Canyon Road

by Thomas, Thea

  "I don't care for this August heat," Michael reached to loosen his tie, then realized he hadn't worn one.

  Tina smiled at him languidly. "Personally, I'm rather like a lizard. I'm perfectly happy to stretch out on a rock and let the sun put me to sleep on a day like this." She stretched her long arms in a lizard-like imitation.

  "While us androids slave away in air-conditioned office buildings," Michael noted.

  "Something like that. But I'm giving the wrong impression. I work too, I'm on vacation now."

  "I see." Michael was trying to equate this woman with the girl who had accompanied Sage to Uncle Anthony's party.

  Tina gestured to a carafe on the table. "I took the liberty of ordering a nice wine. Would you like some?" Tina asked.

  "I don't usually drink during the work day."

  "I have three things to say about that. One, one should once in a while break one's own rules just to show oneself who's boss, two, a little wine is good for the digestion, and three, it's not nice to make a lady drink alone."

  "Hmmm," Michael pondered. "The last two points I'll accept, the first one I'm not too sure about."

  "Doesn't matter," Tina said, filling Michael's wine glass.

  The young, California-blonde waitress in crisp white short-shorts and a bright Hawaiian shirt with a hot-pink lei came and took their order.

  "So," Michael said when she left, running his fingers through his tousled hair, "what are these subjects you need to discuss with me?"

  "Going right for business!"

  "I thought you'd appreciate it," Michael answered.

  "Not exactly. I'd kind of like to have a bit of chit-chat until at least after the salad."

  "Really?" Michael asked, puzzled. "What could you possibly have to say to me that you can't just come right out with?"

  "Oh. Well... well, if that's the way you want it. I wanted to discuss you and me," Tina blurted.

  "You and me?"

  "Surely, Michael, you've had women interested in you before, you don't really have to act so... blank."

  Michael raised his eyebrows. You're dense, Michael, he said to himself. "I'm sorry, Tina. I really missed the whole point. I thought you must have something you felt you needed to discuss about Sage, or perhaps my uncle... or something along those lines. Because, you know, that's all we have in common. I don't know why I didn't think...."

  The waitress brought their salads. Tina was half-grinning at Michael's awkward efforts to pull himself out of the mire he was getting deeper in.

  "I should have known... once any man has seen Sage, I just don't exist."

  "It's not like that, Tina. I'm simply saying that I could only assume you felt we needed to talk about what we have in common, that is, those two people. To the best of my understanding, he and Sage are headed for matrimony. Sage is a nice woman, and my uncle cares deeply about her." Michael stopped – defensive, sweating and feeling guilty. Which he hated.

  "Wow, Michael," Tina responded cooly. She picked at her salad. "But now you do know why I wanted to see you." She put down her salad fork and leaned toward Michael, her large green eyes compelling, a waft of her sensual perfume enveloped him."I'd like to get to know you. I'd like us to be friends." She leaned back into the booth.

  "I appreciate your honesty," Michael answered too quickly. "But," he continued more slowly, "you've really, ah, shocked me."

  Tina shrugged as if nothing in the world mattered one way or the other. "Let's start over. I'll tell you a bit about me, you tell me a bit about you. I'll tell a couple of jokes that I memorized for this occasion, you'll laugh as though you're charmed.

  "And then, if you feel so inclined, when the waitress asks us if we want dessert, and I say oh no, I couldn't, and you say, no thanks, just some coffee, please, then you can turn to me and say, well, Tina, this was a pleasant enough interlude from work, but really, I find you an unlikable homely witch and I'd consider myself lucky to never encounter you again by even the remotest of accidents."

  Michael grinned. "You're a character!"

  The waitress brought the main course and they both fell to devouring it. Michael was quiet while Tina regaled him with a long and convoluted story about a man searching for the greatest swordsman in all the world. She was an entertaining story-teller and he often found himself with fork poised in mid-air for a punch line.

