Chapter 12 The Beach
THE BEACH
ZEKE
The beach?! Where on Earth did that come from?!
I had never once had any kind of inclination to go to the beach.
The prospect of getting sand into uncomfortable places and submerging any part of my body into water that contained urine, feces, and the remains of dead organisms—among other things—never held any appeal.
I would never consider myself that kind of adventurous person.
But the lure of spending an entire day with Maggie was too great to ignore.
And going to Tybee Island would be an outing; from here in River’s Run, it would take approximately an hour and a half to get there.
On a gorgeous summer day, and a military four day weekend at that, it was sure to be packed, but I didn’t care.
Crowds no longer scared me if it meant I could stay with Maggie.
Besides, she seemed genuinely excited by the idea, and that was enough for me. A long drive would give me the perfect opportunity to get her talking. I wanted to know everything about her. Even that probably wouldn’t be enough.
In less than a single day, Maggie Eaton had enough of a hold on me that I could never let her go.
“Can we swing by Marla’s place so I can get ready?” Maggie asked. “Then we can stop by your place for you to change on the way out there.”
I glanced down at the simple t-shirt and shorts I had on. “Um…change into what?”
She laughed, a rich, throaty sound that I hoped to haunt my dreams. When I didn’t join in, the laugh died out abruptly. “Oh, you’re serious! Don’t you want a bathing suit?”
“I don’t own a bathing suit.”
“Of course you do, silly!” Maggie swatted me playfully on the arm. “Everybody owns a bathing suit!”
I shook my head, which made her laugh again.
“Why, Zeke Hayes. You continue to surprise me!”
I wasn’t entirely sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but she grabbed my hand to lead me out of the alleyway before I could ask.
Even though Marla’s apartment was only a few blocks away, according to Maggie, she said it would be easier for us to drive so that we could leave right from her place.
“Plus, you can meet Marla and get her approval!” Maggie winked like it was a joke, yet my stomach plummeted. Marla was clearly important to Maggie, which already made her important to me, and I needed to make a good first impression.
“Marla, I’m home! And I brought a new friend!” she called as soon as we crossed the threshold. The apartment had a loft-like feel, with one wall of exposed brick and high ceilings that featured exposed duct work.
A woman around Leggett’s age stood at the kitchen island, stirring something in a large bowl that she held against her hip.
Her brown hair had wisps of gray in it, piled into a lumpy bun on her head, and her eyes narrowed as she took me in.
Instinctually, I stood taller, fully prepared to stand at attention like Marla was an Army officer if it got me in her good graces.
“And who might this be?” Marla asked in a thick Southern accent.
“I’m Sergeant Ezekiel Hayes, ma’am,” I said. I approached the island to hold out a hand in greeting.
She didn’t take it. Marla’s shrewd eyes scanned me from head to toe. Apprehension made me break out in a cold sweat under her scrutiny.
“Thank you for your service to our country,” Marla finally said.
It was a sentiment that most civilians expressed whenever they learned my profession.
Leggett always told me from a young age that the polite thing to do was thank them, even if it didn’t feel right to accept their gratitude.
“It’s an honor and a privilege to serve in the United States Army, Hayes. That’s why only the best get to do it.”
“Thank you, ma’am. I appreciate you saying so.”
“What are you making?” Maggie asked her, taking the heat off me. I had a sneaking suspicion that I wasn’t yet in the clear with Marla.
Marla frowned. “Nothing if I can’t get this batter to thicken like I need. What are y’all up to?”
“Zeke here has never been to the ocean before, so we’re gonna head out to the beach for the day.” Maggie winked at me. The act made my heart skip a beat.
A quizzical brow rose as Marla directed her attention back on me. “Is that so? I’ll have you know, Mr. Hayes, that I have friends on law enforcement out that way. You get outta line with Maggie here and I’ll make sure it’s the last thing you ever do, Army or no Army!”
My cheeks burned in shame. “I swear on my life that I won’t let any harm come to her, ma’am. I’m not that kind of person.”
