The Defender (The Carrier Series Book 2) (7 page)

The rain’s pace picked up, raindrops coming down faster, each one
a bit bigger and fatter than the last. I tried to stop the tears. I knew most
guys never liked blubbering girls as company, but Adam was very patient,
standing next to me, staring off into the water patiently.  

Finally I found my voice behind the lump in my throat. “Oh, Adam.
I feel like there’s a hole inside of me.”

He looked deep into my eyes and gently placed his hands on the
outside of my upper arms. “‘In three words I can sum up everything I know about
life: it goes on.’ ” His words were beautiful and a bit pretentious, but
somehow comforting.

A tiny smile poked through my somber face. “Did you make that up
yourself?”

“I’m sorry, I cannot take credit. Those are the words of the
famous American poet Robert Frost.”

“Studying American Lit, are we?” The rain continued to drizzle on
our heads.

“Nine o’clock every Monday and Thursday morning,” he confessed.

We both took a deep breath and exhaled at the same time. I could
feel Adam’s eyes carefully examining my face, but I kept my gaze on the river
and my imagination followed it all the way to the Dells. A vision of Jack
smiling showed before my eyes and then left as quick as it came. There was
something big that happened this summer, I could feel it in my bones, and I
felt like a complete idiot for not knowing what it was.

“Ava. My heart aches for home, too. But you have to remember this:
You cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the
shore.”

“More Frost?” I said, sniffling my runny nose.

“Nope. That one is anonymous, but it’s sort of been my credo this
term.”  

A gust of wind blew the brown hair from my shoulders, and a shiver
ran down my spine. “I like it.” I looked up to the sky and felt a few light
raindrops on my face. “Can I use it, too?”

“Absolutely.” Then a sharp crack of lighting and a loud boom of
thunder interrupted our pair of aching hearts.

“Uh-oh.” The clouds opened up and the rain fell down harder than
before. “I hate to pry you away from your river, but I think we better head
back to the car park now,” Adam took off his jacket and held it over our heads
as an impromptu umbrella. We dashed across the grassy field with little rain on
our heads, although the storm continued to rage above us.

We quickly got inside the car and slammed the doors. Adam reached
to the dash to press the ignition button, but I grabbed his hand before he
touched it. “Wait. Listen…. I love this noise.” I dropped his hand and closed
my eyes, tipping my head back against the headrest. The sweet sound of fat
raindrops gently hammering on the metal roof of the car filled me with comfort.
I breathed in a cleansing breath and slowly let it out.

Adam leaned back against his seat, eyes closed, listening
carefully. “Laughton…” he whispered. “I love this noise, too. Reminds me of
lying in my bed as a young chap listening to the rain beat against the tin roof
of our house at night.”

We sat in the car for several minutes, pleasantly listening to the
storm until Adam’s cell phone buzzed in the console. He quickly grabbed his
phone, looked at the screen, and then stopped the vibrating.

“It’s my mom. I can call her back later,” he said, putting it
down.

“Your mom? From London?”

He nodded his head.

“You should probably call her back!”

“Nah. It’s okay.” Lightning streaked the sky just before a loud
thunderclap struck above our heads. It startled me so much I jumped in my seat.
Adam softly laughed as he pressed the ignition button on the dash and waited
for my permission to leave.

“You’re right,” I commented. “We better get going and out of the
storm.”

Adam backed up the car a little quicker than I thought necessary,
and followed the tiny roadway leading out of the park.

A thought suddenly occurred to me. “Is it hard to get used to
driving on the right side of the road?”

“Huh?” He looked over at me, and I saw the light click in his
eyes. “Oh right. Yes, it was difficult at first, but I’ve got it down, now.”

We both laughed sort of awkwardly. A long pause followed, and I
noticed Adam kept looking in his rearview mirror. Perhaps I freaked him out and
he was paranoid of driving the wrong way.

I moved a hand over to pat him quickly on his forearm. “You’re
doing fine.”

“Thanks.”

A few more seconds of silence followed as he continued to drive
toward my house. I figured I better apologize for blubbering all over his
sleeve earlier.

“Adam. I’m really sorry for overreacting back at the riverbank.
I’ve just had a crazy week. Stressed out, you know.”

“Don’t apologize, Ava,” he said sincerely. “I’m happy to be a
shoulder to cry on.”

“Thank you, Adam. I wish I could repay you for your kindness.”

