Eight Years Ago...

Everyone, but especially the young, looked forward to summers in Fresh Water for one purpose -- hours spent languishing in one of the many water sources until their skin turned pale and wrinkled. They had no care about food really. Only few thought of carrying snacks along with them. Mostly, they depended on fun and wild berries for sustenance. Parents usually had to deploy search parties to drag their wayward teens back home when twilight began pursuing the retreating sun with streaks of roseate across the sky.

On one particularly sweltering afternoon when the heat was rising off the surface off the earth in those transparent waves, Natanya had convinced Jesse to abandon his duties working alongside his father to accompany her to 'the pool’.

It wasn’t because he liked her that much that he’d agreed to go. Around that period in time, he hadn’t been certain about what he felt for Natanya. Except for when she was stuffing her hands down the front of his pants, his feelings for her were tepid at best.

Most people, including his parents, had just assumed that the two of them would be an item and Jesse had not refuted the assumption. He and Natanya had grown up together. They were in all the same classes and there was this unspoken rule among their peers, as well as between the two of them, that they attend all town functions as each other’s dates. Plus, she was a nice girl. Nice to look at with a pleasant personality. Since they’d been fooling around, Jesse had decided to at least try harder.

While they walked, she hooked her fingers between his and laid on him that innocent blush that contradicted the girl who would invite him to just about any spot she could find so they could go at it. What could he say? The first time 'it' had actually happened, he’d been eighteen and horny. That didn’t mean that there hadn’t been many close calls in between. If it hadn’t been for him delaying the matter, they would have done the deed long before then. Thus is the way that the two of them had sort of became a real thing.

It wasn’t long into their stroll when a figure burst out of the thicket in the distance and into the meadow. Shelly-Ann Miller was running in their direction with her gangly arms waving wildly in the air.

“Help!” she called.

Jesse squinted against the sun, though, his focus was behind Shelly-Ann, searching for signs of Tullisa since the two were like each others shadows. You seldom found one without the other. She, however, was on her own and out of breath and though Jesse had no idea what was going on, he took in the half-dressed girl with a feeling of dread dropping like a weight in his gut.

He tugged his hand out of Natanya’s and broke into a half sprint to make up the difference of space between him and Shelly-Ann.

“What’s...” he started to ask as soon as she was close.

He didn’t need to hear anything else she had to say after she said, “it’s Tullisa.”

Jesse was off to races. He took off like a prize mount at the starting gate at the derby in the direction that Shelly-Ann had emerged from without another thought of Natanya or their impromptu date. The only person on his mind was his young neighbour -- getting to her. The fear on Shelly’s face was all he needed to know that she was in serious trouble.

His heart was exploding out of his chest both from the exertion and adrenaline coursing through his blood and quite equally, the anxiousness and fright driving his legs to move faster.

Coming from the direction that Shelly had, there was only one place that Tullisa would be. It’s the same spot that he’d been heading with Natanya.

The thorns and twigs sticking out from overhanging branches and the brier and brambles covering the beaten footpath abused every part of his exposed body, tearing into his skin as he ran. He made minimal attempt to avoid them. Mostly, he didn’t care. The only thing on Jesse's mind was rescuing Tullisa.

As soon as he broke the clearing to the water -- at the pool that he’d helped fashion in the middle of the river by closing the flow of water off with rocks -- he was slammed so hard in the heart by the scene in front him, he almost dropped to his knees.

Tullisa was lying unconscious in the shallower end. The water was rolling over her half submerged face and the back of her head was supported by a boulder that all the kids usually carved their names in. The blood where she’d cracked her skull was turning the area around her the colour of rust and the large branch that had been hanging over the river now kept her body pinned down. Across the water sitting on the other side of the bank with his arms hugging his knees while his body rocked back and forth watching her drown...Reed Schumacher.

Jesse didn’t take the time to address him. Fully clothed, he lunged forward into the pool, struggling against the heaviness of the water slowing his movement. He gripped the rough bark with both hands and tried valiantly to pull it off her. It was to no avail.

Noting that his efforts were futile, he ordered Reed, “help me!” while straining against the weight of the branch. “She’s drowning,” he shouted.

Somehow, he managed to lift the branch enough for Reed to finally drag Tullisa’s lifeless body out of the water. Jesse dropped the offending tree limb and scrambled to the shore. He shoved Reed out of his way and set aside his disdain for the man three years his junior to tend to Tullisa.

What had she been doing out here with him anyway?

He didn’t examine that thought nor the visceral surge of something that it awakened inside him.

He dropped beside Tullisa on his knees to feel for a pulse. There was nothing. Her skin was so cold.

