Hands That Steer A Fleeting Ship
August 29th, 2027
On Concrete Shelves | Revisited
007 - PART THREE
Scene One; Stone Creek
Boulestridge Mountains; The Lakeside Inn
Lately, however, with his husband, Aidan, away helping his grandmother re-structure Thurlow-Jurado Overseas in Paris for the upcoming merger… Taylor has taken on Aidan’s workload as well. Taylor doesn’t mind — there’s not much difference between the two other than extra hours which help keep his mind occupied some. The days that he isn’t working are far more agonizing if he’s being honest.
There was a time when Taylor was fine being alone.
He had spent the majority of his twenties as a single fuck boy. It was a word that his ex. Girlfriend flung his way, along with a wad of spit and a fist when she caught him in bed with another woman.
Being alone was easier than trying to commit to someone. But once he moved to Stone Creek to help his brother get over his break-up with Cassie Lakhani things began to change. He met Aidan Thurlow and his entire view of the world warped.
Now Taylor feels as if he spends any time apart from Aidan his entire insides would just fall out and spew all over the floor. This was a new feeling that he couldn’t quite describe.
Gillian’s words ring true in his ear. Taylor feels as if he says anything he may just break skin and start the unravelling of the relationship between himself and Aidan. This is no longer just about Aidan being away for so long. This is now about Taylor and how uncontrollable his emotions are and even about how big they are becoming deep inside of him.
Is he being too much? Taylor thinks the question through. What even does that mean? Taylor Kern has never felt those sort of emotions before. He would probably laugh in your face if you tried. But Taylor Kern Thurlow feels every single one of those emotions. He feels them strongly down to the core.
A hand slams on his back. It’s a feeling that shoots through his entire being and causes him to jump up and out of his thoughts.
Taylor slings back and pauses once he see’s a familiar face. “Are you crazy?” He asks the woman with a blonde ponytail tied up and onto her shoulder.
She smiles back at him. “If me checking up on my best friend as he stares off into space is cause for calling me crazy — then yes. Clinically.” Amanda Tucker thwarts. She scoots Taylor over on the bench he now realizes that he is sitting on and plops herself down right next to him. “Tell me, what’s going on with you?”
He shoots her an uneasy look.
This gets a chuckle out of the man. They did both sleep with Aidan, so there’s that. He sometimes wonders how they became so close after fighting over the very man that Taylor married. Though with most things about Amanda, the drama just slid right down her back and away with the breeze.
“I ran into Gillian earlier.” Taylor speaks.
But Amanda is already shaking her head. “What did she say to you?”
Taylor shrugs. “Mostly, she was just looking for her brother.”
“Yeah, I got that much out of her when I ran into her on the docks.” Amanda explains. “But I found you sitting here looking lost. So this has to do with something more. Did she say anything to you about Aidan?”
Taylor locks eyes with Amanda. “I was the one who said something. I should’ve kept my mouth shut though, honestly. I have just been thinking about what our relationship means now. I feel like Aidan has found this meaning in life and I’m just sitting around waiting for him to give me a kiss on the cheek.”
“Yeah, well, at least you have someone to wait around for.”
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that to you.”
This time Amanda shrugs. “Please. You can’t hurt my feelings that easily. I don’t mind spending my time around here and then going home to Kat. I’ll have to show you pictures of her! She’s gotten so much bigger.”
Amanda reaches in her small crossbody bag and then Taylor sighs. So immediately she stops searching for her phone and crosses her arms in front of her body and glares at Taylor. There’s almost a hint of a sinister look to her if he hadn’t known Amanda’s thinking face.
“How about we go out tonight?” Amanda’s eyes brighten as she says the words. She playfully slaps Taylor’s arm. “We can go to that gay club that Sebastian was talking about earlier. You know, the one where he said his friend threw up all over the dance floor! I think that would be fun.”
“I think we both have different definitions of that word.”
