Summer Spice

by Kris Pearson

  Almost a year ago she’d taken on the task of sifting through a century of family memorabilia and deciding what was worth keeping before they’d had their final holiday in the original cottage. Some of that nostalgia would decorate the new house. Jason had described suspending old Cousin Ernie’s collection of ancient model aircraft in the high-ceilinged entrance hall a week ago. Ollie was keen to see them – and maybe to add a few of his precisely built metal ones to Ernie’s painted balsa-wood kit-sets. Aviation ran in the family. His father, James, had been tied to it for his whole working life and Ollie had followed.

  After a few minutes of travelling past a long straggle of beach houses, Anna eased off the accelerator so she could turn across the traffic. There wasn’t much of it – only an elderly Toyota and what might once have been a hearse, now amateurishly painted with flowers and anti-nuclear symbols. Someone’s hippie dream, but right now, in their way.

  The two vehicles coasted slowly by and he practically saw the steam puffing from Anna’s ears.

  “Come on, come on…” she muttered, swinging the steering wheel around as soon as it was safe, and parking as far up a short driveway as possible. An unkempt hedge bordered the front of the property but the truck would still be visible to anyone who glanced sideways from the road. “We’ll have to hope no one notices us,” she said. “I don’t want Kieran coming to our house full of questions. The faster we can be, the better it is.”

  Mei slid from her seat and trotted up the three concrete steps to the side door.

  Ollie’s gaze followed her tight little ass, mentally removing the dark blue denim and picturing something very brief and lacy in its place. Yeah, she still had him fascinated. Without knowing it, he’d consigned his heart to her years ago and never managed to reclaim it. No-one else had ever had the same devastating effect.

  Shaking his head, he loped around the truck and held out a hand toward Anna who was levering herself from behind the steering wheel. “Don’t be proud. The last thing you need is to fall and hurt the baby.”

  She grimaced at that. “Yep, I’m pretty ungainly now.” She grabbed at him and slid off the seat so he could slam the door behind her. “I won’t lock it,” she said. “There’s nothing to pinch, and just in case we need to make a quick getaway…”

  He let go of her hand and she followed Mei. What were they getting themselves into?

  Ollie had never taken much notice of the house, hiding as it did behind the hedge. A typical New Zealand timber house with a corrugated metal roof, all of it looking slightly disreputable. White paint peeled off here and there. Rust streaked down from the window hinges. With his engineering background he knew they should have used brass so close to the sea. He remembered his dad and uncle talking about that for the cottage replacement. Brass or marine-grade stainless steel so they wouldn’t corrode in the salty air. “Is this owned or rented?” he asked.

  “Rented,” Mei said, unlocking the door and beckoning them in. The side entrance led directly into a dated kitchen. “Belongs to old Mr. Denton. He sold the campground but kept a couple of his houses. Not that he spends much on upkeep.” She pushed her long hair back behind her ears, gathered it into a ponytail, and let it drape down again in a lustrous dark fall. “So if I give each of you some garbage bags, can you stuff them full? No need to fold anything. Just do it fast.” She grabbed several from under the counter. “Nothing out here is mine – or I don’t want it, if it is. Only the bedroom.”

  Ollie let the girls precede him into a pale green room that smelled of patchouli and leather. Dust motes danced in shafts of sunlight when Mei slid a big wardrobe door open and stirred the warm air. “Anything at this end,” she said. “Pull it all out on the hangers. That’s easiest, and I’ll need them anyway.” She sent Ollie a cheeky grin. “Won’t let you loose amongst my lingerie. Might shock you silly!”

  She began opening drawers, and Ollie’s imagination went into overdrive again as she hauled out bunches of slippery, lacy garments and stuffed them inside one of the big plastic bags.

  “Can you unhang for me, Red Baron?” Anna asked, recapturing his wandering attention by using the nickname she’d given him when he first bought his plane.

  He tried to ignore her amused grin as she added, “You do the stretching up and throwing the clothes on the bed. I’ll do the rolling and bagging.”

