Page 51 of Ten Years and Then…
“Daniel, I—if this is it? If we’re really doing this, if we’re never going to be together again, if we’ll spend the next two years avoiding each other so we don’t have to feel weird, then … then I want one last memory. One good memory.”
One perfect memory nobody could ever take away.
Daniel
He knew what Nora meant. “You want to…” He gestured his head towards the bed, and she nodded.
“I want to make love. One last time. I want that to be the last thing we ever do together.”
He did, too.
She was right. One final perfect moment, to hang onto while he tried to put his heart back together again, however long that would take. If it was even possible at all.
“I want that too, Nora.”
Nora
They went together to the bed, not letting go of each other for a moment.
It happened slowly, carefully. She took the lead, just like that first night. But he was so much more attuned to her than he’d been then. That night, and the first few times afterwards, he’d been reacting to her. But now he knew her body, her responses, well enough to anticipate, to do exactly what she wanted—needed—before she even realized she needed it. She did the same for—to—him.
And the whole time, his eyes never left hers. Neither of them looked away, or lost focus for a second.
Daniel
Afterwards, they lay there together, still holding each other, still gazing into each other’s eyes. He was trying to commit all of her to memory, every detail of her face, every inch of her body, every goosebump she raised on his flesh with her touch. And the whole time—during the act, and for an hour afterwards—neither of them said a word.
And then she slowly, gently kissed him one last time, and she stood up and got dressed. She went to the door, and unlocked it, and, not looking back, she stepped through it and closed it behind her.
She closed it gently, but in his ears that tiny sound echoed like a sledgehammer, and it stayed with him the rest of the night.
Chapter 16
Spring Break 1989 (Daniel)—Snyder’s Lake, NY
Daniel, March 13
Snyder‘s Lake was just visible off in the distance. The water looked almost gray, but hopefully that was just a trick of the light. The trees dotting the shore definitely looked pretty bare, though. Barely any signs of life at all.
“Remind me why I agreed to this,” Daniel said. He wasn’t asking anyone in the car in particular, but Phil answered from the passenger seat anyway.
“Because outside of classes, you’ve been sleepwalking through your life since the fall, and it’s depressing to watch, so me and Bob thought a spring break trip might snap you out of it.”
Bob, behind the wheel, chimed in. “I get that you had a good thing with that girl, and she was gorgeous. But it’s been a year now, and you’re the one who broke up with her.”
“Nine months and 24 days,” Daniel answered. It came out almost automatically. And they’d broken up with each other, but there was no point getting into a pedantic debate about that. “But—you know what, I really appreciate you guys inviting me. I know I haven’t exactly been the most fun guy to be around.”
“You don’t even play Battletech anymore,” Phil agreed. “I brought my set, by the way. Just in case we get bored looking at the lake and drinking cheap beer.”
Daniel hadn’t given much thought to what they’d be doing at the house on the shore of Snyder’s Lake that Bob’s brother’s girlfriend’s father was letting them use for four days. His family had rented a beach house in Ocean City a couple of times, but there were plenty of things to do in Ocean City, and obviously you could swim in the Atlantic. He didn’t know if you could swim in the lake here. There might be—he didn’t even know what sort of dangerous amphibian things might live in Snyder’s Lake.
It might end up being four days of Battletech and cheap beer. Maybe that would shake him out of the funk he’d been in since last May. It wouldn’t make him forget Nora, or stop missing her, but maybe he could enjoy something—anything—for a little while. He was allowed that, wasn’t he?
Bob’s shout of, “Hey, Daniel!” cut through his thoughts. “I was just saying to Phil when you zoned out, we won’t be the only ones there. You met my little sister, Emily—she just transferred to Albion for this semester. She’s coming up with her roommate. She’s a redhead—very cute. Kim. She lived over in Morris Hall last year. So that’ll be fun, right?”
Kim? Redheaded Kim? Who lived in Morris Hall last year?
Nora’s roommate.
