Beyond the Waves (Pacific Shores Book 1) (9 page)

He stiffened, and his hand paused at the base of her neck. Then he placed his hands on his knees and stood. “I see. I’ll go get Marie and Brice.”

Pain clenched Taysia’s chest until she could hardly breathe as she watched Kylen walk slowly down the beach, his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his shorts. She dashed at the tears on her cheeks with the flats of her fingers and headed back to the car to wait for them.

Kylen was strong. And there would be plenty of women for him to choose from. He would be fine. And she had Blaine. They would both be fine.

Chapter 5

Kylen walked down the beach a way and then paused, looking out over the endless motion of the water. He sighed and rolled his head from side to side as he let his mind wander back over the years to high school.

That first summer, he and Taysia had become friends almost immediately. Their friendship had quickly blossomed into romance, and he had finally worked up his nerve and kissed her under the grape arbor in her backyard. That night she had shared her fears with him. She had never been popular at school. She’d always just been “Chubby Taysia Green.” Earlier that year, before he arrived, she had determined to lose weight and help women do the same in the future, but she knew nothing would change at school. She told him she was afraid when school started he would turn his back on her, because no one was going to like him if he hung out with Fatty Four-Eyes. He had assured her nothing could be further from the truth.

Kylen huffed a breath of disgust with himself and scuffed his toe through the sand. That first year, things had been okay between him and Taysia for a while, but eventually the ribbing he took at school for hanging around her got to him, and he’d slowly stopped sitting with her, walking home with her, talking with her.

The hurt in her big gray eyes the first time he’d passed her by in the cafeteria to sit instead with the football players and cheerleaders pierced his heart. The first time she called a greeting to him across their lawns, and he merely waved and headed to the beach with his new friends, her shoulders had slumped. He’d felt like a cad, but he’d valued popularity more than his relationship with her.

Soon, like a dog that gets cuffed every time its owner is around, she carefully began evading him. Even during the summers, she made a point of staying as far from him as possible. And, selfishly, he hadn’t given her a serious thought until the night of their senior prom.

Taysia had been so beautiful that night.

Her date was Darwin Schwartz, a punk rocker with a tattoo of a dragon on his neck and a silver earring that dangled down so far it bumped against his shoulder. Darwin hadn’t been at the prom for fifteen minutes before he was well on his way to being drunk.

None of the jocks had been able to tear their eyes off Taysia, all of them wishing they’d had enough guts to be the first to break the “Taysia Green Taboo” and ask her to the prom themselves. Kylen included. Her sapphire-blue dress hung just off slender, tanned shoulders, and a small sapphire-and-diamond pendant graced the hollow of her throat. Somewhere in her high school years, Taysia had learned she couldn’t be anybody but herself, and she’d stopped trying to impress the popular people. She mingled around the room chitchatting with her friends, and everyone in the room noticed her exquisite beauty. It was a beauty that emanated not only from her outward appearance but from an inner confidence. The fact that Taysia was unaware of it only added to her allure.

On that night Kylen knew she was the most beautiful girl he’d ever laid eyes on. His date, Sophia Clinesmith, had known it too and hadn’t liked the way Kylen watched Taysia across the room.

Sophia waited until Taysia stopped by the punch bowl and then approached her. Filling her own cup, she angled Taysia a smile. “Taysia! You’re looking fab tonight!” She reached out as though to give her a hug and sloshed punch down the front of Taysia’s dress. Apologizing profusely, she swiped at the stain with a wad of napkins from the table. Everyone in the room knew the truth.

Taysia’s eyes darted to Kylen, a blush staining her cheeks as she pushed Sophia’s hands away and whispered that everything was fine and not to worry. Backing away from the refreshment table, she glanced frantically around the room.

Kylen followed her gaze and saw Darwin cavorting drunkenly on the dance floor with a girl wearing black makeup and leather. He turned back to see Taysia fleeing the room.

