“Okay, but I hated Paul before you two ever met.”
“Claire,” Rhees scolded. “You don’t hate him any more than he hates you.”
“I do today—since you got back from your honeymoon.”
oOo
Rhees tried to stay out of Paul’s way, but within his sight, as she watched him and Randy preparing the Porgy for the trip; still relatively sure he’d never leave her to fend for herself. She’d skipped her shower and dressed in her new closet so she’d be ready to go. Her pack sat on the table in the gazebo where she could grab it quickly, just in case.
No one had come forward yet, and as the day wore on, the list of possible babysitters grew shorter and shorter. Paul had asked Claire to attend the council meeting for him that night, the one that he really did have. He trusted her to be snarky enough to keep the other council members in line. She’d never let them slip anything by, in his absence, that would be bad for the dive shops. Rhees also knew, somehow, that Paul would never give Dobbs any one-on-one time with her.
Tracy and Regina had sneaked off after helping her move, not wanting to be around when Paul found out about it. No one at the shop had seen them since. She assumed they were home getting to know their new roommates. She was also pretty sure he was probably mad at them, or hurt that they’d helped her behind his back. They’d been his friends longer than hers.
Paul obviously trusted Christian to babysit, but her old dance partner hadn’t shown up for two days. She was sure there was more to that story than either one of them had let on. She wanted to know, but Christian was MIA. She couldn’t ask Paul about it either, since she’d promised herself to stop trying to force him to talk about things.
Mitch and Shanni were telling everyone about the big televised game at the Starfish that night. They’d invited her but she’d declined. If Paul had enlisted them to look after her, they would have put up more of a fight—or he would have stepped in with his two cents—it would have been more like his fifty dollars and two cents worth. He had to be planning to take her with him.
The Porgy pulled away from the dock, and she watched until they were nothing but a speck against the large mountains on the mainland, and then she couldn’t see them anymore.
Paul never once looked back, and it was all Rhees could do not to cry.
oOo
It had been the longest afternoon she could remember. She looked out over the ocean every few minutes, hoping to see the Porgy chugging its way back. Paul must have figured he wouldn’t be gone too long. He wouldn’t have left her if he had. She finally grabbed her snorkeling gear and jumped into the water. She needed a distraction. Under the dock was always good for an interesting wildlife sighting, but today she wasn’t interested. She didn’t really care about seeing anything at the moment. She just needed to get away.
She put her face in the water and floated, barely even kicking. The sun beat down, hot, but the water was perfect. It covered her ears and muffled all sound to a nice quiet hum. She focused on the silence, and for the first time since the hijacking, she completely relaxed.
She didn’t pay attention to how far she’d drifted until she noticed rocks under her floating body, instead of the white sand. She lifted her head to get her bearings. She’d drifted over a mile away from the shop and it shocked her. Without realizing it, she’d floated past the public beach as well as the row of private, mostly vacant, beach houses that sat to the north of the shop. She rolled onto her back and relaxed for another few minutes before heading back. She made a mental note to do it again sometime, soon, definitely.
oOo
Rhees stood on the bottom rung of the ladder and tossed her fins onto the deck. She climbed up, squeezed the excess water from her hair and watched Claire erase the board and begin to write down the next day’s schedule. It was time to close up.
She looked over to where the Porgy was usually docked. Still not back. She turned to look toward the mainland, thinking for sure that Paul would be on his way back by now. Nothing.
Thirty minutes later, everyone had disappeared from the shop except Claire and Dobbs, but even they set about locking everything up.
“Do you want to have dinner with us?” Claire looked concerned for her friend. “We were going to just grab some baleadas before my meeting.”
“No, thanks. I want to wait here.”
“You know that engine’s been the bane of Paul’s existence for months. It’s probably giving the new mechanic trouble too.” Dobbs scratched his bald head, looking out toward the mainland.
“Do I look that pathetic?” Rhees chuckled, ignoring the highly unlikely fact that any mechanic shop in this country would stay open past the dinner hour.
“Get something to eat, and don’t worry about him. He can’t stand to be away from you any more than you him.”
Claire grabbed Dobbs by the elbow, knowing that there was more going on with them than her husband knew. “I’m starved. Let’s go. Bye, Sweet. See you tomorrow.” Claire turned and asked, “You have your key, right? I didn’t just lock you out?”
Rhees glanced to the table to confirm her backpack hadn’t walked off. She nodded and waved. “I’ll be fine. Have a nice evening.”
oOo
Rhees paced back and forth, watching the direction he would be coming. She ran to Paul’s apartment to shower and change, returned, wandered around, found some trash—put it in the bin. She shook her head at how the people at the shop left their garbage lying around. She wasn’t their mother.
She wished Paul had a phone. They still hadn’t replaced their phones since the hijacking. She paced again, ran through a few stretching poses, twirled a few times, turned to look at the mainland again. She sat on the table and faced west. The view was better from the table than it was from the floor. Her stomach rumbled, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to keep food down. She watched the sunset, a welcomed distraction, but before long, darkness enveloped the shop.
‘He can’t stand to be away from you any more than you him’, Dobbs’ words stung as she sat in the dark. What did Dobbs know?
