by Angela Peach
"Alison, it's freezing outside and I really don't mind. Don't be stubborn and just tell me where you are?" she ordered, her tone pleasant and friendly. My battery beeped, forcing me into a quick decision. I gave her a brief description of where I was just before the phone died unceremoniously and I exhaled slowly, suddenly feeling very nervous.
After my initial meeting with Darcy three weeks ago she'd tried calling twice and had texted me four or five times. I'd ignored all her efforts at contact, telling myself she was just being polite and that I wouldn't know what to say to her. Her texts had been friendly and sweet, just as she was. They asked if I was okay, and she said she was there if I needed a chat or even a tour around the local area. A few times I actually started a text to reply back to her, but then I'd cancelled it and put my phone away.
Fifteen minutes later a small red car pulled into the layby behind me. I got out and went to meet her, relieved.
"Hey Darcy! Thank you so much for coming to get me. Obviously Gray hasn't checked his messages yet! God only knows how long I could have been here waiting for him" I gushed, mainly because I felt so guilty that she'd come instantly to my rescue after I'd ignored her for three weeks.
"It's no problem. What happened?" she asked, looking my BMW up and down.
"I don't know. This warning light came on and the car just started losing power, then it died. If you could possibly drive me home I'd really appreciate it? I'd reimburse you for your time and petrol, of course."
She smiled and waved a hand dismissively as we got into her car.
"Like I said, it's no problem. I'm just glad I can help. Hey, lucky I called when I did, right?"
"Why were you calling?" Ouch. That had come out wrong and sounded harsh. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. That sounded terribly rude."
"Don't worry about it. I was just calling to see if you and your husband were free tonight because I managed to get a small gig playing at a pub in town. The more people that turn up, the more popular I look and the more they'll be willing to pay me next time!" she said, her brown eyes shining. I smiled.
"Oh I'm sure you're very popular. You have a beautiful voice."
"When I remember the words, right?" she said, smiling back. Then she put the car in gear and pulled away. Out of the corner of her eye she saw me shivering and thoughtfully turned the heater up to its fullest setting.
"Thank you" I said gratefully.
"You're welcome" she replied, glancing quickly over at me. Now that I had the chance to study her closer, I was struck once again by how beautiful she was. Yes, she had youth on her side, but there was something natural about her beauty. She wore little (if any) make-up and her face was smooth and blemish free. Her sculpted cheekbones led up to wonderfully friendly brown eyes that seemed to have a constant sparkle in them. But I wondered if it wasn't her mouth that was captivating me the most. Her lips, red and full, that always seemed to be curving up into an infectious and engaging smile. Hell, even her teeth looked perfect! She turned and caught me staring and I blushed, looking quickly away out of the window.
"So, um, do you want to tell me where you live or shall we just go on a mystery tour?"
"Oh, yes, sorry. Do you know Orchard Lane? We're the third house down on the left."
"No way! With the big barn?"
"Yes, you know it?"
"Oh my god, I used to play in that barn when I was little! We used to jump from the upper level onto the stacks of hay below! Really hurt actually, but loads of fun! Is there still hay in there?" she asked excitedly, her hair shimmering as she shifted her attention back and forth between me and the road.
"Uh, yes, I think so."
"Sweet! Oh, Alison, you have to try it! I'll even try it with you!"
"Oh no, I'm way too old for stuff like that" I said, laughing.
"You're not that much older than me, are you?"
"I'm thirty six."
"What? No way!" She did a double take. "Wow! I thought you were about twenty nine! Shit!" She laughed. "Well, you look amazing for thirty six!"
"Thank you." Her compliment set off a warm glow inside me. We drove on in silence for a few minutes while I struggled with what I wanted to say. "Darcy, I'd like to apologise."
"Really? What for?" she asked, looking puzzled.
"For not returning your messages. I just…I'm not very good at staying in contact with people. I just wanted to explain that it was nothing personal."
"Hey, it's okay, honestly. I just assumed you had your hands full with whatever it was that had been troubling you that day."
