Falling In (11 page)

God
keep his soul.

“You
were the same age as me,” she said to the long-dead resident and swiped away
most of the mud that sat around the name.

Audrey’s
thoughts started to stray away from relationships, drama and men.  She wondered
about the people who used to live on the small island.  What were their lives
like?  How did they live and love?  She thought about the old schoolhouse that probably
bustled children and their doting mothers while the old mill buzzed with
activity not too far away.

She
stood up and flicked the mud off of her fingers before she wiped them on her
shorts and continued inland.  But even as she moved on, the lingering curiosity
about the town’s former life followed.

Passing
by the school house, she only peeked in for a second.  The thing she really
wanted to see--the thing that she nearly paddled her arms off for--was the
towering old building where millions of indigenous cedar trees went to die.

Like an
old friend, the red spires waited at the end of Audrey’s slow path.  More than
any other place on the tiny island, the mill seemed so serene and calm.  From
somewhere in the regrowth beyond, the call of wild birds echoed through the
trees, while the occasional snap and crackle of branches added to the natural
cadence.

Audrey
stopped in the shadow of one of the flume supports--a few yards away from where
the wooden building’s front doors once stood.  Same as the windows, the doors
were long since lost to time, weather or vandals and that allowed her to peer
into the cavernous space.

Most of
the machinery was long gone, likely washed away by the storm of 1896.  The only
thing that remained was a long central pit that ended with the rusted skeleton
of a giant saw, though the wheel-like blade was long gone.  In its place,
endless rows of cobwebs darted back and forth.  They were so thick that they
looked like the gap was stuffed with dingy cotton balls.

Before
she realized it, Audrey walked past the threshold and followed along the side
of the aging pit where the logs were brought in.

“Look at
this place,” she whispered to herself and peered up.  Hundreds of small
holes--and a few large ones--studded the building’s roof, allowing countless
threads of light to break through and shine down onto her in fleeting dots as
she shuffled around.

At the
other end of the mill, she reached out and ran her hand over the saw’s
impressive framework.  Its lumpy rivets and flaking paint tickled the inside of
her palm as she moved along and wondered what the factory might have sounded
like when it was running full-bore.

A
screeching gull snapped her eyes away from the pile of rust as it hopped around
near a door that looked like it hadn’t been opened since the storm rolled
through over a hundred years earlier.  Seeing it, Audrey walked over and shooed
the noisy, flapping bird away.

On the
door, a square patch of wood that was lighter than the rest made it obvious
that there was once a sign there.  There was no handle for her to grab, so she
rested both palms against where the sign used to sit and pushed forward.

The door
didn’t even budge, so she threw her shoulder against it.  That, as it turned
out, was a mistake.

With a
groan and a rumble, the door snapped away from its ancient hinges and set much
of that section of the building crashing down onto Audrey as she spilled back
outside.  Old beams and chunks of wood showered down onto her legs and knocked
her forward onto the ground.

When
things stopped falling, she tried to gently slip her legs from the pile, but
the laces on her sneakers were caught on something.  Audrey groaned and jerked
her legs from beneath the rotting wood.  When she did, a surprisingly sturdy
splinter dug into her right ankle and immediately drew out a thin trickle of
blood.

Without
getting up, she lowered her head down to the soft ground and sighed.

“What
the hell are you doing out here?”  She shook her head into the leaves and asked
herself again, “What the fuck are you doing?”

Audrey
laid there on her stomach and wondered about all of the events that brought her
right to that moment; to some deserted island in Florida with her leg bleeding
and her spirits crushed.  Everything that had been right before was now wrong;
all that was good wasn’t so wonderful anymore.  She felt like almost everything
in her life had lost its luster.

A quick
and painful feeling of defeat took hold of her petite, shaking body.  Though
the adrenaline still pumped through her veins, it did little to help dull the
emotions that tore her up from the inside like shards of glass.  Regardless of
the choices that she made from that point on, Audrey knew that simply going
back to the way things were before wasn’t an option.  She wasn’t sure if she
could ever forgive Max for what he did, nor was she sure if she was ready to
spill everything to Liam.  The only thing that she was certain of was the fact
that all of her options had some potentially painful consequences.

If she
went back to Max, could she ever look past the pain that he inflicted?  Would
she ever be able to look him in the eye again and say that she truly loved
him?  And what about her current situation?  What if she was just a summer
fling to Liam?  He knew that she was leaving eventually.  Why wouldn’t a single
guy look for some hot action that will go away afterward?  Worse, what if he
actually had feelings for her?  What would he do if she told him the truth?

The
physical pain from her new injury started to spread out and quickly overtook
the emotional one.  Audrey groaned and moved her ankle back and forth to make
sure that nothing was broken.  Thankfully everything moved fine, even if though
felt like someone was holding a lighter up to her skin when she flexed.

