Just Say Yes (Just Say Yes #2) (11 page)

Yes, please.
I laughed. “God, you make it sound like I’m going to get the words ‘Snow Patrol’ tattooed across my ass, Andy. I just want a pretty swirl of snowflakes, that’s all. Nothing major like what you have all over your body.”

“You love my tats and you know it,” he smirked, causing me to stick my tongue out at him playfully.

We talked for a while longer about our relationship and us. It felt like it did before the accident.

“I wish you were here,” I said suddenly. “I think you’d like it here. It’s sunny and warm.” I sat up a little higher in my seat then moved the screen of my laptop back a bit so the webcam was not cutting off the top of my head.

“Is your hand hurt, Zoey?”

“My hand?”

“You have scrapes on your hand. Is it from when you fell this morning?”

Shit.
“Yeah, they’re fine though. One of the girls from the boat crew cleaned my hands and knees up.” I held my hand back up so he could see it better. He seemed fine with my answer.

“I’m glad you weren’t hurt worse. What happened, anyway? Jess called to apologize for what she said to me the night of the accident and to tell me something happened on the boat. Were you crying because of me?” He scooted closer to his webcam, not waiting for an answer. “Zoey, I’m so sorry I was such an asshole to you.”

“Stop, please. It’s over. We’re good now.” He nodded and I explained everything that happened on the boat that morning.

“So you tripped over a bag on the deck?” he asked after I finished providing him with the details about my literal boat ‘trip’.

“Yep, that’s all it was. I was trying to get out of the group of people and my foot hung up on the strap of it. It’s no big deal. I am a klutz.” I searched his eyes, trying to read him, to see what he was thinking. “You look tired. Are you alright?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I am now. I didn’t sleep well last night.”

His comment about him not sleeping well reminded me of my earlier conversation with my mom.

“Andy, you need to be careful at work, please. No working when shit like this happens. My mom said you weren’t yourself the last couple of days. I don’t want you getting hurt at work if you’re distracted because of me, okay?”

There was no point in trying to deny the fact we were well past the point of no return. We decided weeks ago that we would try a relationship, even though he worked at my dad’s shop.

“Of course, I promise. But, I also don’t plan on fighting with you ever again, so we shouldn’t have any problems,” he laughed.

“Sounds good,” I said. “No fighting ever again. I can agree to that.”

It was getting late and he had to work the next day. “I should let you get some sleep since you have to work tomorrow. It’s good to see you. I’ve missed you.”

He smiled. “I love you, Zoey. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

I didn’t want to close my laptop. I wanted just to stare at him, but no sane person would do that. Deciding I wanted to be sane, I finally said my goodbyes to him.

“Sleep well, Sexy. I love you.” After our chat ended, I went to find my friends and family.

All was right in my world again and for the next couple of days, the three of us lived it up in Cabo. We went on all the excursions we had booked. The horseback tour on the beach was definitely my favorite. The guide gave me the most beautiful gray and white horse to ride. I’d never been on a horse before and instantly fell in love with riding.

We rode down the beach with the sun high in the sky and puffy white clouds off in the distance. The day was absolutely breathtaking. I walked my horse over to Jess and asked her to take a picture of me with my cell so I could send one to Andy and my family back home. Leaving my cell with Jess, I turned my horse around, walking him down to the ocean.

He acted as if he liked the water, so I continued down the beach. His feet seemed to dance in the surf. I laughed and smiled the whole time, finding that I was so at peace in my own little world that I didn’t notice Jess had been taking pictures and video of me with my cell.

I could definitely do this every day,
I thought. At the end of our ride, we took the horses back to the barn where I convinced the owner of the stable to let me help brush them down. Her name was Josie, and she was a wonderful person who took great care of her horses.

“Josie, what’s his name?” I asked, referring to the horse I had ridden and was currently brushing.

“Smoke,” she answered with a smile, pushing her bangs away from her sweaty forehead. Her dark eyes sparkled with admiration as she twisted her long, black hair into a bun at the nape of her neck.

“He’s amazing. I love the way he sounds when he breathes and the noises he makes. Is that weird?” I laughed when I realized I might sound like a crazy person.

She stopped what she was doing, turning to me with a knowing expression on her face. “Not at all, Zoey. It makes perfect sense to me. I’ve never found more peace and serenity in my life than when I’m around horses. It’s why I do what I do.”

As strange as it was, I knew exactly what she meant. “How did you become interested in horses?” I asked.

“I grew up in one of the orphanages in Mexico, then one day, out of the blue, they bussed a small group of kids to a horse ranch to teach us to ride and take care of the horses as part of our therapy.” Josie paused, taking in a deep breath before she continued. “I fell in love with horses and when I was old enough, found a job at the ranch taking care of them. Through the years, I worked my way up and became one of the therapists at the ranch, working one on one with the kids and the horses. I retired from the ranch two years ago then spent most of my life savings on the stables.”

I swallowed hard, thinking of what she must have gone through but I didn’t want to be nosey. From what I’d learned over the years, I was well aware that the orphanages in foreign countries were much worse than they were in the US.

“I’m so sorry, Josie,” I said quietly, feeling guilty for bringing up bad memories for her. “I know how hard it must have been for you, not having any family.” I thought about how Andy had lost his family and how I was taken away from my mother at age eight.

She studied me curiously for several long seconds then asked me a question I didn’t expect.

“Zoey, you seem to personally understand everything I’ve told you. Do you have experience with orphans?”

