Falling In (4 page)

“Look, I
can tell the people at the conference to fuck off.  It’s not a huge deal.”

A tiny
smirk pinched the corners of Audrey’s pale lips.  That was the Kim that she
knew and loved.

“Really?” 
She reached out and patted her on the arm.  “You calling me to come down here
was the best thing that could’ve happened.  I’ll be fine.”

Kim eyed
her suspiciously but eventually relented, “Okay, but you’d better call me if
you need to talk or anything.  You know I’ll always be there to listen, no
matter what it is.”

Audrey
stood up from her seat and embraced her friend’s warm, soft body for the second
time that day.  After a minute or two, she pulled back and feigned a smile.

“Come
on.  I’ll walk you out.”

Though
she still looked hesitant, Kim went up, grabbed her suitcase and met Audrey out
on the front porch.

From
where they stood--elevated above the flat landscape--the water nearby shimmered
under the high-noon sun.  Much of the property surrounding the old home was like
a marsh, with pools of water jutting up between seemingly endless tendrils of
reeds and grasses that linked together with sometimes fragile connections. 
Audrey could hear birds, frogs and crickets sounding off.  The one thing she
couldn’t hear, however, was the constant thrum of the city life that she was
accustomed to.  In a weird way, it made her suddenly feel lonely.

Kim
tapped her shoulder.

“I have
to go.”  She hugged Audrey tight, almost squeezing the breath out of her. 
“Please call me if you need anything.  I’m only a flight away.”

“Thanks,
Kim,” she replied and hugged her back.  “I will.”

By the
time that her friend’s car disappeared down the narrow road, loneliness gave
way to a feeling of absolute desolation.  Audrey sank back into the shade of
the patio and took a seat on a warm, creaking hammock that hung from the
rafters.

She was
asleep before her feet even made it up with the rest of her body, leaving a
tangled, snoring mess.  Fortunately, there wasn’t a soul around to see it.

---

Near the
elevated porch, a large egret landed and started to honk, forcing Audrey up
from her nap.  Though it only lasted few hours, she was left feeling refreshed
and relatively calm.

She sat
up and craned her neck, watching the massive, white bird as it stomped around
and made as much noise as possible.  Even though the thing was obnoxious, it
was better than the honking of taxi cabs.

Audrey
forced herself back to her feet and started around the porch, where she
eventually happened upon an old--though well maintained--bike.  The thing was a
classic beach cruiser, with smoothly-sloping bars that were painted a beautiful
mint green.  A small, delicate stripe of white followed all of the contours,
making the whole thing pop.  On the front was a basket big enough to hold a bag
of groceries, maybe two.

“Ah
hell,” she said yanked it up by one of the white handles.  “Why not?”

Though
she had no idea where she was going, Audrey pedaled the bike down the solitary
road that led to and from the property.  She bounced and hobbled down it,
feeling like the pock-marked, dirt path would shake her brains loose.  Even the
basket in front rattled and banged against the frame in protest.  Lucky for
her--and the bike--a paved road waited just beyond a small outcrop of tall
trees that were heavily burdened by tons of hanging moss.

Where
the dirt ended, she eased to a stop and dug the heels of her sneakers into the
soft shoulder.  To the left and right, both stretches of road looked equally
desolate.  There were no cars; no signs of life other than the wailing
creatures that called the area home.

Audrey
shielded her face with her hands and squinted her eyes as she scanned the
distant horizon.  Near the end of her sweep--over a small hill that crested
about a mile away--the very tip of a building’s pointed roof caught her eye.

“Must be
downtown,” she said to nobody in particular and pointed the large wheel in its
direction.

With the
road wide open, Audrey kicked off and pedaled like a maniac.  When she was
going fast enough, she dipped the handlebars to the left and right, making what
looked like a drunken weave across both lanes.  The spotty yellow paint below
sped past, eventually leading her to a hill that she coasted to the top of.

Spreading
out below, Cedar Key proper looked like a town mostly unchanged by time. 
Audrey could see dozens of antique buildings scattered about, though even the
newer ones were built to match the area’s quaint charm.  Past the mix of
buildings old and new, small fishing boats swayed gently in the glimmering bay.

Seeing
it was like a breath of fresh air.  Then again, the literal fresh air didn’t
hurt, either.

Audrey
kicked off again and raced down into town, slowing down only when she felt a
sticky layer of sweat and humidity that started to make her tank top suck up
against her body.  By that point, all that she really wanted was a cool drink.

The bike
rounded a few corners, meandering aimlessly until coming to a stop in front of
a flag-adorned building near the eastern end of the town.

Standing
two stories tall, the Island Hotel sat elegantly on a corner with a washed-out
yellow facade and white railings that wrapped all the way around the upper
level.  The lower half was surrounded by over a dozen windows that looked like
they never closed.  Layers of paint and salty ocean residue crusted the hinges,
adding to the effect.

Audrey
leaned the bike up against the wall and hurried inside.  Near the back of the
building, a tiny bar called her name.

“Why
hello,” the old man behind the counter hollered to her.

“Hey,”
she said through heavy breaths as she walked up to the counter.  “What’s the
coldest thing you’ve got?”

The
bartender--the tag on his shirt suggested that his name was Arthur--nodded
knowingly and dipped down.  When he came back up, he had a frosty beer, which
he popped open and set down in front of her.  Almost immediately, beads of
moisture started to gather and roll down the sides, where they pooled like a
little lake.

Audrey
knocked back half of the bottle in one go, chugging it greedily as the
bartender watched.

“Oh
yeah,” she sighed and set the bottle back down.  “That’s the ticket.”

