Page 49 of Adrift

My eyes widen to saucers as his words hit me. “What?”

Fred chuckles as Lynn focuses on their tangled hands in her lap, smiling to herself. “I was eighteen, and Lynn was twenty-five . . . practically an old maid.” This earns him another playful slap. “My regular English teacher was in an awful accident and could no longer teach for the rest of the year. The school had to find someone to cover for her for the last six weeks before the school year ended.”

He caresses Lynn, sliding his hand up and down her arm. “I knew the moment she stepped into the classroom that I’d marry her. Come hell or high water, I was going to make this woman mine, whether she knew it or not. She was–and still is–the most beautiful woman I ever saw. She was gentle and kind, and boy, was she whip-smart. But if you got on the wrong side of her, she wouldn’t be afraid to show you the door.”

I could see that. Lynn had a no-nonsense air about her, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to stay on her good side.

“So how did you approach her? How did it all begin?” I’m giddy with excitement. Even knowing they ended up together, I want to hear every detail, every part of their story.

“He kept failing the assignments I was sending home. I didn’t know it at the time, but he was purposely writing in the wrong answers and even failed two quizzes I’d handed the class,” Lynn adds. “So, I offered to tutor him.”

“Which was my plan all along.” Fred winks at me. “I gradually worked my way up to seeing her for tutoring three times a week, rather than the once a week she had originally suggested. And during those sessions, I’d find ways to slip in personal questions, trying to get to know her. I’d share unnecessary details about my life too, just so she could know them, hoping she’d think about me even after the tutoring session.”

I regard Lynn. “And did you?”

She inhales. “Well, I didn’t want to, you know. He was seven years my junior and still had to figure out what he was going to do in life. My parents were bugging me to find someone and settle down, and while they were liberal, I knew they wouldn’t approve of a relationship between us.”

“What happened after that?” I ask Fred.

“Well, one day, I told her how I felt.” Fred smiles. “It was the last day of school, and magically, I’d passed English–”

“Barely.”

Fred continues, unperturbed by Lynn’s interruption, “I told her that I’d fallen in love with her and I wanted to marry her. Just like that.”

“It wasn’t ‘just like that.’” Lynn scowls at him. “You were sweating bullets.”

Fred shakes his head. “See what I mean? She can’t just let me have my moment of bravado.” At the roll of Lynn’s eyes, Fred continues, “As I was saying, I professed my love to this woman, who, for all intents and purposes, had already become my girl . . . in my mind at least.”

He pauses, so I look between the both of them, waiting for one of them to continue. When I don’t see either of them give me a reaction, I ask, “And? What did she say?”

“I said no,” Lynn answers.

“No?” I ask, my brows raised.

“Yes, I said no. I told him that he was out of his mind if he thought I’d marry him when he had no idea who he was or what he wanted to do with his life.” Her eyes stay on him endearingly. “So, he asked me what it would take.”

“And she said it would take me figuring out my life, getting a job, and being able to afford to buy her a ring before she’d say yes.” He sighs. “So, I did just that. I got a job as a car mechanic and slowly moved up to supervisor. Four years later, I became part-owner of the same repair shop. And when I could finally afford that ring she’d asked me for, I asked her again.”

“And I said yes.”

“And she said yes,” Fred repeats in a whisper. “She’d waited for me. We got married in her parents’ backyard six months later, and Lynn gave birth to the first of our three children a year after that.”

Heartwarming tears of joy gather inside my eyes as their story sinks into my bones. When a tear slips down my cheek, Lynn comes to sit next to me. “Oh now, you’ve interviewed so many couples before, and I’m sure they’ve all had wonderful stories. I can’t imagine you crying with each one.”

I blubber out a laugh, wiping my tears with my fingertips. I remember to stop the recording before taking a breath. “I guess this one just spoke to me. I’m so happy to see that you both got to spend your lives together.”

Lynn leans in, searching my eyes. “Is there anyone you’ve found to spend your life with?”

I meet her gaze. “I . . . I don’t know. The way it appears right now, I don’t think so.”

Over the next few minutes, I tell them about Darian–who he is to me, why I’m in Tahoe, how we kissed exactly one week ago.

When I’ve finished, Fred regards me seriously. “It seems you’ve put this Darian man in quite a state, Rani. As much as I want to call him a jackass for not giving in to what his heart clearly wants, I think I’d respect him less if he didn’t get wound up in his head about it. Wouldn’t you?”

Lynn hands me a tissue, and I swipe it over my nose. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I’m not saying I loved the time I spent apart from my Lynn. It was a hard four years trying to prove myself to her, but had I told you that she was willing to jump into a relationship with an eighteen-year-old–no questions asked–I don’t know that you would have seen her the same way. Maybe it wouldn’t change where we are today, but we may have taken a different journey. Instead, she weighed out what she wanted with what she needed. She made sure we were both ready for each other before she allowed me into her life. She had principles that she couldn’t disregard.”

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