Holiday Affair (16 page)

A large conch shell on the marble bench in the bathroom overflowed with a variety of bath gels and shampoos. Choosing a black orchid scent, Lissy luxuriated under the steaming shower. Dressing in a pair of loose white pants and pale green top, she put on a minimum of makeup and headed for the bar with a couple of minutes to spare. Steeling herself to meet Nick, she repeated to herself,
we’re here to work.

…

Nick was sitting at the bar waiting for Lissy. He’d already been approached by two attractive women who thought he was alone. He saw Lissy pause at the door and his heart rate kicked up a notch as she walked over to him.

The simple colors she wore and the short curls framing her face reminded him of her gentle beauty. She sat on the stool next to him and he looked over at her, his eyes lingering on her face.

“You look very relaxed already,” he said.

“Oh Nick, you should see my room. It’s fit for a queen!

I have a marble spa bath, almost as big as the pool at the indoor sports center at the university.” He laughed. “That is big, Lissy, but I’m sure you’re exaggerating.”

She laughed back at him, and he was pleased to see that they were both playing it the same way.

Friendly, platonic conversation, no touching.

“Well, maybe not quite as big, but you could fit a small family in there.”

“Drink?” he asked.

“Yes please, I’m going to have a tropical cocktail, but don’t worry, that’ll be it for the night. I know we start work in the morning. I’ll be up bright and early, ready to go. I’m so looking forward to going into the villages and doing these oral histories.”

Nick was touched by her enthusiasm. He had spent so much time in the Islands, it was refreshing to see Lissy’s excitement about getting in the field and working.

“I was reading some of the tourist literature in my room.” Her eyes sparkled up at him as she sipped her cocktail. “Did you know that Aitutakians believe they descended from Ru, the famous seafaring warrior who sailed from Avaiki? Legend has it he arrived at full moon and he was captivated by its reflection in the vast tranquil lagoon and named his landing point
O’otu
–full moon.

That’s how the beach here got its name.”

“We’ll have to talk about that one tomorrow,” Nick said. He was having trouble taking his eyes from her face.

“You really love the ocean, don’t you Lissy? You seem much happier when you are near the water.”

“It was my happy childhood with Gramps and running free at Black Rock Beach.”

“My happiest memories are all to do with the ocean.” She sipped her drink and he sensed her withdrawal from him. She put her drink down and turned to him, speaking in a brisk, business-like manner.

“Okay, Nick, tell me the plan for tomorrow.” They discussed the sequence of interviews over dinner and Nick was disappointed when Lissy refused his offer of a walk along the beach after dinner.

“Thanks, Nick, but I have some work I want to do and some emails to send.” He watched as she stood and left the restaurant. Nick finished his drink, signed the bill for dinner and headed out to the beach for a walk.

The next morning, they were picked up bright and early by a driver in a small, brightly-colored four-wheel drive vehicle to head for Tomara, the first village they were visiting. Nick slid a small tray of bottled water into the back of the vehicle with their laptops.

“Where’s the recording equipment?” asked Lissy, surprised to see him traveling so lightly.

“Don’t need it,” he said. “My laptop has a special external microphone that will record across a room and pick up individual voices in even the noisiest of rooms.” Lissy turned her attention to the road as the driver pulled on to the dirt road. They arrived in the village after a short drive and Lissy smiled as she saw the young children running toward them. The Cook Islanders were an extremely happy people and the driver informed Nick and Lissy that the village had been looking forward to the professor’s visit.

“
Kia orana
, professor.” The chief held both hands out in welcome to Nick.

Nick reached out and grasped the chief’s hands, but the old man pulled Nick in and enveloped him in a backslapping embrace.

“Come, come.” The chief led them across to a large ceremonial building, decorated with ornate carvings. The doorway was low and even Lissy had to lower her head to walk through the intricately carved doorway. They were greeted by the excited voices of a large group of women, sitting in a circle in the center of the large room. Waves of brightly covered fabric covered their legs and spread across the floor to the center of the room as they stitched with fine needles. Lissy walked to the edge of the circle and pointed to the fabric, and asked what the women were making.