Amanda shakes her head. She jumps up off the bench and grabs onto Taylor’s shoulder, giving it a squeeze. “It’s a date! I’m not taking no for an answer. We can meet up here after our shifts are over and shower in the locker rooms!”
“But I have work —.”
She places her index finger to his lips. “I’m texting Ayla as soon as we are through here. She owes me a favor. I can get her to open up here in the morning while we are knees deep in puke at my place.”
“You’re really not getting better with descriptions.” Taylor grumbles.
Our Love. Our Fights. Our Friendships.
On Concrete Shelves.
Forever, They Shall Be Remembered.
Scene Two; Stone Creek
Sage Gardens; Wilkinson Fowler Commercial Realty
“Now you’re a sight for sore eyes.” Lark Maverick exclaims.
Megan Sutton places her bag on a nearby chair and moves over to her best friend. Her morning had been pretty dull; Helen had asked Megan to get the model’s schedules aligned for the upcoming headshots updates. Which for obvious reasons she was ghosted by Cree, once again. The frustration continues to boil.
“I needed a distraction.” Megan admits. “I figured with the meme’s you’ve been sending me lately through instagram that you might need the same thing. So I left work a little early and decided to stop by and see if you wanted to have lunch.”
This gets a deep sigh by Lark.
“I take it that I was right.” Megan lingers
Lark clears her throat. “After what happened last week I have been stressed and distracted lately. I feel like the entire thing is my fault. Like I should have seen the building being shopped around.” Lark says, she looks up at her friend. “I feel like a more experienced agent would have known the building was being shopped around.”
There it is. The sound and the look of someone lacking confidence. Which is an odd look on someone like Lark Maverick. Megan has known only the confident, sharp, and intellect of a woman before her. She feels the room shift.
“How does Greta feel about this?” It’s the only thing she can think to ask.
Lark glances at Greta’s empty desk and then back to Megan. “She seems fine. The last few days she’s gone on about other ventures and a few other clients we’ve been sharing, it’s like her uncle stealing an entire business complex didn’t just happen. Maybe she’s in denial. But she keeps telling me that it isn’t my fault.”
“Then believe her.”
“It’a not that easy.” Lark admits.
Megan bites her lip. “You’re the smartest person I know and yet when you’re told the truth from the mouth of someone like Greta Wilkinson who spews nothing but truth… you just decide it must be a lie?”
“No.” Lark shakes her head.
“Then what?”
“When I took the job here, with Greta,” Lark sniffs, “my mother didn’t approve — hell, Medusa still doesn’t approve. It’s been this on-going battle. She somehow would rather me be stark naked on a stage than working as a real estate agent… but then I started to get into my groove here and I was able to acquire the deal that Corey stole.”
There is a stray beam of light that shines through the large bay windows in the front of the agency that gleam across Lark’s face. Her honeydew eyes shine brightly. A smidge of gloom within their gaze.
“We all know how that story ends.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong.” Megan tells, she finds herself sitting in a chair directly infront of Lark, one she assumes is for clients. “If anything, blame Corey. He is the one who snuck around and took your client. I didn’t think anyone with that last name would be so devious.”
This breaks a smile from Lark. “Careful, you sound like you’re drinking the kool-aide.”
“Oh, stop.”
“You know the old gossip around this town is such bullshit, right?” Lark reminds her. “All the Wilkinson’s are pure souls, all the Thurlow’s are so upstanding… all the Maverick’s will slit your throat in front of you…” she chuckles. “It’s so harsh. It blurs reality.”
“I didn’t mean it like that. I just grew up around them. Him. Corey has always been like an uncle to me so it just feels strange for him to do something like this. So out of character. But he did do it so I can’t deny that this is his fault. Not yours.”
Lark nods. “It still feels like my fault though.”
“How’s that working for you?” Lark scrunches her nose.
A small tinge of guilt overcomes Megan, who playfully pushes Lark’s arm. “This is the reason why I thought we could use a break and have lunch outside our own cluttered little world’s.”
“That’s way harsh, Meg,” Lark gasps, “my world is much bigger than yours.”
