February Or Forever (20 page)

‘A picnic?' she asked.

‘Why not? I could nab some food from the chefs at Serendipity, get a basket or something.'

Chrissie thought back to the wonderful lunch she'd had. ‘No, let me. I'll bring the food.'

‘So it's a yes, then?'

‘It's a yes.' She smiled. ‘On the sand dunes outside my place? Next to the rocky hill?'

‘Sounds perfect. About eight?'

‘Hmm, maybe a bit before. The sun will be going down around then. How about…7:48 p.m.?' She tilted her head and hitched up one corner of her lips.

‘Make it 7:49 and you've got yourself a deal.'

‘Deal.' They locked eyes for a moment and Chrissie no longer saw the ocean rippling in his eyes, she saw stars. Their sparkle sent a shiver up her spine, and she hadn't felt this way in a long time.

‘So is there anything you'd like me to bring?'

Chrissie thought for a few seconds. ‘I'll provide the rug, the food, and the drink.' She slid a glance his way and poked his arm with her finger. ‘And you provide the music.'

He turned to face her.

‘Yes that's right. Bring your guitar.'

He smiled. ‘Okay then, Bossy Burns. What song should I play first?'

‘
A Good Start
,' she said. She did love his new one,
Breathe
, but had had enough of tears for a while.
A Good Start
was upbeat, in a relaxed way, and always made her feel good.

‘I'll sing it before we eat. That will get the night off to a very good start.' He flashed a cheeky smile.

‘If you do a better job with the song than with your puns, then yes.'

He whacked her thigh.

As she dropped Drew at Serendipity and drove to the end of Dune Road, a comforting sense of happiness washed over her. What a great day. She got to enjoy being in the type of house she'd always wanted, be around the family she'd always wanted, and tonight…she'd be with the man she'd always wanted. Reality could go and get stuffed until Monday.

Right, picnic rug — check. Bottle of champagne — check. Tray of food — check. Candle in a jar — check. Oh, what am I forgetting?
Chrissie's gaze darted here, there, and everywhere.
Oh of course!
She grabbed two plastic wine glasses from the cupboard.
What are we supposed to do, drink from the bottle? Oh, and napkins…do we need napkins?
If Kai was there, yes, but it would just be two grown adults sharing a tray of simple food.
But what if there's a spill or an awkward food on face situation? Oh for crying out loud, I can come back into the bloody house!

Although the dinner date was right outside her house, it was way outside her comfort zone, and she wanted to be as prepared and dignified as possible. She grabbed a couple of plastic plates and popped them on the tray, then carried her collection of items outside. The air wasn't cool like last night, the heat of the day still hung in the air, despite the refreshing breeze rising off the ocean. The moon shone bright too, and with the outdoor lighting around the house, the candle might not be needed, but it wasn't only about need. What's a romantic dinner without a candle?
Romantic?
Oh God, she was probably reading too much into this. They'd shared a nice family lunch and now they would share a nice friendly dinner between teacher and student. Nothing more. It couldn't be any more.

She placed the tray on the sand and shook out the picnic rug, laying it neatly on the ground. The sand dune sloped slightly, but a flat area at one end of the rug kept the tray of food and drink from toppling over.

She walked up to the edge of the rocky hill and peered over it, but there was no sign of him yet. Her phone buzzed.
What if it's him? What if he's cancelling?
She dug her fingers in her pocket and retrieved the phone. Melinda. Crap, not the best timing.

‘Hi Mel,' she answered.

‘Hey hun, how are you enjoying your Saturday night without Kai? Working through stuff in the house I bet, or watching a DVD?

Chrissie bit her lip. ‘Um, something like that.'
Nothing remotely like that.

‘So how are things? Kai go to school okay?'

‘In the second half of the week, mostly. His dad said he'd take him to the movies as a reward. At first that wasn't enough incentive, so he said he could also go to the video game arcade after and play in the young kids section. I hate those places, they're so noisy and filled with older kids, but it worked.'

‘Whatever works, hun.'

‘Yeah. I just hope we don't have to keep doing this forever. I don't want to spoil the kid.'

