Safe Place to Fall

21

Grayson. 

Being back in Haven Falls makes me think of my mom, if Theo wasn’t with me I’d feel miserable about it. With her here with me I can overcome all the emotions that may try to overpower me. 

As we get out of the truck, some of the locals who I’ve known for years give me a small wave and a smile. I wave back and we make our way into the restaurant. I recognize the waitress, she is Mrs. Hanson, I used to play with her grandsons when I was younger, she’s always been ‘Grans’ to me. As soon as she sees me she rushes over taking me into a hug, I automatically hug her back. 

“Oh my dear, it is so good to see you Grayson!!” She exclaims as she releases me and holds me at arm's length away. 

“It’s nice to see you too Grans.. This is my girlfriend Theodora” I say as I reach over taking Theo’s hand, she immediately extends her other hand out for Grans to shake. Grans pushes her hand aside and pulls her into a hug as well. 

“Oh dear it’s so nice to meet you.. Grayson you are one lucky boy, she is beautiful!” 

“I know, I thank God for her everyday” I say as I look over to Theo who is a deep shade of crimson. 

“I have so many stories to share with you Theodora, this one was quite the troublemaker when he was young” She winks at Theo 

“I can’t wait to hear all about it… it’s lovely to meet you Ma’am” Theo smiles at her as she places her hand on my arm. 

“Oh please, call me Grans.. Grayson has been like my own since he was seven” She swats her hand through the air dramatically. 

We get settled into a booth and Grans runs off to  get us some drinks. 

“So what kind of troublemaker were you, Grayson?” Theo teases me, smiling. 

“Wouldn’t you like to know!” I chuckle, Grans comes back with our drinks. 

“Your father gave me a heads up that you were coming, asked me to look out for ya.. I have Max and Tyler stock the wood for you at the cabin. As well as get the other thing you asked for ready.” She winks at me while handing Theo a menu. 

“Thanks Grans”

“Word of advice, stay away from the fish.. It’s off this week” She walks back towards the kitchen 

“She is sweet.. What’s the other thing she referred to?” 

“That’s a surprise” I shrug as I take a sip of my coffee. 

Theo lets it go for now at least. We order our breakfast, chatting a bit while we wait for our food. The front door opens loudly and Max and Tyler burst in. Rowdy as always, 

“Where’s he at Grans?” Tyler shouts as Max taps him on the shoulder and points to us in our booth. 

“Yo! Gray-Gray!” Max yells from across the room as Max starts to run over to us. 

“Here we go..” I whisper to Theo. 

I get up from the booth as I feel Theo watching me, Max approaches me first giving me a hug. Tyler jumps on my back and puts me in a choke hold. It was always his go to move, I would try to fight it when I was a kid and refused to tap out, once I actually passed out. I know better these days, I shift my shoulder and lean forward, causing Tyler to launch forward and land on his back on the floor. 

He chuckles as I help him up and he comes to give me a hug. 

“What took you so long to come home Gray?” Max asks 

“You guys, I’d like you to meet my girlfriend Theo” I gesture towards Theo who is looking at us with horror on her face. 

“Ah, Nice to meet you, don’t worry this is nothing..” Tyler says as he takes Theo’s hand and plants a kiss on it. Thos pulls her hand back and wipes the spit off onto her leg. 

“Theo, I’m Max. Nice to meet you.. Just ignore this blockhead and his horrible attempts to flirt.. Not often a beautiful girl comes to town” He winks at her. 

“Alright Casanova... “ I warn. Theo chuckles. 

“Hey you two! This is not a jungle gym.. You know better! Leave the two love birds alone… they just got in.. you can harass them later!” Grans comes out of the kitchen, smacking them both on the back of the head. 

“Sorry Grans” They both say in sync, there’s nothing physical to show that they are twins, but there’s an eerie feeling when they do that. 

I sit back down, my attention on Theo as Grans scolds the twins. Theo has a small smirk on her face. 

“We will see you tomorrow Gray.. can we stop by after lunch?” Max asks 

I look to Theo who nods with a smile, “Sure, see you guys then”

Grans brings out food a few minutes later and Theo is practically drooling at the sight of it. 

“Thank you Grans” She says, her eyes not leaving her food. 

“Enjoy kids” She says as she leaves us. 

I can’t help but chuckle at Theo as she moans as she takes her first bite. “Oh my god, these are the best waffles I’ve ever had” She announces as she takes another bite. 

Once we are finished with our food I promise Grans we will come by again before leaving for home. 

Grans pulls Theo aside as I’m paying, whispering something to her. Theo nods and gives Grans a hug once more before something back over to me. 

“Everything okay?” I ask, Theo nods and goes onto her tiptoes to kiss me on the cheek. 