“Damn
it,” she said and sighed.

“Audrey?” 
Liam’s voice cut through the sound of groaning boards that continued to settle
nearby.  “Audrey is that you?”

She
sighed and kicked a chunk of wood off her foot.  It promptly turned to mostly
dust and a few small splinters before sprinkling onto the ground.

“The one
and only.”

He ran
over and grabbed her arm.

“I
thought that I might find you here, but not like this.  What the hell were you
thinking?”

It was a
good question, but one that she didn’t have a satisfactory answer to.  So
instead, she shrugged her shoulders as Liam lifted her back to her feet and started
to dust her off.

“Let’s
get out of here,” he said and pulled her back toward the dock.

“Wait,”
she groaned and rubbed her face as they walked up to their boats, which sat
against each other.  “What about Arthur’s kayak?”

“I’ll
tow it behind us and drop it off later today.  Don’t worry about it.”  He
pointed for her to sit down in his boat.  “I’ll take you to my place and clean
you up a little.”

Audrey
quietly climbed into Liam’s kayak and pressed her hand against the weeping cut
on her leg as he tied the two boats together and paddled them back to town.

---

Liam sat
outside of the shower at his peaceful home on the beach and patiently waited
for Audrey to clean off.  When she was done, he carefully wrapped her in a
towel and briskly rubbed his hands up and down over her arms.

“Feel
better?”

Needing
to experience his affection again, she stood up on the tips of her toes and
kissed him once.

“Now  I
do.”

There
was already a first aid kit on the counter.  It’s fresh, plastic packaging sat
just a few inches away from where he missed the trash can but didn’t bother to
pick it back up.  He was more concerned with her.

“Lemme
see that cut,” he said and kneeled down by her side.  “Ah, it’s not that bad.”

Liam
tore the paper packaging open and patched up the inch-long gash.

“There. 
And you don’t even have to pay me back for the bandage.”

Audrey
looked down to where his hands cradled her leg and responded, “Good, because I
wouldn’t have anyway.”

“Hey
now,” he stood up but let his fingers glide all the way up over her body.  “A
hospital would charge you hundreds of bucks for that kind of service.”

A sliver
of truth slipped past her lips, “And they probably aren’t nearly as good
looking while they do it.”

His
stroked his chin playfully and replied, “I’m glad you’re starting to see things
my way.”

She
smiled, but her eyes were heavy.  Even as she stood next to him in nothing but
a towel, the need for sleep threatened to put her out right there.

By then,
the light that made it through the narrow bathroom window was fading fast.  The
trip back didn’t take very long--his house sat on its own, little bay on the
same side of town as Kim’s house--but by the time Audrey dried off, threw on
one of Liam’s baggy shirts and flopped down onto the couch, there was little
energy left for her to do anything else.

“Here,”
Liam said and handed her a granola bar as he joined her on the large
sectional.  “You need to eat something.”

As much
as she appreciated the gesture, Audrey took three bites before her eyelids
started to sink shut.  Sensing her impending slumber, Liam slid the snack’s
foil wrapper out of her fingers and lifted her head.  He set it back down onto
a pillow that he carefully positioned under her head.

Audrey
passed out in seconds with an unbecoming snore that proved just how exhausted
she was.  Liam smirked, stroked her wet hair and settled in to watch over her
with only his massive TV (and Audrey’s noisy snore) to keep him company.

Chapter
8

Audrey
raised her head up from the leafy ground of Atsena Otie Key with a groggy
groan.  It took a few seconds for her to realize that she was back, pinned
under the mill’s crumbling beams.

“How
did...”

She
looked around but couldn’t finish her question.  A creeping sense of panic felt
like it was about to crush her windpipe shut, not just because she was somehow
back, but because she could feel something beyond the trees; something that was
watching.

As
before, she pulled her legs from beneath the dusty pile.  This time, however,
nobody was there to save her.  No knight in shining armor or tattooed musician
in a kayak.  It was just her, the dead island and whatever else was out there.

She
croaked, “Liam?”

Met by
silence, she pulled herself off of the ground and scanned the landscape.  There
were no birds like last time; no distant calls or honks.  Even the trees were
noiseless, though their leaves ruffled and danced in a wind that she couldn’t
feel.

A noise that
she dreaded hearing wafted through the trees beyond the mill and beckoned her
closer.  Audrey looked toward where the sound came from but couldn’t make
herself move closer.  Instead, her feet started to carry her away from it and
back toward the dock.

Before
long, her brisk walk turned into a jog.  She could feel something coming for
her but it took a minute before she could muster the courage to turn around and
see what it was.

Only a
couple of yards behind, Max took strides toward her that bordered on un-human. 
Audrey stifled a surprised yelp and tried to run faster, but somehow she knew
that no amount of speed would allow her to get away.

