He found her name on the class roster. “Claudia Mertens. Sorry, I don’t remember just now.”
“A couple of years back. You would patrol the marina and I was down there quite a lot. My friend kept his yacht there.”
He remembered her now. She was the ‘other woman’ in the life of a state representative who had his large sport-fisherman tied up there at the City Marina. The politician and Claudia would tryst there. “I remember the girl at the dive shop. She’d always wave and chat. Made good coffee, as I recall.”
“That was Margo. She married my brother.” She brushed her hair back with her hand. “We should get reacquainted. Let’s have a drink.” Her unblinking eyes were steady on him, and when his face didn’t light up as she expected, she cocked her head to one side and raised her eyebrows waiting for him to get with it. “Like maybe now?”
At that point, he was on top of the world. He’d passed the detective exam and just been promoted. His randy summer had ended and although it had been marvelous, he hadn’t felt the need to date much in the three months since. But that was then; this was now. Now he was feeling frisky again. Now this stylish woman was throwing herself at him. “Okay, let’s go,” he said, not at all certain if he wanted to end up where she wanted to end up.
He didn’t want an intimate setting for a drink, so he mentioned the nearby Touchdown Sports Bar. She followed him there but refused to get out of her car once she saw the place.
“I don’t frequent places such as this,” she said through her open car window. “I certainly don’t care for rowdy, noisy places. Can’t we go to some quiet lounge?”
They ended up in the lounge at the Marriott. As the booths were full, they sat at a table in the middle of the room. She was quite at ease in the formal surroundings and seemed to enjoy the greater exposure. Although there were more attractive women in the room, she got her share of glances. Two rounds of drinks and a couple of laughs were enough for him. Instead of becoming more interesting, she was becoming tiring. He wasn’t interested in starting a relationship, and she looked a far cry from uninvolved sex. She’d be a lot of sex, but not worth the nonsense that would go with it. He could sit there and imagine her attractive naked body, but he couldn’t imagine her in his bed. He was familiar with morning-after remorse. After observing and talking with her, he knew he wanted nothing to happen. And that’s what all this was about, wasn’t it?
“I enjoyed having the drinks with you, Claudia, but it wasn’t meant to be.” He explained that he had to beg off.
She seemed surprised, but was quick to recover. “You sound quite presumptuous, Chip. Did you think there was some casual sex in this for you? It’s just a drink together. I’m sorry if you had something more in mind.”
“Of course not, I just didn’t want there to be any misunderstanding.”
In spite of her feigned disinterest, she didn’t look as though she understood why he’d turn her down. He didn’t intend to explain further.
She phoned him two days later. She had two tickets to some concert in a local park. “How did you get this restricted number, Claudia?”
“My tricky brother has some way of doing it. I hope you don’t mind.”
“I do mind.” Chip was familiar with all the unlisted number-searching procedures. “It required knowing my address as well as my name. How did you find out my address?” He knew how. She had followed him home after class sometime. “Get off my case, Claudia. You’re messing with the wrong guy. Don’t contact me again.”
Claudia had the looks. She had put it all together into a streamlined and sophisticated façade, but it didn’t attract him. Who can say what turns a particular person on or off? He thought all women should carry a touch of mystery about them. It made them more interesting. No mystery to Claudia. She came off as being superficial and predictable, and that made her boring.
Sandy’s upbeat personality was more his type. She was unpredictable, exasperating, audacious, and smart with a cleverness she could turn on or off to suit her purpose. And she was much sexier than she realized. In his thinking, she was so alive she absolutely sparkled.
And she made him feel alive. It wasn’t a feeling of confidence that she gave him; he had never lacked that. It was a feeling of uplifting reinforcement, which enabled him go out and do things and feel good about himself. He knew it was her love that did all that.
It wasn’t difficult for his mind to return from three years passed to his troubled lover who now waited for him in the living room. She was special, yet frequently maddening, such as now. They had never been at odds with each other as they were now. Something hidden was getting to her that she was reluctant to discuss. He hadn’t handled the situation very well but didn’t know what else to do. He was pleased she had come over. They needed to face each other and talk.
He came out of the kitchen holding the glasses of wine. She was waiting by the couch, wearing a serious expression on her face.
She had to admit that all the evidence against Chip was circumstantial. He says he had a date or two. Was that enough for him to realize he didn’t want to sleep with Claudia? Why can’t she just accept that? “Obviously Claudia knows where you live. Apparently she was here before.” Damn, why did she say that? She realized other women had bounced on that king-sized bed in there with him; she just didn’t want one of them to have been Claudia.
He set the glasses on the coffee table in front of the couch and looked at her seriously. “I must apologize, Sandy. I’ve done this all wrong.”
As his words struck her, her eyes widened in surprise. She was able to take a step to the couch and sit not a moment too soon. She wanted to cover her ears with her hands. She had wondered how she’d react, if he admitted to even the slightest little part of it after denying all of it.
“Yes, I can imagine,” she said. “You got carried away, you had been drinking, you didn’t intend for it to go that far, it was just sex, you don’t love her at all.” Damn, she was being catty and saying all the things she wasn’t going to say.
