Wrecked by AJ Harmon

visible high in the sky, the breeze
cool and slight. The evening with Ethan had been all a date should be.
    A date! The idea was unreal.
    The first date Bess went on was many years before. She was
fifteen and she’d been asked to a school dance - Homecoming. She accepted with
eagerness and she and her girlfriends giggled and planned hair styles and
matched dress possibilities with shoes. It should have been a memory filled
with happiness and fun. Instead, Bess just remembered how awkward she felt in
her cousin’s bridesmaid dress because her step-father refused to shell out for
a new dress of her own. Her best friend, Allison, had told her she looked
beautiful and helped her to do her hair and make-up, even letting her borrow a
pair of shoes. No, the bastard wouldn’t buy her new shoes either.
    The actual dance was fine. Four couples had gone as a group
and she enjoyed being with her friends most of the night. But when it was over,
her date had wanted her to be grateful for taking her. Bess had yanked
his hand from out of her cleavage and demanded to be taken home. Scared to
death, she was barely fifteen and wasn’t ready for anything more than a
goodnight kiss at the end of the evening. He called her a fucking tease and took her home, not even opening the door of the car for her… not even
waiting for her to reach the front door before he drove away, squealing tires
as he went. There was no kiss.
    Bess’s second date was much better. She’d left home
by the time she met Bryce. She was staying with her great aunt for the summer
and he worked at the same restaurant as she did and they went to the movies a
couple of times before he moved on to someone else. He didn’t, however, call
her names or demand sex because he’d bought her a bucket of popcorn and a Coke.
    After that, Bess didn’t have the time or the energy to think
about boys and dating. She’d worked at least two jobs up until she was hired at
the daycare center, needing all the money she could earn to pay for rent, food
and gas for her car. That’s not to say she never went out, but it wasn’t
often, and not memorable.
    Dinner with Ethan was a completely different experience.
Yes, she was older, and he was unlike any man she’d ever known, but it was more
than that. It went deep – it affected every part of her being. Fluttering
butterflies remained in her stomach as her hand still rested on her cheek.
Tingles had raced down her spine as his lips had gently touched her skin, and
her legs felt as though she’d just climbed fifty flights of stairs. Her heart
pounded against her ribs and her fists clenched, so as to not wrap
themselves around his torso. It was an entirely new ball game, one she was unprepared
to play.
    The kettle boiled and Bess made herself a cup of tea. She’d
stood outside for several minutes thinking about Ethan and trying to decipher
the myriad of feelings she had. There were far too many to deal with, so a cup
and tea and sleep sounded like a better plan, although she doubted sleep would
come easily.
    She was right. By two o’clock she gave up and threw back the
covers. The bed was warm and comfortable but all she did was toss and turn and
become frustrated with her inability to make her brain turn off long enough to experience
slumber. She pulled a sweatshirt over her head and wandered back to the family
room and the large window overlooking the cliffs and the ocean below. It was
still pitch black outside but Bess could hear the waves crashing angrily
against the rocks below. She kneeled on the sofa, crossed her arms over the
back and leaned her chin on her forearms as she heard gulls cawing overhead.
    It was unimaginable how different her life was than just a
few short weeks ago. How things had turned upside down. Regina had suggested
she apply for a job at the hospital. When Bess went in earlier in the
afternoon, she was fully prepared to be hired on as a housekeeper or a dishwasher,
but at the very moment she was being given a