“Sounds kind of cultish, doesn’t it?”
“A little,” I admitted. “Hence the research. I was actually thinking of doing a story on it. I pitched it at one of our meetings, but my editor, Sam, says it’s been done to death.”
“Doesn’t it bother you that your boyfriend is involved with them?”
“No. Duck’s mainly there for the career side of things.”
“And he’s doing all this on top of his law degree?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Wow, busy guy. I’ve only got a book to write, and I’m having trouble with that.”
“You’re working on another book already?”
“I kind of have to if I want to keep paying rent.”
“But I thought Snowflake was selling by the truckload. I mean, I saw a copy sitting in the window of Ariel.”
“The book industry is a lot smaller than everyone thinks,” said Rad. “I’m barely covering my living expenses.”
“Oh. I thought you were set for life.”
He laughed. “Not even close. The Elliott Tate nomination has helped, but I have a long way to go.”
“So what’s the new book about?”
“To be honest, I don’t know. I saw a documentary a couple months back about bees and how they’ve been dying out in masses.”
“I read an article about that the other day.”
“It’s really sad. They’re like a barometer of our ecosystem. It’s just one of the major signs that we’re screwing it up.”
“Do you know why they’re dying?”
“Probably a combination of things like pesticides, predators like wasps, global warming. Bees pollinate a lot of our crops, so we’re pretty screwed if they die out completely.”
“Yeah.” I glanced over at Rad, who was staring straight ahead, his expression serene. He had on the same shirt he wore that night at Blues Point. I remembered his arms around me, the way his warm skin felt against my cheek. I’d thought about that night a lot, and now he was here and I longed to be that close to him again.
He caught me looking at him and smiled. I turned away quickly.
“So how is work going for you?”
“It’s going great. Your article is coming along well, so Sam is giving me lots of new assignments. She’s happy with my progress and says I could be up for a promotion soon.”
We came to a turn where the trail was only wide enough for one horse to pass through. Rad held back and let me go in front of him. I tugged the rein gently with my right hand when, all of a sudden, a small gray blur shot out in front of us.
“What the hell—” I began. Then Molly let out a whinny and reared. I screamed, pulling frantically on the reins. “Whoa!” I cried as she broke into a gallop. “Rad! What do I do?”
“Audrey,” I saw a flash of him in my peripheral, reaching out toward me. “Hang on!”
My heart was going a million miles per hour. “Oh my God!” I shrieked when Molly bounded forward at lightning speed, turning everything around me into a blur. The forest cleared, and, before I knew it, we were on sand, racing toward the waves. My saddle was coming loose, and I could hear Rad’s horse, Midnight, galloping behind me.
“Audrey! Let go of the reins,” he called.
“Are you kidding me?” I screamed back.
“Get your feet out of the stirrups and let go of the reins. Do it! Now!”
“Shit!” I cried. I kicked my legs free and let go of the reins, my stomach lurching as I was thrown off the back of my horse. I tumbled onto the sand and came to an abrupt standstill. As I strained to sit up, I saw Molly bolting off back the way we came.
Rad came to a stop and looked down at me from his horse. “Audrey, are you okay?” he asked, breathing hard.
“I think so. God, my butt is killing me.”
Rad dismounted and came over to me. I saw a hint of laughter in his eyes when they met mine.
“Glad you think this is funny,” I said, wincing.
“I’m sorry,” he said, holding his hand out to me. “But you look so cute with your helmet dangling from your head like that.”
I took his hand, and he pulled me up. “Never again. From now on I’m sticking to merry-go-rounds.”
He looked at me, a strange expression on his face.
“What?”
“Nothing,” he shook his head and smiled.
“No, seriously, why are you looking at me like that?”
“Just what you said about merry-go-rounds. You’re the only person I know who would say something like that.” He grinned at me and shrugged. “I just like how your mind works; that’s all.”
I was taken aback by the compliment and wasn’t sure how to respond. I looked at my feet and smiled.
“So have you fallen off a horse before?” I asked.
“Sure, lots of times.”
I stared at him. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah,” he gave me a look. “You’ve never ridden a horse before, have you?”
“No,” I admitted.
“Audrey, why would you lie about that?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I figured I could pick it up as I went along.”
“You are ridiculous. You could have been seriously hurt. Luckily, you had a soft landing.”
“What the hell happened, anyway?”
“I think a rabbit ran out onto the trail. It must have startled your horse.”
I sighed. “We’re miles away from anywhere. What the hell are we going to do now?”
“Do you have your phone on you?”
“No, I put it in the saddlebag.”
“Oh. You’re not supposed to put anything important in the saddlebag.”
“What about your phone?”
“It’s dead.”
“Great. What are we going to do?”
Rad chewed on his lip for a few moments. “I know,” he said, walking back toward Midnight. “Why don’t you get on with me?”
“No. Forget it.”
“Audrey, you know what they say when you fall off a horse . . .”
“Don’t you dare.”
He grinned. “You get back on.”
