by Nick Albert
“As a friend, he was the sort of person that you could phone for help at three in the morning, even if you hadn’t spoken for six months, and unquestionably he would be there for you. At first I was cross with him — you know, when I heard that he had killed himself, but then I found out the truth and just felt guilty that I was so sad for my own loss.”
He raised his hand in apology.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be dumping on you.”
“That’s OK, Eric. From what you’ve said and the things I’ve seen in the media, it seems to me like he was a wonderful person. I think I would have liked him.”
“I’m sure you would, and I know he would have liked you as well, as a person, and because he had an eye for a pretty girl!” Stone smiled.
“Thanks,” Linda smiled, accepting the compliment in the spirit it was intended. “Come on, let’s eat. I’m famished!”
Stone sat at the breakfast bar, silently watching as Linda prepared their meal. The radio was tuned to a station playing non-stop oldies. He smiled as she sang along. His smile widened as she swung her slim hips in time to the music. She cooked them a simple omelette, with peppers, mushrooms, and parmesan cheese. She added a side salad of wild rocket, watercress, tomato and thinly sliced apple, dressed in a mayonnaise and peppercorn mustard sauce.
After they had washed and stacked the dishes, they took the wine and their glasses and moved to the sitting room where they shared the settee. Linda kicked off her shoes and tucked her feet under her bottom. Stone stretched out at the other end of the couch, with his ankles crossed and his arm placed casually along the backrest. Although he was maintaining a respectful distance, he could feel an air of sexual tension as electric as an approaching thunderstorm. He hoped that it wasn’t just in his imagination, because it was taking all of his self-control to maintain a gentlemanly focus. The wine wasn’t helping the situation — and neither was Linda.
She had been wearing a baggy beige jumper, but when they moved into the warmth of the sitting room, she had casually pulled it over her head, before brushing her hair straight with her fingers. The jumper was a lose fitting knitted affair, but underneath she was wearing a white spandex top, so tight that it accentuated the shape of her petite breasts, and prominent nipples. Stone gave an involuntary gasp of delight, before he swiftly placed a pillow onto his lap, to cover his growing excitement. He noticed Linda was trying to conceal a sly smile behind her wine glass. She fixed Stone with a steady gaze. Her emerald green eyes twinkling devilishly as she provocatively twirled her blonde hair with her fingers. Ever the gentleman, Stone tried his best to remain aloof to her playful flirting, but privately he feared he was close to losing all control. With a huge effort, he managed to regain enough brain function to formulate a question.
“Well, it seems that you know just about everything about me, now it’s your turn. You said you were looking for a new place for your business, what is it that you do?”
“I teach yoga and a bit of keep-fit. Mostly, it’s for women. I have a studio in Sawbridgeworth, but I was looking to open another in Colchester or nearby.” She sat forward, enthusiastically talking about her business. “I think that a different location will give me access to a wider demographic. I do OK over in Sawbridgeworth, but with any luck, I can run classes over here three or four times a week. At least that’s my plan.”
“I think it could work,” Stone nodded, happy to defuse the sexual tension a little. “I don’t see many yoga classes advertised around Colchester, and there are certainly plenty of women around who would be interested. I know there are loads of mums, young girls, Army wives and the like. It’s a good area. I think you could do well.”
“Well, first I have to find a suitable venue. That seems to be harder than I expected. Over in Sawbridgeworth, I use a church hall on one day and a school gym on the other. They’re basic rooms, but cheap — so it works out,” she said with smile.
“Here’s a thought… You could use my dojo.”
“Really? You would do that for me? We just met.”
“Well, don’t worry about that for a moment. Imagine that you had walked into my dojo today and we were talking for the first time. As a businessman, I would seriously consider having you.”
“I bet you would!” Linda said, flashing a seductive smile.
“You know what I mean,” Stone chided, rolling his eyes dramatically but still enjoying her obvious flirting.
