Falling into Forever by Tammy Turner Read Free Book Online

choose.” She smiled.
    Sensing the irritation in her grandmother’s voice, Alexandra jumped up from the porch swing and headed toward the kitchen door. “Breakfast was delicious,” she said.
    â€œLooks like we’re going to get dressed now,” said Taylor rising slowly, careful to place her injured toe lightly on the porch.
    â€œI think we’re going to go out for a while,” Alexandra called to her grandmother as she helped Taylor hobble through the door.

4

Drowning
    With the blazing sun rising toward the middle of the cloudless sky, Taylor drove her precision-tuned sports car over the bumpy gravel driveway away from Peyton Manor, toward Black Hall Trail. Nestled into the passenger seat, Alexandra looked through the windshield at the deep scratches on the hood of Taylor’s convertible.
    Those certainly do look like claw marks , she thought, puzzled.
    No matter how many times she replayed the night before in her head, she could not say for sure what she had seen in the middle of the road. “Let’s keep the top up for now,” she recommended to Taylor.
    Searching for the right button on the dashboard that would close the convertible top, Taylor grumbled, “I’m glistening , Alex. You didn’t tell me how hot it was going to be here.”
    Alexandra turned the air conditioner on full force and sat back in the seat. “I’m sorry, Taylor. I’m sorry about the car, the weather, your new shoes, everything.”
    â€œChill,” said Taylor as the car roof closed over them. Then suddenly Taylor asked, “Did you hear that?”
    â€œHear what?” replied Alexandra, looking through the windshield and seeing nothing. But then she heard it, too: a howling screech, echoing through the dense canopy around them.
    â€œIt must have been the gate closing behind us just now,” Alexandra said, turning around to look through the back window.
    The car idled in front of the gate at the end of the driveway. “Yeah, you’re right,” Taylor said, glancing in the rearview mirror. “Now point me toward the marina,” she said. The car gained speed quickly as she navigated from the packed gravel driveway up onto the black asphalt.
    â€œMaybe it was just a low branch that scratched your car last night,” said Alexandra as they raced down the winding road.
    â€œProbably,” agreed Taylor, nodding her head as she scanned the dense forest of moss-covered oak trees on either side of the road. “Don’t worry about it,” she lied.
    â€œMake a left when you get to the stop sign,” Alexandra directed her.
    â€œWhat stop sign? There’s nothing out here except trees,” Taylor sighed.
    â€œIt’s still a couple of miles up the road. Just make a left when you get to it, and follow that road to the water. You can’t miss the docks,” Alexandra explained. “Granny June said to ask for Captain Bradley when we get there. He’s supposed to take us out for a sail in the harbor.”
    Alexandra stared at the passing woods through the passenger window, hoping to spot a low-hanging limb near the bend in the road where she scratched the car’s hood. But not a single stray limb hung down over the road. The woods flew by her eyes as they sped further from Peyton Manor. But deep in the trees, she saw something fleeting, something racing with them.
    A deer? Alexandra asked herself as her fingers felt for the door lock. “Definitely a deer,” she said aloud, straining her eyes harder to see into the passing trees.
    â€œWhat did you say?” asked Taylor, searching for the stop sign.
    â€œNothing,” mumbled Alexandra, her fingers fumbling absentmindedly with her necklace.
    â€œIs this the turn?” asked Taylor as the convertible eased toward a four-way intersection. Alexandra did not answer, intently keeping her eyes on the woods.
    â€œHello?” asked Taylor turning to look at her