Craig sat down on the Jet Ski and reached out for Marissa's hand, "Careful honey."
"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" she asked.
"Yes," he said for the tenth time, "You won't get wet, I promise."
She slid off her t-shirt exposing a tiny red bikini, dropping it on the deck. She put on a life vest and climbed down the ladder putting one foot on as it rocked back and forth. "Oh my god!"
"It's ok," he laughed, "just sit down and hold on to me."
She let go of the ladder and quickly took a seat behind him and wrapped her arms around his body. "Don't go fast," she begged.
"We have to go a little fast, but I'll be good."
He started the engine and pushed away from the dock, flooring it.
The four standing in the grass laughed as Marissa let out a scream as they shot out of the small bay that was in front of Craig's house, racing toward the open water.
"You guys going?" Steve asked Jack and Jules.
"No, you go first," Jules said, "I have to put the ribs on for dinner. We'll go after you."
Steve looked at Carly, "You ready?"
"I want to drive."
"What?! No way!" he said as they made their way down to the dock, "I'm driving."
Carly ran past him to the end of the dock and scooped up the life vest that had the key to the Jet Ski attached to it. "I'm driving," she declared as she slipped it on.
He sighed heavily putting his hands on his hips, "Have you ever been on one of these before?"
She gave him an annoyed look for even asking that. "I live by water too. Of course I have."
She climbed down the ladder first, sitting down and slipping the key in that was attached to the life vest by a long cord. She looked up as he came down and carefully stepped on it and then sat behind her. Unlike Marissa he gripped the handles that were on each side of the seat instead of her.
She started the engine and glanced over her shoulder, "Are you ready?"
"If I go in," he warned, "you're going with me."
Carly laughed and pushed away from the dock, "We'll see."
She gunned the engine as they took off. She got about a hundred yards out in the water and turned it sharply, whipping the back end and then floored it at the same time. She felt the weight of the Jet Ski suddenly become lighter and looked over her shoulder laughing as he bobbed in the water about ten feet away. They both looked toward the house as Jack whistled from the front yard, and then clapped his hands over his head.
"Hmm," Carly said looking down at herself, "I don't feel wet."
He swam over and pulled himself up from the back, taking his seat behind her. He wrapped his arms around her, getting her wet as she squealed and laughed.
"Try it again smart ass," he laughed, holding her around the waist this time.
She gunned it as they went out to the open water. She did a couple more turns and tried to throw him off but he was holding on too tight and she knew she'd go with him. They were having a blast though. The water was still calm before the afternoon boaters made their way out. It was also a Thursday and Craig had told them to enjoy it now because once the weekend hit, it was Jet Ski and boaters central.
She stopped in the middle of the lake and looked over her shoulder at him, "Do you want to drive now?"
"Sure." He stood up and they carefully switched places, but not before he playfully grabbed her arm and pretended to throw her in and then pull her back.
"Don't!" she screamed and laughed at the same time.
"Nah, I'm saving it. You're going to fly through the air like a Frisbee sweetheart."
She giggled nervously and sat down behind him, quickly wrapping her arms around his waist tightly. "I'm scared!" she laughed, laying her head on his back.
"You should be." He gunned it as the front end stuck up in the air and then became level as they shot across the water. He could feel her grip around his waist tighten as she screamed every time they got airborne from jumping their own wakes. He waited until she was comfortable and then did the same thing she did and whipped it to the left. She did exactly as he had said and flew off the back, her arms and legs going in last as she landed on her back in the water. He came back around to pick her up, circling her in the water.
"You were like a missile!" he laughed.
She smiled brightly and motioned for him to pick her up. "Get over here!"
She climbed up from the back the same as him, taking her seat, "Ok, we're even now."
He looked back at her, "Do you want to just go for a cruise?"
"Yes," she put her arms back around his waist as he took off.
They saw Craig and Marissa coming straight at them and slowed down.
"Hi," Carly reached out taking Marissa's hand, pulling them together. "Having fun?"
"He goes too fast!" Marissa complained.
"We never went over 20 mph," Craig argued. "Look at Carly, she's soaked. Have some fun."
