Page 32 of Sweet Dreams
"Oh, Esa, that sounds great! I'll talk to Shasta and get you two connected as soon as possible. I'll donate my time to do the instructing and I bet I know a certain blond lifeguard who would donate his own time to help out with the event," she said with a knowingsmile.
"I'll talk to him tonight, but yeah, I think I can convince him," I responded with a wink. Then I sobered, leaned in closer, and said quietly, "You know, with this whole stalker thing, it's lit a fire under my ass. I don't want to waste any more time in fear. I want to do everything I can to make my business and my relationships huge successes. And I want to make sure other young girls have confidence in themselves. I want them to have tools to protect themselves if, God forbid, they need them. In a way, I'm glad for all this recent crap with my stalker. It's woken me up. Does that makesense?"
"It totally does, girl," Brinley said, nodding slowly as though she knew exactly what I was talking about. "I'd say having a stalker would change anyone. And knowing you, you'll kick ass doing all the things you want to do. As part of the Beach Squad, the dynamic trio of HB female movers and shakers, I fully approve of this event!" Then we both laughed and hugged each other. We may only be three strong in the Squad, but the number didn't matter when the quality of the girls was soexcellent.
"Okay. Off to build an empire," I said with asmile.
I left Strike Ready, looking behind me to spot John, my private detective, and headed down Main to hit up the Lifeguard Headquarters where Ivan should just about be wrapping things up. I probably should have just driven my car or had someone walk with me, but honestly, just getting out to walk by myself was pretty damn awesome. How much could really happen with John ten paces behindme?
I opened the door to Headquarters and several lifeguards were standing around talking, but they stopped and cheered for me when they saw who it was. My cheeks heated and I couldn't help the shy smile I gave inreturn.
"It's the chocolategirl!"
"Hey, we heard you're famous now...having celebrity sightings and allthat."
"Damn, Ivan's a lucky guy...you let me know if you kick him to the curb,huh?"
"Haha, thanks guys," I responded sheepishly. I guess everyone checked social media a hell of a lot more than I did. I didn't particularly like the attention, but they were being sweet, so I guess I'd just take the compliment and find Ivan as soon as I could. I told my cheeks to calm down, but they didn't get the message. What could I say? These lifeguards were hot, and I was a warm-bloodedfemale.
"Ivan told us you've been taking self-defense lessons. That's a smart idea. You never know what could happen and you want to be prepared to protect yourself," the tall, dark-haired lifeguard said. He looked familiar but I just couldn't place where I'd seen him before. He was good looking, but then again, that seemed to be a prerequisite to working here. While the other lifeguards were being rowdy, funny boys, this one was dead serious with his compliment and his facial expression showed he respectedme.
"Thanks, that's what I was thinking too," I said quietly tohim.
"Esa. There you are! These guys bothering you?" Ivan said loudly as he entered the lobby from the back office. He came over to put his arm around me and pulled my body into his deliciously hot one. It was totally a possessive move, showing all his buddies I was his, but I really didn't mind it, seeing as how I was pressed up against a bunch of sexymuscle.
"Hi, baby," I said before I gave him a quick hello kiss. "No, they're not bothering me. But it sounds like you've been talking aboutme."
"Of course I've been talking about you. I'm crazy proud of you. I gotta brag about my woman," he said with a sweetsmile.
And who was I to argue with thatlogic?
We turned to head back out the door, saying goodbye to the other guys. We'd almost reached Ivan's truck out in the parking lot when we heard a woman call out, "Ivan?"
We both spun around and I felt Ivan stiffen beside me. There was a small, middle aged woman standing a few cars away, shifting from foot to foot, begging him for something with hereyes.
"Martha?" he mumbled. He looked surprised and hesitant to approachher.
"Hello, Ivan. I'm sorry to interrupt but I was hoping to speak to you," she said quietly. She walked toward us, giving him a small smile that seemed marked by a permanent sadness. I didn't know who she was, but I felt the heavy tension so I wrapped my arm around Ivan's waist in support. He looked over at me and then when Martha was in front of us, introduced us. "Martha, this is my girlfriend, Esa. Esa, this is Martha. Megan'smom."
Ah, so now the tension made sense. From what Ivan told me a while ago, he hadn't had any contact with Megan's parents since he left for college. What would she want with him all these yearslater?
"It's nice to meet you, Esa," she said to me with a kindsmile.
"Thank you, Martha," Ianswered.
She turned her gaze to Ivan. "I ran into your mother the other day at the grocery store. I just felt like I needed to see you, make sure you were okay." She rushed on, "I-I know we didn't speak much after Megan died. We were all grieving and I didn't trust myself to say the right things. But I've had a lot of time to think about everything that happened, and I just hope you know that Megan's dad and I don't hold any hard feelings toward you. You were not to blame for what happened that night, Ivan." She was still wringing her hands but her words werefirm.
Ivan broke eye contact and looked down at the ground, his jaw clenching as he started to shake hishead.
"Ivan. I talked to your mom. She told me how you felt afterwards. Enough is enough. You cannot keep carrying the guilt for what happened with Megan," Marsha said more firmly while reaching out to grab Ivan gently on the arm. "She was our wild child. Always getting in trouble. Always dancing a fine line with danger. Yes, it was heartbreaking when she drowned, but we always wondered if she'd get herself in serious trouble. At least she went out doing all the wild things she loved to do. It was a freak accident and you played no part. Let it go,son."
Ivan's head jerked up and he met Marsha's gaze once more, tears making his eyes shine bright. He nodded his head and then pulled her in for one of his famous hugs. They held each other for a long while, Marsha crying softly and Ivan trying to keep it together. Then he whispered in her ear, "Thankyou."
And that's when I realized that I was crying again too, watching them have their moment. These damn moms today were killer on mymascara.
I was happy for Ivan that he finally got 'permission' from Megan's parents to stop feeling guilty. I hoped that this would be what he needed to let that guilt go. He was a fine lifeguard and he could continue to do that without this heavy weight on his heart. In fact, I knew he'd be better at everything he did. The compulsion to always prove himself had only held himback.
We eventually said goodbye to Marsha and got in his truck. We said nothing, the peace we both felt in that moment saying everything. We gazed out the front windshield, watching the sun set over the ocean for a long while, just holding hands and letting the day soak in. Then he started up the truck, and we headedhome.
