Lights on the Far Horizon Trilogy

by Stone, Sailor

  Kinsey and the kind looking young man were alone in the elevator and as the doors closed she looked down to her phone to send her text to Tanner.

  She was interrupted by the man speaking to her.

  “I love your hair. It looks like long flowing silk. Is that your natural color?” he asked.

  Kinsey was surprised by his direct question and took a closer look at the man. He was younger than her by about three years, in his late twenties, and very handsome. He had gentle blue eyes that sparkled with life and thick, styled, close cut hair that had some length in the bangs. He tilted his head to the side waiting for her to respond.

  Kinsey gently furrowed her eyebrows at his directness and said, “Thank you, It is my natural color. I find myself getting tired of it though,” she then surprised herself by adding, “I’m tired of me in the fullest sense of the word come to think of it – inside and out, top to bottom – I’m sick of Kinsey Tanner.”

  The man took a moment to look into Kinsey’s eyes, then he said, “Hi Kinsey, my name is Sammy Goodstar. We should do you a new look. I’m a stylist. I’m here on vacation to forget about being jilted by my longtime lover.” He put his hand up to Kinsey’s hair and ran his fingers through it, “Doing your hair would be great therapy for me.”

  The elevator came to a stop, the doors opened, and Sammy looked out to the lobby beyond and then added, “I’ll be here all week. Let me know if you’d like to be created anew. I’m kind of famous for being a stylist to all the movie stars in L.A. I can work my magic on you if you let me.”

  He stepped from the elevator, but not before giving Kinsey a full body scan, saying, “I see all kinds of possibilities for you. I can wipe the tired out of your eyes like putting polish on a forgotten diamond in an old engagement ring. Bye, girl,” he gave her a huge effeminate smile and walked away not giving Kinsey time to answer him.

  Kinsey stepped out from the elevator shaking her head. Sammy, in a quick trip with her in an elevator, had revealed himself to be handsome, jilted, talented as a stylist, and, Kinsey was almost sure of it – gay. Kinsey made her way through the fine hotel to Tucker’s bar and her dinner reservation.

  The bar was half filled with patrons, some sitting at the bar and others at tables. There were notes of gentle music in the background and a clean ocean scent to the air. Kinsey approached the bar and took a seat. The bartender was busy so she took a look to the bottles of liquor behind the bar and saw herself in the mirror that ran behind the bottles. Her first impression was that she was pretty, but, as Sammy had said, she was very tired looking. It was a much better look than she felt though and she was more than satisfied with it, at least at the moment.

  By the end of this week I will be a new person, she thought to herself. In fact, I will be a new bride for my husband. Whatever it takes I will be his again and I will be dedicated to making him happy. I’ve been so bad to him… and our children…

  The bartender appeared in front of her, and, thankfully, he interrupted her downward spiraling thoughts before they could make her to feel any lower.

  “What would you like this evening?” he asked.

  Kinsey forced a smile on her face. Smiling is good for you, she thought, keep one handy and ready all this week.

  “I’d like a mojito, light on the sugar,” she answered.

  “You got it,” the bartender turned to the liquor bottles behind him and began making her drink.

  Kinsey began planning her week, keeping as her goal to be a happy person, a loving mother and a sexy wife upon her return to Charleston.

  She’d start her days here on Bermuda with a walk on the beach, and, perhaps even a run. If she started seeing the brilliant light of the sun as it shined down on the seas and the islands of Bermuda with her artist’s eye again, and she felt up to it, she’d take some photos and maybe do some sketches. She wanted art back in her life. Kinsey found herself, as she waited for her drink, to be missing the connection her heart, soul, body and mind had, all coming together as one, when she was interpreting the light and colors around her with a camera or a paintbrush.

  The bartender began to muddle the leaves and the lime for her drink and the scent of fresh mint rolled across the bar. She breathed it in through her nose and rolled her tongue gently across her lips in anticipation of the taste of the drink.

  A familiar voice sounded behind Kinsey, “You slide that tongue out like that, all demure and sexy, and every man in this bar will come to you on bended knee, asking for your hand.”

  Kinsey looked up to the mirror behind the bar and saw Sammy standing behind her, one hand on his hip, returning her look in the mirror.

  The seat next to Kinsey was open and Sammy asked, “Do you mind if I sit with you?”

  Kinsey turned to him and put her hand to the chair, “Not at all. I’d love the company.”

  As Sammy took a seat the bartender placed Kinsey’s drink in front of her and looked to Sammy, “What can I do for you tonight?” he asked him.

  “What’s a good drink for a man who just lost his lover?” Sammy asked back.

  “How about a drink that makes one think of celebrating a brand new love?” The bartender asked.

  Sammy looked back at him, surprised at the quick response, “That sounds great. I could use some new love. Serve it up,” he said, tapping his hand on the bar.

  The bartender nodded his head and turned to make the cocktail and Sammy said to Kinsey, “I hope I’m not imposing but I don’t know what to make of you.”

  Kinsey took a sip of her drink and before she could say anything back to Sammy, he asked, “Is that drink delicious? It smells wonderful.”

