by K. J. Dahlen
I’ll hire someone to send tourists around on the boats. I have the cash in my bag, and I love Cancun. It’s always been one of my favorite destinations. The Mexicans are friendly, and the food is always to die for. Not that I ever will, but everything about lying low and living by the sea is exactly what I need.
It’s Tuesday, the day I used to go to the diner. The day I first met Leah. I take a deep breath as I open the door and sit at the same table.
It’s not long before I feel that all eyes are on me. Either it’s the owners, or her friends or even Leah. I don’t look up. I’m growing my beard and want to look like one of the locals and with my knowledge of Spanish. It won’t be hard to sound like them.
She smiles as she comes over. If no one knew any better, they would think we were strangers. We were more than that, but back to where it all began.
“Hi, do you have any apple pie?”
Her smile turns to a frown as I wait for her response. I could add in some small talk. That was the reason for me coming here in the first place, but I don’t feel like it. I want to give her the envelope, the one she left behind and tell her to use it. She has no choice, especially because the shit’s about to hit the fan sooner rather than later.
The rumors have been confirmed and Dad’s planning a hit on both her mom and stepsister. I could warn her and tell her that I’ll help save them. But I don’t think she’ll want me to do that. Then again, I could be wrong.
“Yes…” She wants to say something else, but then another customer’s calling for her attention. She comes back seconds later with not only a slice of pie, but coffee too.
The place starts to get busy. A lot busier than I remember and as many times, as Leah tries to come back to my table. A customer calls, or an order’s ready for her to be served. I shouldn’t have come in now. I’m due to leave tomorrow, and I’ve had enough time to contact her, but when an old acquaintance called to tell me about the hit on her mom I had to warn her somehow, and this is the only way that I know how to do it.
I left her a little something if she wants to get in touch. Not a number or even a contact. I simply left her the money, the fake ID, and a one-way ticket to being with me.
29
Leah
I’ve had this in my purse all day. From the moment Marco left the diner, I’ve been dying to talk to Olivia and tell her exactly what happened. Both Fred and Cheryl were watching as if they were worried about trouble. He came in, ate his pie and then left the envelope on the table. The same one he gave me on the island.
I don’t know what to do about it. I recognized it the moment that I saw it, with my name and it seemed to be in the same condition. There was no note or contact number in the envelope. Just a one-way ticket to Cancun and the flight leaves tomorrow. The problem is I don’t know what the hell to do with it. I’m assuming that he’s going to be on that flight too.
“Today was kinda crazy,” Olivia yells out as we’re both getting changed in the back. At last, we can talk in peace, and I can tell her about Marco’s little gift. His ticket out of here, one that I don’t know if I should take.
“Marco earlier…”
I stand as if just saying his name makes me feel so nervous. When did that happen? Before, getting next to Marco was all about revenge, then it turned into lust, and somewhere along the line, it turned into something else. Can it be love? I hardly know the man. I found out that I was wrong all along and he had nothing to do with my family losing their money. If anything, I wonder if Mom was more involved with this than she’d ever let on.
“Yes, spit it out. I knew something happened, it was written all over your face.”
She sits down as I start to explain about him coming and the emotions that I was going through at the time. He came like he used to do. The same time and everything. This time he wasn’t clean shaven, far from it. And he was still as hot as sin. I imagined him tasting me and begging for more. Not the calm man that came in jeans and a shirt. He looked completely different and maybe that’s what appealed more. Knowing that the man that came in, wasn’t part of a mobster, but a man that knew how to make me feel good.
“He just left the envelope and the fake ID,” I say and leave out the last bit.
“Strange? Why after two weeks of silence did he come in today?”
I sit next to her, “Because he’s leaving. He left this too.”
“Holy crap! I can’t believe that he’s been here all this time.” She’s stroking the ticket and looking at me.
I know exactly what she’s thinking if I’m going to take the ticket and get out of here or if I’m going to stay. I wish I could say something more about the situation, but I couldn’t because something told me it had something to do with Mom.
“Are you going?”
I shrug, “I don’t know. Why come back after all this time to give me the money and the ID? There was no ticket to Cancun in there before. He’s put it in there now.”
She nods. “Because he wants you to go with him.”
I shake my head. “No, this is deeper than that. He knows that something’s wrong. He may be on that flight; he may not. Maybe this is his way of giving me a helping hand to leave.”
She gasps. “Has your mom called lately?”
“No.”
“Hayley?” she asks.
I repeat the answer, “No.”
She sighs, “Maybe the ticket is because you have no choice. They were calling you for money, and now they’ve stopped, that’s weird. When did they stop calling?”
I look at my phone and realize that today’s the first day that they haven’t called. “Today.” I sigh as I realize that he came in today for a reason. I drop my phone as the reality that both my stepsister and mom are dead.
Olivia grabs hold of me and says, “I’ll miss you when you’re gone. But you have no choice. You need to go.”
