I laughed, too. “Yeah,” I said. “That sounds like a good idea.”
I looked up at his face. It was hard to see him in the darkened night. By the rays of moonlight, I could see rays of moonlight catching streaks of his sandy blond hair, which fell right below his ears in tight curls.
He was a tall, broad-shouldered man, probably at least a head taller than I was. He could’ve walked quickly and easily gotten away from me, but he didn’t. He matched my pace, which was slower than I wanted it to be, because I was still recovering from the events of the day. My limbs still felt tired from nearly drowning and I wanted to rest, but I had decided to go out against all of my instincts, and I felt like I was paying for it.
He looked me up and down, as if he could sense what was happening. “Are you okay?” he asked, his voice low. He sounded concerned, which surprised me.
I shrugged my shoulders, but found myself smiling at him. “Yes,” I said. “I am okay. I’m okay, thanks to you.”
He shook his head. “That wasn’t me,” he said. “You swam yourself to safety. I just happened to be there.”
I shook my head. “I was exhausted, to be honest,” I said. “I didn’t know how I was going to get back to the beach, and when you got there, you helped me.”
He smiled, shaking his head again. “No,” he said. “I didn’t. You just helped the kid get to safety—”
“He was drowning—”
“Exactly,” he replied. “He was, and even though you had tried your best to save him, it looked like you were drowning too.”
“I was—I don’t know,” I replied, shrugging my shoulders. “I was just trying to help.”
He nodded. “Right,” he said. “But if you hadn’t been there, there would be no way I would’ve known about the kid, and there would have been no way I would have been able to go get him.”
I nodded, chewing on my lower lip, and shook my head. “I wish I had managed to get him up all by myself.”
He stopped and turned to look at me. “Saving a drowning person is often really dangerous,” he said. “They panic, and you have to subdue them, and it’s a whole thing.”
“I couldn’t subdue him,” I said. “He was… so strong. I told myself not to panic, but I was almost dare.”
He nodded. “Honestly, I’m not surprised,” he said. “When they drown, people get, y’know, scared.”
“That makes sense,” I said.
“You know, for next time, though you should only do this in a desperate situation, try kicking them right in the abdomen or the sternum,” he said. “It won’t help you save them, but you’ll be able to free yourself.”
“I did kick him,” I said. “For what it’s worth.”
“That’s probably what saved you,” he said, nodding. “And yet you stuck around.”
“Well, I wasn’t going to leave him, and I was too tired to swim back to shore, so I needed to do something.”
“I’m glad you stayed near him,” he said. “Because if you hadn’t, I wouldn’t have been able to see him.”
I sighed, shook my head and tried to swallow down the knot in my throat. “I don’t know,” I said. “I just… I feel like I didn’t really do anything.”
He stopped once again, putting his hands on my shoulders. “No,” he said. “Listen to me, uh…”
“Terry,” I said, cracking a smile despite the intensity in his tone.
“Listen to me, Terry,” he said, looking right into my eyes, leaning down slightly. I couldn’t see the color of his eyes, but I could see the shape of them, and most importantly, I could see the intensity in them. “You didn’t do anything wrong. You put yourself on the line to help him out.”
I swallowed again. “I just—I tried to help him, and I couldn’t,” I said, then met his gaze. “Which is why I’m so grateful to you. Without you, that kid would be dead.”
He looked me up and down. “You saved him,” he said. “I wouldn’t have known he was there if it wasn’t because of you.”
I closed my eyes. “I never thanked you.”
“You’re thanking me now.”
“Yes,” I said. “I supposed I am. What’s your name?”
“Noah.”
“Thank you, Noah,” I said, looking up at his face and meeting his gaze again. “I mean that.”
He smiled. “Nah, you don’t have to thank me,” he said. “Like I said, you saved yourself, and you helped save the kid.”
I cocked my head. “That’s nice of you,” I said. “But probably not true.”
We continued walking for a few seconds in silence before he sighed. “We should probably get back,” he said. “I’m going to get shouted at.”
I nodded. “Sure,” I replied, then hugged myself as the wind whistled past us, seeping into my bones. The temperature had suddenly dropped since the beach wasn’t full of people anymore and there was no sunshine. “Can I ask you something about it?”
“Yeah,” he replied. “Of course. You can ask me anything you need to.”
“Do you know what happened with the kid?”
He sighed heavily before he spoke. “Were you in the ambulance before they came for him? I’m not sure, but I think you were.”
I nodded. “Yes,” I said. “I was. I wanted to stay, but they didn’t want me to hang around. They wanted me to go to the hospital and get checked out.”
“Yeah,” he said. “Well, when the ambulance came, his parents were… ugh, sorry, this is kind of hard to talk about. They came, and they kept saying that he was fine, that he was only doing it for attention. I kept asking what they thought he was doing. Like, they thought he was drowning for attention? Because that’s ridiculous.”
“Wait,” I said. “That’s what they said?”
“Yes. They didn’t seem very concerned. They smelled like alcohol, honestly, they smelled like a brewery. He also smelled a bit like alcohol, but I couldn’t tell if that was my imagination or not.”
