Forgotten Love (Derrien Island Trilogy) (19 page)

So that was the name of the model, Justin huh? He was wearing a triumphant leer as she approached him for the recording and she steeled herself inside and replaced his face
immediately with Marcus’.  She recalled then how stunned he was when he walked in to find her leaning against the pillars which flanked the foyer of their new home and he dropped his keys as the door closed behind him. She walked toward him slowly and the soft click of her stilettos on the floor were the only sound as he stood there not moving a muscle but his eyes drank in everything he was seeing hungrily. Yes, she had to cling to him then because the foyer was as far as she got before he had her pressed against the walls with her legs wrapped intimately around his waist as he slaked his thirst for her with reckless abandon. At the time she vowed to herself that Marcus was the only man that she would ever want to hold her in that way in her lifetime!  In the last year somehow she had convinced herself that was not true anymore but here she was now trying to save her career and the only person she could even conceive of imagining was him.

Keeping her mind firmly on the memory Natasha assumed the earlier pose and when the music began she allowed herself to
be transported away from the set and back to her life on Derrien Island.

Justin swung her around and dipped her low and she recalled how Marcus did the same to her one evening as they laughed and joked a
bout an episode of Dancing with the Stars and what it would be like if they entered as a couple. They’d just done their own version of the tango before Marcus dipped her low before trailing a line of soft butterfly kisses from her cleavage up and along her throat before nibbling on her earlobes. She’d thrown back her head even more to grant him more access just as she did now on the set.

At the end of the recording for the day, Natasha finally stumbled back to her dressing room and
changed quickly, called for her car and returned to her apartment. After closing the door behind her sank to the floor and cried. What had she done? Just that morning she finally sent off the divorce papers and irony decided to play its game to full force today! It was the same day she needed her husband to save her career.

Marcus’ hand connected with the ball with a loud thud before sending it flying back across the volleyball net. Okay so he hit the ball with a lot more fury and force than was necessary but he had to get the tension out of his body. It had been four months now and he still wasn’t functioning and had in the final two months given over a lot more responsibilities to his management team. Losing Natasha was eating him up inside and nothing he, Sheldon or anyone could say was making the hurt and anger dissipate. So, the best thing was to take it out on the ball and on the courts. Strangely, his singular focus to try steel himself in preparation for the arrival of the divorce papers made him even better at the game and his sports club even won the last beach volleyball tournament which ended last month.

“Hey man, I know we are here to win but we can only do
so if the ball stays intact,” joked Sheldon lightly punching him in the arm as they rotated positions.

Marcus regarded his friend silently as he moved on to take up his position again. He knew that he was attracting the attention of a group of females who had gathered to cheer on his team and two of them even winked suggestively at him. Concealing a dry
mirthless laugh, he returned his attention to the game knowing that his interest in women was at an all time zero right now. He only wanted one woman, Natasha, and she was the only one who didn’t want him back.

The ball came toward him again and he jumped and pummelled it back over the net to the delight and cheers of his fans. The game
would soon be over and knowing this Marcus felt a twinge of regret. In fact, he always did of late! Volleyball had become his drug of choice, his distraction. At least he didn’t smoke or drink and he placated himself with the thought that at least it was a healthy drug. But when it was all over and he had to leave, it was the same feeling of emptiness that greeted him when he returned to his home in Manderley.

Today was also Lucinda’s deadline for him to present evidence that he and Natasha would reunite
so that he would be able to buy her restaurant. In their last conversation she indicated that the Italian couple were only waiting on her to call them to let them know if they could fly in next week to finalize the purchase. Even if he and Natasha never reconciled he still wanted that restaurant. So many wonderful memories were created there and he was more than a little angry with Lucinda for trying to force his hand in this way. He’d run out of arguments trying to convince her to see things his way. He tried arguing that by selling it to strangers she couldn’t be sure of how they would preserve her legacy, but if she sold it to him that would be assured. She stubbornly insisted that she would only sell to a couple who were in love.

It didn’t help matters either that Sheldon did not let up on telling him that he gave up to
o easily in the first month after they returned. That he should have stayed and fought no matter what argument Natasha put up! Those were easy words for someone who was not standing in his shoes. But, he decided to try one more time but this time he chose a more indirect approach to get her to see that he was apologizing and that he wanted them to talk about their relationship, to work things out. He mailed his offering to her last night. It would be his final attempt at any form of reconciliation between them. He just couldn’t keep laying his heart on the line to be trampled again and again.

The ball came toward him again and this time he dived low to save it
by bumping it back up into the air to one of his teammates. Sand flew around him covering his sweat glistened body with a layer of coarse grains. He just lay there on his back refusing this time to get back up. The sound of cheering and the hoots of celebration around him signalled the end of the match. The save was enough! He’d managed again to save the match, so why couldn’t he save his marriage? Why were divorce papers sitting on his kitchen counter right that moment? Once again he was reaching out and Natasha was pushing him away.

“Great game Marcus, that dive was off the charts!” shouted Sheldon as he jogged toward him and offered him a hand up!

Marcus looked up at him unmoving, feeling limp knowing that all the fight had gone out of his body!

“Hey man, come on you did great, let’s go and celebrate with the rest of the team. Zach is buying and you know that doesn’t happen too often!” Sheldon joked outwardly hiding his concern at the empty blank look in his friend’s eyes. He looked
like the other team should be feeling right now. He looked as though he was the one who lost the match.

“You go on without me, I’m going to take a swim and then I have an important business meeting
later,” said Marcus finally sitting up, pulling up his knees and resting his forearms on them.

