by Rowena Dawn
His hands in his pants pockets, Jay strode with a supple gait through the people cruising the Harbourfront that Saturday morning. Everybody seemed bent on taking advantage of the unusually warm day. They didn't doubt that rainfalls would follow soon enough, and their outings on the shore of the lake would be curtailed or would utterly cease.
Undecided, Jay stopped before a Tim Hortons. He would have liked to have some breakfast or brunch, but he wasn't very sure that he craved for a sandwich from Tim's.
The man blocked the circulation for a few minutes, absently registering the sweet words that a group of young men directed to him. Jay shrugged with indifference. He had heard worse than that after all.
Suddenly, he remembered Joe Bird restaurant, so he turned on his heel and started that way. Jay doubted that he would be fortunate enough to find a seat on the patio at that hour on a Saturday, but he hoped for a change of luck. ‘It’s high time my luck had changed,’ he gritted his teeth with frustration.
After a brisk walk to the restaurant, he found himself in front of a harassed hostess. Before he could expand on his wishes, the young woman had already informed him that the patio was full.
Jay plastered the most attractive smile on his face, but the woman just looked at him blandly, unimpressed with his efforts.
"Come on," he tried to cajole her. "I'm sure that Kelly would help me if she were here," Jay said, congratulating himself that he remembered the other hostess's name. In reality, the man had visited the restaurant only twice or three times before, and he had stumbled on the same hostess by sheer luck.
His words didn't seem to affect the young woman though. She just arched one perfectly groomed eyebrow and looked at him condescendingly as if she had asked him ‘So what?’
Jay ground his teeth irate. He had to crush a vile curse, which climbed on his tongue, and he tightened his lips, piercing the young woman with a black look.
"Hey, man, welcome back," a young carrot-haired man thumped Jay's shoulder.
Jay turned his eyes to the man and recognized the waiter who had served him the last two times he had been in the restaurant.
"Apparently, I'm not so welcomed," Jay replied dryly, throwing a black look to the woman who had refused his admittance on the patio. "Your hostess can't be bothered to find a seat for me," he took care to mention, aware that he was plain mean, which he avoided in the regular course of events.
"Oh, Ann has just started working here, you know. She doesn't know our customers yet, so please, forgive her oversight," the guy hurried to say and waved his hand impatiently. "I will find you a seat immediately. It is true that the patio is full. But will it be a problem if I seat you at a table with someone else? I have a table for four at the other end of the patio, and it’s occupied only by a young woman," he informed Jay with enthusiasm and watched him expectantly.
Jay grimaced. He didn’t feel like sharing a meal with an unknown woman, who would probably expect him to make some conversation. Exactly when he thought to refuse the man’s offer and go somewhere else, his belly growled. That made the decision for him, and he nodded his agreement.
Jay hadn't eaten his dinner the other night and had only one coffee that morning. He thought that he would have some brunch out in town and didn’t bother to see if there was anything left from what Bryan had brought for him the last time.
The waiter took a menu off the hostess's desk and invited Jay to come with him. Jay blessed the server's memory and nodded curtly toward the hostess, who watched him wide-eyed. Then, he followed the young man who had started his winded stroll through the patio tables.
The waiter stopped right next to a table at the far end of the patio, on the side with the lake. A woman was seated with her back to Jay, and his heart skipped a beat.
The woman’s honey-colored thick mane reminded him of Ellen. ‘Damn, I can’t get rid of her memory not even here,’ he thought but continued to cover the distance between him and the table. He reached the table just in time to hear the woman’s answer to the waiter’s request.
“Yes, of course, I see it is full. I don’t mind,” the woman shrugged.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Now, Jay’s right hand tightened into a fist. He couldn’t forget that voice, and when the woman’s face turned to him, he had the proof that his assumptions were correct.
