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Then I told myself that it's not like we were going to do anything tonight. We were just going to chill together, that’s all. We were just two old friends catching up and I wanted to know everything that she had been up to since she’d been away. We'd both talked about leaving, but she was the one that had really done it and hadn’t come back for years.
* * *
Beatrice insistedthat I pick her up a block from her house. She was a little out of breath when she got into the car, and I had to ask the question, because I guessed that she had snuck out of her house again. When I said as much, she just kind of laughed. “You've met my mom.”
That was all the answer that was needed because her mom was notorious for being strict. It had taken Lester and me being friends for several years before she was convinced that I wasn’t going to ruin her son's reputation. The woman did not like me. She didn't hear much argument from me, as far as not going into the house and properly picking her up. It wasn't a date after all, we were just hanging out. Speaking to their mom for even a second was a second too long.
Beatrice got in the car. I could see her better now because of the light shining in from the overhead light. She looked good, and it took me a minute to take it all in. Her eyes were bright green from the start and before I'd always thought that it was something good. Did it still mean that?
Beatrice had on shorts and a buttoned-up overshirt that was see-through, revealing a bikini top underneath. Beatrice was like a fish, and she had a hell of a body. I knew that she couldn’t turn down swimming, and I’d looked forward to her outfit.
Now though, as we drove off toward the beach, I wondered if this was the worst idea I'd had yet. I told myself that I wasn't going to do anything, but Beatrice in a bikini? That was a bit more than I’d signed up for.
Trying to avoid the beach and seeing her half-naked, I asked her if she wanted to get a drink first. I had this whole plan of us getting dinner, but she looked ready to get in the water right now. I knew she would never agree to dinner. She might agree to a drink though. I was hoping.
“Where do you want to go get a drink? Is there anywhere around here?”
“We could go to my place. As you probably noticed, we don't live next door to each other anymore. I’ve got a new place.”
“I noticed that. Where do you live now?” she asked.
It was a bad idea, but I heard myself inviting her. “Let me take you up there and you can tell me what you think.”
“Up there?” Beatrice was wondering where already.
“Yeah, you’ll like it. Come out here with me and I'll give you the tour.”
She frowned at me, like I had lied to her. “You promised water.”
“We are still doing construction up there, but it does have a pond.”
“How big?” Beatrice wanted to know if it was worth her time.
I gave her measurements and she just kind of shrugged. “You know that I don't know what that means. Give me something that I can understand.”
“It's bigger than a swimming pool and a whole lot deeper. There used to be a small mine up there and it got filled in,” I explained.
She gave me this weird look. “Why do I not know what you're talking about?”
“Because you're just not thinking about it right. Come on, let me show you.”
She agreed and I pointed the truck toward the small, winding dirt road that went practically straight up. She wasn't thinking straight because she wasn't thinking of the mountains. It was on both sides of Jericho, the sleepy town nestled between the rising peaks, lined with the ocean on the other side. Beatrice had said before that the mountains made her feel trapped. She’d never been up them though and wondered if it would help the claustrophobic feeling. She could look down on the town like I did and for some reason in doing so, it made all the difference in the world.
5
Beatrice
Once he started going toward Hilltop Road, I looked in his direction and he smiled. “I know, say it.”
I didn’t know how to say it. Shock was running rampant through me, making me question everything.
“How in the world? These places are expensive. How did you get in the rich boy club? I didn’t hear about you winning the lottery or anything. You said you didn’t make it in the NFL.” I was trying to figure it out.
“Dad died, insurance.” Jeff said it so simply, like he didn’t want to talk about it.
His stilted answer made me look at him. “Damn, that is dark.”
“Yeah, mom didn’t want anything to do with the money, so she told me to get a place. It was more than I thought, so I got a place as far away from everyone else as I could.”