I hesitated, pulling at a thread on my jeans.
"No. Well, yes, but no." I sighed. "It's incredibly complicated and I hope you'll understand if I don't go into it in any detail. But I, um…I want to say thank you. Your singing and taking me out for coffee that day, well it pulled me out of a very dark place and I was rude to ignore you afterward. I am truly sorry" I said quietly, not even realising how in depth I'd intended to be.
"Rubbish! No apologies! Although," her lips twitched into a smile, "You could always show your gratitude by coming to hear me play tonight?"
I chuckled and put my hand on her knee.
"Of course."
I wasn't sure why I did it. Thinking back, it did seem like an overly affectionate thing to do to a virtual stranger, but she made me feel so relaxed! Whatever my reasons were, I knew that I was one hundred per cent responsible for what happened next.
Darcy looked down at my hand on her knee and left her gaze there just a little too long. By the time she returned her attention to the road, it was too late to do anything other than swerve off to the side and into a tree to avoid the car that had appeared when she wasn't looking. Luckily, she'd only been doing about twenty five miles per hour, and she'd had the good sense to apply the brakes early enough so neither of us was really hurt.
"Oh my god! Shit! Are you okay?" she asked, looking shocked.
"I'm fine. Are you alright?"
"Yeah, just a bit shaken up." She tried turning the key but the engine refused to fire up. "Ooh, not so sure about Tim though."
"Tim?"
"Yeah, Tim. What, you've never named your car before?" she asked with a smile. We'd just crashed into a tree and this girl was still smiling? She unbuckled her seatbelt and got out, so I followed suit. The damage looked serious enough to call it a write off and I turned to Darcy, expecting tears or anger or
laughing?
No, I wasn't expecting that!
"Are you sure you're okay?" I asked, wondering if I'd missed something. Like her hitting her head on the steering wheel maybe?
"It…I…" she couldn't seem to string together a sentence and was even bent over double holding her stomach. "It's not even that funny!" she gasped, waving her hand. I started to laugh with her. I couldn't help myself! I had no idea why she was laughing, nor why I was laughing, but I did anyway. Maybe we were both feeling over emotional after crashing into the tree? Whatever it was, I couldn't remember the last time I'd laughed like this, uncontrollably and irrepressibly, and it felt good so I just went with it.
After a few minutes, we managed to get some degree of control back and we both took deep breaths to encourage the calm.
"Ow! Why does it hurt so much to laugh?" she asked, wiping her eyes.
"I don't know. I always get this weird little headache right at the back of my head when I laugh too much."
"There's no such thing as laughing too much! It's just your laughing muscles telling you you need to laugh more."
I thought about this and decided she was probably right.
"So what was it that was so funny?" I asked.
"Oh yeah! Well, just that I came to rescue you and your phone died, and now that we need rescuing, guess what?"
"Don't tell me your phone's died as well?"
"Okay then" she said slowly. "I won't tell you that my phone is dead as well."
I studied her face and her lips twitched. This along with the extra sparkle in h
er eyes gave me the confirmation I didn't want.
"Your phone's dead, isn't it?" I asked, and she nodded sheepishly, biting her bottom lip. It was such a cute look I couldn't help but smile. "Well, I guess we're walking the rest of the way then!"
"I'm so sorry!"
"What for?"
"For crashing and stranding you! Some rescue, huh?"
"No, it was totally my fault. I shouldn't have distracted you while you were driving. I take full responsibility."
"Well, the insurance will cover it anyway. I'll say the other car was on my side of the road or something. I mean it's not like they even stopped to see if we were okay!"
"Come to think of it, they were very much on our side of the road. I'll back you up as a witness if you want? Then I won't feel so bad about causing you to take your attention off the road."
"That would be great! Was he really?" she asked hopefully.
"No, totally on his own side, but that will go no further from me!"
"Thank you. Well, I guess we'd better get our stuff and make a move. It's a good five mile hike from here."
"Alison? I think I need to tell you something."
