If a kidnapping and rescue were third page newspaper material, I never wanted to do what it took to make the front headline.
As I rescanned the article outlining Corbin and my dramatic kidnapping, and then my heroic—although slightly moronic—attempt at saving my mother, I grinned. Someone could write a book about it. Cyrus moved the paper more in my view and then chose his new position to gain access to my ice cream cone as he licked a large dollop off the side. I pulled it back in full annoyance.
“They put Pierce on the front page last year. It was just a stupid engagement announcement. A kidnapping should definitely supersede an engagement.”
I laughed and dug my toes into the warm sand and then held my cone out for him to lick a chunk off the top.
The sun’s rays were warm on my skin and the smell of the sandy beach was enough to cement this memory for a lifetime.
“I don’t care. I want an extra copy for my mom.” Sure, I already had five copies, but I didn’t plan to admit it to him. ThePelican Bay Journalwasn’t a large newspaper. All five copies were still thinner than one regular newspaper, but it counted. “Look how good that picture is.”
I wasn’t necessarily what you’d call photogenic. The only time I had uploaded a new profile picture was when I used a filter. I purposely never showed my driver’s license because it looked like I had bathed in a truckload of salt and then forgotten how to use a hairbrush the morning of my appointment.
But my picture in the paper was amazing. Whoever took the photo deserved a medal because they made me look fantastic. Especially considering I’d been rescued from my failed attempt at negotiating my mother’s release. In the photo, we were sitting at the police station back in Pelican Bay as we all gave our detailed account to the local detective and the one who drove up from Portland.
I hadn’t slept and the genuine shock of the situation was finally setting in right as they snapped the shot. Maybe that was what made my eyes look so bright. Because I don’t know how else that photographer took a picture of me with no sleep, in a dingy police station, yet somehow made me look like a movie star with decent hair and eyelashes.
Cyrus stared at the picture in question. “I look like Corbin.”
My toes dug into the sand deeper as I laughed. I’d done a lot of that the last week. “You are twins.”
“No, but look at that frown,” he said, tapping his face on the picture and jostling the newspaper.
I wrapped one of my arms around him and gave him a quick side hug, passing over the cone for him to finish. He needed it more than I did. “You were stressed.”
Cyrus didn’t frown often, but if there was ever a time in his life he could, it was after rescuing me from the Grandmaster.
Plus, about thirty seconds before they took the photo, he received a text, actually later we learned the text went through all of our cell phones at the same time. Like one really disturbing group message from the Grandmaster that he’d taken care of everything and promised none of us had to worry about Bernard anymore. He also apologized for our troubles. Five cell phones ringing together with an identical message made a man frown.
It wasn’t until the next day when a fruit bouquet showed up with his deepest sympathies and a handwritten card from the Grandmaster that Cyrus got mad. I admitted it was a weird gift although I didn’t really see why he was angry. Especially since he ate all the strawberries from the bouquet before I even had a chance. It didn’t seem right to be mad at a man for sending you fruit if you ate it.
Personally, I had no idea what the words “taken care of” in the text meant, but I chose not to ask. That denial game still hadn’t steered me wrong. Everyone else assumed Bernard had become fish food, but no one had any proof.
In a weird way, I almost felt sad for him. I mean he kidnapped me, chased me up the coast of the United States, and tried to use my boyfriend for his nefarious means, but he was a man who chose a life of crime and then eventually it turned on him and took him out too.
The man obviously had big brains, considering he ran a secret operation away from the Grandmaster for at least a period before being caught. If he’d only put his smarts to good, maybe he’d have changed the world.
Katy told me I was crazy to feel bad for him and he got what he deserved, but I liked people and tried to remember that everyone had good in them. I didn’t watch sports, but I always felt bad for the losing team, and it was easy to have sympathy for criminals when you had empathy for the reasons they turned to a life of crime. We didn’t know Bernard’s story or even the Grandmaster’s. Why did one choose to become a mob boss in Chicago? There had to be an interesting back story.
Or maybe it was wishful thinking.
Cyrus closed the newspaper and folded it up, setting it on the beach beside us.
“Don’t ruffle it. I’m going to have it framed.” Either that copy or one of the five others in the hotel room.
“Where are you going to hang it?” he asked, smoothing out the front page of the paper even though I didn’t need that one for framing.
Hmm. I hadn’t considered that far into my plan. Maybe Cyrus rubbed off on me in just a few days. “I don’t know. My bedroom or the living room,” I said, listing off various rooms where someone would hang a newspaper clipping. It wouldn’t make a lot of sense in the bathroom and something told me it probably shouldn’t go into the kitchen. “My kidnapping might end up a real conversation starter.”
I could throw wine and cheese parties as an excuse to have people over and then casually wander over to that wall and point out the time I was kidnapped. It had real potential. Of course I had to learn about cheese and wine before I threw any parties.
I took an extended leave of absence from my job to mentally recuperate, but there’d be a slew of questions when I returned. I should buy more newspapers, have them laminated, and just pass them out.
Cyrus placed his hand against my chin and met my eyes when he said clear as day, “I love you.”
My shoulders went back and my eyes grew wide. Wow. He just put it right out there into the world.
His thoughtful expression turned and to a jubilant one. “You don’t have to say it back, but I wanted you to know before I said the next part.”
