Going Solo (New Song) (5 page)

She sat on Carson's bed. His corner of the room was so painstakingly neat that she almost did not want to ruffle his sheet.

"Alice wants us to have a fund raising concert," Carson said. "She wants to go to the Pantomime."

Xavier took off his glasses and rubbed it clean, nodding vigorously as he cleaned them. "That's a good idea, a very good idea. We could raise the funds and then split it up among us. There are a few things that I would want to do too."

Carson looked at Alice, his eyebrows raised. "So princess, the ball is in your court. Organize it. Anything you tell us to do, we'll do."

Alice blushed. He was looking at her admiringly. "Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked uncomfortably.

"Because you are pretty, duh!" Xavier said, grinning. "But you are a little girl. Carson likes a little girl."

Alice felt pleased and indignant at the same time. "I am not a little girl!" she growled at Xavier, "I'll be fourteen in one month."

She looked at Carson again, and then looked away, swallowing. He was grinning as well. Did he really like her or was Xavier joking around?

Carson touched her hand. "Hey," he said softly. "Don't be in such a hurry to grow up, okay? I'll always be around, your loyal subject waiting for you to grow up."

"Awww," Xavier said, "How 'rose-mantic.'"

"Shut up!" Carson threw a pillow at him. They horsed around, throwing insults at each other, until they heard a bike horn tooting outside.

"It's the ice cream man," Carson said, getting up. "Come. Let me get you an ice cream, princess. You know, you do look like a princess with your hair like that," he said, shaking a dollar out of his piggy bank, "A very good looking princess."

"Princess Alice of Norwood." Xavier intoned mockingly. "You know, it actually sounds legit. Like Norwood is a kingdom of some sort." He chuckled. "Will Prince Carson of the house of Delores kindly get me an ice cream cone too?"

"Sure," Carson said sarcastically, "but you need to come for it. Princes don't serve their brothers in bed."

*****

It did not take Alice long to come up with a plan for her Boxing Day fundraiser. She discussed it with the band. She shyly approached Pastor Keen with her plan and was heartily, given the go ahead to use the church hall as a venue.

The seven band members each sold a hundred tickets at two dollars apiece. The church hall could only seat one hundred persons, so Alice crossed her fingers, hoping that seven hundred persons would not show up. She knew that most of the sales were pity sales but she vacillated between worrying that nobody would show up at all and that more people would show up than they had seats to accommodate.

She practiced with the band every opportunity she got and spent even more time with Carson. They were both doing most of the duets because their voices blended so well. They had chosen as their signature song "Love Lift Us Up Where We Belong" and practiced it for hours on end until they knew it by heart. They had even gotten the proper lyrics from the back of a CD case. There was no room for mistakes. Carson would wait for her after school and they would practice for hours. They did so all week.

"It doesn't feel like Christmas is a day away," Alice said to Carson. They were once more practicing but this time they were at church sitting on the back porch, waiting for the rest of the guys to come by. It was late evening and chilly. The church grounds were quiet except for two ladies, who were decorating the church for a Christmas wedding the following morning.

"What?" Carson grinned. "The time is so cool in the nights that I sleep under three sheets."

"I mean…" Alice said pausing, "I hardly hear any carols or anything. It's different this year."

"Because this year you are a working woman," Carson said. "All the little Christmas things are passing you by. Want us to go to grand market downtown tonight and window shop? That should put you in the mood."

"Nah." Alice shook her head. "I prefer hanging out with you in the quiet without the crowds." She did not look at him when she said it and he did not say anything either. He just sat there. She could actually hear the rustling of the grass as the wind passed through it. The grass had become untamable from November, and the gardener had allowed it to grow. With such a large expanse of grass, the furry brown things growing on top of it actually looked like flowers.

She peeked at Carson and saw that he was looking at her; his thick level brows had a furrow in the middle. He was frowning at her fiercely when she caught him looking at her.

"I like spending time with you too Alice—too much. I should find somebody my own age to hang out with."

Alice got up. "You better not dare do that, Carson Bell. You are mine." The passionate plea escaped her mouth before she could suppress it.

Carson got up as well. He towered over her. "Is that so? If I am yours, kiss me then."

"Are you serious?" Alice swallowed.

Carson shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

Alice stood on the top step so that she was nose to nose with him. She was looking straight into his eyes. She put her hand on his chest. She could feel it pounding almost as hard as hers. She closed her eyes and placed her lips on his. They stood like that for a while until Carson placed his arms around her and hugged her to him opening his lips under hers and exploring her mouth.

The feeling was inexplicable. Suddenly, it felt as if her skin got extra sensitive; making her jittery and then she became breathless and had a trembling feeling in her belly and legs.

"Ehem!" They broke apart when they heard someone clear their throat near the bottom of the porch. It was Pastor Keen. He was frowning at them.

"Obviously, you two should not be left alone," he said, shaking his finger at them. "Follow me."

Alice was still feeling shivery inside, but she also felt embarrassed. She did not know where to look—at Pastor Keen's retreating back or at Carson.

Carson put his hand in hers before she could step down. "You are mine too." He whispered. She looked back at him. "Yup, we just branded each other forever." He grinned.

Chapter Five

Carson drove toward the Apple Motel, turning at the sign with the giant red delicious apple. When Alice had called earlier in the day, he had wanted to punish her a little, by telling her that if she wanted to see him, she would have to show up at his office instead of him going to see her, but he knew how much that would hurt Mia, so he did not try to play hard ball. Mia was already down and out. She barely gave him a glance when he left her with the Foster's, who were willing to keep her for the evening. He knew that she knew he was going to see Alice. Her body language was shouting
Betrayer
at him.

