LATCH (22 page)

“Does it always take you this long to get ready?” I tease Abby as she’s putting on her swimsuit.

She glares at me and says, “Sorry, Mister Perfect, we all can’t roll out of bed with perfectly messy hair and be ready for the day.”

I run my fingers through my hair and look at my reflection in the mirror. “I do look good, huh?” I tease her and she just shakes her head, pulling her hair into a ponytail.

“Put some sunscreen on my back please.”

“Yes, ma’am.” I squeeze a bountiful amount into my palm and then rub it on her back as she covers the front of her body. “I can do all of you.”

“Oh, I know you can,” she says sarcastically. “Then we’ll be even later and the weather will change and I’ll have to listen to you complain about missing snorkeling.”

“Me complain?” I finish her back and look at her with a hurt expression as I sunscreen my face. “I can’t believe that’s how you think of me.”

“It’s not how I think of you, it’s how you are.” She brushes her teeth with her ass sticking out towards me and I so want to fuck her, but she’s right. The weather and waves are perfect to snorkel today, and we don’t have much time left here. A fucking week has flown by.

I put on my sunglasses and spank her ass before I walk to grab the bag with all of our stuff in it for the day. She smiles, watching me leave the bathroom. I never knew that life could be so good, sharing my everyday with just one person, but with Abby, that is exactly what it is.

Looking in the bag, I think we have everything that we could possibly need. I throw in a few more waters from the fridge, wanting to make sure that she stays hydrated and wait for her at the door.

“Don’t stand there and act like I took forever,” she gripes.

“I’m not,” I respond, defenseless with my hands in the air and she looks around for her sunglasses, which I take from the side of the bag and hand to her.

“Thank you, baby,” she says and kisses me before we walk outside.

I close the door behind us and the warm sea air feels so fucking good on my skin that I could definitely see living here forever. “Are you sure you’re okay walking?” I ask her.

“Yup,” she responds and we begin our stroll down the beach. “Have you ever snorkeled?” she asks me.

“For sure,” I lie, knowing that she has and I don’t want to look like an idiot for never going. I mean, how hard could it be?

She looks up at me with her eyes squinted and I kiss the top of her head with a grin on my face. “When did you go?” she asks.

“Maris took me when I was younger.”

“Where?”

“I don’t remember, ask her. What about you, Miss Professional.”

“On a few vacations Darrell and I took. I went out, but he was always busy or drinking so he never came.”

“So you went alone?”

“Yeah. But I didn’t care, it was fun.”

I love her positivity about things. “Fucking asshole treated you like shit for far too long. Good thing you never have to worry about that again.”

“Thank God I’ve got you! Enough about Darrell.”

I couldn’t agree more; thinking of the prick puts a sour taste in my mouth. Looking up ahead, I see the large rock formation off in the distance. “There it is,” I tell her. Jeremy said this is one thing we had to do coming here, so here we are.

“Wow, it’s gorgeous.”

“Isn’t it?” As we get closer to this amazing snorkeling spot, three dolphins swim by, so close to the shore and she asks me, “Did you see that?”

“Yeah, looks like they have a baby with them too.”

We stop walking and watch the trio swim together so perfectly in sync as they come up out of the water and then go back under. Looking once more for the dolphins, they are gone. “They must be staying under,” she says.

We continue on and quickly close the distance. Upon arriving, I set the bag down and hand her the water so she can stay hydrated, she takes a sip and passes it back to me.

“Are you ready?” I ask her, noticing that the seas are really calm.

“I am.” She pulls out the snorkel gear and hands me mine. We walk down to the water and put the flippers on and then the goggles. Damn, mine are tight as fuck and I struggle to adjust them. Then Abby asks me, “Aren’t you gonna spit in them?” I’m confused by her question, then I watch her spit and rub her saliva around the clear plastic of the lens before giving them a rinse and putting them on.

“No, fuck that.”

She raises her eyebrows at me through the lenses and I grab her hand. As we enter the water, my eyes are already foggy. I stop to fix my goggles and she swims away from me, towards the rocks. I put them back on and follow, not liking how far ahead of me she is. Once I reach her, I can’t see shit and she is laughing at me. I take off the goggles treading water. And she grabs them from me spitting into the lenses and then smearing it around. “You don’t have to lie to me, Latch, I know you’ve never been snorkeling. Maris told me.” She passes me back my goggles and I put them on, thankful that I can now see out of them.

I feel dumb for lying. She wouldn’t care if I had or hadn’t. “Breathe with your mouth slow and calm and follow me.” She grabs my hand and puts her head in the water. Only her snorkel is sticking up and I follow. As I place my face into the cool ocean, the sun on my back warms me. Looking around as the current rocks us a little, the underwater world is amazing. It’s vibrant and colorful, not as bright as I imagined, but we are in Connecticut. There are so many schools of fish everywhere and Abby gestures me to follow her with her hand. I swim alongside her, taking in the sights and can’t help but look at her. Her tiny tummy has to be the most beautiful thing about her as it sticks out a little bit.

