Once Again (9 page)

He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and
held it up. “Can I have your number? So I can call you?”

I tried to remember the last time someone
asked
for my number. These days, with cell phones more
common in school than pencils, most people just traded phones and
put their own numbers in.

I reached in my purse and retrieved my own.
“Only if I can have yours, too.”

When we’d exchanged numbers and stored them
in our cells, he picked up my hand again and stepped closer.

My heart hammered, my pulse thundering in my
ears. I hadn’t given much thought to sharing a first kiss with
Lucas, but darned if I wasn’t excited about it now.

“We’ll talk soon, Layla,” he said, looking me
directly in the eyes. “Thank you for tonight.”

“I should be thanking you. For the pizza and
for driving me around.”

He shook his head. “My pleasure.”

And then he lowered his head. I watched his
face move closer to mine, braced for something I knew would be
spectacular.

To my surprise, he pressed a soft, warm kiss
to my forehead. His lips lingered, for several seconds, and I
closed my eyes, letting the beauty of the moment spread through me.
He didn’t smell like fancy cologne, but rather soap and laundry
detergent, a combination that on him was pleasant and
welcoming.

His gentle kiss was more intimate and
meaningful than any lip-lock driven by passion could have been.

He didn’t say goodbye as he left. He just
smiled, walking backwards down the porch steps and sidewalk, all
the way to his truck.

And I stood in the door, grinning like a
fool.

***

Lucas floated through my dreams again, and
for once I wasn’t surprised. A few times I roused awake, just
enough to realize I was dreaming and remember the evening we’d just
spent together.

I was quite sure the smile was present on my
face even as I slept.

Images of us from the game morphed into new
images. The two of us walking along the beach, the cool fall air
whipping around us. Running along the water’s edge, cold salt water
splashing our bare feet and dampening the bottoms of our jeans.

Suddenly I was running alone, my dress soaked
with the cold rain falling from the sky. An urgency clawed at me,
and I pushed my legs to run faster. Fear coursed through me as I
called for him, though the screams that left my throat were
silent.

I had to run harder. If I wasn’t fast enough
all would be lost. I would not be able to save him.

An outcropping of rocks came into sight,
jutting out from a hillside that almost reached the water. Though
my dream was soundless, in my mind I could hear voices on the other
side of the rocks. Angry voices. Violent voices.

I opened my mouth to scream at them to stop,
the noiseless action ripping from my body. The men with angry
voices could not hear me over their own shouting.

I neared the rocks, terrified of what I might
find on the other side.

My mind heard the pounding sounds, a beating
thud that happened over and over again. And I knew.

They were hurting him.

I dropped to the wet sand and shrieked.

I wasn’t silent anymore.

The
shaking woke me up. At first I thought it was because of the cold
rain and the grief in my heart. It took me a few seconds to realize
it was my mom.

“Layla, wake up!”

My eyes finally unglued. Mom sat on my bed,
arms on my shoulders, and when she saw my eyes open, she gently
framed my face between her hands.

“Since when do you have nightmares?” she
whispered. “What in the world were you dreaming about?”

I blinked my eyelids in an effort to clear
the fog from my brain. “I can’t remember.” It was a lie, and I felt
bad about it even as the scratchy words left my mouth. But I
couldn’t tell her the truth. It would sound ridiculous. Not only
that, but the pain that was still slicing through my heart would
make it impossible to contain my anguish if I tried to talk about
it out loud.

“What time is it?” I hoped I hadn’t woken my
parents.

“It’s almost nine,” she answered. “Your dad’s
almost ready to go open the store.”

Work! I was supposed to be there in an hour.
Enduring my five-hour shift at the store suddenly seemed like a
colossal impossibility.

“Don’t worry,” Mom said. “Your dad said he
could handle it himself today. I told him you deserved a Saturday
off. I thought you might want to see Lucas.”

Yes, I thought. Mom was exactly right. I
needed
to see Lucas.

