by Marnie Perry
She drew back, an apology on her lips until she realised who it was then smiled, ‘oh, good morning.’ The breath almost left her body, not with the collision but with the same shock she always felt when she first laid eyes on him after being apart. He looked so very handsome dressed in beige khakis and a Hawaiian type shirt
She was still staring open mouthed when he said, ‘good morning.’ He looked pointedly at his watch.
She looked at hers too and gave a small gasp, it was 10.11, she looked up at him, ‘oh I’m so sorry, I didn’t realise. I got talking to Dean and the time just went, but that’s no excuse for keeping you waiting, I’m sorry.’
He stared back at her his expression giving nothing away. 'Yes, eleven minutes I’ve been standing here waiting for you. In fact I was a little early, not wanting to keep you waiting so in fact I’ve been here fourteen minutes.’
She looked mortified, ‘I can’t apologise enough, I…’
Suddenly his face was split by a huge grin as he held up his hand much as Dean had done a few minutes earlier. He said, ‘please, it’s all right, I was joking, honestly, you’re eleven minutes late for goodness sake. I would have waited an hour and eleven minutes for you if necessary.’
Her face showed relief that he had just been teasing her and disbelief at his words. He waited for her to say don’t be silly and he wasn’t disappointed, then she added, ‘your charm is never ending, Sterling Hennessey.’
‘Well that’s a relief. Although it wasn’t charm, but the truth.’
‘Is there a difference?’
‘I suppose some people would think so.’
‘Like me do you mean?’
‘Yep, like you.’
She laughed now, ‘but I really am sorry for keeping you waiting, I hate being late for anything, or anyone.’
‘I noticed. But it’s all right, I forgive you.’
‘Thanks, I appreciate that.’
He grinned and putting his hand on the small of her back he turned her towards where his car was parked saying, ‘shall we?’
When they were in the car and on the road towards Gulfport he said, ‘so it must have been a very interesting conversation you were having with old Maxwell to have made you late for something.’
She looked distinctly uncomfortable and shifted in her seat before saying, ‘er, yes, I bought some books from him, see.’ She picked up the package of books she had put in the foot well and showed him as if it was evidence.
‘What have you got there?’
‘A history of the deep south and four crime novels.’
He smiled, ‘you and your crime novels. But a history of my birthplace? I’m honoured.’
‘I love discovering new things about this country, and this book should be very enlightening.’
There followed a small silence which he broke by asking, ‘and what else?’
‘Oh that’s all, just those five books.’
‘No, I meant what else did you and good old Dean talk about?’
She was uncomfortable and to try and change the subject she turned the tables, ‘why do you call him old all the time?’
He shrugged, ‘because he is.’
‘He’s not; he’s no more than forty or so.’
‘As I said, old.’
She couldn’t help but smile, ‘you’re awful.’
‘Awful and silly and charming, what a combination.’
She laughed thinking she had successfully diverted him, but she had to think again when he asked, ‘so? Are you going to evade my question all day?’
She stiffened somewhat at his demanding tone and said somewhat heatedly, ‘I could say what I talk about with someone else is my business.’
He looked at her for a second before turning back to the road ‘and will you?’
‘What?’
‘Say it’s your own business?’
She bristled and her annoyance caused her to blurt out, ‘all right, we talked about you, but you knew that didn’t you? You just want to know what we was said.’
He answered simply and bluntly, ‘yes.’
‘He said you were not to be trusted, much as you said about him last night. I feel as thought I’m at a tennis match, but instead of tennis balls you’re hitting insults at each other. And they say women are catty.’
‘Catty?’ Does that mean spiteful?’
She shrugged, ‘similar.’
He laughed, ‘sorry, you’re right, it’s none of my business what you talked about over tea with good old Deanie.’
As annoyed as she was with him for questioning her on her private conversations she had to smile at that. Before she could stop herself she said, ‘he said you were dark.’
‘Dark?’
‘Yes.’
‘Well he’s just jealous because his hair is more grey than any other colour now.’
‘I don’t think he meant the colour of your hair.’
He turned to look directly at her and said quietly, ‘I know.’
She was discomfited now, ‘you’ll be crashing the car if you don’t look where you’re going then I’ll have to get a bus into Gulfport while you wait for a tow truck.’
He laughed and turned his eyes to the road ahead. ‘I think I like people thinking of me as dark, it adds a kinda mystery.’
She looked at him and although he was smiling there was a hint of seriousness in his expression. He said, ‘and what did you say when old Deanie had finished running me into the ground?’
‘I agreed with him.’
His head whipped round to look at her but she nonchalantly opened her bag and began to rummage in it.
He turned his eyes back to the road and she heard him make a “huh” sound. She looked at him and smiled cheekily, ‘serves you right for asking personal questions, Mr. Nosey.’
His lips twitched, ‘that’s Hennessey.’
She laughed, ‘all right, I told him not to worry and that you’d been nothing but a gentleman to me and also I couldn’t help but to trust you.’ He looked at her and frowned perplexed, she went on, ‘since you saved my life.’
‘That sure is a pretty good reason to trust someone.’
‘I thought so.’
