by Diana Fraser
He nearly laughed at the simplicity of the action. In the dark he could almost imagine someone else, other than Laura, had come to him. Her actions bore no resemblance to the woman he’d come to know, come to like—a lot—over the past few weeks. But, as he moved his head closer to hers, he smelled her lemony scent—a combination of shower gel, shampoo and the remains of her perfume, and knew it was her. He let his hand fall gently on her head and drew his fingers down her damp hair, shifting it from her face.
She sighed, her breath warm against his chest, and he smiled to himself. He lay silent, looking up to the ceiling, watching the rise of the moon cast its light into the previously dark room. It lit Laura’s blonde hair, making it gleam dully like forgotten pewter. And, with each stroke of her hair, he felt something shift inside of him. He pressed his lips together tightly, unwilling to acknowledge what was happening to him. He never felt emotional. Never. That was for his sisters. That was for his over-emotional father. It wasn’t for him.
He heard her breathing change as she relaxed and fell into much-needed sleep. He heard it because he couldn’t fall asleep so easily. Her vulnerability caught at the heart of him. And he didn’t want that. And, for the first time, he wondered whether this challenge, which they’d both taken on so lightly, was such a good thing—especially for her.
7
“Surely the Bridegroom’s family doesn’t disapprove of our lovely Laura?” @TellTaleGirl #happyfamilies
“Laura.” Her name briefly penetrated her sleep before fading away. “Laura.” Her name was called again, but not in the angry way her father used. This was softly spoken and persuasive in a way which didn’t break into her dreams so much as become a part of them. Dreams of her childhood home—the place where she’d gotten her beloved puppy and had run riot through the orchards in the long twilight evenings. She could even smell the orange blossom that filled the air in spring.
“Laura.” There it was again. Except this time, she felt the soft tickle of something against her cheek. She wrinkled her nose and tried to brush it away, but it wouldn’t go. She blinked her eyes open and was immediately faced with a pair of smiling tawny eyes.
“For someone who doesn’t sleep much, you sure slept well last night.”
“Max!” She sat up groggily and found that she was still dressed in the robe. But now she had a duvet snugly tucked around her.
He picked up a tray of coffee and croissants from which a stomach-teasing aroma arose. “Here. I thought you might be hungry.”
He placed the tray on her lap and she took a bite of the still-warm croissant. “Have you eaten?” she said, spooning some orange marmalade onto the plate.
“Yes. I’ve been out.” He gestured outside. “There’s a fair bit of interest already.”
Laura frowned. “What time is it?”
“Ten.”
Her eyes widened and she pushed the tray aside and jumped out of bed, picking up her phone to check the time. “It can’t be. I never sleep more than five hours. Never. It’s unheard of. It’s—”
“Ten,” he repeated. “You slept seven hours straight.”
She shook her head. “But that’s impossible.” She screwed up her eyes at the phone then looked up at him. “It’s ten.”
“That’s what I said,” said Max, grinning as he picked up one of her croissants and took a bite. “You slept like a baby.”
She glanced at the bed. “Were you in the bed the whole time?”
“For a while but, after a few hours, I left. You were sleeping so deeply I was afraid to move in case I disturbed you. So I slept over there.” He indicated the other bed. Sure enough, the bed had rumpled duvet and a pillow with an indented head shape.
“Oh!” She pulled her robe belt tighter, suddenly shy. He looked away. “I’ll go next door to the sitting room and give you some space. Then, when you’re ready, we’ll face your adoring public together.”
She was grateful. She usually wasn’t shy physically but here, now, with this man, she most definitely was. “Thanks.” She looked inside the wardrobe. “Kelly’s thought of everything. Even has my clothes hanging in here.” It felt strange that Kelly had thought of today when she hadn’t. Seems like Kelly had a better handle on her life than she did. She scooped up some undies off the shelf and grabbed the closest jeans and top and clutched them to her as if they’d protect her from her new husband.
“Max.”
“Yes?” He turned around with a smile.