He smiled but kept driving, saying very little.  

A few minutes later we arrived back in front of my house. Adam
turned off the car and sat looking out the windshield for a few seconds.
Obviously something was bothering him—his demeanor had changed considerably
since we got in the car at the river.

Had I said something wrong?

My mind rapidly replayed the afternoon’s events as the rain above
us pounded down on the roof above our heads.

“Are you okay?” I finally blurted out.

Should I put my hand on his shoulder?

He turned his head from the window and looked me straight in the
eyes. Adam held his gaze for a few seconds without saying a word, and it made
me feel a little uncomfortable. “I’m fine, Ava.” His voice sounded like his own
but with some unidentifiable emotion behind it. “Thank you for a wonderful day
in your company.” Then he smiled a sincere, wonderful smile, and I was pretty
sure that whatever was bothering him had nothing to do with our friendship.

“I feel the same way. See you later, Adam.”

The next morning I woke and got ready for class, feeling nervous.
It was quiz day. I revisited the notecards Adam and I made over a bowl of Fruit
Loops. It felt like I knew the words, but I was half sure my mind would blank
out when that quiz paper appeared on my desk in thirty minutes.

Why had I lost my confidence? School had never been an issue for
me. Well, until my freshman year of college.

I scrunched up my eyes, trying to remember what happened last
year.

And then it occurred to me that I had considered not coming back
to school this semester. The details of what happened were very hazy. A faint
pain began to form in the back of my brain as I strained to remember what had
happened last summer. I wasn’t ready for a full-blown headache again, so I
dropped the thought. Almost instantly the pain subsided.

Huh.

I washed the bowl in the sink and then set it in the rack to dry.
No one else was awake, so I grabbed my backpack and quietly slid out the front
door, locking it behind me.

On the chilly morning walk to class I quickly shuffled through my
notecards in a desperate last minute attempt to commit those vocab words to
memory. When I arrived at the science building, I nervously drifted through the
halls until I found room 210, and sat down at a desk in the back of the room. I
put my backpack on the floor and grabbed a pencil from the front zipper pocket.

An hour later I was released from my nervousness and on my way
home. Although I should have been overcome with relief, I had an odd sense like
someone was watching me as I walked. Several times I peered over my shoulder
but saw nothing out of the ordinary, just college kids walking here and there,
some texting, some on their phones, some with earbuds in, but all minding their
own business.

Weird.

I continued on my way, but the uneasy feeling didn’t subside. A
few more quick glances around me did not help solve the problem. I pulled out
my phone and held it in my hand, not sure what I was going to do with it. There
wasn’t a real emergency here, just a crazed girl with paranoia and an absent
memory.

Finally, I took refuge on a wooden bench near the back of the
student center and looked up into the trees around me.

Relax, Ava. Your brain is on overdrive
.

The leaves were displaying their beautiful fall colors, and the
wind was gently blowing their branches. The sun was peeking through clusters of
fluffy white clouds, and the brisk autumn air cleared my senses.

I was starting to feel my body relax and had even lost the feeling
that someone was following me, when Adam popped out from behind the back
entrance of the student center and scared me out of my skin.

I screamed loudly, jumping backward.

“Good gracious, Adam!” I put my hand on my chest, trying to slow
my hyper beating heart.

His loud laugh filled the courtyard between the student center and
the student services building. “Oh, Blimey! I’m sorry. Are you okay?”

“I suppose. You better watch out, though. I’ll have to get you
back, now.”

“I guess I deserve that.” He laughed again and took a seat next to
me on the bench.

“And also, Your Highness, you seriously need to stop stalking me.”

“Stalking? You would be so lucky.” He smiled. “So, how was the
quiz? Please tell me you aced it.”

I pulled out the Scantron test sheet from my backpack. “See for
yourself.” I shoved the paper into his open hands.

Adam looked like an excited puppy waiting to go for a walk. He
kept the paper faced down. “It’s corrected already?”

“Sure! Haven’t you seen those little machines professors have that
scan the answer sheets right there in the classroom? Instant grading!”

“Nice!” He dramatically and very slowly turned the paper over to
reveal a big red “100%” written across the top. Adam jumped up onto the seat of
the bench. “Brilliant! A blinding success!”

I laughed at him, elated and embarrassed at the same time.

“Ava! I’m so proud of you!” He jumped back down and grabbed my
shoulders for a hug. “Great job! I knew you could do it!”

