Spring Tide (10 page)

“Am I gonna die?” I asked.

“Your lifeline is long. I can’t find your energy line.” Her index finger grazed my pinky and she jerked her hand back.

One at a time, she touched each of my fingertips, Jericho watching as if she were performing surgery. I bit my cheek and looked at Derek, whose chest was shaking with silent laughter.
He’s gonna have a field day with this. We’ll be reading each other’s palms by way of insults before ten. Derek, your dipshit line is long and very deep …

She folded her hands on the counter. “You have unlimited potential, a rare quality. You’re blessed.”

“Thanks, Kelly. I feel much better about my future now.”
Not.
I turned to the bartender. “Hey, Barry, no one’s here. Can I please change the music ’cause it’s making me wish for death?”

Barry nodded as Kelly excused herself and went out the front door. I crouched and slid open the panel to the sound system that was housed under the bar.

Derek kneeled next to me. “We are not listening to your alt crap. Barry, organize your cords, man.”

I looked inside the cubby. It was a mess: bundles of red, yellow, and black wires were piled on top of the receiver and spilling over the side. I focused on the heap again.
Those aren’t wires.
Before I’d completed the thought, my body was already in motion. Yellow and red shot from the cabinet, toward Derek. At that same moment, I slammed my left forearm against Derek’s throat, knocking him backward, as I flung my right hand forward, grasping a first and then a second.

“Holy shit! Oh my god!” Derek scooted backward four feet, his hand at his throat.

“Freddy!” Barry yelled. “Get in here! Kris?”

I was in a daze, my heart rate out of control and little sparkly spots falling in my vision.

Jericho moved to my left side. “Kris, stand up.”

I didn’t move. Below my fist, two red, black, and yellow bodies writhed and twisted, the snakes’ fangs bared over my snow white knuckles.

“Red and yellow kills a fellow,” I whispered.

Jericho slowly helped me up, put his hand in the small of my back, pointed at the exit and urged me toward the door. I kept saying the phrase quietly, the coral snakes thrashing wildly. They suddenly became still.

He pushed the door open and took me down the stairs. “Okay, good. You can drop ’em. They’re dead.”

I let go, turned tail, and ran like hell back inside. Freddy applauded as I came through the door.

Derek grabbed me into a hug. “Swear to God I thought it bit me. Oh man …” He stepped back, his hands on my shoulders. “You are a badass. How’d you do that?”

“Don’t know.”

“Pest control isn’t a hobby then?” Freddy said. “But really, how’d you do that without faintin’ or screamin’ or gettin’ killed?”

I couldn’t explain it. It was as though once my eyes had narrowed in on them, everything went slo-mo and the first one was already in my hand. “Adrenaline?”

Jericho caught my eye. “Makes you wonder.”

“Wonder what?” I was still breathing too hard. “If snakes have a thing for sound systems that play sucky soft rock songs?”

“The last dishwasher guy wasn’t a freakwad. They could be anywhere.” Derek looked in every direction including the ceiling.

“We’re closin’ early. I’ll call the snake-catching people in the morning,” Freddy motioned to me, “although you do real nice work, little girl.”

After getting my bag from the kitchen, I headed out with Derek, Jericho behind us. Kelly was pressed against Jericho’s truck, kissing a guy with sandy hair. I’d forgotten all about her. Go figure.

“Kelly is a friend. That’s her boyfriend. I would’ve introduced you to Tony, but he was outside making a call and you were busy being a badass,” Jericho said. “They’ve been here visiting. I wasn’t on a date with her.”

“I didn’t say you were.”

“Felt that way.”

I was annoyed that he’d picked up on my assumption and more annoyed that I’d jumped to conclusions when I’d first seen him with Kelly.

Kelly got into Jericho’s truck with her guy and waved goodbye, saying she hoped she’d see me again sometime. They left.

“You need a ride then?” I asked Jericho.

He pointed across the lot to a yellow Mustang, the one he’d asked me about.

“Ooh! Can I ride with you?” Derek’s face morphed to sunshine. His car had gone lemon again and he’d hitched a ride with me.

“Take it.” Jericho tossed him the keys.

Derek had the car out of the lot before Jericho had closed the passenger side door of my car.

“Derek drives like an idiot.” I gave the key a quarter turn. “Brace yourself.”

