Meant to Be (8 page)

Rad cringed. “Too bad it didn’t catch
the stirrup, instead of your toe.”

“
Oh yeah, except, no
saddle,” Lauren said, sheepishly. “Bareback.”

“
Hmm. Barefoot and
bareback. Great combination. Bet that hurt.”

Lauren shrugged. “No more than getting
stepped on by a twelve hundred pound horse in your bare feet.” She
pointed to a toe on her other foot that had been broken as
well.”

“
There’s
a way to prevent that.” Rad looked down at her in a brotherly way.
“It’s called
shoes
.”

“
Yeah, that’s what my dad
used to say.” Lauren had been staring out over the water but turned
to Rad. “You ride?”

“
I did in Texas. Western
though—no jumping fences.” He shook his head. “And I used a saddle
and wore boots.”

“
Okay, rub it in. You
promised you wouldn’t laugh.”

“
I’m not laughing,” he
said seriously. “I’m just picturing this little hellcat on
horseback.”

“
To tell you the truth,
the only reason I rode bareback was because I wasn’t strong enough
to lift a saddle onto a seventeen-hand horse.”

Rad whistled. “Seventeen hands? How’d
you get on?”

“
Fence. Tree. Boulder.
Bucket. Whatever was around at the time.”

“
You still crazy like
that?” He gazed at her with a curious expression. “Or did you grow
out of it?”

Lauren laughed. “I guess it depends
what your definition of crazy is.” She stopped laughing and studied
him. “I don’t imagine you’ve ever done anything that someone might
think is crazy.”

“
You got me there,” Rad
said, frowning slightly. “You got me there.”

Chapter 6

“You ready to eat some
real food?” Rad draped his arm over Lauren and gave her shoulder a
squeeze after they had resumed their journey and strolled quite a
while without speaking. She loved how he spoke when words were
needed and shared her silence when they were not. Although she
hadn’t been on many dates, she found men usually tried to fill
every minute of dead space with their voices rather than being
content to enjoy a quiet moment.

“
By real food, do you mean
popcorn?”

Rad chuckled. “No, I was thinking more
along the lines of a sandwich or something.”

“
Sounds good.” Lauren
scanned the signs in front of them. “But I can’t leave here without
some Fisher’s popcorn.”

“
That’s a deal. There’s a
place up ahead. Ever heard of it?”

Lauren studied the sign. “No, but
looks good to me.”

After they sat at a table overlooking
the Boardwalk and ordered their food, Rad leaned forward in his
chair and put his arms on the table. “Okay. I have a confession to
make.”

“
Uh, oh.”

“
Yeah.” He pulled his
wallet out of his back pocket with a solemn expression on his face.
“Remember when I told you I was completely unattached? That there
were no females in my life?”

Lauren blinked as her heart did a
flip. “Yes. I remember.”

He pulled out a picture and laid it on
the table. “I lied.”

Is he really going to show
me a picture of someone now? Just when I’m starting to like him?
Seriously, God?

Her gaze drifted slowly down to the
table, and then she smiled with relief.

“
You have good taste.
She’s beautiful.” She picked up the photo. “Purebred
Shepherd?”

“
Yep. That’s my girl,
Tara.” He took the photo and put it back in his wallet. “I wanted
to come clean in case anyone brings it up.”

“
Like who?”

“
The guys you meet
tonight. They like ribbing me about my Tara.”

Lauren shook her head in
exasperation as she took a sip of water. “Oh yeah. I almost forgot
about
the guys.
”
She glanced up at Rad and noticed he was studying her with a
strange, guilty expression. “Looks like you might have something
else you want to share with me.”

“
Now that you mention it.”
He smiled and leaned back just as the waitress brought their
food.

Lauren waited until she left, and then
leaned forward. “Out with it.”

“
Okay, so I told the guys
I would be bringing someone I ran into on the beach.”

“
So? What’s wrong with
that? It’s the truth.”

“
Yes.
I
told
the
truth.” He took a sip of his drink. “But I may have
insinuated
I knew you
longer than that.”

“
Oh,
you
may have
insinuated?” Lauren thought about that for a moment. “How
strongly did you
maybe
insinuate?”

Rad had already begun to dig into his
food as if his conscience was clear now that he had told her.
“Pretty strongly, I reckon. They probably think we go way
back.”

“
And
by
way back
,
what exactly do you mean?”

“
You know, like forever.”
He shrugged. “I didn’t give an exact time.”

Lauren took a deep breath
and rolled her eyes as she thought about it.
Does it really matter? I’ll meet them, say goodbye, and then
never see them again anyway.

She shook her head and picked up her
fork. “I guess I’ll just have to go with it.”

“
Yep. I knew you’d
understand, babe.”

Lauren raised her gaze and expected to
find Rad smiling at his joke, but he simply took another bite of
his sandwich as if he had no idea he had just sent her head
spinning again.

“
Holy cow, I’m full.” Rad
leaned back in his chair.

“
Let’s walk on the beach a
little instead of the Boardwalk. That’s more of a
workout.”

“
Lead the way.”

Lauren didn’t bother to argue. She
knew it would be useless.

They both took off their flip-flops as
they walked close enough to the breaking waves to let the foamy
water surge across their toes.

Lauren finally broke the silence. “So,
what’s your favorite song?”

“
You’re going to try to
analyze me by my song choice?”

“
Just curious.” She cocked
her head as she regarded him. “Trying to get to know you
better.”

“
Off the top of my head,
I’ll say ‘Time in a Bottle.’ Jim Croce.”

“
That’s interesting. I
would have taken you for a rock and roll guy.”