“About last night.”
“Yes,” he said slowly. “What about it?”
“We didn’t have sex.”
“I noticed.”
“You… won’t tell anyone, will you?”
He frowned. “Of course not. That’s personal between you and me.”
She smiled, relieved. “Yes. And”—she shrugged—“you know, while I’m open about practically everything in my life, I’d prefer not to answer questions about my sex life.”
“Or lack of it.”
“Precisely.” She sighed. “It’s just I don’t want to have to talk about all that stuff.”
“Of course. It’s personal.”
“Precisely.”
“That’s two ‘preciselys’ in one morning.” He grinned. “I’m on a roll. Now, how about you go shower and we get out of here. Kelly wants to see you as soon as possible.”
“Sure.”
“Plus the fact your fans have discovered which room you’re in. They’re over the back fence. Sounds like they’re agitating to see you.”
Laura pulled aside the curtain and looked out. Brilliant sunshine streamed through the window at the same time her name was called out in an excited chorus. Teenage heads bobbed up over the far fence. She waved, instantly relaxing—she was back on familiar territory.
“Laura!” said Kelly excitedly. “You won’t believe it. You know that gig we were trying to get in Russia? Well, they contacted us! And the offers of product endorsements are rolling in.”
“Oh,” said Laura walking to the sideboard and picking up an apple. She threw it in the air, caught it and took a bite.
“Is that all you can say?”
Laura mumbled and pointed to her full mouth.
“What?”
Laura swallowed. “If it keeps you happy, then that’s fine.” She threw herself into the chair. “Any news about the next challenge?”
“You have a number lined up.” Kelly’s frown deepened as she scanned through the list of them. “But—”
“But what?”
“Most of them are about getting you and Max together.”
“What’s wrong with that? After all, we are married.”
Kelly grimaced. “I don’t know. It looks like everyone’s gunning to have you guys alone. Alone and, well, kissing.”
It was Laura’s turn to frown. “Give me that!” She twisted the laptop around and scanned the list. “These aren’t the usual challenges. They’re, they’re…” For once Laura was stumped for words.
“Sexy. Everyone is intrigued by your relationship with Max. People are speculating on Twitter about what happened last night.”
Laura blushed as she read through some of the tweets. “I didn’t expect stuff like this.” She nibbled her lip. “What the hell have I done, Kelly? People are more interested in my sex life than my challenges now.” She sat down heavily and gazed into the mid distance as images of her future played out in her mind, like a film with an unexpectedly depressing ending. “I’ve really stuffed up this time.”
Kelly placed a hand on Laura’s shoulder. The silence before Kelly spoke told Laura volumes. Things had changed and they both knew it. The course of their lives, of their challenges had taken a U-turn the moment she’d married Max.
“Come on,” Kelly said. “It’s not that bad.”
Laura looked up mournfully. “Say it again, like you mean it.”
“I do. Max is a great guy.” Kelly scrolled down the page. “And anyway, see, here! It’s Telltale Girl. She doesn’t me
ntion your sex life once.”
Laura peered at the screen. “No,” she replied gloomily. “She wants to know when I’m going to be invited home to meet Max’s family and wonders why his father didn’t attend the wedding.” She looked up at Kelly. “So what? My father didn’t attend either.”
“So everything! Taletale Girl’s tweets are too influential to be dismissed easily.”
There was a knock at the door and Chelsey poked her head around. “Okay if Max and I come in? I thought it would be a good idea to have a debrief, on how the marriage is going so far.”
“Sure.”
Chelsey took a seat next to Kelly while Max smiled at Laura and stood a little distance away, leaning against the wall, as if he really didn’t want to be there. Laura could sympathize with that feeling.
Chelsey handed a list to Kelly who reciprocated. Kelly let out a low whistle. “This is looking better than we could have imagined.”
“Laura, these product endorsements which include both you and Max will mean you can put your feet up for the rest of your life,” said Kelly.
Laura grunted. “Why would I want to do that?”