  He checked his watch as he reached for the first handful from the wardrobe. Half an hour at the most now. Every time he turned to the bed with another few garments for Anna, his brain lit with vivid pictures of Mei there with the man who’d mistreated her. His stomach roiled, and it became harder and harder to concentrate on the packing as he imagined her making love. And then not making anything that resembled love.

  With an inward snarl, he ripped his attention back to the job in hand yet again. The clothes would have fitted a twelve year old, although a twelve year old with exotic and extravagant taste. It was hard not to picture that trim little body in such sexy, stretchy things. He swallowed, laying them flat on the bedcover so Anna could take over. “No uniforms?” he asked. “Where do you keep your flight attendant stuff?”

  Mei slammed a drawer shut and pulled out another as she turned and spoke over her shoulder. “In Wellington, over the airport side of town. I have a super-small room in a house there. A bed and a wardrobe. I pay rent for it, but no food money because I mostly just use it to change in.” She shook a new bag noisily to open it. “One of the girls at work has a room coming free in her flat. Much bigger space, and with the way things have gone here, I said I’d take it over.” She started piling T-shirts and shorts onto the bed. “It’s been really hard travelling all the way to the airport for my shifts – another reason Kieran and I weren’t working out. He was good about dropping me at the nearest train station, but sometimes it was easier to overnight in my little room rather than come back here.”

  “Which made him suspicious?” Anna suggested.

  Mei nodded. “Jealous.” Tossing the new bag across to Ollie, she added, “Boots in the wardrobe, shoes under the bed. Also my bongos over there.”

  “And more clothes in the wardrobe yet,” Anna added, giving him the evil eye.

  They worked on with quiet efficiency until everything Mei wanted was bagged up.

  “Okay, you take those outside, please, Oliver,” she directed. “Anna, you go too, but no carrying. Oh – wait!” She handed over a couple of books and an e-reader from the bedside cabinet. “I’ll get the bathroom stuff and we’re good.”

  “Jewelry?” Anna asked. “Make-up?”

  “Got the jewelry,” Mei said with a sudden grin. “Hidden in those long boots. Make-up in that sports roll. Rest of it’s in the bathroom. I did some sneaky gathering up while he was in the shower last night.” She glanced at her phone to see the time. “Better go. If there’s anything left, it won’t be important.”

  Anna headed back through the house toward the truck and Ollie grabbed the bongos and a couple of the big shiny bags, trailing her out and piling them onto the back seat when she pulled the door open. Would there still be room for Mei once he’d stowed the rest?

  “Not quite the way I expected to be spending my weekend here,” he said to Anna. “What happens if the boyfriend turns nasty?”

  “He’s already turned nasty enough.” She turned her attention to the driver’s door and opened that too. “He’s a bit of a drinker. Been a friend of Jason’s for a while now, but this will get him kicked out of their music sessions, for sure.”

  Ollie offered her a hand onto the seat, and she started the engine as he bounded up the steps for the final bags.

  “Come on Mei,” he heard Anna mutter as he returned. Finally the house door slammed and Mei came tottering down in her high heeled boots. She carried the blue sports roll in one hand and cradled a long thin bundle wrapped in glistening golden silk in the other.

  “Her erhu,” Anna said. “I bet he would have smashed that if she’d left it behind. I gather it’s an antique – a fami
ly thing.”

  Ollie waited until Mei had settled herself beside the bags of clothes, and then stuffed the final two in after her. He closed the door and swung himself into the passenger seat. “Okay, go.”

  Anna took him at his word and zoomed backward until she was level with the hedge. “Anyone in the way?” she asked.

  “Looks fine,” Mei said, peering sideways and then ducking down again. “But old Mr Denton is out for a walk, and you know how nosy he is.”

  “Dammit,” Anna exclaimed. “If he tells Kieran he saw my truck here, that’ll totally give the game away.”

  Ollie did some lightning-fast thinking. The last thing he wanted was a belligerent man bullying pregnant Anna if she was home on her own. Maybe he thought no further than that, or maybe the most outrageous opportunity had just presented itself and something primal took him over. “Into the garage of the new house, cuz,” he said, dragging the keys from the pocket of his jeans as they approached the newly built family holiday home. He pressed the remote and the sectional door began sliding up. “Mei can stay with me.”