Her
animal thirst finally tamed, she stopped and looked up to where over fifty
liquor bottles lined the wall.  Behind the tallest necks, a battered and worn
painting of King Neptune graced the walls.

Audrey
looked back down to find Arthur wiping off a glass with a small, white towel. 
He was a small, chubby man with crystal blue eyes and a u-shape spattering of
silver hair that barely clung to the sides of his head.  When he spoke, every
word sounded deliberate and assured.

“You
like the painting?”

“Actually,
I do.  I’ve always loved the sea but I’m from Chicago, so I don’t get to be
around it that often.”

“I’m
sorry to hear that.”

Audrey
chuckled and took another swig of the icy beer.  A few days before, she would
have felt sorry for
him
, being stuck in a tiny town in the middle of
nowhere.  Now she found herself feeling a little jealous.

She looked
around.  There were other paintings, but none of them had the same allure of
the first. 

“This is
a nice little city you have here,” she said after spying a mural of the town as
it was over a hundred years before.

“Thank
you,” he responded.  “Cedar Key is actually the second oldest city in Florida.”

Audrey
was a little surprised.

“Really?”

“Yep,”
he said and shuffled to put a few things back in their place.  “Though it
almost didn’t survive.  There was a massive hurricane in 1896 that wiped the
whole town off the map.  The only reason people stayed was because the cedar
trees around here were important to the pencil manufacturing industry.  Some of
the old mills are still around if you ever want to see them.”

Though
his little speech sounded a tad rehearsed, the story was still fascinating. 
Even better, it was obvious that he enjoyed telling it.

“You
sure do know a lot about this place.”

Arthur
leaned forward and rested his arms on the cool mahogany between them.

“My
family’s been here for, hell, over a hundred years now.”

The
thought of being confined to a tiny town for an entire lifetime was almost
unfathomable to the born-and-raised city girl.

“And
you’ve never wanted to move somewhere closer to civilization?”

“Why
would I want to leave?”  He asked.  “This is paradise.”

Audrey
drank the rest of her beer and let the thick, cold foam slip down the back of
her throat.

“I guess
you have a point there.”

Though
it was only a start, Audrey started to feel a little more like herself.  With
that came a powerful, sudden hunger that made her stomach growl.  She looked up
from the empty bottle and pushed it back toward him.

“What do
I owe you?”

The
smiling old man whisked the cup away and shook his head.

“It’s on
the house.”

“Oh I
couldn’t.”

“Don’t
worry about it,” he interrupted and tossed the bar towel over his shoulder. 
“This is a small town.  I’m sure you’ll be back in at some point.”

Audrey
smiled and pushed her chair back.

“Is
there a store around here?”

“Like a
grocery store?  There’s one just down the road to the west,” he said and
pointed in the general direction.

“Thanks,”
she responded.  “I guess I’ll be seeing you.”

“Sure
will.  Bye now.”

Audrey
left the hotel and hopped back onto the shining bike.  From where she was, the
small general store was already visible.  Its sign, which jutted out from the
building, waved back and forth on the soft breeze.  She could hear its ancient
hinges creak and groan as it moved.

In a
matter of a minute or two, she was able to pedal over, park, and find her way
inside.  Waiting for her were only four rows of goods, though they extended
back for a good distance.  It was far enough for the back counter (and the man
standing behind it) to appear invisible as Audrey’s eyes adjusted.

“Welcome,”
he hollered.  “Let me know if you need anything, ma’am.”

She
nodded and turned her attention to the long rows of chest-height, wooden
shelves.  All kinds of products lined them, though some of the boxes looked
like they hadn’t been touched in ages.  Audrey slowly moved through them, scanning
for anything that she forgot in Chicago.  Pushed along by a roaring fan that
was bolted to the ceiling above her head, the musky scent of the building wafted
by and filled her lungs.

Just
beyond a row of dusty cereal boxes, something out of place caught her eye: a long,
weaving snake tattoo that ran up the arm of a chiseled, handsome man.  The
bright ink ducked down below the sleeve of his pure, white tee shirt, forcing
her gaze to continue on an upward path.

The
first thing that Audrey noticed about him was his eyes.  They were an emerald
shade of green, though his pupils were surrounded by a ring of amber that made
them twinkle and shine, even in the low light that filtered through the general
store’s time-weathered windows.  Dripping down in front of the spectacular
color, the man’s shaggy, wavy locks shone with a light brown that was kissed by
small threads of blond.  Just from the hair alone, Audrey could tell that he
lived nearby.  He looked like he belonged on a beach.  His worn-down tee shirt
and stubbly chin supported her assumption.  Before he even spoke, the laid-back
feeling that Cedar Key embodied seemed to radiate off of him.

“Hey.”

Audrey
gathered her frizzy hair behind her head, suddenly realizing that she hadn’t
brushed it in way too long.  Between that and the Florida humidity, she didn’t
even want to know what it looked like.

“Hi,”
she answered.

The man
adjusted a paper bag between his two massive hands, but even that couldn’t distract
Audrey from his gorgeous, chiseled jaw line and muscular shoulders.

“I don’t
think I’ve seen you around here before.”

She
paused and suddenly felt all too aware of her bandaged wrist.  It wasn’t until
she tucked it back behind her body that she was able to speak comfortably
again.

“No,
probably not.  I just got into town this morning.”

“Got
into town?”  The man smiled and flashed his pearly teeth as he chuckled, “For
what?  And don’t tell me that you’re just passing through.”

“Why
not?”

“We’re
sixty miles from much of anything.  If you said that, I would know that you’re
lying.”

“You got
me,” she said and allowed herself to relax slightly.  His calm, laid-back
attitude was almost infectious.  “I’m here for a couple of weeks to watch a
friend’s house.”