He became invulnerable.
At some point he turned her over, a move that had been impossible only weeks ago. He could support his weight with his knees, trying to minimize the pain to his bad leg.
Her legs entwined his.
When her foot moved over his healed wound, he detected no flicker of a reaction from her.
For her, too, everything else had vanished but their lovemaking.
And as he looked at her in the shadows, kissing her hard again, at one point, she took a breath.
And as if welcoming him back from a long trip, she said:
“I love you.”
His answer was in his movements, driving deep, another kiss, holding her almost too tight.
Until it was done, and they both fell into the lightest of sleeps.
SECRETS
28. Morning
Jack woke up, the aches from the night before still hitting him at a dozen different points on his body.
He heard steps… expecting Christie to walk in… but it was Kate.
“Hey, Dad.”
“Hey, Kate. Um, where is everybody?”
“Mom took Simon down to the lake. I’m going down, too.”
He felt his daughter scrutinizing him.
“You okay, Dad? After last night.”
Jack had already decided to minimize the break-in.
“It was nothing. Certainly no worse than what I see every day.”
She nodded. Not exactly looking convinced. “Can I get you anything?”
He guessed all was forgiven.
Jack laughed. “No, I’m fine. Thanks, though.”
“’Kay. Then, I guess I’ll go down to the beach. It’s really hot out.”
“Great. You go and enjoy.”
After slipping on his bathing suit, and a T-shirt, Jack started down to the lake—then stopped. He turned and looked at the Blairs’ cabin. Were they okay after last night? Seemed like anyone who was behind a locked door would have been fine—the Can Heads who got in were busy with guards and other camp workers trying to stop them.
Still…
He walked back up toward the Blairs’ cabin.
Knocked at the door. Quiet. He tried the door knob.
Though he knew that would look odd, what was he going to do? Just walk in?
“Hey, Tom! You guys at home?”
No answer. Must be out enjoying the day, which was indeed gorgeous. Sun filtering through the pine trees, the lake in the distance shimmering.
A bit of paradise.
Last night started to seem more and more like a bad dream. Something that happened in the dark and you forgot by morning.
He started down for the lake again.
Christie turned and, shielding her eyes, looked at Jack walking down to their blanket and the beach chairs. When he caught her looking, he tried to hide the limp.
“Morning!” she said.
“It is, isn’t it?”
She turned to give the lake a glance, glistening jewels of light dancing on it.
“Simon is…?”
“In the water. Made some new friends. He’s having a ball, Jack.”
He could see Kate parked near the lifeguard stand, acting as though she was reading a book.
“Well, with the crackerjack lifeguards here, best keep an eye on him.”
“Yeah.” She seemed distracted.
He sat down beside her on the blanket.
Then she looked at him again.
“Jack, about last night—”
“Yeah, I enjoyed that. And you?”
“Not that. I mean… I did. Of course. It was amazing. But I was thinking about Lowe’s offer.”
He didn’t say anything.
“I mean, look at this place. Maybe you should… we should consider it.”
“After that attack?”
“Is it any worse than your precinct?”
“No. Not really. Still, that was a major fuckup.” A little girl digging in the sand close by lifted her head at hearing the dreaded F-bomb.
“Oops,” he said. “Anyway, a fence failing? Could have been bad.”
“But it wasn’t. And as head of security, you could make things better. We’d have sun, this air, the water, food—I mean, I’ve been thinking…”
“Apparently.”
“Why would we go back?”
“It’s our home.”
She took a few seconds to respond to this.
Then: “What kind of home? Fenced in, too, but just rows of houses, scared people, and you tell me that things are getting worse.” Another pause. “How long?”
He knew what the rest of the question was.
How long before it’s bad there, too, where we live?
Jack broke off from her gaze, out to the lake. Simon dived into the cool, clear water. Like a regular kid. Back in the good old days.
“I don’t know.”
“Jack, tell me you’ll think about. That we can talk about it again.”
From her tone, he knew it wasn’t so much a question.
She was saying something important to him. And he’d have to do just that.
Think about Lowe. And his offer.
“Seen the Blairs?” he said.
“No. Not down here.”
He nodded.
“You like Tom?”
“He’s okay,” Jack answered. “Just good to have someone to talk to who’s not a cop.”
He saw boats dotting the lake. It all looked picture perfect.
“Maybe we’ll do the boats, after lunch.”
In the lodge’s great dining hall, Jack looked around.
“What’s wrong?” Christie said.
“I still don’t see the Blairs.”
Christie started scanning the room.
“Think they left?”
“Could have been spooked by last night. Still, you’d think they’d leave a note or something.”
“Strange…”
Ed Lowe came to the microphone. Jack expected him to talk about last night’s incident.
Instead, he started immediately with…
“Hello, Paterville families!”
As if nothing had happened at all.
29. Afternoon
“Which boat do you like, Kate?”
“I like this one!” Simon said, pointing at a rowboat.
“That’s just a rowboat,” Kate said. Then, definitively, “I like this canoe.”
A line of three canoes sat together. Out on the lake, a few other boats went back and forth lazily. No motorboats here.
“Canoe looks good to me,” Jack said.
A boat attendant dressed in a Paterville polo shirt and jeans walked over. The name tag read: FREDDY.
“Know what kind of boat you want?” he said.
“One canoe to go.”
Freddy nodded and walked back to the middle of the small dock where an umbrella made shade for a chair and storage chest. Jack watched the guy open the chest and start digging through a pile of life preservers.
“Okay,” Jack said, turning to Simon and Kate. “A few things about canoes.”
“I still like the rowboat.”
“Next time. So, canoes tip easily. Shift your weight too fast, stand up—and we all go swimming.”
Kate listened intently.
I’m back to being Dad, Jack thought.
“That sounds like fun,” Simon said.
Jack smiled at him. “Let’s not experiment. And where we sit is important, one person in front, one in back, and—”
Simon quickly said, “I call front!”
Oh, to be a kid.