The water was cold but nowhere near as cold as he felt inside. Though the sun shone brightly overhead and filtered soft light through the trees shading him, he couldn’t feel it. He couldn’t feel anything. The cold simply masked the numbness he felt. His world had been altered in less than a week. He’d fallen in love, broken another’s heart, and watched a woman he’d cared for die. Currently stuck between self-loathing and grief, he’d settled for the mindless state of numb. At least he couldn’t feel any sort of pain. At the moment.
Brian watched his feet slide through the clear, cool water of his pool and wondered at how the water, seemingly so tranquil, hid a dangerous face. True, it made up the majority of the human body, but it had the power to destroy that body, annihilate the life that dwelt inside it. He’d always thought that the place of his birth, along with water, were the most powerful symbols in his life—good ones—but now he wasn’t as sure. How could anything that had the ability to kill be a good thing?
Juliet’s family had arrived within an hour after her death, and Brian had been unable to do much more but stand nearby and offer them a shoulder to weep on. Her brothers and sister were inconsolable, while her mother had slid into a deep state of grief. Only Juliet’s father was able to coherently speak with doctors and the friends that had gathered. Brian had tried desperately to stay in the background and go unnoticed, but Jerry Stevens had been gifted with eyes sharp enough to slice away the bullshit surrounding him.
“She wouldn’t blame you,” he’d told Brian, laying a sympathetic hand over Brian’s shoulder. “And neither do we. What happened was no one’s fault.” He’d blinked the tears from his red-rimmed eyes. “I just want to thank you for caring for her and supporting her for so many years. You made my daughter a happy woman.”
Brian hadn’t been able to take the gratitude and, murmuring his condolences and offering to help with anything the Stevens would need while making funeral preparations, he’d slipped away from the hospital. He’d been unable to sleep once at home, and his appetite had disappeared. After staring at the television without comprehending anything for twelve hours, he’d crept out to the pool when the quiet morning light had flickered at the edges of his curtains.
Now, here he was, dangling his feet in the water nearly three hours later. He’d heard the phone ringing inside for hours, but he hadn’t bothered to pick up. The doorbell had rung the previous evening and once this morning, but Brian had no plans to answer it. He didn’t want to see anyone, not when he was certain that he was a murderer and didn’t deserve the concern of others.
When his thoughts slid to Reena, he forced them back ruthlessly to where he was, once again, thinking of nothing. Feeling nothing. Reena had been a pretty face, one he’d convinced himself he’d fallen in love with and, in the process, he’d killed a woman he’d cared for deeply. No, Reena was better off without him.
“Meditation, huh? And by the pool, no less. That’s something I’ve yet to try.”
The unexpected voice startled Brian out of his troubled thoughts and had his head whipping around to see who’d managed to get into his home. Gwen strolled towards him looking slightly cheerful, though a small smile curved her lips when she noticed she had his attention.
“How did you get in?” His voice sounded rusty with disuse, and he dimly remembered that he hadn’t spoken in over twenty hours.
Gwen jerked a thumb over her shoulder in the direction of his fence and the gate built into it. “You forgot to lock your gate. It just swung right open.”
“And you thought you’d just walk right in? That’s trespassing.” He tried to sound indignant but knew he sounded tired instead.
“What are you going to do?” Gwen wondered, plopping down next to him and sliding her feet into the pool, too. “Call the cops? Have me locked up?”
Brian stared at her and wondered why he felt the urge to laugh hysterically. “I don’t like you.”
“Yes, you do.”
“Go away.”
“And what? Leave you here to suffer and feel guilty all alone?” She shook her head. “I don’t think so. And you do like me. You’re just trying to convince yourself that you don’t deserve the care and love that others have to offer you.”
“You don’t know what I’m thinking.” Now he knew he sounded like an irritable child. A cranky one.
Gwen leaned close and placed her hand on his arm. “No one blames you but you. If anyone who loves you thought that you were simply grieving, we would have left you alone. But you’re not and we can’t. Brian.” She waited until his gaze met hers. “When I met you, I thought you were exasperating and unbearable.”
“Aren’t I?”
She patted his arm. “You’re the furthest thing from it. You’re kind, smart, generous with your time and your affection. I like you, Brian, and I’m so glad that you and Reena found each other. You’re just what she needs.”
“I don’t want to talk about her.” Brian pulled his arm away from Gwen’s hand. “Reena and I have nothing to do with each other.”