  Chapter 2 – Takeoff

  “Of course I can’t stay with you, Oliver!”

  He turned to look at her. Her eyes were as round as it was possible for them to be. “Is that ‘shocked eyes’?” he teased as Anna performed a creditable swerve into the garage and pulled up just short of his motor cycle with a squeal of tires and a sharp curse.

  “Yes, probably very shocked,” Mei agreed, nodding her head so her hair slid forward over her shoulders. She pushed it back, and again he saw the edge of her ear twinkling with its line of piercings.

  His fingertips twitched, wanting to touch the delicate shell, wanting to bury his hands in her cloud of inky hair and hold her still so he could appreciate her beauty and check how much she’d been hurt. “No-one’ll expect you to be here,” he added, enjoying her outraged expression despite the confusing wave of lust and concern that washed through him, unsettling and thrilling. “You two get inside and I’ll bring the bags. I’ll head Wally Denton off if he comes this far.”

  “I wish you’d warned me your bike was in the way,” Anna said, eyes shooting daggers at him. “I nearly hit it.”

  “Total faith in you, cuz. But yeah, sorry. Should have said.”

  “I can’t stay with you, Oliver,” Mei repeated. “I barely know you.”

  Ollie raised an eyebrow. “You’ve known me for close on thirty years. You’ve known all of us – me and Anna and Jossy and Bex. Big Momma here will give me hell if I step out of line.”

  “Less of the ‘big’, thanks,” Anna muttered. “It’s a good idea though. Kieran will never expect you to be here. And if Jason doesn’t know, and Kieran turns up at ours looking for you, he can answer him perfectly honestly and give nothing away.”

  “But –”

  “Oh for heaven’s sake, Mei. If you can hold your own against Kieran when he’s drunk, you can cope with Ollie, who’s an absolute pussycat.” Anna grimaced and wrapped both arms around her burgeoning baby bump.

  “You okay?” Ollie asked. Pregnant women were foreign territory to him, although with Anna’s baby on the way, and Jossy due to marry pretty soon, and Harry Junior and Rachel buying a house and making family-type noises, that was about to change.

  “Yes, I’m fine,” she snapped. “Sick of being fat and needing to pee. Sick of my back killing me.” She squeezed her eyes closed. “Sorry.”

  Ollie leaned sideways and slid a cautious arm around her shoulders. “Go in and sit for a while. There should be chairs. If there’s nothing unpacked I’ll be right there to do it for you. It’s what I’m here for.”

  “Looks to me like you’re here to cruise around on your bike,” she grumped, staring ahead to his old Moto Guzzi. She sighed, and patted the hand on her shoulder. “Ignore me. I’m getting tired, this far along.”

  He glanced back at Mei, who still appeared far from certain about the proposed arrangement. “Best pussycat behavior guaranteed,” he assured her. Then he peered at Anna again. “I’m not such a wuss, am I?”

  The corners of her mouth curled. “No Ollie – you’re a total dude with your bikes and your planes and your surfing. Give me a hand?”

  He jumped out and pulled Mei’s door open, hauling away the two bags of clothes which were holding her captive. She still looked as wary as a cornered mouse, pressed back out of his reach. Then he circled the front of the truck, leaving the bags on the garage floor on his way to help Anna.

  The somewhat solitary working weekend he’d planned had taken on a whole new shape and he was still reeling – both from the surprise of being so close to Mei again, and from the sickening discovery she’d been hurt. He was doubtful about her story of losing her balance on her high heels. That bastard Kieran had hit her for sure. How many times had it taken before she’d had enough? How often had he threatened her before he struck her? How creative had she needed to get with her make-up? His gut clenched as he turned away.

  Keying in the numbers on the pad giving access to the interior, he pulled open the door and let Anna and Mei precede him. Then he carried the first two bags into an impressive light filled space. The walls had been painted a pale cloudy gray. The hardwood floor was lime-washed – casual and easy-care for the future generations of children who might gambol over it with sandy feet. Anything less like the higgledy-piggledy old cottage was hard to imagine.

