Free Falling In by Avery Stark

words--individually
insignificant--but spoken together, they made her heart stutter.  By then, all
that she could ask for was to be safe; to be able to put her guard down for
just a little while without everything in her life imploding.
    “Okay,”
she resigned.  “I’ll be there in forty minutes.”
    “Sounds
good.  See you soon.”
    She hung
up the phone and put the last few drops of OJ back into the fridge, doing her
very best to stifle the school-girl giggles that threatened to spill out.  It
was something that she knew she wasn’t supposed to feel, but Audrey couldn’t
help herself.  She longed for the tender affection that the fire between them
promised, even if it meant that she would have to put herself--and her
heart--in his hands.
    The cell
phone was still warm from being cradled between her head and ear as she let it
fall from her grasp.  It clattered and clanked down with a little skid and
eventually landed near the edge of the sink.
    Knowing
full well that the phone wasn’t the only thing that she wanted to leave behind,
Audrey quickly showered again and dressed.  Before she could change her mind,
she forced herself--and the rattling, green bicycle--down the rickety road that
led off of the property.
     
    ---
     
    Waiting
with his red kayak at his feet, Liam’s loose mop of hair shone brightly under
the blazing sun.  When he caught sight of Audrey, he looked away from checking
the vessel out and greeted her.
    “Fancy
meeting you here.”
    Audrey
parked her bike just as a soft gust of tropical air blew her loose locks back
behind the shoulders of her thin, white blouse.  It was sheer enough to let her
pink bikini top show through, along with the gently sloping curves that led to
her hips.  Similarly, the loose ends of the strings tying the matching bottoms
together poked out from the waist of her denim shorts.
    “Yes,”
she laughed and started down the dock.  “What a surprise.”
    Liam
stood up and hugged her when she was close enough.
    “I hope
you brought your paddling arms.”
    “Why? 
Have you been bad?”
    He
raised an eyebrow with a chuckle and responded, “Maybe, but I can’t tell you
all of my secrets, now can I?”
    Though
it wasn’t intentional, his comment made a pang of guilt hit Audrey’s stomach.
    “Of
course not.”  She paused and looked beyond him.  “Where are we going?”
    Liam
finally let his hands drop, but not before he made his palms graze the
fluttering strings on her hips.
    “Hop in
and I’ll tell you.”
    Audrey
helped him lower the surprisingly light boat into the water, which was almost
as warm as a relaxing bath.  Not long after, Liam joined her and pushed them
away from the dock.
    “I’ll
bet you didn’t know that this town was already wiped off the face of the map
once,” he said with a smug--if not adorable--look on his face.  “In-”
    “1896,”
Audrey cut in.
    Liam’s
eyes rolled back and he groaned.  If he didn’t already have a calling, Audrey
thought that he would probably do well as an actor.
    “There
you go again.  First Arthur at the party and now this.  How could you possibly
know all of that?”
    “I hate
to say it, but Arthur had his hand in that, too.  When I met him, he told me a
little about the history of the town.”
    He
grabbed the paddles from near their feet and handed one over.
    “Did he
tell you that the old town is actually somewhere else?”
    “No. 
What do you mean?”
    He
turned around started to paddle, which prompted Audrey to do the same.
    “I’m
taking you to Atsena Otie Key,” he said and pointed to a little island not too
far away.   “That’s where most of the town was before the hurricane in
1896.  After it was wiped out by a ten foot storm surge, the surviving
residents moved it to where it is now.”
    Under
the smooth strokes of their oars, the crystal blue water rippled by with
random, brightly-colored fish that darted around.  Audrey watched to her right
as the tall mangroves slowly