“No, no, no, no, no, no,” he breathed while brushing her wet curls off her face. “Come on, baby. Breathe for me,” he begged and commanded repeatedly in between bursts of performing CPR.

He didn’t know how severe her injuries were but he understood that to wait for the one ambulance assigned to Fresh Water was certain death. So he kept going until he didn’t need to anymore.

She started sputtering and coughing and spitting up clear water.

Jesse cried out and shuddered with relief. He simply held her to his chest and wept.

“Thank God,” he breathed. “You’re okay, Tulip,” he whispered.

He hadn’t noticed when Natanya joined them. Her presence changed nothing. He held on to Tullisa as she shook and shivered in his arms.

“I’ve got to get you out of here,” he said.

When he tried to lift her, a wail tore from her lips. The fright that only just released its grip on his heart returned like a tidal wave. Jesse set her back down to search her almost bare body for other signs of injury. His eyes slipped over her naked legs and round hips, her small, flat torso, budding breasts and delicate arms.

It was only then that he noticed that her arm was broken.

He hissed as if he was the one in pain but immediately shucked off his shirt and fashioned a makeshift sling.

The way she cried out when he placed her arm in it almost made him stop but he needed to move her. The ambulance wouldn’t be able to meet them here.

With her injury now secure, he hefted her up, bypassed Natanya and headed back the way he’d just came.

In his wet clothes, Jesse sat in the waiting room at the hospital. He must have been a sight with cuts and bruises all over his limbs and face from where brier and bush had grabbed him. The air condition had him shaking like a leaf but he couldn’t leave. Not yet. Not until he’d seen for himself that Tullisa was alright.

“You’re going to catch your death,” Lily said while walking up to him. “And after you saved my daughter’s life, I can’t stand for that.”

Before he could argue, she took his still trembling hand in hers and said, “Tullisa will be fine without you for a few moments. Go home. Get changed. You’re no good to anyone dead.”

Very reluctantly, Jesse nodded his head.

“When she wakes up tell her...” he started to say. “She scared the crap out of me,” he amended with a shaky breath, a symbol of more tears.

“Thank you, Jesse,” Lily told him as she hugged him wet clothes and all. He wrapped both arms around her, ducked his head because of their height difference and sniffled into her shoulder.

He walked into the late afternoon sun and found Natanya sitting on a bench outside waiting for him. Just needing some more comfort, he fell against her shoulder.

Later, Jesse returned in better spirits. He stood at the door to Tullisa’s hospital room holding a bouquet of flowers.

For a moment, while they hadn’t noticed his presence, he stood there observing mother and daughter interact in low voices. Tullisa giggled at something her mother had said and the sound seemed to wind it’s way around his heart and squeeze...hard. The impact left Jesse breathy and dizzy. He couldn’t imagine not hearing that sound again.

“Jesse’s the first person signing my cast,” he heard Tullisa scold Lily. “He saved my life.”

“Knock, knock,” he said to get rid of these odd sensations.

Tullisa’s eyes widened in surprise but soon happiness took over her features. She grinned at him and said, “my hero.”

Those two words made Jesse feel like the most important person in her life. He returned her smile with a small one of his own, looked at her mother and just knew the thought was ridiculous.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

The question sounded stupid after he’d spoken it and made even worse by the emotion making his voice hoarse and choked.

“I’m great thanks to you,” she answered.

Hearing her say that, Jesse’s surge of emotion returned. The one he’d felt by the water when he’d seen Reed sitting there doing nothing. He wanted to question Tullisa -- to demand to know what she had been doing there without adult supervision and with, of all people, shoemaker but he stowed the irrational interrogation and kept his smile in place.

“You owe me and don’t think I won’t collect,” he joked as he finally stepped into the room.

“I’ll leave you two to talk,” Lily offered but it was actually Tullisa who’d motioned her to give them a moment.

“Don’t forget, mint chocolate chip ice cream,” she ordered her mother.

“These are for you,” Jesse said handing her the flowers after Lily left. “They’re tulips. I don’t know if they’re your favorite but they remind me of your name. Plus, they’re pretty.”

She blushed prettily.

“They’re my mom’s favourite,” she supplied. “We have this family tradition where the women are named after flowers. I don’t know him, but while they were still together my dad insisted against calling me tulip. He came up with Tullisa after mom’s favorite flower and her middle name is Melissa. At least I have one thing to thank him for. I love my name.”

Her somber tone drew Jesse’s features into a frown. “Two things actually,” he corrected. “Your name and your life. If it weren’t for him, you wouldn’t be here. I’m happy that you are.”