“And you know what I mean!” she countered jokingly, adding to the electricity. “Wouldn’t you like to ‘have me’ three times a week, Mr Hero?”
“Definitely,” Stone replied with an open smile. “How would that work for you?”
“I think that I could fit you in,” Linda countered. Her voice husky, she stared directly into his eyes.
Stone looked away, his control suddenly almost broken. He coughed to cover his embarrassment and Linda smiled at the small victory. After a moment, he was able to continue in a more business-like tone of voice.
“Of course the timings would have to be right, but there are a lot of times at the dojo when we don’t currently run classes. Most mornings are free, some early afternoons and Sundays, so there’s plenty of scope. To tell the truth, I’ve been thinking about getting someone in to do ladies fitness classes for a while. It would be a good thing to attract more women to the dojo. I get a few ladies to the self-defence classes, but nowhere nearly enough. The karate classes are almost 80% male. Just now, I only have one female instructor; I think having another one around would definitely help to improve the gender balance. You should come over to the dojo, have a look, and see. What do you think?”
“Deal, but no favouritism, just because you’ve fallen in love with me!” She batted her eyelids and giggled sweetly.
“Ok, we have a deal!” Stone said with mock seriousness. They shook hands formally.
“Now — tell me some more about Linda Smart. Married?”
“No.”
“Dating?”
“Not yet,” she challenged.
Stone smiled again. His face was starting to hurt from smiling so much, but he didn’t care. It felt good to smile again.
“Tell me about your family.”
“Not much to tell, really,” Linda shook her head and pulled a sour face. “My parents died when I was young. An Uncle looked after my sister and me until we finished school. He passed away a few years ago, left us a little money. I used mine to open my studio.”
“What about your sister? Is she as pretty as you — can I meet her?” Stone joked.
“No,” Linda said sharply. There was a sudden change to her posture. Stone thought he felt the air chill slightly.
“Actually we’re identical twins — which is odd, because most twins are almost inseparable. Usually, the similarities pull twins together. For us, it’s the differences that seem to keep us apart.”
“How so?”
“Well, for example, she always wears make up, but I hate to — it always makes me feel so dishonest. I love to run, but she never does. I’m a vegetarian, but she eats meat and even supports vivisection. My politics are middle of the road and hers are…well, I’m sure you can guess.”
Stone nodded but remained silent, allowing Linda the space to share her discomfort.
“We just…don’t get along. We never really did. She’s…” Linda shrugged and twirled a finger at the side of her head, indicating a mental malaise, “she’s not right. It’s hard to describe, but we just don’t get along. Actually, that’s a massive understatement. We started to grow apart a few years ago, not long after our Uncle died, and now we can barely stand to be in the same room together.”
“That’s very sad.”
“Not really…” Linda shrugged, “you don’t have to get along with your siblings, you know. It’s not a law or anything. From my point of view, we’re just two people who don’t get along. We manage to keep our distance. She works away a lot, so it works out fine.”
“What does she do?�
�
“She’s a freelance photographer, mostly news and hassling celebrities. I understand that she’s very good at it. She’s particularly adept at getting the sort of pictures that ruin careers, and sell for silly money to the tabloids and French magazines. Do you remember those awful pictures of the Princess’ deformed baby?”
“She took those?”
“Yep! Got almost £200,000! That poor woman was stricken with grief watching her baby hopelessly struggling for life. My sister dressed as a nurse and callously invaded her privacy at the worst possible moment. Sometimes it makes me feel sick to think that we’re related.”
“I’m so sorry.”
Stone reached over and took her hand. Although he was an only child, and could never fully appreciate her pain, he felt genuine sadness for Linda. He realised that she hadn’t once referred to her twin by name, and he wondered if the rift was even deeper than she was prepared to admit. Stone filed the thought away as a subject best avoided, unless Linda brought it up again.
They sat in welcome silence until Linda finished her wine and motioned for Stone to refill her glass.
“Let’s talk about something else,” Stone said. “What’s your favourite movie?”
