“If you change your mind, call. I can swing by to pick you up.”
Shortly, Nate pulled into a parking lot with a trailhead marker, and I hopped out. I started with some dynamic stretches to warm up my muscles. Then I took off along the trail, letting my long strides eat away at the packed, sandy path.
I loved jogging, but I didn’t always have time to go as far as I wanted. Running a decent distance took time. Even though I skipped cardio occasionally, I was still in good shape. Jogging the distance from Amagansett to Montauk was nothing but a warm-up. I could feel my chest expanding to accommodate my need for more oxygen and my legs settling into an easy rhythm.
Once I hit Montauk Beach, I wasn’t exhausted, but I could feel the beginnings of fatigue setting in, and it felt incredible to push myself; working through the mental obstacles that arose from the exertion. Then it hit me – runner’s high. The feeling I could run around the entire world if a path existed. My footsteps quickened, and I felt like I could win a marathon at this pace. Nothing could stop me now.
A high-pitched, clear scream rose over the sound of waves and gulls.
I felt my ears twitch as they literally perked up. My focused gaze snapped from the beach in front of my feet and scanned the area around me. The sound had come from somewhere up ahead. So I sped up a bit, listening, and watching for the source of the scream.
Angry voices shattered the calm afternoon, and another shriek echoed from somewhere off to my left, over a cluster of high, grassy dunes.
I broke from a jog to a sprint and took the dunes like stairs, leaping up them like a mountain goat. My foot slipped on the sand at the top, and I had to steady myself before glancing up.
A clapboard house, a car, a second car and three people; my darting eyes noticed all the basics first, then soaked in the details. A young girl stood clutching a doll with tears streaming down her cheeks, calling out, “Mommy!”
One of the cars was still on, sitting empty to the side with the driver’s door open like the owner had jumped out in a hurry. And a man was pinning the same redhead from the beach and my lawyer’s office against the side of the other car, ignoring her attempts to push him away.
I saw red, and that red wasn’t Elena’s hair. “Get your hands off her!” My voice was loud, filled with rage even though I had just run several miles. Sand kicked up behind me as I barreled into a headlong sprint toward the scene.
The man jumped, loosening his grip on Elena, who shoved him and darted to the toddler. She turned back toward the man clearly ready to protect her child. In the meantime, the guy was jumping into his car. In his haste, he lost his grip on the door handle twice before slamming it and roaring away.
I slid to a stop on the sand a few feet away from the deep tire tracks, growling my annoyance at the guy’s quick getaway. If I had just run faster…or maybe not yelled and announced my presence. But I had to get the man away from Elena somehow. “Are you okay?” I asked, realizing for the first time that this might be awkward for both of us. “And your daughter? I mean, I assume she’s your daughter since I heard her calling out to you?”
“Yes, And we’re both fine,” she said shakily, crouching down to hug the little girl. “Thanks to you.” Elena’s arms shook as she tried to embrace her daughter. Instead of lifting the child, Elena bit her lip and nervously combed her fingers through the girl’s hair.
“Let me?” I asked, taking a step forward.
Elena took a deep breath. “No, I’ve got her. I’m just kinda shaken up.” Visibly forcing herself to calm down, she lifted the child to her hip. “It’s fine, Honey. Okay? He just wanted to talk to Mommy, and Mommy didn’t really want to talk to him.”
The girl looked at me with big blue eyes, hugging her doll tightly. “Why?”
“Because he’s bad. Remember how I told you about the bad ocean? He’s a bad man.”
Satisfied with the explanation, the child went about straightening the doll’s rumpled clothes and hugged it to her chest. Sirens wailed in the distance, and I realized that Elena must have called the police.
Moments later, a police car whirled around a group of dunes, slowing and then coming to a stop when the deputy realized he had reached his destination.
“Are you alright, Ma’am?” he asked, taking in the situation as he stepped out of his vehicle, realizing that I must not be the man she had called about.
“I am now. Thanks to him.” Elena nodded toward me.
She walked with the officer to his cruiser, gave her statement, and was answering a few questions. I couldn’t hear much of the conversation, but I could tell by her tone of voice that Elena wasn’t pleased. Since nothing had been stolen or damaged and the officer couldn’t do anything to apprehend the man at that moment, he soon left.
Pursing her lips, Elena shook her head as the officer drove away. Her face was still a bit ashen when she looked me up and down, and asked, “Will you- will you come inside for a minute? The least I can do is offer you a bottle of water. For helping us.”
I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. Honestly, I had expected Elena to ask me to leave. After all the things I had said to her, I hadn’t really thought she would forgive me after just yelling a couple words at some guy. And her cautious demeanor as she led me inside told me forgiveness might be a little longer in coming. At lease she didn’t hate me.That’s a start in the right direction.
“Do you- do you live here?” I wanted to slap a hand to my forehead as soon as I asked the ridiculous question. Of course, she lived here. One of her angry shouts at the man had been “get off my property.” If that hadn’t been enough of a giveaway, a picture of her holding her child was on the table near the door.
“Yeah,” Elena said from the kitchen as she was grabbing a water from the fridge. “I was just housesitting for your neighbors. My boss - Devon - he knows them and referred me. I guess, uh…I guess I didn’t do a very good job. And well, I guess he told you my name.”
Another twist of guilt and embarrassment gripped my heart. “Yeah, I asked him about you,” I said, leaning against the section of the counter that separated the kitchen from the living room, “I’m sorry about the way I acted; at the law office, and about the dog. He was just trying to play, and I’m sure you were busy that morning.”
“It’s okay.” A surprised blush crept into her cheeks. “I should have been more careful with Chauncey.”
“No, I was a jerk. Let’s be honest,” I insisted. “Things happen. I didn’t need to act the way I did just because... Uh… I was having a rough day.”
