Page 23 of Flawless

6 – ZENON

The skies appear bluer today than they have in a long while. Out on the horizon, the skies meld into the water becoming one. It’s difficult to tell where one begins and the other ends.

The sweat drips down my body as I come close to finishing the last mile. I’ve run three miles today. I had begun slacking off from my normal exercise routine since I’ve been on the island.

My days have been full of eating, watching TV, and fixing up the place. Not that it’s shabby or anything. It’s not that by far. There were just a few details that needed attention; like a new paint job, shutters replaced, the garden needed to be weeded and mowed, and some minor repairs on the inside of the house.

I’ve been here for almost a month today, and I’ve found myself missing Zílda like crazy. Her mother is off visiting family in Russia, and she won’t return home to the States for another week.

I’ve been thinking about asking her to bring Zílda down to visit me when she returns, but that doesn’t feel right. Although Larisa and I are no longer together, she’ll ask millions of questions about whether this is my beach cottage, who it belongs to, whether I was cheating on her with the woman and a million other asinine questions that I don’t want to deal with.

Instead, I might fly to them and spend a couple of weeks with my daughter in Florida. The one thing I won’t do is take our daughter somewhere that her mother doesn’t know she’s going to.

I slow my run into a jog as I near the beach. People are starting to come out to enjoy the beautiful weather as the day warms.

This morning, I started my exercise regimen a few minutes before nine, and it’s now going on ten-thirty. I finally head back to the cottage to grab some breakfast.

I slept in this morning which is also unlike me. I’m usually up and moving around no later than seven in the morning. Last night, I was plagued with thoughts about my past and my future.

I have two failed relationships under my belt, and as much as I know that no one’s perfect, I can’t help but think that I keep picking the wrong woman. Prepared to propose to one and married to the other; both women toyed with my heart.

I pull the door open to the cottage and head to the shower. Adjusting the water, I think about Danica Maxwell again. It’s been a while since I’ve seen or heard from her.

I was hesitant about coming to this cottage that belongs to her. Although she’d given me the key to the cottage and told me that I could escape here whenever I needed peace from the world, I hadn’t taken her up on her offer.

I figured she might be using it herself. And while I haven’t heard from her in some time, I decided that at this point in my life was the best time to make use of that offer.

There were mountains of dust on everything when I arrived, and the place had a musty odor from being closed up for so long. The furniture had sun streaks on it from where the sun peeped through the curtains at different times of the day and shined only on sections of the furniture.

The refrigerator and freezer were both empty, but there were expired canned goods and boxed foods in the pantry and in the cabinets. I’d emptied all that out and spent the first week cleaning up and restocking the shelves, refrigerator, and freezer.

I had no set time of how long I intended to be here. And while I knew that I should call or text Danica to let her know that I was using the place, I wasn’t in a hurry to notify anyone of where I was in the world.

I waited until I was settled in there for a day before I finally dialed her number. I received her voicemail, so I left her a message. That was four weeks ago. That first week, I called her numerous times with no reply.

After that, I called once a week. I still haven’t heard from her, and I hope that everything is okay.

I hop out of the shower after washing my body and hair. As I towel myself dry, I hear a noise in the front of the cottage. Frowning, I wrap the towel around the lower half of my body and grab another one for my dripping hair.

I make my way to the front, calling out “Hello,” wondering who has entered the cottage. I could have sworn I locked the door behind me, not that it was necessary but that’s what I’m accustomed to doing.

“Hello,” I call out again just as I step into the living room and see the curve of a very fine ass lifted high into the air.

She jumps and turns around with a shriek.

“Danica.”

“Z? What are you doing here?”

“I was about to ask you the same thing, but uh...this is your cottage.”

“You think,” she asks, lifting an eyebrow and crossing her arms over her chest.

“Well, I uh...didn’t know that you would be using it, and I needed some time away. I called numerous times.”

“Yeah, um...I was taking a break from life for a minute,” she says a bit shakily, looking me over from head to toe.

She looks uncomfortable and shouldn’t be in her own place.

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