I was working in the Boutique when an attractive man walked in. He looked around at some of the men's clothes. Looked at some shoes, then grabbed a pair and walked up to the counter, "Would you have these in a size 12 1/2?"
"I'll go check." I wink at him and go in the back. I came back out with the same pair of shoes in his size. "You're in luck, I only had one pair left in that size. We don't usually carry half sizes."
"I guess I am lucky." The man smiles at me and sits down on a bench to try on the shoes.
They look fabulous on him. Then I take in the rest of his sight. He wears a nice pullover that compliments his hazel eyes. Dark wash jeans that snug against his formed body. The shoes just put the whole look together. I smile as I take in his handsome face.
"Thanks, Ashley." The man says.
I take a step back, confused. "How did you know my name?" I ask the man.
"Let me introduce myself." He stand and extends a hand, "I'm Ryan Cole."
"Cole... as in detective Cole?" I ask, flabbergasted.
He nods. Then takes his back when he realizes I'm not reaching to shake it. I cross my arms and wait for him to continue.
"Sorry. I just heard you run this place and thought I'd come check it out. I didn't think you'd actually be working here today. I just recognized you from your picture. And now I'm rambling." He runs his hand through his black, spiky hair.
"Okay. And do you need me to leave with you or something?" I say, curtly. He just looks at me. "You know, to answer your questions?"
"I see you've talked with Nicole and Samantha." He sits back down on the bench. He takes off the shoes he was trying on. He puts them back in the box and hands it to me. "Here. I guess I won't be buying these."
I take the box and scoff. "Seriously? You just thought you could come in here and pretend to be interested in a pair of shoes in order to- what- get a read on me or something?"
"No. I actually really want those shoes. I just didn't think you'd want to sell them to me." He said, softly.
"Oh." I walk over to the counter and ring up the shoes for him. "Sorry. I'm just a bit on edge, I guess. I'll check you out." My cheeks turn red. "Your shoes. I mean I'll check out your shoes for you. So you can buy them. The shoes." My face grows even hotter.
Detective Cole just smiles and chuckles softly. "Thanks." He says, handing me his card to pay.
I check his shoes out for him, hand him the box of his new shoes, and wave as he walks away from the counter. I sigh, embarrassed. Then Cole stops right before reaching the door, places his hand on the handle and turns to me.
"I'll come back after closing and we can talk then."
"Oh, I'm done at 12. So, I won't be here." I place my forearms on the counter. "But I guess I could come back?" I expect him to say something, but he just looks at me. "Or, I could go to the station after my shift?"
"What? Oh no, that's okay. It's actually supposed to be my day off. I've just never been very good at doing that." He laughs to himself. I knew the feeling. "I just- you know what- I'll give you a call tomorrow to come into the station."
And before I could say anything, he walked out the door. That was weird.
My shift goes by quickly, and I decide to go for a run on the shore. I walk out to the pier and take off. I get about a mile down the shore when I see a familiar face. Only now, that handsome face has less clothing than he was in this morning. He wears a pair of black running shorts and no shirt. His exposed skin shows off muscles and I can't help but watch him run toward me. I hope that he doesn't notice me, but as he runs passed, he back petals and calls after me.
"Hey, you run here?" I said after him.
"At least since I've been down here. You run here often?" He asked between breaths. I nod and add a few more places I enjoy running. "Maybe you can show me some of those spots sometime?" He looks at me and shields the light from the sun.
He looks even more handsome covered in sweat. "I have some time now." And I immediately regret saying that out loud. I blush, but at least it's not as noticeable because my face is already red from the heat.
"Okay." He says and shrugs.
To my surprise he runs alongside me for the next three miles. We arrive at one of my favorite places. "we're gonna have to swim now." I tell him. and he just follows me into the water. We swim to the little island 500 meters from the shore. We arrive on the shore and detective Cole lays flat on the sand and lets out a series of deep breaths. "You're lowering your heart rate right?" I ask him.
He looks up at me, surprised. "Yeah. How'd you know?"
"Because I do that too." I smile and sit next to him. I cross my legs and breathe deeply into my diaphragm and slowly exhale. I look down at my watch to see my heart rate diving down from 185 to 126 then down to 91. I look up at detective Cole and see that he's watching me. "What?" I ask.
"Nothing. You're just..." He pauses. "Not what I was expecting." He says it really slowly. Like he was trying to be careful on how he said that. "Can I ask you something?"
"Yeah, sure?" I say it like a question. I wasn't sure how to read his expression.
"How does someone like you have a friend like Lucy?" He looks at me intensely. Watching my face. Studying my whole body.
"Is this a part of your interrogation?" I ask, crossing my arms.
"What? No! I'm just genuinely curious. You just seem like such a nice person, and Lucy seemed like... not." I look away from him. He continues on. "I don't mean to be mean. It's just, the way Nicole and Sam described her, it was like she was the Antichrist."
"No, that's not true. Lucy did some pretty bad things to them, yes. But at the same time, she was a wonderful human being. It was hard to expect which version of Lucy would show up that day. I don't know." I pause. I look over at him and he continues searching me. Looking in my eyes like he's trying to find a direct line into my soul. "To answer your question, I was forced into a friendship with her." I pause, and look at him again. I lay down on my side and prop my head up with my hand. He does the same. "When I moved here, Lucy tried to befriend me, but I was determined to make my own friends. Well, she was just as determined to make me her friend and didn't allow anyone else to be my friend over her." I scoff. "Now that I think about it, I can see why you asked."
"I didn't mean to upset you. I was just curious." He looks at me deeply again. "I-uh-maybe we should head back?" He goes to stand, and I join him.
"Wait, I didn't bring you here to lay on this beach. I brought you here to walk around the island. There's something you've gotta see." I pull his arm to get him to go my direction. He tried to protest at first, but finally gave in and followed me through the weeds and palm trees. We make our way to the other side of the island. I stop and wait.
"What are we-"
"Shhh. Just wait. Watch." And a few seconds later I see it. Dolphins jumping out of the water. First there's two, then four, then six. I watch in wonder and start laughing. "See? Aren't they amazing?" I exclaim.
"Yeah. They are." He looks at me again.
I can feel his eyes on me. I turn to look at him, and feel my face blush once again. If there was a record for how many times a girl blushed in front of someone, I'm pretty sure I just beat them. I look back at the water and see the dolphins start flipping further away from us.
"How did you find this?" He looks out to the water with pure joy. I can the wonder gloss over his face.
I smile. Then I feel sad again. "I ran a total of twelve miles the day you guys found Lucy's body. I ran out of my house and just kept running. I jumped into the water hoping I would just get swallowed up in the waves. The waves had a different destination in store for me. I wound up here. I made it on the island and started walking aimlessly around it. I made it to this spot and a dolphin swam right up to me, squealed and flipped in the air. I started laughing. I took it as a sign that Lucy was in a better place than where she ended up." I look at the ground. "I've never told anyone about that before. In fact, you're the first person I've ever brought here."
He takes my hand. I look at him and he smiles softly at me. "Detective I-"
"Just call me Ryan. At least out here." He smiles again.
"Ryan. We should probably go." I take my hand away from his.
We head back to the other side of the island and swim back to the main shore. We walk back to the pier in mostly silence. He finally breaks the quiet.
"If you're out here again, I wouldn't mind a running partner." He stops.
"Um. Are you sure that's a good idea?" He looks at me with a weird look. "Isn't that a conflict of interest?"
"The only time it becomes a conflict of interest is if you decline." He smiles at me again.
"I should head home. I need to make myself some dinner." I turn and run toward my car. I sit in the drivers seat. "What the actual-".