Reckoning ~ Indian Hill 2 ~ A Michael Talbot Adventure Read Free Page A

yelled. She stepped back from the sheer force of my voice. “When it all comes down to it, I did it for you, Beth.” She was crying; I was crying; it was not a pretty sight. Half the base was watching. Some Marine I’d make.
    “I still love you, Mike, but I’m going to need some time, to get over all of this.”
    “I understand. Are you going back home or are you going back to school? “ I asked.
    “I’m going home now; if I do go back to school, it won’t be in Colorado.”
    That hurt for me, was the first time I truly felt that nothing was ever going to be the same. No more wake and bakes with Saturday morning wrestling, no more parties on the quad, no more concerts at Red Rocks. Life had forever been altered and, at age twenty-two, I felt cheated--cheated out of those things that were rightfully mine.
    “I’ll give you all the time you’re going to need. If and when you can forgive me, I’ll be waiting for you. But if we do start over, I want you to know what happened on that ship.” Now it was her turn to look hurt. “When I thought that I wasn’t going to make it, I sought comfort in the arms of another.” She did not seem nearly as surprised as I anticipated. Hurt, but not surprised.
    “Debbie, right?” she guessed as she looked down at her shoes.
    “How?”
    “I see the way she looks at you, when you’re not looking. I see the pain in her eyes. I see the way she eyes me when she thinks I’m not looking. That what-does-she-have-that-I-don’t-have? look. I can’t blame you, with the hell you were put through. That’s not what has me at odds, though, Mike.” She spoke tenderly, and caressed my face with both of her hands. “It was the brutality you unleashed, the savagery in your eyes. They are indelibly burned into my brain. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to look at you without bringing up those images. It’s as if there is a devil living inside of you. Most of the time, you have control of him, but on those occasions when he breaks free, he wreaks havoc on everyone around you.”
    “That’s not fair, Beth.” I pleaded.
    “No, it’s not; like you said, nothing that happened to us up there was fair. I just need some time, Mike. I need some time to reflect on all that has happened to me, to you and ultimately to us. I wish I could say that everything was going to turn out alright, but I just don’t know.” She moved in closer and gave me a hug, the likes of which I never wanted to be released from. A tidal wave of emotion flooded through our bodies. Had we not been in a public place, we may have taken great strides in improving our strained relationship. The hug ended, oh, so shortly. She got up on her tiptoes and kissed my lips. I flushed, it was the most intimate kiss I had received since leaving this planet.
    “Goodbye, Mike,” she said as she pulled away. That goodbye sounded so final, I didn’t know how to respond. I wasn’t prepared for it. I would much rather have been facing an enemy in the ring, at least there I knew where I stood. This was horrible; it was an unseen wound, but it struck deeper than anything I had encountered thus far. I thought my heart would rip in two. My head felt like I was burning a fever and I couldn’t think straight. Do I run after her? Do I stand here like a fool? Do I get in my car and drive?
    “Beth?” She turned. “Goodbye.” A small smile flitted across her face replaced by deep sorrow. I wasn’t one hundred percent sure, but I thought that she had already made up her mind. I cried for the first two hours of my drive. Luckily, not many people live that far north in Maine, because I’m sure that I was all over the road.
    I finally came to grips with the levity of my situation and the last hour went a lot smoother, especially after I found a liquor store. I was halfway through my third beer when I started down the turn-off to my father’s cabin. I had the windows down on the Hummer; the crisp winter air was invigorating. The only