“
Tivaeva
.” A young woman gestured for Lissy to sit with them. She looked across at Nick and the chief nodded his head vigorously.

“You bring your wife too, professor?” He slapped Nick on the back good-naturedly. “Welcome, Mrs. Professor.” She opened her mouth to correct him, but Nick glanced across and shook his head almost imperceptibly.

She glared back at him, confused by his direction as the young woman pulled her down to join the circle on the wooden floor. Lissy looked closely and realized the brightly colored fabric were patchwork quilts, overlapping each other. One of the older women must have noticed the surprise on her face.

“This is the meeting hall and the
vainetini
. Our group of women from the village meet here in the mornings to do
Tivaevae
. Our islands are famous for the magnificent bed covers we sew; they are very popular with the tourists.” She held up the one she was stitching. “They are given to important guests as gifts. This is for you and your professor husband to take home. It is good for fertility.” The other women giggled.

Lissy shook her head and stood, moving across to join Nick as the chief invited them both to drink juice from a carved wooden bowl and eat from a platter of fresh fruit.

Lissy watched with interest as some of the women began to sing while they stitched.

When they finished eating, Nick leaned across to the chief. “Are you ready for us to set up our equipment and start recording?”

The chief nodded. Nick booted up his laptop and set it up on the low table in the middle of the building, the webcam pointing toward the chief. The chief called over two more old men and nodded at Nick. The men sat cross-legged on the woven mat next to the chief and Nick pushed Lissy gently behind him. Nick asked the first question and settled in comfortably as the chief spoke for a few minutes without pause.

He described how the women would leave the meeting room at midday and the men would come in and spend the afternoon working on wood carvings, but one of the other men explained it had lost its spiritual and cultural emphasis and was now mainly for the tourists to purchase.

Each time Lissy tried to ask a question, Nick raised his hand and stopped her before she could say a word. The chief nodded and thumped Nick on the back as he let out a deep booming laugh.

Lissy’s temper simmered. She sat there for two hours and didn’t say a word, and couldn’t get anywhere near the laptop. Eventually, the women gathered their fabrics, left, and the chief stood indicating that it was time to eat. He pointed out the ablutions block to Nick and invited them to freshen up for the meal.

As soon as he left the building, Lissy stood up and marched over to Nick, who was packing up his laptop.

He turned, his hands raised in front of himself for protection.

“All right, Mr. Professor, would you like to tell me what that was all about? You knew before you started that I wouldn’t be saying or doing anything. Why did you need a research assistant on this trip? What ulterior motive did you have?” Her voice rose with each question. “I can’t trust you, can I?” Lissy pushed him in the chest and took a step back as she saw the anger flare in his face.

“While we are talking trust, let’s talk about you!

You’re the one with the trust issues, Melissa.” She knew with the “Melissa” that he was really angry.

“It wasn’t the chief I was expecting,” he said. “The adviser warned me that it depended on which of the four chiefs we saw. He said me that if we had this one, he would not speak to a woman. That’s why I didn’t want you to talk and I let him believe you were my wife.”

“I didn’t do my doctorate to be decoration!” Lissy was trying to stay calm, but her temper was taking over.

“Keep your voice down,” he said. “I don’t want to blow this before we finish.”

“Well, you can stay here and finish,” she said pushing herself to her feet, hands on hips. I’m getting the driver to take me back to the town. I have plenty of work I can do in the historical museum.”

“Whatever,” he said dismissively. “I don’t care what you do. You’re too hard to follow.”

“Well,” Lissy replied, “I don’t care what you do either!” She glared at Nick and picked up her bag and laptop, walking out to the car with as much dignity as she could muster. The driver was sitting under a leafy mango tree, his hat pulled over his eyes. She stood there and cleared her throat to get his attention, but he didn’t stir.

“Ahem.”

