Love's Destiny (Love Trilogy #2) (3 page)

“Do you think we should pick up some more sun block before we leave town? I don’t want Tyler to burn.” I was the one to roll my eyes this time.

Sometimes I wondered if she realized I was 12 years old now. I wasn’t a baby. I didn’t need her to remind me to pack my toothbrush, and I could worry about my own sun block. She was always a little overprotective, but every year when we took our annual trip to the cabin it went into overdrive.

I knew once we hit the road she’d finally mellow out and I was glad we were leaving soon. I couldn’t take much more of this. Dad had amazing patience. He
always just smiled at her when
she was being neurotic. Nothing ever fazed him. I hadn’t inherited that gene. I loved my mom but sometimes she really drove me nuts.

Every summer for as long as I could remember we’d gone to the cabin. It belonged to my dad’s best friend, Uncle Mike. He wasn’t really my uncle, but I’d known him my whole life and that’s just what my parents had always called him. Uncle Mike was cool and so was Aunt Katherine. They had a daughter Destiny that was just a little older than me. She liked to act like she was way older but it was really barely a two year age difference. They also had a little boy named Chance who was three.

Destiny was cool, most of the time. I liked to hang out with her when she wasn’t acting all prissy. I guess she was kind of like a sister to me but less annoying because we didn’t have to live together. Not that I would have minded living with them. They had an awesome house. It was huge! Dad said Uncle Mike inherited a bunch of money when his dad died a long time ago.

Uncle Dan and Aunt Amy came to the cabin every year too, they had twin 4 year olds, Jaime and Kenzie. I wasn’t really related to any of them either. Aunt Amy had been friends with Aunt Katherine for like ever, just like my dad and Uncle Mike, and so all our parents had been inseparable before any of us were born.

Now it was time again for the annual trip to the cabin. I liked going to the cabin, there was a cool lake close by and lots of fun
hiking trails. I wondered if
Mom was actually going to let me hike on my own this year. Last year she was convinced I’d get kidnapped if an adult wasn’t within and 10-foot radius of me at all times. This year I was going to put my foot down. She needed to accept the fact that I was getting older and could do things on my own.

I finished loading the back of the car with my suitcase and headed back into the house to see if there was anything else I could help with.

“Do you think we should tell him now?” I heard my mother say from the other side of the bedroom door.

“Let’s not ruin the trip” my dad responded.

What were they talking about? Were they talking about me? What did they need to tell me that would ruin the trip? I hesitated just outside their door, waiting to hear if they would say any more.

“Well I thought we were going to tell everyone this weekend. Don’t you think Tyler should know first?” my mother continued. So they were talking about me.

“Do you really think this is the best time to tell everyone?” Dad asked.

I was getting nervous. What was going on? What had my parents been keeping from me?

“Summer is almost over Charlie.” Mom said. She only used his name when she was being very serious. I knew something big was going on.

My stomach was in knots. I was frozen just outside their bedroom door, my hand still half raised to knock. I wasn’t really sure what to do. Then Dad opened the door and saw me standing there.

“Oh, hey Ty.” Dad said obviously startled.

“I… was… uh… just wondering if you needed help getting anything else into the car.” I stumbled over the words as my mind raced through the conversation I had just overheard.

“Sure kid, why don’t you help me with these last two bags.” Dad said and I thought I saw him and Mom exchange a weird look.

When we got out to the car Dad tossed the bag he was holding into the back of the car and then turned to face me.

“So you know how I’ve always wanted to coach at the college level?” Dad started to say as he ran his hand through his black hair. That was something Dad always did when he was nervous and to see him do it now made me nervous.

“Well I’ve been offered a position as an assistant football coach.” Dad continued looking at the ground.

“That’s great Dad!” I exclaimed, relief washing through me. “It’s about time the University of San Diego recognized your talent!” I couldn’t believe I had been so sure that the news would be bad. Why had I thought that?

“The offer came from UCLA.” Dad said finally looking back up to meet my eyes.

UCLA? That was in Los Angeles. What did that mean?

“But that’s in LA.” I said confused.

“And that’s why we’re moving.” Dad told me, and the gravity of the situation finally hit me.

Moving? To LA! This couldn’t be possible. I had a life here. I had friends here. He had to be joking. I wasn’t moving to LA. I knew from the look on his face he was definitely not joking. I dropped the bag I was still holding and stormed back into the house. Of course Mom was waiting for me just inside the door but I ignored her and went straight to my room slamming the door behind me.

I flopped down on the bed and stared at the ceiling my eyes were burning, but I wasn’t going to cry I was too old for that. This couldn’t be happening. It was so unfair. I had to be dreaming, this could only be a nightmare! I was about to start Junior High. I had friends at my school. I was going to be on the baseball team, I had already qualified last season. And now what? All of that would change, just like that? How could they do this to me? As I lay there considering all the implications my anger grew. Finally Mom came and knocked on my door softly.

“It’s time to go Tyler.” She said from the doorway.

I just stood up and walked past her without saying anything. Maybe I would never speak again. That would teach them. From this day forward I would be a mute!

It was a quiet 3-hour drive to the cabin. I sat in the back seat fuming the whole way. When we pulled up everyone else was already there.

Aunt Amy was chasing the girls around outside. The twins were both wearing bathing suits and their mom was chasing behind them with a bottle of sun block in her hand. The twins golden curls were bobbing as they giggled and zig zagged around the yard avoiding their mom’s demands for them to hold still. It would have probably been funny if I weren’t still so furious.

