“Come on, you piece of shit!” Gnashing her teeth together, Molly hit the steering wheel in frustration. Jerking the door open, she climbed out of her sputtering car into the sweltering heat of the late afternoon mountain sun and immediately began dripping sweat.
Large billowing clouds of steam squeezed out from under the hood of her car. Lifting her hand, she shielded her eyes and looked up the road. Above the blacktop, the air rippled from the heat, distorting her view. It didn’t matter—she knew where she was—it was what her and Peggy like to call, BFE! (Bumfuck, Egypt)
Molly groaned when she caught sight of her reflection in the side view mirror. This morning it had taken her two hours to style her hair for Peggy’s wedding, she wanted Dan to see what he was missing out on, but now, even the wild flowers entwined in the length had wilted and were more frizz than curl at this point. Her beautiful makeup that looked awesome this morning was sliding off her face like a melted wax figure from Madame Trousseau’s museum.
Peggy and Marshall, the couple headed to happily ever after, were getting married at an abandoned Emerald mine in Little Switzerland, North Carolina, because Peggy thought it would be romantic. What she didn’t say was that it was also presumably haunted and since her father owned the mine, it made a cheap place to have a wedding. They were an unconventional couple, or so Peggy often said. Molly figured they were more thrifty than unconventional but refrained from saying as much since it wasn’t her place to do so.
Peggy also had the bright idea for Molly to bring up the booze (a gift for the wedding from her father), from his bar/restaurant in Lake Lure, North Carolina that she ran for him.
Not too far away was Chimney Rock state park, a behemoth mountain with a rock formation that looked like a chimney and had an actual elevator inside. The mountain used to be privately owned and a big favorite for hikers, that is, until it was sold to the state. Then lots of the paths and trails were closed due to the dangers of falling off said paths and trails. Molly had even climbed it a few times and bought the t-shirt “I climbed Chimney Rock” as a souvenir.
If she ever got married, that is where she wanted to have her own wedding. Right on the top…well, the only accessible top of the mountain, which was 2, 446 feet in the air, called Exclamation Point, with the world she knew beneath little specks in the fading horizon. Not that she had any prospects—not since old limpy noodle (her new name for Dan) dumped her, but she could dream, couldn’t she?
Pulling out her phone from the car, she lifted it in the air.
“Damnit!” She stomped her sneaker clad foot and threw her phone back on the seat beside her strappy heels that she opted not to wear while driving. She wished she had thought to do the same with her dress. At least she was wearing biker shorts underneath—her makeshift girdle so she wouldn’t get crack sweat on the back of the taffeta mermaid gown that Peggy had picked out for her to wear.
Looking up the road, she figured she had two choices. Either she could walk in the heat up the steep mountain road or she could wait and see if someone passed by that she could flag down. Sitting on her seat, she chose the latter because there was no way in hell she was walking anywhere in a dress that had her trussed up to the point she could barely take a breath.
More sweat poured down between her cleavage and the poufy sleeves of the emerald green gown deflated around her shoulders like airless balloons.
♣
Sun dappled across the worn pavement filtering through the overhanging branches as Lucian rode his bike up the scenic mountain parkway. His motorcycle tires hugged the road as he downshifted into another switch back. He wasn’t real sure why he picked North Carolina to disappear but it seemed as good as place as any. The hurt and betrayal from Cecily still plagued him—not to mention his brother’s tightfisted ways. If it weren’t for the bitch and his brother’s tightfisted ways Lucian wouldn’t even be in the mess he was in right now.
Or so he tried to tell himself as the fall leaves blurred before his eyes in a kaleidoscope of color, as his mind drifted back to the night Cecily had betrayed him.
Lucian -Ravenhurst Cabin- memory
CECILY hastily pulled on her clothes. “What did you say?”
“What?” Lucian asked, pulling on his boots.
“Come on, Lucian. Cut the shit. What did you say?”