It was pitch black at the end of the deck, and she was alone at the end of civilization. Only one bar and the private beach houses sat to the north of the shop, but even they were down the road. Randy’s house was next door to the south, but it sat closer to the road. The shop’s deck extended a long distance over the water. There was no one around to hear her and she finally let go. She sobbed for almost an hour and when she couldn’t cry any more, she sat up and let herself be numb.
An hour later, she got up, jumped up and down, waving her arms until the motion light turned on. She grabbed her backpack, dragged her chair to the light, sat down, pulled her journal out, and started writing. At midnight, she pulled her mat, their mat, out from the rafters of the gazebo, rolled it out, and sat against the rail, letting herself go numb, again.
It was almost two o’clock before she noticed lights on the water. It took another ten minutes before the Porgy’s engine geared down to begin docking. She jumped up, expecting Paul to throw her one line while he jumped off the boat to tie off the other, but she couldn’t see him. She did her best to position the boat from the deck while Randy worked to back the boat into its spot.
“Grab the line.”
She hopped onto the bow, tossed the bumpers over the side, grabbed the front line, hopped back onto the deck, and tied it to the cleat. Randy killed the engine, jumped off the boat and beat her to tie off the back.
“Sorry so late.” Randy tossed his head toward the passenger sitting in the front corner of the boat. “Someone ‘cided ta pardy.” He stepped back onto the boat and positioned one of Paul’s arms up and over his own shoulder, pulling him to his feet. “That it, big boy.”
Paul couldn’t stand without help, but he managed to hang onto the bottle in his hand just fine. Rhees raced t
o them and did what she could to help Randy keep his balance while Paul swayed. Together, she and Randy managed to get him off the boat without falling into the water.
“I don’t neeed hel-p,” Paul growled, slurring his words as he wrestled with them. “I’ve been getting my-self on and off this damned boat for years.”
Rhees moved to take his other side once they had him on the deck. He finally noticed her.
“Hey, beautiful.” Paul looked at her as if seeing her for the first time. He pulled the arm Randy had hold of, and threw it around Rhees. She almost buckled when his full weight was suddenly only on her.
“Whoa! Careful there, you’re going to have us both flat on our faces in a tangled heap.”
“Mm!” Paul grunted and then grinned. “That sounds good. Let’s get taan-gled.”
Randy helped her get Paul to the mat, and after a brief argument and struggle, he seemed to fall asleep. They put his bottle on the table under the gazebo, and Randy explained what happened.
After dropping the part off at the mechanic’s shop, they’d gone to get dinner and had a few drinks while they waited. Paul asked Randy to go settle up with the mechanic while he waited at the bar. When Randy returned, he had to search several bars in the area before he found him.
“He’s so drunk, I don’ know how he’s standin’, let alone dancin’, but you know how it gets with him. Them girls, they all vyin’ for his ‘tention.”
Rhees must not have hidden her sorrow well enough, because Randy blurted out the rest as an afterthought.
“He’s tellin’ them he’s married ta the mose beautiful woman in the world. That he’s not in’trested in them. He never sees them other girls ena-more, only my cousin, criss ting. He won’ be strayin’ from your bed. Them genes run strong in our Williams’ women, they keep their men hangin’ on for dear life.”
She tried to smile, knowing they didn’t really share any DNA. “Thank you for getting him home. I’m sure it wasn’t easy, but now you’d better get home before your most beautiful wife locks you out of the house.”
“Prob’ly too late for that. You han’l him all right?”
“I got it. Thank you.”
“We’ll have ta give ‘im a proper welcome at the nex’ par’dy. He’s fam’ly now, too, you know.”
Rhees forced another smile. It was true, but she didn’t know for how long.
“Walk good,” Randy said, waving. He must have been more concerned about getting locked out than he’d let on. He didn’t waste any time getting away, probably before Rhees could change her mind.
oOo
Rhees stood, watching Randy walk away when Paul’s arms snaked around her waist from behind.
She startled, and he sighed in her ear.
“You ever going to stop doing that every time I touch you?”
“I’ve already stopped—I just didn’t know you were there. I thought you were asleep.” His stubble and warm breath skimmed affectionately over the skin of her neck.
“No-pe. Not ready to sleep.” He pulled her hair out of the way for better access.
“You’re drunk. You should be asleep.”
He snickered against the skin behind her ear. “Yeah, I’m da-runk.”
“Yes. I know. You wouldn’t be so affectionate if you weren’t. In fact, you wouldn’t be anywhere near me.”
A frustrated, but soft growl rumbled at the back of his throat. “It-s’all fucked up, everything.” His hands moved up, his arms smoothed around her shoulders, pinning her back against him. “I l-love you so much,” he whispered feverishly against her cheek.
“I’ve noticed.” She closed her eyes and savored his touch. “—Just how much you love me, lately.”
“I know. I’m sorry. It-s’all fucked up, but I. Do. Love. You.”
She wanted to believe it but she didn’t dare. She’d longed for this kind—his kind of assurance for days, but he’d refused to give it to her. She reached up behind her and tenderly stroked the side of his face. He kissed the palm of her hand before leaning his cheek into it.
