Talk to Me
| Chapter 15 Kristyne was sitting Indian-style on top of a concrete picnic table and staring out across the bay. The fog that filled her mind was thick and numbing. The hazy December sun did little to penetrate the shadows behind her eyes. So, there she sat in a semi-trance like state with a slide show of thoughts flashing against the milky background in her mind. Each distorted image giving way to the next, but none of them lingering long enough to really register in her conscious mind. She had come here to think, hoping the salt air and cool breeze would help her sort things through. She needed to work out her life that had once again been turned upside down by an unexpected turn of events. How could she right things this time? What was it going to take to get Evie on the road to emotional recovery? What about her brother? They hadn’t spoken in months. He was still an unsettled area of her life. It seemed the only thing stable in her life at this point was work; which really was nothing new. Work had always been easy, something she could control. Work was her escape, her safe haven. And then there was Nick. Whenever her thoughts turned to him things really became muddled. The wind shifted sending the breeze in off the bay. Wearing only a thin sweater the damp air easily found its way through the material and chilled her skin. She remembered the warmth she felt from waking in him arms, remembered the confusion as well. Closing her eyes against the sun her mind was filled with the image of his crystal blue eyes staring at her as they had that morning. Shivering from a chill created not from the wind, but rather from a memory she opened her eyes and stared once again out over the water. How can I be thinking of him when my best friend is in the hospital? My mind should be on more important things. And so began the random half-thoughts and broken pictures that clouded her mind. Somewhere beneath her icy fog she felt the tingling of a presence. Without turning her head she knew whom it was, the only person it could be. Taking a deep breath she caught a small trace of his cologne mixed in with the salty air. She grudgingly acknowledged to herself that his scent was uplifting and warming. Nick stood just at the perimeter of the picnic area watching her. She seemed to be staring across the bay out into nothing. He wondered where her mind was and what she was thinking. He didn’t want to intrude in her thoughts or startle her, so he waited; waited for some acknowledgement of his presence. Minutes passed and nothing happened. He quietly shifted his weight from one foot to the next and continued to watch her, studying the line of her back, the way the wind would lift her hair and gently lay it back down across her shoulders and down her back, and the way she didn’t seem to move even the slightest little bit. Finally, when he was just about to say something, she dropped her head and took in a deep breath before slowly exhaling. Lifting her head once again she turned to look over her left shoulder and caught him staring at her. Shoving his hands in his pockets, Nick took his cue and approached.
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