Marissa leaned back crossing her arms. "I don't want to have to do my hair and makeup all over again."
"Then don't!" he practically yelled, "who cares!"
Carly squeezed Steve, giving him a hint to get them out of there.
"How far does the lake go around," he asked Craig.
He pointed toward the right; "Over that way is the main dock and boat ramp, and gas if you need it. I have an account with them." He pointed in the other direction, "Over that way it curves around and there are some cool little inlets to explore. We got about halfway there when someone got cold." He glanced over his shoulder at her.
"Take me back now. Please!" she said sarcastically.
"We'll see you in a bit," Steve said.
Carly pushed off of them as they both started their engines and took off in opposite directions.
"Go that way," Carly said, pointing toward the inlets side of the lake.
He turned to where she was pointing and gunned it. He could hear her laughing and feel her grip tighten. She rested her chin on his shoulder as they skidded across the lake that was as smooth as glass. The lake narrowed from about a mile across to about half that. The forest got thicker on one side as the sheared off hillside from the mountain got higher on the other. The further they went in the closer the two shorelines became. He slowed down, not knowing how shallow it was. He could tell it was a man-made lake and probably wasn't as deep as a natural one.
Carly pointed toward an inlet by the cliffs at a waterfall that was coming from a whole in the middle of the hundred-foot cliff. It was about twenty feet across and was flowing pretty rapidly.
"Let's go over there."
He got as close as he could and then shut down the engine, gliding in. Carly jumped off the side into the knee-deep water and pulled it over to the shore as he climbed off the other side, helping her. He pulled it up on the grassy edge so it was out of the water enough that it couldn't go anywhere. He turned around and Carly was already headed toward the waterfall. She had on the same pair of cut off jeans from the previous day and a black bikini top. She adjusted her long black hair into a new ponytail as she walked.
He caught up with her as she stood at the edge of pool that it spilled into.
"This is so cool," she said, taking a step in as the water splashed about ten feet in front of them. She wiggled her toes in the tiny pebbles that had become smooth from the constant motion from the waterfall.
Steve stared at the waterfall for a minute and then made his way around the side, pulling himself up between two rocks and climbed along the side of it, over boulders and using trees as leverage until he was about twenty feet up.
"Be careful," Carly yelled to him. She smiled at his adventurous side. She got her first glimpse of him without a shirt on and appreciated the view. He was defined and strong but it was the scars on his body that made her wonder if those were from training or real life threatening events. He smiled down at her just then from above. 'He looks like Tarzan up there,' she thought, giggling to herself.
"Come here!" he said eagerly.
She watched him step over a boulder into the side of the waterfall.
"Steve," she yelled, "don't do that!"
He popped back out. "Come here!" he said again, making his way back over to the path he took up. "You have to see this!"
She went over and followed his wet path as he appeared above her with his hand held down. She reached hers up and he pulled her easily up to where he was.
"Just follow my path," he said.
She did just that and once they were where he had been before, he moved out of the way so she could see what he had been so enthusiastic over.
"Oh my god!" She turned back to him bright eyed, "can we go in there?"
"Let me go first and see."
She laid flat against the rock wall as he carefully moved in front of her. At one point they were face to face only inches apart.
"Hi," he smiled, their noses almost touching, "How's it going?"
She rolled her eyes, grinning at him as he moved on; carefully letting out the breath she'd been holding. "God Lord,' she thought, 'could he get any sexier.'
He leaned back behind the water as it poured over the edge leaving about a three-foot gap between the rocks and the cascading falls. He glanced inside the opening that was relatively flat. He held on to a tree branch that hung over and put his foot in to see if it was slippery at all. He felt pretty confident and stepped in, making his way back in just to be sure Carly would be safe.
She watched him disappear behind the water and leaned forward, looking over the edge. She felt pretty safe deciding that even if she fell, she probably wouldn't get hurt. The pool below looked about ten feet deep.
He appeared again, reaching his hand out, "Come on. Be careful and use that branch to get over that rock right there. It's not slippery, but just go slow."
She grabbed his hand and reached up taking the branch as he guided her in behind the water. She turned her face away as it splashed her. She looked down at her feet, following his side steps until he stopped, letting go of her hand.