“I hate you.”
“Come on; you’ll be fine.” He held out his hand. “I’ll boost you up.”
“There’s no room for me on the saddle.”
“There is if you sit up front. I saw it in a movie once.”
“It sounds awfully dangerous.”
“We’ll go slow; I promise.”
Reluctantly, I took his hand, and he helped me up onto the saddle.
“Holy shit, this horse is even taller than Molly.” Rad’s horse gave a soft whinny, practically giving me a heart attack.
“It’s okay,” Rad said reassuringly. “You’ll be fine.”
He got up behind me with almost no effort and put his arms around my waist. “Okay, now just hold onto the reins gently, and he’ll take us back to base.”
I took a deep breath. “Okay. Okay, I can do this.”
“See; this isn’t so bad,” said Rad as Midnight began moving into a slow trot. “It’s actually kind of nice.”
All of a sudden I was hugely aware of Rad’s arms around me and that I was practically sitting in his lap—not to mention that the bouncing motion of the horse had put us in a kind of compromising position. I felt a wave of guilt, thinking about how Duck would feel if he caught a glimpse of this. But then the guilt was replaced by something else, something far more insistent. It was chemical, the way my body reacted to his. A raw, undulating lust was making me ache all over. I felt the heat rise to my cheeks, and I was glad Rad couldn’t see my face.
“You better not be taking advantage of this situation,” I muttered, under my breath.
“The thought barely crossed my mind.”
We made
it back in one piece, and I was both glad and disappointed to get off the horse.
“We were a bit worried about you when Molly showed up,” said Bill, taking the reins from Rad. “I was ready to send the boys out in the pickup truck.”
“I’m glad Molly made it back safe—she had a bit of a freak-out.” I took off my helmet. “And I think I left my phone in her saddle.”
“You sure did—Sally found it. You can pick it up from her on your way out.”
“Great, thanks.”
“Molly’s usually pretty good. What happened out there?”
“I think she was startled by a rabbit,” said Rad.
“Ah, I see,” said Bill. “We’ll have to check on our fencing, then.”
A family of four were ambling over toward us, and Bill gave them a quick nod of acknowledgment. Then he turned to us and tipped his hat. “Thanks for your patronage. You two lovebirds have a nice day.”
Sixteen
“There’s something I have to tell you, Lucy,” I said one morning as she and I were catching up on housework.
“What is it?” She closed the door of the dishwasher and stood up.
“I’m hanging out with Rad again.”
She frowned. “Rad? Freddy hasn’t seen him in ages. He kind of just dropped off the radar.”
“He was busy, working on his book. You know my first feature? The author I had to interview?”
“Yeah. You were pretty vague about it when I asked you how it went.”
“I know. That’s because the author was Rad.”
“What? I thought you said his name was Colorado.”
“Rad is Colorado—that’s his actual name.”
It took Lucy a few moments to grasp that.
“Oh, I see,” said Lucy slowly. “God, what a spinout!”
“His book is in the running for the Elliott Tate Award.”
“Jesus Christ, that’s huge! Audrey, this is big news. Why haven’t you told me?”
“Well, I’m telling you now.”
“Does Duck know?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think he’ll be that happy about it. He always had this thing against Rad.”
“But you and Rad are just friends, right?”
“Of course we are.” I looked down at my hands.
“Audrey?” She had a worried look on her face. “Is there more to this than what you’re telling me?”
“No. Well, I don’t know.”
“What do you mean?”
I looked at her. “I have feelings for him, Lucy. I just—” I let out an exasperated sigh. “We’ve always had this connection, or whatever the hell it is. I don’t know.” I gave her a helpless look.
“Oh, Audrey,” she said, giving my arm a quick squeeze. “I think if Rad is in your life again, he’s there for a reason.”
I nodded. “You know, it’s like Duck and I have hardly anything to talk about. We need constant background noise—like a movie, or an activity, or friends, or something. Otherwise, we bore each other to death. Does that make sense?”
“It does.”
“But when I’m with Rad, we have so much fun. We could be doing nothing at all—it doesn’t matter. We laugh all the time, and he just gets me. Like how you get me, but this is a boy, and because of that, there’s this whole other dimension.”
“I know,” said Lucy softly. “I love Freddy like that.”
The word “love” hung in the air between us, like an ax.
“But how can I break it off with Duck?” I said, sadly. “We’ve been together since we were kids.”
“Audrey, do you remember my lucky Chuck Taylors?”
“The bright orange ones?”
Lucy nodded.
“Oh God, yes. You wore them until they fell to pieces. Even then you refused to part with them.”
“Everyone kept telling me I should throw them out.”
“Your mother did throw them out at one point.”
“She did. And I went through the trash bin and fished them out again.”
I laughed. “You were obsessed with them.”
“I was. If Candela hadn’t tossed them into the river that day, I might still be wearing them now.”
“I don’t doubt it.”