“I got sent away to private school.” Megan challenges.
Lark rolls her eyes. “I was raised at Williams Hyde Prep School.”
“Yeah, but you stayed here in Stone Creek. So I am more experienced. I have a much bigger world and so you should listen to me.” Megan teases. “You’re the smartest person that I know and I think you should forgive yourself for this.”
Lark smiles, knowingly. “I’ll try. But can you do me one favor?”
“That is?”
“Forget about Cree and just focus on yourself. That way you can prove to your grandmother that she made the right decision in naming you the Model Coordinator for the magazine. What the hell is Cree doing for herself, anyways?
“Nothing.”
“Exactly. Nothing.”
Scene Three; Stone Creek
Now Town; Bayou Oaks Condos
The silk sheets begin to shift and so does her focus. Cree has been staying here on and off for a few days now. It sure does beat her grimy apartment at the Callahan Condos. The water pressure here was devine and there wasn’t a rat to be seen.
The shifting of the sheets however alerts Cree to the naked man to the right of her. She smiles wickedly as she turns to her side. Snagging a rich, powerful man like Reid Maverick was now one of her most proudest moments in life. Cree begins to pull the sheets lightly, revealing his naked torso in the gleaming of the afternoon sun.
She was glad not to listen to Care’s advice and even more happy to have stolen him all to herself after learning about his family.
He rolls over and she locks eyes with him. “I was wondering when you’d wake up.”
“We had a late ass night.” Reid admits.
“Where has all that stamina gone?” Cree asks, she eliminates the space between them and he pulls her closer to his naked body. “Isn’t it better when you’re closer to me. Inside of me?” Cree nibbles on his ear.
Reid groans in pleasure. “I have to get back to work. Money doesn’t stack on its own.”
But she ignores him and moves her hand along his body, lower and under his waistline. “What do I need to do to convince you to stay in this bed with me?”
“What’s your motive?” Reid asks. He shoots up in the bed, the silk sheets falling off the upper part of his body revealing a healthy appendage. Reid flicks Cree’s hands away from him and leans against the bed frame. “We’ve spent most of our nights in this bed. I don’t complain much. Trust. But a woman like you always has a motive.”
Cree scoffs. “Maybe try not being such an ass.”
“You’re the one that changed up on Care that night at the bar.” Reid remarks. “Don’t think I didn’t notice that. You’re shady as fuck. You’ve also ignored most of her calls whenever we’re together.”
“If I’m so shady then why am I here?”
Reid smirks. “A man has needs and it beats having to go looking for a meal if one door dashes itself to my doorstep every night. Listen to me when I speak, I told you already. I know women like you. You’re insecure. You’re a terrible friend. What better company than a woman so miserable and needy?”
Her body runs cold. There’s now an ick between them that she can’t describe. Yet there he was in all his glory and she finds it hard to peel away from his chiseled abs and perfect body. His musk, sweaty and sweet pours into her nostrils.
Cree moves away from Reid. Trying to tear herself from the bed and the condo altogether. But it is a really nice condo. Cree turns back to him. “How can you be so —.”
“How can I be so… what?” Reid asks. He lifts his body up so that his knees are on the bed and he is towering over her. “You’re the one that wanted to come home with me: every. single. night. Don’t you remember that?”
He moves closer to Cree. His body heat begins to make her body betray her mind. Cree instantly moves closer to him and brings a hand closer to his muscular thigh. But Reid slaps it away and they lock eyes.
“Now you want to go for another round?” Reid asks.
Cree stammers, then gulps. “I just wanted you to stay in bed with me.”
The man smirks. “Fine. Let’s stay in bed.”
Reid grabs a hold of Cree’s right hand and places it upon his chest. She can feel his heart beating rhythmically. The hairs on his chest feel soft, welcoming. He then moved her hand lower down his body and she knows where this is going. The hairs, though sparse, run down his navel until they connect with a thicker patch at his base.