“Alright, we need to stop at the cabin quick before our next adventure” 

Theo smiles and takes my hand. We head back to the cabin and I tell Theo to bundle up for the cold. We have to walk to our next stop. I stoke the fire, adding a few logs. The house is nice and warm now. I quickly look into the backyard and see the hot tub is steaming, ready to go for us.  

Tyler and Max have definitely done well in getting everything set up for me. 

Theo comes down from the bedroom upstairs looking adorable, she has the scarf from dad wrapped around her neck and a hat with a huge pom pom on the top of it. Her small hands are sheltered in mittens.  

“Ready to go?” I ask her as I grab a backpack which I have put two pairs of ice skates in. 

We start walking through the woods,

“How do you know where we are going?” She asks as she takes a careful step over a fallen tree. I hold my hands out to help her over it. 

“I’ve been playing in these woods almost my entire life, I know the woods like the back of my hand” I say as I help her over another fallen tree, this one is too high for her so I gently pick her up from her arms and lift her over it. After about ten minutes we came across the pond, I always played hockey on it with the twins, we never had any skates, we just slid around on it in our boots. 

Theo looks at it and a look of awe comes across her face, it’s smaller than the one she skated at but this one is much more secluded and looks magical.  I sling my bag over my shoulder and open it up revealing the skates to Theo. 

“Really?” She asks with a huge smile on her face. 

“Yep, the twins swept the ice this morning for us” I nod to the pond, the ice shining back at us, freshly swept. Theo takes her pair of skates out and quickly puts them on. She hops onto the ice and starts to do circles. She is so excited to be on the ice, she does a spin and comes back over to me. I just finished putting mine on. They feel unnatural on my feet. 

“I thought you said you’ve never ice skated?” She questions me. 

“I haven’t.. We played hockey in our boots” I say as I hesitantly take a step on the ice. Theo holds her hand out for me to take. 

“Need some help?” She asks as I have to catch myself from falling. 

“I don’t want to take you down with me” I say 

“I wouldn’t mind” She spins around me, circling me. She skates with such grace, I am mesmerized by her ability. She stops in front of me and holds her hands out for me, I take them and she guides me along the ice smoothly. We move along without any hitches for a while, she lets go of my hand and skates beside me now. Hand in hand ice skating with Theo makes my heart feel full. 

My ankle rolls on my suddenly and I go down, Theos is still holding me hand, she tries to catch herself but ends up falling with me, landing on top of me. My body slams into the ice and I lay there catching my breath. Theo didn’t get much of the impact, I wrapped her in my arms as we went down, her face shielded by my chest. Our legs are tangled up, Theo’s toe tip has dug into the ice. I try to move my legs but I’m stuck. 

“Are you okay?” I ask her 

She nods and tries to get up, “My toe is stuck in the ice” She wiggles her foot around but it just makes her skate dig deeper into the ice. I finally get free of her and go to her foot, I try to pull her free but I can hear the ice cracking as I move her foot.  

“Gray?” She asks softly. 

“It’s okay.. We just need to move carefully. Alright?” I tell her, she nods her head at me

 “Okay, one three I’m going to pull your foot free.. I want you to crawl as fast as you can to the edge.. One….two…. Three!” I say as I lift her foot straight up out of the ice. She starts to crawl, the ice cracking under her, I make one leap to the edge of the pond... She only gets maybe five feet before the ice all around her submerges and she goes under. She screams as the freezing water hits her. I run back towards her and try to reach for her but she is too far still. 

I kick off my skates and slowly shift my weight across the ice, I reach my hand into the water and grab at her coat, I pull her up out of the water and toss her to the edge. I feel bad when she hits the side of the bank but at least she’s not in the water anymore. I slowly make my way back over and pull my boots on. I pick up Theo who is shivering and start to basically run back to the cabin. 

“It’s okay babe.. I’m going to get you warmed up.. It’s okay” I tell her as I jump over the fallen trees. I look down at her and see she is pale, turning slightly blue. Her eyes are closed and she is shivering like crazy. I make it to the cabin and do the only thing I can think of.. I take her into the backyard and lift the hot tub cover, gently throwing her inside. 

I step back and peel off my jacket, stripping down to my underwear before getting into the tub with her. I pull her towards me and start to strip her clothing off her as well. I leave her in her shirt and pants. I toss aside all her discarded clothes, holding her close to me. 

“Gray?” She whispers after a few minutes of us sitting in the heat. 

“I’m here.. I’m sorry Theo” I tell her. I feel so stupid, I didn’t think to check the thickness of the ice, I thought it would be fine. 

“It’s not your fault… We are both okay” She whispers as she sits up, “This is nice” she looks around at the scenery. 

“Are you sure you’re alright Theo?” I ask her, I’m worried that she may be in shock, having being fully submerged in the water was probably not good for the body…