Where Forever Lies (26 page)

See you
then...

Paige
smiled as she put her phone away and went back inside to gather their
things for the beach. As soon as she walked in, Kyra jumped off the
couch, full of energy and excitement about their big day.

“We
going to the beach, now?” she asked as she stared up at her mom
with big blue eyes.

“Yes,
honey, I just have to get some things packed. Pick up your toys
before we leave, okay?”

She
watched Kyra run off to the pile of toys lying in front of the TV and
then went to the bathroom to get some sunscreen, towels and then to
their bedrooms for extra clothes and some toys for the beach. After
she thought she had everything they needed, she headed back to the
living room where Kyra was picking up the last toy.

“Good
job, honey,” Paige said as she slung the beach bag over her
shoulder and helped Kyra get her sandals on.

“Beach!”
Kyra yelled with excitement.

“Yes,”
Paige laughed and then said, “Ok, let’s go.”

A short
while later they pulled into the parking lot of Sandy Hill beach, and
Paige smiled as Kyra squealed in the backseat with joy, pointing at
the lake that took up her whole window. She saw Tyler’s truck
on the right side of the parking lot and quickly veered in that
direction. As she pulled up beside him, her heart began to fire
rapidly in her chest. Bringing Kyra around a guy was a huge step for
her but her heart told her it was right.

She saw
him walk around the side of his truck, wearing black swimming trunks,
no shirt and wet hair from where he’d already been in the lake.
Her stare lingered a minute too long, and then she shut her car off
and got out to greet him.

“Hey,”
she said as he pulled her into a hug.

“It’s
about time. We’ve already been in.” He ran a hand through
his wet hair, slinging water all over her. She laughed as she opened
the door to get Kyra out, quickly grabbing her hand before she took
off in her excitement.

She looked
out at the lake, seeing a crowded beach and plenty of people on jet
skis. She put her sunglasses on and then leaned down to apply
sunscreen on a pale skinned Kyra.

Tyler
leaned down to Kyra’s level, a smile forming on his tanned
face. “Hey there, lil girl. Are you ready to play on the
beach?”

“Yay!”
Kyra screamed as she threw her hands up in the air.

Tyler
laughed and took Paige’s hand. “Hey, Brandon, this is
Paige and her daughter Kyra.”

Paige
waved at a smaller version of Tyler and smiled as Brandon gave her a
half wave, showing huge dimples. “Dad, are you ready to swim?”
he asked, gesturing towards the water with brown eyes full of
anticipation and pulling up his navy blue swim trunks as they hung
low on his narrow hips.

Tyler
pulled her and Kyra along as they headed down the grassy slope
towards the water, with Brandon in the lead.

A loud
shriek escaped Kyra’s tiny mouth as the cool water flowed
across her bare feet. She took off running a few feet away as Paige
and Tyler stood knee deep in the water, trying to coax her towards
them. Paige laughed and went to grab her hand, hoping to get her into
the water so they could all cool off. The sun was beating down on
them and the water was just the right temperature to take the heat
off.

“Come
on, Kyra, let’s go for a swim. Mommy will hold onto you.”
Paige said as she lifted her up into her arms. Paige looked out into
the water as Tyler was dunking Brandon. She laughed and slowly walked
into the water, taking small steps so Kyra could get used to it.

After a
few minutes, Kyra was happily splashing around beside her mother and
Tyler was playing water Frisbee with Brandon. She laughed when Tyler
looked over and winked at her before he dove into the water head
first to catch the Frisbee as it veered out of his reach. So far
things had gone great and she was surprised at how they were all
having a good time together.

Leaning
back on her elbows as she lay in the sand, she watched Tyler as he
stopped playing Frisbee and swam over to where she and Kyra were
playing in shallow water. His wet lips twisted into a grin as he
asked, “Do you guys want to come out farther, and actually swim
a little, or are you just going to sit here all day?”

“We
are having fun, Tyler,” she argued and then added. “but,
I guess I could see if she will go out farther if I hold her.”

“I
can hold her, if she’ll let me, and then it will give you a
minute to do your own thing.”

Paige eyed
him wearily and then said, “Okay. But she doesn’t have
her floaties on, so be careful.”