He parked in the motel's parking lot and stopped to admire the mini mango tree with its red mangos in the nicely landscaped garden.
The place should be called the Mango Motel
, he thought. He was dithering, trying to prolong the moments before he would see Alice again, touch her again, and breathe in her perfume. It had been ten years. Spending ten more minutes to try to gather his thoughts would not matter much.

When he finally reached the reception desk and enquired about Alice, the receptionist took her time to answer, smiling at him broadly. "She's in Room 302, near the poolside. She is expecting you."

Carson gave her a brief smile, hoping to transmit the "Keep off. I am married." message that he had been sending for years, then headed to the poolside.

She had given her name as Alice Bell. Somehow that made him happy. She had left but had not quite managed to leave him behind. His footsteps faltered as he entered the pool area. He came to a halt when he saw her. She was standing by the poolside, pensively looking out at the sea.

She had not changed much, except for her hair. It was shorter and so thick that a little breeze whipped it across her face, covering her from view. She felt his stare and turned around, pulling back her hair.

"Carson." She gasped, staring at the muscular hunky guy, who was standing a few feet from her and drinking her in. It was Carson but an even better version of the man she had left behind. He walked closer to her, not saying a word and she looked at his bulging biceps in the black muscle shirt and swallowed. This guy was the stuff of dreams, the kind of guy that women drooled over and wondered what it would be like to be with; and she had left him!

She swallowed again and dragged her eyes up to his face. His eyes were eating her alive, filled with questions, accusations and pain. She avoided his eyes and looked at him generally instead. His head was cleanly shaven. It added a little menace to the handsome. She liked that.

They stared at each other for minutes. Carson had a sense of mounting incredulity. He did not hate her; this was the woman that he loved. He had loved her from her childhood and had not had eyes for anyone else. She had vulnerability stamped on her features. Her pink lips were trembling. He resisted the urge to put his lips on them to stop them from trembling. The feelings for Alice that were in storage came back in a trickle and then in a flood until he could not look at her anymore.

"Are we going to talk out here?" he asked huskily.

Alice looked around. There was that guy Herb at the poolside watching them with unabashed curiosity.

"No, er, let's go to my room." She led the way and Carson walked behind her. He did not realized how wound up he was until he was sitting in Alice's room. He exhaled loudly.

Looking around, he could see her suitcase in the corner. There was just one.
So, she wasn't planning on staying long.
Somehow, that depressed him.

She sat across from him, folding her hands in her lap, her halter neckline summer dress gave him a little glimpse of the top of her breasts and he hastily looked away.

"Er...how've you been?" Alice asked. She was staring at him cautiously.

What did she expect: that he would drag her out of her seat; shake her like a rag doll; demand that she tell him why she left without saying a proper goodbye; and why she never saw it fit to contact him over the past ten years?

Carson pretty much felt like doing that but he knew he could not. He could not hurt her, even though he saw the tense line of her body as she held herself, expecting some kind of recrimination. He would not give in to the urge to put a finger on Alice. If he did, God knew it would not be for shaking her. He would start to kiss her and then drag her to the bed and make love to her—as he had wanted to for years. Sitting and staring at her was wreaking havoc on his mind, his heart, and his lower anatomy. He had to restrain himself mentally.

"Carson?" Alice asked shakily. "I know it has been a while, but I...I am not sorry that I left," she said huskily. "I am sorry I left you because I've missed you through the years. I've missed you so much but I didn't think I could live here again and I had to get away. I knew if I hadn't gotten out when I did, you would have stopped me, and if you did, I would be irreparably broken."

Carson nodded. "But ten years Alice? Come on. You left at the end of 1999, at a time when everybody was saying that the world would end. Did you time it that way? Because my world came to an end; and it took a hell of a long time to come alive again. I really had no time to grieve. I had a business to build and a child to take care of. I did not have the luxury of running away."

Alice hung her head. "I am sorry." She sniffed.

Carson said gently. "I don't want to make you cry..."

"You were always a hundred times better than me." Alice looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "If it weren't for you, I don't know what I would do, Carson, or where I'd be. When I left, I knew that Mia would be in good hands. I knew that you all would be better without me."

Carson resisted the urge to hug her. This was Alice. Being this close could spell trouble.

"So what did you do during your ten-year break and what are you planning to do now?" Carson asked curiously. There had to be a reason she was here.

"I er...I went to my Aunt Corrette in New York, and I stayed with her for six months." She shrugged. "I did a hairdressing course and got my own station in a salon there. I got my own customers and decided to move on after a couple of years, rented my own shop and then expanded."

Carson nodded. "I knew you had it in you."

"Thanks... er... I see you did well for yourself as well." Alice looked down at her hands.

"Yep. God has really blessed me and I've had good friends, and support."

"If anyone deserves to be blessed, you do," Alice said. "So...have you moved on with anyone?"

Carson leaned forward in his seat. "Moved on? No. I can’t. You see I made these vows to this woman named Alice Murray, and until she lets me go, there's no moving on. Besides, I haven't had the time. I haven't made the time, don't want to."

Alice looked at him, her mouth forming an "O" in surprise. "I thought you would have found somebody else, you know. You were always the guy everyone wanted to be with."

Carson shrugged at the compliment. "And you were always the only girl I wanted to be with. So have you moved on? Is that why you are here, to finally dissolve this marriage?"