“I was one,” I admitted plainly without thinking about it first. “How did you know?”

“We orphans have an unknown connection to each other, honey. Whether we want to or not, we’re bound together by the lives we had, lost, and started again.” Josie studied my face thoughtfully and took in a deep breath before she asked, “Why are you here, Zoey?”

Good question.
Why am I here?
I explained to Josie about my time in foster care, adoption at age fourteen, the opening of my store and marriage to Rob. After that, I couldn’t keep myself from rambling on about my problems.

“I see,” Josie said when I’d finished speaking. “What is it you’d like to accomplish while you’re here?”

“Honestly, my original intention was to come here to take a break from my life. Everything was going well after my divorce, but then something happened and I let my life slip away from me. I fell into a depression for several months, pushing everyone away from me so I didn’t hurt them. I started therapy again, but recently I’ve been having brief episodes of anxiety,” I admitted.

Josie nodded her head as her sympathetic eyes met mine. “And what is your intention now?”

“Most importantly, I need to find out who I am. I have an amazing family now, great friends and a new boyfriend who has had a rough life himself. There are things in our lives standing in the way of our happiness…stuff we’ve both agreed to try to fix while I’m here. I was in an accident recently, which is the reason why my boyfriend, Andy, and I have issues to work out.”

I took some time to explain Andy’s past, my accident, and how he’d become distant because of it.

“Zoey, I’m pleased to see that you’re both aware of how your life and the troubles you’ve had recently are affecting you and your new relationship. Your boyfriend must be quite the man to realize his own past issues need to be dealt with for you both to move forward,” she said. “Do you want to tell me what happened to cause your depression? I’m a good listener.”

The way Josie smiled at me eased the tension that started building when we began our discussion. She was easy to talk to so I told her about Rob suing my dad and me, then about him being vindictive, taking my prized possession Chevelle as his settlement payment.

Josie nodded her head in understanding. “That must have been very stressful for you and I can see why you decided to take a vacation. How long are you here for?”

“This is my first week. I’m staying here for a month with my family at their place.” I glanced up at the clock on the barn wall, not realizing how late it was. The girls were probably wondering where I’d been since I left them at the corral when our ride was over.

“Wonderful. Will you please come back to visit Smoke and me? You can come every day if you’d like. I would love to talk with you more about your life.”

I agreed to come back after Jess and Sasha went back to Sacramento. My aunt and uncle would be working, I had no plans of any kind so the stables felt like the place I needed to be. I left Josie with the horses and went back to the beach to find my friends sprawled out on the sand waiting for me.

“Z, did you have a good day?” Jess asked when she handed my cell phone back to me.

“Yes, it was the most amazing day. Josie invited me to come back here to visit next week.”

I wanted to send Andy one of the pictures Jess snapped of me, so I sat on the sand and scrolled through the photos. And scrolled, and scrolled, and scrolled some more. Jess took over thirty pictures of me riding Smoke.

My friends sat on either side of me, watching as I tried to decide what photo to send him.

“That one. Send him
that
one,” Sasha stated without hesitation.

I came to a photo of Smoke as he pranced around in the waves, his entire body was in full motion, his mane and tail whipped in the wind. I finally looked at myself in the photo, knowing exactly why they wanted me to send that particular picture to Andy.

They were right. It was the one he would love the most. It was the one I loved the most. In the picture, my face was lit up and I looked content with an enormous smile on my face. My eyes were closed, my head tilted upward toward the sky. The only things in the photo besides Smoke and me were the blue sky, surf, and sand. It was a beautiful picture, so I sent it to Andy and my parents.

“You should take a look at the videos next,” Jess suggested.

I watched the videos then started crying. Seeing myself so completely free and truly at peace, shocked me to my core. “Oh my God, why am I so emotional?” I laughed, wiping away my tears as my two friends sandwiched me in a hug. On a whim, I sent one of the videos to Andy too.

We shook the sand off our towels, packed our books, sunscreen, and everything else we’d brought into our beach bags then drove home. By the time we arrived, it was dinnertime and we were all starving.

Thank God my uncle had taken the day off to drive us around after the boat tour yesterday because now we had all the ingredients to make fried chicken, mac and cheese, and fresh green beans. I’d also picked up several large
jalapeños
, so while the chicken was frying, I halved and seeded them, then stuffed each one with cream cheese. Placing a large shrimp on top of each
jalapeño
, I arranged them on the special rack my aunt used when she grilled them. Carrying it out to the patio, I placed it on the barbecue pit before calling Andy.

“Hey, Beautiful,” he said into the phone when he answered.

Today, I
felt
beautiful. “Hey, how are you?”

“Perfect. Zoey, the picture you sent was…I don’t even know how to describe it. You look so happy. Tell me about your day.” I could hear the smile in his voice.

I told him about the horses, Josie, and about how I felt simply being around them. It was calming and peaceful.

“It sounds like you’ve found something that might help you while you’re away, then. I’ve heard about the horse therapies before. There is a similar place near where we lived in Auckland. Sometimes they would ride by us while we were on the beach.”

It felt nice talking to him with no pressure or tension. It was perfect.

“What are your plans for tomorrow night?” he asked.

“We’re going back to the Cabo Wabo Cantina to go dancing,” I replied. “What are you doing tomorrow night?”

“I’m going to play pool and have a couple beers with Noah. I think Jeremy might meet us at the bar too, but he wasn’t sure yet.”

I was glad he was hanging out with my brothers and they’d become friends.