“As nice as this is, now, you’re going to hate me again in the morning, aren’t you?”
He burst out laughing. “Now there’s a whole new twist on, ‘will you still respect me in the morning’?”
“You know what I mean.” She turned in his arms to face him. He was so beautiful when his eyes sparkled that way, but she still felt a sad pain in her heart. “That’s what all this boils down to, isn’t it? I finally gave it up for you, and now, you don’t respect me anymore.”
She looked down in shame. “I can’t say I blame you. I’m sorry I hurt you—”
He grabbed her chin and kissed her, hard, to shut her up. “Let’s not waste my excellent drunk by going there.” He kissed her again before pulling back to look at her, as if just receiving a revelation. “I’m ve-rry da-runk!” He arched a brow and one side of his mouth curled up into a sexy grin. She realized what he was inferring.
“No! I mean, I know what you say happens when you’re drunk, but, no. Not tonight.”
“I say yes.” He used his all-business voice, trying to sound like Mr. Grumpy-Pants.
She giggled. “You’re too drunk to get a vote. Come on, we need to get you to bed.”
“Now that’s what I’m talking about!” He gave her a quick smooch and picked her up.
“Put me down. You can’t even keep yourself upright.” She fought him.
He ignored her, but when he turned to head toward the mat, he swayed. “Whoa!” He stopped and set her feet back on the deck. “You’re right. You carry me.” He laughed and sneaked in another kiss while pretending to try to get her to pick him up.
She laughed too. “You should always be this much fun.”
“I’m awl-ways fun,” he sounded offended.
“Lately?” She sighed. “Not so much.”
He took her face in both hands and forced her to look at him. He looked very serious. “I’m fun. Life’s the party pooper.” He rested his forehead on hers and stared downheartedly at her. He gasped and pulled away as if suddenly having an idea.
“I know!” He became animated. “Let’s dance—we neeed to dance.” He started toward the media room to turn on some music. “Nooo one dances like my Dani Girrl—believe me. I’ve been on the lookout, haven’t found one girl who can dance like you.”
“All the girls at the bar?” Her voice gave away how jealous his actions had made her feel. He turned back to look at her.
“Pfft! Hell yeah. Not ee-ven close!”
“It hurts my feelings that you would be looking. Maybe some guys can get away with that—but you—no. You shouldn’t be hanging around bars, asking girls to dance. You’re married and there are too many girls out there who, because of the way you look—Paul, they don’t care that you’re married.”
He raised his hands in the air, showing how bewildered he was that she could doubt him. “That’s another thing Keene warned me about. He said you’d be insecure and never really believe how much I really love you.”
She rolled her eyes at that.
“Baby!” His smoldering eyes fixed on hers and he sauntered toward her, creeping like a predator stalking its prey, slowly, bit by bit, probably to keep his balance, not an easy feat, given his condition. “Ba-by . . . Dani Girrl. I reeally neeed you to understand.” He took a step, keeping time with each word as he said them, one by one. “Just. How. Much. I. Love. You.”
“You have a funny way of showing it—no, it’s not funny at all. You won’t even look at me, let alone touch me.”
He leaned in closely, his eyes hooded with desire. “I’m l-loo-king at you, n-now.” He grabbed her around her waist and pulled her against him with a little too much force, for emphasis. “I’m tou-ching you, n-now.”
He loc
ked eyes on her with honed intensity, which rendered her speechless. He had her under his spell, an effect, she thought, he never struggled with. He’d rendered her powerless and all she could do was put her arms around his neck. They held each other that way for a full minute until his countenance distorted from predator to prey.
“I’m scared, Baby. So stinking scared.” She thought he was about to cry. He pulled her in close again. “I don’t want you to leave me.”
“I won’t.”
“Yes you will.” He sobbed. “You need to get away from me. I’ve been trying to get you to let go, and I don’t do anything halfway, remember? I always get what I want—I don’t really want this—but you need it—I’m doing it for you.” He rested his forehead against hers. “I’m finally doing the right thing for the right reason. I’m doing something for someone besides myself for a change. That’s how much I love you.”
“Well, just stop it!” Rhees scolded. “What I need, is you.”
“I tried to change for you. I thought I had. You actually had me believing, for a while that I was redeemable.” He squeezed her tighter and held on. “But I’m not. I gave it my best shot, for you—I tried. I’m going to ruin your life. You shouldn’t be around me. You need someone else, someone better than I am. You need to go back to Utah and find one of those nice boys. I’m going to hell, and it kills me to think I’m dragging you down with me.”
She pulled away just enough to see him. “Don’t say that.”
“It’s true,” he frowned, and looked so sad, so she put her arms around his waist and buried her face against his chest.
He began swaying with her in his arms, and then he started to sing, dancing with her to his own tune. She’d never heard him sing, but like everything else about him, his voice was beautiful. The sound of his voice, his touch, his scent—his stupid plan—she needed a plan of her own. Thank goodness for the alcohol, the ultimate truth serum, it was for him, anyway. Now, at least, she knew what he’d been up to.
Wet Part 3 Page 30