“This is no time for jokes.” He stood sipping the wine. “I hope you like this. I can’t resist buying the cheapest white wine in the store. I look at the choices and think, is that wine really better than this wine for two dollars more? I’ve read about cultivating one’s taste. I don’t know what that means. I like my taste the way it is.”
“Get back to the subject. You said you screwed up.” Why was he denying the affair anyway? Why didn’t he just say Claudia was in his life three years ago and yes, it was an adult relationship? End of story.
He looked down at her with a look of seriousness. “Yes, I screwed up by not sitting down with you sooner and having all this out, clearing the air for better or for worse. I’ve been busy. You’ve been busy. It’s gone on too long—I should have insisted we sit down and discuss all this.”
“One of us is a major screwup. I still don’t know which one. You want a discussion? Let’s start with the diary.”
“I don’t have a diary. I hope to live a life I’m going to remember fondly without writing anything down. My diary is the memory I carry around with me. What are you talking about?”
She shook her head slowly meaning never mind.
“I failed to discuss it with you, and now you’re seeing someone else.”
She noticeably cringed. Oh, my God. Did he just say that?
“It’s a small town, Sandy.”
“No! I mean yes.” She needed time to think.
“Let me get clear on how this works.” He sat on the couch facing her. “Last year you had that affair, a couple of meetings for drinks with the guy and looking across the table into each other’s eyes, followed by a night of sex. I know it wasn’t meaningless because I know you, and all sex is meaningful to you. It really hurt. Right in the middle of our budding romance.”
He had to look away for a moment. “I excused you, and you excused yourself, because our relationship was young. We’d never discussed limits. When you asked for my forgi
veness, you said you wanted exclusivity as long as we were together.” He watched her, waiting for a reply.
Here goes, “I went out to dinner with someone concerned with the case.” That wasn’t good enough, now she was lying. “The FBI guy. He took me home.” Still not good enough. “...and we kissed goodnight when I got out. It seemed the proper thing to do.” That was a stretch as well, but she had to stop there. He didn’t want to hear anymore anyway—certainly not the details. She avoided his eyes. “A kiss and that was it.” In truth, it wasn’t just a kiss; it was a delicious kiss. Of course, now she regretted ever going out with the jerk at all.
“I’m not going to ask if you left anything out of that statement. If you did, then you broke our exclusivity agreement.”
“I was upset. You and I were fighting.”
“So, if things get rocky with us, that excuses you. And you can immediately see other men?” he asked. “I’ve had no sexual affair with Claudia, I barely remember her, but you think I have. And that’s enough go ahead for you to make it with some other guy?” Now he was getting upset. “Only a kiss you say? When did you speak with him last?”
“I can explain it.”
“When?”
“I spoke to him today.”
“Where?”
“Chip, I just got back from Miami, but I can explain it.”
“You went down to see him in Miami? And look at how you got all dressed up for him.” He fell silent. She started to explain, but he shushed her. He didn’t want to hear it. “I believe we need some serious time away from each other.”
“Are you going to let me explain?”
“I think I’ve got it. You got carried away, you had been drinking. You didn’t intend for it to go that far, it was just sex, you don’t love him at all. Sound familiar?”
“I didn’t drive to Miami today to see him. It was all business. I was hoping to locate the girlfriend of John Larena. I did find her and one thing led to another. I’ve discovered the true identity of the murderer. Did you hear what I said? You’re supposed to give me a high-five right now.”
“Maybe later.”
“I phoned him, the FBI guy. He was across town. And gave him the name. He was still trying to make out with me. The creep propositioned me on the phone, said he’d have me summoned into court, to reveal my source unless I went to his apartment. I told him to go to hell.”
Chip was beginning to soften. “Coercion by a person in a position of authority is a serious offense. He could face severe consequences.”
“If I had my way, he would. Of course, I don’t know if he’ll follow through on his threat or not. The good part is the feds are moving in to search the killer’s apartment. It’s more complicated than that. But, I never got it on with him at any time. I came over here just dying to tell you all about it, because you’re the one who loves me and I love you.” She stood and took a step toward him. “It’s not fair for you to jump to all those conclusions with no justification.”
He stood, raised his hands, and exclaimed, “Finally! Are we now ready to talk about fairness?”
There it was. She understood. That was it. After listening to him, watching his face, and looking into his eyes she felt like a foolish teenager. They weren’t at the end. She could live with this man. His attack on her was painful. His outrage was sincere. His genuine indignation had proved his innocence to her. She was satisfied. He had acted appropriately and discarded the woman. He had rejected the woman years ago and rejected her again today. The past was trashed with that diary. Forget about the diary, and assume he had been telling the truth all along. All she had to do was trust him.
She reached for her wine glass and drained it without hesitating. “Chip I’ve been foolish...I apologize for distrusting you without any conclusive evidence. I think I have my head on straight now.”
“But all along you had all the conclusive evidence you needed—my past actions. The trust that I’ve built up over the last year. That’s what trust is, isn’t it? That’s what love is.”
