A Summer Fling

by Milly Johnson

  ‘Nothing. Honest. I couldn’t,’ Dawn shrugged. ‘It wouldn’t be right however much—’ She cut off. She sounded so sad that no one jumped in to tease her about the unfinished sentence.

  ‘Ben’s a lovely kisser,’ put in Raychel at last.

  ‘I haven’t been kissed in a long time,’ said Grace with a gentle laugh.

  ‘Maybe it’s about time you were then?’ said Christie, her eyes mischievously widening. Grace narrowed her eyes at her friend and shook her head in exasperation.

  Anna exhaled loudly. ‘It’s supposed to be very nice and romantic, but I’ve never really thought it was all that wonderful a thing to do – snog. Tony isn’t a snogger.’ He might have used a snog as an introduction to open proceedings but after that he wasn’t interested.

  ‘Well, I’m a big believer in a kiss being able to tell you more than anything,’ said Christie. ‘You’- she turned to Anna – ‘have obviously been kissing the wrong men. And you’ – she pointed a finger at Dawn – ‘you need to listen to what your heart is telling you. That’s all I shall say on the subject.’

  After the others had gone, Dawn waited at the bar, watching the band. Al Holly raised his head and smiled at her and it was as if the sun had shone his full beam on her and almost melted her to the ground. She thought of Al Holly’s lips pressing down onto hers and, wrong as it was, she didn’t fight the fantasy. What was that Christie said about listening to her heart? She couldn’t help but listen to it, because it was shouting at her and scaring her.

  He made his usual bee-line over to her when they had finished.

  ‘Howdy,’ he said.

  ‘Hello there, pardner,’ said Dawn. He will be gone next week. You will be Calum’s ‘pardner’, the respectable Mrs Crooke, and there will be another band on this stage. The words hit her hard from left field.

  ‘Have you had a good week then?’ he asked.

  ‘Yes, it was OK. What about you?’

  ‘I was wondering if you would ring me.’

  ‘And say what?’

  ‘‘‘Hello,” maybe.’ His eyes were bright and soft greeny-brown. They were looking at her as if they liked what they saw so much. It was almost painful to meet them.

  ‘It wouldn’t be right, would it? Me phoning you when . . .’ I’m getting married to someone else next week. She didn’t want to say the words.

  ‘Dawny, can you come with me for a moment? There’s something I need to show you,’ he said, suddenly urgent.

  ‘ ’Course,’ said Dawn, following him as he marched purposefully through the standing drinkers and out of the door. She could barely keep up, his stride was so long. He beckoned her on behind his shoulder as he strode down the beer garden, past the benches filled with groups and couples and on to where the lighting stopped and the grass began to slope down to the wood behind the pub.

  ‘Look!’ he said.

  ‘What?’ said Dawn, seeing nothing but a load of trees and a grass bank.

  ‘The moon,’ he said.

  Dawn looked up. She knew it was one day off being full because Anna was going to the Full Moon Ball tomorrow, but it looked as near full as damn it. It was huge, like a perfect hole in the sky, a portal to another world where things were brilliantly lit and clear and uncomplicated. But there were big moons every month and Al was acting like he’d been in a cupboard for thirty-odd years and had never seen one before.

  ‘It’s lovely,’ she said, feeling the need to say something because he was looking so expectantly at her. ‘You like moons, I presume?’

  ‘Dawny.’ He seemed to be having some internal battle with himself from the way he was shaking his head and puffing the air out of his cheeks as if he was in labour. Then he steeled himself and plunged headfirst into an obviously unprepared speech.

  ‘I shouldn’t do this, I know. I didn’t bring you out here to see the moon. I brought you out here to kiss you underneath it. Just once. ’

  Flaming heck! ‘Oh, did you?’

  ‘Yes I did, ma’am,’ said Al Holly, and though every nerve in Dawn Sole’s body was telling her to back up because she was in danger of having portals opened inside her that made the moon look like a pinprick, she stood unmoving and let Al Holly slide his arms around her, tilt her head back and slowly, slowly press his sweet lips against her own. And it was every bit as good as the fantasy.

