Lost Girl 3
Authors: Elodie Short
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is coincidental.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the permission in writing from the author, Elodie Short.
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All Rights Reserved
Copyright © 2015 Elodie Short
Version 1.0
LOST GIRL
Part 3
I wake up while it’s still fairly dark. I can see the first streaks of light from the sun, waiting to come up just below the horizon, coming through the gap of the door that we didn’t close properly last night. I stretch out and give Rick a kiss on his cheek, before getting up. He seems peaceful, lying on the flat airbed with the faintest hint of a smile on his face while he’s sleeping. Quietly I push one of the doors a little further open to let more light in. I quickly search for a t-shirt and some shorts in my sports bag to pull on and then walk outside. I stretch out on the small steps in front of the beach hut. After having a terrible time sleeping and waking up incredibly sore the previous night, I didn’t think that sleeping on the floor would do me any favours, but apart from my slightly stiff back, I’m feeling surprisingly rested. I jog out towards the water, hoping no-one else has picked up the clothes we’d left on the shoreline last night. I let out a tiny sigh of relief when I find everything were we’d taken off last night still lying in the sand. The sea must’ve come inland a little further last night, because when I pick up our clothes, they’re heavy with water. I walk back to the beach hut and hang the clothes on the railing outside to dry, before going back inside to wake Rick.
“Rick,” I whisper while I softly nudge him in his side. “Rick, wake up.”
“What?” he mumbles without opening his eyes.
“You should get up.”
“Why?” he sits up with a shock and looks around. “What’s wrong?”
“It takes just under two hours to drive back home, you should leave soon or you’ll be late for work.”
“What’s the time?” he asks while rubbing his eyes then looks outside to see the sun just coming up and raises an eyebrow.
“It’s twenty to six,” I reply after checking my watch.
“Oh,” he mumbles again. “It’s Tuesday, I don’t work at the market on Tuesday’s. So it’s fine,” he yawns and lies back down again.
“Oh,” I whisper back, “okay.” I look around, not sure what to do next, I don’t normally get up this early.
“Come back to bed,” Rick mumbles with his eyes closed and pats the floor next to him. I shuffle down on the blow-up bed next to him, and he wraps his arms tightly around me. Seconds later I can hear him softly snoring again.
I watch the sun rise from the comfort of Rick’s arms and lie here staring out of the doors until I hear Anna stir.
“Rick?” she whispers softly from her bed, “Rick, I need the toilet.”
I push myself up out of Rick’s arms while she slowly she pulls herself out of bed and within a few steps she’s standing next to us.
“I’ll take you,” I whisper back to her, “we’ll let him sleep for a little while longer.”
Still in the clothes she was wearing last night, she tiptoes around Rick and confidently walks out of the door. I push myself off the floor and have to rush out to follow her. By the time I get outside, she’s already two beach huts in front of me and I take a little sprint to catch up.
At the toilets I wait until she’s picked out a cubicle herself and go into the one next to her.
***
“Can I go play in the sea again?” she asks on the way back.
I shake my head, “not right now. Why don’t you play with Mick’s cars for a little while? I have to call my brother and your brother is still asleep.”
“Okay,” she mumbles a little sadly.
Together we walk into the beach hut. I get my phone out of my bag while Anna picks one of Mick’s cars from the pile she left last night. I watch her for a moment rolling the car up and down on the floor before I quietly walk outside to call Brendan.
It takes a few rings before he finally answers.
“Hello?”
“Hi Brendan,” I greet him cheerily. “I didn’t wake you up did I?”
He chuckles lightly,
“I wish. Unfortunately that seems to be Mick’s job.”
He lets out a little grunt.
“That bad?” I laugh.
“I haven’t had a lie in since he was born. So yes, that bad.”
“Well,” I slowly start, “I’m not going to make things better for you, I’ve got some bad news.”
“Why? What’s wrong?”
he asks.
“Your beach hut has been broken in to.”
I hear him gasp on the other side of the line.
“Was anything taken?”
“I don’t think so. At least, it doesn’t look like it. I spoke to some of the people next door, who told me there has been a homeless man that roams the beach from time to time. They seem to think it was most likely him.”
He lets out a sigh.