‘I’m cursed, that’s it,’ he reflected in dismay, and his eyes zeroed in on Ellen’s features. ‘I knew I was cursed, but I didn’t realize that the damn curse extended in this area too,’ he corrected himself, and his eyes narrowed with annoyance when he remembered his great-grandmother's curse.
But then, at the same time, he noticed that the woman’s eyes widened, her lips parted slightly, and a slight blush pinked her face.
‘Yep, sweetheart, it is me. At least, I’m not the only one taken by surprise here,’ he thought, and nodded toward Ellen, a shadow of a smile turning the corners of his mouth up, satisfied with her reactions.
The woman attempted to say something, but then, she changed her mind and just nodded to him as well. She didn’t seem capable of opening her mouth.
“Oh, you know each other,” the server intervened with glee in his voice. “That’s awesome, guys,” he clapped his palms enthusiastically.
Jay had the impulse to slap the young man over the head. He didn’t understand how the man could miss the signs of embarrassment on Ellen’s face.
Still, he only shrugged because he couldn’t do anything for her. He felt the need to spare her the uneasiness, but that meant to leave her alone and walk away, and he couldn’t do that. He had been thinking way too much about her the last few days.
“Take a seat, take a seat,” the eager young man invited Jay with broad gestures. “Would you like that I bring you the same things that you ordered before?” he asked, and his eyes sparkled with hope.
Jay just nodded. He couldn’t be bothered with reading a menu right that moment. His eyes were busy sweeping all over Ellen.
The waiter left, rubbing his hands with satisfaction. He remembered that Jay was a good tipper. The man might not have been in the restaurant very often, but whenever he came, he always left a double tip.
Jay sat down across from Ellen and braced his elbows on the top of the table. Now, his eyes avoided Ellen’s artfully and turned to the strip of sand and umbrellas beyond the rail separating the patio from the wooden board of the promenade. A few yards farther, the lake glimmered in the sunlight, and white sails spotted the horizon.
‘I need to go out on the lake. Matt could very well lend me his boat,’ he reflected. ‘If not, there’s always Bryan,’ he concluded when he remembered that Matt was annoyed with him right then.
The laughter of a couple of children mingled with the voice of a matron, who explained wisely the differences between two types of body lotions. A seagull cried out his discontent with a duck who stole a fish right from under his beak and then speared the air to look for another fishing spot.
From the corner of the eye, Jay observed Ellen at the same time. The woman seemed uneasy and edgy. She picked up her coffee cup off the table with a not very firm hand and lift it to her lips.
“How have you been?” he chose that very moment to ask Ellen, shifting his eyes toward her suddenly.
Jay had the satisfaction to see the woman drop the cup, and the coffee splashed all over her red top. The dish broke with a deafening sound, and the people from the tables around turned and stared at them. Jay didn’t give any sign that their stares impressed him. He didn’t move his eyes from Ellen.
The woman’s face turned scarlet, and she groaned in dismay. “Damn,” she exclaimed, watching the disaster with wide eyes. “I’ve just bought this top,” the woman mumbled with annoyance and grabbed a bunch of napkins, attempting to dry her blouse.
“The spots will still be visible,” Jay shrugged, not moving a finger to assist her with anything. “That won’t help you.”
“Shut up, Jay,” Ellen snapped at him and threw the napkins
back on the table. She realized that the man was right. She needed to wash the top to get rid of the spots.
The carrot-haired waiter appeared like from thin air. He hurried to Ellen and Jay’s table, ready to clean it.
“I apologize,” Ellen looked up at him. “It simply slid from my fingers,” she explained morosely. “Of course, I will pay for the cup,” she offered, but the waiter waved her worries away.
“Don’t worry about that. Accidents happen all the time. I will clean the table immediately,” the server said. “I’ll bring you another cup of coffee afterward,” the man promised Ellen.
“I think I’d better pay the bill and leave now,” Ellen shook her head.
The woman was already fed up with her clumsiness and the way she reacted to Jay’s presence. She had turned into an awkward schoolgirl and that just because the man stared at her with his intense dark eyes.
