After the Storm (21 page)

Kim looked doubtful.

‘I don’t usually wear white you know.’

‘I think it will look good on you.’

Kim went into the changing room and took off her bra because the dress was backless. She pulled the zip up and looked in the mirror and was surprised. She came out of the cubicle.

‘That looks fantastic on you,’ Anna said.

‘You think?’

‘It’s perfect, especially with your tan.’

‘I could put my hair up.’

Kim held her hair up and looked in the mirror, then turned to look at the revealing back of the dress.

‘Can’t wear a bra with this,’ she said.

‘It’s perfect on you, honestly, do get it.’

‘I think you’re right.’

Kim bought the dress. The shop assistant folded it in tissue paper and put it into a waxed paper bag and they came out of the shop into the brilliant sun of the street.

‘I’m gonna buy you a Margarita for finding me that awesome dress.’

They headed back towards the bars on the seafront and Kim caught sight of Vivienne coming out of an office. She looked striking in an amber-coloured dress and was carrying a box carefully in front of her. Kim called out to her and she came over to them, put the box down on the sidewalk, and embraced them both. She always smelled so wonderful Kim thought. She used a perfume, Jicky by Guerlain, which Olivier her son would buy for her in France.

‘How lovely to see you both,’ she said.

‘Come join us. The Margaritas are on me,’ Kim said.

‘I’m driving, so just a coffee for me.’

She picked up the box carefully.

‘What’s in the box?’ Kim asked.

‘It’s an old clock which I had mended; it belonged to my grandmother.’

They went into a bar and found a table and it was pleasantly shady after the heat of the street. Kim went to the bar. Anna noticed that Vivienne was wearing large amber drop earrings and these exactly matched the colour of her dress. They were quite flamboyant and on most women might have looked out of place, but on Vivienne they looked just right.

‘I want to thank you so much for the other night, for looking out for me,’ Anna said.

‘My pleasure
cherie
.’

‘It was very kind of you.’

‘Is everything all right now?’

‘Oh yes, things are great thanks. We moved into some cabins in Oak Ridge today. We’ll make it our base until we leave.’

Kim came back with the cocktails and the coffee.

‘
Merci
Kimmie. I hear you’re in Oak Ridge now.’

‘For a few days, Owen and I need to do some work on the boat.’

Kim would have said more if Anna had not been there. Vivienne was one of the few people to whom she ever confided her troubles with Owen.

‘What did you buy?’ Vivienne nodded at the waxed bag.

‘I got this dress for the Carters’ party.’

She reached into the bag, shook off the tissue paper and held the white dress up.

‘It’s a wonderful dress. You must tell me all about it afterwards,’ Vivienne said arching her eyebrows expressively.

‘Don’t worry; you’ll get all the details. I’ve wanted to see the inside of their house for a long time.’

‘I’m told it’s quite something.’

‘She’s his second wife, isn’t she? Someone said she used to be his secretary.’

‘I believe so,’ Vivienne said.

‘She’s sure got expensive tastes now,’ Kim folded the dress carefully and put it back into the bag.

Anna sipped her Margarita.

‘This is a good one. Thanks Kimberly,’ she said.

Vivienne told them she was in West End to pick up the keys for a villa rental. Her son Olivier was arriving that night with three of his friends and she’d rented a villa for them for two weeks.

‘They’re all mad keen surfers. I offered them rooms at my place but they want to be in West End.’

‘I guess it’s where the main action is,’ Kim said.

‘I got them a villa right on the beach.’

‘Is it one of Gideon’s properties?’

‘It is as it happens.’

‘He’s got all the best properties. Did he charge you the full rate? I hear he’s a tough nut when it comes to rentals.’

‘Well I wasn’t going to ask him for a mate’s rate,’ Vivienne said and gave an ironic laugh, but it sounded a bit unnatural.

Kim thought, Jeez I shouldn’t be asking Viv about money, but I guess she’s doing really well if she can afford one of Gideon’s beachfront villas for the boys.

‘They’ll be staying at mine tonight, so I should be grateful for that at least.’

‘I’d love to see Olivier while he’s on the island,’ Kim said.

