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The Tessarae Inn |
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Dreams In Amber Refrains
CHAPTER 3 Fancy Fontaine, backup head waitress, sometimes bartender, and all the time owner of Poe’s set a bottle of scotch, a couple of napkins, a shot glass and a bowl of peanuts on the coffee table in front of Blair. "Where’s your better half?” “He’s out on a date.” “Excuse me?” Blair laughed despite herself. She and Todd had come to Poe’s everyday since they arrived and were now considered to be regulars and therefore freely subjected to intrusive questions and demands for life updates. “Are you serious?” Fancy slipped next to her in the half-moon booth seat that faced a large round window which looked out over the ocean. “Couldn’t make this up if I tried. We came all this way to be alone only to run smack dab into my husband’s past dressed in a white eyelet sundress with daisies in her hair and dew on her skin.” “One of those sweet baby girl, oh so precious types, huh?” “One of the best.” Fancy crossed her slim copper colored legs and then leaned forward with her arms resting on her top knee. “You know life lies to you so I won’t pretend to know this for a fact but when I think about how that man looks at you…” She rotated her head slightly and looked her straight in the eye. “Girl, it makes me weak in the knees just thinking about it. I’ve never seen a man show so much love.” She shook her head slowly and exhaled, “All intense…hot… almost naked. If he doesn’t love you then I guess that’s possible but it’s also possible that the sun don’t set everyday.” Blair knew that Fancy was right, yet an hour later she still couldn’t shake her blue mood. She stretched her legs on the coffee table and sipped her drink. The music flowed over her and she could hear the sounds of laughter and general chatter from the crowded bar below. She watched the water and drank and told herself how stupid she was to spend one second of her life worrying about Rebecca. The past held its own counsel and there was no use pretending you could alter it in the present. “Mind if I join you?” What? She looked up slowly into a face tanned to a golden brown, framed by a two-day-old beard, accented by soft brown eyes that were hooded by hair as sun tinged and wavy as the ocean she had been watching for the last hour. He looked familiar but she couldn’t quite place him. He smiled at her with unmistakable warmth and placed a bottle of bourbon next to her scotch. His gaze shifted then and drifted slowly and deliberately along her bare exposed legs and edged up her jean cutoffs and lingered for a moment where her breasts jutted against the soft fabric of her tank top and finally came to rest once again on her eyes. “You are one fine woman.” “And you are one insufferable jerk.” He grinned and his eyes sparkled. “I just appreciate God’s mercy in providing beauty in a world so often full of pain and ugliness. Like it or not, you are one of God’s gifts.” “Practice that line much?” He slipped onto the booth bench seat and smiled. “That’s not a line. It’s a simple statement of fact. This is a line: Want to come to my place for a drink or two. I just got a new box of condoms.” Blair laughed despite herself. He poured himself a shot of bourbon. “So why are you here alone tonight? Where’s your man?” “My man is taking care of other business.” “You don’t have to lie about it.” “Why would I lie?” “Because any man who would leave you alone is a fool. And he didn’t look like a fool. Besides, if you were mine, there would be no other business.” “So you say now.” “Been saying it for almost a week now. I never thought I’d have a chance to talk to you alone. Almost fell off my barstool when Fancy told me you were up here tonight. I didn’t think he’d ever let you get more than two feet away from him. Seemed like a man who knew the value of his, probably ill-gotten, treasure.” “So Fancy told you I was up here?” “Sure did. I’m one of the good guys.” Fancy appeared as if on cue balancing a tray loaded with more bar treats: peanuts, popcorn and pretzels. “Yeah, he is.” She put the bowls on the coffee table, stuck the tray under her arm and said, “Blair, this is Cal Evans, one of my best friends, former lovers and a damn good cop. He’ll take good care of you.” Cal studied Fancy’s body for a moment. “We could change the ‘former’ part of the statement if you want.” “Begging is good but I know your game now. And no more free drinks without the loving so pay up.” He grinned at her then handed her a fifty-dollar bill. “Running a tab but I’ll expect change if I get in your pants.” Fancy harrumphed then smiled at him. She shifted her gaze to Blair. “Don’t pay him any mind, northern girl. There’s a reason I said former but he’ll be good to you.” Blair sat up straight. “Good to me? What do you mean?” “Don’t go misunderstanding here.