He laughed, ‘I suppose you told him that I’d said the same things about him.’
‘No, I didn’t.’
‘Why?’
‘Why would I, why would I fuel your dislike of each other?’
He shrugged again, ‘most women would love the idea of two men fighting over her.’
Her head whipped round to stare at him her face pink and her eyes wide; ‘don’t be si… that’s crazy, no one is fighting over me, what a thing to say.’
‘Why?’
‘It just is, men fighting over me, it’s…it’s ridiculous.’
‘It seems ridiculous to you because you’re a nice, modest woman, but it isn’t ridiculous to me…or to old Maxwell either.’
‘I may be nice and I may be modest if you say so, but I’m not stupid, I can’t see two men drawing swords or pistols and fighting to the death over me, you’re just teasing me now.’
He turned to her again and his eyes held that same look she had seen the evening before when he had said that he was jealous of Dean. She felt her breath catch in her throat as it had done that time as she waited for him to speak. Then he looked away and the moment was gone. He said wryly, ‘I’m not sure I’d be too good with a sword, if I had the choice I think I’d be more at home with the pistol…just.’
She sighed and said bluntly, ‘look, he doesn’t like you and you don’t like him, but I like both of you, so it makes me uncomfortable talking about one of you with the other. I hate talking about people behind their backs full stop.’
He was silent for a while then said, ‘you’re right, I’m sorry, from now on I’ll say only good things about old Deanie.’
She looked sceptical but said, ‘thank you.’
‘So suffice it to say I shan’t be saying anything about him at all.’ She gave him an impati
ent look and he laughed and eventually so did she. The he asked, ‘full stop?’
‘Oh that’s what we put at the end of a sentence while writing, but in this instance it means end of conversation, I’ve said what I think and that’s that. You would say period.’
‘Oh I see, full stop, I like that.’
She smiled and they were silent for a while. Hennessey was thinking, God, that prick Maxwell, what if she had listened to him and decided not to accompany him today, or any other time; he would have to revert to the original plan which would make life much more difficult. What if Maxwell got his old friend the sheriff to speak to her about him? Or what if said Sheriff told Hennessey that he was no longer welcome in town, to hit the road. He and Maxwell had probably known each other all their lives and if one asked the other for a favour it would more than likely be granted.
Maxwell, he had known he would be trouble, well; he could always deal with him and the inquisitive sheriff too.
He had never killed a law enforcement officer, not because of any moral objection but because it would cause too much hassle. Cops weren’t in the habit of letting it go easily when one of their own had been terminated, even a hick town idiot sheriff like Taylor.
He had to admit he had been worried when he had seen Maxwell and her standing so close together in the shop, and for a moment he had thought that Maxwell was going to kiss her and that would never have done. He had a feeling, the same feeling that told him that she was a virgin, that she had not kissed many men, if any, and if that was so he did not want old Maxwell being her first, in kissing or anything else. No, he wanted to be the one to introduce her to those delights…and he would.
Well, he would see what happened today and take it from there. After all she was here with him now wasn’t she, despite what Maxwell had said she had still met him, so either she had not given what he had said much thought or had decided to risk it. And a positive thing had come out of their conversation about Maxwell, she had answered his questions, she had been annoyed with his nosiness as she had called it, even angry, but she had acquiesced just the same, which boded well for him in his search for answers to Desi’s whereabouts.
Adela was thinking about their conversation too, she didn’t know why she had told him what Dean had said, and certainly not that Dean had said he was dark, why had she? But he just seemed to have a way of asking things, he seemed to be able to manipulate a conversation to suit his own ends. And he looked at her in that way he had and she found herself blurting things out without really meaning to. He would make a good policeman; he could be both intimidating and encouraging at the same time.
They talked about this and that until they reached Gulfport where he managed to park quite near the beach. As before he made it around to her door and had opened it before she could. She said, ‘how do you do that?’
‘Do what?’
‘Get to my side of the car so quickly.’
‘I have my superman costume on under my clothes.’
‘I don’t see a phone booth around.’
‘Don’t need one now, not since the introduction of the cell phone.’
She laughed out loud and he grinned at her amusement. It was going well, and he would make sure it stayed that way, he would show her a day out she wouldn’t forget in a hurry, a day of pleasure and fun. He would slap on the charm something fierce and woo her into being indiscreet, by the end of the day she would be most of the way to trusting him then confiding in him, by the end of the week she would be putty in his hands.
He placed his hand on her back and escorted her across the street saying, ‘as you can see there a lot of casinos here, but I take it you wouldn’t be interested in spending your hard earned money in any of those places.’
She didn’t inform him that her money was hardly hard earned, ‘you would take it right, I’m not a gambler.’ Again she dismissed the thought that the lottery was gambling too.
He said, ‘we’ll go straight to the beach while it’s still quiet enough to find a nice shady spot. I see you’ve come prepared.’ He nodded down at her white beach bag with all the colours of the rainbow inside a big orange circle on the front and multicoloured dots on the back.
‘Oh yes,’ she chuckled, ‘all I need for a day out is in here.’
‘Such as?’
