by Brian Cain
CHAPTER THREE
Jason awoke. The sun had beamed in through the window in the lounge and on through the open bedroom door on the opposite side of the room, glistening across Malinda’s tanned body. He sat up slowly and gently, careful not to wake her and sat there studying her perfect form in the warm morning air. He knew it was about ten thirty, as that was the time the sun entered his room through the trees in the park at that time of the year. A bit early he thought, but he had slept well and felt quite refreshed. Malinda’s perfect curves beckoned him, but he fought the urge to show his feelings so that she could rest, as she looked so peaceful. When he had first seen her he had felt his memory of her claw at his heart and as the night had progressed, what had laid dormant inside him, burst back to life. Jason knew that he loved her and now there was not much he could do but wait and see. He sat and watched in further disbelief, his head and back resting against the wall as the sun gradually rose in the sky, taking its beams of light with it and leaving the room with the powerful tang of Malinda’s perfume. Jason had experienced such a perfume before and knew it was very different, for as far as he could make out, it triggered an immense feeling of well being within him, it summoned some kind of presence. He quietly got up, closing the bedroom door behind him and showering before preparing a coffee, then enjoying it sitting on the lounge strumming his acoustic guitar.
There was a sudden sound of a key in the main door and in burst an attractive blonde woman in a dressing gown.
“Why didn’t you drop by last night?!” she immediately enquired.
“Mandy, how ya goin’? I got a bit tied up and couldn’t come,” replied Jason, leaping to his feet and heading straight for her.
“Couldn’t come! Your bedroom backs on to mine and it sounded like you came about ten times in the middle of the bloody night! Who is it? Another one of your band moles!” Mandy said in an increasingly irate manner, her eyes firing daggers into Jason’s face.
“Please leave and don’t ever come back,” said Jason.
“Where’s the rent money you owe? I knew I should never have got involved with you. You made love to me all those times and still carried on with other women, you bastard!!” Mandy screamed now at the top of her voice. Jason reached into his jeans pocket pulling out a roll of notes, and, peeling off a couple of hundred dollars, thrust it into Mandy the landlady’s hand.
“We had sex on a few occasions because we liked it. Love between us has never been mentioned. From now on the rent will be strictly cash,” Jason said calmly as he pushed her out the door and closed it in her face. As he walked back to the couch the bedroom door opened and there stood Malinda, shading her eyes from the light, her long black hair flowing down the front of her body’s curves as if she was wearing a gown.
“I thought I heard you talking to someone,” she said.
Jason looked at her and sighed, “Yes I was just paying the rent. Look’s like it just went up too.” He walked across to her and put his arms around her neck, holding her close, squeezing her body against his. She responded, putting her arms around his waist.
“The shower is the next door along by the corner. You can have one while I get you some breakfast,” he said. She leant back and looked him in the eyes.
“Is that something unusual or do you do this all the time?” she replied. Jason smiled, thinking he was doing the right thing by looking after her as he felt instinctively that’s what he should do, as he had a vision of her being waited on hand and foot by servants with exotic food.
“You’ll have to settle for bacon, eggs and fruit juice, I don’t have any caviar.”
“That’s good because I don’t like caviar,” and she slipped quietly into the bathroom leaving the door open. Jason could hear the shower going as he prepared her breakfast and was becoming conscious of the time. Nearly midday and he knew that soon he would have to leave for band practice. By the time he had her breakfast ready, Malinda emerged from the bedroom, dressed and sat at the table in the corner where Jason had laid out her food. Jason sat next to her.
“I have to go to rehearsal soon to try out some new guys. No real rush, just as long as you know,” he said.
“I want to come to. Could you drop by my hotel to pick up some things I need on the way? It’s in town on North Terrace. You tore this dress last night too, you animal.”
“Sorry. North Terrace, that’s on the way. We’re playing in the rehearsal room I made at dad’s place up the back of the property. A lot of bands use it and there’s no noise problems there.”
Malinda got excited at the fact she was actually going back to the place where she was born. “I’ll be able to see the place again! I haven’t been up there since we moved away!” Malinda finished her breakfast and, leaving the place with a lived in look, they headed for the door. Jason was wondering about so many things but didn’t want to ask as things were going so well. Something told him it was meant to be, he felt a hand on his shoulder but no one was there.
They made their way down to the car park in front of the units and Jason opened the door of the car for her and she climbed in amongst the guitar cases and power leads. When under way, they headed for Malinda’s hotel, while she started to answer some of Jason’s unanswered questions. Telling him how her parents had moved to Sydney after their house burnt down and how she had gone to university there to study law. She had never used her qualifications though as she had started modelling whilst studying and that had really taken off for her. She had married an American chemist whom she worked with developing and distributing cosmetics, but he was killed in a plane crash in the States. She had then married a lawyer from Sydney, but when the novelty had worn off, he had started beating her up. So her father had protected her from him and she was now seeking a divorce, which was due to be settled in a couple of weeks. Her father and Jason’s had always kept in touch and that’s why she knew so much about him, as she always asked. Although she had flown into Adelaide only yesterday afternoon they decided that she should pick up all her things from the hotel, book out and stay together, to work out if it was all meant to be or not. As they drove on Malinda continued, telling him how money had made her blind to what she really needed and why she had never come to him before. She had been frightened of being poor and was embarrassed by that now. She opened her bag and pulled out a picture of him which she had cut from a music magazine years earlier and it was of Jason holding a guitar. She had always kept it with her and they laughed as they noticed that he had not really aged much and his hair was still the same length and his nose still lean and short.
They stopped at Malinda’s hotel, picked up her suitcases and detoured in the Adelaide Hills to see their old school. Memories flooded back as they drove slowly along the route that they used to walk on the way home, until finally they turned into the driveway of his father’s magnificent white house.