“No?” Gwen frowned slightly. “I think you do. I think you’re perfect for each other, but you’re running because you both feel responsible for something that was out of your control.”
He glared at her now. “A woman I cared for just died, Gwen. I watched her fall over the edge and into that river. She would still be alive if it hadn’t been for the fact that seeing Reena and I together made her run. Juliet didn’t deserve the way I treated her.”
“So you’re going to punish yourself and my sister because you feel guilty?” Gwen made a sound of annoyance. “Why you and Reena feel the need to be martyrs I’ll never understand. Why can’t the two of you see that running away from what happened isn’t right? Yes, Juliet is gone, but nothing you do is going to bring that back. It doesn’t matter if you stay in this house and suffocate. It doesn’t matter that Reena leaves town. It won’t change the fact that Juliet is gone and nothing you did or could have done would’ve prevented it.”
“Reena’s leaving town?” He’d tried not to think of her, but Gwen’s words had dug into his heart.
Gwen rolled her eyes and stood. “Yes, she’s leaving. She’s thinking about heading back to Boston, but I know she won’t last there. This town was perfect for her, but the guilt she shares with you is driving her out, and nothing I say or do is going to stop her.”
Brian scrubbed his hands over his face wearily. “Maybe it’s best that she goes.”
“Oh, you think so, do you? It doesn’t bother you in the least that she’s leaving in an hour or two, that she has no idea where she’s going or what she’ll do when she gets there? Of course not,” Gwen answered for him. “The two of you are so stupid.”
“Well, what the hell do you want me to do?” Brian exploded, leaping up to glare at her. “I’m too busy wallowing in guilt and grief to really worry, right now. Reena’s a grown woman who knows her own mind. She doesn’t need you or me to hold her hand and guide her. If she wants to leave, who the hell am I to stop her?” He sighed heavily, the temper drained in a snap. “Just leave me alone, Gwen. Reena and I are adults, who know what we’re doing. Just let it go.”
She watched him head back into his home and tried not to kick a lounge chair. “Oh, yeah. You’re definitely adults,” she muttered. “But just because you’re an adult doesn’t mean you don’t do stupid things.” Take Kevin, for example, her mind muttered, but Gwen pushed him aside. That man was even more stubborn and idiotic than his cousin, and she was tired of both. All she wanted was for her sister to be happy, and, unfortunately, the man who held the key to that happiness was as depressed as the woman who loved him.
***
“You should talk to him.”
“Me? He won’t listen to me. Knowing him, he’d toss me out the door.” Alex shook his head. “Nope. We have to find someone who’s really going to get through to him.”
Callie sighed. “The only person he’s bound to listen to is his closest friends, and you’re the only one who isn’t busy picking up the pieces that Juliet left behind.”
His brows shot up. “In case you’ve forgotten, my wife and Juliet were best friends. My wife is grieving upstairs and, on top of being pregnant, she doesn’t need this added stress. I can’t leave her to go coax a man out of the cave he’s made for himself. If he chooses to stifle his feelings and go on as though he’s perfectly fine, that’s his choice.” He stood. “Sorry, Callie. You’re going to have to find someone else.”
“Who?”
Alex shrugged. “I don’t know who could help you with that. The only thing I do know is that the woman I love is in pain, and I’m going to go take care of her.”
He was nearly out of the room when Callie stopped him. “Alex. Tell Christine I’m sorry and that I wish it had turned out differently. Juliet was my friend, too.”
“I know.” He smiled slightly. “I’ll tell her. Thanks, Cal.”
“No problem.” But, once she was sitting in her car again, Callie rested her head against the steering wheel and wondered how to fix the mess that had suddenly sprung up around her. Howie was stuck in the midst of a bureaucratic and media frenzy to convince the public that the falls really weren’t dangerous, that Juliet’s accident was the first in the town’s history. Nick was with his grieving wife as Dana, Christine, and Juliet had been the best of friends, and Dana was suffering as Christine was. And though Callie did feel grief over the loss of a friend, she’d channeled it into focusing on how to solve the puzzle of the legend. “Although, we already did solve it,” she muttered to herself. “If only Kevin would stop being so stubborn.”
For Kevin and his heart were the crux of the problem. Until he acknowledged the fact that he loved Gwen, nothing was certain.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Drum roll please! Here is the final installment of chapters for this tale, and i hope you'll enjoy them! thanks for reading this story, and, as always, i love all the reviews i've been getting!