Once I convinced her I was fine and the
nightmare was nothing to be concerned about, Mom left me alone. I
rummaged through the shelves in my closet until I found my black
Vanderbilt sweat suit. After throwing it, and a pair tennis shoes
on, I sprinted to the bathroom. I twisted my hair back into the
clip from last night, but didn’t bother with the loose strands
around my face or with make up. I did manage to brush my teeth and
use deodorant.

Mom didn’t look twice at me as I left, and I
knew she thought I was anxious to see Lucas. Which was the truth,
but she had no idea why.

I had to make sure he was okay. Healthy.
Unharmed.

I’d been to the beach once with Jessie and
the girls, and I had a vague idea of where there was an outcropping
similar to the one in my dream. I would start there. Find the place
and assure myself that it had just been a dream. Then I would call
Lucas and come up with some excuse to see him.

I parked in the small, public lot that served
this part of the coastline. I shoved my keys and cell into the
pocket on the front of my sweatshirt, and walked as fast as I could
across the wooden walkway that led to the beach.

Stepping on to the sand, I looked to my left.
The rocks were maybe a hundred yards from where I stood, and as I
started in that direction, I realized I was walking the same path
I’d run in my dream.

The same path I’d seen the woman running on
my very first day in Sky Cove.

I picked up speed the further I went, until I
was running full force. I fought the urge to shout for him, knowing
he wasn’t there and my fears were irrational – it had only been a
nightmare.

My breathing was rapid by the time I reached
the outcropping, my legs burning from the force of my sprint down
the beach. The sky was overcast and the cool morning air burned as
I pulled it in to my lungs.

Salty, damp ocean air stirred around my face
as I bent over, bracing my hands on my knees, trying to calm my
heart rate, all the while glancing back and forth, proving to
myself that all was fine and that no one had been hurt here as I
slept.

I heard the hammering of feet just before I
heard his voice.

“Layla!”

Luke sped around the rocks, skidding to a
halt when he saw me.

My mind overflowed with questions. I wanted
to ask him how he’d known I was here? Had he seen my car? If so,
what was he doing driving by the beach this early in the day? Why
did his voice ring with the same desperation I felt?

But when I opening my mouth to speak, the
only thing that came out was a ragged, “Lucas.”

My voice broke when I said his name, and he
was there, crushing me in his arms.

His hands traveled from my waist, all the way
up my back and neck, and into my hair. The clip that held it all up
fell to the sand as my hair tumbled down around his fingers. I
snaked my arms around his waist as he buried his face in my hair,
thankful for the warm, solid feel of him against me.

My mind was spinning, unable to comprehend
what was happening. What had driven us both here, at this precise
moment? And why did he seem to feel the same sense of panic and
urgency I did?

Gradually, our breathing began to slow, and
he pulled back to look at me. The moisture in his eyes caused the
tears in my own to spill over, the grief from my dream finally
finding an outward expression.

“You’re here,” he whispered, his eyes locked
on mine. “And you’re all right.”

“Yes,” I breathed. “And so are you.”

“I was so scared.” His face moved even closer
to mine.

“Me too.”

Gently, so gently it took my breath, he
pressed his lips to mine. Tears ran freely down my cheeks at the
calm, yet profound assurance that Lucas was unharmed and whole. His
mouth moved with such sweetness, and I was torn between the
confused misery I felt and the joy that bloomed in my heart.

When he lifted his face from mine, he wiped
the wetness from my cheeks with his thumbs. My eyes searched his
face in a desperate attempt to find answers. “What’s happening
Lucas?”

“I’m not sure,” he said, his hands still
framing my face. His thumbs stroked back and forth on my cheeks and
my nerves began to calm a tiny bit. “I used to think I understood
it all, but I just don’t know anymore.”

As uncertain as he sounded, it was clear he
knew more than I did. Crazy as it might be, he must’ve had the same
dream as me, and come here searching for the same reasons I
did.

“What
do
you know?” I asked.

He kissed me again, this time with vigor, and
wrapped me up in the warmth of his embrace. I wasn’t sure how long
we stood there, entwined with each other, but when the kiss ended,
he spoke with a quiet voice.