“Don’t
worry, Paige. I’ve done this before,” he said, giving her
a wink. He swam up to Kyra and laughed when she splashed him in the
face. “Hey, you, wanna come out and swim with me and Brandon,
Kyra?” he asked in a soft tone as he held his arms out to her.

Paige was
surprised and a little scared at how easily Kyra went into his arms.
There were no worries or any apprehension as she willingly held her
arms out to him. She watched him hold onto her and slowly swim out
farther and farther into the water. Paige followed behind them but
quickly passed them as she began to swim, the water kicking up behind
her. She heard Kyra laughing as she splashed in the water and felt
her heart soar at seeing Tyler’s gentle side coming out as he
interacted with her daughter. He was really good with her, and more
so after today, she felt that her life was falling into place. She’d
had a rough time for a while but meeting Tyler a couple of months ago
had changed her life.

After
hours of swimming and horsing around at the beach, they had all
worked up an appetite and were ready to leave and grab something to
eat. As Paige was reflecting on how fun the day had been while she
was drying off, she felt Tyler come up behind her, wrapping his arms
around her waist. “Hey, I had fun today. It was nice to all
spend time together,” he said against her ear.

Smiling,
she said, “Yes, it was. Should we go grab pizza now?”

His grip
tightened on her hips as he whispered, “Seeing you in this
bikini all day has my mind wanting other things, but I guess we’ve
got to feed the kids.” He laughed and then kissed her cheek.

“Yeah,
I am a little hungry, too.” She pulled on her shorts and
sandals and helped Kyra get dried off and dressed. Before long Paige
was following behind Ol’ Betsy, as Tyler led the way to Marco’s
Pizza.

Settling
at an outside metal table with paper plates full of pizza and a
pitcher of soda in the middle, Paige felt an odd, warm feeling at the
sight. Even with putting sunscreen on, they were all pink from being
out in the sun all day and their hair was still damp from the lake
water. The day had been great and, as she looked over at Tyler, she
smiled when she felt his hand squeeze her knee. He kept it there as
he ate, his hand switching from a light squeeze to rubbing, making
Paige blush when his hand got a little too high up her thigh. She
slapped it away as she set her drink down, giving him a warning look.
He gave her a smirk in return and finally pulled away.

Her mind
kept picturing more days like this, ones where it happened more
frequently, when his laughter suddenly broke her out of her wandering
thoughts. When she looked towards the direction he was looking, she
couldn’t help but laugh as well. Kyra heard them laughing and
stopped eating for a second to see what was so funny. Her whole mouth
was covered in sauce as she was in the process of devouring a slice
of cheese pizza so huge she could barely hold onto it with her tiny
hands.

Before
Paige could grab a napkin, Tyler jumped up and walked around to her
and gently wiped her face. “I got it, sit down,” he said
as he bent down and examined her face while Kyra chewed happily on
her pizza. Satisfied with what he saw, he took a seat and scooped up
another slice.

“Um,
thanks.” Paige didn’t know how to respond to that. Even
though it was a simple gesture, it tugged deeply at her heart
strings. Watching him be fatherly to Kyra was one of the biggest
turn-ons he could do and he’d done it twice in one day. It was
something that she never thought she’d want to let a guy do,
but with Tyler, it seemed natural. She watched him pick up his slice
of pizza as she stared at him.

“What?”
he asked in between bites.

She
quickly shook her head, “Nothing,” and resumed eating the
rest of her pizza. She wasn’t about to say that that gesture
was one of the sweetest things she’d ever seen. She wasn’t
ready to open that door just yet.

Tyler
leaned into her, his voice low and secretive, “Do you guys
wanna come over for a bit? I’m sure Kyra would love to see the
animals.”

Paige
thought about it for a minute, wondering if they were moving too
fast, but she figured as long as they kept things friendly in front
of the kids until she was confident things would last, she thought it
would be okay. She was sure Kyra would love petting the horses and
his dog, Diesel. “I think that might be okay.”

After
packing up their leftovers, they left Marco’s Pizza and headed
into the country towards Tyler’s house.

“Mommy,
look at the doggie!” Kyra yelled, as she ran up to Diesel and
put him in a choke hold.

