Nine Gates of Hell (13/?)
Part 13
“We have to head back today”
“Yeah” I agreed, we needed to be at work on Monday and nobody wanted to drive back on Sunday so we’d always planned to head back home sometime on Saturday afternoon.
“So what would you like to do with our final day in paradise Miss Emily?” His fingers twisted languidly in my hair while he propped himself up with his other arm. His tone left no question about what his plans for the day were.
“Is that all you ever think about?” I asked slapping him, dipping my head in amusement, my eyes fell upon our legs tangled together, feet teasing each other.
“Well, what did you want to do?”
“I thought that since we’re at the beach maybe we should go swimming or something”
“I guess we could do that” he agreed with a smile trailing the hand that had been twisted in my hair down over my bare shoulders to my hip before pulling me flush against him “But I think that since we’re on holidays we really should sleep in first”.
It’s not that I have any particular objection to sleeping in, especially not while on holiday or naked in bed with an extremely attractive man but we really didn’t have time for it. Reluctantly I pulled away from David and slipped on his t-shirt from the day before not bothering with panties. There wasn’t much food left in the kitchen but I managed to scavenge up some plain yoghurt, fruit and bread. I chucked the bread in the toaster for David and mixed some fruit into the yoghurt for me and sliced up an orange for David. By the time his toast was smothered with butter and strawberry jam David had managed to drag himself out of bed and slip on a pair of boxers.
“How come you left me? I had plans” there was no accusation in his voice merely disappointment accompanied by sad brown eyes reminiscent of both Zooey and our childhood dog Jack both of whom could usually bend things to suit them using their sad eyes.
“I made you breakfast” sometimes it was easier to ignore him. I spooned the last of my yoghurt and fruit into my mouth and watched as David crossed to the kitchen and planted a soft kiss on my lips.
“Thanks” he muttered before grabbing a slice of toast from the plate.
“Sure, I’m gonna grab a shower while you eat” I gestured towards the bathroom and my then my tousled appearance.
“Aaw, I had plans for that too” the sad eyes were back, but this time I just laughed, if he’d had his way we would’ve had a very busy morning.
The spray of the water was hot and relaxing, soothing my sore muscles from repeated physical exertions with David the previous afternoon and evening. It was everything I needed at that moment, including solitude. Not that I am opposed to sharing my shower with a man but I needed time alone to think about everything that had happened in the last few days.
My breakup with James. David calling out my name when he came in his wife. Us falling asleep on the beach. David’s breakup with his wife. David and I sleeping together. Zooey’s repeated reminders of caution. I knew I wanted a relationship with David, that there was no other man who made me feel the way he did, no one I cared about more outside of my own family. But the nagging voice in the back of my head that was starting to sound like Zooey kept asking how it could happen. Did we cool things off until his divorce was finalised? Could we? Certainly we would need to be careful to keep our relationship from the press, we wouldn’t be able to act any differently than in the past. But at what point somewhere in the future would it be okay to start telling people what was going on? Would we ever be able to marry without being labelled a scandal.
No sooner had I thought it than I realised I was getting ahead of myself. All we really needed to worry about was what to do then. As much as I hated to admit it our only option was probably to continue as we had been the last few days but keep our relationship a secret. I hated the idea of skulking around like that but I didn’t see any other options, we’d gone too far to be able to pull back even for a few months. I just hoped that unlike in the movies we wouldn’t get found out. But the movies had one thing right. Lies are difficult to control.
I sighed and slipped from the hot stream of water surprised to see David perched on the edge of the sink watching me.
“You look good wet” he observed grinning stupidly “Maybe going swimming isn’t such a bad idea” I wrapped a towel around myself drying quickly, feeling David’s eyes follow each movement before slipping back to my bedroom leaving David in the steamy bathroom.
Just as I was pulling a sundress over the shiny blue bikini Zooey had begged me to buy at the start of summer my phone vibrated on the nightstand.
Zooey. I groaned, as much as I loved my baby sister I wanted to pretend just a little longer that the rest of the world didn’t exist.
“Hey” she greeted “You’re coming back today right?”
“Yes” I agreed trying to use my free hand to slip on a pair of sandals. I could hear in her voice that something wasn’t quite right “Zo?” I pleaded for her to get to the point.
“Dad collapsed, they took him to hospital. They’re not sure what’s wrong. I think he’s going to be okay though, you don’t need to hurry back or anything” I groaned, sometimes I wondered about my little sister’s sanity.
“David’s in the shower. We’ll leave when he’s finished. I’ll be there as soon as I can” I ignored her comment about not needing to rush back. My father was in the hospital, if Zooey was wrong and something did happen I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if I’d been off swimming at the beach.
“Thanks Em. Mum’s freaking out and you know I’m no good at stuff like that”
“Yeah I know” Zooey was not known for her tactful handling of raw human emotions despite her sensitivity and creativity she could be somewhat awkward.
David appeared in the doorway, a towel around his waist, hair wet and sticking out at odd angles “Change of plans” I told him dryly. He raised his eyebrows urging me to continue “We gotta head back now, Zooey just rang, my dad was taken to the hospital, she doesn’t think it’s serious” he nodded understandingly and that was the end of me, suddenly I was crying, big wet tears streaming down my cheeks, David’s arms around me trying to soothe my pain.
Neither of us spoke, there was nothing either of us could say to change what had happened. The silence was heavy as he rubbed gentle circles down my back and up over my shoulders.
“You okay?” It was David who finally broke the silence pressing his lips to my forehead, his hands squeezing mine. I nodded, not trusting myself to speak, he seemed to understand “Just give me a few minutes to finish packing and we’ll get going”
He made to leave the room but my hand reached out of its own volition to grab him. He nodded as I followed him back to the other bedroom taking the seat in the corner rather than the bed. The thought of sitting on the same bed that they had made love on was too much for me. True to his word, it was only a few minutes before he was finished packing and another few minutes before he’d finished my packing too.
The drive back to the city was quiet except for the music filtering through the car, at first it had been sixties and seventies feel good music that Zooey and I had listened to when we were kids, dancing around the living room. Most of the time Dad would have the camera out filming us, not because he wanted to torture us later but because he wanted to remember how beautiful we were, then and always. The memories that seemed to flow along with the music were so powerful that I had to change the station. What we ended up with seemed to be angsty teenage trash that fit perfectly with my mood. David made no comment about the change in music or the quality of my new choice, instead he reached a hand across the car and twined our fingers together squeezing gently. Rather than let go when he needed both hands on the wheel he dragged my hand over and rested it under his, I threw him a weak smile in thanks. His touch might not be able to erase all of my pains and worries but it was certainly effective at numbing them for a while.