“It’s a long story, Layla. I’ll tell you
everything I know, but I don’t want to talk about it here. I don’t
think I’ll be able to breath easy until we leave this place.”

I nodded with major enthusiasm. I couldn’t
have agreed more.

“Let’s walk back up toward the parking lot.
I’ve got a blanket in my truck, and we can find a spot on the beach
to talk.”

The romance of curling up with Luke on a
blanket in front of the sea did not escape me, though something
inside me told me the conversation that was coming was more serious
than anything I’d ever experienced.

He held my hand as we walked back up the
beach, and his fingers gentled on mine the further we moved from
the outcropping. It mirrored the relief I felt in my own heart.

Whatever had happened in that dream, Lucas
and I were here now. And we were together.

And that seemed more than right.

While
Lucas retrieved the blanket from the back of his Bronco, I wound my
hair in a knot and clipped it back in place. I also placed a quick
call to my mom and told her Luke and I were at the beach.

By the time I hung up, he was standing at the
walkway with a blanket in one hand and a bottle of water in the
other.

“Ready?” he asked.

On the beach we went right, the direction
opposite the outcropping. The sun peeked from behind the clouds as
we walked, brightening the otherwise overcast morning. When we
could no longer see the rocks, we spread the blanket out near the
water. The tall grass and evergreens behind us swayed with the
breeze.

“Have a seat,” he said, gesturing for me to
sit down first.

He sat beside me, close enough that our
shoulders touched. I pulled my knees to my chest, wrapping my arms
around them. Lucas opened the water bottle and offered it to me. I
took a few sips and handed it back to him.

We stared out at the ocean for several
seconds. The soft rushing sound of the waves soothed my frazzled
nerves.

“I’m trying to decide where to start,” he
said, turning his head to look at me.

“Just start at the beginning.”

“It’s not that easy.” He reached up and ran
the backs of his fingers down my cheek. “I don’t think my beginning
is the same as yours.”

“I don’t understand any of this,” I
whispered.

“How did you end up here this morning?”

I opened my mouth to speak, fully intending
to tell him everything, but it all seemed so ludicrous when I
thought about saying it out loud. How in the world did I refer to
the people in my dream? You and me? He and she? Them?

“Lucas, I... it all sounds so – ” I stopped,
took a deep breath. “Crazy.”

“Layla, trust me,” he said. “Nothing is going
to sound crazy to me.”

He was right. Whatever this was, we were
obviously both in it up to our eyeballs, given that we’d both done
a frantic run down the beach this morning.

“I had a dream,” I began. “About you and me.
It started off normal, harmless. Just pictures of us at the game
last night. Then we were here, walking along the edge of the water.
It was still us, at that point, like we really are. But then I was
alone on the beach. I was wearing a weird, old dress. And I was
running toward the rocks. There wasn’t any sound in the dream, but
I could hear everything, like it was inside my mind. There were
voices on the other side of the rocks. Angry voices. And I knew,
somehow, all that rage was directed at you. I tried to scream for
you, to stop them, but no sound came out. I couldn’t get to you
fast enough.”

I had to stop there for a moment and close my
eyes. I was fighting tears again, though I didn’t know why. It was
futile, and I might as well just let them fall. He’d already seen
me cry.

He seemed to know I wasn’t finished, because
he didn’t say anything. I took a few seconds to get control of
myself, and went on.

“As I got closer to the rocks, I heard a
beating sound. A loud sort of thumping, like someone being hit over
and over again. I couldn’t see, but I knew. I knew they were
hurting you. I couldn’t run fast enough. It just kept on, and I
knew I’d failed.”

I looked at him then, and I knew he didn’t
think I was insane. His expression held nothing but compassion.

“I felt it all, every emotion, every fear,
all the grief and sorrow. I fell onto the sand and screamed. That’s
when my mom woke me up. Apparently, I’d shouted in my sleep. As
soon as I could get dressed and out of the house, I came here. It
was irrational. I knew that, but I couldn’t stop myself. I had to
come see for myself that nothing awful had happened here during the
night. I was going to call you afterward and come up with a reason
to see you. I needed to know you were okay.”