by Laura Burton
“It’s passing now… I think I’m okay.” The colour had returned to Toby’s face and he looked normal again. Similarly, the pains in her chest lifted and the air became light once more. She looked up at the clock; the toy drummer had disappeared behind the square panel and the crowd of families began to disperse. It were as if nothing untoward had happened.
“Toby, do you think we’ve been poisoned?” Amelia asked Toby, who looked at her in surprise.
“What gives you that idea?” He got to his feet and rubbed his stomach, then craned his neck to look around. Before Amelia could reply, something caught her attention. Among the moving crowd of people were men wearing identical black suits standing immobile. As she scanned their surroundings, it seemed as though the number of men were increasing… two, three, then five, eight… she was losing count. Toby must have noticed as well, because he took her hand and started to walk quickly. The men did not move, but Amelia felt their eyes on them, watching their movements.
“What the heck, is going on?” Amelia asked as they dashed out of the shopping centre at lightning speed.
“I told you, there are some real weirdoes here,” he muttered. He kept his eyes focused in front and they rounded a corner and crossed busy roads at a speed Amelia thought impossible. She glanced behind her as they ran and could not see the strange men anymore.
“Come on, I’m calling a taxi,” Amelia said firmly as she pulled her hand away and stopped walking, forcing Toby to come to an abrupt stop.
“Where are we going?”
Amelia flagged down a small taxi and urged Toby to get inside; she followed behind. They both sat in the back and she pulled the door to a close and said to the driver, “Take us to Cheltenham please.” The driver nodded his head and started the engine.
“Well, you can’t say this isn’t an adventure,” Toby remarked as Amelia fastened her seatbelt. She looked at him for a long moment, wondering whether he was hiding something from her. Did he know these men in suits? Were they following him? Who were they, and what did they want? Amelia bit her lip as she stared at Toby, who was looking out the window. His tousled blonde hair had sand in it and his broad shoulders rounded as he crossed his arms over his broad chest. There was warmth about him that made her feel like she wanted to climb into his lap and wrap his arms around her, and yet there was an air of mystery that warned her to back off. Toby turned his head catching her staring at him. His upper lip creased as he smiled, and his eyes were bright and calming. They reminded her of the sky on a summer’s day. She wondered if it were possible to fall into those eyes.
“So, are we going to talk about those creepy men? Or are you going to keep pretending that you don’t know anything?” Amelia asked with her brows raised. Toby stopped smiling.
Chapter Seven
The Plot Thickens
The taxi pulled up beside a black iron gate and an aging sign read Pittville Park. Huge ash trees stood proudly among mature shrubbery and the leaves were a beautiful blend of green and yellow, a stark contrast to the deeper shade of blue in the sky. Amelia stepped out of the car and Toby followed her along the path to the park entrance. There stood an old pump room that looked like a Roman temple, with ornate columns holding up the roof and long window panes on the front. To the left sat a bandstand with white posts and fencing, and the roof came to a point like a tent.
Amelia and Toby headed towards the bandstand, brown geese waddled around beside them and Amelia watched a row of ducklings walking in a straight line behind their mother. Families sat on the vast grassland with picnic blankets, and children and dogs ran around cheerfully listening to the brass band playing in the bandstand. Toby took Amelia’s hand in his and smiled broadly at her as they walked. She eyed him carefully. Still reeling from the conversation that they had during the taxi ride.
Toby had told Amelia that the men were linked to his work—which he could not disclose. When pressed for more information, Toby shrugged his shoulders and told her that he would tell her more soon, but not right now. Amelia was less than convinced. But she had nothing else to go on. What sort of job would have men in black suits following you around? Were they bodyguards? Was he a prince? Surely, at the age of nineteen, he was not some government spy? Maybe he wasn’t even from California at all? Maybe his name wasn’t Toby? Every theory that crossed her mind seemed implausible and a stretch of the imagination at best. The mystery though, had her hooked. Perhaps it was the reporter within that drove her to stick around? Or perhaps it was the way his smile gave her butterflies in her midriff? She resolved to probe him for more answers at the next opportunity.