  He felt wonderfully relaxed... he hadn't let his tensions go like this in amusement and a couple of glasses of wine in many a month. Maybe even years, he thought. Because it seemed that the girls he dated were only interested in being told how beautiful they were. Even Millie, though she was a good friend and companion, always expected Michael to repair her broken or wounded ego or to pat her on the back or to tell her what to do.

  He doubted very much that this animate woman across the table could be told what to do.

  Before he knew it, the waitress had removed their plates and was asking them if they wanted dessert, Tina was saying that she couldn't possibly and Michael caught himself saying no thanks, just some coffee, when he glanced at Tina and they both burst out in a giggle.

  "I'm sorry," Michael apologized to the waitress, "we just had a.... deja vu, I guess you might say. And to break the curse, I believe I'll have a piece of cheese cake."

  "What the heck," Tina said, "Me too." The waitress walked away, shaking her head. "So you're not going to call me a witch?" Tina asked him.

  "Bewitching. But definitely not a witch."

  "Do you think something could happen between us?"

  "I think we can be good friends. But I won't mislead you, Tina, I'm not interested in a relationship right now. I'm too committed to my work."

  "All my charm for naught!" Tina complained.

  "I don't know how to answer that. I like you a lot, but I just don't have time for a relationship right now. I wouldn't be able to give a relationship what I think it deserves."

  "I wish you'd let me decide that... let me tell you, after a trial run, if I think you don't have enough to give."

  Michael reached across and patted Tina's hand. "Tina, you're wonderful, you really are. Witty and pretty and I like you very much. I'm really happy to have had this lunch with yo. Thank you for dragging me out of my dungeon. I'd love to do it again. But that's about all it could be."

  "I guess I ought not look a gift horse in the mouth, I guess I ought to be pleased that you don't think I'm a horrible stupid brazen wench. Here's my number, Michael. Call anytime you want to talk. Or, rather, blabber mouth that I am, any time you want to be talked to."

  "It's a deal."

  On the way back to work, an hour late, Michael asked himself why he was so adamant in turning Tina down. A guy could look long and hard to find a woman that bright and cute and charming and cheerful.

  But the "chemistry," wasn't there. He knew that feeling and he knew where it was – how he hated to admit it! – he felt it every time he saw Sage.

  Chapter 13

  Sage, covered in more pale cocoa-brown paint than she succeeded in getting on the wall, answered her phone, giving it lovely cocoa fingerprints. She saw Tina's number. "What's up?"

  "I did it."

  "Did what?" Sage wracked her brain for things Tina recently threatened to do. "Do I have to guess, or can I give up right away?" she chuckled.

  "Oh, Sage, it's not funny! I've made a complete fool of myself and did something I've never done. Not that I've never made a fool of myself...."

  "Tina!"

  "I... I asked Michael out."

  Sage plopped down on the stairway, stunned. "You asked Michael out? And you're mortified? What happened?"

  "He was so nice, so polite. Completely Mr. Manners. But he only went to lunch with me because he thought I had something to say about you and Anthony."

  "Anthony and me – as a couple?"

  "I don't know. I didn't spend a lot of time dwelling on the reasons I didn't ask him out. When he said he'd go to lunch with me I thought it was because he was interested. I'm a nit-w
it."

  "Stop, Tina. There could be so many reasons why he... I don't even know what he did. What did he do?"

  "He was an angel."

  "He's clearly a terrible person...."

  "I'm just so embarrassed to have chased him. He said he didn't have time for romance in his life right now. He said his work comes first. He said he wouldn't be able to commit to a relationship. Practically word for word what you've said – the two of you are made for each other. Except you both think your time is too precious to share. When I think of all the people in the world dying for romance and the two of you are too 'busy' for love."

  "I suppose neither he nor I have found the person we can fall in love with."

  "Whatever. All I know is, I'll never be able to face that man again."

  "Nonsense. He's not an ogre. I'm sue he's flattered. And I'm sure he likes you. Everybody likes you, Tina. He didn't fall in love with you. So what? It just makes you one more person closer to your perfect person. Can you paint?"

  "Huh?"

  "I'm painting a wall, but there's more paint on me, the floor, and now my cell phone than the wall."

