Running Northwest (38 page)

She leaned forward, put her face in her hands, and began crying slightly. While she was watching Thomas the one thought that went through her mind was that the life she saw Thomas have and the life she learned he had here in Oregon, was a life she could have had and shared with him. She wondered what her life would have been like if she had not been afraid all those years ago. Instead of walking the beaches alone with her dog in Michigan and getting her heart broken by bad guys, she could have been walking the windy, misty and rain swept beaches in Oregon. Moreover, she could have been doing it with the only man that ever truly loved her. She took her hands away from her face, reached for her phone and dialed Karen’s number. It rang a
few times before
her friend picked up.

“So how’s it going now
?
” Karen asked
.

“Fine
,
” Stephanie struggled to say even quietly still crying a little.

“Yeah, it sounds fine, wha
t the hell’s going on out there?
” Karen asked.

Stephanie wiped her face,
and then
began telling her friend what she saw on the beach. She went over every little detail that she saw, and everything she felt. She told Karen how tender and caring Thomas was with his son and how the small the boy looked next to his father. As she talked Stephanie began crying again and stopped talking. Karen was silent on the phone but did not hang up. Stephanie pulled her knees up to her chest, held the phone to her ear and looked out at the coast in front of her.

“What am I doing here Karen, I don’t even know why I’m here
,
” Stephanie said.

Karen did not say anything at first, but eventually spoke up and said in soothing tone, “Sweetie you’re there because you love him and you had to see him with your own eyes. You loved him before but now you can admit it to yourself. You’re there because you have to be there”

Stephanie smiled and sighed and then said “so what do I do now
?
”

“I wish I could tell you that, but I can’t honey. Only you know what you have to do next. In the meantime, I think you should take a shower get dressed up and go have some dinner and drinks with that old couple you met, they sound nice
,
” Karen said.

“They are really nice, especially Ann” Stephanie said quietly.

“It was a rough hard but good day Steph, go have some fun. Beside isn’t there a huge storm coming so you might be stuck there for a few more days”

“Yeah there is it should be here in a few hours, some people are saying it could be the worst in years. I thought about taking a few more days but I don’t know” Stephanie said.

“Well if you do the
n you do, I’ll let people know at work if you decide to stay or if you have to
,
” Karen said.

“Okay thanks Karen
,
” Stephanie said.

“All right well I
’ve
got to go and get dinner ready, be careful okay
,
” Karen said
.

“I will Hun
,
” Stephanie replied
.

“Hey Steph
,
” Karen said before hanging up the phone.

“Yeah
,
” Stephanie replied still teary eyed.

“Everything will be okay, somehow or someway it will
,
” Karen said.

“I know, thanks Karen, goodnight,” Stephanie said as she hung up the phone. She sat there for a while still just thinking about all the things that could have been if she had not been so stupid. She thought about what to do now and decided Karen was right about going out. She looked at her phone to check the time and decided to lie down for an hour then she would get ready to meet Ann and her husband.

.
             
.
             
.

The drive back to the house had been a little rough for everyone in the truck; branches and small debris were already on the road heading south. The drive back was quiet and Thomas could not get the image of the woman that he saw watching them at the beach out of his mind. The wind had steadily increased and they could hear thunder off in the distance once they had pulled into their drive way. As Thomas, his
son and their dogs pulled their
tired bodies out of the truck Derrick pulled into the driveway and honked his horn. Derrick got out of his own truck, walked over, and picked up Daniel giving his adopted nephew a big hug.

“So how was the beach big man
?
” Derrick asked the boy
.

“It was amazing, the waves were huge and we had pizza for lunch
!
” the boy said excitedly but with tired eyes.

Derrick set the boy down and shook Thomas’ hand as his friend walked towards him.

“Did you have fun old man
?
” Derrick asked

“Yeah it was a good time brother; it’s getting rough up there though with the storm coming. But we had a good time, did some shopping, ate pizza walked on the beach all that jazz
,
” Thomas said
.

“You guys needed it, you know just a day away. We’ll want to get to work so we can get this done then we can relax for a bit
,
” Derrick said.

“Sounds good to me” Thomas replied. Then he looked down at his son who was standing there with their two dogs. “
Hey
buddy why don’t you take Harley inside and wash her up in the shower and then you can watch TV for a little bit or whatever you want to do
?
” Thomas asked.

“Okay Dad
,
sounds good,” the boy said cheerily then adding with a devious smile “don’t hurt yourself you do that a lot
.
”

“Can you handle washing Harley up on your own
?
” Thomas asked
.

“Oh yeah she’s good for me Dad, she just stand
s
there
,
” the boy said.

“Okay sounds good then you can use my shower, oh and hey after you’re done with her, why don’t you take a shower yourself” Thomas said.

“Okay fine” the boy grumbled as he and the older dog walked inside the small cottage.

Thomas leaned against his truck and wiped his hands over his face. Thomas was tired as hell, he and Daniel spent a lot of time running around on the beach and it sucked the energy out of his body. On top of that, he kept thinking about the woman he saw and then his thoughts wondered onto Tracie and that whole situation.