“ Fancy chuckled softly. “I just take care of my own.” Cal made a soft whistling sound. Fancy shot him a glance until he stopped. “This place,” she said, “been known to trigger its share of heartache. And something about the beauty, heat and humidity makes it hard to heal what’s broken. So you go right on and drink your sorrows away and when you’re ready Cal will make sure you get home safe and sound.” “In style.” Fancy nodded at Cal then smiled at Blair. “Need to tend to the tunes though.” Then just as suddenly as Fancy appeared she was gone. Blair walked over to the jukebox and fed it coins as she made selection after selection. It was a tradition at Poe’s that whoever got the loft where the Jukebox was located had to provide music for the whole club. She and Todd had been entertaining the folks almost every night for a week. She could feel Cal staring at her as she made her selections but she wasn’t in the mood for flirting or for blowing someone off. She just wanted to be quiet for a while. She slid back into the booth seat, poured herself another scotch and put her feet on the coffee table. She and Cal sat next to each other, watched the ocean, listened to the music, and drank. About forty-five minutes later Cal made another group of song selections then slipped back beside her. He leaned toward her. “Ready to go yet?” “Nope, but I’m not nearly drunk. Can get home by myself anyway.” “Fancy would revoke my good guy license if I left you alone. So how about telling me what happened. You and he seemed like an advertisement for how love looks when it actually works for a change.” “Looks can be deceiving.” “If you say so.” Blair glared at him for a second then once again looked out of the window as she sipped her drink. Cal leaned close enough for her to smell the whiskey on his breath. “Look, pretty one. I love women. I hang out here most nights looking for a woman to connect with, hold for a while, make love to, talk to… I love women but I’ve never looked at any woman the way he looks at you.” Blair let her head drop then shook it gently as she pressed her lips together. “Or is it you?” She snapped her head up. “I love him. I swear sometimes I don’t know how after everything he’s done to me, but I love him. Nothing is right if we’re not together.” “Sounds like he’s your addiction of choice.” Blair frowned then stared at the shot glass in her hand. “No, he’s not.” She emptied the glass. “I can survive without him but I crave him and I can hear the hollow ticking of my heart when he’s not with me and until recently I heard that sound more nights and days than I care to remember, but still I made it through those nights and days in one piece.” Cal exhaled loudly then once again whistled softly. “I don’t know him but I would bet that whatever he’s done in the past or is doing now, it has nothing to do with not loving you. If anything, he probably did it for the longing.” “The longing? You know this from experience?” “Got that right. Damn hard experience. There is shit I could tell you.” “Like what?” Blair listened patiently, drank slowly and watched the ocean as he tried to impress her with stories of brave doings and decorated exploits in NYC but at the center of all his stories was a heartbreak that drove him to leave everything that mattered to him and take a chance on life in paradise. He lied about his cavalier attitude about women—his heart just hadn’t healed yet. Maybe one day it would but probably not anytime soon. She recognized the signs.
When she slipped behind Cal on his Harley and wrapped her arms around his waist then laid her head on his back, she felt that unmistakable vibe shoot between them like a pinball hitting the blockers. There was no use denying that Cal was one very sexy man but she wasn’t so drunk that she didn’t recognize it for what it was--just the vibe of two people who had temporarily lost their bearings. Two souls passing in the night, reaching through the mist to briefly touch to confirm that they still existed. He took the long scenic route to the bungalow and she held on tight and tried to remind herself how life could change in an instant and some things were not worth losing sleep over. He roared up in front of the bungalow, cut off the engine and then slipped easily off the bike as he helped her down. “Got you home safe and sound as promised. Hope everything’s all right.” “It will be.” “Good because I don’t want to have to come after you and if he’s fool enough to let you go or push you away, I’m afraid I’ll have to come after you. Don’t ever want to look at a woman the way he looks at you, but with you I’d have to.” She just stared at him. Not at all sure of what to say. He winked and climbed back on his bike. The bike rumbled to life. She walked onto the front porch and when she turned around he was staring at her. For a moment their eyes locked then she crossed her arms over her chest. He nodded, saluted her and drove away. She watched as the bike disappeared from sight then sank down and sat on the front steps. She could see still see the vapors from the bike’s exhaust trailing off into the distance. She watched them dissipate and reminded herself that life was full of choices and risks and you needed to keep your wits about you at all times. Chapter 4 Dreams In Amber Refrains FAN FICTION
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