And I was dumb enough to follow her.
The only woman I would ever follow.
I jumped over the railing and down to the beach.
Granted, the drop wasn’t that far at all.
It just seemed worse because Anna did it so unexpectedly.
I ran across the sand toward her.
She looked back at me and let out a playful yell.
I curled my lip and ran faster.
When I caught up to her, my right arm wrapped around her beautiful, curved hips, and I picked her up.
I spun around once.
She screamed and I let her go.
She ran again.
I did the same.
She looked back at me.
She smiled.
She turned around on her own and wiggled her fingers at me.
Tempting me to come get her again.
I closed in on her, grabbed her by the hips and picked her up.
She clawed at my arms as I put her eye level with me.
I went in for a kiss and she wiggled away again.
“Let’s go out on the rocks!”
“They’re slippery and you can get into trouble,” I said.
“Are you afraid?”
“I’m supposed to be staying out of trouble, remember?”
“That’s whatDr. Autumnsays.”
I gritted my teeth and she walked backwards, staring at me.
Behind her I saw a flash of light across the sky.
Lightning.
Followed by a slow rumble of thunder.
Some kind of metaphorical warning of a storm.