It also kept us from having nosy neighbors right in our back pocket.
“Heaven’s Leap,” I finally said.
“You’ll have to give me directions.I’m not familiar.”
Playful smirks and googly eyes passed between us as I told him where to turn.All I wanted to do was climb into his lap and kiss him again.And never stop.The man could kiss.Not that I had a lot to compare him to, but I liked the way he kissed.Wasn’t that all that really mattered?
He took a right, and the road narrowed to just one and a half lanes.There were a few long driveways on either side, but we couldn’t see any houses from the road.
The signs ahead said Heaven’s Leap Nature Park and Lookout.Another one said Dead End.
The parking lot wasn’t much, just gravel and worn logs nailed together to create a squat fence to cordon off the lot from the lookout.It was a make-your-own parking spot kind of situation.A dented, green, metal trashcan sat in one corner, and a few trails meandered off in various directions.There were three concrete picnic tables scattered throughout, but beyond them spanned just the ocean.
While there wasn’t much of a wind at the vineyard, on this side of the island there was.Whitecaps covered the sea below and out toward the horizon, while shorebirds spread their wings wide and rode the gusts like expert paratroopers.
For a sunny Sunday, I was surprised at how few vehicles there were in the parking lot.The spot he found provided us with a great view of the water and the birds.He opened the sunroof halfway, then shut off the engine and unbuckled his belt.
“What was your plan, bringing me here?”he asked.“I know people like to park and make out at lookouts, but doesn’t that usually happen at night?It’s broad daylight.”
Snickering, I unbuckled my belt as well and spun on my seat to face him, bending one knee and propping up my leg.“It’s just a nice place to come talk, think, or … not think.”
“I’d like to talk.”
That made me grin.“Me too.”
“So … I know you said it was a story for another day, but now that you know my tragic backstory and didn’t get scared off …”
I figured he might ask, and I was prepared to give him the canned response.“My cousins and I grew up in a Christian fundamentalist cult.”
His brows shot to his hairline.“Wasn’t expecting that.”
“Nobody does.”
“Our fathers were all brothers.They had one sister, our aunt Dolores—”
“The aunt who owned the winery?”
“Yes.She escaped the community after she miscarried a baby with her abusive husband.She checked herself out of the hospital, and nobody saw her again.When my cousins and I became teenagers, she started to reach out via the town’s librarian.She let us know that if we wanted out, she would be on the outside to help us.”
“That was brave of her.”
“You have no idea.My older sisters tried to find her and turn her in to our father, but when our aunt found out that they weren’t being honest with her, she cut ties.She reached out again, carefully, to me through the librarian when I was eighteen.I was scared to leave though.I also didn’t want to communicate with her too much in case my dad found out.”
“He was abusive?”
“Extremely.”
“So was mine.”
I reached across the seats and took his hand, rubbing my thumb over his knuckles.“I’m sorry.”
“Me too.”
“I got married off to a horrible, older man.Like twenty-ish years older than me.It was a thing.Older men who’d never married—and for good reason—would come to our community in search of a young wife.They might come with a bit of money and buy their way in.That’s what Ephram did anyway.He bribed my dad for my hand, and my dad was more than happy to be rid of me.He used to always say that God cursed him with only daughters.”
Lennox made a face of disgust.“Men like that make me sick.”
“He is a very sick-in-the-head person,” I said deadpanned.“Anyway, I married Ephram when I was twenty-two and he was nearly fifty.You want to talk about age gaps … that was too much.He was old enough to be my father.And he was twice the size of my dad.”
