Someone Like You (41 page)
It was clear and in the distance Lizzie could make out the jagged coastline all the way past Basham’s Beach, in curved outcrops to The Bluff at Victor Harbor. She glanced up and down the beach and realised she was alone. Above her, a black-shouldered kite hovered, still, its red eyes on a prize down below in the dunes, maybe a mouse or an insect. A flap of its wings held its spot, and then it turned, flew off.
As she walked, with the tide pulling waves higher up the beach to splash her ankles, she mulled over the fact that another summer was coming to a close. She’d seen so many come and go and, looking back, had barely been able to distinguish one from the other over the past decade. This one felt different and Lizzie wrestled with the sense that more things were ending than the season. This summer hadn’t been like any other. She didn’t feel like the same person she had been at its warm beginnings last December. When she’d reluctantly been conscripted into Operation Dan and knocked on his door with a food parcel, tried to coax him out of hiding but stay out of his life. Hadn’t that plan been a failure. A happy failure, she realised now with warmth in her heart and a smile on her lips.
What hadn’t been a failure was Operation Dan itself. Whoever was responsible, whatever it was that had worked, he was now definitely out of his man cave. And she hadn’t realised it until she’d told Dan her truth, but she finally felt released from her hiding too. There were some things to say to Dan McSwaine, she realised.
An unexpected wave caught her higher on her legs, splashing her knees and she gasped at the chill of it, then giggled, danced in the wave and skipped up the sand to escape the next one.
‘Elizabeth.’
The simple word sent a tremble from her heart to her chilled toes. Had she imagined him, summoned him from her head right into her real life? When a gentle hand touched her shoulder, she knew she hadn’t dreamed him. With a deep breath, she turned slowly to see the setting sun light up his face, crinkling his emerald eyes into a warm smile. His simple white T-shirt and worn jeans looked like the sexiest uniform she’d ever seen. She sighed and bit her lip, deciding at that moment to give up counting how many kinds of handsome he was.
There simply wasn’t a number big enough.
‘Hey,’ she said, suddenly nervous. For a moment, he looked at her, an awareness in his eyes that she could feel in the space between them.
She glanced over her shoulder to the sunset. ‘I was just looking at the sky. Isn’t the view spectacular?’
‘Yeah, it is,’ he replied, not lifting his eyes from her face. ‘It’s beautiful as ever.’
‘So.’
‘So.’
‘I got your note,’ she said, taking in the face she could stare at forever. There was growth on his jaw and a deep tan, too. The mark of a Middle Point summer.
‘Good. I had something to do up in Adelaide.’ Dan took a step closer, threaded a strong arm around her waist, pulled her close. As their bodies touched, pressed against each other, she wondered if he could feel the heat that flamed in her heart and reddened her cheeks.
‘Here.’ Dan had a white envelope in his hands, something that looked like a business letter, with a clear window where the address could show through from inside. He held it up between them. ‘Take it. It’s for you.’ His voice was unsure, ragged.
Lizzie reached for the envelope, turned it over and saw her name and address revealed in the window.
She let out a sigh. ‘This looks like a bill or, brilliant, a speeding ticket. The ones with windows always are. Oh well.’ She bent it in half and moved to shove it into the pocket of her shorts. Dan started and quickly let go of her.
‘Shit, Elizabeth. Don’t do that.’
Now she was confused. The last thing she wanted to be doing with Dan right there, filled with that look in his eyes that melted her bones, was discuss her personal finances. ‘I’ll look at it later, Dan. There’s something I want to say.’
He grabbed the envelope, unfolded it, then grabbed her hand and made sure she took it. ‘A man’s trying to give you something here. Open it.’
She stepped back, puzzled at his insistence. ‘Well, okay.’ Lizzie slid her index finger under the flap on the back and pried it open. Inside was a simple A4 piece of paper, folded into three. She lifted the top flap, took in what was printed there. Held her breath.
‘Dan,’ she gasped.
He rubbed his fingers across his stubbled jaw, watched her.
She unfolded the bottom third of the letter and could feel the shakes start in her knees and then in her stomach. She simply stared at it. What it said. What it meant. Looked off into the distance, to the coastline she knew like the back of her hand, and then looked at the letter again.
He couldn’t be serious. This was too much. She tried to control the pounding in her head and the pulse that seemed to be throbbing in her stomach. For the first time in her life, she was totally and utterly speechless.
‘Well?’ Dan asked, eyebrows raised.
Lizzie looked again from the page to the face of the most precious man in the world.
He shoved his hands in his pockets, shrugged. ‘Look, I know it’s not the most romantic thing in the world, a letter from a travel agent. They don’t do real tickets anymore, you know that.’ He chuckled, then reached out to stroke the fine hair by her ear.
Lizzie read the letter again, could finally let the words sink in. It told her that she could pick up a return air ticket, to anywhere in the world, all expenses paid, whenever she wanted.
A gift to Elizabeth Blake from Dan McSwaine
.
She could barely get the words out. ‘Dan, I don’t know what to say.’
‘Just say you’ll take it.’ He reached for her hand, twined his fingers in hers. ‘You deserve the big adventure you never got to have, Elizabeth. You packed all your dreams away when you came back from London. What happened to you wasn’t fair. Losing your dream wasn’t fair, either.’
Her dreams. She hadn’t hoped for anything much in her life for so long. Until she met this man, standing before her, with a gift more valuable than an air ticket. He was giving her so much more. This simple gesture, spelled out plainly on a white piece of paper, was worth more than money. He’d given her the gift of knowing her. Of knowing who she really was and of finding his way into her heart.
