Free Love on Loch Ness by Aubrie Dionne

outsmarted her.

Chapter Ten
    Later

    Flynn lay on his back. The moonlight shone through his window and Tom's snores resounded. The date had gone so well, and Gail had finally started to loosen up and share personal details of her life.
    So why did he feel like such a jerk?
    Because she shared everything with me, and all I gave her was a cop-out response about my mom's leek soup.
    Flynn turned over and held the pillow to his ear, although he knew it wasn't Tom's snoring that kept him from sleeping. It was what he hadn't told Gail.
    He'd have to tell her if they were going to have any sort of relationship. Flynn couldn't keep his family from her forever. She'd want to meet them, especially with them living so close. He functioned worlds better if he separated his family life from his work; and he didn't have time for a girlfriend, not with Tabitha and this Loch Ness monster business left unresolved.
    Flynn swung his legs out of the sheets and stood. He had to be honest with himself. Sleep wasn't coming, and he didn't want to hear Tom snoring for the rest of the night.
    He slipped on his loafers and snuck from his room. The chill of the night had seeped into the cabin from a window left ajar downstairs, and goose bumps prickled his skin. He froze as he reached the top of the stairs, giving Gail's door a considering look.
    He could tell her now.
    Flynn checked his watch. Three o'clock.
    He'd have to wake her. I'm not ready yet.
    Instead, he tiptoed down the stairs and out the front door. A walk would clear his mind and force him to see what was truly important: finding Nessie for Tabitha. Right now, that was all that mattered.
    Loch Ness spread behind the woods, with all its secrets and promises. Flynn kept to the forest path, not wanting to stumble on the banks in the dark and fall in. Although he could swim, the water was a bitingly bitter ice-fest that sunk into his bones on contact.
    Flynn thought of Gail's father and how alike they were. Could she date someone who reminded her of him? Or would Flynn's overzealous passion for the unknown drive them apart? Could he date a skeptic, a scientist bent on proving him wrong? He didn't care who she was. He liked her all the same.
    Besides, he'd glimpsed some sense of wonder and hope beneath her clinical façade when she spoke of her father. She was capable of keeping an open mind and an open heart when she wanted to. Plus, the way her body had pressed up against his when they'd danced told him the spark was there for her, too.
    If only he could open up.
    The woods thinned to a small beach where light waves licked upon jagged rocks and patches of sand. The glassy surface of the lake came into full view. He stepped into the clearing and stumbled on a rock, scraping his shin.
    Cursing, Flynn sat on a boulder. He rubbed the scrape underneath his pants and watched the moon reflect off the dark depths.
    Nessie, I know you're out there.
    Ever since his parents had taken him on a tour when he'd been a boy, he'd felt a presence under the water, a profound meaningfulness to the lake. Watching the unchanging surface, he thought back to the day his life had changed forever.
    ****
    1991
    Loch Ness
    On the decks of the Starboard Bound

    "Hold my hand, sweetheart. I don't want you falling overboard." Flynn's mother's hand squeezed his fingers as he tried to pull away.
    "I want to see the water up close." Ever since they'd gotten on the boat, his mother had been watching him like he'd stolen a candy bar from the cupboard.
    "There's nothing to see. Just black, murky peat moss." His father waved his hand dismissively and flipped the newspaper to the page of numbers Flynn couldn't understand.
    Flynn digested his father's words, biting his lower lip. Nothing to see? That was impossible. The water called to him with its ghostly mist and vast depths. Surely something magical was down there waiting, but he'd never get to see it if his stupid parents didn't understand. His chin twitched and salty tears