She nodded. The diary that had so screwed up her mind would never be mentioned. Never. Entirely irrelevant. She didn’t know if real people were in that diary, and now she didn’t care. It had nothing to do with the two of them and had been trashed where it belonged. She had Chip, and Claudia most certainly was jealous of her. She smirked; perhaps the whole thing was phony, now she didn’t care. If somewhere in all this, he needed to be forgiven, then she forgave him. As of now, the slate was clean.
He moved in front of her and put both hands on her shoulders holding her at arm’s length. She studied his face and then locked onto his eyes. His look was soft as a pillow and his eyes were loving her.
She was about to blather out more words about how sorry she was for being so stupid, and how he hadn’t deserved any of it. He halted her in mid sentence with a finger on her lips. “So you’re okay now, nothing bothering you?”
“Nothing you can’t fix.”
His hand went around her shoulders and slid them down her back as he pulled her closer, which just then was exactly what she wanted. She leaned into him, burying her face against his chest. All the negative thoughts were gone.
She whispered, “I want your hands on me. I want them all over me, and now.”
They exchanged the special glance that lovers have understood for thousands of years, and he followed her into the bedroom.
They stood together beside the bed and undressed while trying to hold a kiss. Then he sat on the edge of the bed and she stood in front of him between his knees with her feet wide apart. She ran her hands up his brawny arms, held his face in her hands, and kissed him again.
He held his hands up and smiled. “You want my hands touching you?”
“Don’t miss anything.”
His fingers went to her neck and shoulders, glided up and down her back and down the length of her legs. She closed her eyes and threw her head back giving herself up to the sensations. Minutes later, he cupped her buttock in his hands and pulled her forward to kiss her breasts. After a moment, she pushed him back on the bed and said, “Move on up on the bed...on your back. I want to lie on top of you for a minute.”
He felt her smaller, soft body stretched out on his sturdy frame. Her weight seemed to be nothing. She was silky smooth and he could again caress her with both hands and smell her warmth.
She slid up on his body and kissed him, he responded with a different kiss—definitely the kiss of love. She paused for a moment to look down at him, actually look at him, almost in awe. She propped herself up on her elbows and said, “Wild nights, wild nights. Were I with thee, wild nights would be our luxury.”
“Luxury?”
“Isn’t sex with the one you love a luxury?” The entire poem was coming back to her. She continued, “Rowing in Eden. Ah, the sea. Might I but moor tonight in thee” Every exciting line had come back. Everything was right. She wiggled her body around on top of his.
“I’m beginning to get this,” he said. “Eden is paradise. Being together is paradise.” His hands had been gliding up and down on her backside. Now he wrapped his arms around her tightly, kissed her gently, and felt her soft tongue touch his own. He whispered, “Might I but moor tonight in thee.”
She returned his kiss, and it started off gently. But after a few seconds, she couldn’t get enough of him. Hurriedly, she rolled over putting him on top. Then she grabbed his hips and forcibly yanked him forward.
Chapter Twenty-nine
Amazing how beautiful Florida can be in the morning. Sandy had no idea about the outside weather, but what a lovely morning it was in Chip’s bedroom. You can hear birds singing in a storm, if your heart is right. Chip had gone in late having willingly dallied when she pulled him back into bed.
She rolled over and buried her face in his pillow breathing in his essence. For the first time in days, she felt at peace and unhurried. Nothing quite like having your love life nicely secure in a bulletproof package tied up with a lovely silk bow on
top. She stretched back on the stack of pillows and casually looked over at the clock.
She sighed. Rowing in Eden. Ah, the sea. Now back to the real world. She searched for her phone to check for messages and found it in the pocket of her good suit coat piled on the floor, the skirt crumpled nearby behind the chair. She held up the wrinkled suit and smiled at the minor casualty from last night—nothing an iron wouldn’t fix. She thought she had some clothes in his closet, although she didn’t normally keep much at his place.
Her phone listed one missed call at around ten last night and four calls this morning. No way would she have taken a call last night. She hadn’t wanted last night to end, let alone be interrupted. Two calls this morning from Jaworski, who almost never called her. Something important must be up with him. And two from Martin, she was supposed to meet him but not until late afternoon. Martin would ease her gently back into the real world. She wouldn’t mind speaking with him.
He answered with an unusual sparkle in his voice, “Thank God you phoned back, I’ve been dying to tell you. I pulled off something very nice last night, Sandy “
“So did I, but you go first.”
“Last night was a huge success. I phoned Judy and told her I’d like to come over, and I was bringing a pizza. Get it, Sandy? I took your advice. Not a fancy restaurant just pizza. She was surprised I called. She said it was too late, eight o’clock, they had already eaten, and it’s a school night. I hadn’t thought of any of that. I felt stupid. You know what she said?”
She was already laughing at the excitement in his voice. “What did she say, Martin?”
“Well, nothing for almost a minute and I died. Then she said, ‘Ice cream, Martin. You can bring over some ice cream, if you want. Nicola likes chocolate chip mint. She can stay up.’ Can you believe it? The three of us sat at the kitchen table eating ice cream. I was worried about Nicola at first, as she didn’t really look at me. She seemed detached, as though she’s thinking, so what’s the big deal with the ice cream anyway?”
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