Nick walked to the door of the building and stood and leaned against the carved wood entry, watching her, his expression inscrutable. Lissy stood over the driver and shook his shoulder. “I’m sorry to wake you. I want to go back to the town. Can you drive me please?” The man scrambled to his feet and opened the car door for her. With a last glare over her shoulder at Nick, she slammed the car door and they headed down the hill back toward the coast. As the vehicle rattled and bounced over the rutted track, Lissy’s anger threatened to overwhelm her. She had not been so angry for a long time—Nick brought out a temper that she had outgrown many years before. The anger settled like a cold stone in her chest. Nick managed to make her feel absolutely useless. It was not the fact that the chief wouldn’t speak to her that upset her; it was the fact that Nick had known and not mentioned it. He knew she would not have traveled with him if that was the case.

It made her question the entire reason he had wanted her to come to the islands with him.
Does he have any
respect for my work at all?

She had a quick lunch at the buffet in the dining room, freshened up and grabbed her laptop, heading for the museum. Despite Nick and his games, there was plenty of additional material she could glean from local sources.

She could start the research she had planned for later in the week now, and if she finished earlier she would change her flight and leave him here.

She had set up a database with the research that she was finalizing and had many records that needed updating from primary source material at the local museum. A tall islander with a friendly face greeted her as she knocked on the office door at the back of the small building.

“Dr. McIntyre, how wonderful to meet you. I have read some of your publications on our Islands and love reading your theories, especially the one about—” He broke off and smiled.

“Oh, I’m being rude, I’m so sorry. My name is James Toki.” He reached out, and took her hands in his as he introduced himself. “I studied in Sydney and Auckland and came back here to my home. I think you will be pleased with the recent progress we have made on dating the first arrivals and tracking their journeys.” Lissy spent a pleasant afternoon with Jim, as he insisted she call him. It was a refreshing change to be respected for her research and her professional standing. It made her realize Nick considered her from a physical and emotional point of view only. Although, she did concede that perhaps she was being too harsh. He had always shown the utmost respect for her work at the university. She shook her head angrily—she was sick of him messing with her thoughts and emotions.

Glancing down at her watch, she realized she had kept Jim way past the closing time.

“Oh dear,” she said. “I’ve kept you for too long.”

“It’s been a pleasure,” Jim said.

“I have so much more to ask you about the information I collected this afternoon. May I come back tomorrow?”

“How about dinner tonight?” Jim looked down at her.

For a brief moment, Lissy worried about Nick’s reaction and then cast it aside.

“That would be great.”

“Where are you staying? At the resort on the beach?” When she nodded in agreement, Jim reached out and shook her hand. “I will come and join you there if that suits you. About seven?”

“That would be fine. I look forward to it.” Lissy couldn’t help but be aware of the admiration in his eyes as he bid her good afternoon and closed the museum up. She strolled along the beach back to the resort, satisfied with her afternoon’s work.

Lissy went back to her room, stripped down, put on her bikini and did a number of laps in the private pool on her balcony. After drying off with one of the luxurious beach towels, she took a beer out of the fridge in her room and sipped it as she gazed at the magnificent view across the lagoon.

Mmm, I could get used to this.

Lissy picked up her laptop and stretched out on the deck chair next to the pool. She started to read through her notes from the morning, trying to push away the little fingers of guilt that were trailing across her mind. She felt as though she should explain to Nick what she was doing and where she was.

Damn him
. Even though he had been the cause of her bad mood, and her leaving the village, she’d had a productive afternoon despite his arrogant attitude. She probably could have found out the information from the museum by email from the university in Armidale.

But I wouldn’t be lying here in the warm sun, looking
forward to a dinner date with a good-looking guy tonight.

The sun warmed her back as she dozed and thought about Nick and Jim. They were both great-looking guys, so why the attraction to Nick and not to Jim? Tall and dark-skinned, Jim had a killer smile, a keen intelligence, and the same research interests as she did, but she had not felt one jolt of physical attraction to him. On the other hand, she thought angrily, one thought of Nick drifted into her mind and her body turned into a quivering mess.