All she could do was throw herself into his embrace, her arms tight around his neck, and she wasn’t sure if he’d lifted her but she felt like she was floating on air. This man, who not so long ago was crushed and broken himself, held her tight, his fingers splayed on her back, his heart beating fast in time with hers.
‘Take the ticket. Go see the world. It’ll love you, Elizabeth,’ he whispered in her ear. ‘But not as much as I do.’
She found his lips, kissed him with everything she had and he responded in the exact way she hoped he would. It was fierce, passionate, not just lips joining in love, but two hearts seeing into the future and imagining something good.
He loves me and yet he’s willing to let me go
.
Her heart leapt at the sheer simplicity of what had to come next. A calm settled over her and that mysterious confidence she’d been looking for? She felt it. It had been inside her all along.
‘You say you love me but you’re sending me away alone? What if I meet an Italian football player, a Swedish supermodel or even a Greek tycoon…’
‘A Greek tycoon? In their economy?’ Dan laughed and dropped her to the sand. ‘Yeah, maybe I didn’t think this through.’
‘The world is a very big place filled with lots of handsome men. What if someone just as sexy as you tries to sweep me off my feet?’
He tapped a forefinger on his chin, thought for a minute, grinned. ‘Give that back,’ and he lunged forward to snatch the envelope from her hand.
‘Oh no, it’s mine now, Big Guy.’ And she ran backwards, hopping from foot to foot, beckoning him to follow her, which he did with his sexy eyes on her and his long limbs pounding the beach. And then he had her and they tumbled to the sand, arms and legs tangling, both laughing and breathing hard. As she toppled, Dan pulled Lizzie onto him, breasts to chest, heart to heart.
He kissed her, hard and demanding at first, then soft. ‘You’re mine, Lizzie. You know that, don’t you?’
‘Yes,’ she murmured. ‘I want to be.’
He held her face in his hands, met her eyes. ‘We’ve got something here and I’m not letting it go. I’ll be waiting for you when you get back. You’d better come back.’
She stroked his face, saw the serious look in his eyes. She felt shivery and hot all at the same time. She had to say it back. Needed to tell him how loved he was. How much she wanted him in her life.
‘Come with me.’ The words came out in a rush of breath.
‘What?’
‘I don’t know how you knew, but you did. You found your way into understanding me and that’s the most unbelievable thing. Because I was beginning to give up on that, you know? Especially here in this little town. I thought I might never find someone who gets me. And you get me. You get that I need that adventure, that I’m ready for it. Finally. I want the adventure, Dan, but I want to share it with you. So, come with me.’
His eyes were full of love for her. ‘You’re serious.’
‘I am serious. And you can’t argue with me. This is absolutely non-negotiable. Because…you see…I love you too. I don’t want to let you go, either. I’ve waited too long to meet you to leave you here.’
He moved his hand to the spot just above her left breast and when he pressed there, she hoped he could feel her racing heart under his palm. He leaned in to press his lips to hers, so gentle, so full of love.
‘I love you, Elizabeth Blake.’
She had to know. ‘You think we can make it, with all our baggage? All the shit we carry around on our shoulders?’
Dan thought about it, held the silence while he studied her face as if he was seeing her for the first time. Then he rolled her, so he was on top of her, half his weight on the sand. The setting sun shadowed his face but his emerald eyes shone down at her.
‘You know, a very wise woman told me something once. “Shit happens,” she said. “And when it does, you just have to keep on getting out of bed and brushing your teeth”.’
‘God,’ she laughed, ‘Who is that woman and why is she full of such crap?’
He smiled. ‘She also said that all you can hope for when you get out of bed in the morning is a normal day. Not a spectacular day. Just an ordinary day.’ Dan looked deep into her eyes. ‘I don’t know about you but I think this is a pretty spectacular day.’
Lizzie exhaled, deep. ‘I think it’s exceeded my wildest dreams. It’s a pretty spectacular day.’
‘And I’ll promise you one thing, Elizabeth Blake. You will never, ever have an ordinary day when you wake up next to me.’
Lizzie stopped, held her breath at what she saw. Not only could she feel him, hard, pressing into her, but there it was, in his eyes. The sexy, confident charm she’d seen in him when they’d first met. It was back.
But she also knew he was so much more than the old Dan. She was fortunate to know that he was so much more than that.
‘I’ll hold you to that,’ she replied, her eyebrows raised, and she wrapped one leg around him, pushed herself into him, making no secret of how much she wanted him back.
Around them, the curtain of night was falling. The sun was almost gone behind the western coast, but they didn’t move. Held still in the comfort of each other’s arms and each other’s love. Knowing that whatever happened next, they would face it together.
‘So, Dan,’ Lizzie said, moving against him to get closer.
‘Yeah?’
‘One question.’ She nibbled at her bottom lip.
‘What’s that?’
‘You know I hate it when you call me Elizabeth.’
‘Yes.’ Dan found the silky hair by her ear and stroked it softly.
‘Are you ever going to call me Lizzie like everyone else?’
The look of love in his eyes almost melted her bones. ‘I’m not like everyone else.’
Thank God for that
.
He kissed her again and it left her lips tingling.
‘So, Elizabeth.’ Dan said her name with added emphasis.
‘Yes?’ Lizzie replied, almost drunk with love and happiness. This man, on this beach, with the promise of tomorrow, was almost too much to bear.
‘When do we leave?’
Lizzie gasped. ‘You mean it? You really mean it?’
‘As long as we come back here. And we talk about what happens next. With us.’
‘You’ve got a deal,’ Lizzie whispered into the wind sweeping in off the water, and she sealed it with a kiss.
Turn over for a sneak peek of Julia’s story in the
first book of the
Boys of Summer
series by
Victoria Purman