She leans in to test the waters, but he holds her face in his left hand. “Do you want this?”
Cree nods her head eagerly.
“You’ve got to work for it.” He spits.
Slowly she begins to move her right hand. Reid tilts his head up and closes his eyes in ecstasy.
Scene Four; Stone Creek
Sage Gardens; Wilkinson Fowler Commercial Realty
The information is solid, but it does float. That much she has to admit. Lark watches as her best friend takes in the words. She’s been able to read Megan the moment she met her. It has always been written on her face.
So Lark speaks up. “I don’t think you’re grasping at straws.”
“Then what?”
“I just think that whatever is going on with Care is her own business and it doesn’t have as much to do with Cree as you think that it does.” Lark admits. “Care Schmidt has had a lot happen to her in her lifetime. She never really said it out loud to me when I was modeling and we were friends. But I could sense it.”
Megan sighs. “Do you think that I should just drop it?”
“I don’t think you should be broadcasting it to the world, let alone your grand mother. If Helen found out that Care was bulimic she would probably write an entire issue about it and slap Care on the cover right under the words ‘Twelve Steps to Adjusting your Relationship with Food.”
This gets a laugh from Megan. “Okay, you might be right about that. Helen isn’t someone that shies away from an opportunity.”
“If you think that this thing is bigger than what Care can handle then you owe it to her to meet her at her level. I don’t have the friendship with Care that I once had when we were all modeling. I don’t think she would admit anything to me.”
Quite frankly, Lark doesn’t think she could muster up the courage to fake apologize to Cree in order to get closer to Care in the first place.
“The most important.” Lark snickers.
Megan goes to greet Greta. “I was just asking her to come have lunch with me before I head over to pick-up my brother from baseball practice. But I think that lunch might have to wait today. The time is just getting away from us.”
“Nonsense.” Greta declares. “There is always enough time for lunch and I don’t think baseball practice is over for a few more hours. Besides, I think Lark has been burrowing herself in this office ever since we lost the deal to my uncle Corey.”
“I don’t mind.” Lark replies.
But Greta waves it off. “I know that you don’t. But if I haven’t said it enough. That deal falling apart had nothing to do with you and everything to do with my uncle. That’s something that I am sorting out on my own. Please, don’t let it drag you under.”
“See.” Megan muses. “I told you. Now let’s go to Gladys’ before I have to go pick-up Eric.”
“Oooh,” Greta’s eyes light up. “If it’s not too much of a burden, I could use a slice of her key lime pie. Maybe you can bring over a slice after the two of you ladies are done talking about whatever has the oxygen in this room so thin.”
Lark nods. “You’ve got it.”
.:On Concrete Shelves:.
Scene Five; Stone Creek
Sage Gardens; Thurlow Cottage
He has spent the majority of his day like an errand boy going between the offices and the lumber mill trying to keep things in order. Luckily his son-in-law, Ryan, has kept the lumber mill running smoothly since he was re-instated as factory management. So the enjoyment of running away to the lumber mill has become more prominent in his life. Especially now with his newest dilemma brought to him by Vinessa.
James starts to unfasten the buttons on his Oxford when he notices Diem Joplin in his living room. It’s not an unexpected surprise, but the sight of his High School Sweetheart has always helped ease his stress levels.
She smiles at him sweetly and then turns back to Caitlyn.
“We were just talking about you.” Caitlyn speaks first.
“It’s nice to know that two of the ladies in my life have always had the best relationship. Probably even better than my own. But today was a really rough one at the office and I don’t know how much company I’ll be.”
“Ah.” Diem speaks. She places her cup of tea back onto the wooden coaster and then prepares herself to get up off of the couch. “That must be my cue to go check on my daughter tonight. She said something about a pasta night, anyways.”
James eyes her. “Don’t you have a fiancee to go home to?”
“I would have better luck stopping by the printing press instead of waiting for him at home if I’m being completely honest.” Diem turns back to Caitlyn who has risen from her seat as well. “Darling, it was fun talking with you. But I’ll leave you in the capable hands of your dotting husband.”