He stepped back away holding his arms out as she raised her head. "What do you think?" he yelled over the pounding of the water that was just at the tip of his out stretched arm.
Her eyes lit up as big as her smile. She held on to the rock wall as she glided her hand through the waterfall. "This is amazing!" she yelled.
He loved her enthusiasm and turned making his way deeper in. "It gets a little wider over here."
She bent over going under a branch that was sticking out, following him. The ground was wet but not slick at all. She came up behind him, putting a hand on his back as he bent over the low hanging boulders. He sat down and pushed away some rocks and debris next to him, clearing a seat for her.
She squatted down looking around the area for any bugs or foreign creatures that might crawl on her, feeling confident she took the spot next to him, pulling her knees up to her chest. "How did you know about this? Is it something you were taught to look for when you were a Seal?"
"No!" he said as if surprised she didn't know. "It's from that movie."
She leaned back looking at him confused. "Movie?"
"Last of the Mohicans. When they hid behind that waterfall."
She busted up laughing, leaning against him. She loved that he could just admit it was something so simple as that, and not embellish it to make himself look impressive. To her that was more thrilling than if he told her it was from the training. "I love that movie!"
"I look behind every waterfall I see, just incase." He nudged her, "You must be good luck because this is the first one I've found."
She liked that. "If the Indians came and took me away, would you find me?" she joked, replaying a scene from the movie.
"I would" he said adamantly, reciting another scene, "I'd give myself up just to save you."
"Then you'd build me a log cabin and we'd live happily ever after."
He looked over at her, "That's not from the movie."
"No, but that's what every girl who watches it thinks happens in the end."
He nodded, "Ok then, I'll build you a log cabin."
She laid her head on her knees looking at him, "Can I ask you something? But you don't have to answer if you don't want too. It's ok."
He was intrigued, "What?"
She pointed at a couple of significant scars on his chest and shoulder. "How did you get those?"
He looked down at where she was pointing. He would normally feel uncomfortable talking about it, but with Carly it was easy. He described each one as if he was proud of them, beginning with the most insignificant ones first. She smiled at the story where he had just slipped, getting on a bus and sliced his arm on the door. He then began to describe the knife wound he got on a tour in Afghanistan, not going into too much detail and leaving out the ending, but she knew he must have killed whoever it was because he was still alive. He described two more before leaning forward and showing her one on his back shoulder.
"This was probably the scariest one I ever got."
She studied the scar that was about an inch long, but not as threatening as the others. She could have had one just like that. She wanted to reach up and touch it, knowing that if the others were life threatening and this one was the scariest, that the moment must have been terrifying for him. She didn't ask nor did she touch it, it would have been too personal. But when he began to explain to her, she felt privileged that he trusted her enough with it.
"We got caught in a fire fight and I was pinned down against a truck that had just been blown apart. There were about four snipers firing on me from different angles. I had my back pressed against a piece of metal sticking out, but I had nowhere to go. If I leaned forward just an inch, they'd get me. I really didn't feel it cutting me; I was too preoccupied with the bullets that were whistling past my face hitting the ground, the truck, just about everywhere except me. Either they were really bad shots, or someone decided it wasn't my time yet," he halfheartedly laughed; still amazed he lived through that. "It's crazy some of the stuff that goes through your mind."
Carly stared at him in complete awe, "Like what?"
"The first thing of course is your training. Find a way out. But after about thirty seconds of that I realized there wasn't one and I also knew that they would be shifting positions soon to get a clean shot. It was a no win situation." He picked up a rock off the ground and mindlessly played with it in his hand as he talked, "I thought about my Mom first and it was like this calm came over me. It started from the top and just moved through me. It was odd. Then of course my Dad, my sister, friends. All of this was happening, like that," he snapped his fingers as if imitating time, "split second images." He tossed the rock into the waterfall and glanced over at her. "I thought about Karen, and you."
She felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up, "You did?" she asked almost in a whisper.
He only nodded; not telling her that what he felt for both of them was regret. He regretted letting Karen go, and he regretted letting Carly walk out of his life. It was after that incident that he had tried to contact her and found out she had just been married. That hurt almost as much as when he first lost her, because it was one of the things he had promised himself in that spilt moment. He wanted to see where it would take them, but he was too late.