While they were talking Anna had noticed a man who was standing at the far end of the bar. He was flashily handsome in a slightly gross way. He had thick black hair slicked back from his forehead and a chunky gold chain around his neck. In the slightest way he reminded Anna of Ricky, her first love. It was this man’s thick black hair and the cocky look he had about him which had triggered the memory. Ricky had always gelled back his black hair from his pale face and had the same masculine swagger about him. She had been powerless in the face of his sexual confidence when she was fifteen years old. This man was older. He had been watching them since they sat down and he made Anna feel uncomfortable. It wasn’t just the faint resemblance to Ricky; it was something else that disturbed her. He moved his eyes and saw her looking at him. She dropped her eyes quickly feeling unnerved. She waited until Vivienne had stopped speaking before saying in a low voice:

‘Don’t turn around too obviously but do you know that man, at the end of the bar? Black hair. He’s been staring at you both.’

Kim put down her glass and bent as if to adjust her bag. She took a peek over her shoulder and saw Teyo walking out of the bar. His glossy black hair was unmistakeable.

‘That’s Teyo,’ she said.

‘Who is he?’ Anna asked.

‘An island lowlife…’

‘One to be avoided,’ Vivienne said.

Anna looked from one of them to the other.

‘He made me feel uneasy.’

‘Owen says he’s a whack-job. He came onto me once when we were over at Money Joe’s. Said I looked so hot I was smokin’. I thought Owen was gonna punch him.’

‘What happened?’

‘I made us leave at once. He’s not the sort of guy you get into a fight with.’

They had finished their drinks.

‘Do you want a lift back as far as French Harbour? I can drop you in the town by the bus stop,’ Vivienne said.

The sun was setting as they climbed the hill to their cabins and Anna asked Kim if there was a Mr Vivienne.

‘There’ve been a few. Olivier’s dad, but they split up years ago and she brought Olivier up pretty much on her own. She had a relationship with a French businessman who spent time on the island. It’s been over for a while and I think she’s between men.’

‘She’s very attractive.’

‘She’s gorgeous. But you know I always feel with Vivienne that she’s fine on her own. She’s so strong and resourceful. She doesn’t need a man.’

‘And Olivier?’

‘Oh he’s the light of her life. They adore each other.’

They parted at the cabins and Kim unlocked the door to theirs. Owen was out and she hoped he had come round to her way of thinking and was working on the boat. She took her dress out and hung it up in the bedroom closet and stroked the silky fabric. She felt excited to have bought it. She went into the kitchen and put some rice to soak in a bowl, took out her knife and started to slice an onion. She heard Owen’s voice outside the cabin and he was saying something rather loudly. She pulled the front door open and saw Owen and Rob both doubled over and holding onto their sides as if they were hurting as they laughed and laughed. Anna came out of her cabin and she too watched the men unable to speak as they gasped with laughter.

‘Oh I get it,’ Kim said looking over at Anna.

‘What is it?’

‘They’re both stoned out of their heads!’

Later, Kim and Owen sat in the kitchen and ate the risotto she had made. She told Owen she had seen Teyo in West End and this seemed to sober him up at once.

‘I didn’t want that whack-job to know we were back on the island. Did you speak to him?’

‘No. We were in this bar and Anna spotted him and said he was staring at Vivienne and me.’

‘I bet it was you he was staring at. I don’t like the idea of him looking at you.’

‘Nothing happened. He just creeped us out. You know Viv must be doing well. Olivier’s arriving tomorrow and she’s rented him one of Gideon’s beachfront villas in West End. They cost a lot.’

‘Maybe he’s paying?’

‘I don’t think so. Do you wanna see my dress?’

‘Put it on for me.’

Kim took the dress into the bathroom and put it on again. It was rather seductive especially as she had to wear it without a bra. She checked in the mirror. Her nipples didn’t show through the fabric. She had a feeling that Owen would not like her nipples to show. She loved the way the fabric fell and revealed most of her back. She piled her hair on top of her head with a hair clip and sashayed into the bedroom. Owen was fast asleep on the bed.

It was early when Rob set off for his day and night of diving with Doug. Anna had offered to get up and see him off but he’d told her to go back to sleep. He picked up his rucksack and locked the cabin door behind him as she’d asked him to do.

When he arrived at the dive boat Doug was sitting in the cockpit with a lot of diving gear around him. He helped Rob onto the boat and showed him where to stow his things.