After
finally gaining the last foot that separated them, Max reached out.

“No,”
Audrey cried as the glass embedded in his hand re-opened each and every one of
her healing wounds.

Max
squeezed her tighter and dug the shards deeper than he did the first time as he
replied with a hiss, “Yes.”

“Please,”
she begged.  “Let go.  It hurts.”

“Good.” 
Max said stared her down with pupils like saucers.  “That’s what happens to
whores like you.  What’s the sorry boy’s name?”

“Fuck
you.”

He
responded with a sinister smirk, “Fuck me?  You’ll never do any better than
me.”

“He’s twice
the man you are,” she practically spit the words at him.

Max’s
face changed in front of her eyes, shifting and re-settling into an arrangement
that was more familiar.

“How do
you know?”  Liam asked and licked his lips.

A warm
trail of tears flooded down her dirty cheeks as she struggled to free herself
from his grip and cried, “No.  Let me go back to the mill.  It isn’t supposed
to be like this.”

He
pushed her up against a tall Cedar tree and pinned her back against its rough
bark.  After that, he leaned in so close that she could feel his hot breath as
it rolled down over her collar bone.

“Sorry,”
he said and ran his hand from her thigh to her neck.  The glass was gone, but
it was still painful.  Audrey tried to pull her head away, but that only made
him angrier, so he pressed down harder.  “I’m not done with you yet.”

The
marshy backdrop started to fade to black as she gasped for air and struggled
under his grip.  Her eyelids suddenly felt heavy and her head began to bobble
back and forth.  Audrey glanced up to the face of her captor, whose face
somehow changed back to Max’s furious scowl.

“Imma
get you back, Audrey.  You wait and see.”

Audrey
jerked up from her spot on the couch so abruptly that she almost fell right
off.  Her struggle also stirred Liam from the opposite end, where he passed out
after making sure that she was settled in with a pillow and blanket.

“Audrey?” 
Liam lifted his head from his pillow.  “Are you okay?”

“I, uh,”
she said and pulled the soft gray blanket away from her legs.  “Yeah.  I just
forgot where I was for a minute.”

“You
were saying something in your sleep last.  Something about the mill again.”

Audrey
nearly choked on her own spit as the awful visions from her dream world bubbled
back to the surface.

“What?”

“I
couldn’t really make out the rest of it.  Do you always talk in your sleep?”

“Only
when I’m stressed,” she answered honestly.  Seeing Liam’s slight frown, she
backpedaled a little.  “Not over you.  It’s just other stuff.”

“It’s
cool,” he said and set his head back down.  “I know how life can be.”

Audrey
sat up and immediately had to pee.

“Excuse
me for a sec.”

“No
problem.  Make yourself at home.”

Audrey
quickly walked past Liam and grazed the tips of his messy hair with her fingers
as she went, eliciting a smile from his sleepy face.

Back in
the bathroom from the night before, Audrey quickly handled business and went to
wash her hands.  While she finished up, her cell phone beeped from between her
feet.  It was hidden in a pile of her dirty clothes.

She’d
forgotten about it completely and, once she took it out and looked at the
screen, she wished that it never would have beeped in the first place.  Another
voicemail from Max waited to ruin her day.

Though
she was still shaken by her dream, Audrey sat down on the edge of the tub and
listened to it.  Before her husband could even start talking, it was obvious
that he had been crying.

“Audrey.” 
He paused and sniffled.  “Look, I’ve had some time to think about what
happened, about what I did to you.  I drank way too much that night.  I wasn’t
myself.”

“Obviously,”
she mumbled under her breath.

“I was
wrong and I’m sorry.  I honestly didn’t think that I could ever do something to
hurt you and even if you can find a way to forgive me, I just want you to know
that I will never forgive myself.”  He breathed into the phone heavily, like he
was trying to keep from breaking down.  Each exhale was jagged and short. 
“I’ve also had a lot of time to think about you and me...about our marriage. 
Maybe things don’t have to end this way, you know?  Not yet, anyway.”

From her
spot on the side of Liam’s tub, Audrey lowered her head and rested it in the
palm of her hand.  She already knew what was coming next and, though she didn’t
believe that it was possible, it was only going to make things more
complicated.

“Maybe,”
Max went on and sighed.  “Maybe we can work things out.  Please call me.”

There
was a soft click and she lowered the phone from her ear.

In an
instant, his apologetic tone and caring tenor started to affect her.  It was
all too easy to go back to the love that they once shared.  There were so many
years invested into their marriage that it gave her all kinds of memories to
choose from.  Her brain flipped through them like a rolodex and stopped
abruptly on the night when Max proposed.

It
wasn’t a fancy affair, considering that the two of them just graduated and were
about to start their careers.  Audrey went to work at KPW and Max started in a
position at his father’s investment company that was made just for him.  Not
long after, he went out and bought the nicest ring that he could afford and
presented it to her over Chinese food and some cheesy movie that she couldn’t
remember the name of.