“
See? You are trying to
analyze me.”

Lauren tried to remember the words to
the song and sang a few lines. “Yeah, that’s a good one,” she
admitted. “If you’re into sappy love songs.”

Rad kicked some water on her. “Love
song, yes. But it’s really not that sappy.”

They both paused a moment and watched
a large kite as it spiraled toward the beach and then rose into the
air again.

“
Your turn. Favorite
song.”

“
Don’t know what this says
about me, but I’ll go with ‘Somewhere Over The
Rainbow.’”

“
Seriously?”

“
Can’t help it.” She gazed
up at him, challenging him with her eyes to tease her.

“
I get it—it’s the ‘dreams
that you dare to dream,’ part. Right?”

She threw her hands in the air. “Of
course. Dreams coming true. What could be better than
that?”

“
So, I
take it
The Wizard of Oz
is your favorite movie, too?”

“
I’ve probably seen it a
few hundred times, so yes.”

“
Hmmm. Definitely not sure
what that says. That you like sparkly red shoes, maybe?”

“
Now who’s trying to
analyze whom?” She laughed. “Anyway, what it says is I believe the
power to achieve lies within us. Poor Dorothy spends the whole
movie looking for the wizard when, all along, she had the power to
get back home.”

“
Well, you gotta admit,
the red shoes helped.”

“
Oh my gosh. Stop with the
red shoes.” She punched him good-naturedly in the arm. “Anyway,
there’s another theme in there too—”

“
There’s no place like
home,” he finished for her.

“
Exactly.” She nodded and stared out at the ocean. “And since
Dorothy lived with an aunt and uncle, I think the message is
that
home
is
wherever you feel comfortable and loved.”

“
Yeah, I get that. I’m
kind of at home right now.”

Lauren raised her gaze to search his
eyes for the meaning in his words, but he didn’t give her time
analyze them.

“
Anyway, not to change the
subject, but I bet you have a pair.”

“
Of what?”

“
Red shoes.
Heels.”

“
Geez.” Lauren shook her
head and gave up trying to get his mind off red shoes. “As a matter
of fact, I wear them almost every day to work. They go perfectly
with my short black skirt.”

“
Umm. That’s what I
figured.” He remained silent for a moment. “I could tell you were a
bank executive or something, a take-charge person.”

Lauren suppressed the outburst of
laughter that almost consumed her. “You nailed it. That’s
me.”

They walked along in silence for a few
moments, both perfectly comfortable in the quiet company of the
other. Yet there was a subtle energy in the air neither one could
deny, or on the other hand, outwardly admit.

“
I hate to see it end,”
Rad finally said.

“
See what end?”

“
Today.” He turned and
glanced back at the sun lowering in the sky. “It feels like time is
flying faster than usual.”

Lauren remembered watching the sun
come up, seemingly only a few hours ago. “Yeah, it
does.”

“
Hey, there’s Pops and
Annie.”

Lauren saw a man with salt and pepper
hair helping a young woman put up a canopy. They were laughing, but
it appeared things were not going smoothly.

“
Hey, we’ll give you a
hand.”

Rad grabbed one of the poles and
Lauren grabbed another, and with all four lifting at once, the
canopy maneuvered into place.

“
Thanks for the help,” the
woman said shyly. “We would have been at each other’s throats in
another minute.” She gazed at Lauren with big, brown eyes that were
full of friendliness, and stepped forward with her hand out. “I’m
Annie.”

“
Oh yeah, sorry,” Rad
said. “Lauren, this is Annie, and that’s Pops.” Pops gave her a nod
as he continued pounding stakes into the sand. Even though his hair
had some gray in it, he didn’t appear any older than Rad. “They’re
the old, married couple of the crew.”

“
We’re not old!” Annie
rolled her eyes and shook her head. “I swear, sometimes I think he
needs someone to knock some sense into him.”

“
Yes, I’ve thought the
same thing.” Lauren gazed over her shoulder and gave him a sly
smile.

“
That’s just great.” Rad
threw his hands in the air. “Two women ganging up on me already,
and the party hasn’t even started.” He turned back toward Pops.
“Where is everyone anyway?”

“
They’re coming. Getting
prettied up, I reckon.”

Rad rolled his eyes. “That could take
a while.”

“
Actually, that sounds
like a good idea,” Lauren said. “I need to change into a pair of
jeans at least.”

Annie talked while setting up chairs
under the canopy. “Yes, the mosquitoes get bad at night, and it’s
supposed to cool down later.”

Before Lauren had time to say anything
else, a group of men came into view. A couple of them lugged
coolers, others carried a lawn chair in each hand, and at least one
carted a case of beer on his shoulder.

“
Looks like the gang’s
arriving.” Annie stood with her hands on her hips, eying the
boisterous group, then turned her head toward Lauren. “I hope you
aren’t offended by foul language and bad jokes.”

“
She can take it.” Rad
came up behind her and put his arm around her waist possessively
while leading her toward the men.

“
Hey guys, this is
Lauren.”

Lauren noticed a slight pause as they
all surveyed her, as if they were taken somewhat by surprise, but
then they smiled and nodded. “Nice to meet you.”

All but one, that is. He
put his cooler down inside the canopy and then strode up to her,
looked her straight in the eye and said, “What in the hell is a
good-looking dame like you doing with
him
?”

Rad shook his head. “This is Wynn,
Lauren. Do your best to ignore him.”

Lauren laughed and held out her hand.
“Nice to meet you, Wynn.”

He winked at her to let her know he
was kidding, and then went back to the cooler and grabbed two
beers. “Ready for a cold one, Miss Lauren?”