can find out. I’ll take you home now, it’s almost dark.”
Alexa hadn’t even noticed the dimming evening light. Together they walked back to the car, arms around each other. As he opened the car door, Alexa turned to him.
“I had a great time, Cayman, really. I appreciate your kindness and your willingness to help me out. Thank you.”
“My pleasure, little lady,” he said in his best John Wayne voice. It was a horrible impression, but it made her smile.
They rode most of the way home in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. They were approaching the diner when she turned to him.
“Would you walk me up? I’m feeling a little shaken right now.”
“I’d be happy to.”
Cayman parked on the empty street beside the diner. They walked around the back and she put the key in the lock and they went in. As they climbed the stairs inside the back of the diner, they heard footsteps above them. He touched her arm softly and they stopped.
“Does anyone live up here besides you?” he asked quietly, his muscles tense.
“No,” she whispered looking up the stairwell, “no one.”
“Wait here,” he said softly. “I’ll come back for you. Don’t move.”
He tiptoed up the remaining stairs. She heard a shout and th
en scuffling. Before she could move to a safer position a man came running down and pushed her out of his way, sending her flying down the stairs to the landing below. The last thing she saw was the concerned face of Cayman repeating her name as he knelt over her before everything went black.
“Alexa! Alexa! Can you hear me? Alexa….
Chapter Three
Alexa woke in her bedroom with a throat that felt like gravel and a head full of marbles. She moaned softly.
She gingerly turned to see her easy chair from the other room had been brought in beside her bed and Cayman lay stretched out in it, sleeping soundly. Sunshine poured through the window causing sharp lightning strikes in her head. She closed her eyes quickly and another moan escaped while the room spun out of control.
Cayman woke with a start and leaned forward, his face filled with concern.
“Alexa,” he whispered softly, “I’m here. How are you feeling?”
“Light…” she mumbled, her own voice pounding in her head, “hurts.”
Cayman rose quickly and closed the blinds, hurrying back to her side.
“Mmmm,” she mumbled. “Better.”
She opened her eyes to see Tahleah now standing on the other side of her bed.
“Hey girlfriend,” Tahleah said quietly. “How you feeling?”
“Good,” Alexa lied. Then she smiled weakly. “Okay, not good, but I’m here, anyway.”
The room was beginning to stabilize and she opened her eyes a little more. She reached up and touched her head, felt the bandage wrapped around it.
“What happened? I remember someone running down the stairs and…that’s about it, I think.”
Cayman moved closer to her.
“You took a nasty spill with the help of some guy trying to get into your place.”
She tried to sit up, to digest what he’d just said to her. As her shoulders moved, it felt like a sword passed through her head and she let out a small cry, which hurt her head all the more.
“Oh, no you don’t,” said Cayman lowering her head gently to her pillow. “You need to stay down and stay still for a few days. You cracked your skull and you have a pretty good concussion.”
“But, why would anyone want to get into my house?” her voice was still a whisper. “You’ve seen it; I don’t have anything anyone would want. I don’t even want most of it.” Her throat was dry and scratchy, making her whispered voice sound like gravel.
Tahleah smiled at the comment and Cayman stifled a laugh.
“She’s feeling better by the minute, I can tell,” chuckled Tahleah.
“Hey…” she mumbled, looking at the arms on her Pajamas. “How’d I get…”
Cayman lifted his hands in defense.
“It wasn’t me. I was in the other room. Tahleah got you into your night clothes when the Doc left.” Cayman was grinning. “I kept offering to help, though, just being thoughtful, you know.” His cute boyish face was apparent even through the pain.
Alexa smiled weakly. “Don’t make me laugh, even a grin hurts, I think. I feel tired.”
“Well, Doc Barnes said when you woke up, we were supposed to keep you awake. I could sing to you if you like. My mother always told me I could wake the dead with my singing.”
Tahleah covered her mouth with her hand to smother the laugh.
“I said don’t make me laugh.” Alexa smiled and winced at the same time.
“Sorry.”
“Just a word of warning for you,” said Tahleah, patting her hand, “He hasn’t left your side since this whole thing happened. I think you’re in for some mothering.”
Cayman smiled and looked down at Alexa.
“You got that right. And you’ve tasted my cooking, so you know you’re in for a treat.”
“Uh, actually I haven’t,” she whispered. “I, um, dumped it all down the sink.”
“What?? You dumped my delicious breakfast down the sink? Why, that’s…that’s…that’s not just insulting, it’s…it’s food blasphemy! You dumped my hard work down the sink. Well, the only other alternative now is to cook double and make you eat it all and you’re going to want to, mark my words. I can’t even fathom you doing that. Really.”
Cayman walked from the room shaking his head and muttering.
“He’s a good one, Alexa,” grinned Tahleah. “You’d best hang on with both hands.”
“Yeah, maybe,” she looked to the door of her room where Cayman made his exit, “maybe.”
