Elena's standing on the edge of the fence with a hammer and nails, doing a little repair work. Pausing, she lays it down and walks over to the back of her truck, opens the cooler and reaches for a cold bottle of water. It's a beautiful day, the sun paints her skin so warmly. The trees are dancing ladies, each in dresses more fabulous than any renowned designer could craft. They move, choreographed by the wind, in perfect time with another.
She wonders how many hues of green her eyes are witnessing. As their branches stretch upwards and outwards toward the light, drinking in the rays. The weather today is the kind that feels like a kiss of summer without the fiery heat of August. The grass is a soft green that almost has a hint of blue and in the sky there's enough pristine white cloud to show off how beautiful it is.
Elena closes her eyes so that she can focus just on the sounds of the birds and other creatures. She opens her eyes and lets the daylight flood back in, bringing the late April day right back into focus. She lifts herself up to sit on the pickup's gate and looks at the flowers.
It feels good, she remembers the roses her grandfather tended to with such loving care. It's not that she didn't appreciate their beauty and the intoxicating aroma, it's the fact that she's equally in love with meadow flowers, forget-me-nots and buttercups.
"Shirking on the job?" her neighbor Vincent quips as he rides up on his horse. Sliding off, he ties the reins around the fence post then sits down by Elena.
"There's cold water if you want one," Elena points at the cooler. "And no, when have you ever known me to shirk?" she elbows him playfully.
"I know, I know," he laughs, chugging the water bottle.
"When I'm done with the fence, I'm going to mow the lawn, weed the garden," Elena wipes the sweat from her forehead with the back of her forearm.
"How many times do I have to tell you to get some help? Hell, I bet one of the high school boys would jump at the chance for a summer job," Vincent crumples the plastic and tosses it over his shoulder into the cab of her pickup.
"High school boys? They're not the most reliable sort," she rolls her eyes.
"No, not all of them but I'm sure you can find someone, you're a pretty good judge of character."
"I can do the work, Vincent. I'm no slouch."
"No, you're not. But there's no reason you need to work yourself to death. Is it the money?" he looks at her seriously.
"You know that's not it...this place is my responsibility, my home," Elena looks over her property.
"You need help. You're not sleeping," he wipes the dark smudge under one of her eyes with his thumb. "Can you at least give it a try? Hire someone and if it doesn't work out, let the person go. Then you can give me a great big I told you so."
"If I agree, will you stop nagging me?"
"Oh absolutely," he flashes her a gleaming smile and holds out his hand.
She shakes his hand, "if you break your promise, it's done."
"Deal," Vincent hops down from the pickup and climbs back on his horse. "See ya, Elena," he winks and trots off.
"Bye," she mutters, finishes her water then hops down herself and gets back to patching her fence.
Elena's sitting in the kitchen with a cup of coffee and reading the newspaper. She glances at her ad for a hired hand. She's had a handful of people apply. Two of the men gave her the creeps the way they looked at her like she was a piece of meat.
A girl applied but she turned her nose up when Elena mentioned getting her hands dirty. There was another girl that she thought would be a perfect fit but then she had a bike wreck, breaking a leg and an arm. Her ad is scheduled to run this week yet, she has no intention of renewing it, not caring what Vincent has to say.
She picks up her cup, cradling it in her hands. Her eyes drift to a picture of herself and Aaron that's sticking on the refrigerator. They were on a vacation at Arches National Park in Utah, such a beautiful place. Sighing, she promises herself to go back there someday. Getting up, she sets her cup in the sink then grips the edges, straightening her elbows and looking outside through the window.
Sometimes her memories of that day pop up when she least expects it. She and Aaron were white water rafting, it was a beautiful day, the water was tepid, not cold. They were having a wonderful time, having had a picnic on the shore before getting back in their boat. Everything was fine till he lost control when the rapids turned treacherous. The boat capsized, they both fell in. Aaron was sucked under the surface by a strong, unrelenting undertow...as was she.
The dark indigo water swirls around her. Her arms and legs kick desperately in a bid to reach the surface. Her entire body is throbbing, her lungs feel as though they've been set on fire. After only a few seconds, her brain is in a full panic, she claws through the water that threatens to invade her lungs. From her lips comes an explosion of air bubbles, moving away from her in a peculiar direction, she's struggling at a perpendicular angle to the surface but already her thoughts are groggy. Her limbs slow down, stop and she floats in the current like a limp ragdoll. When miraculously someone clasps onto her wrist; she is unaware that she's slowly being towed upward to the daylight above...
A doorbell cuts shrilly through the house. Zeus begins to bark, pulling Elena from her morose thoughts. Noticing a blue Camaro parked in her driveway, she considers it for a few moments.
"I'm coming," she yells aloud when a resounding volley of knocks follows the doorbell. Before opening it, she cracks open the foyer closet door, eyeing her gun safe. A woman alone on a big ranch, she can never be too careful. She a crack shot, having won a shooting contest a year ago at the town's yearly festival.
Swinging open the heavy oak door, her heart flips uncharacteristically when she meets the eyes of the young man staring at her. It's like they're made of stardust and then cut out of the sky.
"I'm Damon Salvatore," he offers his hand, "I came to see if the job is still available."
Thanks for reading. This isn't a real long story but there is a double-digit number of chapters. It's loosely based on Garth Brooks song, "That Summer".
Thank you Eva.
We're excited to hear your thoughts.