He was quiet after that confession so she just let it go, assuming it was all about Karen's death, and they had closed that the first night sitting on the deck and she didn't want to open up those wounds again. "How did you get out of it?"
"I was sitting there and decided that I was just going to make a break for it instead of waiting to die. I figured I had nothing to lose." He smiled, "All of a sudden there was this huge explosion and smoke and debris came flying at me. The next thing I knew I was being hauled off the ground and thrown in the back of a Humvee. My team blasted the shit out of the building with a couple of rocket launchers and then pulled up in the middle of the chaos and got me out."
"Oh my God," Carly sighed with her hand over her heart. "What if you would have made a run for it just a couple of seconds before that?"
"I know," Steve said shrugging. "There were so many reason I shouldn't have lived through that, but I did."
"I'm so glad you did too. It would have broken my heart." She looked up at him, "Thank you for telling me that. I know you probably don't like to talk about it."
Her eyes expressed the same sincerity as her voice. He felt like kicking himself for letting her get away. She was the one and only woman he had ever met that he knew he could live happily with, and he also knew he would have done anything to make her happy. He had let himself believe all this time that he just didn't want to settle down with anyone, but after being with her again, it was obvious too him now, the only flaws the other women had, is that they simply weren't Carly.
He looked so sad. She wondered if maybe there was more to the story than he was telling her. Or maybe she shouldn't have pushed him. She could only imagine how difficult some of those times must have been on him, being in battle and facing death. "I'm sorry Steve, I probably shouldn't have asked you about those scars."
He just stared at her, seeing his life pass before his eyes again, only this time, it was the life he wished he would have had. "Why didn't you ever try to contact me, Carly?"
That question was so unexpected and asked in such a way that she knew the sadness in his eyes wasn't about the scars. She would have given anything at that second to be able to go back in time. Her throat tightened and she shook her head. "I don't know." She had asked herself that same question a thousand times. "I thought about you. I even prayed for you to be safe, but I just couldn't. I missed Karen so much. Those were very difficult times for me." She thought he of all people should understand, "You never tried to contact me either."
"Yes I did."
She stared at him confused, "When?"
"Right after you got married."
She looked even more confused, "But I never heard from you. Why didn't you follow through with it?"
He hesitated; remembering how disappointed he was when he found out she was married. He just didn't have the heart to see her after that knowing she was unattainable, and that was the only reason he didn't pursue it, but he never stopped thinking about her. He wasn't sure he wanted to divulge that piece of fragile information to her, but he also didn't want to lie her. Too him, lying was a deal breaker in any relationship. He just said it before he had a chance to dissect how she would react to it. "You were already married."
She went to reprimand him for not following through when it suddenly hit her. It all became crystal clear. It wasn't the friendship he had been seeking out to renew; he had wanted to renew the relationship they last shared together.
She wanted to cry, not knowing just how badly she wanted that with him too, until now. She had convinced herself that it would hurt too much being with him. Trying to overcome Karen's death had been so hard she was afraid seeing him would only make it worse. But the moment she saw him standing on that porch two days earlier, and now getting to know him all over again, she knew she had made a huge mistake.
He was sitting there so close, his confession still floating around her, not knowing why he felt the need to tell her that, unless he still wanted it, even now after all this time. The attraction to him was clear, there was no doubt in her mind, but so was her marriage to Allan. She wanted to stop herself from making another mistake.
"Why are you telling me this? Why now?" She stood up, holding on to the rocks trying too quickly to make her way out.
He got up following her. "Go slow!"
She ignored him, slipping once but was out of his reach by then. Her knee clipped the end of a rock as she fell, hitting it hard. She grabbed the tree branch and caught herself before she fell all the way.
"Carly!" he yelled at her as she went out where they had come in.
She felt his arm go around her waist as they stood on the ledge just outside the entrance. He held her firmly.
"Stop," he said angrily, "before you get hurt again." He moved around in front of her. "Let me look at that." He squatted down lifting her knee as she braced her hand against the rocks.