“Yeah, well be sure that you don’t turn into one!” Marla slammed the bowl down hard on the counter to emphasize her point. Eyebrows shooting up in alarm, I turned to Maggie for help.
She just smiled and rolled her eyes, waving off Marla’s threat.
“Zeke’s not like that, Marla. I think I found a good one this time.
I want to shower real quick before we go, so make yourself at home.
” The last line was directed at me, but Maggie had to know there was no way I could do that under Marla’s watchful eye.
Racking my brain for a book that had a similar situation so I knew how to act, my tongue suddenly felt like it stuck to the roof of my mouth. I could tell Marla reserved her judgment. A scowl slowly worked its way onto her face as I continued to stand there like a mute.
“So…Maggie tells me you’re gonna open a bakery,” I finally settled on. “That sounds like quite an undertaking.”
She harumphed, though I didn’t know what I said that could’ve been funny. “You don’t know the half of it! Neither do I, truth be told. And the shop needs a whole lot of work.”
“I’m happy to help, ma’am,” I offered. “I’m good with my hands and I’ve done some things at my mentor’s house.”
Marla fixed me with an indiscernible stare. After several long seconds, she nodded. “I could use all the help I can get. Come by tomorrow morning and I’ll set you to work.”
And if I’m here, that only increases my chances of seeing Maggie again! I loved that idea.
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll be here.”
A gaze almost akin to pity softened her features. She turned around and grabbed a muffin off the counter behind her to hand to me. “Here. Eat this. It’ll help with your nerves.”
My cheeks felt like they were on fire again. “Oh, I’m not nervous, ma’am, I’m just—”
“You’re just standing there like a lost calf ready to follow the truck to the slaughter house,” Marla finished for me. “I know a bit about men who get swept up in the antics of my girls.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. Maggie said you’re not her mom…” I didn’t know how to end that statement without it sounding even more awkward, and I cringed slightly at the tension that hung in the air.
Marla snorted again. “I ain’t her mama, but I’m a right side better than that she-devil. You just stay on my good side, young man. Be respectful to Maggie and Celeste, too, ‘cause you can’t have one without the other. We clear on that?”
I nodded, swallowing thickly.
She gestured towards the kitchen table. “Have a seat. I’ll get you a cup o’ coffee.”
Caffeine would probably be beneficial at the moment because adrenaline could only take me so far.
I thanked her as she set it down in front of me, breaking off a small piece of the muffin Marla gave me so I didn’t appear rude.
Mercifully, Marla returned to her batter and didn’t continue with the conversation after that.
I caught her shrewd glances periodically, but I kept my eyes trained on the tree line I could see from the window.
Intrusive thoughts began to pepper me with worst-case scenarios.
I had absolutely zero experience with socializing.
I’d never even had someone close enough that I would consider them a friend.
And while I wasn’t exactly sure what romantic feelings felt like, the way I felt about Maggie didn’t seem normal.
What if I said the wrong thing and she never spoke to me again?
What if I couldn’t recognize a social cue?
Like that one time in high school when I tried to have a conversation with an upperclassman holding the same book I was reading.
He apparently had been trying to end the conversation, but I didn’t know it, so I followed him all the way into the bathroom to keep asking him questions about whether or not he enjoyed the book as much as I did.
The principal ended up calling Leggett in and I received three days of in school suspension for disrespecting personal boundaries.
The memory of it still seared through my brain from time to time. I never tried to engage someone in conversation willingly after that. At least, not until Maggie.
Just then, Maggie breezed into the room, her hair piled into a messy bun.
She had on a bright orange string bikini top and Daisy Dukes.
I could just detect the orange string of the bikini bottoms poking out at her waist. Huge sunglasses concealed most of her face, but she grinned at me in a way that made my heart start dancing again.
If I spent much more time with her, I might need to get on heart medicine.
“Be sure to pack plenty of sunblock,” Marla advised her. “It’s gonna be a scorcher today, and a sunburn won’t save you from working tomorrow!”
“Yes, ma’am,” Maggie and I said in unison. Her grin widened as I blushed again, embarrassed to believe Marla might’ve been speaking to me. Nobody ever spoke to me. Just Leggett, and he barely counted.
