Page 23 of Barefoot Chaos
I turned on my phone and found the song I was looking for: Just a Kiss by Lady Antebellum. I hit repeat and lost myself in the haunting words. I replayed everything from last night: the conversation, the looks, the music. The Kiss. Yep, it was getting capital letters now.
Before I could get ahead of myself and try to second-guess what Kai was feeling or what he wanted from me, I needed to focus first on what I wanted. Was I even interested in getting into a relationship with him? I knew I was attracted to him something fierce, but did I want more?
I'd spent way too many years hating my fickle father for leaving my sister and I when we needed another parent. Who just takes off and forgets about their kids? I knew he loved us in his own way, but having the freedom to travel as he pleased came before being a parent, which was totally wrong.
Kai seemed more responsible than that, but he did have a lot of the same tendencies. He went barefoot everywhere, he talked about spending time outside in nature being essential to living. He meditated, for God's sake! My father thought he could make a domesticated type of life work too when he married my mom. He only lasted a few years before he ran out of there, escaping the suburbia doldrums for more a more exciting life on the road.
Bottom-line, I didn't know Kai well enough to guess as to what he wanted or what he'd do in life. I'd have to get to know him better and until then, reign in my emotions so I didn't get caught up in what his kisses did to my body.
With my new intentions set, I paused the music, shoved my graded papers in my giant handbag and I was out the door to teach some reading and writing to my high schoolers. As I opened the front door, I nearly tripped, my bag flying and landing on the cement pathway leading to my driveway. I was about to chuckle, thinking I'd lucked out by not having hot coffee in my hands this morning, when my eyes took in what was beyond my bag, the chuckle dying a sad little death.
My front lawn looked like a political campaign puked all over my grass. At least two dozen wood stakes were piercing my lawn, with bright yellow posters attached to the top. Each sign had my name written in black ink at the top, followed by one simple sentence:You've Been Dared...Now Do It.
A neighbor, driving by on his way to work, slowed down to read the signs, then honked and waived at me before taking off. Like this was all some joke. Or some weird prank one of my friends pulled on me, like an adult version of TP'ing.
But this wasn't a joke or a prank. This was my life, my secret, being exposed to neighbors and friends. This was my privacy going up in smoke.
9
Kai
I barely slept last night, tossing and turning over the image of Hessa on the beach, backlit by the pier, opening up to me about her past. I had kept my hands busy on my ukulele not because I wanted to play it so badly, but because I had to stop myself from reaching out and pulling her onto my lap.
Taking her hair down was a big mistake. It made me think of lazy Sunday mornings, waking up to find her asleep next to me, hair spread out over my pillow. It was a private, unrestrained side of her no one else was allowed to see.
And that was all before she'd opened her mouth to sing with me. As touristy as the song had become, there was something about “Over the Rainbow” that made my heart ache for my island home. To hear Hessa's voice mixed with mine, singing a song that spoke to me on such a heart level was something I couldn't describe.
I was honored that she'd opened up to me and allowed me to hear her singing voice. I knew that was a big step for her, one I didn't take for granted.
Now I just needed to see her again to make sure she didn't slip back into the snooty schoolteacher. There was no question I wanted to spend more time with her. Question was, would Hessa want to spend time with a hippy lifeguard far from home? I wasn't intellectual at all, yet that seemed like something she held in high regard.
I was headed into work early to see if I could pull some extra shifts the next few weeks. Usually Ivan would accommodate if he had the slots to give. I was hoping to accrue some extra cash to dump into my old VW van. I felt like it was time to finally clean her up and get her in better shape.
I refused to delve too deep into my change of heart on her condition. I couldn't wait to get a certain school teacher into my VW and take her on a quick road trip up the coast. But that wasn't going to happen in her current state. Hessa deserved better than that.
My phone rang from the cupholder. I glanced quickly at the screen, surprised and quite pleased to see Hessa's name pop up. "Good morning, Sunshine."
"Oh...uh, good morning. I-I seem to have a problem." Hessa's voice sounded worried and distracted. Something was wrong.
"What's going on?"
I could hear her breath huffing into the phone, interspersed with a clunking sound. "I came out of my house this morning to find stakes all over my front lawn with signs egging me on to do my dare. I'm removing them so I'm not the laughing stock of my neighborhood."
Anger on her behalf flooded my brain. I tightened my hands on the wheel, choosing not to do my meditation breaths like usual. I was pissed and I wanted that anger to fuel my search for the asshole who did this to her. Someone had come onto her property and vandalized it over this stupid dare.
"You don't happen to have security cameras, do you?" I'd known something was up two weeks ago and hadn't pushed hard enough. We had to catch whoever was doing this and shut them down before anything worse happened. The fact that they were targeting Hessa at her home was chilling.
"No, I don't have cameras! I don't even lock my backdoor half the time!" Hessa's voice wobbled, cluing me into her fragile state.
I realized she was on the edge of losing it completely. I needed to calm down and comfort her first. Finding the guy could come later.
"No problem. Can you take a picture real quick of your yard?" I spoke calmly, hoping she'd let me help her.
She took a deep breath. "I did. Right before I called you."
"Okay, that's great. I'm glad you thought to do that. How about I come by and help you out? What's your address?"
"You don't need to come over. I can get the rest and still make it to school on time." Hessa already had her emotions in check and didn't need anyone's help.