He glared at Sophia. “That was cold, Sophia. Couldn’t stand the fact that she is twice as beautiful as you ever will be?” The words were hard, cutting. He meant them to be. Sophia burst into tears, covered her face with trembling hands, and flounced away. Several of her girlfriends rushed to console her with embraces and glares in Kylen’s direction. Kylen hesitated only a split second before he pushed through the surprised murmur of his classmates and ran after Taysia.

Darwin must have driven her, because she was striding through the rain, swiping at her cheeks with one hand. He ran for his car and pulled out of the parking lot. Driving half a block ahead, he stopped at the curb and jumped out, turning to face her as she approached.

“Go away, Kylen! You are the last person on earth I want to talk to right now!”

“Taysia, just let me drive you home. It’s cold and raining, and it’s over two miles to your house.” By this time she was abreast of his car. She ignored him and tried to push past him, but he stepped into her path, resting his hands on her upper arms. “Come on, Layne, just let me drive you home.”

She folded her arms, stepped back, and dropped her gaze to the sidewalk. “I can’t go home, Kylen.”

He frowned. “Why not?”

She swiped at a tear with the flats of her fingers, then refolded her arms without ever looking up. “I just can’t. My parents…”

Understanding dawned. She didn’t want her parents to know. “Fine.” He took her by the arm, leading her to the passenger side of his car. “Come to my house, then. My parents are gone on business. At least you can have a warm shower and get into something dry. You can sneak home later.”

She sank down into the seat without protest and leaned her head back. The minutes ticked off silently as he drove, the only sound that of the wipers methodically swishing across the windshield. He swallowed nervously, hating the silence. “You looked beautiful tonight.” The words were a surprise. He hadn’t meant to voice the thought aloud.

She grimaced. “Shut up, Kylen.”

He pulled into the drive of his dark house and glanced over at her. “Taysia?”

She turned her head on the headrest and looked at him, her gray, tear-bright eyes shining luminously in the moonlight.

He swallowed convulsively, his heart beginning to beat hard in his chest. He reached out and stroked her cheek with the backs of his fingers. “I mean it, Layne. You were the most beautiful girl there tonight.”

She closed her eyes and did not pull away from his touch.

It felt right when he leaned across the car and kissed her. Memories of their first tender kiss and that whole wonderful first summer when they had simply been two friends falling in love clouded his thinking. It felt right when they stumbled into the house and he pulled her up the stairs into his bedroom. Momentarily gone was the distance that Kylen had placed between them. It was as if they had never stopped being friends, being in love. Everything had felt right until it was over, and then he had known he’d made the biggest mistake of his life. Taysia didn’t meet his eyes as she got up and slipped back into her stained, wet gown and left. He’d been too angry with himself for taking advantage of her to stop her. Besides, what could he say?

He had walked to his window, watching as she darted across the lawn and eased through her back door.

If things had been strained between them before, they were even more so after that day. He remembered making snide comments about her as she passed him in the halls, loud enough for her to hear. He remembered the hurt acceptance that always haunted her eyes whenever he dared to actually look at her. There hadn’t been much of the year left, but he remembered he’d been cold and demeaning.

He had been a sophomore in college, and hadn’t seen Taysia for two years, when he had attended church with his roommate and his eyes had been opened to his need of a Savior. His hunger for the Word had been voracious, and he had submersed himself into it, reading and studying it avidly.

By the time summer break rolled around, he had known he needed to make things right with Taysia.

As he drove the road home that year, he had prayed God would give him the words to express his heartfelt regret. That opportunity came when he saw Taysia heading out for her jog one day. He followed.

They jogged quite a ways down the beach to a lonely stretch not often accessed by tourists. She had to know he was jogging behind her by now. “Taysia!” he called.

She thought about simply ignoring him—he knew because she kept jogging for about ten feet before she stopped and spun toward him. She glanced around at the empty beach with a telling glance and arched a slender brow in his direction. “Afraid someone might see you talking to me?” She hauled in a breath of the fragrant, salty air, looking out over the ocean to the flat horizon beyond. “What do you want, Kylen?”