“We have to stop at Madden Markets and get this clown a bathing suit anyway, so I’ll be sure to load up!” Maggie assured her. Grabbing my hand, she led us out the front door, barely giving me a moment to call out a thank you to Marla on our descent.
There wasn’t a cloud in the sky as we walked towards my truck, which I hoped was a good sign of the day to come. Maggie turned quiet beside me, putting up a wall that nearly felt tangible, and I didn’t know why. I was also too shy to ask. People didn’t like it when you pry, I’d learned.
We had almost reached my truck, parked along the street a few spaces down from Marla’s building, when a woman exited the laundromat to our left and stopped Maggie in her tracks.
“Well, I’ll be, Maggie,” the woman said, balancing a small hamper on her hip. “You leave my house and forget to wear clothes?”
The way Maggie’s back went rigid alerted me to the fact that she was upset. Yet she didn’t say a word to the woman, merely glowered at her, a scowl that I never wanted to see on her face again.
“Excuse me, ma’am, but I think you’re making Maggie uncomfortable.” I glared at the woman, instantly willing to hate anyone who made Maggie look like that.
But instead of apologizing, the woman smiled at me, taking a step closer to peruse the length of my body in a way that made my skin crawl. If she noticed the way I recoiled at her leering, the woman didn’t show it.
“And who might this fine specimen be?” she crooned. Only it reminded me of one of those evil witches in kids’ movies.
After a glance at Maggie indicated her lips would remain firmly shut, I held out my hand, too trained to be polite. “Sergeant Ezekiel Hayes, ma’am.”
Rather than shake it, the woman grabbed my hand and pulled me even closer, letting go only so that her fingers could graze up my arm. She seemed particularly interested in my biceps, but the attention made me want to gag.
“And how did my daughter here land such a handsome man, Sergeant?”
This was Maggie’s mother?! She had all of the charm and appeal of a rattlesnake.
“Shouldn’t you be running along to Tyrese, Diana.” Maggie added the name pointedly, as if it was an expletive meant to insult the woman.
“Tyson,” her mother snapped back immediately. The oily charisma she showed me disappeared in an instant. “And no, we broke up. I suppose that means you could come back home for a little while.” Except her tone implied it wasn’t a real invitation.
“I’m good. Have a nice life,” Maggie replied with a sneer. She sidestepped her mother, literally leaning away from her as if Diana had barbed wire around her.
Diana sighed dramatically, her blue eyes flicking to me again with piqued interest. “Be careful with that one, soldier. No sense in ruining your life over Maggie’s attitude. She’s nothing special.”
I frowned, my temper beginning to boil over. “We’ll have to agree to disagree on that one, ma’am. Excuse me.” I brushed past her and caught up to Maggie in two strides, who now bridged the last few feet to my truck like her feet were on fire.
Although she ducked her head and tried to turn away from me, I squatted down so that I was eye level with her and tucked my hand under her chin to stop her. “Maggie, what is it?” I asked gently. My thumb rubbed what I hoped were soothing circles along her cheek.
A solitary tear rolled onto my thumb and I wanted to die. “I’m sorry,” whimpered Maggie, her voice small. “Diana just…she just gets under my skin, and I hate it.”
“Don’t ever apologize for the way you feel,” I ordered her.
I recognized the squad leader voice coming out, but I couldn’t help myself.
I needed her to heed this. “Not with me. I’m your safe space, okay?
I want to see all the parts of you that you hide from everybody else. Do you understand, Maggie Eaton?”
Another tear slid down from under her sunglasses, but Maggie hastily wiped it away. She nodded quickly.
“No, I need to hear it. Do you understand?”
“I understand, Zeke.”
Satisfied, I took a step back, and offered her my hand. “So will you go to the beach with me?”
Her grin wasn’t quite as wide as before, but she shoved the sunglasses up onto her head, casting me under a spell with her gorgeous, tear-soaked eyes. Maggie’s head bobbed as she nodded, clasping her hand in mine.