“They finished up in less time than normal, but we still had a fourteen-hour ride back. They just dropped me off three hours ago. Burt was finally able to get a working signal to the Coast Guard, about thirty miles out, and they got in contact with Chet. He’s been trying to call you the past three hours but you didn’t answer. I was going to have him come pick me up, but he said there was a good chance I’d find you here.”
I stared up at him. “You’re alive,” was all I could say.
He smiled at me. “I just got you back, Sailor Moon. I’m not about to check out on life now.”
A laugh bubbled up, and I let it free. It was a sound I never expected to make and the feeling of pure joy inside me was one I thought was gone. “Don’t ever die on me again,” I said with passion. “Next time I get to die.”
He laughed then and kissed my lips hard. “You’ll have to take me with you,” he said against my mouth.
I decided we could be like The Notebook and go at the same time. I was good with that. We could grow old together and have a life full of ups and downs but always together. Even in the end.
“I don’t think I hate life and this world after all,” I told him.
“Good,” he replied, smiling at me unsure what I meant.
“When I thought it had taken you from me, I hated it,” I explained.
He nodded. “Yeah, I was hating it too knowing you didn’t know where I was and with my Jeep being in the water, you could be assuming the worst.”
I dug my fingers into his dirty hair and held him close to me. “I love you, Creed Sullivan. Even when I’m angry and even when you do something stupid. I love you, always.”
He ran his hand over my hair. “Good. Because I’m sure I’ll be stupid again. I’m a man. It happens.” Then he pulled back so he could look at me. “You’re my yesterday, today and tomorrow. You always have been and always will be.”
May 19, 2012
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
“What you doing, brother?” Cora asked in a sing-song voice that always meant she was about to be annoying.
“I’m sitting on the porch,” I said, waving my hand out at the obvious.
“Sitting out here for a reason in particular?” she asked sweetly and plopped down beside me.
“No,” I lied. I didn’t want to talk about Sailor with my sister. She liked to embarrass me and I didn’t need to give her any ammunition to do so.
“Huh, well I guess you don’t care that Sailor arrives today. A week early.” She said it as if I didn’t know it. I had been texting with Sailor most of the day. I knew she was almost here.
“I didn’t say that,” I told her, hoping she wouldn’t tell Sailor that.
“So, you aren’t sitting on the porch waiting for Sailor to arrive?” she asked, as she leaned forward resting her elbows on her knees. “Because that’s what I am doing.”
Cora loved Sailor and I knew she missed her, but I had wanted to see her before Cora was there to interrupt. The other three seasons were so damn slow during the year. It felt like an eternity between the day at the end of August to the third week in May when Sailor came back. This year, I’d finally gotten a Facebook account, so I could be her friend and see her pictures. Problem was she never posted pictures. However, she had been at several events with her dad and those had made it on the news. I had cut three different pictures they’d published in the Country Music Magazine and kept them hidden in my room.
“You know I’m out here waiting on her. Stop being a brat.”
Cora giggled then. “Are you in love, brother?” she teased.
Telling my sister that I loved Sailor was a bad idea. She couldn’t keep her mouth shut but then I couldn’t exactly lie either. I didn’t want to lie about that. What I felt for Sailor was more real than anything I’d ever known. Problem was Sailor lived over a thousand miles away and she was gorgeous and lived a famous lifestyle I knew nothing about. Guys talked about her being hot online and in school. It was annoying to listen to. They didn’t know her.
“You are in love,” Cora said and sighed dramatically then leaned into me. “Ah, young love,” she said then laughed.
I didn’t look at her. Maybe if I ignored her, she would go away. It was unlikely but a guy could hope. Getting rid of Cora was like trying to make a puppy stop chewing things. She didn’t give up.
“Just shut up about that,” I said, glaring at her.