Chapter 23 #2
“That year, we had new guests. Their daughter Julia had just turned eighteen, and all the guys up here immediately tried to get her attention.”
“Fresh meat.” Everly chuckles, a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
“Something like that. I mean, we are in the middle of nowhere.” I laugh, thinking about how frantic all the local guys would get when new girls would arrive for the summer.
“Anyway, on top of being beautiful, Julia was also smart, funny, and kind. It was impossible not to like her and to not want to be close to her. She immediately hit it off with Elle and me, and we spent a lot of time together for the first few weeks.” I pause again, letting some memories pass over me like the big rolling lake waves that come when a storm blows in.
“Did you love her?” Her voice is barely a whisper. Her body has become stiff, and I can tell she’s holding her breath.
“No, it wasn’t like that. Did I have a crush? Sure, but two weeks after she arrived, Storm got back from a fishing trip and it was game over. You could see in her eyes the moment she spotted him she was a goner.” I flinch slightly at my last comment.
“Storm had been through a rough breakup when we were in high school, and he had decided that being a massive dick to everyone in retaliation was a better plan.”
“Oh, so he’s the one you learned that from.” She grins, lightening the mood a bit.
“Yeah, I guess that could be true. Something changed when he met Julia, though he continued to be a dick to everyone, everyone except her. I still don’t know that I believe it was true love, at least on his part, but I know he seemed happy when he was around her, and he sure as hell didn’t let anyone else even attempt to look at her. ”
Here comes the hard part.
“You know that day in the laundry room?” Everly swallows hard and nods.
“The accident happened two years ago on that day. My dad had been out with guests for a few days, and Storm and I were in charge of running the restaurant and bar while my mom oversaw the rest of the resort whenever he was away.”
I take off my hat and push my hair back from my face.
“But what’s that saying, ‘when the cats away, the mice will play?’ I had tried to warn him about the weather.
He knew the lake better than anyone; he knew how it could turn in a split second, but his vision was clouded, and he was too focused on a day out on the water.
Drinking beer and hanging with Julia and his friends was too attractive an idea. None of us knew she couldn’t swim.”
I exhale and meet Everly’s frozen stare.
“My dad had always taught us to find the nearest cove and wait out the weather, but for some reason, the group thought they could make it back to the resort in time. That storm was one of the worst we had in years, doing tons of damage to the shore and docks. The boat they were on capsized, and Julia didn’t have a life jacket on.
Storm searched the raging water until rescue came, but it was too late. She was gone.”
“I’m so sorry, Hux, that must have been awful. Her poor family.”
Tears run down Everly’s face. As much as I want to stop talking, kiss away the tears, and take us out of this dark cloud, I know I need to continue to the end.
“The pain and fallout felt never-ending. Every day was this hell that we couldn’t come out of.
Her family blamed the resort. Storm was investigated even though it was proven he wasn’t driving at the time of the accident.
Long-time customers and friends fled the resort.
My parents were crushed by what happened to Julia while they also watched their son spiral into the darkest depression one could imagine.
The business was essentially nonexistent.
The resort potentially faced a mess of charges.
“The next few weeks, Storm spun even more out of control, showing up to the resort hammered, angry, and looking for a fight. We hardly had any guests, but anyone who crossed his path was a worthy opponent in his mind.”
“The scar across your eyebrow, was that Storm?” she asks gently.
“Like I said, anyone who came across his path was unlucky.”
I can’t quite meet her eyes. That fight and what was said will always remain between Storm and me, and only us.
“One night, another big storm rolled through. Storm lived in cabin seven, which is a little more secluded and doesn’t sit on the water.
He preferred the woods. We didn’t hear the crashing, the windows breaking, or the screams, I am sure he let out.
When my dad and I checked on him in the morning like we had been doing, he was gone.
He left mostly everything behind, like his wallet and money.
His canvas fishing pack and rod were missing, and his hunting rifle was gone.
Maybe he’d taken some clothes, although the cabin had been so badly ransacked that it was hard to tell what was what. ”
I take a deep breath, and this time, Everly reaches out, intertwining her fingers with mine. I squeeze her hand lightly.
“Everyone searched for him. Friends came back to help. With the tragedy of Julia’s death, the community didn’t want to lose anyone else.
Storm had a lot of knowledge of the woods and surviving in them, but as the weeks turned to months and the weather got colder, it was pretty clear he wasn’t coming back.
He had no money, no gear, no food to survive a Maine winter in the woods.
Most of us accepted this reality, coming to terms with the fact that Storm never planned to come back.
He had gone into those woods with a plan.
My dad still can’t accept it. It’s killing him slowly, but no matter what my mom and I do, he won’t listen.
Every month, he leaves for three or four days to search the woods, in the summer months, sometimes even more.
He just cannot come to terms with the fact that Storm’s pain took him under, just like the boat that started it all. ”
“You never went back to school, did you?”
“Nope, not even for my stuff. I knew that if I got off the plane at LaGuardia, I wouldn’t leave, and I knew my parents needed me more.
I haven’t left here since. I promised myself I wouldn’t until the resort got back on its feet and I felt like my parents were okay.
Every day that passes and I fall into Storm’s footsteps, I see that escape door closing more and more rapidly. ”
“Hux…”
I force a smile onto my face and cup Everly’s chin in my hands.
“Hey, I’m okay, I promise. I am coming to terms with my fate, but I needed you to know why I pushed you away so hard in the beginning.
You’ve made me feel again, something I haven’t done in two years.
” I bring her lips to mine before she can say anything else.
The kiss starts slow and soft. She grants me access to her mouth, and I stroke her tongue with mine, deepening the kiss.
Unlike the previous kiss between us, this is not frantic or even lustful, it’s an emotional and tender kiss.
It’s our way of expressing all the hurt, pain, and a certain feeling we haven’t been brave enough to say to one another yet.
Pulling her onto my lap, I wrap my arms around her back, pulling her as close to me as I can while we continue to communicate with our mouths.
Her short dress slides up as her legs straddle mine, and I can feel the heat of her need for me through her thin panties.
The more she grinds herself into my thigh, the more eager I am to bury myself inside of her.
I lift her slightly so I can slip my jeans down, and as I glide my hands up the back of her thighs, I find that she’s wearing a thong.
Hooking the thin rear string with my finger and gently pulling it to the side, it’s clear we are both more than ready.
After grabbing a condom, I guide her hips back down onto my lap, a gasp escaping her lips just before my mouth meets hers again.
Her hands find my chest, and she pulls my shirt off over my head, then continues to push me down.
I stare up at her, her lips swollen, her eyes glassy, as she continues her slow and divine rhythmic movements.
I grip her hips, picking up the pace. When I can’t hold on any longer, I wrap an arm around her.
Above her head, a magnificent shooting star blazes across the sky just as I flip her onto her back to continue getting lost in each other under the night sky.