A Vision of Loveliness

By T. J. Robertson

Jack Dalton, a lifeguard, watches in awe as Mia Simone, a vision of loveliness, looms on the dune above and wends her way down to the beach below. When she enters the water and disappears, he leaps off his chair and plunges in after her. Upon carrying her back to shore, he performs mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and saves her life.
Because he thinks she was trying to kill herself, he visits her at the hospital and confronts her about it. Indignant at his innuendo, she scolds him; as a peace offering, he hands her a bouquet of flowers and, then, discreetly leaves.
A week later while kayaking on Scargo Lake, he passes a dock and sees her dozing on a chaise lounge. So astonished is he at the sight of her that he drops his paddle. When he dives in after it, he surfaces by the dock and finds her looking down at him. While rowing him out to fetch his kayak and paddle, he apologizes and invites her out to dinner. To his surprise, she accepts his offer.
Both enjoy the dinner date and, so, begin seeing one another. Jack, who has fallen in love with her, makes his feelings known. She, however, insists they can never be more than friends. Secretive, she, also, refuses to tell him anything about herself.
Only when a hit man forces his way into her home and Jack restrains him, does he learn that she is hiding from members of the Boston mafia. Not content with having murdered her boyfriend and father, they are now hell-bent on killing her to keep her from testifying against them. Too, she confesses to Jack that she was, indeed, trying to take her own life that afternoon he for the first time had seen her from his perch on the lifeguard's chair.
The rest of the story depicts Jack's attempts to get Mia out of harm's way and into the witness protection program of the FBI.

• Language: English
• Publisher: T. J. Robertson
• Release date: Feb 17, 2018
• ISBN: 9781370213566

T. J. Robertson

Although I’ve made my living as a teacher and guidance counselor, I’ve always had a passion for writing. Thomas Bouregy and Company published my novel, Return to Paradise Cove, under their Avalon imprint. Two of my one-act plays, A Different Kind of Death, and The Flirt, have been produced, respectively, in New Haven, Connecticut, and Sacramento, California. Short stories of mine have appeared in commercial magazines such as Action and True Romance as well as in certain literary and professional ones.

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A Vision of Loveliness

by

T. J. Robertson

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Copyright 2018 T. J. Robertson

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I saw her for the first time at a beach on Cape Cod where I was working that summer as a lifeguard. Although I do not as a rule get involved with beachgoers most of whom are tourists and, like the tides, come and go, that afternoon serendipity left me no other choice.

Tall, slender, and lithe with hair more lustrous than the blazing sun; eyes bluer than the waters of the bay; and a face more beautiful than that of the legendary Helen of Troy, she loomed above the dunes and, like a gossamer of loveliness, wafted down to the beach below. Once there, she made her way toward the shoreline and without the slightest hesitation, hands by her sides, stepped into the water and kept walking until she disappeared beneath its surface.

In disbelief, I leaped off my chair, ran toward the water, and dove in. My first attempt to find her was fruitless. So, after surfacing and gulping some air, I went under again and continued my search. In a panic, looking and turning this way and that, at long last I felt her hand upon mine. Soon, holding her limp body in my arms, I staggered shoreward.

As I was leaning over her listless form and performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, I could only hope that, like the fabulous Prince Charming, my kisses, too, might bring this princess back to life. And that they did--albeit with the help of a ventilator which other lifeguards quickly put to good use. Exhausted, I leaned against my chair and breathed a sigh of relief as the ambulance, into which they had bundled her, roared off toward