  "Yeah, okay, I'll come over and help you out of your mess."

  "And I'll help you out of yours. Not that you're in a mess. I think we need to change the environment. Given that Millie has put my financial house in order and I have some mad money, I've been thinking about going away for a few days. But I can't decide where to go. Where would you like to go?"

  "Am I going with you?"

  I hope so. I don't want to go alone."

  "Oooooh, goody! You already know my obsession."

  "Steel drums."

  "Yes."

  "Reggae."

  "Yes."

  "Jamaica."

  "Yes."

  "You'll be swamped with men. This time next week you'll be saying, 'Michael who?' " Sage said.

  "Are you really serious?"

  "Completely serious. But please do come over and help me. Wear clothes you'd like to be a lovely shade of brown."

  "I'm there. We can paint and plan."

  "Besides," Sage added, "maybe after thinking about you for a while, Michael will change his mind."

  "You always find the silver lining."

  "If you look for the good, the good shows up."

  ....................................................................* *

  A week later Sage and Tina unwound from their flight, looking at the ocean, drinking sodas on the lanai of their two bedroom suite in Kingston. The enchanting tones of steel drums reverberated up to them from the street, an offering of peace and pleasure.

  "Paradise!" Tina said.

  "Paradise," Sage agreed lazily.

  "Let's go out!" Tina jumped up and started rummaging through her luggage.

  "Don't you want to relax for a while?"

  "Nope! We're only here five days, I don't want to miss a minute!"

  ""You go ahead. I think I can afford to miss a few minutes. I came for the music, and the way it's floating up from the street is heaven." Sage yawned. "I really need to take a little nap."

  "I'm don't want to go out alone," Tina whimpered.

  '"Stay in the hotel. There's lots to do. Go down to the lounge. Give me a call in a couple hours, or come and get me."

  Tina brightened. "Okie-dokie! See you later."

  Sage stretched out on the bed, thinking about her determination that Tina see she was attractive to men. "If I have to push her out of the nest with both wings!" she said as she drifted off to sleep, her dreams woven with reggae. When she was awakened by the chirp of the telephone, she was dancing in her dreams with Michael, their bodies synchronized with the lilting syncopated beat.

  She answered her phone.

  "Wake up!" Tina's shouted over the reggae band. "These men are gorgeous and fantastic dancers. "

  "What time is it?" Sage looked around for a clock, it was too dark to see her watch.

  "You've been sleeping for four hours, girl! I just haven't been able to tear myself away. But now I've got more men than I can handle. I need you."

  "I won my bet."

  "What?" Tina shouted over the din.

  "I won my bet!" Sage shouted back.

  "Oh, yeah! Absolutely! I fe-e-el to-to-lee coul, m-a-a-n," Tina giggled. "Come on!"

  "Okay. I'll be down in a bit."

  Sage changed into a red silk pantsuit and headed for the music. She and Tina danced until the sun came up, then went back up to their rooms and slept like logs until late afternoon.

  They ordered gigantic salads brought to their suite, then sat on the lanai enjoying the pristine view. Tina glowed. "Nothing like men to make a girl forget a man!" she said lustily.

  "Umm." Sage felt disoriented and exhausted after hours of even more insistent dreaming about Michael. She couldn't remember the dreams, but she saw his face in her mind's eye, and felt his presence. This trip was supposed to take her away from these haunting thoughts, but distance had no influence on where the heart would go.

  "Poor imitation of enthusiasm, Sage."

  "Sorry. My mind is...."

  "Somewhere else, I can see that. Where?"

  "I'm thinking about what I'd like to do this afternoon. I think I'll rent a car and drive around the country. How does that sound to you?"

  "Fine, as long as we're back by party-time tonight."

  "Party time. Well, I guess we could take a scenic drive for a few hours. I'm not going to party all night tonight though, I want to go sight-seeing tomorrow, so don't be surprised when I disappear early tonight, and leave at the crack of dawn tomorrow."