‘Letting him have fun isn't spoiling him, it's showing him that when he tries hard he gets to have fun, and when he doesn't, he might not get to do the things he wants to do.'

‘True. And I'm one step ahead for next week. The local Sunday markets are on next weekend, so that'll be his next reward. I'll give him ten dollars to buy something from one of the stalls. Might even see if his new friend would like to come along.'

‘Sounds great. Anyway, you're child-free for the weekend, so what else is going on with you lately?'

‘Oh, not much, the usual. How about you?'

‘Just the usual for me too. Hubby says we should go on a family holiday sometime soon, before the cooler weather sets in. I told him as long as I can come and stay with you for a night or two in the school holidays like I promised. We might even head down your way and stay a while somewhere nearby.'

‘Well, you could always stay — '

‘And don't even think about offering for all of us to stay with you. You need the time to work on the house; you don't want us to create more work for you. I'll leave the fam at the holiday park and come and help you out for a bit.'

‘Oh, you're awesome.'

‘I know.'

Chrissie chuckled at her friend's sarcastic honesty. If such a contradiction existed. She was being sarcastic to avoid sounding egotistical, but it was true. She was awesome. So was the person strolling down the beach on the other side of the hill.

‘Um, sorry to cut our convo short Mel, but I kinda have to get going.'

‘I thought you were just hanging out at home?'

‘I am. I just…' Drew caught her eye and waved with his free hand, the other one carrying his guitar. ‘I'm, um, baking! I have a cake in the oven and then I'm going to put cookies in right after so I can't really call back, I don't want to start a fire or anything!'

‘You're baking?'

‘Guess so.'

‘Now I'm jealous. Maybe I should leave motherhood for the weekend and drive down to your place right now. I could eat a whole cake. And maybe a cookie or ten.'

‘Oh well, one day. Shame it's a bit late. Anyway, great chatting. Love ya, I'll talk to you maybe tomorrow.'

‘Rightio, you Baking Queen. Talk soon.'

Chrissie ended the call and tucked the phone in her pocket as Drew came around the corner. It killed her to lie to Melinda, but she had no choice. Maybe when this was all over she could fill her in and apologise.
When it was all over.

Drew strummed his guitar. ‘Well, hello…' he sang.

Chrissie laughed. ‘Is that the start of a new song?'

‘It could be.' He walked up the sand dune barefooted. Chrissie was wearing slip-on sandals but shouldn't have bothered. She kicked them off when he approached. ‘But I actually have a new song I started working on only this evening.' He placed the guitar on the side of the rug.

‘Another one? You're on a roll!'

‘Must have been inspired by our lunch today.'

‘So do I get a sneak peek?'

‘Nope. Not yet. Nowhere near ready to be heard by anyone else.'

‘Oh, I'm curious! What's it called.'

‘I'm not telling.' He made a show of zipping his lips.

‘Tease,' Chrissie said. ‘So,' she gestured around. ‘Welcome to the three hat ‘Sand Dune' restaurant.'

‘I don't see any hat, let alone three of them.'

‘Stop it, you.' She gently kicked his leg. ‘I'm sure with your glamorous lifestyle and an ex-chef for a father you know all about how restaurants are rated.'

‘Of course. But I think it's a silly thing to call it. They should use something else instead of hats.'

‘Such as…?'

‘Such as…
mmm's
or something.'

‘
Mmm's?
'

‘Yeah, the more
mmm's
the nicer the food and service. One hat is
mmm
, two hats is
mmm, mmm
, and three hats is
mmm, mmm, mmm
as in delicious.'

Chrissie's mouth practically watered at the way his mouth made the
mmm
sounds. ‘And what if the food was even better than
mmm, mmm, mmm
?'

Drew glanced up at the sky in thought. ‘Maybe it would be a
yes! yes! yes!
Like in
When Harry Met Sally
. ‘

Chrissie laughed. ‘Well I don't think the food I've brought will be that…
stimulating,
but I hope it'll at least be a one
mmm
.'

‘So what's on the menu?' Drew lifted the lids of the plastic containers.

‘Sorry, it's not very fancy. Plastic containers and all that.'