"Okay. This sounds serious" I glanced over at her, worried. She'd stopped walking and was covering her mouth with her fingers, the index digit tapping lightly.
"Hmm." She dropped her hand and gave a nervous smile.
"You don't know where we are, do you?"
Her mouth fell open in mock astonishment.
"Honestly Alison! Even though we've just met, it's like you know exactly what I'm thinking! How do you do that?"
I groaned, but secretly I was really enjoying myself. About half an hour ago, Darcy had insisted she knew a short cut that might shave a couple of miles off our journey, so we'd climbed over a large farm gate and gone off road.
We'd used the time to get to know each other better. Just silly stuff really. Favourite foods were a recurring theme in our chat (we were clearly both very hungry) and favourite movies and music, of which I had to admit we shared very similar tastes.
"So what should we do? Should we be worried?" I asked, turning in a three hundred and sixty degree circle, searching for some sort of life other than animal.
"No. I don't think so. Ooh, maybe. I don't know!" She laughed nervously. "I'm sure if we keep going in a straight line we'll get to something soon!"
We started walking again, our shoulders brushing against each other's.
"Darcy, if I ever need rescuing again…"
"You'll call someone else?" she interrupted.
"No, I think I'll call you every time! I haven't had this much fun getting lost in the middle of nowhere since I was a child!" I admitted.
"Ah, maybe it's because you have such wonderful company!" she said, looking sideways at me. I held her eyes for a few seconds, smiling.
"Yes. I think it is." I must have embarrassed her with my sincerity because her expression became serious for a second and a red blush deepened her already flushed face. I turned my attention back to where I was walking, feeling again like my communication skills could use a bit more work.
"Hm. You're not scared of animals are you, City Girl?" she suddenly asked, stopping me with a hand on my stomach and I looked down at it in surprise. Despite my having three layers of clothing on, I could feel the intense heat from her hand through it all.
Wow, this girl's got hot hands!
"Uh, no. So long as it's not bulls."
"O-kay. What about cows with horns?"
I looked at her sharply and followed her eyes. Sure enough, on the far side of the field we were in was a herd of cows with horns.
Or bulls, as they are otherwise known!
"What, you think just because I'm from the city I don't know what a cow with horns is?" I asked, my voice quick and rising with hysteria.
"Not in the slightest, I was just trying to keep the fear from you. They can sense it, you know."
"Now might be a good time to tell you I attract aggressive animals. I got thrown off an elephant on my honeymoon, dogs have never liked me, and did I mention the time I got chased by a bull when I was younger? It stayed with me for years!"
"That's one persistent bull! How did you shake him off in the end?" she joked, but then she saw my exasperated face. "Oh wow, you're seriously freaked out, aren't you?"
I nodded emphatically, my eyes wide.
"Must have been some chase" she murmured, then moved to stand between me and the cattle. "Okay, here's what we're going to do. Look at me, Alison, not them. Alison! Eyes on me!"
"But they're watching us" I whispered, and she put a hand on each cheek and turned my head to face her. I was again taken by surprise at how warm her hands were, and also how soft they were. Our faces were just inches apart and I could feel her breath, warm and sweet as she spoke, leaving her hands resting on my cheeks to keep my attention. It worked.
"I've never been chased by bulls, or any kind of animal, so how about I walk this side. That way, when they look over they'll just see me and be like 'oh, it's alright, she's okay' and go back to grazing the grass while we exit the field in a nice orderly fashion! Okay?"
I nodded, but I was completely distracted by her eyes. This close, they were the most interesting shade of brown I'd ever seen. The depth of colour was astonishing, sort of like a deep, rich mahogany? In fact, they were incredibly captivating and almost hypnotic. They were certainly hypnotising me! I couldn't seem to breathe or look away. As I stared into them with her almost electrically charged warming hands on my face, I felt the strain ebb away, as if she was transferring her calm energy into me.
"Okay" I mumbled, and was rewarded with one of her winning smiles.
"Good. You ready?"