  “It’s incredible,” she said, then asked, “What is it that you don’t understand about me?” She liked Sammy, he was easy to be around, friendly, and, like her, she could tell he was lonely.

  On a whim, she offered her drink to him.

  He took a sip and closed his eyes, “That is so good, girl. I may get one later tonight.” He slid the drink back down the bar toward Kinsey and answered her question, “I don’t understand why you are here alone. I was sitting at a table in the back of the bar and I saw you come in. Why is a beautiful woman such as yourself alone at an exclusive resort in Bermuda?”

  “I think it has a lot to do with what you’re dealing with, only different,” Kinsey was surprised she was opening up to him, but then she might need to get some things off her chest and who better to do it with than a kind stranger. It can be like therapy, she thought to herself.

  Sammy put his hand to her arm, like one of her girlfriends might, and asked, “Have you been jilted as well?”

  Kinsey smiled, “That should be our word for the night – jilted. Not exactly jilted though for me. I got pregnant and had twins. I started feeling really angry and sad a few months later and I didn’t take it seriously. I’ve managed to ruin my relationship with my babies, my friends, my family and my husband. I’ve been one nasty-bitch-from-hell to all those who love me,” as my friend, Jessica told me.

  Sammy took a quick glance at the bartender, who was finishing Sammy’s drink, then back to Kinsey, “That sounds terrible. Is it hopeless?”

  Kinsey looked into the back of Sammy’s eyes and saw a true concern for her shining within them. “No, my husband sent me here to heal. Also, so he could go and be a man on his own, without me,” Kinsey felt herself beginning to tear up and she pushed back on the feeling and swallowed down hard to stop the tears from welling up and out of her eyes.

  The bartender put a drink-filled martini glass before Sammy.

  Sammy put his hand to the glass but he didn’t drink from it yet. He said, “He won’t do that. He won’t send you away and then betray your marriage; he’d just betray your marriage. I think that him sending you away is a sure sign he loves you.”

  Kinsey nodded, “I’m clinging to that notion and I thank you for saying it but I was really bad to him. I was mean to him and I cut him off. For weeks and months even.”

  Sammy’s a
nswer surprised Kinsey, “I know all about that. Was it postpartum depression? My sister had that. Took her six months to get over it and I thought her husband was going to leave her by the end of it. She was nasty to him too.”

  Kinsey was drawn to his words, “What happened? Are they okay?”

  “They’re great. She just started getting better. She had to work at it but once she realized how she was treating him, which I think is the first sign of healing, she began to try to change herself and with each day she did a little bit better and so did their marriage. She had to get some professional help as well. ”

  Sammy took a drink from his glass and Kinsey, for the first time, took a good look at it. It made her heart first soar to the sky like an arrow shot from a bow only to turn and fall, with great speed, back to the earth.

  “This is a great drink. What is it?” Sammy asked the bartender.

  The bartender stepped up to them and put his hands to the bar, “It’s a new creation, only a few years old. A friend of mine made it…”

  Kinsey knew the drink, where it came from, and everything about its history. She interrupted, “Is your friend from South Beach?”

  The bartender looked at her with incredulous eyes, “Yes, how would you know that?”

  “He created it for me,” she answered. She could see Sammy’s mouth agape from the corner of her eye, now matching the bartender’s slack jaw as he stood before her, and she continued to speak as the tears began to overflow from her eyes, “I met my husband for the first time on that very night and we asked for a special drink to commemorate the evening and your friend made us that drink.” She pointed to the dark, creamy, brown and orange colored libation in Sammy’s hand, “Your friend named it a Sunset Kinsey, after me.” she said, now crying.

  “Yes, that’s it, it’s a Sunset Kinsey. It tastes incred…”

  Kinsey was breaking down and she couldn’t do it in front of these two men. She grabbed her small handbag and excused herself, wiping away tears as she left the bar.

  “Her name is Kinsey. We have to believe her. That’s amazing,” was the last thing she heard a worried and incredulous Sammy telling the bartender as she stepped away from them.

  The view of stars and ocean between the low hills, as she looked from the terrace by the soft lighted pool to the horizon far beyond, brought a calmness to her mind and Kinsey gave to her situation the deepest and best thinking and intuition that her mind and heart could bring to bear upon her situation.

  The drink, years before, that the bartender had created in South Beach as a celebration of Tanner and Kinsey’s new found love had been both a highpoint and an omen for them. It had been symbolic of a love that had happened too fast and with too much fury. She almost lost Tanner forever on that night long ago and she made up her mind not to lose him to her sadness during this trying time. She would heal and she would go and love her husband with everything she had. It was quite simple – all she had to do was heal herself and then love. Except healing felt impossible to do just yet.

  There was a guilt on her heart and she needed to expel it into the great black abyss that lay beyond the stars above the sea that she was gazing upon on this late Bermuda evening.

  Heal then love. It would be her mantra this week and she would start by finding a church on this island and going to confession. She’d been abusing her family with her dark emotions and she needed to be absolved before God of her transgressions before she went back to her husband, family and friends and asked for their forgiveness. She’d cleanse herself of her wrongs physically, mentally and spiritually. It had been so long since she’d even thought of God. She felt a terrible loneliness and she invited God to come back into her life.