“Well, I think the point I’m trying to make is sometimes we get attached to things, just for the sake of it. Long after we’ve outgrown them. Do you know what I mean?” I knew she was referring to my relationship with Duck.
“Yeah,” I said quietly.
“I know you love him, and he sure as hell loves you. But if you have feelings for Rad, you can’t keep pushing them to one side. Even back when you first met, we all knew there was something between you two. I think Duck sensed it too.”
“I know. I just don’t want to hurt him.”
“You can’t go through your life without hurting people. That’s unrealistic.”
“Yeah, but this is me and Duck. We have so much history.”
“I know, sweetie. It’s part of my history too.”
I looked at her. “He saved my life, Lucy. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t even be here.”
She sighed. “He did a wonderful, noble thing, and do you know what you owe him for that?”
I shook my head. “What?”
“Your gratitude—that’s all.”
I felt like crying. “What if I’m making a huge mistake?”
“Then make it. You can’t go on living a lie.”
A few nights later, Rad sent me a text just past midnight.
You up?
Yes
Want to go for a drive?
Ok
I knew it was a bad idea. I was playing with fire. The right thing to do was to tell Duck I was seeing Rad again. It was wrong to sneak around behind his back, especially now that Lucy knew. It felt like my life had split into two paths and I was living both simultaneously, knowing that, eventually, they would have to collide.
I put on my jeans, grabbed my Audrey jacket and my house keys, and walked outside. “Hey,” Rad said as I got into the car.
“Hi,” I replied.
We were unusually quiet as we cruised the streets of Sydney. It wasn’t until we were heading north over the Harbor Bridge that he broke the silence. “It’s kind of weird, isn’t it? How we are hanging out so often?” It was an innocent enough question, but I knew he was heading into dangerous territory, and I was frightened. My attachment to this strange new world was steadily growing. There was something addictive about it—that free, exhilarating exchange we shared.
“Yeah,” I said quietly, hoping he would drop the subject. I wasn’t prepared for what came next, though.
“Audrey.” His voice was a little strained. “I’ve met someone.” A wave of nausea hit me. I swallowed hard.
“That’s great, Rad,” I said, trying to steady the quiver in my voice. “I’m happy for you.”
“Are you?” He glanced over at me. I felt a surge of anger, but I knew I had no right to feel the way I did. It was irrational. I had a boyfriend. Rad and I were just friends.
“Of course I am,” I said tightly. “So who is she?”
“That’s not important,” he said.
“Then why haven’t you mentioned her?” I tried to keep the bitterness from creeping into my voice. “If it’s not important, why wouldn’t she come up in conversation? Seems like a weird thing to leave out, since we’ve been talking every day—sometimes for hours.” I knew I was making a fool of myself, but I couldn’t stop. “What’s her name? Where did you meet her?”
“Her name’s Claire. I met her at a party. We’ve only been on a few dates, Audrey; it’s not serious.”
“It sounds pretty serious to me.” I tried to picture Claire but saw Ana instead. I snapped my rubber band, then glanced at Rad,
whose eyes were fixed on the road. I wanted to backtrack ten minutes and stay frozen in that pocket of time forever. It felt like I was waking from a dream, dragged against my will, back to reality.
“Well, you’re free to see whomever you want,” I said.
“Audrey, I like you. A lot. But you have a boyfriend, and we’ve been hanging out for weeks now. As far as I know, you haven’t told him you’ve been spending time with me. I don’t really get that.” I felt tears well up behind my eyes. I turned my head away from him. The last thing I wanted was for him to see me cry. “What the fuck am I supposed to do?” he continued. “I don’t know what I am to you.”
“I don’t, either,” I blurted out. “I don’t know what we are to each other. But whatever it is, I know I don’t want to lose it.”
“I don’t, either,” he said after a while. “I don’t know what this is, but I like it.”
“Me too.”
Seventeen
It was a lazy Sunday morning, and Duck and I both had the day free. That was rare nowadays, with Duck’s studies and newfound preoccupation with WYSA taking so much time. The weather was light and breezy as we strolled hand in hand down the main street of Paddington.
“What should we do today?” I asked.
“I don’t know. They have those gondolas at Centennial Park; maybe we can catch one—get some ice cream as well.”
“They are so cheesy,” I said, with a laugh.
“Ice cream?” he teased.
“No, gondolas.”
“They remind me of Venice.” Duck’s parents took him on a tour around Europe when he was nine.
“Venice,” I sighed, my heart swelling up with the vision of an exotic, faraway place.
“I’ll take you there for our honeymoon.”
My stomach tightened. “Yeah,” I said absently.
We were walking past a jewelry shop when he stopped suddenly, pulled my hand, and led me to the window.
“I need to get a new watch,” he said, scanning the display. “What do you think of the blue Coach one?”
“It’s nice, but the Rolex is more you.”
“Like I can afford one.”
“Well, you’re going to be a hotshot lawyer one day. You’ll have plenty of cash then.”
“If I spend my money on anything, it will be on one of those.” He pointed at a display of diamond rings farther up along.