“Oh ‘Jaws’ of course. I cry every time the shark dies!”
“Come o-o-o-n! Give a little…” Stone chided.
“Ok then,” She closed her eyes as she thought. Suddenly she raised a finger. “‘Dances with Wolves’. It’s visually fantastic and a great story. If not the best, it’s one of my favourites. What about you — any Bruce Lee films on your list?”
“Ha! ‘Enter the Dragon’ was a classic! Actually, I love ‘The Shawshank Redemption’. Great acting, but I particularly love the twist at the end where the baddies get what’s coming to them.”
Linda smiled and pumped a fist dramatically.
“I love it when the bad guy gets what’s coming!”
“No argument here — as you will remember.”
Linda brought her hands to her chest and fluttered her eyelids dramatically.
“My hero!”
The discussion moved on to musical preferences before flowing naturally into favourite books. Soon they were embroiled in a good-natured argument about who was a better thriller writer, Lee Child or Robert Crais. As Stone watched Linda talking animatedly about how Joe Pike was a more believable character than Jack Reacher, ‘And anyway, if he was 6’5” tall and over 220 pounds, people wouldn’t keep picking fights with him’, he realised how comfortable he was in her company.
Although they had only been chatting for six hours or so, already he found that he could anticipate and empathise with her every thought. There was such congruence in their sentiments and opinions that listening to her talk felt like re-reading a favourite book, you knew the story, but you still wanted to savour every single word. At first, he had been physically attracted to her beautiful pixie face and athletically sensual figure, but now he was captivated by her intelligence and wit. He wondered if this was how married couples felt after twenty or thirty years together, contented in their familiarity, mutual respect, and love.
‘Whoa! Wait a minute!’ Stone thought to himself, ‘You’ve known this woman for less than half a day and already you’re thinking of love and marriage — get a grip man!’
At that moment, Linda gave a cat like stretch accompanied by a huge yawn. She checked her watch.
“Wow! It’s after eleven, I should be going.”
“You can’t go!” Stone blurted, almost in panic.
Linda patted his hand and smiled gently.
“Don’t worry Eric, I’ll call you tomorrow — I promise.”
Stone relaxed slightly, and then had a more serious thought.
“Actually I was thinking you shouldn’t drive. Between us, we’ve cleared almost two bottles of wine. You could stay here. I can make up the spare room.”
He was expecting her to decline demurely, but her response was a pleasant surprise.
“OK. Do you promise to be a gentleman?”
“You have my word.”
After they cleared away the wine glasses, Linda helped him to make up the spare bed. He gave her a fresh toothbrush from the bathroom along with one of his old sweatshirts to use as a nightdress. Stone stood in uncomfortable silence for a moment, before politely wishing her goodnight. She stretched up and kissed him firmly on the lips, quickly breaking away before he could respond.
“That was a lovely first date, Eric — the best ever! Goodnight.”
When he had finished using the bathroom Stone stripped off his clothes, dumped them into the wash basket and climbed into bed. It was only then, as he reflected on the day, that he realised that he hadn’t really thought about Charles Rathbone and the Wrecking Crew since the funeral. Although he had told Linda about Charles and his suicide, he didn’t feel sad or angry anymore. He wondered if she had somehow healed his heartbreak.
Alerted by the gentle creak of his bedroom door slowly opening, Eric’s eyes snapped open and he sat up. Linda stood in the open doorway, silhouetted by the light from the spare bedroom. Although his sweatshirt was old and baggy, barely reaching to the top of her slim legs, Stone thought he had never seen anyone looking sexier. Linda slowly walked to the foot of his bed and regarded him silently. After what seemed like an eternity, she finally spoke.
“Did you know that more people have sex after a funeral than they do after a wedding?”
Stone realised that he had been holding his breath.
“Actually…I did know that, I think I read it in—”
His words faded as Linda lifted the sweatshirt over her head in one smooth movement and dropped it to the floor. Stone studied her nakedness with open appreciation. Even in the half-light of the bedroom, her athletic curves were everything that he had imagined, and more. Suddenly, so much blood seemed to be rushing towards another part of his body and away from his brain that he could only manage to croak out a single word of appreciation.