“Thanks for letting me know. Does it need a new padlock?”
“No, the lock it fine. The latch was broken with the padlock still hanging off it. I’ll go out today to buy a new latch and get Rick to fix it into place.”
“Thank you Summer. I’ll pay you back when you return the key,”
and then he lets out another chuckle,
“I guess it was lucky you brought a man with you.”
“Yes it was,” I reply as I dreamily stare at the beach hut.
“I have to go,”
Brendan says, pulling me back to reality.
“Mick wants something.”
“Okay, I’ll see you soon.”
“See you soon Summer.”
When the line goes dead I move the phone away from my ear and make my way back to Anna and Rick.
I get back inside to find Anna drive a car up and down Rick’s arm, he looks up at me with one eye open, his eyebrows wrinkled together in a frown and I can’t help but giggle.
“Anna,” I smile, “I thought we were going to let Rick sleep for a little longer?”
“It’s okay,” she replies, “I’m being gentle. I promise I won’t wake him up.”
“Then that’s a promise you can’t keep!” Rick suddenly turns around with a growl and starts tickling his sister who lets out a loud squeal of surprise followed by hysterical giggles.
“I just spoke to Brendan,” I tell Rick once their tickle fight has calmed down. “I promised him to get a new latch for the door. Would it be okay if I leave you two alone for a little while to go to the hardware store and pick one up?”
“Mhm,” Rick nods, “would you need a hand?”
“Nah,” I shake my head, “I’ll be fine. The store isn’t far from here, I’ll be back before you know it.”
It took me just under an hour to drive to the store, pick up a new latch and a screwdriver and drive back to the beach. When I get back I find a parking spot a little closer to our hut and park in it. I pick up the carrier bag from the passenger seat and walk back to an empty beach hut. Everything is how I’d left it this morning, the airbed still flat on the floor, the covers draped over it and cars lying around it, the only things missing are Anna and Rick. I look out at the beach and then my ears catch the now so familiar squeals of Anna.
I sit down on the front step and watch Anna and Rick run in and out of the sea with the waves. Anna is still wearing all of her clothes, but has her leggings rolled up to above her knees again, Rick on the other hand, has taken his shirt off and even though he’s made the effort of rolling his jeans they’re not nearly high enough and the bottoms are dark with water. I watch him laugh with his sister, happily running back and forth with the waves, but more than anything, I look at his chest, his perfect muscly chest and daydream about the next time I’ll be able to touch his soft skin.
Suddenly Anna notices me on the step and waves at me. As I wave back at, Rick says something to her that I’m unable to make out and they both come running back. I stand up and pull yesterday’s towels from the railing.
“Did you get a new latch?” Rick ask while he takes the towels from me and hands one down to Anna.
“Mhm,” I nod, “would you mind fixing it?”
“Not at all,” he smiles up at me while he dries his legs. “But I could really do with some food first.”
As he says it my belly rumbles in reply. “Me too,” I smile back.
“Me three,” Anna laughs from besides us. She’s got the towel tightly wrapped around her body and her teeth are slightly clattering.
“Are you cold?” I ask her.
“Yes,” she nods. “I got all wet.”
“Go in and get changed,” I laugh at her. “We’ll get something to eat when you’re done.” When Anna walks inside, I sit down on the step next to Rick, “do you want to get changed?” I ask, looking at the bottoms of his wet jeans clinging around his legs.
“Nah,” he shakes his head, “it’ll dry. I’ll just get a t-shirt and I’ll be fine.
I pout at him in disappointment. “Do you have to?”
He laughs and gives me a quick kiss on my cheek before getting up, “I do.”
***
Once Anna had gotten herself ready and Rick had pulled a t-shirt on, we started walking towards the restaurants in search for something to eat. After having walked up and down the whole length of the boulevard, we ended up at the same restaurant where we ate last night.
“Go and find yourselves a table,” I say to Anna and Rick when we step inside. “I’ll order us some food and join you in a minute.”
I watch Rick an Anna walk over to the same table we sat on last night, and then turn to the woman behind the counter to order all three of us a toasted Panini with ham and cheese, a coffee for Rick and one for me, and a lemonade for Anna.