  When he stopped for breath, she came up for air with every intention of pushing him away, but instead she filled her lungs up with oxygen and let him do it again. His body was so warm and strong against her, his arms tight about her but gentle as if he were holding something precious and delicate. She drank in the smell of him, spicy aftershave and skin and a hint of peppermint. And when the kiss came to a soft end, the words that came from his mouth made her gulp more than a salmon which had just jumped from a river onto a dry concrete block.

  ‘Dawny Sole, you and I both know that you shouldn’t be marrying anyone but me.’

  ‘Don’t say that.’

  ‘But I am saying it.’ Al’s tender hands came up to her face and forced her to look at him. ‘I can’t get you out of my mind. The week just can’t pass fast enough until I see you again. I want to take you home with me and love you.’

  ‘Al—’

  ‘I wanted to kiss you once to see if you felt the same, and you do. I know you do.’

  Dawn’s knees were in danger of folding beneath her.

  ‘Al, I think you’re wonderful, truly I do,’ she began, having to throttle back hard on the words that could have so easily pumped out from her vocal cords: I love you too, I’ve tried so hard not to, but I do . . . ‘But let’s not get carried away. This is like a holiday romance for you. You’ll have forgotten me as soon as you get to the airport—’

  ‘The hell I will!’

  ‘Please.’ She placed her finger on his lips. God, they were flushed with blood. ‘We barely know each other.’

  ‘Then come with me and let me find out all about you.’

  ‘I can’t give up everything I have,’ said Dawn.

  ‘What do you have? You’re marrying a man you don’t love, who doesn’t like your music, who doesn’t put a smile on your face, and all because you want to belong to a family. I know you an awful lot better than you think I do, Dawny Sole. You’re filling up my heart, girl. I’ve never felt like this about anyone. It’s knocked me off my feet and I’ve tried to ignore it but I can’t and I don’t want to.’

  Dawn’s breath snagged in her throat. I do love Calum. She had been saying it to herself like a mantra these past few weeks. She felt she had to.

  Al Holly put his strong hands on Dawn’s shoulders and squared her in front of him.

  ‘You don’t think you’re anything special, do you?’ he said. ‘I see it in your eyes. You think you’re not capable of making someone feel so strongly about you.’

  ‘I’m not special at all,’ said Dawn. ‘I open my mouth in all the wrong places, I don’t stand up for myself, I don’t know any general knowledge . . .’ Dawn Sole, your wheel is still spinning, but alas the hamster has died . . . She thought of the unforgotten words a teacher once said to her at school.

  ‘Bet your mom and dad thought you were special.’

  ‘Yeah, well, they aren’t here any more, are they?’ said Dawn with a shrug of bravado.

  ‘Wherever they are, they want you to be happy.’

  He was too close to the truth for comfort. Again.

  ‘Don’t say any more, please.’ She was hurting, but her feet were rooted to the spot and wouldn’t move.

  ‘One final thing, then I’ll go,’ he said. ‘You think on what I’ve said. And let me tell you that you are one special woman. You are beautiful and you’re funny and you have the voice of one smokin’ angel. And I’ve been fighting against this but I can’t do it any more without telling you what my heart is crying out for me to say. I want you, Dawny Sole, more than I’ve ever wanted anyone in my life.’

  Dawn tore her eyes away from him. If only she was free,
things would be so different. But she wasn’t. This was so wrong. But why does his body feel so right against me?

  Al stepped back. His hands left her shoulders.

  ‘You have seven and a half days until I leave for London. You have seven and a half days to pack your suitcase, grab your guitar and come with me to live a life you know you want. Hell, it won’t be a life of luxury, but you’ll be singing and you’ll be happy and you’ll be loved more than you ever would be if you stayed.’

  ‘Al—’

  ‘Seven and a half days,’ he cut in. ‘I’ve said all I should say. It’s not what I do, Dawny. I’m a decent man but I’m in love with you and if you don’t come, then that will be my punishment for moving in on another man’s woman.’

  Then he leaned in and kissed her full on the mouth under the big moon, and afterwards Big Al Holly walked away, leaving Dawn trembling like a leaf in a tornado.