Kelly let out an exasperated sigh. “It’s a figure of speech.” She waved the spreadsheets at her. “This means that you don’t have to worry about anything ever again. You can go where you like and do what you like.”
“I do that now.”
“Then why the hell did you agree to get married?”
Chelsey and Max exchanged glances. Max pushed himself leisurely from the wall and came and stood in front of Laura. “Same reason I did, I guess. It was a challenge, something new, something fun… and it’ll be good for business.”
Laura appreciated Max jumping to her defense.
“And it’s definitely going to set Max and this lodge up for the future,” said Chelsey. “He’s received offers of product endorsements, and bookings for next year from all over the world.” She looked up at Max. “It’s gold, Max. Pure gold.” She glanced at Laura. “So long as you keep it up. So long as this thing doesn’t disintegrate before it’s had a chance to gain momentum.”
“What are you saying, Chelsey?” asked Laura.
“I’m saying that you and Max need to pay attention to Telltale Girl and others saying the same thing.” Chelsey looked up from the laptop where she’d been reading through the latest from Laura’s top blogger. “Seems Telltale Girl noticed that your father refused to come to the wedding.”
“Who the hell is this Telltale Girl, anyway?” asked Max.
“If I knew that I’d have called her by her name,” said Chelsey. “Any idea, Kelly?”
Kelly shrugged. “It doesn’t matter who she is, all that’s important is to know that she’s influential. She noticed Max’s father wasn’t at the wedding and you don’t have to be Einstein to work out he’s not best pleased with the marriage. And, if she starts off a rumor that Laura isn’t welcome into your family then the bad publicity will snowball and everyone’s business will suffer.”
“And you don’t want that, do you?” asked Chelsey. “You guys have got to keep this together for the required time if you’re to win the challenge, if all these offers, endorsements, bookings, and business propositions aren’t to vanish in a puff of smoke.” She turned to Max. “You’ve got to make it work Max. That is, unless you’re no longer interested in what this can do for your business?”
The provocative question hung in the air. Laura looked into Max’s searching gaze. He was silently asking her the same question. After last night, when her inner vulnerability had been revealed to him, he knew how uncomfortable she was feeling about everything and he was giving her the opportunity to call the whole thing off.
“Max?” asked Chelsey, her manicured fingernails tapping lightly on the desk. “Your silence suggests you’re having second thoughts. Do you really want to turn your back on a future like this, after all our hard work?”
“Laura? Over to you,” said Max.
Laura swallowed as conflicting thoughts ran through her head. If she did, what then? Would all of this attention disappear? She sighed. Of course it wouldn’t. She’d opened a Pandora’s box and there was nothing either she or Max could do to close it until it had run its course. She shook her head. “No. Let’s continue. It’s too late to do anything else.”
“Okay.” He nodded to Chelsey. “Let’s get on with it.”
“Good.” Chelsey resumed her tapping on the keyboard.
Laura jumped up from her chair. “I’m okay with everything. I’ll catch you all later.” She had to get out of there. Breathe some fresh air, give herself the illusion that she still had some freedom.
* * *
Kelly and Chelsey exchanged looks.
Kelly rose. “I’ll go join her. Just make sure things stay on track. I’ll leave you to organize Max.”
Max watched Kelly go before turning to Chelsey. “What, am I some errant child who needs organizing now?”
“Kelly’s words, not mine, Max. But you do employ me to organize, so let’s get this sorted here and now.”
“Christ, Chelsey, this is turning into something far more complicated than I first thought.”
“It’s all fine. You just have to play along for a few months and, honestly, don’t tell me you don’t like Laura, because I know you do. How hard can it be to hang out with her for a few months?”
“It’s easy hanging out with Laura. She’s great. But it’s all the rest of it. The expectations, the invasion of privacy.”
“Let’s just get on with it. We’ll try to organize you some private time, we’ll schedule some down time for you both.”
He grunted. “Schedule! Organize! I used to be able to disappear into the bush with my mates for weeks at a time, whenever I felt like it.”