I pulled away quickly—people were starting to gawk. “Thanks,” I
meekly replied. “I’m pretty pumped, too.” Although that was the truth, I wasn’t
necessarily ready to announce it to the world as Adam was.

Adam stood up again. “Well, this calls for celebration. Come on.”
He held his hand out for me to take. “I’m taking you to Belts.”

“Belts? It was just a tiny quiz!” There was something sort of
admirable about Adam in this moment. I had never lived my life this way before,
but the idea of celebrating all the small stuff seemed pretty exciting. My
favorite ice cream shop was starting to sound like a nice way to ruin my lunch.

“It is only 10:30, by the way.”

“No excuses. Be proud of your accomplishments!” Adam was still
waiting for me, hand stretched out.

“Well okay, Prince Adam. I guess you’re right.” I accepted his
hand to help me off the bench but then dropped it as we began walking down the
winding sidewalk lined with fallen leaves. His black car was sitting in the
parking lot between the student center and the Communications building. The Com
building reminded me of Adam’s aspirations to be a TV reporter. “So I owe you
for helping me study for my quiz. Are you in any need of some tour guide
tutoring from yours truly?”

He laughed quietly, unlocking the car door for me. “Oh, I forgot
to tell you! I just landed myself one overnight shift a week on,” he changed
his voice to a deeper and cheesier tone, “WWSP 90FM.”

“The University radio? Ohhh, the big time! Congrats!” I slid into
the car and then held up my left hand for a high five.

He returned the gesture, saying, “Right! A listening audience of
probably twenty-five hammered college kids who are too lazy to get up and
change the channel! I’m pretty stoked!”

“Tell me when you are on and I’ll stay up one night.” I pulled my
seatbelt from the wall and clicked it into the fastener below the console.

Adam started the car and then turned around to scan the area
before backing up. “You’d better!”

I smiled as Adam drove down Division Street. He was so easy to
talk to, and had such a positive outlook on life. He was humming a song while
he pulled into the tiny lot. There was only one person at the order window. Not
a shocker since it was only late morning and a cold autumn day.

Belts was one of those mom-and-pop seasonal ice cream shops. It
was basically a two-room shack with a few walk-up ordering windows on an
outside wall. Every November they boarded up the windows for the winter, and
then hosted a grand opening each spring where dozens of crazy college kids
would pitch tents in the snowy parking lot the night before it opened some cold
Wisconsin March morning. For most of the season you could find long lines of
locals patiently waiting for their oversized scoops of delicious soft serve.
 

Adam and I got out of the car and stood staring at the menu signs
above the window. They had great flavors, cheap prices, and portion sizes that
out-scooped any other ice cream parlor I had ever been to.  

“What’s your favorite flavor, Ava?”

“Hmmm…probably chocolate. How about you?”

“Well, I’d just about die right now for a Lemon Cornetto.”

“A what?”

“Yes. I know. It’s a real tragedy. The utterly delicious Italian
frozen waffle cone has not jumped the lake and landed over in America yet. You
Yankees sure are missing out.”

“Well, I’ll take your word for it. I’m pretty sure I’ll never be
in England to sample one.”

“Never say never, my dear.”

Adam stepped up to the window smiling and ordered two chocolate
cones. We sat at a metal round table in the outdoor seating area off to the
right. Although it was chilly, the sun was shining on my back, warming it while
we ate.

There were a few moments of silence between us as we licked our
ice cream. A chill went through my spine and I visibly shivered.

“I guess it’s too cold for ice cream. Hold this?” He held his cone
out for me. I grabbed it wondering what he was up to. He pulled off his fleece
pullover and held it out for me. “Here. It’d be a shame to see your lips and
fingernails turn blue.” He reached out and took his half eaten cone from my
left hand.

“Won’t you be cold?”

Adam pushed the fleece closer to my hand. “Naw! It’s this chilly every
day except about two in London. I’ve become accustomed.”

I accepted the fleece with a smile and asked Adam to hold my cone
as I pulled the fleece over my head. It was very warm and cozy and smelled
like, well, man. That was the best part, the smell. I shrugged up my shoulders
so the neck of the sweatshirt was right at my mouth. I closed my eyes and took
a big whiff before I reached for my ice cream back. Adam laughed at me.

“What?”

“You are too cute, Ava Gardner. Too cute.” And then he laughed
under his breath again and smiled, licking his ice cream cone and shaking his
head.