“I
see him but you should probably loosen up on his neck a little,”
Paige said, giving Tyler a worried look as thoughts of the dog
snapping at her raced through her mind.

“He’s
okay,” Tyler said, as he draped his arm around Paige. “Maybe
I could put her on one of the horses and lead her around for a
minute? I’m sure she’d love that.”

She cocked
her head up to stare at him with wide eyes. The thought instantly
terrified her.

“What?
You could hold onto her while I just lead her around. There’s
nothing to worry about, Paige, my horses are really gentle,”
Tyler soothed.

“I
don’t know, Tyler.” The thought of the horse freaking out
and throwing her daughter off scared her but she also knew Tyler
wouldn’t put her on one if he thought there was a chance of
that happening.

“Come
on Paige. She’ll be okay. You know I wouldn’t let
anything happen to her. We’ll just lead her around in the small
lot behind the barn, where it’s fenced in and safe,”
Tyler said as he pointed towards the barn. “Remember how scared
you were over nothing?” he asked as he leaned down and kissed
her cheek.

“Yeah,
I know, but it’s different when it’s your child you’re
putting in danger.”

Paige
looked over at Kyra as she was running in circles, Diesel chasing
after her, and smiled. She knew she would love riding a horse and
having her and Tyler helping her would be the safest place for her
first time. “Okay, I guess,” she sighed.

Tyler gave
her shoulder a squeeze, “She’ll love it.”

They
walked to the barn, the sun’s heat finally dissipating some,
and Paige watched as Kyra ran a ways in front of them, her pony tail
swishing back and forth.

“Hey,
Dad!” Brandon called as he ran up behind them. “Can I get
the four-wheeler out?”

“Yeah,
but make sure your helmet and chest plate is on,” Tyler
instructed.

Tyler
shook his head as Brandon went running towards the garage, knowing
he’d be riding that four-wheeler for hours.

Paige
stood back as he swung the barn door open, watching as Tyler grabbed
a halter and lead rope and went to round up one of the horses. She
leaned against a post, watching Kyra play in some hay, feeling
content as she stood in the dusty barn, letting Kyra get filthy. This
scenario shocked her.

In the
distance she heard the roar of Brandon’s four-wheeler starting
up and peeked around the door. She saw him fly past the side of the
house, spinning his back tires a bit. Looking to her left, she saw
Tyler leading a smaller white horse towards the barn and smiled.

“Lemme
get him saddled really quickly and I’ll lead her around,”
he said as he walked through the door. She stepped to the side and
went to grab Kyra so she wouldn’t run up to the horse and scare
him.

Kyra
watched with utter fascination as Tyler saddled the horse and then
walked around back to the small arena. Paige held Kyra’s hand,
trying to keep her calmed down but she was jumping around in her
excitement. As soon as Tyler brought the horse to a stop in the
middle, Kyra started clapping her hands as she bounced up and down on
her feet.

“Kyra
calm down so you don’t scare the horse, okay?” Paige
chided.

“Okay,
Kyra,” Tyler began, “this is Marshmallow.”

Paige
raised an eyebrow at the name and covered her mouth with her hand to
conceal her laughter. Kyra started saying “Marshmallow”
over and over as giggles erupted from her, making Paige laugh even
more.

“I
didn’t name him, if that’s why you’re laughing,”
Tyler said. “Brandon named him when he was five years old.”

“I
was gonna say, that seemed like a soft, sweet name coming from you,”
Paige mocked.

“Anyway,
Kyra,” Tyler began again, ignoring Paige, “Come here so
you can pet him first before you get on.”

He lifted
her up into his arms and let her rub the horse on the neck. It made
Paige happy to see Kyra’s eyes light up as she took the horse
in. She knew she would talk about this day for a long time and was
glad she’d put her fears aside and let her do this.

“Okay,
are you ready to get on?” Tyler asked her.

Kyra
eagerly shook her head and Paige went to stand beside him, her
motherly instincts taking over.

“All
right, Paige, you just hold onto her waist while I lead the horse
around,” Tyler said as he waited for Paige to get ready.

“Okay,
are you ready Kyra?” she asked as she looked up at her daughter
in the saddle.