She seemed to struggle with a response. Then she said, “anyway, my grandmother, although I never met her, was named Rose. My great grandmother was Petunia. I have an aunt named Buttercup.”

Jesse chuckled at that one. “I had no idea,” he stated. “But I like it. Tullisa is unique.” And he’d thought to add, ‘just like you,’ but hadn’t dared utter the words.

A little later on in their conversation, she asked, “will you accept the honor of being the first to sign my cast?”

“Sure,” Jesse answered while taking up the marker that she’d borrowed from one of the nurses. “What should I say?”

“Anything you want,” Tullisa answered with a sudden breathiness to her voice while he hovered over her arm and so close to her face that she could smell the soap he’d used on his skin.

“Hmmm,” he said in contemplation.

Nothing that came to mind seemed suitable. He wanted to tell her, ‘you’re like a ray of sunshine so full of life and joy and energy. The world will be a dark place without you.’

Deciding to go with something light and more age appropriate to share with a fifteen-year-old, he settled for ’get well soon. Love, Jesse.”

Two days after she’d gotten out of the hospital, she crossed over the small bridge over the stream running through his parents property and sauntered toward him with her arm out of the sling the nurse had ordered her to wear.

Jesse was working on his truck. Her soft footsteps rustled the grass as she approached. That’s what alerted him that he would soon have company. He didn’t acknowledged her presence right away. Rather, he watched her from under the hood. The closer she got, the more difficult it became to tear his eyes away from her blossoming woman's figure. It took a mental kick to remind himself that he was ogling a kid before he could drag his attention back, kicking and screaming, to the engine in front of him.

What business did he have noticing the roundness of her hips or the shapeliness of her thighs? What’s worse, all of a sudden, an image of her in her bikini flashed in his mind like the neon sign with the naked ladies hanging over the entrance of Fox’s Hole. The picture in his mind did a number of things to Jesse, including suffocating him with an unforgiving sense of guilt.

Before playing her rescuer, he'd seen Tullisa dressed many ways. He’d never thought of her as more than a little girl, however. A pest? Sure. A little sister since he didn't have any? That too. Someone who needed protection from her own self since she couldn't keep herself out of trouble? Definitely that. Seeing her half dead and three quarter naked today must have short circuited a few connections in his brain because he cannot account for what he saw while looking at her at that moment...a budding woman.

To make matters far worse, she leaned against his truck and blurted out, “can you teach me how to kiss?”

The unexpectedness of the question caused Jesse to bang the back of his head against the underside of the hood, so hard, a welt started forming immediately. He muttered an oath and reached his hand up to examine the spot but Tullisa beat him to it. Her small fingers searched for his injury and for a while her touch felt so incredibly good, Jesse almost forgot himself. Until he remembered that this, especially because of his earlier thoughts, is way past inappropriate.

“What did you just ask me?” he questioned while casually putting some space between them.

“Since my near death experience, I made a bucket list,” she informed him. “And I want to learn how to kiss. I figure who better than you to uhh...demonstrate how.”

“You just figured?” Jesse repeated.

He rubbed the back of his head and his fingers came away with a spot of blood. The bright red was like a warning sign.

“Go home, Tullisa,” he ordered.

“What? Why?” she asked and he could just see that she wanted to cross her arms in defiance but the cast was keeping her from doing so.

“Because you’re a little girl and you have no business asking grown men to kiss you,” he snapped. “Now go home or I’m telling your mother.”

“Fine,” she yelled. “I’ll just go to Reed then. He asked me to the dance. I just wanted to use you for practice so I would know what to do if he kissed me anyway.”

The words Reed, Tullisa and kissing used in the same concept had Jesse blindly reaching out to grab her before she could turn to walk away -- before he could stop himself.

The idea of her with Reed made him sick. Jesse told himself it was because of the fact that other man had almost let Tullisa die.

“What are you doing?” she’d demanded while trying to free her uninjured arm from his grip.

All at once, Jesse realized his mistake and released her.

“Do what you have to, Tully,” he said.

She looked like he’d slapped her.

“I will,” she answered with a shrug.

But as she was walking away, Jesse called. “Hey Pet,” using another of his many nicknames he’d come up with for Tullisa Petrosyan over the years. “You shouldn’t just give it away, you know,” he told her once she’d turned back to him. “Your first kiss should be special -- with someone special that way you won’t regret it.”

The nonsense pouring out of his mouth made him cringe inwardly but he couldn’t seem to stop himself. .

“Did you wait?” she asked softly.

“No, but I wish I had,” he mused.

After that encounter that summer afternoon, he’d doubled his efforts with Natanya.