She then moves over to James and lowly says to him. “I think you need to focus on your wife tonight and not bring up all that corporate talk. She’s had a rough day as well.”
“Drive safe, Diem.” James replies, kisses her on the cheek, and then turns back to his wife who stands solemnly on her own. He can tell that Diem was advising him in the right direction but James also knows that these could be choppy waters.
“She doesn’t mean any harm.” Caitlyn says. She walks up to her husband and leans into his embrace. “I had a conversation with Marina today, that’s all. That little man of hers is just getting bigger by the second. I swear he had grown a few more inches since I had seen him last week. It’s remarkable.”
“How’d the conversation with Marina go?”
Caitlyn frowned. “She turned down my offer.”
“Can’t say I didn’t see that coming.” James chuckles. “Marina is a very strong-willed person. I’ve never met a person that could ask her to stand in-line, not even Ryan can do that. It was nice of you to try to reach out though, I know you were just looking out for her.”
“I know it’s going to be hard for her.” Caitlyn remarks. “Do you remember the first six months after Henry was born? She wouldn’t let anyone else hold him. I don’t think we were allowed to make eye contact with Henry until after his first birthday.”
Caitlyn shakes her head. “Then we remember it differently. I just think that Marina needs a distraction right now more than ever. If she’s going to even let Henry go off to school I feel it would be better if she had something like the founder’s council to lean into.”
“I understand what your intentions are, my love.” James leans forward. “I just know better than most that if you push, then Marina will pull and then lock herself away from you for as long as it takes. Maybe just give her more space, is all.”
“I know you’re right.”
James kisses her forehead. “Give her some time. Marina will do what is best for Marina. Most of the time that usually aligns with what is best for the family.”
“She’s more like you in that way.” Caitlyn titters. “From the look you gave me when you walked through those doors and the way you ushered Diem out of the house I can already tell that things didn’t go exactly how you wanted them to.”
“I promised Diem I wouldn’t say anything tonight.”
Caitlyn takes her pointer finger and drags it along his chest. “I already aired out my worries, now let’s start working on yours.” She pulls her husband in closer for a kiss in which he reciprocates with passion.
Scene Six; Stone Creek
Now Town; Afterglow Lounge
The music erupts in the nightclub.
If you weren’t braced against a wall or near a pillar, it would sweep you up and into its embrace as it hummed a Gaga song to life. Afterglow Lounge was a basic -- and yet, extravagant nightclub to sit so valiantly upon one of the highest buildings in Now Town.
“We will have to take these back to lost and found tomorrow morning, you know?” Taylor quips.
She weaves and bobs to the song and then turns to Taylor. “Then at least let’s enjoy them tonight shall we? Let me go grab us two more drinks! The cute bartender keeps eyeing me. I think I can swoop in front of the line.”
He eyes Amanda as she turns on her heel and heads towards the bar. It takes her a minute to get through the crowd of partiers but she makes it over to the bar where she begins flirting with the petite raven haired woman behind the bar. Taylor knows Amanda well.
It didn’t matter who she needed to flirt with to make things easier for herself, but she still was respectable enough not to lead anyone on.
“Yo! Taylor!” A voice calls from his left.
A man stands directly next to him. He’s taller with a slightly more square figure and arms that filled out his tight black tee shirt well. Taylor also knew this man as a friend of Aidan’s from when they used to come out to the night clubs.
The man puts his hand against Taylor’s neck and drunkenly pulls him closer. “I haven’t seen you in forever, man! Where’s Aidan?”
Taylor can smell the stench of cheap vodka on his breath. “He- He’s out of town, Berto.”
“That’s too bad.” Berto slurs. “But hey! I got an idea. Maybe the two of us could go back to my place? Maybe we can hang out like the three of us used to back in the day?”
He shrugs the man off. “I don’t think so, Berto!”