He looked at me funny and then understood when the car started, stereo set to a hundred decibels and James Thompson’s amazing voice booming through the speakers. I knew the music was bothering him, but I needed something to divert my mind from snakes and all members of the reptile family in general. And why I’d done something so stupid that I could’ve easily been bitten. Or how my bony little hand had the strength to kill them. Jericho tentatively reached for my neck and removed the band from my hair. His fingers ran down the length a few times, lifting the strands. A wave of calm swept over me and I turned the volume down.

At Nick’s place, Derek gave Jericho the quick and dirty on his car problem.

“I’ll come by in the morning,” Jericho said.

“I really appreciate it.” Derek turned to me. “Edwards, let yourself in tomorrow and wake me up? We’ll go hit a few tennis balls?”

“I’d love to but I’m spent. Maybe Thursday?”

Jericho put his arm around my waist. “Wanna do something? Hang out with Kelly and Tony? See what Sarah’s up to?”

“I’m not gonna be good company. I’ve been working doubles at Jim’s, haven’t been sleeping the best since …” I pulled at my eyelash, “and the adrenaline rush from tonight was harsh. Yeah, I’m tired.”

“It’s a nice night. Sit on the beach for a while?”

“For a little bit.”

Derek was standing in the doorway, staring at me like I was from Mars. He abruptly went in. I snagged a blanket out of the back of the dragon and walked with Jericho to the sand in front of his house.

He spread out the quilt and took a seat. “You’re afraid of snakes.”

“I am now.” I sat next to him.

“What else scares you?”

“Jellyfish, anger, failure, conflict. You.”

“I scare you?”

I did it again, just bared all. Damn!
“I meant it as a question. You?”

“Negativity, bad thoughts.”

“Negativity?”

“Negativity, conflict, darkness—same difference. I understand where you’re comin’ from.”

I don’t think you do.

“Saw Sarah this afternoon.” He grinned. “She told me to be nice to you.”

“That’s super. What was Sarah busy doing today?”

“She was going to her car and I was checking out a Mustang for a friend.”

“It’s really nice of you to help Derek with his car. The guys at the repair shop have been robbing him blind and he’s broke as it is.” I pulled a bottle of water out of my backpack and cracked the seal. “But you work on boat engines, right?”

“Boat motors. My dad was a mechanic. I grew up looking at engines.”

“And your mom? Did she design jet skis?”

“No, she was into religion, deeply into religion.”

I lay back on the blanket and gazed at a full moon that was trapped between layers of gray chiffon in a sky of black marble. The waves quietly lapped the shore and the breeze smelled slightly of iodine—briny and wonderful.

“Are you sure you want to leave The Mustang parked at Boy Wonder’s?” I yawned twice.

“Huh?”

“At Nick’s. He’s a pyro, randomly makes bonfires. Last week he chopped up an end table, dumped lighter fluid on it, and almost set the roof on fire.”

“That explains the mammoth clouds of smoke lately.” He got down on his side next to me. “I’ll move it when you’re ready to head home.”

“How was your trip? Where’d you go?”

“J Bay. Epic.” He slurred the last word as only a surfer does.

“Where’s that?”

“South Africa.”

“You went to Africa to surf?”

“Waves are glass there this time of year. Had to go. It’s in my blood.”

Hardcore.

He described the coast of South Africa, the big waves at Dungeons, and his love for Jefferys Bay, where the ocean was alive with dolphins and several species of shark: Great Whites, bulls, tigers, and hammerheads. He told me about a preserve where you could see the Indian Ocean meeting the Atlantic, two vastly different climates of water colliding in a maelstrom. He said he’d always wanted to go the top of Table Mountain by cable car but never had enough time, always having to get in one last session. When I asked where else he’d surfed I was blown away by his answer. He’d been all over the world. Every continent, faraway islands, to places I wouldn’t guess would be surfable or rideable or whatever.

“I thought about you most of the time I was away.” He shifted an inch closer to me. “Did I cross your thoughts?”

“A few times.”

