Running Northwest (61 page)

“Remember a while back when I was looking at my photo albums. And th
ere was that lady in there, the
one I told you was very special to me many years ago” Thomas said trying to read the boy’s face.

“Steph…umm…Stephanie, I think. Is that right?” Daniel said as he put a finger to his mouth, thinking.

Thomas laughed and with a small smile said, “Yeah buddy, Stephanie is her name
.
”

“Okay…so what about her
?
” Daniel asked.

“Well the reason Grandma Ann called me and wanted us to come up is because she is here,” Thomas said.

“Who’s here?” the boy asked looking around.

“Stephanie is buddy,” Thomas said nervously

“Where
?” “Daniel asked
as he looked around.

Thomas lifted his hand and pointed toward the ocean, towards the woman standing by the water playing with her dog. Daniel squinted his eyes and sort of leaned over trying to get a better look then said, “I like her dog, she’s likes dogs so she must be nice
.
”

“Well I hope so, at least she used to be
,
” Thomas said.

“So are you going to go talk to her Dad?” Daniel asked.

“I don’t kno
w, do you think I should? I could use your advice buddy,
” Thomas asked.

“I don’t see why you w
ouldn’t Dad, you like her right?
Remember what you told me about that girl in my class that I liked, that if I didn’t tell her it would always be there and that I was brave for telling her I liked her
even if she didn’t like me back,
” Daniel said.

“Yeah I remember” Thomas said as he looked in Stephanie’s direction than back at his son.

“So…
like go be brave and st
uff Dad. I
t’s what you’re good at,” the boy said.

Thomas smiled and he felt his eyes water up. His son was only seven but was terrific for a kid of any age. The boy gave him reason to be a proud dad every day. He ran his hand through the boy’s hair then squeezed his shoulder.
He loved how simple
his son saw things, he missed being able to think like that.

“How did you get so smart?” Thomas said.

“Meh
a little of you and little of m
o
m I think. But I’m just really smart for my age” the boy said smiling.

They stood there watching her for a little bit, as she threw multiple sticks in the ocean trying to entice her dog to go in after them. The husky would run as fast as it could toward the water chasing the stick but stopping short where the waves, as small as they were, hit the sand and then running away frantically. Ann and her husband Ben came up and stood next to them. They watched as Stephanie and her dog began walking back to their fire. The orange setting sun already disappearing on the horizon…the sky looked like it was on fire and Stephanie and her dog became shadows.

Ben was usually a quiet man, his wife had the opinions in the family and was not afraid to voice them, and he kept to himself usually
. He was careful when he gave his
opinion
. Therefore, it caught Thomas off guard when he spoke up.

“Can I tell you something about me you probably don’t know Tom
?
” Ben asked in his gravely old man voice.

“Of course Ben
,
” Thomas said
.

“I was married once before, for five years a long time ago when I was in my 20’s. My wife died of cancer when I lived down in Phoenix. Afterwards I never thought I would love again, never wanted to and never believed I could. A few years later about eight I think, I met Ann in Vegas where she was working at a casino. She made me believe in the unbelievable, it scared the hell out of me, and I almost wrote her off, afraid to try again and not knowing how,” Ben said in his deep raspy voice, pausing, and looking over at his smiling wife.

She was looking at him with tears in her own eyes, then he continued talking “But I didn’t, and all these years later I haven’t once regretted my choice as scary and hard as it was. Tom, sometimes people only get one shot at love, you got two and a redo, do not waste your redo. Besides, she really is a wonderful girl, very much worth the chance I think. And besides if you don’t Pockets might make a play for her, you know he likes the young ones,” Ben finished saying with a playful smile.

Thomas patted the old man on the back as he watched Stephanie sit down in her chair. “Thanks Ben, for telling me that” Thomas said.

.
             
.
             
.

Shadow refused to go in the water much high than a few inches and Stephanie was not sure why.
After many attempts,
she decided to give up on that for the night and just meandered around the beach looking for things in the sand and watching the giant orange sunset.
The farther the sun got down the colder she got so she and Shadow began walking back toward the fire.

As she walked, she felt like she was being watched and looked around her. Off in the distance she saw a group of people who appeared to be watching the sunset so she ignored the feeling. The setting sun obscured her view and she just assumed it was a family or tourists enjoying
a wonderful sunset. When she
got back to her
chair,
she threw more logs onto the fire. Shadow found a comfortable spot on the flannel blanket Stephanie had brought for her to lay on. Once the fire was built up higher again, Stephanie began sorting through her bag looking for the things for s’mores that she would make shortly. She poured another glass of wine and watched the sun and the ocean. A small group of kids ran down by the water playing as their parents followed. The ocean waves made a soothing crashing sound as they gently rolled onto the shore, some seagulls flew over calling to each other. Some sort of small bird walked up fast towards Stephanie pecking in the sand; Shadow lifted her head and cocked it as she studied the bird. Stephanie tossed the bird part of a cracker then a piece towards Shadow after she noticed her dog waiting for her treat.

The sky grew a bright orange as the sun set farther down and then eventually was gone. The sky turned into a light grey color, lights from homes began to show and smoke rose from there fireplaces. About fifteen minutes after that the sun dropped below the ocean’s edge, the beach was more or less dark now. The sky still had a slight glow to it and the stars began to show more and more. In both directions Stephanie looked, she saw beach fires pop up that were not there before. The wind from the north brought the smells of the other fires in to her nose and she loved the way it mixed with the salty air.

