I sat down on the cold chair in the kitchen of the boat. I held Kevin’s jacket close. He was probably freezing on the deck without it.
He had come here to see me? I thought he had long forgotten about me. I hadn’t heard from him in weeks. I figured he was seeing someone else.
But no. After all this time, he still cared for me. I could see it in his eyes.
Of course, anyone who had truly cared wouldn’t have hooked up with someone else. But he had apologized. In e-mails, though I had deleted most of them.
The truth was, though, I still felt the same towards him when it came down to it. I’d have to forgive him and move on, or I’d never forgive myself.
I decided what I had to do. I went up to the deck, and found Kevin, angrily clutching the rail and looking out at the waves the wind was causing.
No, not angry, I saw at a second glance. More like frustrated.
“Kevin?” I said softly.
He looked up, surprised. “Yeah?”
“You really came here to see me?”
“Yeah,” he confirmed. “I wanted to try to get you to talk to me one last time… I figured you would’ve calmed down by now.”
“I’ve missed you,” tears filled my eyes.
He smiled, and opened his arms to me. Kevin kissed the top of my head. “I’ve missed you, too. Come one,” he motioned. “Let’s see if there’s any blankets down there.”
~Erin’s point of view~
“Hey,” Brian came outside and found me on the steps of the front porch. “Thought you could use some hot chocalate. It’s freezing.”
“Thanks. Who was Nick talking to on the walkie talkie?”
“Kevin. They said to come get them. About time, its been six hours. But they apparently found some food and had lunch. Sounds like they had a good time.”
I laughed. “That’s great. So, when are we leaving for dinner?”
Brian looked at the scenery rather that me. “Uh…” he started. “Well, I was thinking… since AJ and Amy are leaving tomorrow, and I’m not sure when the others were leaving, everyone was talking about going out somewhere together. Having like a Christmas party, since we won’t actually see each other on Christmas.”
“But your leaving early the day after tomorrow. And you said you had a bunch of stuff do do tomorrow… this was like the only time I was going to get to see you.”
“You will get to see me, you’ll just get to see all your friends, too,” he fidgited with his hands.
I wasn’t so convinced.
“Look, how about we try and catch a quick lunch tomorrow after AJ and Amy leaves,” Brian compromised.
“Okay,” I said. It would be kind of fun to eat with the others before we left.
We went to a nice restaurant in a nearby town. The windows were decorated in Christmas lights. A small Christmas tree sat near the entrance, decorated by some nearby elementary school students.
“You guys didn’t trash my boat or anything, did you?” Nick asked, worridly.
“Well…” Kevin bit his lip. “We sorta had some accidents with the Pepsi. See, the waves got really big, so the boat was rocking, and I tripped and got it all over the rug and cabinets…”
Nick’s eyes bulged. “Oh, man, you cleaned it up, didn’t you?”
“Well… we were going to,” Tracy assured him. “But that’s when you guys came to get us.”
“Oh no… that’s gonna stain! Do you know how much I spent on that boat?”
Tracy and Kevin started laughing.
“Calm down, Carter, your boats fine. But it won’t be the next time you decide to strand us in it. I’ll go take it to a pawn shop,” Kevin threatened.
Everyone laughed. Except Nick, who looked like he was still trying to recover from the event.
The mood was festive. Amy and AJ talked non-stop about their trip. They were planning to eat Christmas Eve dinner at a French restaurant that had a good few of the Eiffel Tower. Kevin had invited Tracy to come back to Kentucky with him. Howie was going to Jennifer’s house to meet her family. Nick and Heather decided to stay at the lake house, and invite both their families. They had booked the plane tickets earlier, and everyone would be arriving early on Christmas Eve. She was planning to go out tomorrow to get everything she’d need.
All the couples seemed happy.
Brian was happy, too. But not with anything concerning me. He spent most of the dinner talking to Nick, who was sitting on the other side of him.
‘How could I have missed him so much, and he not have even noticed that I was ever gone?’ I thought bitterly.
Chapter 67
Chapter 69
As Time Goes
Frick's Fairytales