I shook my head. We were walking back towards the bar, and I could feel the knot in my throat getting tighter. “That’s wild. The doctor didn’t tell me anything, but she seemed pretty annoyed by the parents.”
“Did she tell you if he was okay?”
I hugged myself, a little bit tighter this time. “Yes,” I replied. “She said that he was going to be okay.”
“Right. That’s something at least.”
We are back at the bar, and he looked at me for a second before he smiled. “I hope you feel better soon.”
“Yeah, I hope your girlfriend doesn’t shout at you too much.”
“She probably will,” he replied, then flashed me a smile. “Whatever. It was totally worth it. Nice to meet you, Terry.”
“Nice to meet you too, Noah.”
His smile widened and he disappeared into the bar. I looked for him with my gaze, but soon, he was lost in the mass of people at the bar, and I couldn’t keep my gaze on him anymore. I swallowed as I walked back to my table, where the rest of the bridesmaids were.
They all hollered and whooped as I sat down. “Who was that?” Jackie asked.
I smiled at her. “That was the guy who saved me from drowning.”
“Damn. He’s so tall.”
I laughed. “Yes, Susie, he’s tall, and he also saved me from drowning. Which seems a little more relevant.”
She moved her head back and forth. “Tomato, tomato.”
“So is he single?”
“No,” I said, laughing. “Even if he wasn’t with someone, you guys know I’m focusing on school.”
“What’s wrong with a vacation fling?”
“There is nothing wrong with a vacation fling if we were both single,” I said, and my heart fluttered a little at the thought, though I didn’t want it to. “However, he’s not, and we’re not here for that. We’re here for the wedding.”
“Maybe,” Susie said. “But you do seem to be having all the adventures.”
I laughed, biting my lower lip. “Yeah,” I replied. “Sure. I gues
s.”
CHAPTER SIX
2019
NOAH
I was pulling into the garage of the large downtown lawyer’s office when my heart did a flip in my chest. I could hardly remember the last time I had gone to a law office, and whether I wanted to admit it to myself or not, this kind of thing always gave me a large amount of anxiety.
I could chalk that up to the fact that the only other times I had gone to law offices was when my parents had dragged me along during their divorce proceedings, but I didn’t really want to think about that. I was more concerned about what was about to happen.
I finished straightening up my parking job and smoothed out the creases on my button-down shirt as I got out of the car. The parking lot was covered and under the rest of the building, and as I walked away from my car, I was grateful to be out of the sun because the day was extremely hot.
I walked over to the elevator and called it. It came almost immediately. Looking at my watch, I wondered how long this meeting was going to take. I needed to get back, because it was a day for practice, and I didn’t really think I could take too much time to do this. Coach Hamilton and the rest of the team were still waiting for me. They could row without me, but it wouldn’t be the same.
I looked at my distorted reflection on the darkened metal and tried to think about something other than the meeting I was dreading. The elevator stopped for a second as the double doors opened.
I barely took stock of the people coming in when my gaze fell on the woman who had walked in.
She looked familiar, though I couldn’t tell where I knew her from. Maybe I just wanted her to look familiar, because she was beautiful. She had long brown hair that fell just past her shoulders, with beautiful large brown eyes and incredible cheekbones.
She looked me up and down, furrowing her brow. “Are you…”
“Hm?”
I was about to ask her something else, but the doors remained open and a bunch of people filed in, stopping any conversation we might have otherwise had.
I flashed her a smile and she smiled back at me as we squeezed closer together. I could smell lotions and perfumes and shampoos, and it was all a little overwhelming. “Which floor?” I asked her.
“Seven,” she replied.
I pressed the button with the right number on it and she squeezed in a little closer to me. Maybe it was nothing—maybe she wasn’t someone I knew, and maybe it had just been too long since I had been with a girl—but it felt like something, immediately, as soon as she was close to me.
People were getting out of the elevator, and soon it was just us again as we got to the seventh floor.
“You’re Noah,” she said as the elevator beeped. “I remember you, clear as day.”
“Wait,” I replied, looking her up and down, pressing the “open door” button on the elevator. “Are you the girl from the beach?”
She nodded. “Yes,” she said. “You remember me?”
I smiled at her. “Of course I remember you,” I said. “It would be hard to forget you.”
“It’s the hair, isn’t it?” she asked. “Why you didn’t recognize me.”
“Yes. And the business attire.”
She laughed. “Right,” she said, then her gaze darted toward the floor. “Are you getting out here?”
“Yes,” I said. “After you.”
She nodded and she smiled at me. I watched her walk out, taking long strides away from the elevator. I could’ve watched her forever. She was beautiful, even while she was walking away from me.
Seeing her was enough to make me a little less nervous about my meeting with the lawyer, though there was no reason for it to calm my nerves. If I had been thinking clearly, and I hadn’t been so taken by how beautiful she was, I would’ve probably been able to predict what was about to happen.
“It’s weird, I never thought I would see you again,” I said, as I caught up to her.
She nodded. “How was the rest of your vacation?”
I laughed, shaking my head. “It was the start of the end of my relationship. So overall, actually, pretty good.”
“You didn’t like her?”