Her attempts at roasting marshmallows in the fire were not going so well. She had lost three of the puffy white balls in the flames already and watched them melt and burn in the red embers. In addition, Shadow had snuck a whole pack of graham crackers away when her owner was not paying attention. Stephanie sipped her glass of wine and noticed out on the ocean a large boat bright with lights heading north and a couple down by the water’s edge, her mind wandered.

.
             
.
             
.

Thomas had told Daniel to stay with Layla, Ann and Ben and he would call him over in a little bit, depending on how things went. After putting Harley on her leash, the two of them slowly went down a small hill and onto the soft sand. As he walked, his hands began to shake and his heart started beating faster. He had waited years for this moment and still had no idea what he was doing. He could see Stephanie in front of him about 25 yards away, silhouetted by her fire, her dog at her side.

Walking he realized he had no idea what to say her.
What do you
say in a situation like this, “H
ey I’ve been watching you on the beach for half an hour like a creeper, wanna get coffee” probably was not the best thing to say.
As he got closer, he saw her get up and move toward the fire doing something in it. He realized how quiet his steps were in the sand. Then looked down at Harley who had noticed the other dog long before they were this close and smelled the air while her eyes were locked onto the Husky. He wondered if bringing her was bad idea so he pulled her leash tighter just in case.

.
             
.
             
.

Stephanie was frustrated but was not going to let this fire get to her and was determined to figure the lost art of roasting a marshmallow over it. She thought it was funny of all the things she forgot she got older; she never thought how to roast a marshmallow would be one of them. While she was putting one of the white puffballs on her roasting stick, she heard Shadow growl a little. “Oh girl just calm down, you can’t be growling at everything you see when we are the beach, this isn’t your yard,” She said not even looking at her dog.

She put one end of the skewer into the flame very slowly. “I bet Thomas does this all the time with his son, he’s probably a professional at this,” she said aloud. Suddenly behind her, she heard a man’s voice; her dog growl so she spun around…then her face went white.

“Actually Daniel is the pro in the family at making s’mores, he likes them light brown and I just burn the hell out of them, which works out well for the dogs since they get to eat them” Thomas said with a chuckle and his crooked smile to a surprised Stephanie who dropped her stick in sand. He was standing just at the edge of the fire, close enough to be in its glow, which made his face red.

She had no idea what to say and was lost for words then quietly said, “It’s you
!
”

“It’s me
,” H
e replied smiling looking right at her trying to ignore his nervousness.

“Thomas…” Stephanie said looking at the man who she loved for years who now was standing in front of her. After months and months of wondering she never expected their first meeting to happen like this, on the beach when she looked like hell, hands covered in sticky marshmallow goo. “Wha…what are you doing here” she finally stammered out as she saw the warm sexy smile she had missed for years.

“How honest do you want me to be?” he asked holding the dog leash tight.

She pulled her hat off, ran her fingers threw her hair and tugged on her shirt trying to make herself more presentable.

“You can stop that you know…the whole primping yourself thing.
I still think you are
beautiful Steph
anie
, you never had to try that hard to look good anyway, you just always were.
At l
east to me anyway,” He said feeling a little
embarrassed
.

Stephanie blushed and bit her bottom lip since
she
was nervous then answered his original question “how honest do you want to be Tommy
?
”

“I’m here Steph because you’re here, I didn’t get to see you on your last trip here, and I’m here because I wanted to see you. I have wanted to see you for over five years. You came here in May all the way from Michigan to see me, for possibility of seeing me, right? So I figure the least I could do was walk down the beach and do my part in meeting you half way,” He said remembering how much he lov
ed it when she called him Tommy. T
he way it
just
rolled of her lips.

Shadow slowly got up and walked closer to Thomas realizing her human knew this strange person, this man. As Thomas watched, the two dogs inch closer to each other and Stephanie watched him, his eyes, and his face how they moved and changed shape. She felt like she was dreaming, was she dreaming, how could this be happening she thought to herself. Both tails on the dogs began wagging as they smelled and examined each other. Thomas let go of the leash and Harley walked over to Stephanie who went down a knee and petted her. The old dog still remembered her and was very excited. Thomas reached down and let the husky smell his hand then began petting her.

“That’s Shadow, she my baby. I can’t believe how old Harley looks now, but she’s still cute for an old girl,” Stephanie chuckled as she rubbed Harley’s ears then running her hands down the dog’s back. Thomas kneeled down and petted Stephanie’s furry dog; Shadow glanced between her owner and Harley.

“She’s beautiful,” Thomas said as the two dogs came together and continued their s
melling.
His chancy plan of using the dogs as a means of breaking the ice with Stephanie seemed to be working.

“I’m so confused, how did you know I was here. I mean I assumed you would find out I moved here anyway, but how did you know I was on the beach,” Stephanie asked then adding “Not that I’m complaining, but jeez I look like crap. You should just go away and let me have a do over Thomas,”

“You want me to leave”? Thomas asked.

“Yes…I mean no not at all…Just turn around and let me be girlie for a second, for my own sanity even if you don’t care” She replied. Thomas slowly turned around.

“Ann and Ben called me…well Ann did” Thomas said with a smile and adding “they are down the beach with Daniel and Layla, so we could talk” Thomas said after he turned around and looked out at the ocean with Stephanie behind him.