AllFreeNovel
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I study McCormick’s profile. He’s watching two of the men struggle to unfold a long table.
If this is a dream, then I have to admit—at least in the privacy of my own mind—that he’s exactly the kind of man I would want to dream about.
He’s easygoing, calm, and soothing like a smooth day sailing on the lake. His presence is like a soft balm rubbed over tired muscles. Every time I look at him I’d like to stretch out next to him in the sand and rest my head in the crook of his arm while he kisses me with leisurely patience.
I’d like to taste the salt of the ocean on his lips and the sun on his skin.
I’d like that very much.
That is a dream I can get behind.
I’m afraid to fall in love in real life, but in a dream, where I’m not me and the people don’t actually exist? I could open my heart then.
It’s funny, when Daniel and I made the agreement we’d open up, I made the forfeit a two-week vacation at the beach with no internet and no phone. Maybe this dream is my subconscious giving me what I thought I didn’t want, but what I really, really need.
I suppose there’s only one way to find out.
“I’ll be right back,” I say, waving at McCormick.
“Where—?”
I run toward the wet sand, sprinting through the grass, then across the beach toward the blue waves and the salty mist hanging in the air.
I keep running, not looking back as my feet sink into the sand, pools of water filling my tracks. The waves crash over the coral pebbles, carrying them forward. A clump of seaweed with crabs trapped in the fronds twists at my feet. The scent of sand, salt, and the spice of wet tropical foliage twists around me.
I dash into the water, the waves tugging at me, the cool salt water enveloping me.
“Wake up,” I say. “Wake up, wake up, wake up.”
I pinch my arm. Hard enough to bruise.
“Wake up!”
And then I dive under the cool water, blowing the air from my lungs in streaming bubbles as I kick deeper, deeper.
I keep my eyes open, the salt stinging. The water is clear. Hundreds of tiny silver fish flash past, moving in formation, and a long needle-nosed fish speeds after them. Fist-sized flat fish with bright yellow and black stripes dart past, and plum-size blue fish glowing like neon signs dart to the sea floor where a cluster of coral camouflages them.
I kick and swim down, down. My lungs burn. My eyes sting. I’m desperate for air.
Wake up, I chant in my mind.
My lungs scream.
Wake up.
Wake up.
I kick deeper. The water pulls at me. I lose sight of the fish, of the coral.
Wake up.
Black seeps across my vision.
Breathe.
I need a breath.
I can’t?—