I nodded and she dropped her hands from my cheeks, leaving them feeling cold and empty.
How does she do that?
Keeping eye contact with me, she ran one of her hands lightly down my arm until she found my hand, then she interlinked our fingers and gave a soft squeeze before pulling gently to get me moving.
"Remember, nice and casual. Don't look at them. Just focus on me and the gate ahead. If we ignore them, they'll ignore us." Her voice was soothing as she almost sang the words of encouragement to me. I felt reassured.
"Are they ignoring us?" I asked breathlessly, trying not to look. We were about fifty yards from safety.
"Mm-hm. Hey, you want to know what I really fancy for dinner now? A nice juicy rare steak!"
I laughed aloud.
"I'll buy it for you, my treat for rescuing me!"
"Yeah…" she sounded a little bit distracted. "Oh dear. Um, do you fancy a race to the gate?" She suddenly quickened our pace and I looked across…just in time to see two of the herd were stampeding (Darcy later claimed they were trotting, but to my trained eye in these situations, it was definitely a stampede) straight for us.
"Ohmygodohmygod, shitshitshit!" We broke into a sprint across the field toward the gate that seemed too far away for my liking.
"It's okay, we're going to make it!" Darcy shouted, keeping a firm grip of my hand in hers (like I had any intention of letting go!) as we navigated the bumpy cowpat ridden ground.
"We're not gonna make it!" I wailed, my lungs burning already.
"Yes we are!"
"We're not!"
"We are! We're nearly there already!"
Ten yards from the gate, I allowed myself to think that yes, we were actually going to make it…but then I heard their hooves thundering behind us. I squealed in terror at how close they sounded. Darcy released my hand and I practically vaulted over the gate, landing in an unceremonious heap in a hedge the other side. Darcy landed next to me and we both lay gasping for air just as the two bulls (who both looked very angry) reached the gate and snorted over it at us in extreme displeasure.
"Unlucky cluckers!" Darcy chirped, flicking them the bird. Laughing with nervous relief, I tried to cover it.
"Stop it! You're winding them up!" I giggled.
"
They're already pretty wound up! Shit, do you think they heard my comment about the S. T. E. A. K? Maybe they're pissed that I might be eating cousin Joe later? Ooh, haha, or cow-sin Joe!" she said before peeling into hysterical giggles at her own joke. It was infectious and we held onto each other as we shook with laughter until one of the bulls made a last ditch attempt at pushing through the gate. We both squealed and fell backward again into the hedge, laughing harder.
"I am actually going to wet myself! We have to stop! I mean it!"
"I'm trying! You stop first!" I spluttered, gripping her arm.
"I can't! I don't have enough control!"
Gradually our laughs subsided, and the bulls got bored and wandered back to re-join their herd. I looked across at her, my jaw and belly aching. She had a twig in her hair so I reached over and plucked it out gently, showing it to her before dropping it on the ground. Then our eyes connected and a warmth spread through me as she smiled, which I returned. I was awed by how natural and easy our silences were. There was no awkwardness, no pressing need to look away, or say something to fill the gap. It was all just perfectly comfortable.
She stood first, extending her hand down to help pull me up.
"Do you want the good news or the bad news?" she asked as I brushed myself down.
"Either. It can't get any worse, surely?"
"Well, the bad news is that it's starting to get dark. But the good news is that I now know exactly where we are! This footpath leads to the main road, so I'd guess we're about forty five minutes to an hour away from your house."
"That's great! I'm so hungry all I can think about is food!"
"Don't forget your promise, City Girl? You said you were going to treat me to a steak!"
"I haven't forgotten. As soon as we get back, I'll get changed and tell Gray we're going out for dinner."
"Um, tonight's not good for me, remember?"
I glanced at her, puzzled. Then it hit me.
"Oh Darcy! Your gig! What time are you supposed to be there?"
"About an hour and three quarters. It's okay, I'm sure we'll make it!" She smiled to show me she wasn't worried.
"We'll do the steak another night" I said, quickening our pace.