“Oh no, she was great. Just not great for me.”
She nodded. That time, she was looking me up and down. “So did you get a new girlfriend when you got back?”
“No,” I said. “I’ve been trying hard to focus on my career.”
“What do you do?” She asked. For a second, I realized that I never want the hallway to end. I wanted to keep talking to her for as long as I could. This was a strange, weird coincidence, granted by the world, allowing me to reconnect with one of the most impressive women I had ever met.
I told myself I wasn’t going to squander my chances with her, though that felt difficult. We were both walking toward someone else’s office, and after that, the chances that the universe was going to do me a solid once more were slim.
“I’m an athlete. What about you?”
“I’m a doctor.” She smiled at me. “Well, a resident, so still—”
“Wow,” I said. “That’s really impressive. So what are you doing here?”
“Going to see my lawyer,” she said, sounding exasperated for the first time. “You see, I got served. When I found out I was getting sued, I couldn’t believe it.”
“Wait, you’re getting sued?”
She looked away from me, nodding sadly. “If I had known that it was going to cause issues, I don’t know, I would’ve tried to flag a boat down or something.”
“Wait,” I said, stopping in the middle of the hallway. “I think we’re here for the same thing.”
“No, no way. We can’t be.”
“Yes, I, I’m also getting sued.”
She looked horrified. “But you saved the kid.”
“Yes, but according to the lawsuit, I also inflicted permanent brain damage on him.”
She shook her head. “Not the near drowning?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Apparently, the ocean doesn’t pay out.”
She laughed as we got to the reception area. We both rattled off our names, and the receptionist told us to take a seat and wait. We did as were told, sitting in two of the adjacent living room chairs in the waiting area.
She smiled at me, looking me up and down. Despite myself, I felt like getting slightly closer to her, though I didn’t know if that was the greatest idea. I loved the way she smelled, like vanilla and agave shampoo, and her perfume smelled sweet and floral. I told myself not to be creepy and moved away from her slightly.
She laughed. “What?” she asked.
I shook my head. “Nothing,” I said. “It’s just weird that we’ve run into each other again.”
“Yes,” she replied. “Just wish it was under better circumstances.”
I nodded. “So maybe I can get your phone number after this?”
She laughed and opened her mouth to answer, but before she could, my lawyer came to collect me. I remembered her, but when I had met her, I could not quite pinpoint.
I knew it was at some point in school. She had been introduced to me by one of my friends, probably because he was dating her.
She flashed me a smile. Her expression schooled as she looked at Terry, who was sitting right next to me.
“Please,” the lawyer said. “Both of you, please follow me.”
We did as we were told.
Terry followed her, and I followed Terry, trying my best to peel my gaze away from her body as she walked in front of me.
It only took a few seconds before we were in front of the door with the stained glass, but no name on it. The lawyer knocked on it, softly, and then went in without waiting for an answer. He beckoned us inside.
“Miss Mara, Mr. Valentine,” the lawyer sitting at the desk said. He stood up, walked over to us, and gave me a firm handshake before he moved on to Terry. “We know this is a little unorthodox, but let us explain. Take a seat, please.”
Terry and I looked at each other for a sec
ond. We both nodded, taking our places in the plush but somehow still uncomfortable seats in the office. I noticed that the female lawyer, whose name I still didn’t know, stood by his side, next to the desk, leaning slightly on it so that she could take her weight off for giant heels.
I opened my mouth to offer her my seat, but before I could speak, the male lawyer was talking.
“Miss Mara,” he said, turning to look at her. “When you first came to me with the letter that you got from the lawsuit you’re currently facing, the name rang a bell. I spoke to Mrs. Nyback here and she told me that she had a client who had reached out to her about the same issue. We thought it might be easier, and obviously in the interest of time, better for both of you if we just did this as one entity. You got lucky, because if you had gone to lawyers in different firms, this would be a lot more difficult.”
Terry nodded. I noticed that she was nervously stroking the strap on her backpack, which was on her lap. Her thumb was moving up and down anxiously. “That’s fine. I don’t mind if we are both involved in this, but I just want to know what’s going to happen. I have never been sued before, and I hope it doesn’t happen again, but right now, this is just messing with my head too much. I need to go to work and save lives, I can’t be worried about what’s going to happen with the lawsuit.”
“Miss Mara,” the standing lawyer said. “We understand this is a difficult time for you, but that’s why you have us. While it is true that the law can be slow-moving, we will do anything in our power to expedite this.”
“Okay,” I said, leaning forward. “So what happens now?”
The male lawyer tapped his fingers on his desk. “The plaintiff is claiming that you are the reason for brain damage, which is hard to prove, but they might be able to. They also want you to cover all the medical bills starting from the incident going forward. They are claiming a huge sum of money for mental and emotional damages, which is standard, because they’re very likely to get a lot less.”
Terry shook her head. “I don’t understand. Aren’t we covered by good Samaritan laws? We were just trying to help. I mean, Noah saved the kid from drowning, for God’s sake. Now they want us to pay?”
“They are trying to claim that you caused more harm to the child by helping, even though that was not your intention.”
In Too Deep (Heart Lines) Page 3
