With No Warning (Romance/Inspirational)(Complete)

CHAPTER 19: Sitting on Top of the World

CHAPTER 19: Sitting Top of the World

Emblazoned hues of orange, rust and gold streaked the sky, as the sun began to settle over a horizon that was broken in the distance, across the smooth golden water, by a shadowy tree line. The modest, uninhabited lake cabin was outdone by the large deck, jutting from it, and Dakota stood with her hips against the rail behind her, craning her neck at Evan, who was on the roof.

As he called down measurements and descriptions of them, she jotted them in the notebook she held. He had described a tool of the trade, a laser beam measuring device, which approximated measurements by simply tracing the silhouette of a roof from the ground level, that he generally used to bid the job. But to actually order the materials, to begin work, he needed a concrete measurement, because if the pointer was off, by even one pixel, the measurement accuracy could be off by a few feet.

The sunset blended from shades of orange, into shades of pink, as the last dimensions were recorded. “Come on up,” he bid her. “The view is amazing.”

Twisting from her spot, she eyed the distance, and the amount of rungs, up the extension ladder that propped against the eave.  Warily, she was reminiscent of the time that she had tumbled a few feet down the slope of the garage roof, as a gangly preteen. Bravely going after a wayward frisbee, she had used a ladder that time also, but once, “on top of the world,” had horsed around, showing off, for her friends, for a minute or so, before losing her footing.

“Awesome.” Breathing out the word, she scooted to a stable roost beside him. The expressed wonderment was for both the streaky pink and purple sky, and the lake, that lay like a glittering amethyst below her. As the shadows began to fall, she shared with him the childhood experience that could have put her in a full body cast at best.

With a husky laugh, he curved a supporting arm around her and declared, “I won’t let anything happen to you. You know that.” The shadows, of the cooler in Bernie’s store, regenerated over the evening dusk, and instinctively, she leaned into the casual embrace.

For a very long time, weeks, possibly months, maybe even since the first time she had lain eyes on him, with the wet tendrils of hair curling waywardly about his face, as his eyes momentarily met her’s during his entrance into Bernie’s store, she had known this moment was coming.

Their kiss was long and slow, wild and sweet. And when it ended, she was clinging to him to keep from tumbling off the roof.

Shanna’s voice on the other end of the phone, later that night, finally penetrated, as Dakota relived the experience. “Well, what did he say? What did you say? What happened next?!”

Shaking from her reverie, and shaking from the mere memory, Dakota pulled herself back into the present. Flopping to her stacked pillows, she turned off her bedside light. The clock read eleven twenty seven, Evan had dropped her off, only a few hours ago. “He said he had been wanting to do that for a long time. I said me too.” Glumly, she communicated the details to her big sister.

Kelli’s Spring Show dance rehearsal had been that evening, and from the cabin, he had rushed her back to the school, so she wouldn’t be late. Earlier in the month, Dakota had promised to be at the dance rehearsal. Evan had stayed for about a half hour of it, then had gone on home.

“Shanna, what am I going to do?”

“What does he say when you talk to him about his Faith?”

“I have only brought it up once, because he was so firm about it. He says that is between him and God.” Dakota broke off, remembering the absolute 'end of discussion' tone of Evan's voice, and the hard set of his features on that particular afternoon. “I didn’t let up, until recently, on asking him to church, but he never came.”