Island Interlude

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Island Interlude Page 14

by Anne McAllister


  It lasted throughout the rest of the meal. It lasted during their walk through the narrow congested streets down to the waterfront where Alec was going to meet Carras and McKinley at their Sheraton Colonial suites and Libby was going to shop along Bay Street. He didn't want to let her go.

  'Damn,' he muttered. 'This is the last place I want to go, the last thing I want to do.'

  'Don't worry,' Libby said, going up on tiptoe and kissing him. 'We have the rest of the weekend.'

  Alec's smile went clear to his eyes. 'We do, don't we?' And though he let go of her hand, he stood in the doorway watching her until she was out of sight.

  Libby floated through the straw market, looking a little, daydreaming mostly, finally buying tiny seashell sculptures for Sam and Juliet. She walked as far as the bridge leading to Paradise Island. It was close to four. Alec had said he hoped to be finished by five. She crossed the street and started back.

  This side of Bay Street seemed to hold the restaurants, bookshops and bikini shops. Libby nosed through several, picking up a Bahamian history for Professor Dietrich and a rose-coloured two-piece bathing-suit for herself. She hunted everywhere for the perfect thing for Alec, but couldn't find anything suitable. She hovered over a display of men's colognes for the longest time, trying to decide if any of them would suit him. But Alec never wore cologne or aftershave, and she had to admit that she liked him just the way he was.

  Shrugging, she hoisted her parcels more securely into her arms and headed out of the shop.

  'Libby? Libby Portman?'

  Libby looked up, startled. Wayne Maxwell stood beaming at her. 'Fancy meeting you here.' He fell into step beside her. 'Finish your project?'

  Libby kept walking. 'Almost.'

  'Taking a holiday, are you?'

  'Sort of.' She didn't want to mention being here with Alec. It would be just what Wayne was looking for. And she knew too well how Alec felt about reporters. 'Are you?'

  He shook his head. 'Of course not. Duty calls.' He grinned. 'But it's always nice when duty calls one to paradise.'

  'What duty?' Libby asked him, hoping she might be mistaken.

  'Big movie deal going down. Carras and McKinley are here from tinsel town, presumably talking to Blanchard. They're supposed to be having a meeting with the Press, too, afterwards.'

  'Today?' Libby asked as they jostled along the pavement.

  Wayne shrugged. 'Today, tomorrow… who knows? When the gods get together, the rest of us mortals wait.'

  'Interesting.'

  'Be a lot more interesting if something juicy would happen. Maybe one of those bimbos who're always hanging around Blanchard will show up. Or, since Carras has split from his wife maybe he'll name her lover. Liven things up.'

  'I thought you didn't write gossip,' Libby said, determinedly thrusting away the thought of Alec pursued by bimbos. There hadn't been any on Harbour Island at least.

  'Hey,' Wayne shrugged. 'I gotta make a living. Besides, fame makes you fair game.'

  Libby shuddered.

  Wayne smiled. 'I know. I know. Be glad it's not you.'

  One day it could be, though, Libby thought, if she married Alec. Would she be able to handle it? Would Sam and Juliet?

  It was something she and Alec needed to talk about.

  'Where are you staying?' Wayne was asking her.

  'What? Oh, in a little out-of-the-way place. A bed and breakfast, really.'

  'All by yourself?'

  'Mmm.'

  'Good.' Wayne took her murmur for an affirmative. 'How about having dinner with me?'

  Libby shook her head. 'I can't.'

  'Lunch tomorrow, then?'

  'I don't know,' Libby hedged. 'I have a lot to do.'

  'I thought you were taking a holiday.'

  'Well, I am but… oh, well, why not? Lunch.' She didn't see any way to get out of it short of telling Wayne she'd come with Alec. And after his 'bimbos' comment, she didn't want to do that.

  'Great. I'll call for you.'

  'I'll meet you. Just name the place.'

  Wayne shrugged equably. 'If that's the way you want it. Why don't we eat at the Sheraton? That way I can stay on top of things.'

  It wasn't what Libby would have chosen but she didn't see any good reason to give Wayne for objecting. Besides, they were getting close to the Sheraton now, and Libby didn't want to arrive there in Wayne's company. It wasn't just what Wayne would make of her and Alec, but what Alec might think of seeing her again with Wayne.