  She closed her eyes and made a sincere and quiet prayer for help.

  “There you are. I’ve looked everywhere for you.”

  Kinsey came out of her prayer and smiled. It was Sammy, her new friend. She needed company and help this week in the worst of ways and she quietly thanked God for putting him in her life as she turned in her chair to greet him, “Hi Sammy,” she said. Then she smiled at him and waited for his next words.

  “Is it okay if I sit with you? I have you a new drink.” Sammy asked, not giving her time to answer as he sat on a lounge chair next to Kinsey and handed her the drink. “It’s a Sunset Kinsey and I want you to hear me…”

  Kinsey reached for the drink and said, “It’s okay. I’m over it…”

  Sammy interrupted her back, “I think you should celebrate your marriage, remember it as it started and all the things that you and your husband have been through. The drink is about beginnings. Right?”

  Kinsey held her drink up for a toast and a surprised Sammy touched his own glass to hers. Then she said, “To my new friend. To you Sammy. This week is for us. It’s about you and your own lost love and it’s about us both making ourselves better.” Kinsey put her hand out to Sammy and when he took it and squeezed, she began to cry.

  Sam said, “So tell me about this amazing cocktail. How did it get your name?”

  Kinsey wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, “My husband literally sailed into my life. I was at a party in South Beach. It was at the Delano hotel and I was a bit bored with the whole affair so an old friend and I went out to the beach and this Hobie sailboat came to shore in front of us and I was swept off my feet by the man who stepped from it. We fell in love at that moment and later that night the bartender created that drink to help us commemorate our new found love.”

  “That sounds so romantic.”

  “It was unbelievable, but by the end of the night I had lost him and we didn’t find one another again until four years later.”

  Sam interrupted, “How did you lose him?”

  “There was a hotel fire, just up the street from the party, and he saved two children but he suffered burns and they helicoptered him away and we managed to miss each other over the next several days. That turned into weeks, then months and finally years.”

  “So you searched for each other for four years?”

  Kinsey nodded.

  “Then I’m sure your marriage can survive this.”

  “How do you know?” she asked. She needed to find a rock to build back her life upon and Sam’s certainty that her marriage would be okay might be the cornerstone she needed to begin the foundation.

  “Any two people who search for one another for four years have enough love to get through anything. Believe me.”

  Kinsey wanted to believe him, “So what makes you such an expert?” she asked.

  Sammy looked at her like she was crazy, “I’m a stylist, girl! I listen to all the great lovers and stars as they talk and spill their deepest secrets. Women, and men, like to talk about themselves when they’re getting their hair done. I have heard everything and I promise that what you and your husband have is a rare and beautiful thing.” Sammy paused and looked to the stars above, then back to Kinsey, “Trust me. I promise we can get you two right again.”

  “So what about you? What can we do to make you right again? I won’t let you help me if you won’t let me help you as well.”

  Sammy shook his head, “I’m a lost cause. It shan’t do us any good to try.”

  “Did you just say shan’t? I’ve never heard anyone do that and I won’t be your friend if you won’t let me help you. A friendship is a two way street,” Kinsey said as she shook her head at Sammy and began to laugh.

  Sam laughed with her. “I think that’s the first time I’ve used shan’t to tell the truth. It did sound dramatic though, didn’t it?”

  “It did. My husband would have been all over it. He loves stuff like that.”

  “What does he…”

  “He’s a writer.”

  “Ah yes, a lover of words, makes sense then. Is he handsome? I bet he is.”

  “He’s gorgeous. If I’m right about you I would say he’d be your type except for the fact that he leans hard to loving women and not, I’m afraid, in any way does he lean in your
direction. Kinsey said, then added, “Have I offended you?”

  “Oh please, not a bit. Let’s you and I admire him, if I can ever meet him, together. Perhaps you can help me scope some fine men out on this little island paradise as well.”

  Kinsey laughed, “I’d love to. What are you doing tomorrow, late in the morning, or perhaps the afternoon?”

  Sammy put his hand to Kinsey’s leg, “I’ll go anywhere you think is best. Let’s have some fun.”

  Kinsey took a sip from her glass and remembered the wonderful taste of the drink with her namesake. It was a cocktail that she and Tanner had drank together many times over the years of their marriage and this was the first time she’d had one without him. It made her sad but it also made her steel herself to the task of getting better.

  She looked out to the dark and glimmering sea as Sammy began talking about all the things they would do together the next day and she felt herself beginning to relax. One prayer and she found herself with a new friend. Sammy was the cornerstone, indeed the canvas, that she didn’t know she was looking for. She realized it now though, and she began to picture the new Kinsey Brodie that she would paint with her brush and sculpt with her hammer and chisel as she recreated herself for her babies, her family, friends and her dear husband.

  “… maybe we can even bring a picnic basket…” Sam was saying as she caught a portion of his words between the deep thoughts of her mind. Everything about Sam was good, gentle, and he was spiced with a kindness that Kinsey found to be in rare supply in the people she’d met over the last few months in her gallery.