‘It's a picnic, and you know me, I'd be happy with Vegemite sandwiches.'

‘Funny you should say that,' Chrissie said, as Drew eyed the ribbon sandwiches she'd made.

Drew's eyebrows rose.

‘Kidding, no Vegemite ones I'm afraid, but I do have chicken and cucumber and ham and coleslaw.'

‘Even better.' He rubbed his stomach. ‘And you even brought cheese and crackers and antipasto. Thanks for this, you rock!'

‘Ha,' she replied, pointing to his guitar. ‘And you.'

He smiled, and tipped his head towards the rocky hill next to them. ‘And that.'

‘Haha, good pun.' Chrissie gestured to the picnic rug. ‘Please take a seat, sir.'

Drew sat and shifted around to get comfortable, the guitar on one side of him, Chrissie on the other.

‘Can I get you a glass of house wine, sir?'

‘Please.' He held up a plastic goblet and she poured in the sparkling liquid. ‘So much for being alcohol free this month.'

‘I won't tell anyone at Serendipity.'

‘Good.'

Chrissie poured one for herself and Drew held his out and clinked hers, even though it was more of a dull clunk and barely audible. ‘Cheers.'

‘Cheers.'

Chrissie tipped wine down her throat, the coolness soon replaced by the warm feeling of the alcohol. The waves in the ocean whooshed and hummed, rolled in and sunk back out, forward, backward, like the thoughts and emotions in her mind. Go to Drew, pull away from Drew — repeat. The more she pulled away the more she wanted to return to him, and the more she returned to him, the more she wanted to stay, despite her conflicting thoughts on the issue.

‘These are nice, very posh,' Drew said after munching into a ribbon sandwich. ‘Good thing there aren't any crusts, I really don't want my hair to go curly.'

Chrissie's hand reached up to his head before she knew what she was doing. She ran it across the prickly softness of his number two cut. ‘You don't have enough hair to make any curls.' She grinned.

‘Good thing, then. But you,' he ran his hand through her long wavy hair, ‘you've got definite curl potential here.' He twirled a few strands between his finger and they coiled and slipped around it.

‘My hair can't make up its mind. It's not straight, and not curly.'

‘It's strurly.' He grinned.

‘You love playing with words, don't you?'

‘It's my job. I spend more time writing songs than I do singing them. Performing is only a small percentage of my career. Then there's the publicity, the photo shoots, the interviews, the management discussions and strategic planning. Sheesh, I'm getting a headache just thinking about it all.'

‘You sure one month is enough time off for you?' Had she alluded to a double meaning with her question, as though she wanted him to stay longer? She only realised once the words had been spoken.

‘I'll let you know once I get back to the States. But yeah, I'm enjoying the time off.' He caught her eye with his gaze. ‘
Really
enjoying it.'

When the wine was almost gone and only crumbs remained on the plates, Chrissie put them to the side. ‘Now, I do have dessert in the kitchen if you want any. Thought I'd wait and see.'

‘I'm good for now, but my stomach will let me know soon enough if not.' He rubbed it. ‘Hey, I haven't played for you yet.' He lifted his guitar and sat it on his lap. ‘
A Good Start
, right?'

‘One of my favourites.' She manoeuvred back a little to give him room, and rested on her hands behind her for support.

Chrissie watched his hands, the way they delicately cradled the instrument, the way his fingers knew just where to press and move. It was as hypnotic as his music. She wished she was the guitar, being embraced and adored and caressed in all the right places. The rhythmic tones from the guitar filled the air, each note like a little star, rising up to join the others shining their light on the world.

She could listen to his voice all day. All night. She closed her eyes, rocking side to side in time with the music. When the rhythm intensified in anticipation of the faster tempo of the chorus, she opened her eyes and her lips parted in a smile as Drew sang.

‘May not be right, may not be wrong,

But I've been waiting far too long.

Who knows whether I've made the right choice,

But I know, I know, it's a good start…'

When he finished singing he placed his guitar to the side as Chrissie clapped. He gave an exaggerated bow and thanked her. ‘And the crowd went wild…' He cupped his hands around his mouth and made a noise like a clapping crowd of thousands.