AllFreeNovel
Share Us
11
Rick
As I walked on the beach with my fishing pole, I looked out at the sun getting ready to set. It was beautiful. Romantic. A place I’d be enjoying a hell of a lot more if Valentina was here with me.
God, I miss her.
It had been three months since we had parted ways on that cruise ship. Not a day went by that I didn’t pick up my phone and start to call or text her. But nothing had changed. She had her life back home. It was one she’d built years ago without me. Who the hell am I to step back into her life after all this time and change it?
My cell phone rang, and I looked at the caller ID. I knew the 401-area code. It was someone from Rhode Island reaching out to me. God, don’t let it be bad news about Valentina.
“Hello,” I answered.
“Hi. I’m…I’m looking for Rick?” a woman asked, sounding nervous.
“This is he,” I said.
“I got your number from a…friend. There is something I need to speak to you about.”
Obviously. You called me.
“If this has to do with my father, you can tell him nothing has changed. I don’t want to see him, speak to him. or anything else that has to do with him,” I stated firmly. I could feel the anger beginning to rise within me. I had no idea who this woman was, but from her gasp, I guessed she was not prepared for my harsh tone.
“I…I…don’t know anything about…your father,” she stammered.
And I’m an ass.“Sorry. It’s a…sore subject for me.”
“No need to explain,” she replied.
“I wasn’t about to,” I stated. If it wasn’t about my father, it must be about my mother. That was the only other reason anyone from Rhode Island ever called me. “If you’re some reporter looking for a story, you’re wasting your time.”
“No. I don’t work for a newspaper or anything like that. It’s…a personal matter.”
“How about more details, or I hang up,” I warned.
“It’s about my mother. But that’s all I want to say over the phone,” she said.
This still baffled me. Valentina never mentioned having children. Had that been intentional? Why would she hide something like that from me? What the fuck? I don’t even know who her mother is. Why am I assuming we’re talking about Valentina?
Probably because I couldn’t stop thinking about her and I’d come up with any reason to think about her more.
“I’m not in Rhode Island,” I said.
“I didn’t think you were. But if you don’t want to come here, we can come to you.”
“We?”
“Yes, me and my husband, Timothy.”
“You still have me at a disadvantage. Who are you?” I asked.
“Oh, sorry. I guess I should’ve started off with that. My name is Abby Brown,” she added.
Neither name struck me as anyone I knew back home. “I don’t know either of you.”
“You don’t. But if you meet us, I promise, that will change. I’m reaching out to you for help, and everything I’ve heard about you is that you are someone who wouldn’t turn their back on someone in need. I need to see you,” she said in a serious tone.
I had no idea where she was getting her information, but she was right about that. I might not have been able to bring myself to stay in Rhode Island, but I’m a man of honor and never would turn my back on someone in need.