“Wow!”
Linda stepped lightly to the side of the bed and slowly pulled the covers aside to reveal his nakedness. She smiled wickedly at his obvious excitement.
“Wow yourself,” she said and quickly smothered any further conversation with a passionate kiss.
Afterwards, they lay in a tender embrace chatting quietly. Stone was on his back with one hand behind his neck, the other was lightly caressing her shoulder. Linda’s head was resting on his chest. Her fingers were tracing lazy circles around the puckered edges of a scar in the centre of Eric’s muscular stomach.
“How did this happen?” she asked.
“Someone shot me,” Stone answered in a casual, matter-of-fact tone.
“Really?” Linda sat up slightly so that she could look directly into his eyes. “Who? Why?”
Stone’s heart gave a little thump of joy as he looked at her beautiful face. Although he had kept the secret for some time, he felt an urge to share some of the detail from that dreadful day.
“A friend of mine is a private detective. He was hired to help recover the teenage son of a Saudi Prince who had been kidnapped. My friend asked me to come along as backup, in case there were any fisticuffs. As it turned out there were.”
Stone pointed towards the scar, attempting to make light of what had been a very dangerous situation. Linda didn’t respond. With a shrug, he carried on in a more serious tone.
“We were at the exchange with the money when suddenly everything went egg-shaped. It was dark and there was a lot of shooting and shouting — all very confusing. In the mess that followed, I was shot — well, not shot, more like nicked by a bullet really. It felt like someone had hit me with a hammer, bloody painful, but not too bad.”
“How did you get away?”
“I managed to convince the kidnappers of the error of their ways,” Stone said cryptically, “In the end we rescued the Prince’s son and recovered the money.”
“My hero!” Linda said patting his chest lightly. Then she sa
t up a little more. Even in the soft moonlight shining through the window, Stone could see the genuine concern in her face.
“Won’t these people want some revenge or something — aren’t they going to come after you?”
Stone considered his next words very carefully. Normally he was a very cautious person when it came to relationships, but for some reason he felt that Linda Smart was someone he could trust — someone he could really trust. In fact, he decided, she was someone that he wanted to trust.
“Don’t worry, Linda,” Stone pulled her into a tighter hug. “They won’t be coming after anyone — ever.”
Linda pushed back slightly and stared directly into his eyes. She stared unblinkingly, as if she were searching for something deeper within Stone’s soul, something to help her validate the implication of his cold proclamation. Perhaps she found something, perhaps she didn’t, but after a moment, she gave a short nod and laid her head back onto his chest. She lightly stroked his scar with her hand.
“Good,” she whispered sleepily, “that’s good.”
Stone gently stroked her hair until her breathing became deep and regular in slumber, as he closed his eyes he thought that, despite the death of his closest friend, he had never been happier.
SEVEN
Stone was gradually awoken from a warm fussy slumber by Linda’s gentle kisses on his mouth and eyelids. She was wearing his sweatshirt again and sitting on the edge of the bed. The early morning sun was shining brightly through the open curtains. As Eric blinked and sat up, Linda smiled and kissed him fully on the lips — then she made a face.
“Yuck — morning breath! Come on Stone, get up and brush your teeth. I’ve made breakfast.” She hopped off the bed, pulled off the sheets, and with a giggle, ran from the room.
Breakfast was eggs, toast, and coffee. Stone was usually a ‘morning person’, rising early with a big smile and a cheerful demeanour as he went for his morning run. However, today he seemed unwilling to wake fully. He wondered if perhaps he was subconsciously hanging on to the events of the previous night, just in case they were a dream. Gradually the caffeine began to work its magic and he felt better able to assess his surroundings. They ate without speaking for several minutes, sharing the occasional furtive glance. Finally, Linda offered a shy smile and broke the silence.