A couple days later Keith came up to see her with a bouquet of fresh picked wildflowers. She was still feeling the pain in her head but she was so happy to see him. He visited with her for only a few minutes then left so she could rest. It was the highlight of her day. She didn’t realize how much she’d missed him.
The days passed slowly as Alexa gradually gained her strength back. The State Police came to her home and interviewed her, but she couldn’t tell them much. She hadn’t seen the man’s face, didn’t recognize his clothes and hadn’t seen any suspicious cars parked outside that night. Cayman didn’t help much either, though he gave a pretty good description to a sketch artist. Alexa didn’t recognize the sketch as anyone she knew, and Cayman didn’t know him either. They were left with pretty much nothing to go on.
It had been about a week since the incident and Alexa was quickly becoming stir crazy. Cayman decided maybe he needed to give her a little space and told her Tahleah would be coming to stay with her in the evenings.
Alexa frowned, but didn’t know what to say.
“What?” asked Cayman, “What is it?”
“I don’t want to impose…I mean, you’ve been great to stay here and you probably have a life of your own to take care of. It’s just…”
“Just what? Remember Alexa, I’m a man. You kind of have to spell things out for me.”
Alexa smiled and took a deep breath.
“It’s just that, I feel safer with you here. I…I just feel safer, that’s all. But I don’t want you to feel like you have to stay. I mean, I’m sure Tahleah and I will manage just fine. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
Cayman smiled.
“No, really, I get it. You need me.” He smiled slyly.
“Oh, don’t go getting a big head about it or I’ll change my mind.” She faked a frown and threw a pillow at him.
He easily knocked the pillow away.
“I’d be happy to stay. I just wanted to make sure you weren’t getting tired of all my wonderful company and delicious meals.”
“Whatever.” Alexa gave him a flat stare and smiled.
Tahleah was taking great care of the diner. All the regulars, especially Keith, were asking after Alexa and wanted to know all the details, of which she had none to give them.
Alexa got up and walked to her only bookshelf. She reached to the top and was struggling to get a large picture album down.
“Whoa!” called Cayman as he hurried to her side, “what do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m fine, Cayman, really. I’ve been thinking about that last outing with my dad and how weird it was. I was going to look at some pictures I took and see if I could get anything from them.”
“Well, ask, would you? You’re supposed to be taking it easy for another three days, and I’m not letting you out early for good behavior.” He smiled down at her as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead. “I was so worried when I couldn’t wake you up. Next time, don’t bump your head, and stay awake when I call your name.”
Alexa smiled, rolling her eyes and giving him the ‘oh brother’ looked. She rested her head on his chest, over the album now squished between them.
“I’m fine. I keep telling you that. I’m not dizzy anymore, the headaches are gone and so is the light sensitivity, all the things Dr. Barnes said to watch for.”
They walked to the couch and sat down. She opened the book and fought back the tears that formed as she saw the images of her dad, playful, laughing and having fun. She missed him, so much i
t made her chest feel empty, like her heart had been buried with him. She missed the time they spent together.
“Hey,” said Cayman softly lifting her chin, “you ok? We don’t have to do this now.”
“I know, but I need to,” she said as she looked back to the pages and wiped her eye. “I think the last outing we went on together is…” she turned the pages looking for the right photos, “here. Right here.”
She pointed to a picture of her father. He was tall, grey haired with an air of confidence. His love of his daughter was obvious in every picture. He looked at her with adoring eyes, smiling into the camera. He was having fun.
“Look at all these pictures. We were having a good time, you can see it on his face.”
She turned back through the photos pointing out different shots of the two of them, some together, some individual.
“Look at his face in these pictures.”
She went back to the original photo.
“Now,” she said, pointing to the last picture. “Look at this one. Look at how his eyes are looking over me, past the camera. You can see the set of his mouth, too, like he’s trying to convince me he’s having fun, but clearly, something is wrong.”
Cayman took the book and flipped back and forth through the pictures, comparing them.
“Yes, I see that,” he said, “but couldn’t he just have seen an animal or something simple? It looks like you’re out in the desert. Where was the picture taken?”
“We were in Arizona, not far from where we lived. And, no, he wasn’t looking at something simple. Because as soon as I snapped that shot, he bent over and started picking up our picnic things and stuffing them in bags as fast as he could. He only said, ‘we’re going’ and that was it. I kept asking him what was wrong, what he saw, why we weren’t staying longer. He just told me not to question him and to get in the car. He never talked to me like that, Cayman, ever.”
She hadn’t noticed the tears running down her face until she felt his thumbs gently wipe them away. She laid her head on his chest and welcomed the warmth of his arms around her. She sat back up, gazing into his beautiful green eyes, mirroring the feeling in hers. Cayman drew closer, holding her face in his hands. He lightly brushed her lips with his, as if in preface to a passion held back.