‘Oh, water, sunscreen, towel, binoculars, camera, a little first aid kit, insect repellent etc.’
‘I’m impressed; I like a woman who is prepared for any eventuality.’
‘Well I’m not always prepared, as you discovered for yourself.’
‘Oh?’
‘I wasn’t prepared for the panther was I?’
‘Ah, but sometimes it’s the unpredictability that gives us the most pleasure and excitement, as you discovered for yourself.’ She threw him a startled look and he clarified, 'the panther?'
She let out her breath and laughed but it was an uneasy sound as though she knew he was referring to more than the panther. Which he was.
He smiled that half wicked, half innocent smile and escorted her down to the beach.
As yet there were not too many people around and they walked across the warm sand, which Adela could feel seeping through her toes through her sandals. They walked for a half mile or so then Hennessey stopped, ‘we can sit here and watch the surfers and water skiers, it’s a bit more isolated than the rest of the beach.’
Adela opened her bag and took out her towel which she laid on the sand before sitting down on it. She made room for him and he thanked her and sat down also. He said, ‘did you bring a bathing suit?’
She didn’t look at him as she answered, ‘er, no, I forgot.’
He didn’t believe her that was obvious but said, ‘I’m relieved, ‘
Her head snapped up, ‘relieved?’
‘Yes, you have a lovely figure, not to mention great legs, I wouldn’t want all these men ogling you, I might have to get violent with them and that would be no way to start this lovely day.’
As always she looked for traces of mockery in his eyes, she obviously wasn’t sure it was there or not because she narrowed her own eyes then said, ‘you certainly know how to make a woman feel good, Mr. Hennessey, you’ll make some lady a great husband one day.’
‘Thanks, but at the moment there’s only one woman I want to make feel good, by telling her a few truths that have been a long time coming.’
She held his gaze as long as she could until the blush that suffused her face made her avert her gaze. She said quietly, 'but still.’
‘But still what?’
‘Nothing.’ She was in fact thinking, he’s been looking at my legs; a man has been looking at my legs. How bizarre.
He grinned, ‘just one thing though.’
She turned to look at him, ‘what?’
‘If you call me Mr. Hennessey again I’ll have no choice but to throw you in the ocean… fully dressed.’
She looked askance at him then teased, ‘you mean you’ll be fully dressed?’
He rolled his eyes, ‘don’t push it or I’ll do what I threatened anyway, just for your cheek.’
She laughed heartily and so did he.
Adela pointed her finger across the water, ‘is that Ship Island over there?’
‘Yes it is, how did you…ah, your maps.’
She grinned, ‘yes.’
‘Yes, that’s Ship Island, there is also Cat Island which is known for the Stingrays which hang around the shallow water.’ She shivered and he laughed, ‘there’s also Horn Island which used to be part of Ship, but after Hurricane Camille hit in 1969 it cut Ship in half and they named one half Horn.’
‘Gosh, that’s interesting; I would like to visit those Islands.’
‘Seriously?’
‘Yes, of course.’
‘Well good, because we’re going to Ship Island in about thirty minutes.’
She looked at him stunned, ‘we are?’
He grinned at her amazement, ‘yeah, you can swim can’t you?’
<
br /> Her eyes widened then she gave him an irritated look, ‘very funny. But are we really going over to Ship Island in half an hour?’
‘Yes. I’ve booked us a passage on the ferry at 12.00clock. We can walk and admire the scenery. I’m glad you have the necessary things with you, sunglasses and sunscreen and that huge hat of yours, you’re going to need them today, it gets very hot indeed on the Island, 86 degrees in the shade sometimes. Anyway, we can stay all day or just an hour or so. You can even camp over there you know?
‘Yes, I read that.’
‘Have you ever camped out?’
She turned away and her voice a whisper said, ‘yes, once.’
‘By your tone I assume it wasn’t a pleasant experience.’
‘Oh the camping was okay, it rained a lot though. But I quite enjoyed being in the tent at night with the rain slating against the canvas, and the thunder and lightening overhead, it was very exciting.’
‘So what happened?’
She didn’t answer but looked down and away. He reached over and taking her chin between his fingers turned her face round to his. He said softly ‘tell me.’
She stared into those blue, blue eyes and as before could not resist him, ‘it was a school camping trip, my school and several others. It was there that they and I discovered I was good at swimming and climbing and running and all sorts of other outdoor things. My school was winning all the tasks, climbing trees, swimming across the lake, racing, I won every one of my events and my school mates were thrilled and showed it. For the first time I was one of them, one of the gang. We had such fun in the daytime and at night in the tent, we ate crisps and chocolate bars and told each other ghost stories and they listened avidly to mine. They wanted more; they even invited some of the other girls from the nearby tents to join us.’
She broke off and looked across the ocean at Ship Island smiling at the memory of those times when for the first time she was as one with her schoolmates.
Then the smile slowly slipped from her face. Hennessey took her hand in both of his and said very gently, ‘what happened.’
We were to be there for seven days but on the evening of the forth day,’ she broke off and looked down at the sand the humiliation and pain she still felt was almost palpable. Hennessey squeezed her hand encouragingly.