I got out of the car and slammed the door, something Dad normally wouldn’t put up with but today he didn’t say anything. I started skulking toward the cabin and planned on just going straight in to my room to sulk the rest of the day. But Destiny had seen us pull up and she was skipping towards me now. She had a huge smile across her face and for some reason I smiled back without thinking.

“Hey Tyler!” she said excitedly

“Hi”

Oops! I wasn’t supposed to be talking. Oh well, Destiny didn’t count. I’d just give my parents the silent treatment. I could still talk to Destiny.

“I found something cool!” she exclaimed. “Come on!” she said grabbing my hand.

She obviously didn’t register my bad mood. Maybe it’s because for some reason I was smiling at her. It was so hard to stay mad when she seemed so excited and happy.

“Aunt Claire, can I take Tyler to see something? I promise we won’t go far.” She called over to my mom.

Mom actually nodded and allowed us to wander off without any long drawn out speech about not going too far and watching out for snakes and not talking to strangers. I was surprised at how easily she had allowed us to go. I had been prepared to have a standoff with her this weekend demanding exactly that, but it came so easy now it didn’t really feel like a victory.

“I found the prettiest little stream just down this path.” Destiny explained as she led me through the woods.

She was still practically skipping and it was hard not to get caught up in her excitement. I had planned on holding onto my anger all weekend, but it was so hard around her. I decided to compromise with myself. I could be happy when my parents couldn’t see.

It didn’t take long to reach the little stream she wanted to show me. It really was pretty cool. The tree canopy overhead was so dense that sunlight filtered down in visible rays. The crystal clear water flowed over the rocks and sparkled as the light hit it.

“Isn’t it the prettiest thing you’ve ever seen?” Destiny asked excitedly.

“Yeah it’s pretty cool.” I agreed.

“I wonder how far it goes.” Destiny said as she strained to see through the trees downstream.

“We could follow it.” I said.

I heard my mother’s voice in my head telling me not to leave the path and I smiled at this small act of defiance.

We took off our shoes and left them on the edge of the stream then we waded through the water following it until we were nearly waist deep and the stream had widened into a pool.

“I wonder how deep it is.” Destiny said looking at the middle of the pool

“It doesn’t look too deep, I can see the bottom.” I said looking though the crystal clear water to the rocks below.

“Let’s find out!” Destiny’s eyes were sparkling with excitement and challenge, and I ignored my mother’s voice in my head telling me this wasn’t a good idea.

We both swam to the middle of the pool and looked down into the water. It really didn’t seem that far to the bottom. The water was perfectly clear. An old fallen tree lay across the bottom just below our feet.

“Beat you to the bottom!” Destiny declared just before taking a deep breath and diving into the water.

I took a breath and quickly followed after her swimming as fast as I could to catch up. I didn’t want to let her beat me, I wouldn’t hear the end of it all weekend. We reached the old tree at the same time and our eyes met under water. Destiny smiled at me and I smiled back before touching my feet to the bottom and propelling myself back up to the surface. The water was deeper than it had looked and it took me longer to reach the surface than I thought it should.

I exhaled a big gust of air as soon as my head broke the surface. It only took me a split second to realize Destiny hadn’t surfaced with me. I quickly sucked in another breath and stuck my head under the water. I looked down and saw Destiny was still at the bottom. Something was wrong.

I poked my head back out of the water and took a huge breath then dove down to Destiny. When I reached her I immediately saw what had happened, her hair was tangled in a branch of the tree. She was caught and she was panicking as she twisted and turned trying to pull herself loose. Bubbles were escaping from her mouth as she struggled and I knew she was out of air.

I grabbed her face and made her stop thrashing and look at me. I saw the terror in her eyes and knew I had to stay calm. I brought my mouth to hers and blew the last of my air into her mouth, then left her at the bottom as I pushed to the surface for more air.

I swam back to her as quickly as I could trying not to panic, she needed me to help her. I needed to be strong I couldn’t let myself panic. When I reached her the second time she wasn’t thrashing anymore. Her hands were quickly working at the tangled mass of hair that was twisted around the branch. I started pulling at the hair with her ripping strands loose. I could feel myself running out of air and knew that meant she was too. I grabbed her face again and this time she grabbed mine too as I blew the last of my air into her lungs and again left her on the bottom.

It was so hard to leave her. To swim to the top and leave her down there, but we both needed air, and I was the only one who could reach it. I tried to take the biggest breath I could as fast as I could and began to dive to her again. This time she met me half way. She was free but swimming weakly.

I found her mouth and blew all of my air into hers before wrapping my arm around her waist and pulling her to the surface. She kicked her feet feebly as she tried to help.

It seemed to take forever but we finally reached the surface, both of us gasping for air. I pulled Destiny to the shore where we both lay silently for several long minutes as we caught our breaths.

My heart was pounding in my ears and the danger of the situation finally began to hit me. Destiny could have died. In that moment I realized how very much she meant to me.

“You saved my life.” She whispered in between pants.

“Don’t tell my mom.” I whispered back “She’ll never let me leave her side again.” We both laughed softly and I felt an immense amount of relief at being able to laugh with her.

We lay there for a long time side by side, neither of us speaking, allowing the panic to subside and the relief to wash over us. Eventually our breathing had slowed and our clothes were mostly dry.

“We should probably get back before my mom sends out a search party.” I said standing and I reached down to take her hand and help her up. When she got to her feet she didn’t let go of my hand.

We walked back to the cabin silently holding hands, it was nearly dark when we got there. Our parents were all sitting outside on lawn chairs and I heard my mom exhale loudly as we came into view. I stiffened prepared for a showdown if she said anything, but Mom didn’t say anything as we passed by.

“You kids have fun?” Uncle Mike asked.