The band finished a slow piece of music and started to play an upbeat classical waltz. Toby pulled on her hand and held out his other towards her.
“Can I have this dance?” he asked gentlemanly. Amelia looked around with a blush. No one else was dancing. She wondered what people might think, seeing them waltzing among the excitable children. Toby held her other hand and moved it to rest on his waist and gripped her right hand firmly out to the side.
“Stop worrying,” he whispered to her, as if he read her mind. They began to glide across the grass floor to the music.
Amelia smiled shyly at Toby, feeling the heat of his body close to hers, and she watched him humming along to the music as she tried to follow his feet. It sent her back to her childhood, the day her grandma taught her to waltz.
“Come on, Amelia, stand up. I am going to teach you to dance,” Grandma exclaimed as she bounced to her feet and held her shaking arms out for little eight-year-old Amelia to take. Amelia giggled as she awkwardly followed the steps and Grandma hummed to the musical piece by Johann Strauss II.
Toby expertly took the lead as they waltzed to the fast pace of the music. Amelia fought to keep up and tried to avoid stepping on his trainers. She recognised the music; it was called “Voces de Primavera,” perhaps one of the most classic waltzes of all-time. The air was light, and her heart leapt as the music reached small crescendos and moved along in peaks and flows; it made Amelia think of waves of the ocean.
“You’re good at this.” Toby remarked as they danced. Amelia blushed. She felt the weight of his hand on her left hip and secured her grip in his other hand as they moved. They must have looked quite out of place in the casual setting and dancing so formally.
“We look silly dancing like this in our jeans and T-shirts.”
Toby laughed. “Well, imagine I’m wearing a dashing blue suit with a silver tie and shiny black shoes,” he said with a grin. Amelia decided to play along.
“Then, you must imagine I’m wearing a long pastel pink chiffon gown with ruffles along the bottom and my hair is swept up in a tight bun.”
“But I like your hair down, your curls are amazing.”
“Wild, you mean,” Amelia corrected. The music picked up pace as they neared the end of the song; they became breathless as they tried to keep up.
“How did people do this in the old days?”
Toby’s cheeks grew pink as they danced at a rapid speed. “It’s a good work out.”
Amelia allowed her imagination to take over. As the final beat of the song ended and a new one began, Toby materialised in front of her dressed in a full suit. His hair gelled neatly to the side and his jawline was strong and clean-shaven. He appeared to age before her, no longer the fresh-faced nineteen-year-old boy. The slower paced “Over the Waves,” by Juventino Rosas began to play. They settled into a relaxed waltz and Amelia looked down to see she was wearing a pink ballgown. It was swooshing gently to their movements. Thousands of diamantes sewn into her bodice sparkled in the sunshine, probably dazzling the people watching them. The song picked up in pace once more and the two of them danced to the beat, now with ease. Amelia no longer saw the trees blurring around her as she moved, nor did she see the people sitting on the ground watching. She became blissfully unaware of the children who had stopped running around and stood staring at them. The air twinkled and the ground beneath her feet faded away. S
he was dancing on the clouds and the only thing keeping her from falling was Toby’s embrace. He twirled her, held her close and she melted under his touch. Entranced. The rhythm of their breaths was in sync and their movements in perfect harmony. How much time passed as they danced? Amelia had no idea. It could have been minutes or hours. But for the first time in her life, since she sat on that park bench, she felt like she was exactly in the right place at the right time and doing what she was supposed to be doing all along. Dancing with Toby.
After some time, Toby dipped his head and pressed his forehead against hers; the contact sent electric pulses through her senses and she stared into his eyes, taken in by the intensity of his gaze with their foreheads still touching. His hand slid around her waist and rested on the small of her back, closing the gap between them, and she held his back tightly as they moved. All sense of reason escaped Amelia’s mind. She didn’t care. She was lost in the music with him, and she didn’t want to be found.