I nod my head because if this thing gets out of hand, then staying will mean that Olivia, Fred or Cheryl could be caught in the crossfire. I can’t open my mouth to say the fear that’s in my mind. I know I have to leave, I hold on to her tightly as I feel sad that the family I’ve never had in my life has been found and after tomorrow, they’ll be lost again. Once I leave that’s it. I’ll never be able to call or even see them again, and that makes me feel so very sad as the tears start to swell in my eyes.
30
Marco
Where the fuck is she?
If she was coming, then she should have been here by now. The flight leaves in nearly an hour and a half, and she’s still not here. I never fucking panic, but my palms are sweaty, and I think that maybe I should have gone to the fucking diner, got down on my hands and knees and begged her to come with me.
Why the fuck did I let pride get in the way? Once again. I need to stop doing this and just get on with my life… admit how I feel and stop living in darkness.
“Excuse me, sir?”
I turn around and see her smiling at me. She’s dressed all in white with a matching hat. She is a picture of sexiness all dressed in white. Her dress hugs in the right places, her breasts seem bigger as they spill at the top of her halter neck. And her legs are a tease, the dress is not too short that she could bend over, and I could see her panties, but its short enough that I get to glimpse at her long legs.
“Yes, may I help you?” I growl as if I’m an old man. I didn’t sleep, how could I? Knowing that there was a small chance she wouldn’t come. That I’ll see the headlines one day with news of her dead body being found. I couldn’t have that on my conscience, and I toyed with the idea of telling her the only way she could stay alive was to leave.
Seeing her in front of my eyes, I blink so many times wondering if this is all part of my dream. The one I had in between my nightmares.
“Well, I’m going to Cancun today, and I was wondering if you were on the same flight. I was wondering if I’m overdressed for Cancun?”
I shake my head. “You look perfect. Sexy. Eloquent, and I’m sure that
the men will be after you like crazy.”
She giggles as we start to walk to the boarding gate.
It’s as if we’ve just met, but then again maybe we’ve both changed. I know that I’m no longer the Marco Raco she met and she’s no longer the fake Dana or the angry Leah who was after revenge.
“Well, I won’t even know what they say. You see…I have a confession.”
I wait for her to tell me something about why she turned up. Anything, so I know how to play this game.
“I don’t speak a word of Spanish,” she says and then she waits for my reaction.
But I keep on walking, in a few minutes they’ll have the closing gate sign up, and we won’t be going anywhere, and we need to leave today. We don’t have a choice in the matter if both of us want to live. I guess that she does, seeing as she’s here. I feel like a little kid with a major crush. I haven’t been stood up, and she could have bought a ticket to any destination she wanted, as soon as she saw I was part of the package. Knowing that she’s happy to go away with me, makes not only my cock twitch, but my stomach does a little rumble. “I’m a good teacher.”
“Really?” she asks surprised.
I nod in agreement. We get to the gate and then hand over our tickets. It looks as if we’re the last ones to be boarding, which surprises me because the Mexicans are always late.
I walk slowly as if I’m waiting for a lover and we’re traveling together as the attendant explains what Leah needs to do about her hat. It’s too big for her to wear on board and too small for her to put on her lap.
She smiles as they form some agreement. I’m half-listening and waiting for my contact to call me. I want one last message to find out the facts of her mom and stepsister. I want to tell her. I don’t want us to go to Mexico and then she finds out later on that something happened to them.
I see the message as it flashes on my screen:
Done!
I know exactly what it means. I turn around and try to find a trashcan. I quickly turn off my cell and dump it in. I’m sure that if someone finds it, then they’ll think that they’ve won the lottery. They have no idea what it will bring if they’re ever caught with my phone. I shrug and think about technology these days. They’re so many ways either that person will sell it or reprogram it, so that it may be untraceable. That’s a risk that I’m not willing to take.
She walks up to me, while I’m feeling a bit guilty about the idea that I could have stopped it from happening and I did nothing about it. Maybe Leah will hate me for doing it, or maybe she’ll salute me for finally turning a new leaf. Who fucking knows?
She bumps into me and says, “Sorry I didn’t even introduce myself. I’m Carly Willows. And you are?”
I stand back, shocked that she’s introducing herself as the fake ID name that I gave her. I realize then that she’s not playing a game. She’s not even cheeky. She wants us to behave as if we don’t know each other. Maybe for her safety or maybe because she’s not sure if we should be together in Mexico. Either way, I decide to play along. I extend my hand to shake hers and reply, “My name’s Ted.”
I don’t say any more than that.
“Nice to meet you, Ted. I hope that we’re sitting near each other.”
“Why?” I stroke my beard wondering if I want to continue playing this little game.
She beams. “So that you can teach me a little Spanish before we land. I just don’t seem to be motivated to learn it when I try and do it alone.”
I nod and whisper to myself, “I see.”
I don’t, but we are sitting next to each other, and if anything happens then I’ll tell her to stop playing her little game so we can talk. We need to set some ground rules. But not now, because as I watch her swing her hips and hum a tune. I can see that she’s happy, just like she was when I first met her at the diner and I’m not regretting the move.