She squeezes my hand and points to the bottom of the ocean where the entire floor is covered in mussels and on top of them are dozens and dozens of colorful starfish. As we swim around the rocks, I am startled when something touches my shoulder. I look to the right of me and between Abby and me is a gigantic sea turtle. Abby takes our hands and places them on top of its shell where they slide down on it together. We keep swimming and it stays right along with us, its majestic eyes looking at the both of us before giving a few big pushes with its arms and gliding off. In that moment Abby looks at me with a huge grin on her face and we stop.

“Latch, that was amazing!”

It really was. There isn’t much apart from Abby that amazes me, but that was definitely something else. Looking at her as she puts her goggles back on and looks into the water, I know that I hit the motherfucking jackpot with this one. She is my once in a lifetime.

Our last day at the beach has come to an end and I do not want to leave Connecticut. I pack the last of my things and look back on the bedroom one more time, where Latch and I hid away from the world for a week. It was so wonderful to be here. As I close the door to the room, I know that this isn’t goodbye, ’cause we both love it here.

Walking downstairs, Latch is nowhere in sight. I’m sure he’s loading the car, so I grab a few waters from the fridge and notice that Latch already set some in my purse. It’s funny how much we think alike. Putting the waters back, I look outside and spot him sitting on the sand watching the never-ending beauty that is the sea.

My heart is in a tizzy at the sight of him. The simplest things about him are the ones I love the most. Walking out back as the waves crash up on shore, he is lost in his own world. “Hey,” I say and sit next to him. He places his hand on my thigh and leans over to kiss me. “Hey. You about all packed up?” he asks.

“I am.”

“What are you doing out here?” I ask.

“Just thinking.” The waves are high tonight, echoing in the evening sun and I rest my head on Latch’s shoulder, thinking too, wishing that we could stay right here, forever. As much as I know that Latch and I have nothing but the future to look forward to, I also know that future involves facing Darrell, and right now I’d love to hide here forever.

“Well…let’s get going before we lose the sunlight.”

“You hungry?” I ask, stalling, hoping he’ll want to stay and eat.

“Not really, you?” We stand and walk away from the glorious sound of the water.

“I can wait ’til we’re home.”

“I like you calling it home,” he says as we collect my bags and leave the house. “You sure you can wait?”

“Definitely.”

He loads up the car as I get situated in the front seat to make the journey back to New York. Waiting for him to get into the car, I look at the house one last time and then ask him when he sits down, “Do you think Jeremy would sell us this house?”

“Maybe, but wouldn’t you want to pick our own?”

“I don’t know, there is something special about this place. It feels like home.”

“I’ll ask him.” We both give it one last look before driving away and heading back to reality. “What about moving somewhere rural, close to the water, with a lot of land?”

“Sounds like a lot of work.”

“What else do we have to do with our time?”

I smile grabbing his hand. Thinking of living anywhere with Latch makes me happy, but I also know that our future is likely going to involve the both of us working and then what…our child in daycare? Maybe New York is the best place for us, even with all the obstacles.

On the radio, I hear one of my favorite songs softly coming through the speakers and I turn it up, letting go of all the uncertainties of the future, that I have zero control over. Latch smiles at me moving, as I run my hands up my body, feeling the song. “Mm, keep doing that.”

I smirk at him and knot my fingers into my hair. He grabs one of my breasts and I push it towards him and then he surprises me, singing the hook with me.

We both laugh at his horrible rendition and his hand moves down my body ’til it is on my stomach. “Did you hear your mom just laugh at me?” he says to the baby as the song comes to an end. I turn the volume down and defend myself, “You were laughing too.”

“Doesn’t make it right.”

He keeps his hand on my stomach and I cover his with mine. “Have you thought about a name for the baby?” he asks me.

“Not really, you?”

“We could name him Latch, if it’s a boy?” he offers.

“Or we could name him Hinge, or Knob, or Handle,” I joke.

“Ouch,” he says, “Latch was my grandfather’s name.”

“Oh,” I say, feeling bad for teasing him about his name. “I didn’t know.”

“It’s okay, you know I don’t care.”

“Latch would be perfect for a boy, but what if it’s a girl?” I ask him.

“You got me, that’s all on you, baby.”

“Geez, thanks. What was your mom’s name?” I ask him.

“Matilda,” he responds, “You?”

“Anne.”

“We could name her Matilda Anne or Anne Matilda?”

“I like them both.” With our hands still on my stomach, I look out the window and close my eyes. Peace and serenity surround me as I drift off to sleep…

I wake to a hard jolt, rocking me forward and brace myself in the car, holding on to the door and center console. Latch has his hands gripped tightly around the steering wheel as I look around the car. “Fuck! Are you all—?” his sentence is cut short as someone slams into us again from behind.

I scream, scared, and he asks me again, “You okay?”

“Yeah,” I nod, “I think.” I look behind us and we get hit again. Pain burns in the back of my neck from my head whipping forward so hard. “Pull over,” I tell him, and we get slammed again.

“I’m trying,” he yells at me, attempting to switch lanes, but we are stuck in the middle and then I look next to us when the vehicle that hit us pulls up on my side of the car.

“What the fuck?” he shouts and all of the color drains from my face when I see Darrell looking over at us crazy as fuck. “Oh my God!” I scream to Latch, and he slams on the brakes, just as Darrell slams us across traffic and into the center barrier. Our car flies in the air, flipping end over end, and I reach for Latch, terrified, screaming in fear as the car is filled with glass and smoke and then…blackness takes over…