Authors: Lori Ann Mitchell
Derek
“Feels funny,” Derek said, packing the last of Dana’s things in the back of her rental car. “Seeing you without Archie.”
She smiled, looking radiant and refreshed after her stint in rehab. Sage had picked her up and, after a simple dinner for three on Derek’s porch that night, Sage and Derek had retired to her loft above the store, letting Dana have one last night of freedom – alcohol free, of course – by herself in Derek’s cottage.
Now, the next morning, Sage had thought it best that Derek be the one to send Dana back to California, where her parents lived and she could get back on her feet before petitioning for custody of Archie once more.
She looked relaxed and in no particular hurry. “Are you gonna be okay on the road alone?” Derek asked as they lingered by the trunk of her rental sedan. “It’s a long trip.”
She smiled, looking every bit the teenager he’d fallen in love with – or at least, lust with – that night back in high school. “Gonna be even longer than usual,” she said. “My folks wired me some money for the trip, want me to take my time and not rush it. I figure I’ll do some sightseeing, mosey along, pull off when I’m tired, get a room and make a vacation out of it.”
Derek peered back at her suspiciously. “Your sponsor good with that?” he asked. “Lots of temptation on a road trip.”
“No more than last night after you and Sage left me alone in your cottage, Derek. I could have gone out to the bodega on the corner and bought a six-pack or a bottle of wine, but I didn’t.”
Her tone was defensive, at least slightly, and Derek supposed he couldn’t blame her. Holding his hands up playfully, he smiled. “I guess we have to trust you some time, right?”
“Damn right,” she said, sitting back slightly on the open trunk.
“You won’t be lonely, all those miles alone?”
She wriggled her shoulders and pushed her torso slightly forward, full breasts ripe in her loose sundress. Sage had taken her shopping for a few new things after getting out of rehab, and now she looked sexy and stylish. “You could always come with me, player,” she purred, but there was no real teeth to it for a change. “Keep me company in all those roadside motels.”
“Very funny,” he chuckled, thinking back on all those times Dana had come on to him, and how easy it would have been to succumb. Seeing her now, radiant and healthy, he was glad he’d kept his hands off – and his conscience clean. “I think it’s good you’ll be alone. Give you time to think.”
She sighed, sitting back on the trunk and looking more relaxed than he’d ever seen her. “I agree,” she sighed. “We did a lot of talking in rehab, but there were so many people and it was so structured. And with Archie at his Dad’s, this will be my first time alone – really alone – since he was born.”
“It could be a grand adventure.”
She winked. “It better be.” Then, peering up at him, the morning drifting away before their very eyes, she asked, “Are you mad at me, Derek?”
He sighed, shrugging. “I’m a little ticked you couldn’t just have told me the truth,” he admitted. “That you couldn’t just come to me and say, ‘Hey, Archie’s not your kid, but I need some help.’ I would have helped you in a heartbeat.”
“Why do you think I showed up on your doorstep, Derek?”
He sagged against the fence that bordered his small drive. “I have to say, now that it’s all said and done, I’m kind of glad you did.”
She seemed surprised. “Yeah?”
“Yeah, I mean, I got to be a Dad for a whole month!” Derek was surprised by how emotional the statement made him feel, as if he’d only realized it just now. “That was pretty special, so I have no regrets about that.”
She put on a pouty face, making puffy lips before asking, “That’s all you’re happy about?”
“No,” he confessed. “It was great to see you, too, Dana. Especially now, looking healthy and sober.”
“Thanks,” she said, standing at last and, with an air of finality, turning to shut the trunk. “For everything,” she said, voice tight as she turned, whisking him into a brittle, if warm, embrace, before just as quickly releasing him and drifting toward the front of the car.
She opened the driver’s door, slipping inside before he shut it, gently. “Good luck with everything,” he said over the roar of the engine. “And don’t forget to text every time you stop for the night.”
She rolled her eyes playfully, though Derek sensed she was secretly glad that someone, at least, was looking out for her. “Okay, Mom.”
“Seriously,” he said, slapping the hood of her car as she backed, gently, down the shell-lined drive before merging with pavement and pausing just long enough to wink, wave and then peel away, heading east out of town before she could hook up with the interstate farther along the road.
He was almost glad she hadn’t lingered too long, as if to stick around another hour or more might have ruined the tender moment they’d just shared. Besides, he thought, grabbing his board from where it had been leaning against the fence this whole time, he had a life to get back to…
Sage
Sage sat atop her board, the sun on her back, legs in the water, the gentle calm of rhythmic waves lulling her into a warm, mellow stupor. With Archie in town, and Dana in rehab, with taking extra shifts to pay Colby back for watching Archie, it seemed like it had been ages since she’d simply… gone surfing.
It made her smile to think that, before Derek, she never would have missed a day in the waves; that before Derek, she’d never actually surfed. Now it was second nature to her, nature’s own stress relief, her way of chilling out and calming down and finding bliss among her long, winding days.
While she would miss Dana, and especially Archie, Sage had to admit how nice it felt to have her old life back. With Colby running the store that morning, and Derek wishing his former lover a fond adieu, Sage pretty much had the Atlantic Ocean to herself.
She’d dived into the sea an hour earlier, before Dana was even up, preferring to let Derek have his fond goodbye while she slipped out of the loft and into the sea instead. Now she felt smooth as silk, blissed out and stress free for the first time in over a month.
And that was before she saw Derek from afar, waving from the shore as he tugged off his tank top and dropped it onto her towel, sliding his board into the water and riding it effortlessly out to greet her.
His energy almost made the waves roll backward, his whole body wet and glistening as he sat atop his board, facing her. “Finally!” he said, and they laughed, knowing just what he meant.
“How’d it go with Dana?” she asked, sounding – and feeling – lazy.
“She kinda couldn’t wait to get out of here,” he said, sounding a tad disappointed.
“Don’t take it personally,” she assured him, a gentle hand on his thigh. “She’s clean and sober for the first time in years. Has a rental car, a full tank of gas, some money in her pocket and no timetable. Who wouldn’t be eager to start that kind of road trip?”
He shrugged. “I guess you’re right,” he sighed, and she realized he was an hour behind her in the relaxation department. “I guess having Dana around is almost like having a second Archie to take care of.”
“Some adults are like that,” she said. “Hopefully now that she’s sober, she’ll be able to become a full-fledged grownup.”
“And parent,” he added, making her smile.
She sidled closer, using his board to pull herself alongside. “You miss Archie, too?” she asked.
He nodded. “It was fun having him around. I liked the way the three of us were together.”
She sighed; glad that she’d already gotten her surfing in for the day. She leaned forward, kissing him longingly, lingeringly. “You didn’t come out here to go surfing, did you Derek?”
He chuckled, drawing her closer. “Nope,” he confessed. “I just wanted you to see my wet, ripped body and get all horny so we could go back to my place and fuck in every possible room.”
She laughed, feeling squishy and warm as she sat atop her board, heart suddenly thumping with anticipation. “Well, when you put it that way,” she sighed, turning and lying atop her board before looking back for the next wave. “I suppose we better get back to shore.”
“Race you!” he teased. “First one to shore gets to pick the favorite position.”
Sage chuckled, letting Derek do the hard work of grabbing the first wave and riding it, elegantly, as always, to shore. After all, when it comes to her and Derek, there
was
no bad position!