The Day He Came Back

“What about you?” I asked. “I just told you a secret. Tell me something about you that not many people know.”

“I don’t have anything as exciting as that.”

“There’s got to be something.”

She pondered my question a moment. “Okay. A couple of years ago, I created an online alter ego, pretending to be an older woman. I used it to interact with men who were old enough to be my father, and it was pretty dangerous. My mother found out and banned me from the Internet for six months.”

Damn. She’s got a daredevil side to her. “Holy shit. That does sound risky.”

“I never intended to meet any of them or give out my personal information. But I guess I got a thrill from living vicariously through this other woman.”

Color me intrigued.

“We all need excitement sometimes. Life is about exploring, so long as you’re safe. But I’m glad you stopped.”

“Yeah. In retrospect, I see how dangerous and stupid it was. Because you never quite know how secure the Internet is.”

“I agree. It was dangerous, although I have to admit, I could kind of see that bad-girl side from the moment I met you—pretty sure it’s part of what draws me to you. It’s not so much that you’re bad, but that you’re a good girl who wants to be bad. I could be totally wrong, though.”

She smiled impishly. “You’re not that far off.”

Fuck, yes. I knew it.

“Well, my mother blamed my behavior back then on her working too much and leaving me alone a lot,” she said. “She doesn’t understand that it probably would have happened either way. Parents think they can control everything, but if someone wants to experiment, they’re going to.”

“I hear you.”

And I’d love to experiment with you.

So much right now.

She ran her hand through the sand. “But no more crazy alter egos for me.”

“Good.”

“Only the phone-sex line.”

“Say what?”

“I’m kidding!” She laughed. “The look on your face was priceless, though.”

“Shit. I was about to ask you for the number. My whole weekend would’ve been mapped out. Way to disappoint.”

She chuckled and finished off the last of her macchiato. “Well, now that we’ve confessed our darkest secrets, it’s probably time for you to take me back.”

“Five more minutes?”

She hesitated. “Okay.”

“I feel this pressure now to get in as much as I can in the short amount of time we have left.”

Raven giggled. “Ask me something, then.”

I wanted to know everything about her. Every damn thing.

“What’s your favorite place in the world?”

“I haven’t been to too many places outside Florida.”

Nice, Gavin. Not everyone has the means to travel, you dumbass.

But then she smiled. “My favorite place is probably this little resort about five hours north in St. Augustine. We never had a lot of money growing up, but my mother would save up all year, and we’d stay at this place for, like, four days every off-season. They called it a resort, but it looks like a motel.” She laughed. “Don’t get me wrong, for the money, it was nice. They had a pool and a mini-golf course, and it was within walking distance of the beach. It wasn’t much, but it was our vacation, our escape from reality for a few days. We got to know the owners, and every year they’d expect us. It wasn’t that far away from home, but I’d pretend it was. And it didn’t matter. It felt a world away from our troubles. We did that trip up until I was about fifteen. I looked forward to it all year.”

“Why did you stop going?”

She shrugged. “I got older, started getting jobs. Life got in the way, I guess. But I miss it.”

This little motel had clearly brought her so much joy. I wanted to get in my car and drive her there right now. A scenario began unfolding in my head… We’d shack up at this place for days, away from everything else.

She turned to me. “What about you?”

Still immersed in my fantasy, I said, “Hmm?”

“What’s your favorite place in the world?”

I took a second, then said, “South Bank in London—people-watching by the river is a close second to this spot right here. This is my actual favorite place.”

Especially at this moment.

“Here? Really? In the whole world?”

“Travel is overrated. The best places are those where you find peace.”

“Yeah. That makes sense.” She smiled.

That smile did things to me. Someone needed to smack the smitten out of me right the fuck now.

I looked down at her fitted white pants, covered in dirt marks. Even though she looked sexy as hell, I had to ask. “Why the hell does my mother insist on the staff wearing all white?”

“You’ll have to ask her, although I like to think of it as practice for my future nursing career.”

“I guess that’s one way to look at it. It kind of freaks me out. It’s like you’re all part of some cult.” I chuckled.