‘I’ve checked the weather and it looks bad later on so we should start soon if we want to get two dives in.’

‘Fine by me.’

He picked up a wet suit and handed it to Rob.

‘Try this one on. I think it will fit you.’

Owen hated sleeping in the cabin and had spent a disturbed night in the double bed next to Kim. That dream had come again, the white-faced killer about his filthy business. What was it about that bloodless face that was so terrifying? He woke up with a start and once his heart had settled he lay looking up at the ceiling of the cabin. The stains of mosquito blood had turned brown. Images of his father kept coming. Jim Adams hadn’t got better. He had seen the change in his father from when he was about twelve years old. Owen never knew which father would come back on leave. Would it be the kind loving dad or the scary silent dad? He could tell simply by the sound of his step on the stairs which dad it was. And so could his mom. He remembered how she used to creep around the house when his father was sleeping during the day. The slightest noise would wake him as if he was always on the alert for danger. He would burst out of the bedroom and scream at them and it was as if he couldn’t see it was his wife and his children he was screaming at. He never raised his hand against them, not once. That was his father’s code. You never hit a woman or a child. But Owen started to fear that one day he might. He remembered his mom telling him about her terrifying Valentine night ordeal.

Jim Adams was cutting her new dress, the one she was going to wear to their Valentine dinner. He had grabbed his hunting knife and started to slash at the fabric shouting it was a whore’s dress and he would never let her wear it. She ran and locked herself in the bathroom with trembling fingers and thought at least he was focusing his rage onto the dress. Thank God the kids weren’t here to witness this. They were staying over at
Cally’s.
Cally had said let the kids sleep over so the two of you can have a good night out together, to celebrate his coming home for good.
Celebrate! His mood swings were getting worse and she was frightened at how quickly he could become explosively aggressive, often at something so trivial. Her new dress tonight had been one such provocation. His reaction had been sudden and violent and crazy. Once she had been able to help him when the darkness came over him. She would make him go out with her and they would walk and walk until he had calmed down. Not any more. He had been a good man but the darkness inside was taking him over.
She knew Cally was worried about him too. The air force had been his life since he was eighteen years old and now he had left it for good or, to be more exact,
it
had left
him
. It was some time later when she heard him slamming out of the house. She knew he would get on his motorcycle and ride his rage, going too fast and taking corners at dangerous angles. Sometimes she wished he would crash his motorcycle. It would be a quick adrenaline-fuelled death and he would be out of his torment.

After a few more minutes she unlocked the bathroom door and checked he had indeed gone out. She went into their bedroom and saw the remains of her new red dress. He’d slashed it to ribbons. She took down the large case from the top of the closet and packed some of her clothes. She went into Owen’s room and packed his jeans, T-shirts, fleeces and his basketball, then moved on to Megan’s little box room which was a riot of pink. She sat on Megan’s bed with its Barbie duvet cover and matching pink pillow slips. She looked at the posters of ponies and rabbits on the wall and Megan’s collection of
My Little Ponies
ranged along the shelf. She must remember to pack Megan’s favourite ponies. She was momentarily blinded by tears. She stood and put some of the miniature pastel ponies into the case. Her children deserved a good childhood. The military had destroyed Jim and now they had spat him out. Where was the follow-up counselling; where was the aftercare to see how he was coping?

She caught the bus to the Marina where Cally lived. As soon as Cally saw her with the large suitcase she knew things had come to a head. She took her into the kitchen and shut the door. Megan was lying on her stomach watching cartoons in the living room and Owen was out with his best friend Jared. She told Cally how he had slashed her dress with his knife and that she was very frightened of him these days.

‘I’ve got to get the kids away from him. He’s dangerous now.’

‘But he’s ill,’ Cally said. ‘Please don’t give up on him.’

‘I can’t get through to him any more Cal. I have to put the kids first.’

Owen sat up in bed, filled with a vast and deep emptiness. He told Kim he was going for a swim and carrying his fins and mask he hurried down to the beach. There was no-one about and the morning had an early freshness to it. He swam out into deeper water and gradually the sound of his breathing and the sights below the surface calmed him. He was alone in the water, away from the world of people and the hideous messiness of emotions. He swam amid a shoal of yellowtail damselfish and the myriad of fish moved through the water as if they were a single body and a single mind in perfect harmony with their environment.