  Sage didn't mind at all the next day when Tina was no more able to go sight-seeing at eight a.m. after three hours sleep then she could get up and fly. Sage gathered her camera and note book, threw a dark scarf over her hair and put on large dark sunglasses, wanting to see rather than be seen.

  Then she ran elatedly downstairs, jumped into her little rented car and took off for Ocho Rios. She'd gathered fliers at the hotel lobby, and now she couldn't wait to get to the Coyaba River Garden and Museum, only about an hour away.

  Once there, she sat contentedly for an hour by the Mahoe Falls, the water tripping and dancing down the rock stairs of the falls. It cleared her head in a calming and spiritual way, after which she went through the Coyaba museum, and felt, finally, as though she'd arrived at this island paradise.

  Then she got back in her little car and drove to Port Antonio, looking forward to going through the Nonsuch Caves, which, the literature said, "were a series of 14 chambers with bizarre rock formations, speleothems and Arawak Indian drawings, with a bat colony living in the 13 meter high, gothic-shaped ceiling of the Cathedral Chamber. The caves were discovered by a lost goat in 1957."

  Sage wondered how the goat found its way back out and then how it told people about the caves.

  Simply put, the Nonsuch Caves promised to be everything Sage loved to explore in one: caves, bats and ancient rock drawings. But she was disappointed when she arrived to discover that the caves were closed to the public. She had to console herself with meandering through the botanical garden above the caves, imagining what lay beneath as she wandered through a wonderland of exotic plants and gorgeous butterflies, dragonflies and birds.

  Then she drove on around the eastern point of Jamaica, feeling that, whatever else she did while here, this day, she'd fulfilled her dreams – to be in nature, to feel the warmth of another place crawl to a lovely spot in her mind. It would remain there, always.

  As she drove up to her Americanized hotel, discordant with the natural beauty, and the natural people she'd chatted with in her travels that day, she felt resistance. Dragging her feet, she went up to her room. Tina had left a note on her bed saying she'd gone to dinner with someone named Alfred. At that moment the phone rang.

  "It's me," Tina called cheerfully. "When'd you get back?"

  "This very minute," Sage sank into a chair.

  "Well, get on over here. I'm at a place
that you'll just love. Little outdoor restaurant by the ocean, local food like you can't believe, a steel drum band on loan from heaven... they're on a break, so I thought I'd call when I could hear you."

  "Sounds great. Where are you?"

  "I'm going to have Alfred send a cab for you. The driver will know where to come."

  "Who's Alfred?" The band started up in the background, drowning out any ability to talk."I have to shower and change," Sage shouted. "How long did it take you to get there?"

  "About twenty minutes."

  "Okay. Tell the cab driver to get me in half-an-hour. I'll see you soon."

  Her mood shifted to one of anticipation. She put on a white, full-skirted dress and brushed her loose-hanging hair. Then she ran down and got in the waiting cab. The driver took her through the darkening shadows among narrow streets.

  After a while, however, she realized that they surely had been driving longer than twenty minutes. She looked at her watch. She'd give the driver another ten minutes before saying anything.

  The ten minutes passed, and still they drove on, nothing like a restaurant in sight.

  "Driver," Sage finally spoke up. He did not respond. "Driver, why aren't we there? We should be at the restaurant by now."

  "Soon miss, we'll be there soon."

  "I hope so." Sage sat back,tense, fear creeping up her esophagus.

  The car wound about narrow streets so dark it was difficult for Sage to see where the street was. Then, suddenly, they stopped in front of a small dark cottage, the driver turned off the ignition.

  "This is not a restaurant," Sage said to him.

  He got out, came around the car, opened Sage's door.

  "This is not a restaurant, and I'm not getting out."

  "Please, please do get out miss."

  "No. Take me back to the hotel."

  A small light came on in the cottage, someone's head peeked through a window. Sage's heart began to race. What was she to do now?

  "Please get out of the car, miss." The driver stood politely by the door. Sage thought about attempting to leap from the car, but where would she go?

  "I insist that you to take me either back to the hotel, or to the restaurant. Maybe you're lost," Sage went on, "maybe you don't know where the restaurant is. That's okay. Just take me back to the hotel."