  Chapter 75

  Anna was woken up at seven thirty the next morning by a big leather-clad bloke on a motorbike. A courier, who had a small square package for her. She knew this one wasn’t from Tony because it had the Corona Productions logo on the top. Intrigued, she opened it hurriedly to find a disk case and a folded-up note.

  Dear Anna, Here are some out-takes especially for you. Enjoy!

  With love, Jane, Bruce, Flip, Chas and Mark xxx

  Out-takes? She slipped the disk into her DVD player and waited for it to begin.

  After the official Corona Productions logo, Vladimir Darq’s body filled the screen and she felt herself begin to melt, even though he was striding up and down saying, ‘She drives me crazy!’

  Then the camera panned onto him and he was sewing blue beads onto that corset.

  ‘This,’ he explained, ‘is a goodbye present for Anna.’

  ‘It’s very intricate,’ came the disembodied voice of Jane.

  ‘Desigur. Of course. She is worth it.’

  Then Vladimir was back to his passionate self, talking Romanian to Leonid, and then Leonid faced the camera and asked Bruce, in English, if he was filming. What did they send me this bit for? thought Anna. My Romanian extends no further than a ‘no’, and ‘of course’ and a few choice swear words, thanks to Maria.

  Then Flip was saying to Jane, ‘I thought we’d got a dead seed here but we’ve got a flower, haven’t we?’

  ‘A fucking big perfumed one,’ Jane replied with a delighted smile. ‘It’s absolute magic. And I really like her too, so I want her to look gorgeous.’

  Then Flip was doing some practise filming on the handheld camera, spying on Bruce and Mark talking.

  ‘Do you think he really is a vampire?’ Mark was whispering.

  ‘Before I came, I would have said, “Don’t be so fucking stupid”, but now I’m not so sure.’ This from Bruce. ‘Have you seen his eyes? Scar-ee!’

  ‘Those fangs are real as well.’

  Bruce secretly slipped in a pair of huge false fangs, threw himself on Mark with a growl and scared him to death. The pair of them descended into giggles like two naughty schoolboys.

  Then Vladimir was fastening Anna into a corset from the back and his eyes were transfixed on Anna’s neck. He was inhaling the scent from her skin, wetting his lips with his tongue. He looked as if he might devour her at any minute.

  Then Vladimir was ranting at Mark.

  ‘I would like to get all women like Anna Brightside in a group and bang all their heads together. She drives me crazy!’

  Then the action switched to Leonid, smiling fondly as he watched Anna and Jane be interviewed in the distance. He was talking quietly to Bruce.

  ‘Vlad could have found no one more perfect to model for him. She is wonderful. She will drive this campaign to the stars. Perfect.’

  That was the end.

  Anna had an idiot smile on her face. That was so sweet of Leonid, especially because he didn’t know he was being filmed. And the way Vladimir looked at her neck! It was scary and thrilling and something to remember always, that he had once really desired her – even for a few minutes. Even as a meal.

  Anna put the disk back in the case and the note with it. It was then she noticed there was writing on both sides. She turned over to the unread side.

  PS. One of our location managers is Romanian, so here is a translation of that Leonid/Vladimir conversation. Go, girl!

  Leonid: My friend, why are you in such a hideous mood?

  Vladimir: I don’t know, it’s crazy. She drives me crazy.

  Leonid: Yes, I wondered if that was the problem.

  Vladimir: I am sending her home to a man who buys her plates! Week after week, I have seen her becoming more beautiful and all for him – Plate Man!

  Leonid: (laughs) Maybe at the beginning. Not now. Haven’t you seen the way she looks at you, you fool?

  Vladimir: Ignore me, Leonid. I’ve said too much. Now about the core selection of colours for ‘The Darqone’ . . .

  Anna’s hands were shaking. She took in a deep breath and steadied herself. OK, let’s get some perspective on this, she told herself. Actors were always falling for each other on projects, weren’t they? They got the edges between real life and scripts blurred. It wasn’t real; they got infatuated and as soon as the film was in the can they split up. She needed to keep remembering what he had said about that corset: it was a goodbye gift. The key word was ‘goodbye’. She had to get a grip on her excitement before it ran away with her. Although, to be honest, it was already halfway down the M1. Vladimir Darq was grateful to her, that was all. By his own admission, she drove him crazy. By tomorrow morning, she would be merely a memory for him. In a few weeks’ time, maybe not even that.