Lucian stood up and raked his hand through his hair, a vulnerable look sliding over his face. “I told you I loved you.”
Tugging at the bottom of her shirt, she swallowed hard. “You love me?”
“Yes. I think I do,” he said with meaning.
“It’s an either, or, question, Lucian. Not an, I think,” she snapped, not wanting to believe him. It would change everything. All this time she had been so sure he was just using her.
“Damn it, Cecily!” He shook his head. “Why do you make everything so damn hard?”
She felt pangs of doubt in her gut. “It is a simple question.”
“What is love, if not what we share together?”
“So poetic and yet still not a definitive answer to my very singular question.” She turned away, brushing hot tears from her face, hating herself for even caring.
He reached forward and placed his finger under her chin, turning her face toward his own. “The singular answer to your question is…yes,” he breathed and then gently placed a kiss on her lips. When she didn’t respond, he pulled back. “Aren’t you happy?”
“I am,” she insisted, feeling sick. “More than you will ever know.”
He dropped his hand. “Could have fooled me,” he said, looking wounded.
Cecily took a breath. “Lucian, I didn’t know.” She twisted her hands together.
“What didn’t you know?” He eyed her cautiously now.
Tears welled in her eyes. “I had no idea you felt that way…about me.”
“Yeah, well I don’t usually make it a habit to talk about my feelings. It still doesn’t mean that it is not true.”
“Oh, Lucian,” she sobbed, looking at his handsome face, a bitter residue in her mouth.
“Come on baby, don’t cry.” He stepped forward and stroked her face, wiping her tear stained cheeks with his thumbs. “I hope these are tears of happiness?”
Sniffing loudly, she shook her head and tried to stop but when she looked at him again, she began to cry anew.
“Baby, you are starting to give me a complex.”
“You don’t understand.”
“What is there to understand,” he asked, his brow creasing—the pang of uncertainty hitting him square in the chest. “You do love me too…right?”
“Yes,” she cried.
Relief washed over him but it was short lived.
“You…you…said, you couldn’t…that you wouldn’t ever…Oh my God?” She looked upward. “What have I done?”
Lucian staggered backward, feeling like he had been suckered punched in his gut. It all became crystal-clear. “You didn’t?” he said, barely audible. “Baby please, tell me you didn’t tell them where I am…did you?” He gave her a pleading look.
Her silence was all the affirmation he needed.
He looked around the small cabin, a place that had been his sanctuary for longer than he cared to admit, and now it was closing in on him. He always liked that it was small, open, the simplicity of the place. Now it was too small, too open. There was no place to hide. The familiar feeling of fear crept inside the very place he had sought refuge when he was younger, when he was scared. Now he was terrified to be here. “How long?” he asked.
Lifting her hands helplessly in the air, she shook her head.
“Cecily how long?” he yelled, frantic now. Grabbing his leather jacket up, he tossed it on.
“I don’t know!”
“I don’t have the fucking money, Cecily!” he railed, pacing now. “They will kill me.”
“No Lucian, they said they only wanted to talk to you,” she wailed, sobbing uncontrollably, her words barely coherent. “They promised.”
“And you believed them?”
She nodded mutely.
“What was all this then?” He said pointing to the spot where they just made love.
“I wanted to…I wanted…to say…” she tried to speak but the words kept clogging in her throat.
“What? That you loved me too?” he scoffed. “No. It wasn’t that, was it? You decided to give me a goodbye fuck before you put the last nail in my coffin?”
She didn’t answer, but her expression was the only answer he needed.
He slammed his hand on the table, making her flinch.
“Well I hope the money is worth it…I hope it feeds that conscience of yours for the rest of your fucking life.” He reached out and yanked the door open.
“Lucian…I love…” She reached out toward him.
“Don’t…” He lifted his hand to stay her. “Don’t you fucking dare…” He leveled her with a look full of loathing. Then turned on his heel and headed outside into the darkness.
“Lucian!” She jumped off the chair, stumbling outside, but he was already gone.