  'Fine,' she said hastily. Then, spying some really out­rageous T-shirts in a shop window, she said. 'I really have to stop. I need to get presents for my brothers. I'll see you tomorrow.'

  Libby lurked in the T-shirt shop until Wayne had got a block ahead. Then she hurriedly bought two luminous T-shirts with Bahamian slogans for Jeff and Greg and set out for the hotel.

  Alec was standing on the steps when she got there. There were no bona fide bimbos in sight, but a group of awestruck teenage girls were hovering about, asking for his autograph, smiling and giggling among them­selves. Alec obliged them, but the moment he looked up and spied Libby, he hurried towards her.

  'At last.' He caught her arm and tucked her into a taxi in one practiced movement, giving the driver the address of the inn where they were staying. He turned and gave her a long look, a look which made Libby smile.

  Alec smiled then, too, and leaned towards her, pulled her into his arms and kissed her hard.

  Libby, as hungry for him as he was for her, kissed him back. Her fingers threaded through his thick dark hair, her teeth nibbled provocatively at his lower lip. She felt Alec shudder then pull back, grinning wryly.

  'Are you going to still feel this way when we get to the inn?' he asked her, his voice hoarse.

  Libby gave him a demure smile. 'I think I might.'

  And when Alec walked her to the door of her room, deliberately she drew him in.

  They loved that night with the joy they'd loved with eight years before. And when they awoke and loved again, though Libby waited for him to pull away as he had the last time, he stayed with her, held her in his arms and slept. Smiling, happy for the first time in so long that she couldn't remember, Libby slept, too.

  It felt as if the barriers had finally crumbled, as if fears had finally died.

  And the next morning, when Alec was supposed to get up for more meetings with Carras, he didn't get out of bed. He wrapped her in his arms, hugging her close.

  'Damn Carras,' he muttered, kissing her lips, her nose, her cheeks. 'Damn McKinley. I'd far rather stay right here.'

  Libby smiled, sleepy and sated. 'Me, too.' She pulled away slightly and looked up at him. 'But duty calls.'

  'Damn duty, too,' Alec said, burying his face in her hair.

  By the time they finally got out of bed, showered and dressed, pausing as they did to touch, to stroke, to linger, Alec was late.

  'I hate this. I feel like a heel running out on you,' he groused.

  Libby shook her head. 'Nonsense. You knew you had to do this when you invited me along.'

  'But I didn't know we'd be doing this as well.' His gaze went speakingly to the rumpled bed.

  Libby just smiled. 'I'll come along,' she said. 'I can do some more shopping. I don't have anything for my mother yet.'

  Alec held out a hand to her. 'Come along, then.'

  This time he insisted on taking her up to the suite to introduce her to Carras and McKinley. Libby looked around nervously, expecting to see Wayne, worried about what he'd think if he saw her with Alec, worried about what Alec would think if he thought she was talking to Wayne. Happily Wayne was nowhere to be found.

  Carras and McKinley both fitted her stereotypes of studio executives, a Tweedledum-Tweedledee duo who puffed cigars and wore expensive silk suits. But if they thought Alec had dredged up a hick-from-nowhere as his latest girlfriend, they were too polite to say so.

  'So you're why Alec's been champing at the bit,' Ross McKinley said and winked at her. But there was
nothing lewd in the wink, and Libby smiled at him gratefully. 'Can't say I blame him,' he went on.

  Alec hugged Libby hard against him. 'And she's why I'm splitting today,' he told both men. 'So if you want this flick to fly, let's get going.'

  Libby left them to it and went back down to the lobby and outside. The day was hotter and more humid than the one before, but she scarcely noticed. Her head and her heart were both filled with memories of the night before, of this wonderful feeling of harmony, of lightness between herself and Alec.

  She almost felt like telling Wayne. But she wouldn't. It was too new, too precious, too perfect. She wanted to hug it to herself for just a while longer. And before she ever said anything to the Press, she and Alec would have to talk to Sam and Juliet. There were things that had to be explained to them.

  But even those explanations didn't daunt Libby now. Together, she thought, smiling, she and Alec could manage. He might not have said yet that he loved her, but she was beginning to trust at last that he did.