“No, Ellen,” Jay intervened immediately, a pang of anxiety piercing his heart. “Just have another cup of coffee with me,” he stopped her, unwilling to see her standing and leaving out of his life once more.
“And you haven’t had your brunch yet, miss,” the waiter pointed out. “I’ll bring it out in a couple of minutes,” he promised to her. “You won’t have to wait for long.”
“But, but...” she started to stammer in agitation, but then Jay laid his hand over hers and stopped her stuttering.
“Stop fretting, Ellen. Sit back and relax. The man will bring us our brunch soon, and we can talk then,” Jay said, and his eyes leveled steadily on hers as if he had challenged her to dare and refute his invitation.
Ellen didn’t reply. She pressed her lips together and drew her hand back from under Jay’s fingers. The woman folded her hands in her lap in resignation and allowed the server to clean the table.
Still, she kept her eyes on Jay, wondering what his game was. A little over two weeks ago, the man had practically thrown her out of his apartment, and now, he wanted her to stay. He was more changeable than the wind.
The woman wanted to talk to him but didn’t know what subject of discussion he had in mind. She doubted that their intentions were similar.
Jay laid back in his chair, his hands braced on his thighs. He didn’t take his eyes off Ellen’s face, not even for one moment.
When the server finished with his ministrations and left them alone, Jay leaned forward and joined his hands on the table.
“So, let’s get back to my previous question,” he grinned, knowing that Ellen wouldn’t like his approach. “How have you been?”
The woman licked her lips and merely shrugged with indifference. Still, she brushed her hair behind her ears with nervous fingers. Jay’s pointed look made her feel self-aware. She hated that she had to remain in front of him in her spotted chemise. She felt as if one of her defense walls had crumbled to her feet.
Jay lifted an eyebrow, nudging Ellen to say something.
“I’ve been fine,” she finally replied with a pout. “What did you think? That I’d lock myself in the house and cry my eyes out because you threw me out of your apartment?” she said peevishly, and her eyes sparkled with repressed resentment.
“Nah,” Jay said with a wave of his fingers. “You don’t look like the type who would brood.”
Ellen tilted her head and inquired with curiosity, “And how do you think I look like?” She regretted her question immediately. Ellen half expected that he would say something mean, and she wasn’t disappointed.
“Like you’d have gone out and checked me some more. Although I don’t know what bodies you think that I keep in my closet,” Jay replied in a hard tone of voice.
“I was sure you wouldn’t be able not to take a shot at me,” she replied in a voice filled with bitterness. “I haven’t even thought of you,” she lied to Jay, looking straight into his eyes.
Jay laughed and shook his head. “You’re good at lying. I’ll give you that. But next time, if you want me to believe you, don’t try to stare me down,” he advised her with derision.
“I’m a police officer. I know how to lie convincingly,” she retorted in a miff.
“Maybe most police officers know how to lie,” he corrected her with a shrug. “Definitely, the one who told you that you are a convincing liar is an accomplished one himself. You didn’t even realize that he wasn’t telling you the truth,” he grinned at her.
She clenched her fists in her lap and bit her tongue to stop a curse ready to roll out of her mouth. Jay just bobbed his eyebrows to her and laughed.
“You just want to upset me,” she concluded, tilting her head with curiosity.
The man nodded. “I like seeing your reactions,” he confessed. “I hate it when you are cold and standoffish,” he explained.
“I’m not cold,” she refuted his words, and her eyebrows bunched over her eyes.
“Interesting that you don’t deny that you aren’t approachable,” Jay noted in a meaningful tone of voice.
Ellen just shrugged with indifference. She knew that she kept people at bay. It wasn’t worth the effort to allow someone to get to close. They inadvertently hurt her. She remembered that Jay had done precisely that, and not long ago.
“Why is that?” the man asked her, leaning a bit further over the table.
“What?” she pretended not to understand his words.
