Summer Fling (13 page)

After a while, he lifted up, groaning as he
slid out of her. He disposed of the condom then lay on his back and tucked her
under his arm.

“Wow.” She curled up and stroked his chest.

“Mm.” He looked tired, sated, and happy. “Honey,
you are so hot, you’re semi-nuclear. You practically set my hair on fire.”

She kissed his cheek. “For a guy who hasn’t
had sex in a couple of years, you were amazing too. You lasted far longer than
I thought you would.”

“I clenched my teeth so hard my jaw aches.”

They both laughed. He stroked her back, and
she nuzzled his neck.

He glanced out at the stars, and she pushed
herself up onto an elbow. “If you want to go outside, I don’t mind. I know you
feel uncomfortable in here.”

“Actually, I don’t, apart from the fact
that there’s a stone under my back. Good thing I have a hide like an elephant.”
He fidgeted, yawned, and cuddled up to her again. “You banish my fears, Chloe
Jackson. Like sunlight banishes mist.”

She remained quiet for a minute. Then she
said, “That was a nice thing to say.”

But he didn’t reply. He was already asleep.

Chloe slept soundly for several hours and
then roused as people started to filter into the tents, the party finally
drawing to a close. Garth slept on, however. She curled up beside him in the
moonlight, watching him. Perhaps this was the first real sleep he’d had since
he came back to New Zealand.

Stella had called him a Shakespearean hero.
Little had her friend known how close to the mark she’d been. He truly was a
tortured soul, tormented by the memories of his traumatic ordeal as a hostage,
and by what had happened to his wife. She remembered the cigarette burns she’d
felt beneath her fingertips. What other terrible things had his captors done to
him? She could only imagine how they’d made such a strong, independent man
feel.

She lay there listening to the sound of the
waves and the kiwi birds crying in the bush, Garth’s chest rising and falling
beneath her hand. He stirred, shifting on the mattress, and she lifted the thin
blanket and drew it over them. Outside, the moon glittered on the sea, the sun
not yet lightening the horizon. She had him to herself for a few more hours.

He said something in his sleep, and she
stroked his hair, waiting until he fell quiet before closing her eyes.

The next time she roused, seagulls dipped
and swerved in the light sky. Conscious of a cold back, she looked over her
shoulder to see Garth had gone. She sat up, alarmed. Had he freaked out in the
night, unable to stay any longer under canvas?

She pulled on her dress and crawled to the
entrance, spotting him immediately in the sea. He stood atop a surfboard, riding
a wave to the shore, and leaped off the board as it broke onto the sand.
Immediately he picked it up and headed back into the water, diving headfirst
into the rolling white.

He was like a caged bird that, when
released, flew as high as it could, eager to feel the currents under its wings
even if it meant getting burned by the sun’s rays. His impatience to get
outside, to let the sun warm his face, had a desperate feel to it, as if he was
afraid that at any moment he might be whisked away again, removed forever from
the beauty of the world. Would he ever be able to live a normal life?

He swam past the breakers, waited for a
wave, and popped up on the board in time for it to lift him toward the sand.
His face had lost the haunted look it sometimes held, and even from the shore
his exhilaration was evident. Like a junkie who had to take more and more drugs
to get that high, he had to push himself to do things that elicited a reaction
in order to feel alive.

For the first time Chloe understood her
mother a little better. She’d thought she understood depression—after all,
she’d been very down herself after splitting up with Ethan. But maybe that was
vastly underestimating it. A doctor had once told her that being bipolar meant
more than feeling blue one day and excited the next. It went so much deeper
than that, and maybe this was what he’d meant. Perhaps her mother felt like
Garth did all the time, except it hadn’t been a physical event that had set off
the feelings. Her depression was inherent in her, something deep in her soul
that made her desperate to grasp every single moment she could out of life. And
sometimes it still wasn’t enough, and the blackness and fear would sweep over
her, wiping away the elation she’d managed to cling to the previous day.

Maybe this was her role in life, Chloe
thought, still sleepy as she admired Garth’s strong body atop the board. Doomed
to spend her days around people who couldn’t cope with the daily treadmill.

She could look at it another way, though. Perhaps
her mother’s illness had prepared her for how to deal with Garth. Maybe her
role involved supporting the two of them as they struggled with the reality of
life. She was their anchor, grounding them and giving them some balance in
their wildly rocking ship.

She pondered on that thought for a while,
continuing to watch him surfing, her fingers trailing idly in the sand.

After another ten minutes or so, he must
have decided enough was enough and walked back up the shore. He left the board
on the sand, dropped to his haunches before her, and smiled, flicking his
fingers to spray her with water. “Hey.”

She wiped her face and stuck her tongue
out. “Hey. Do you ever sit still?”

He grinned. “Nope.”

She smiled back. He was so gorgeous. His
skin glowed with a healthy tan, and his body was muscular and lean, every
girl’s pin up dream. She couldn’t believe she’d had sex with him the night
before.

He reached out a hand then and brushed the
back of his fingers along her cheekbone, and she caught her breath at the
tender gesture. “Did you sleep okay?” he asked.

“A bit restless, but not bad. You?”

His eyes filled with an emotion she
couldn’t place. “I slept well. Which is kind of a miracle.” His lips curved.
“Must have been all the exercise.”

“Yes, it must have.”

He hesitated as if he were about to ask her
something, and she held her breath. At that moment, he looked up and raised an
arm to wave to someone on the deck. “Breakfast’s up,” he said, glancing back at
her. Was that regret in his eyes? But he stood and beckoned to her, so she got
to her feet.