“You look tired brother” Derrick said as he looked at his older friend.

“I am my friend, I am
,
” Thomas replied

“Well let’s get this shit done and have a beer or coffee and relax
,
” Derrick said.

“Sounds good man
,
” Thomas said.

The two friends walked around the side of the house over the sand and onto the deck facing the churning ocean. Once on the deck they stood there and looked at the ocean, the waves were crashing high up onto the beach and mostly flooding it. A few large logs had already found a new home on the beach in front of the house from being washed up by the waves. Derrick looked up at the sky and seemed to study it. Offshore, the horizon was black as night and they could see lightning bolts reach down from clouds and into the water below.

“This is going to be bad man, you
sure you want to stay out here?”
  I don’t think the boy as ever been through a storm this bad
,
” Derrick said as he began lifting up a wooden deck chair.

Thomas seemed to be looking at the same thing as he glanced up and down the coast where they live

“You may want to let Erin know you two might possibly have company later on tonight. I’m going to wait and see but just in case let her know
,
” Thomas said as he continued studying the skies and ocean in front of him.

“Sounds good to me brother, just shoot me a text when you’re on your way
.
”

Thomas and Derrick began carrying the deck furniture around the house and putting it into Thomas’ storage shed followed by Layla who stayed by them the whole time. They brought the large barbeque grill and some potted plants around to the back of the house so they were out of the wind. After getting some large boards from the shed, they carried them around and put them over the windows facing west. Thomas was not worried about debris going through the glass but had windows blow out in wind storms before since living in the cottage. The only windows they would not cover were the two sliders since Thomas had installed hurricane proof sliders two years before.

The new sliders were something he had learned about since his mother lived in a very hurricane prone area of Florida, they were required there in homes. As they worked, they heard more thunder off in the distance and the gusty howls of wind made moving the boards tricky. It took Thomas and Derrick about 45 minutes or so to finish their project. Once they were done outside, they went inside the house with Layla. Thomas made a pot of coffee and he and Derrick sat at the kitchen table and talked. Eventually Daniel joined them after his shower and Thomas made them a quick dinner of pizza leftover and chips.

While they were setting the table, talking and eating pizza Thomas got a phone call and had to leave the room. It left Derrick and Daniel alone so the two talked about the boy’s day at the beach with his father. Derrick sat back in the chair and sipped on his coffee as he listened to the boy explain how big the waves were with large emphatic hand gestures. He went on and on about the dogs at the beach and how Layla almost was sucked out into the ocean until Thomas saved her. As the boy went on talking, he also told Derrick about the woman he had seen outside the coffee shop and how she looked familiar and how he thought Harley had scared her. As Derrick sat and listened to his nephew explain this interaction with this woman, he got a feeling in his gut. He asked Daniel what she looked like but the boy could not really explain too well, he would have to ask Thomas about her later. A few minutes later Thomas walked into the room and set his phone down, his face did not look happy.

“Is everything all right?
” Derrick asked as he eyeballed his friend.

Thomas shook his head and returned the look and then said “we will talk later about it, it’s just work stuff I hope”.

Derrick studied Thomas’
face hoping to get some sort of clue from his friend about what was bothering him. Nevertheless, Thomas was stoic and hard to read as ever.

.
             
.
             
.

Stephanie woke from her nap and made some tea to drink while she got ready to go out for the night. Ann had left a note for Stephanie on her door while she was sleeping which simply said “hope to see you tonight Sweetie – Ann”. Stephanie now stood out on the small deck sipping her tea. The wind was blowing in furious and angry blows and around her Stephanie could see the trees bending over to the will of the wind. Birds fought to stay in the air and pieces of paper, branches, leaves and sand blew down the street. She could feel bits of sand hit face as she stood there and watched the sea. She went back inside and got ready to go and about half an hour later, she was sitting on the couch reading a magazine she bought. In her mind, though all she could think about was Thomas and his son and watching them on the beach together earlier in the day. Off in the distance out over the ocean there was a flash of light and a large crack of thunder and a moment later the rain began falling harder than it had all day.

Daniel was sitting inside the cottage watching television and relaxing before he got ready for bed later on, this left Thomas and Derrick alone to talk. They had gone outside after grabbing a beer and had been standing on the deck facing the violent ocean. Lightning crashed down into the sea and the wind blew in defining howls causing sand to blow in their faces. After a short time, they retreated to the other side of the house and sat on the tailgate of Thomas truck, but not before letting Daniel know where they were. The rain was coming down in hard and sporadic bursts but always seemed to be in the air to some degree. As usual, Derrick had things he wanted to say and questions he wanted to ask regarding Thomas’ mood earlier. Derrick held back though and would just let his old friend spill it out when he was ready – even if it was not tonight.

Thomas seemed far off again so he kept the conversations simple to see what would happen.

“So buddy, sounds like you and the boy had a good day up there
,” Derrick said
then took a drag of his cigarette.