“Come on, you know what I’m talking about,” he waved his fingers toward her.
“Ah, I know what you’re asking now,” she pretended to have just caught his meaning, and Jay laughed, shaking his head to let her understand that she couldn’t fool him.
Ellen grimaced and shifted her eyes toward the lake for a few moments. She gathered her thoughts, and then she looked back at him.
“I don’t really like to discuss this subject,” she decided to say. “But what the heck, if you insist... People invariably hurt each other. It’s just better not to allow anyone to get too close to you,” she explained morosely.
“Who hurt you, Ellen?” Jay asked, unwilling to drop the subject. His curiosity about the woman just increased a little more.
The woman shrugged once more, and then said, “You, for instance,” she replied in a firm tone of voice.
“When I asked you to leave,” Jay surmised.
Ellen nodded, although a bit unsure that it was a good idea to reveal that he had the power to hurt her.
“I was hurt and in pain,” the man replied dryly. “And you didn’t do anything else but judge me based on the fact that you saw me playing cards,” he specified.
“Repeatedly,” she pointed out.
“All right, repeatedly,” he accepted. “But that doesn’t define me entirely, does it now? Do you know at least what else I do?” he asked Ellen, and his eyebrows hiked up his forehead.
The man didn’t have any illusions. If the woman had been bent in checking him out, he expected that she had rummaged through his house to see what else she could find. And he wasn’t the person to lock the doors to keep the people out of his business. He didn’t even bother to bolt his studio.
“Not really,” she admitted. “I found out your name, your address and that you had a large family. That was everything. I couldn’t find out if you had a job or...” she opened her arms.
“Come on, you must have searched my apartment while I was prostrated on that damn sofa,” Jay contradicted her with a set jaw. He disliked being taken for a sucker.
“I thought of that,” she confessed with a curt nod.
“And?” he inquired in a tone of voice that showed that he wouldn’t have believed her if she had denied that she searched his house.
“I couldn’t do it,” she shook her head. “It seemed... I don’t know,” she repeated in a stronger tone of voice. “I just couldn’t do it. I saw only your living room, bathroom, and kitchen. I didn’t go into your bedrooms,” Ellen informed him.
“Bedrooms?” Jay frowned.
“You have three other rooms, don’t you?” Ellen affirmed with uncertainty. “
The doors seemed to lead to other rooms. They couldn’t have been closets,” she shook her head. “The doors to the closets looked different.”
“You’re right. Those are rooms, but only two are bedrooms,” the man pointed out.
“Oh, but the den is in the corner of your living room,” she noted with confusion.
“And your point is?” Jay tilted his head with an amused grin at the corner of his mouth.
Ellen looked at him nonplussed for a few seconds and then fluttered her hand. “It doesn’t really matter,” she said softly.
Jay shook his head stubbornly and replied with irony, “I doubt it doesn’t matter for a police officer like yourself.”
“Well, as a matter of fact...” Ellen blushed and started to say something but stopped when she noticed that the waiter was coming with their orders.
“What Ellen?” Jay raised his left eyebrow inquiringly.
“Our orders are here,” she warned him and leaned back to let the server put the food onto the table.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“As a matter of fact, what Ellen?” Jay insisted with stubbornness after the waiter left their table.
Ellen raised her confused eyes at him, and Jay fluttered his fingers with impatience.
“Don’t think that I forgot that you were about to say something just before our orders arrived,” he said in a warning tone of voice, unwilling to let her off the hook. “I might have been hit over the head two weeks ago, but my memory is still in good functioning order,” he thought to mention.
“It wasn’t a big deal,” Ellen shrugged. She seemed to have changed her mind and didn’t want to share that specific fact with him anymore.
“Huh, huh, it doesn’t work that way,” Jay replied with a shake of his head and reached out to his coffee cup. “You opened this can of worms, so now, you have to spill everything,” he said and sipped from his cup afterward, watching her over the rim of the dish.