“Your eyes are like two citrine jewels,” Toby whispered softly, his voice rumbled and sent soft vibrations through Amelia’s senses.
“What are they?” she whispered back. He stood upright and swooped her to the side, and she arched her back in an elaborate display as if the pair of them were participating in a private ritual.
“Citrine? They are deep, amber-coloured stones. In ancient times, they were believed to provide protection from snake venom and evil thoughts,” Toby explained as he sidestepped and turned, pulling Amelia forward to follow his every move. She remained close to his torso, clinging onto his muscular frame. They were one, moving in sequence to the rise and fall of the classical music, paying no attention to the world around them.
“Snake venom?” Amelia asked, surprised. She wondered how a stone could provide protection against venom, then her memory took her back to the nightmare she had. Of the man in the black suit, with snakes on his trousers, and the hissing… the vision sent her spinning out of the make-believe they had been enjoying. She stopped dancing and broke contact with Toby, and just like that, the spell was broken.
The noise of the children squealing and shouting as they dashed around the park and the rumbling of traffic flooded back into Amelia’s ears as she looked around and noticed the sky had turned a deep shade of red, the sun setting behind the pump room. Toby stood in front of her, now in his polo shirt and jeans, his arms hanging awkwardly by his sides as he stared at her with a frown.
“What’s wrong?” he asked. Amelia folded her arms and looked around self-consciously. The cool wind rushed through the branches of a nearby willow tree and sent a flurry of cold air over her bare arms; the tiny hairs stood on end and goose bumps starting to form.
“What are we doing, Toby?” she asked with a sigh. “How did we end up here? Tell me, what are we doing?” Toby tried to take her hand again, but she stepped back to avoid his touch. Every time they made contact, she felt like she was under his spell. It was equally exciting and unnerving.
“Amelia, we have something special,” Toby began in a soft voice. The brass band had stopped playing music and Amelia glanced over to see them packing away.
“I know you feel it,” Toby added, taking a step closer to her. Amelia swallowed.
“We shouldn’t be doing this.” She looked at the daisies on the ground. “You’re so much younger than I am, and there’s so much mystery about you. I don’t even know what to think!” she said looking furtively around at the crowds of people now leaving the park.
The summer concert was over, and the sun was setting fast. Soon, the park would be blanketed in darkness, with no streetlights to illuminate the way out.
“Age… it doesn’t mean anything,” Toby continued speaking softly. They began to walk along the gravel path that circled around the perimeter of the park. Amelia watched a couple of grey squirrels darting in and out of the hedge growth.
“Why are you spending time with me? Soon, you’ll be going back to America and I’ll be… back in Weston. Do we really need to keep up the charade?” Amelia asked. The sky was cloudy and without the sunlight, it looked like it was filled with purple smoke. The sight was quite mystical. If the sky had a scent, she imagined it would smell like lavender.
“I do need to go back home soon.” Toby’s voice startled Amelia out of her thoughts and she saw him looking at her imploringly.
“Is it crazy that I want you to come with me?” he asked, his lips stayed slightly apart, and she stared at them for an inappropriate length of time. Her imagination ran wild, sending her the impulsive urge to lunge forward and kiss him with every fibre of her being. Oh, how she longed to kiss those lips.