  At 5 p.m. that evening, Anna carefully laid the corset out on her bed. It was stunning. She had hardly been able to stop looking at it since she received it. It was all the intricacies which intrigued her: the hundreds of glittery dark beads, individually applied. Why? Now, after watching that DVD she knew. She is worth it, said that voice inside her head: a deep, East European voice with an impatient edge. She shivered with desire for him. But after tonight, who knew if she would ever see him again? But still, she couldn’t get those little beads out of her head.

  There was a bing bong at her door. It only ever rang at this time of night because the gormless local pizza delivery service mixed up her house number 2 with 2A next door. She ripped the door open, prepared to tell them yet again that the house they needed to deliver the Supremo with extra mozzarella to was, in fact, the next one along.

  But she was wrong. She opened the door to find the pièce de résistance present from Tony. Tony himself. Beaming, with his arms wide open and bearing a red rose in his mouth.

  ‘Babe!’ he said through clenched teeth. He whisked the rose into his hand and then under Anna’s nose. She stood in stunned silence.

  Over the past months, she had imagined many times what she would do at this point, and that was to throw herself gratefully into Tony’s arms and cover his lying, cheating face with kisses of forgiveness whilst dragging him over her threshold. But now the moment was here, she didn’t do anything of that sort at all and no one was more surprised than her. She stood there, a stunned statue, while he continued to stick his rose uncomfortably close to her left nostril.

  When she did eventually speak, because it was getting a bit ridiculous standing there like a tableau for the benefit of the pizza-eating and the cat-nicking neighbours, it was merely to say his name.

  ‘Tony.’

  ‘Yep, that’s me, babe. Oh, I. Have. Missed you so much.’

  His arms came about her and she almost staggered backwards with the force of his embrace. His familiar aftershave enveloped her, the aftershave that had once made her go as slushy as a Solero after a minute in a microwave. It certainly wasn’t travelling up her olfactory passages and making her knees knock now though. He’d applied rather a lot of it recently, by the whiff of it, and she could feel a big sneeze building up. He was cooing in her hair like an amorous pigeon. Then he pull
ed back from her and looked at her as if she had returned from a long absence: back-packing in Australia, perhaps, and he was relieved to see her home again and in one piece.

  ‘Wow, you look great, babe,’ he said. ‘What have you done to yourself? Had some work done or something?’

  ‘No, of course I haven’t had any surgery,’ said Anna, still in shock.

  ‘I’ve come back, babe. I’ve been an idiot. Let’s go inside.’

  He tried to push her backwards through the door.

  ‘Whoa, Tony, slow down,’ she said, extricating herself, not giving a toss about any would-be curtain twitchers now. If Tony got inside the house, she wouldn’t get him out again. And she had her evening to think about. This was Vladimir’s big night. She couldn’t let him down. Tony might have had the gift of the gab, but his timing was crap.

  Tony’s eyebrows knotted in confusion. It was obvious he thought that five seconds after ringing her bell, they’d be in bed where he would continue to try and ring her bell. And, a few weeks ago, maybe they would have been. She had cried and drunk herself to sleep playing out the scenario of his coming back all hugs and kisses and open arms so many times and now she had him on her doorstep doing those things, all she could feel was totally detached. No, she wasn’t going to fall back into his arms so easily. She was now a woman worth sewing small beads on corsets for. Tony would need to appreciate that.

  ‘I’m sorry but I’m going out tonight.’

  ‘You’re going out? Who with?’

  ‘A friend.’

  ‘You’re joking,’ he said, lip curling over with churlish disappointment. ‘Cancel it. Life’s just not been the same without you, babe.’

  Her wounded ego had a smug moment. He wants me more than Lynette Bottom. But it was quickly overridden by the stronger desire to see Vladimir Darq again.

  Tony pushed once more and moved in for a snog and she stopped him with a hard hand on his chest.

  ‘No, I can’t,’ she said.

  ‘Yes, you can.’