If anything, I’m looking forward to it.
31
Leah/Carly
I didn’t want us to start the trip as if we’re going to be lovers. I still have so many questions that are unanswered, and the more I want them answered, the more I think that I don’t want to know.
I’m confused, but there’s one thing that’s abundantly clear… I want to put the past behind me. But curiosity gets the better of me, and I want to ask him, but then I stop myself from doing it.
I tried calling Mom a few times, and this morning when I was headed to the airport, the line was disconnected as if they didn’t exist. As if I had the wrong number, I didn’t know anyone in the Seychelles, all I could do was assume that they managed to get the money from someone. I couldn’t contact anyone else in the family because their numbers were on my old phone. I could call the town and figure out how to get in touch with certain family members. The ones who were happy to be in touch with us when we had money and turned their backs the moment we fell on hard times. The term ‘blood is thicker than water’ only seemed to be useful when they wanted money, and they were ignorant the moment there was no money for them to take.
I shake my head as I think about the one family that wasn’t related to me and they helped me in more ways than anyone else had done in their lives and they wanted nothing from me. Well, just one thing, and that was love.
I take out my new cell and look at the photo of them. The one we took last night when I had to say goodbye to them. I could be watching a movie or even talking to Ted. Trying to figure out what he has planned for, once we get to Mexico. I’m not stupid, his ticket was an invitation for us to be together, I didn’t have to take it, but I did because I knew he’d made me feel more of a woman than anyone else had done…More than myself.
He’d shown me there was more to life than being alone. Something I’d taken for granted for far too long.
But I want to be with the new Marco, Ted. The one that’s not part of the mobster gang and the only way to do that was to act like strangers.
I trace a finger down my cell as I look at Fred’s infectious smile, the sadness in both Cheryl and Olivia’s eyes which they’d try to hide, but did a bad job of doing.
“Your parents and sister?” Ted asks as he peers to the right and looks at my cell. Trust him to think of everything.
We checked in separately, but he still managed to make sure that we sat together in Economy. A far cry from First Class or even riding on his jet. He was changing, and maybe he hated it, but I could only find out if we pretended we knew nothing about each other.
“No. Yes. It’s a bit complicated. I’m just sad to be leaving them.”
He nods his head and asks, “Why do you have to?”
I sigh. “Because I want them to be safe,” I whisper as I look to make sure the guy sitting next to me isn’t listening, but I can see that he’s fast asleep. “There’s someone after me, and I don’t want them to be caught up in the midst of it all. I love them too much.”
He agrees, “It’s best to protect the ones that you love.”
“Have you ever done that before?”
He smiles. “Yes. I’m doing it right now.”
I stop and look at him. He’s telling me that he loves me. But we don’t even know each other. No longer are there tears in my eyes. My mind flashes back to last night when I was talking about it with Olivia. She told me that I should go to Mexico.
‘Olivia, he tried to kill me. And my family,’ I reminded her.
But she looked at me with sincerity in her eyes and said, ‘So, that’s why you spend most of the day looking at his table. Waiting for him to come into the diner?’
She raised an eyebrow at that point; I knew we were unfinished business. I came to the airport to see him. To thank him for the money. I spent all night debating what to wear. Olivia helped, and she said, ‘You have to go. Life’s too short. I want you to be happy. Go after him, Leah, otherwise you’ll regret it.’
I left out the part about her life being in danger if I didn’t leave. I had a feeling that it was going to come back to haunt me and I h
ad confirmation as soon as I didn’t hear back from Mom or Hayley. They were dead or as good as dead, that’s why Marco insisted on me leaving. He wouldn’t have brought the ID and money if something hadn’t happened and that was the only thing I could think that could make made him want to insist on me having it. As well as the fact that he’s gone out of his way to change his appearance or maybe this is the real Marco coming out. The one I’m intrigued to get to know better.
“What’s your story?” I smile as I wonder if he’s going to act as if we know each other or if he realizes what I’m trying to do and the need for this to work.
“I’m leaving the past behind and starting up a new tourist boat guide business across Mexico.”
“Wow,” I say, as I’m impressed that he’s already found a plan. Mine started with getting to the airport and didn’t go any further than that.
“Yes, I used to work in business. But I’m not looking to grow it. Just keep it simple until retirement.” He winks at me.
“You don’t look as if you’re ready for retirement.”
He comes so close that our lips could almost touch if he wants them to, but he doesn’t as he teases me with his woody scent. “I still have a couple of decades, which is a lot less than you have.”
He has me there, but apart from teasing each other about our ages, our conversation changes to my Spanish lesson. The one I was hoping to have on the plane, and now I’m having it. I can’t think of anything better than going to Mexico with Marco.
That’s if he’ll have me.
I’ll just have to sit back and wait and see.
32
Marco/Ted
I hesitate as we leave our seats. Wondering how things are going to work out and then as we land, she walks ahead of me once the attendant announces that we can leave the flight.