At the
time, it was one of the sweetest things that she ever saw.  There was something
more honest and simple about the way that he did it; like it didn’t need to be
some kind of grand production.  Audrey could still faintly remember the
excitement and joy that she felt as they drank two bottles of wine and made
love under the buzzing static on their tiny TV that night.

The
happy memory of them together made her shoulders sink down.  But as much as she
wanted to sit and sulk for the rest of forever, Audrey knew that she still had
someone waiting for her.

She
gripped the phone in her hand and wandered back out into Liam’s large home. 
The pungent aroma of coffee filled the open floor plan, but her sexy crush was
nowhere to be seen, so she followed the sound of the warm brew as it
percolated.

Beyond
the living room, Liam waited in the well-appointed kitchen with his elbows on
the counter and a tablet in his hand.  Both parts of the house shared a long
window that allowed a perfect, unobstructed view of the bay.

“I was
about to send out a search party,” Liam said and looked up from the news site
that he was browsing.

“Sorry,”
she said and dropped her phone onto the counter.  She was still dressed in one
of his shirts with just panties under.  There was nowhere else to put it.  “I
got distracted checking my voicemails.”

“You had
your phone with you yesterday?  I’m surprised it still works.”  He set his
device down and locked the screen.  “You hungry?”

She
wrapped her arms around her stomach and replied, “I might kill a man for some
eggs.”

“Slow
your roll,” Liam laughed and took down a pan, which was suspended with many
others over their heads.  “I don’t think murder will be necessary.  Not over
eggs, anyway.”

Audrey
elbowed his side playfully.

“That
depends on how good your eggs are.”

“Well
then,” he twirled the pan around and leaned in close.  “How do you like
prison?”

“Can’t
say I’ve been.”

Liam set
it down and went over to his fridge, which was clad in stainless steel like all
of the other appliances.  He dug around and pulled out a few different bowls
and boxes.

“I guess
now’s as good a time as ever.”

“I bet,”
she laughed and watched as he came back and set down an arm-full.

“Is
there anything you hate?”

“That’s
actually a decent sized list, bud.  Care to be more specific?”

“Food,”
he said and glanced up at her with a smile.  “Is there any food you hate?”

“Unless
you’re planning on putting some sea bass in there, you should be safe.”

“Well
that’s a relief,” he responded and whipped a bunch of eggs together.

It
didn’t take long for him to throw together two matching omelets that were filled
with leftover vegetables and some diced ham from his fridge.

Audrey
leaned back against the counter and watched him work.  The dexterity with which
he handled his tools was sexy in its own right.  Something about his confidence
and skill--which Audrey knew full well extended into other areas--made her
unable to tear her eyes away.

With
every flick of his wrist, the uncomfortable feeling that Max’s voicemail
inflicted got pushed to the back of Audrey’s mind.  By the time that breakfast
was ready, she’d almost forgotten completely.

Liam
grabbed two plain, white plates out of the cupboard and dished the meal out,
carefully resting the tines of a fork under each.  Then he picked up both and motioned
toward a sliding glass door on the other side of one of the marble counters.

“You
wanna eat outside?  I’m pretty sure the bugs will only get about five percent
of it.”

Audrey
laughed and rubbed her bare feet on the tile floor.

“I can
live with ninety-five percent of an omelet.”

“Perfect,”
he said with a smile.  “Can you grab some juice out of the fridge?”

“Of
course.”

She took
a glass pitcher filled with the orange liquid, plus a couple of glasses from a
drying rack by the sink and ran over to open the door for him.

Outside,
the slowly-rising sun peeked over a line of trees to the right and cast long,
stretching shadows over the wood deck.  At the east end, a small table faced
the spectacular view.  There was a solitary chair opened up and another that
was folded and leaned against the railing.

“Do you
eat out here often?”

He set
down the plates and opened the chair up for her.

“Pretty
much always,” he said.  “In fact, I’m not sure I’ve used my dining room table
in years.”

Audrey
poured each of them a glass of juice and settled in.  She leaned over and took
a big whiff of her breakfast with a groan of approval from both her throat and
her gurgling stomach.

“I don’t
blame you.  It’s amazing out here.”

With her
fork, she sliced off a decidedly un-lady like chunk of the omelet and shoved it
into her mouth.  Right away, the pillowy eggs gave way to the salty ham and
fresh veggies, turning her mouth into a party of different flavors and
textures.  Everything about it was perfect; like she was being served by a professional
chef who just also happened to be hot.

When she
finally looked up, she was embarrassed to find Liam was watching her.

“Sorry,”
she said and flicked the corner of her mouth with one finger.  “This is just
amazing.”