He took her hand and led the way up to the house.
The zippers on the tents were mostly closed, but Alex and Stella were laying
the table on the deck with toast and preserves and cereals. Alex looked very
pleased with himself and Stella was all glowy, so clearly they’d spent the
night together. Thank goodness, thought Chloe—it hadn’t entered her head that
Stella might change her mind and come crawling into her tent in the middle of
the night.

“Morning,” Alex said as she climbed the
steps to the deck.

“Hi.” It was difficult to be nonchalant
when they all knew what each other had been up to the night before. But after a
couple of embarrassed giggles from the girls and wry grins from the guys, they
laughed and helped themselves to toast and coffee. The girls sat on the swing
seat, and the two guys took the plastic chairs and stretched out their legs.

They sat and chatted as the sun rose higher
in the sky, Alex occasionally going inside to refill the coffee pot as more
people roused and joined them, including Mat and Abby. What a wonderful way to
spend a Sunday morning, she thought. Relaxing in the bright sunshine with
friends.

At around ten, though, Garth said, “I think
I’ll get going. The friend looking after my dog has to be somewhere by midday.”

“Okay.” Chloe glanced at Stella. “Are you
ready to go?”

“Actually, do you mind staying a bit
longer? I said I’d help Alex clear up later.”

“No, of course not.” Should she ask Garth
for a lift back to Paihia? She glanced at him, chewing her lip. Would he offer
to take her home? But he stood looking at his car keys, and her heart sank. He
wanted to be off.

He looked up then, meeting her gaze, and
she smiled, determined not to act like a jilted lover. He smiled back, and they
stood there like that for a moment, conscious of the others watching them, the
air full of unsaid words that fluttered between them like butterflies. They’d
both taken the opportunity for some consolation and comfort the night before.
She hadn’t wanted anything more from him—she’d meant it to be a one-off.

So why did she feel so disappointed?

Eventually, he just said, “See you around,
Chloe.”

She replied, “Yeah, see ya.”

He walked down the steps and headed off
across the sand. Sadness settled over her. Unable to watch him leave, she
turned instead to gaze with melancholy at the waves crashing upon the shore.

Garth walked across the beach, clutching
the keys in his hand until they cut into his skin. He should have offered to
take her home, but she would have said no.

Wouldn’t she? He slowed his pace. She may
turn him down. But life was too short for ifs and buts. He took risks for a
living, and he’d trained himself to live a day at a time since his
incarceration. Better to regret doing something than to regret not doing it.

He stopped walking and stood for a moment,
hands on hips, looking down at the sand. Then he turned around to stare at her.
She stood on the deck, gazing at the sea, an expression of such sadness on her
face that his heart immediately went out to her. Without another thought, he
walked back along the sand, trying to ignore Stella’s delighted expression and
Mat’s triumphant grin.

As he neared the deck, Chloe caught sight
of him out of the corner of her eye and turned. Surprise registered in her
eyes, and then hope, and his heart beat faster.

He slowed, paused at the base of the steps,
and studied his keys for a moment before he looked up at her. He cleared his
throat. “It just occurred to me, I’ll be going through Paihia. If you want to
leave earlier than Stella, do you want a lift back?”

Like the sun coming out, she smiled, and it
lit up her face. “That would be lovely.” She turned to Stella. “Is it okay with
you?”

“Of course. I’ll sort the tent out. You get
going.”

“Okay. See you back home later.”

The two girls hugged, and Chloe ran lightly
down the steps. She kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome.”

Was he doing the right thing? He supposed
he should have been nervous about extending their one-night stand. But as they
got in the car and he drove away, the main emotion spiraling inside him was
excitement.

***

The couple of hours it took to travel back
to Paihia were possibly the nicest Chloe had ever spent. Garth was relaxed and
funny, flirting openly with her, so light of spirit she forgot for a while what
terrible things he’d undergone and what a shadow they’d cast over him. Most of
the time he held her hand, squeezing occasionally as the mood took him, every
touch sending little shivers shooting up her spine. But the look in his eyes warmed
her even more than his touch.

As they took the turnoff for Paihia,
though, she realized it wouldn’t be long until they reached her house, and her
jovial mood faded.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“You’re reading my mood now?” she teased,
surprised he’d noticed.

“You’re easy to read. You wear your heart
on your sleeve.”

Was that so? Could he read everything going
through her head, then? She looked out of the window to hide her disappointment
that the trip was coming to an end. It was important to her that she didn’t
pressure him. Whether it was to do with the way her mother had whined to her
boyfriends about their next date, or the fact that he treasured his freedom,
she wasn’t sure. But she didn’t want to make him feel obliged to ask to see her
again.

“Nearly there,” he said.

“Yep.”

He cleared his throat. “What are you doing
this afternoon? Are you going to Waitangi for the celebrations?”

Her heart leaped, but she kept a firm hold
on it, not sure where this was leading. Maybe he was just making polite
conversation. “No, not this year. You?”

“Me and crowds?”

She laughed. “Oh yeah. Forgot about that.”
She waited, but he didn’t add anything more. When she glanced across at him, he
was frowning, concentrating on the road, so she turned her gaze back out the
window at the flash of the river through the trees.

They remained quiet until they reached the
turnoff for Waitangi, and Garth steered the car around the roundabout toward Paihia
town center. As they drove along the road, the bay glistening on their left, he
indicated and pulled into one of the parking spaces by the beach. He kept the
engine running, but turned toward her.

“What’s up?” she asked, startled. Was he
going to ask her to get out of the car?

He unclipped his seatbelt and lifted his
sunglasses onto the top of his head.