“No, it’s not crazy,” she said barely above a whisper. Amelia lifted a hand and curled her fingers to brush her knuckles down Toby’s soft cheek, then instinctively slid her other hand through the gap between his arm and body and clutched the cotton material of his polo shirt. He stooped down to her and held the small of her back with his hands clasped and she raised herself on tiptoes to meet him. They hovered barely an inch away from each other’s lips, both quivering. Amelia looked at Toby’s hungry eyes intently and moved her hand from his cheek and grabbed the back of his neck, closing the gap between them. The air became still and silent. It was as if the Earth had stopped moving on its axis and they were floating, no longer constricted by gravity. It was like they were dancing again; their movements were in perfect harmony, moving hands and bodies in unison. They swivelled on the spot and kissed softly, tenderly and with rising passion. Amelia threw caution to the wind and lowered her defences, allowing herself to succumb to the romance of the moment. There were still so many unanswered questions and an uncertain future, but none of it mattered. The age gap closed as Toby held her protectively and lead the kiss with confidence. Flurries of excitement grew within her stomach and she grew light-headed. They broke apart panting, dizzy from their moment of passion. The sky turned a deep shade of green, and the park steadily grew dark. Toby took Amelia’s hand and brought it to his lips. He looked at her intensely as he brushed his lips over the back of her hand. Amelia’s breath caught in her chest and she dragged a hand through the curls of her hair and smiled at him.
“What are we doing?”
Clasping their hands together, they walked along the path again, never breaking eye contact; their surroundings had little meaning. If there was a crater in front of them, they would have both fallen in, smiling drunkenly and not caring about their impending demise. Toby gave Amelia a warm smile, and in the fading light of day she glimpsed the flush of colour on his cheeks, still reeling from the kiss.
They wandered around a corner and came to an arched wooden footbridge over a running stream. The planks creaked under their weight as they stepped onto the bridge and Amelia’s eyes followed the running water as it flowed into a small lake. The sky was quite dark now, and the moon was framed with thick navy-blue clouds; its unearthly rays flooded the surface of the water with a silver light making it glow. Amelia pondered as she took in the twilight scene. There was an air of mystery. Silhouettes of huge willow trees around the lake swayed in the gentle breeze. Amelia thought they looked forlorn and hunched over, weeping. She closed her eyes and tuned into the rushing sound of traffic passing by the outer perimeter of the park and filled her lungs with the cool evening air in one deep breath. She could almost taste the saltiness of the water beneath her feet and the wet bark on the trees nearby.
“Everything is so small in England,” Toby remarked, snapping Amelia out of her reverie.
“Small?” she repeated, a little insulted. Flares of defiance shot up within her stomach and she felt ready to defend the wonder and beauty of her country. Her eyes flew open and when she turned to glare at Toby, her resolve melted. He looked so young in the moonlight. There was not a single line adorning his youthful, tanned face, and the curve of his plump lips sent shivers of excitement through Amelia.
“Yeah, this is a cute pond, and I swear the moon looks smaller than usual,” he exp
lained as he rubbed the back of his neck with one hand and held out the other to the sky.
“It’s a lake, not a pond,” Amelia said with her arms folded across her chest. The hairs on her arms stood on end as the air grew cold. Toby shook his head and laughed to himself.
“This is not a lake,” he said, amused. A flurry of annoyance rose in Amelia’s chest at Toby’s typical American response.
“Oh? And just how big are the lakes you’re used to seeing?” she asked, her voice rising in pitch a little. Toby stood behind Amelia and wrapped his arms around her and squeezed for a moment, then he took her arms in his broad hands and spread them as wide as they would go.
“Massive,” he replied, with the two of them standing with their arms outstretched. Amelia felt foolish, thinking that the sight of them must have been quite strange to any passers-by. Like a couple of scarecrows overlooking the water.
“My uncle lives in Salt Lake City, and he owns a speed boat. Every summer I’d go and stay with him and he’d take me to the lakes. Now, there’s a huge one near Park City that we’d go wakeboarding and waterskiing. You can’t exactly do that in this ‘lake’ can you?” His voice was animated, and Amelia didn’t need to look to know he was grinning as he spoke; she could hear it in his voice. She dropped her arms and turned on the spot to face him. He bowed his head to look at her and they hovered nose to nose as Amelia studied him for a moment.
“That doesn’t sound like a lake, it sounds like the ocean,” she said with a wry smile. Toby cupped her face in his soft hands and planted a chaste kiss on her lips for the briefest moment. She had butterflies in her stomach again.