  She was still smiling, still glowing, when she met Wayne for lunch an hour later.

  'You look marvellous.' The frank admiration on his face told her he meant what he said.

  'The climate agrees with me.' She took her seat in the restaurant he steered her into and smiled across the table at him.

  Wayne mopped his brow. 'I'll say. Or,' he added hopefully, 'maybe it's the company. Listen. I've got an exclusive interview with Carras this afternoon, but how about going out with me tonight?'

  Libby shook her head. 'I have to go back to Harbour Island. This was just a getaway.'

  'Sure you wouldn't like to take a longer one? I could hang on a bit longer. Maybe Blanchard will do some­thing outrageous, elope with an actress or some damned thing.'

  Wouldn't he be amazed if he knew? Libby thought, smiling to herself. She shook her head. 'I can't.'

  Wayne didn't give up as easily as she might have hoped. After he'd badgered her a bit more during lunch, and when she hoped to escape him after, she found he had the afternoon free and was quite willing to tag along after her. When the time came for her to meet Alec, she still hadn't got away from him.

  'I don't want to keep you from your work,' she said somewhat desperately.

  'No problem. Where are you going now?'

  'I—' she cast about for a destination that was close enough to the Sheraton that Alec wouldn't think she'd left but that would perhaps bore Wayne into declining to accompany her '—I need to buy some postcards and… and stamps.'

  Wayne took her arm. 'I know just the place.'

  He manoeuvred her across the street, dodging cars and taxis and led her straight towards the Sheraton itself. 'Gift shop right through here,' he said. 'Bought stamps there yesterday.'

  There was nothing Libby could do but follow. She chose cards at random. Wayne hovered at her elbow, offering suggestions, waiting while she paid for them, reminding her when she forgot the stamps. They were heading out of the door and she was beginning to despair of ever shedding herself of him when suddenly he looked up.

  'Carras!' he exclaimed. 'And McKinley. And Blanchard.' He turned and gave Libby a smacking kiss. 'Gotta run, sweetheart. Duty calls.' And he was gone.

  Libby, praying that Alec hadn't seen them, hovered back inside the gift shop until she saw Carras, beaming, bear Wayne away with him for the 'exclusive' he'd been promised. Alec stared after them. McKinley was still talking to him, but Alec didn't seem to be attending. Then Libby saw McKinley clap Alec on the back and grin. Alec just nodded.

  Libby wondered if he'd been that distracted throughout their entire meeting. She smiled. She didn't know whether she hoped so or not. Slipping the stamps and cards she'd purchased into her bag, she headed out through the door to meet him.

  'Hi. I'm not late, am I?'

  Alec shook his head. 'No.' He didn't smile at once. He looked worried.

  'Hey,' Libby took his arm. 'It's not as bad as all that.'

  Alec scowled. 'What's not?'

  'Whatever happened in your meeting,' she said, smiling. Then, when he still didn't smile, she grew con­cerned. 'Is something wrong? Didn't it go well?'

  'What? Oh, the meetings? Yeah, they were all right.'

  'You finished, then?'

  'Yeah.' He looked down at her, his eyes searching.

  And Libby, knowing what he was looking for, reached up and put her arms around him, kissing him soundly.

  For a moment it seemed as if Alec was going to resist. Then, at last, he returned her kiss. He even took her back to her room to make love to her one more time before they left.

  This loving was more intense than that they had already shared. Alec seemed almost desperate in his need for her. And Libby shared that desperation. And after­wards she felt she was the happiest woman alive.

  Even marriage, she was certain, couldn't bring them closer than they were now.

  And when they got back to Dunmore Town and Alec walked her from the dock up the narrow streets to her house, she didn't want to let him go.

  'I wish you could stay,' she whispered as they stood on the porch, arms around each other, foreheads touching.

  Alec kissed her longingly, then pulled away, though his lips lingered a fraction of an inch from hers. A corner of his mouth lifted ruefully. 'And you think I don't?'

  'You will soon,' Libby said. It was a commitment. A promise.

  'Mmm.' He kissed her again with everything that was in him.

  'I'll see you in the morning,' Libby said.

  He never came.

  CHAPTER NINE

  NOT ever.

  Libby waited. And waited.