“I want to apologize.”

She cast him a swift glance, surprise evident on her face.

He went on, undaunted. “I’ve become a Christian, Taysia, and I know the things I’ve done to you must have hurt you terribly. I should never have thrown away our friendship like I did in the first place. You meant more to me than that;
mean
more to me than that. The night of the prom—we should never have—
I
should never have—well, I’m sorry. I stole something from you that night, and I know it doesn’t change the past, but for what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”

Taysia laughed derisively and stepped right up to him. “You know what you can do with your apology, Kylen Sumner?” Quick as lightning she looped one leg behind him and shoved his chest hard. “You can eat it!”

He staggered backward trying to catch his balance, but there was a piece of driftwood just behind him. He went down hard. His head cracked against a rock beneath the surface of the sand, and blackness skittered across his vision.

Squinting, he looked up to see Taysia leaning over him. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it! Kylen, are you alright?” Her hands fluttered around his face in agitation. “Kylen?”

He groaned and rolled his head from side to side, determining the extent of the damage.

“Lie still! Kylen, lie still.” She adjusted his head to an angle and peered at the cut behind his ear. “Don’t move.” He heard her splash into the waves, then felt her kneel beside him again.

He grimaced and sucked in a breath as salt water hit the wound.

“Hold still!” She bent closer, examining his head. “You’re going to need stitches.”

He moaned. He couldn’t help it; no other words would form.

She grabbed his T-shirt and ripped a piece of cloth from it, pressing it against the flow of blood.

He opened one eye and raised an eyebrow, forcing words past the throb. “May I move now, Nurse?”

She rolled her eyes. He grinned, sat up, and reached to take over pressing the material to his head. When she began to pull away, he captured her hand.

“Taysia, please forgive me.” All levity gone, he implored her with his eyes. “The way I treated you was so wrong. I’ve asked God to forgive me, but I would really like it if you would forgive me too.”

Her expression changed. Hardened. “I’ll think about it.”

His shoulders slumped.

“Kylen! You’ve no idea what I’ve been through because of you!” She folded her arms defensively. “Yet you waltz back into my life and expect to make everything better with a few words?”

He sighed and dropped his hand and blood-soaked cloth into his lap.

“Keep that pressed to your head, you’re still bleeding.”

Absentmindedly, he raised his hand. “You’re right, Layne. I have no right to demand anything from you. I only hope one day you will be able to forgive me for the pain I’ve obviously caused you.”

She pursed her lips. “Fine. Do you think you’ll be able to make it to the hospital? Or do you want me to drive you?”

He waved a hand. “Go. I’ll be fine.”

Slowly she got to her feet and turned to leave.

“Layne?”

“What?”

“I just want you to know Jesus is the answer. You talked about making everything better with just a few words. Well, giving my life over to Him was the best thing I ever did. Those few words I prayed really did make everything better. I’ll pray that one day you will find that out too.”

Without a word or gesture of acknowledgment, she had turned and jogged back down the beach, taking his heart with her…

Kylen sighed. After all these years, his actions were still coming back to haunt him. He picked up a piece of driftwood and hurled it back into the ocean. At least Layne had found a relationship with the Lord. That was one good thing that had come from the mess he’d made in the past. He sighed and clasped his hands behind his head. Elbows wide, he stared out across the ocean.
Lord, I know I don’t deserve her. Maybe she will never be able to trust me again. But it would be really great if You could change her heart toward me. If she is the woman You have for me, then help her to see that I’m different now because of my relationship with You. And help me to continue putting the past behind me, Lord. I can’t change it, so help me to move on and do better with my future.

His heart felt lighter, and as he headed down the beach to get Brice and Marie, he knew he wasn’t ready to give up on a relationship with Taysia. He would just have to prove to her that he was a changed man.