“I can wait with you if you need to talk!”

“Nah, I don’t want to talk, besides you have talked my ear off more in the last few months than any man could bear in ten lifetimes,” replied Marcus trying to soften his statement with a wry smirk.

“You do know by now that you can’t get rid of me that easily?” asked Sheldon folding his tall frame down until he was seated beside his friend.

“A guy can try can’t he?”

“So, today’s the day you meet with Luce?” asked Sheldon intuitively, while ignoring Marcus’ barbed attempts at putting him off.

“Yeah, it’s my deadline!”

“Well if you want me to detain the DiMinoglio’s at the airport when they arrive, you only need say the word you know!” joked Sheldon jabbing Marcus lightly in the ribs.

“That seems like my only option now to delay this!” replied Marcus with a serious expression.

“Hey, you do know I’m joking about that though!” retorted Sheldon quickly. There was no telling what Marcus thought was serious when he was in this frame of mind. “I am sure that Lucinda wants to sell you her restaurant and she is only doing this in the hope that you and Natasha would work things out!”

“It’s not fair Sheldon, Natasha is the one who left and she is the one holding the cards here too,” Marcus seethed.

“I’m telling you Luce is not going to sell, trust me! I bet she will come up with some other excuse to try and buy you guys some more time again!”

“I hear you but I am not so convinced anymore, besides how can time stop the fact now that Natasha has finally filed for the divorce?” asked Marcus grimly throwing a fistful of sand a few feet in front of him!”

“
When?” asked Sheldon snapping his head around now with understanding at Marcus’ foul mood.

“They came last night, by international courier! The rush service no doubt,” he said bitterly.

“Natasha must be crazy or determined to wreck everything that is good in her life!” exclaimed Sheldon angrily. Natasha was his friend too but this situation was wearing thin on him too. He’d looked up to Marcus and Natasha for years quietly hoping that one day he could find someone to love just as much as they loved each other. That dream was rapidly fading and was being replaced by a cynicism and distrust of women that he did not like at all.

“Is this ringing
, drawstring bag yours Marcus?” asked Sean one of their teammates as he held out a bag to him.

“Yeah, it is! Thanks!” replied Marcus taking it from him. He rummaged inside and realized he had four missed calls from Lucinda! What was the huge rush that she needed to call him four times?

“Sheldon, I have to make a call, I’ll catch up with you later!” said Marcus rising to his feet. “I am going to skip on that swim today too!”

Sheldon got up quickly with him and matched his long stride
s as they made their way to the parking lot.

“If I don’t hear you by six
, this evening I am coming up to Azure Lodge to find you!” warned Sheldon as he tapped on the roof of the SUV after Marcus got in!

“What would I do if I didn’t have a friend like you?”

“Too bad you’ll never have to find out!” said Sheldon smirking.

Marcus pulled out of the parking lot and drove home. He took a shower and grabbed something to eat quickly all the while ignoring the papers on the counter. He refused to reply to Lucinda’s calls preferring to talk to her face to face
instead.

It was a fifteen minute drive to Lucinda’s and already the lunch crowd was beginning to arrive. This restaurant though set out in the countryside was more popular than many located near the city and the oceanfront. It was more than a dream investment.

Once inside he was escorted to Lucinda’s office by the host on duty. Lucinda had given up doing most of the cooking as her arthritis worsened over the years and now supervised and trained specially chosen staff to cook her highly coveted recipes.

“Come in Marcus, did you get my calls earlier?” she asked without waiting for him to sit down.

“Yes, I did but not until the fourth one. I decided to speak to you in person!”

“I see, well the reason I was calling you was to let you know that the DiMinoglio’s will be here tonight instead of next week as planned. They are very eager about the sale and
they want to have dinner here tonight and spend some time on the island sightseeing before the meeting next week.”

“But I thought the meeting wasn’t finalized. You said you would call them today.”

“I know and I didn’t call them. They called me! Look Marcus I want you to be the one to have this place...” she began.

“So why all these games then Lucinda? Don’t you think that if I could have gotten Natasha back here without kidnapping her and breaking the law that I wouldn’t have by now? She doesn’t want this marriage anymore. Don’t take that out on me! I know what it takes to run a successful restaurant and this one means more to me than all of the others I own!
The DiMinoglio’s could never be as invested in this as I am,” he declared.

“Well, it is the fact that I know that
, which caused me to call you today! I wanted to propose something to you that could satisfy both you and the DiMinoglio’s,” said Lucinda.

“What do you propose this time
around?”

“I know that your restaurants are a success because you made them so with all your hard work and creative insight. The DiMinoglio’s want this place but they want to live on Derrien Island even more.

Don’t be upset and hear me out first, okay?”

“Okay, I’ll listen,” replied Marcus.

“What if you sold Sands to them instead?” she began.

At first Marcus was about to protest but he stopped himself and thought about it quietly as he promised.

“This would allow them to get a great restaurant and you will be able to have Lucinda’s without any opposition. I never planned to sell this place to them anyway, but I never imagined that Natasha would hold out this long either in her decision to end your marriage. I know this is a strange and unexpected proposal, but both you and I know that Sands is the most troubling restaurant for you right now. You are hardly ever there because it is where Natasha worked and it was where she quit. I also know that you have been placing more effort into building the Shores brand especially with the Sunday family buffet and all the other activities. The DiMinoglio’s are looking to establish an Italian themed place including a dinner menu and they can’t do that as easily here practically in the mountains. But your restaurant will allow them to have that.  I want you to dine with them tonight and discuss the details. What do you think?”