  She got up the next morning, humming to herself in anticipation, hardly able not to sing out the news to Sam. She made his breakfast, still humming snatches of songs. She walked up to school with him, less for the walk than in the hope that she would catch her first glimpse of Alec coming up the street. When she didn't see him, she went home, philosophical, still thrilled.

  She made the beds and transcribed the tape of the interview with Gibb Sawyer. She made coconut bread from the recipe Maddy had given her. The whole time she did so her hearing was attuned to the lightest footstep on the porch, the slightest knock on the door.

  By noon she'd stopped humming. She even found that she was scowling as she folded the laundry and mended a tear in Sam's shorts.

  Don't, she warned herself. There would no doubt be plenty of times when Alec would be late, when some­thing would come up to delay his return. Being a film director was not a nine-to-five job. She would have to get used to it.

  She tried.

  But by three that afternoon her imagination had run away with her. She wondered if he'd fallen ill, if some­thing had happened to Juliet while they'd been gone. She conjured up disasters, fires, muggings.

  When Sam came in from school she pounced. 'Did you see Juliet yesterday?'

  He shook his head. 'Nope.' He dropped his books on the couch and settled down at the table with a glass of milk and a slice of coconut bread.

  'Not at all?' Libby pressed.

  'Huh-uh.' Sam took a huge bite of the bread.

  Maybe she was sick, Libby thought desperately. Or hurt. Maybe when Alec had got home last night, some­thing had happened to her. That had to be it. Otherwise he would have come. Libby wished for the thousandth time that day that she had a phone.

  'Did you see her at all over the weekend?'

  Sam chewed his bread. 'Saturday. She an' some lady were walking towards Hill Top when Arthur an' me were comin' up from the dock.'

  Libby frowned. 'What lady?'

  Sam shook his head. 'Dunno. Can I have another piece of bread?'

  Absently Libby cut him one, her mind flipping over possibilities with the speed of a humming-bird's wings. 'Come on,' she said. 'Let's go for a walk.'

  He shrugged, then stuffed the last of the bread into his mouth, drained his glass of milk and got to his feet. He didn't ask where they were going; he seemed to know.

&n
bsp; 'Are you worried?' he asked her.

  'A little,' Libby admitted. 'Alec was supposed to come by this morning, and he didn't. So I thought something might've happened to Juliet.'

  'You like Alec a lot, don'cha?' Sam asked, running to keep up with Libby's hurried strides.

  'I'm very… fond of him.'

  She loved him. She was willing to admit it now. To Alec. To Sam. To everyone.

  But last night on the flight home she'd promised Alec that when they told Sam who his father was they'd be together. And they'd tell Juliet together, too. That was the way it would be from now on. So she just gave Sam a reassuring smile and hurried on.

  As soon as they came around the bend in the road she began to look for Juliet, to listen for her shrill voice, to catch a glimpse of her golden hair.

  She saw no one, heard nothing save the ocean's muted surge against the sand. She let herself in at the gate, leaving Sam to latch it while she went directly to the door and knocked loudly.

  It seemed to take an age for the sound of footsteps to be heard. And when the door opened, Libby began, 'Oh, Alec-' But it was Lois standing there.

  Lois smiled broadly. 'Come in. Come in.'

  Libby hesitated, then did so, glancing around for signs of disaster. There were none. 'I—er—is—I mean, I was expecting Alec. Looking for him, that is.'

  Lois frowned. 'Mr Alec, he's not here.'

  Libby felt relief flicker through her. 'Oh, well, I must have missed him. Maybe he was going to our house the beach way while we were coming up the road.'

  Lois shook her head. 'Not on the island, I mean. He's gone.'

  'Gone?' The relief died, a quick swell of panic drowning it. 'Where? Why?'

  Another shake of Lois's dark head. 'Don't know, really. Didn't say.'

  'He just left! What about Juliet?'

  'She, too. She an' Miz Webster. They all go.'

  'Miss Webster?' Libby's fingers gripped the doorjamb.

  'You know, Miz Webster. Miz 'Malia Webster. The actress.'

  'I don't want to talk about it.' Deliberately Libby bent her head over the cake-mix she was stirring, wishing herself oblivious to her mother's concern.

 

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