The Lakes

Chapter 4

4

"Hey beautiful!" Tommy yelled from across the bar as Chris walked in. In his typical fashion he ran to her, picking her and up and swinging her around. She heard a few jealous sighs from some of the remaining female tourists dining.

"Hey Tommy."

"Sit," he instructed, "I'll be right back."

He was, not a minute later he had a tray with two grilled cheese sandwiches, a basket of fries and two waters with lemon and lime, just as Chris like it.

"Hungry?" he asked setting everything down on the bar in front of her.

"Starved," Chris answered breathy.

"You look pretty hot in a suit," he said grinning as he sat down beside her.

She giggled. "Yeah hot is right. I thought it was supposed to be cooling off," she said as she slipped off her suit jacket, which he took and laid over the stool beside him.

"You say that now but you'll miss seeing me in my board shorts when it gets cold," he winked at her.

"True," she said taking a bight of her sandwich.

"Ah, you'll get used to it eventually," he said popping a fry in his mouth.

"Easy for you to say, not all of us are stuck in our surfer boy free spirit ways we've had since high school!"

"Whatever," he said chuckling. But through the laugh and behind the smile she saw the pain in his eyes.

Two years ago almost to the day his older brother Travis had died in a shark attack when they were out surfing. Tommy and Travis were almost as inseparable as Tommy and Chris. They would surf together all day long while Chris sunbathed in between taking pictures and videotaping for Travis' website.

He had been a pro-surfer but couldn't seem to hold onto a sponsorship. He was always being caught in compromising positions that inevitably lead him to be dropped. Chris had volunteered her photography skills since she couldn't offer much in the way of developing the website.

She had taken some truly amazing photos and had submitted them to Quicksilver just before his death. They had sent her a letter asking to meet with him a week after his funeral. She never showed it Tommy; she knew it would only hurt him.

"So how is it?"

"Yummy," she said taking another bite.

"No crazy, the job?" he said giving her that look that made her feel like an idiot and a genius all in one.

"Oh," she said taking a sip of her water. "It's uh, weird."

"How so?"

"I don't know, I mean, I'm used to changing diapers and making chicken nuggets. I know how to lather a baby up in sunscreen but I don't know how to collate."

"Collating is for wimps," he said pushing her gently in the shoulder.

She smiled affectionately at him. He always managed to take her from idiot to genius in record time.

She felt a chill go through her as a beautifully sun-kissed girl approached the bar. She was wearing a string bikini top, a frilly skirt and flip-flops. Chris could smell the desperate tourist on her as she approached Tommy.

"Hello Thomas," she said rather coldly.

"Hey Adrian." He didn't look at her; this was not a good sign.

Chris had seen it before, a million times. They'd flirted, he'd probably given her a couple beers on the house, taken her back to his apartment, had sex with her, been gone in the morning with a note saying something like, "Had to go to work, lock the door on the way out, I'll call you later for dinner."