“Come on, Tay Tay,” Berto is now leaning against him, with his lips pressed to his neck, “we can go to my place and maybe get naked. I can show you a good time and Aidan doesn’t even have to know.”
Berto looks between the two of them and then throws a hand in the air, waving it at the two of them and moves on to someone else.
“I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have left you alone.”
Taylor shrugs, a chuckle thrown in, “I could defend myself against a drunken, horny ogre.”
“It’s the only insult I could think of. He was just so tall.” Amanda says. She turns to the table where she placed their drinks and thanks the occupants for holding them. “But, I am sorry Taylor. Maybe tonight wasn’t a good idea. I just wanted to take your mind off of Aidan.”
“It was a good idea.” He lies. “I didn’t think about my husband until our run-in with Berto. To tell you the truth, I was beginning to have a good time just the two of us.”
“Good!” Amanda replies. “How about we go and dance then?”
Taylor’s eyes flicker over to the bar where Amanda had just been. A man now stands in her place facing them. A familiarity overcomes him. Then he recognizes him as Marco Maldonado, the man he met and signed a food vendor contract with for the Resort.
“Who is that fine specimen?” Amanda asks from over his shoulder.
“That’s the guy who I signed that contract with for the resort.” Taylor replies.
“You didn’t tell me he was so good looking.” Amanda replies, she pulls Taylor’s hand, “let’s go say hi to him! He seems like he’s by himself.”
Before he can say anything, there’s halfway through the crowd and his drink is sloshing in his cup — some spills onto the linen shirt he is wearing. Now he must wash it before he returns it to lost and found. He doesn’t get time to figure out how he will accomplish that as they are directly in front of Marco.
“Hey.” Taylor says.
Marco smiles warmly. “Hola.”
Taylor nods. “You’re welcome. I- uh, I didn’t know that you were…” he looks around at everyone in the bar and then back at Marco who has a whimsical look in his eye. “You know…”
Marco’s eyes widen. “No lo soy.”
Then he spreads the biggest grin as Taylor feels the blood rushing to his head as Marco continued talking, “I’m kidding. I came out with a rainbow flag attached to my pata. I sniffed you out the moment we shook hands.” Marco replies.
There’s a silence coming from Taylor. He opens his mouth to reply but nothing comes out. Even from Amanda who stands beside him as a pedestrian to their interaction.
Marco stands up straight and offers a hand. “Would you like to dance?”
“I- uh,” Taylor shakes from his fog and looks down at Marco’s hand. He then looks at his two hands before him and remembers his wedding ring. Taylor moves one step backwards. “I’m married and I shouldn’t.”
Marco nods. “Entendido.”
The words aren’t too foreign for Taylor, he took Spanish classes in High School and even studied up on the language when he was publishing his first book… but the man was stunning and after a few tequila soda’s Taylor was falling into a fog.
Marco turns to Amanda. “Would the lovely lady like to dance?”
“Yes!” Amanda shouts into Taylor’s ear.
She grabs the hand offered to her and pushes through the crowd, leading the way out onto the dance floor and away from Taylor — who is now holding his drink along with Amanda’s in his left hand.
There’s a tingling in the pit of his stomach that leads lower in his body. He can’t quite place it but neither does he want to pay it too much attention in case it grows and starts to edge out his feelings for Aidan.
Taylor stands near the bar. Feeling alone once again.
On Concrete Shelves
Revisited
Next Time, On Concrete Shelves...
- Trying to figure out where she stands with Peter Sutton, Jr., Catalina is caught off-guard when he cements himself in a firm and unquestionable position.
- Kirsten finds the time to pull Adrian Stone to the side and continue their conversation from the previous week. This time without the prying eyes of Laurie.
- The friendship between Tully Joplin and youngster, Violet Stone, continues to strengthen just as one of them confesses a hidden feeling while the other realizes the pressure of a lie.
- Megan Sutton finds time to have brunch with her best friends, Lark Maverick and Jane Wilkinson, however, a chance encounter with a ghost from her past threatens to occupy her mind…
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