Collin (Forever #4)

“Yep. Central Park. This is one of my favorite places to be.”

We got out of the Range Rover and I grabbed the basket from the back seat. I handed Amelia the blanket and I grabbed her hand as we walked through Central Park.

“So tell me why Central Park is one of your favorite places.”

“It’s my mom’s favorite place to escape, and it’s a place where Julia and I spent a lot of time. When we were kids, my mom would bring us here while she painted one of her pictures. Our nanny, Mason, used to bring us here to play and our family would have big picnics in the park. It sort of became like a second home to us.”

“That’s really special, Collin.” She smiled.

“I’m sorry. I think I kind of got a little sappy.”

Amelia playfully smacked me on the arm. “You did not. Did you bring any paper plates?”

“For what?” I asked.

“For the Chinese food.”

A playful grin spread across my face. “We don’t need plates. We’ll eat out of the cartons.”

“That’s barbaric.”

“No, it’s not.” I laughed. “It’s fun and we can share.”

I grabbed a piece of sweet and sour chicken with my chopsticks and brought it up to her mouth. “Be careful; it’s hot.”

She carefully blew on it first before putting it in her mouth. God, she was so sexy and my mind was picturing very inappropriate things. We talked and laughed and Amelia told me how nervous she was to start her clinicals. After we finished eating, we put the cartons back in the basket and I poured us another glass of wine. By this time, darkness had settled in and the stars were shining brightly above us. She lay back on the blanket and patted the ground for me to do the same. We stretched out and looked up at the sky.

“Do you see the man in the moon?” she asked.

“Yeah, I see him. He looks happy tonight.”

“I’m happy tonight,” she said as she turned her head and looked at me.

“Me too.” I smiled as I reached over and took her hand, interlacing our fingers together.

We lay there in silence for a moment, and then Amelia started to point out some of the constellations. We laughed as I pointed to what I thought was the Little Dipper, but I was wrong. Then, suddenly, her voice became quiet.

“My father’s life was sailing. It was his passion. He began teaching me how to sail when I was just three years old. My older sister, Alana, never really got into it, but I did. My favorite part of the boat was the sail. I was so fascinated by how that piece of material, powered by the wind, made the boat sail. Like this is your place of peace, mine was the open water. My family would sail for days on end. One time, my dad took an entire month off work and we took the boat out and sailed on the open water. A whole month,” she said as she looked at me. “I loved it. My mom and sister said it was way too long and they were anxious to get home. I could have stayed on that boat forever.”

I tightened my fingers around hers and watched her as she slowly closed her eyes. “My family and I raced in the boat races in California. It was the one thing my dad looked forward to every year. Two years ago was the first time Billy went with us. They were calling for storms that day, but according to the radar, the storms wouldn’t be in our area until the races were over. We set sail and my dad had a plan. He was determined to win that race. I stood by his side the whole time. I was his second in command and his execution was always flawless. We were going strong and everyone was having a good time. We were blowing by the other boats and suddenly, out of nowhere, clouds darkened the sky and the waves picked up. My dad yelled at me to go sit down and hold on tight. My mom started to panic and he yelled at her to stop and to hold on as tight as she could. I’ll never forget looking at him and seeing the fear in his eyes. All I could hear were the screams of the other people on the other boats. The winds were high and the waves hit the boat, throwing a rush of water from the bow over all of us. My dad was losing control and the boat was tipping. I’d never been so scared in my life. Billy shouted my name and begged me to come to him. But I couldn’t. My dad made a sharp turn towards an island in the distance and other boats went the opposite way. I kept telling him to turn around because there were no beaches near the islands. When I looked through the binoculars, all I saw were rugged, rocky shores. I knew if we hit those rocks, there was no turning back.”

I lay there and watched as tears fell down her face. “Amelia, you don’t have to say another word.”

She didn’t listen. She kept on telling me about that horrific day that changed her life forever.

“I pulled on my dad’s arm and begged him to try to turn around. He jerked his arm and his elbow hit me in the face, knocking me down. Billy yelled and I tried to get up, but I couldn’t. Billy stood up and he let go of the edge of the boat. That was when another wave crashed over the boat and knocked him off and into the water. I screamed and tried to crawl across the deck. I remember the rain being so heavy that it hurt my eyes. My mom and sister were holding each other, screaming and crying as I tried to get to the edge of the boat to try to look for Billy.”

Amelia brought her hand to her face and wiped away the tears. I reached over and wiped a single one that she’d missed.

“As the boat got closer to the island, it was headed straight for a large rock. The last words I heard my dad say were, ‘I love you.’ The boat crashed into the rock, flipping it over and throwing us all into the water. I’ll never forget trying to swim to the surface and being tangled in the seaweed that almost killed me.”

I ran my finger along the scar that extended down her arm. I noticed it on the beach the day after she had helped me, but I never wanted to ask about it and she never volunteered to tell me. I suspected now it was from the accident.

“The scar on my arm is from slicing it on a rock when the boat crashed and I was thrown into the water. I finally managed to make my way out from under the boat and to the top of the water. I began screaming for my family, but they weren’t anywhere to be seen. I dove back under, but I couldn’t see anything. The water was cloudy and the seaweed was thick. Suddenly, I heard a helicopter up above. I swam to the surface and began screaming and waving my arms. Blood was gushing from my cut and the water was turning red around me. The next thing I remembered was waking up in a hospital bed and my aunt was sitting beside me, crying.”

She turned her head and looked at me as another tear fell from the corner of her eye. “You’re the first person that I ever told about the accident in detail.”