She looked down at the scar on his shoulder, feeling a shiver run down her spine. It made her angry that she still cared so much for him but there was nothing she could do about it.
He wiped away the debris from the wound carefully so as not to hurt her. "We'll put something on it when we get back."
"What do you think I'm just going to walk out of my marriage for you?!" she blurted out, saying it more to herself than to him.
He looked up at her irritated, "No! Of course not!" He let go of her knee and stood up, "You asked me a question and I answered it. Did you want me to lie?"
He really hadn't done anything wrong. She felt bad for accusing him in that way, especially since everything he had said pleased her. She shook her head, "No, I don't like lying." She had had her fill of it in the last seven years. She looked up at him uneasily, "I'm sorry." He stood so close she could feel the warmth of his body. It startled her that if he would have said 'yes' to her question, she might have done it.
A smile slowly emerged on his face, "Contrary to what you might think, if you came to my house, I don't have a shrine set up with your pictures and a candle light vigil by my bed."
She tried to stop the smile that was forcing its way on to her lips. She rolled her eyes at him and turned her head, feeling embarrassed.
"Kind of full of yourself, aren't ya?" He teased moving past her and climbing back down again.
"What?!" she snapped, following his path down from the rocks. "I am not!"
He looked over his shoulder at her, grinning.
"How did you find out anyway that I was married? No one told me that you asked."
"I worked for Navy Intelligence. It wasn't that difficult." He turned around and waited, making sure she got down safely.
"Oh," she said snotty, "look at you, Mr. Navy Intelligence. Who's acting all arrogant now?" she snickered walking past him toward the Jet Ski.
"Whatever, Diva" he chuckled, "and I'm driving back."
She looked over her shoulder, giving him a look and then made a run for the life vest that had the key. "First one there!" she yelled out.
"Damn it, Carly. I called it!" he declared, chasing after her.
She snatched it up off the ground and quickly put it on. "Beat you again," she sang out as he stopped right in front of her, "just like I'm going to do when we have that swim race too."
"Swim race," he huffed, "You're too chicken to race me." He scooped up the other jacket, slipping it on as he walked over to the Jet Ski.
"I am not," she argued, following behind him.
They lifted the machine together, putting it back in the water. She climbed on first, putting the key in. He walked them out to deeper water.
"Then let's race when we get back," he challenged, jumping on the back with her.
She started the engine and steered away from the land. "My knee is sore. That will slow me down."
Steve laughed, "It didn't slow you down running for the key."
"I know," she whined, "but it kind of hurts now." She smiled over her shoulder at him, "I'm not as tough as you are. It hurts when I fall."
He put his arms around her waist as she gunned it out of the inlet. Her last words weren't true at all. He felt it, because he had fallen, fallen in love with her all over again. He had his arms around her and if she could have seen his face and read his mind she would have seen the pain. He had managed to get himself out of the situation with her by pretending to turn it around and make it seem less than what it was, but in actuality a part of him wanted her to walk out of her marriage for him, no matter how many people it might have hurt. He wanted her that badly.
As they skimmed across the water he held her just a bit closer, pretending to her again it was for his own security because of the speed, but it was for his own satisfaction, knowing this was probably the closest he would ever get to her, taking full advantage while he could.
Carly's heart was racing faster than the boat. She wanted to get back to the house and escape somewhere alone. She needed to cry, fighting it every second. His arms around her felt strong and safe, but more than anything else, it felt good, too good.
She saw the house in the distance and began to slow down as they approached the cove. There were five people standing in the grass. Carly could see Jules waving at them as they approached, and then she saw him.
Steve looked over her shoulder at the same view, narrowing his eyes at the fifth person standing next to Craig. "Who is that?"
Carly felt her heart sink to her stomach. The timing was horrible.
"That's Allan," she sighed, not expressing the excitement she should have. She felt his hands separate from around her waist and slide across her belly until he wasn't touching her anymore, but simultaneously she swore she felt him lean closer into her.
He gripped the handles on the side of the seat just a little too tightly, staring at the man on the lawn that possessed the one thing he wanted more than anything else. He didn't think he had ever felt so heart broken in his entire life.