  Several big rugs lay tightly rolled and secured with tape and twine. Beside them, a huge clutter of furniture still wrapped in plastic or cardboard awaited his attention. He spied a couple of hardwearing outdoor chairs that hadn’t needed wrapping, and pulled one away from the heap for Anna.

  “I have to say Trev and his team didn’t do a bad job in the end,” she said, tossing her purse on the kitchen counter and sinking into the chair before gazing around. “We’ve been spying of course,” she added. “I still think Jason should have got this contract, but he did even better getting the Hughes house. Pull one of those blinds up, Mei. The view is amazing.”

  Ollie watched as Mei fingered the chain and peered through the mesh. Her slender form was a dark silhouette against the bright sunlight. Long, slim legs. A narrow waist. All that beautiful hair cascading down her back. And her whole body taut with tension if he wasn’t mistaken. How could she not trust him?

  He huffed out a frustrated breath. Of course she wouldn’t trust him – not if she’d been slapped around by her no-good boyfriend – and very recently, too. That was one hot body he’d be sharing the house with, though. His weekend had just become a lot more interesting.

  “I can see old Denton getting pretty close,” she said. I’ll leave it down until he’s gone by.”

  “There’s a big private deck out the back where you can get some sun and stay out of sight,” he said, turning toward the front door and opening it as he pictured Mei stretched out on one of the new loungers, covered by little more than sunscreen. He peered in each direction and spotted the campground’s past owner toddling closer. “I’ll go and say g’day to him. Keep him sweet. Say we were dropping off a bag of lemons or something.” He carried a couple more bags and his box of supplies in from the garage before striding out into the sunlight.

  *

  Mei closed her eyes for a few seconds. Oliver Wynn after all these years, and now looking so much more of a man. Taller, broader, dark eyes intense once he’d taken his flying glasses off, face covered in weekend scruff, hints of a big tattoo across his chest. He was dangerously large, and as much as he scared her, she also wanted her hands all over him.

  So not going to happen. Not after Kieran. Not so soon. And not because of what was between their fathers.

  She drew a deep breath as soon as she and Anna were alone. “Anna, I don’t think this is a good idea.”

  “Why ever not?” Anna sounded truly surprised. “It’s only Ollie. He wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

  Mei’s heart thumped furiously, and bile rose up in her throat as she turned around. “I know
you think it will be fine, but I don’t know him. It was bad with Kieran near the end. I can’t just move in now with a man I haven’t seen in years.”

  “You saw him at the wedding. You know he cleans up well. You know he’s my cousin. You’ll be safe as houses overnight, Mei.”

  Mei shook her head, wondering if she dared to say more. Annoyance won out over caution. “That’s not the point. He used to ask me out. A long time ago.”

  Anna’s eyes lit with interest. “Did you go?”

  “What? The takeaways girl with Oliver Wynn? That would have gone down really well with everyone.”

  “Did you want to go?”

  Mei doubted she managed to stop the wash of yearning from showing on her face. She’d schooled her features to be inscrutable – to customers in the shop who could be rude and suggestive, and to airline passengers who were demanding or nervous, but this was different. “Of course I wanted to go. I was about fourteen when he first asked. I wanted a boyfriend like any other girl. But I didn’t want trouble – for him or for me.”

  Anna tilted her head on one side. “When he first asked? Did he keep asking?”

  “Yes,” Mei said, knowing she probably looked sulky. “But I couldn’t go out with him.” She heaved a deep sigh. “My parents… my father, anyway… was always rude to him. Oliver’s father and mine had some big argument years ago. I never knew what it was about though.” (Except she absolutely did, and how could she ever trust the son of the man who’d done that?) She turned aside so Anna wouldn’t see she’d lied.

  “But what happened when you were older, if Ollie kept asking?”

  “I lived here, he lived in Wellington. What would it have been? A holiday fling? Not worth upsetting everyone for.”