Page 18 of Wildfire (Owl Creek #1)

Callie and I finish the boat with a couple of days to spare.

When I take the pictures to add to the online portfolio Zoe said she'd build for me, I cry.

I actually cry. Learning to make the specialized cuts required to finish it was never something I'd thought I'd do, but now that I've done it, I can see myself moving into wooden boat work someday.

I'm sure some small marinas that do building and repair are still in the beach towns along the Southern California coast.

Zoe is still plugging away at the library, so I walk home after work.

Cole isn't home, so I decide to work on the song I am writing for him.

I'll be leaving in less than a week. I want the song to be something special that he can remember me by and hopefully feel is adequate payment for everything he's done.

Maybe I'll be famous soon and he'll be able to have his song as a memento.

Before I work on it, I count the money Callie paid me for the previous week's work. It is enough to get me to Los Angeles with some to spare to buy groceries and gas for a few weeks. I am going to need a job as soon as I land.

I tuck the cash in my duffel bag and pull out my guitar.

As I start strumming, the music takes over, and I lose myself.

I dissolve into the rhythm and sound, and the words start flowing.

I'm under a spell, forgetting myself and everything that has happened.

When these words spill out, I shock myself back into the room.

"I can't see you without seeing me by your side."

What?

I put down the guitar and stare at the page I'd scribbled on. There is no doubt about it. I am writing a song about love. This was never going to see the light of day. I will buy him a thank you card and write something nice. I can't let my hormones stop me when I'm so close to reaching my dream.

I put everything away and take a shower—nothing like a cold splash to bring you back to reality.

Zoe bangs up the stairs while I'm getting dressed, and when I let her in, she flops on the bed in exhaustion.

"That bad, huh?"

"Building an e-commerce website from the ground up while learning how to build an e-commerce website from the ground up. Yeah, it was bad. I usually feel like the most clever person in the room, but today, I felt like an idiot."

"I know something that will make you feel better."

"What's that?"

"The last two slices of pie."

"I demand a fork this instant!" She points in the air and then lets her arm fall at her side. "Can you just shove it in my mouth? I don't feel like sitting up."

I grab the pie and the last of the whipped cream out of the fridge, spoon the cream over it, and bring it to the bed.

"Here you go, Princess. Never say I didn't do anything for you."

"Love you forever."

"Love you always."

We eat silently, except for the moans emanating after each bite. Then I grab the remote and turn on one of my mom's favorite movies from the eighties, Say Anything . She said Lloyd Dobler was the perfect Golden Retriever Boyfriend, and I agree.

An hour later, a chirp on my phone wakes me up. Zoe and I had passed out with the pie pan between us.

It is a text from my brother Brian. He is having a total meltdown, saying that I have no family values and am a horrible person for leaving the care of my father up to him and his girlfriend.

She already threatens to leave him if he doesn't pick up some slack. I laugh and toss the phone aside. Though I occasionally miss my father, I don’t miss being a nurse, maid, cook, and breadwinner while my brothers get drunk and laid.

Zoe is still conked out, so I get up and wash the pie pan, then slip out the door to bring it to Cole's.

The sun had set while we were passed out, and the chirpers are out and proud.

Their song does something to me—like being massaged in the brain.

I feel calm here. With each breath, my body relaxes into a gentle state as the sound continues to wash over me.

I let myself into Cole's place, put the pie pan in the cupboard, and then find a pad of sticky notes.

I scribble, "Best pie-man ever, thanks for the food," then tear it up and try again.

I'm not sure what I want to say. "You've been a lifesaver.

I'll never forget you". Nope. Trashed. What is my problem?

All I want to do is say thanks for the pie, but as I slump onto a bar stool, I realize there is no summing up everything I feel in one sticky note.

Cole had given me shelter and food, gotten me a job, held me when I was sad about my mother, and let me cry without trying to fix me. He hasn't asked for anything from me and doesn't expect anything either. For the first time since my mother died, I am being cared for.

My body starts tensing up again, and I feel that feeling that waltzes in when I'm about to cry. I decide to settle on writing "thanks," so I can get out of his house before he comes home and sees me sitting here at a loss for words, tears streaming down my face.

I pad down to the dock and sit in the dark, listening to the music of the forest around me. In no time, my body is shifting back into calm and contentedness. This place is a balm for my soul.

Tires crunch in the driveway, pulling me back into the moment. Lights pierce the space above my head, and my heart starts beating faster. Cole is home.

Even though I want to talk to him, I don't want to move. Luckily, I don't have to.