“That was before you decided to expand.” She wrinkled her brow. “This isn’t like you. What’s up?”
“It’s Laura. She doesn’t look happy about this now.”
“Then she should have thought about it before. She’ll have to suck it up. You know she’s tough. She’ll do it. It’s just new to her.”
“New to me, too,” he muttered.
“That’s why we need a plan. And let’s start off with Telltale Girl’s comments. They’re enough to cast doubt on the marriage, and the business. You need to persuade Telltale Girl that this challenge is being taken seriously. And that means dealing with your father’s disapproval.”
Max huffed. “That’s ridiculous! Why should my father’s disapproval stop people coming here?”
“Because everyone loves Laura and everyone hates on people who don’t love Laura.”
“I don’t hate Laura.”
“No, but you’re tainted by your father’s opinions. You need to get him on side.”
“You’ve met my father, you know what he’s like.”
“He’s totally charming.”
“Your idea of charm is wide of the mark. He’s stubborn, he’s opinionated, he’s—”
“He’s also still handsome, in that Paul Newman kind of way, and he’s charismatic—a lot like his eldest son.”
Max looked up at her. “You think I’m charismatic?”
“I know you are. Fortunately after you dumped me for a string of other people I’ve found myself immune to your charisma.”
“I didn’t dump you. I simply…” Max couldn’t find the right words.
She sighed and took pity on him. “You simply finished the relationship. I know. You were too honest to continue with something you don’t mean. But it still felt like I’d been dumped. Unceremoniously.”
“I didn’t realize we were in deep enough for ceremony.”
“No.” She shot him a dirty look. “You didn’t.” Then a slow smile spread over her face. “But you’re sure into ceremony, now.”
It was Max’s turn to frown. Both he and Laura had known what they were letting themselves in for and neither were into marriage so it had no meaning. But still… there had been something missing
at the wedding and afterwards. Nothing that anyone would have noticed. Everyone had a good time. The event was a success by every measure. But he couldn’t get the image out of his brain of Laura, standing alone at the end of the deck, looking out across the mountains, her shoes in her hands. There had been something so deeply sad about it. He didn’t know if it had been in the set of her shoulders, something tense and afraid, or in the beauty of the image, alone on her wedding day, surrounded by flowers and the majestic mountains.
And then, later, at night when Laura had appeared so innocent, so vulnerable, the image had come to him and remained. At the time he’d thought his reaction had been a figment of his imagination, but it was only later he realized it was real. Laura was holding something back. She pretended to share her life with the rest of the world. But she didn’t. There was something too important for her to share. And it was this which had caught somewhere deep inside. Plucked a string which had vibrated, stirring things he didn’t know he could feel.
“I’ll tell Dad we’re coming.”
“When?”
“This weekend.”
The chopper landed in the neighboring paddock—the closest flat land to Belendroit—and Max slid back the door.
Laura jumped out. Head bent, she walked quickly away from the chopper and looked around.
As Max slid back the door and signaled to the pilot, the helicopter noise increased and dust whirled all around. The helicopter took off and flew out across the harbor, back toward Christchurch.
“Welcome to Akaroa.”
“You’ve been spoiled, Max. First Queenstown and now this?” With a sweep of her hand she indicated the harbor, ringed by hills, picture-perfect under the morning sun.
“True enough.”
“It’s gorgeous. The light feels different here. Softer, gentler. And listen.” She stood stock still in the road and turned around.
“What?”
“There’s nothing. Total silence.” She laughed. “No one staring at us… wondering.”
“About our nights together.” Nights, he reflected, which had continued as the first night. No kisses—he sensed that neither of them dared to kiss as before for fear of real intimacy. Nights in which Laura slept well, while he lay awake watching her, thinking about his life, about his family, about his mother who he knew wouldn’t have approved of the situation he’d found himself in. She’d have approved of Laura—his mother loved nothing more than someone who was full of life and fun—but she definitely wouldn’t have approved of his ‘arranged’ marriage.