Captured by his eyes, I wanted him to kiss me like he had before. The stare was held for three seconds, probably less, but confirmed my wish and his interest. Soft lips glided across my cheek to my lips and he kissed me slowly and lightly. Over and again, he tilted his head left then right, his nose skimming my nose, his mouth brushing mine. I drifted one hand down his shoulder and arm as his fingers traced my cheekbone and ran through my hair. He kept his body from mine, but the gentleness of his touch had a density that was pulling me under. He was the ocean. I felt waves move over me, drenching my skin, my clothes saturated and heavy. It had to be a creation of my mind, but felt so real. The sensation dragged through me, my eyes heavy, oxygen sealed in my chest. He kissed my face, my lips, and my neck. My breathing and heart rate slowed. I was drowning.

I woke with my head on his chest, huddled close to him with his arm around me.
Why am I here?
My brain labored to recall the prior night.
Stripy snakes, was really tired.
But I had no recollection of being so drowsy that I would fall asleep, especially outside on lumpy sand,
much less
while we’d been making out. He’d kissed me until I’d fallen away, for long enough that I hadn’t flinched from the static when we touched. The last thing I remembered was that he was whispering … something.
What did he say?

His eyelashes fluttered. I sat up, pulled my legs to my chest, and set my forehead on my knees to hide the mortification on my face.

“This is nice. I haven’t slept on the beach in a while.” He rubbed my back.

“I can’t believe I fell asleep.”

“I can’t believe
I
fell asleep.” He sat up and stretched his arms. “I left the Mustang at Boy Wonder’s.”

His fingers combed my hair, dissolving the tangles, and his cheek came across the back of my neck before sitting on my shoulder. The sun was rising, the sand blushed pink. Rays of coral and orange tinted the surface of the water, shadows from the birds overhead falling through the colors. I remembered. He’d whispered that I was so beautiful. No one had ever said that to me. I kept my eyes on the waves and took in the peacefulness of the deserted beach, until a piece of driftwood was deposited at my feet. The ocean’s reach was coming too far.

“It’s high tide? What time is it?” I asked.

“Spring tide.” He pulled his phone from his pocket. “Eight.”

“Spring tide?”

“When the moon and sun reinforce each other’s gravity it makes the highest high tides and the lowest low tides.”

“I’ve never heard of that.”

He rose, offered his hand, and pulled me up. Big spark. Our eyes met and held. My mind went blank and I was overpowered by an unfamiliar feeling. It started slowly, like a jet on a runway, and accelerated ferociously. All my energy was thrust into my stomach as every color of light flashed in front of my eyes. Whatever was happening to me was happening to him, because he was wearing the same bewildered look. His head twisted to the side at the same time mine did and his body remained as motionless as mine. The brightly colored lights dimmed to sparkles and a melody started, a melody so painfully exquisite I was captivated by the notes. Blue eyes stared into green and green into blue, and the music spoke to me. It spoke of his soul, the aspects of him that related to me—his attraction, faith, and devotion, and a persevering hope that was as calm and fluid as the waves. At that moment, I knew him or had an understanding of him or was given a glimpse of who he was. It was impossible, but it was happening. The three simple phrases of song repeated, winding around one another into a braid of perfect consonance. It sounded in my ears over and over, strengthening in my memory. The lapse of time or space that had me standing still tapered away, but we kept staring at each other. He stepped to me and without a thought I put my arms around his waist and my face against his chest. He rested his head on mine, his arms holding me to him.

“Did you hear it?” I whispered.

He didn’t respond.

A seagull squawked.
What the hell just happened? Snap out of it
! I backed away, picked up the blanket, and shook it out. As the corners came together, I glanced at him. He was still staring at me.

“How?” he said softly.

“What?”

He pressed his palms together and brought his hands to his lips. “Uhhh … coffee?”

“Yeah.”
Or brain transplant.

We went up to the house and I began making an omelet using what I could find in the fridge: leeks, mushrooms, and Swiss. The activity was distraction, a means to put my attention elsewhere and set aside the perplexing event that had me seeing lights and hearing things.

After breakfast, I picked up my bag.

“Don’t go.” He went with me to the door.

“I need to shower. You have Derek’s car. I’ll see you at Nick’s later, or you know.”
I need a break, time to sort out the intense feelings I’m having for you that I shouldn’t.

I wasn’t infatuated with him. I didn’t love him. What had happened in that ten or twenty or ninety second transmission was something more knowing than love and I had no idea what it was.