"Want some company?"

"Sure thing, Chief."

I hear him chuckle behind me, and he sinks to the boards with me.

"Frogs are out tonight."

"Sure are."

"Where is Zoe?"

"Passed out upstairs. She had a long day."

"Should we wake her for dinner?"

I lean back until my elbows find the dock, looking up at Cole. The moonlight is just bright enough to see the furrow in his brow.

"What's wrong?"

"Wha—? Nothing."

"Sure? I'm a good listener."

He cocks his head to the side to study me before a sly grin spreads across his handsome, scruffy face.

"Nothing a swim won't fix."

"You're on, Chief."

He stands up and starts tearing off his clothes instead of changing inside.

"Um…are you going skinny dipping?"

"Just down to my boxers. I don't want to assume anything." He winks at me, and it shoots right to my center.

"Well, alright then." I stand up and start to strip down to my bra and panties. It wasn't much different from what he'd seen me in the other night. As I drop my pants into the pile, I feel his eyes rake over me, and another zing tears through me, heading straight for my vag.

I've never been shy around men before. But standing here in front of this man, maybe the first to truly be worthy of seeing me undressed, I notice my arms migrating to the front of me.

"Hey," he whispers. There's no need to be shy. You're safe with me. I would never do anything you don't want me to."

I nod and then jump in the water to push the feelings down. Between the song I am writing and the damn sticky note I couldn't, I am sure my heart is betraying my mind. I'm falling for Cole.

He dives in near me, gliding like a fish before joining me at the edge of the dock. "Ready for the lap?"

We swim without hurry across the lake and back. Just two people moving in the same direction, enjoying each other's company. When we return to his side and pull ourselves out of the water, my mouth blurts out what I'd been thinking about the whole way back and forth.

"You never told me why you're not married."

"You don't mince words, do you?"

Uh oh. Did I cross the line?

He picks up his clothes and walks toward the house, motioning for me to do the same. When we reach the door, he pads inside, grabs two towels, and tosses me one. Watching me closely as I dry myself off, he sighs and finally breaks through the pea soup between us.

"I was in love once with a woman I'd known for almost as long as I'd been living in Owl Creek. We went to school together and even attended the same two-year college. We were more than sweethearts. We fit together—or so I thought."

I wrap the towel around my head and try to shimmy back into my jeans while I wait for him to continue.

"I'm going to start dinner soon. Should we wake up Zoe?"

"Not until you finish your story. What happened?"

"She had big dreams. Wanted more than I could give her."

He rakes his fingers through his dark, wet hair and sighs.

"How long ago was this?"

"Four years."

"Do you still miss her?"

"Sometimes. But honestly, it's the fact that I thought we were moving in the same direction. And then I came to find that she wanted to turn left while I was going straight."

"When we were swimming…I thought about that."

"About what?"

"How we were two people, enjoying each other's company and moving in the same direction."

"What are you saying, Renée?"

"No Wildfire?"

He closes the distance between us in a couple of strides.

Suddenly, I feel his hulking presence inches away.

Even though we'd just taken a swim in cold water, the heat coming off his body was measurable.

I want to reach up and pull his mouth to mine, but I know I can't. I shouldn't.

It would be so easy for me to fall into his arms, to live here in this paradise with the frogs singing and the easy living forever.

But what about my dream? I know I'll regret it if I don't go for it.

I think my mother regretted it. Not having us kids, but setting aside herself—the biggest part of who she was.

She became the wife and mother and I think she got erased.

And ever since she died, my brothers and father have been erasing me.

They didn't care what I wanted or needed.

They didn't care what made me feel whole.

I don't want to be erased.

"I'm saying I…" I lean into my back foot, shifting an inch away from him, and it is enough to break the spell. He shifts away from me, and we stand, locked in a staring match. "You're a good man, Cole. But I'm leaving. I don't want…I don't want…"

"You don't want what I can give you."

"Is that what this is? Are you trying to show me what you can give me?"

Just then, Zoe bursts through the door. "There you two are. Damn, I was knocked out."

We step away from each other, and both turn to look at her.

"Why do I feel like I just interrupted something?"

"I was just starting dinner, Zoe. Would you care for something to drink?" Cole walks into the kitchen and opens the fridge. "I can make you something before I rinse in the shower."

"Uh, water is good." She shoots me a look that could sear me like a slab of meat.

He grabs a glass, fills it with ice and water, and hands it to her. Then he mumbles, "gonna take a quick shower."

"You know what? Me too." I hurry out the door to rinse the lake off and clear my mind.