Just as I’m about to reach for my pocket to pull out my wallet, an arm extends towards the woman right next to my face and I jump up. I look up to see Rick chuckling next to me.
“It’s on me,” he laughs.
“Thanks,” I laugh back and let out a sigh of relief, steadying my heartbeat back to normal.
He lingers next to me, waiting for our food and drinks to be ready, and when they are he picks up the tray and carries everything over to our table for me.
***
“That hit the spot.” Rick licks his lips while pushing his plate aside, “but I think I better be going now.”
“Do you want to go alone? Or do you want us to come with you?” I ask, feeling my stomach knotting up as I ask it.
“I think it’s probably best if I go alone,” Rick says looking at me intensely. “You two will be okay here, won’t you?”
“I’m sure we will,” I smile at him and then look down to Anna. “We’ll find something to do.”
“Good,” he smiles at us, “I’ll be home late though, I don’t finish until eleven.”
I scrunch up my face as I think, “could you please fix the latch on the hut before you go? Just in case we both fall asleep before you come back.”
“Yes,” he nods, “of course, I don’t think I would feel at ease knowing you’re in there at night with the door open anyway.”
“Let’s go then,” I smile at him while I get up from my chair, “I don’t want you to be late today.”
***
Replacing the broken latch on the beach hut didn’t take Rick long at all, he made it seem so easy. Within minutes the new latch was in place and we can lock the hut up again if we need to.
“Trade you for your keys?” he smiles as he extends the screwdriver to me.
“Thanks,” I laugh and take the screwdriver from him before rustling through my bag to find my keys. “Here you go.”
“Thanks Summer. Give me a call if you’ve got any problems with Anna.”
“Don’t worry about us,” I smile at him, “we’ll be fine. But same goes for you, give me a call if the car gives you any problems.”
“Will do,” he smiles and pulls me in close for a last hug before he leaves. I can feel his hot breath on my skin before his lips touch my cheek and I pull him in a little tighter, not wanting to let go.
Slowly he pulls away from me and turns to his sister. “Annie, you listen to Summer okay?”
“Yes Rick,” she nods and he gives her a quick hug too.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he says over his shoulder as he walks out of the cabin and down the steps. As soon as he’s out of sight, I already miss him, but I plaster a smile on my face and turn to Anna. “What do you want to do today?”
“Can I do some colouring?” she asks.
“Sure, you can.” It wasn’t what I was expecting, I thought she’d want to play in the sea again, but I’m glad she’d want to do something by herself for a little while. I get her colouring book and pencils out of one of the plastic carrier bags and take all of the blankets off of the bed to turn it into a table for her again. Settling down on the wooden bench at the table, she opens up her book and shows me the picture she’s going to be colouring in.
“That’s nice,” I smile at her and sit down next to her a minute to watch her colour.
“Do you want to do some?” she asks, looking up at me, “you can do the pink in the flowers if you want.”
“No thank you,” I smile at her, “you go ahead. I’ve got something else to do.”
She looks at me curiously, “what are you going to do?”
“I really need to fill the bed with air,” I sigh. I really can’t imagine sleeping on an uncomfortable surface for another night.
I push myself off of the bench, unwrap all the blankets from the empty airbed and drag it towards the bench. Sitting back down next to Anna, I find myself the air hole and place my lips around it.
Just as I’m about to finish, Anna finishes her colouring and pushes the book my way.
“Look,” she says proudly.
“That’s very well done,” I praise her with a big smile.
“Can we hang it up somewhere?”
“I think we can find a place,” I nod and close the cap on the blow-up bed to contain the air. I look around the hut until I spot a nail in the wall near the door.
“We could hang it up there,” I say, pointing to the nail. “If you carefully tear it out of your book, I’ll make a hole in it and hang it up for you.”
“Okay,” she nods and with the tip of her tongue sticking out of her mouth she slowly starts tearing the paper out of her book. When she hands me her picture I take one of the sharp pencils to poke a hole in the top and hang it on the nail for her.
“What do you think?” I ask, looking at her over my shoulder.
“Perfect,” she beams proudly.
“Do you want to do another one?”
“No,” she shakes her head. “Can we do some reading?”
“Sure, get one of your books out of your bag and we’ll read.”
