Native Affairs (67 page)

Ann hesitated.

“Come on, come on—no guts, no glory.” Amy pulled into a driveway and turned her car around, heading back toward Lime Island.

“What if he is there? Are you going on to the concert by yourself?”

“Are you kidding? Gloria Stansfield has been bugging me for weeks to sell her my ticket, she’ll take yours in a second. I know for a fact she’s home tonight, I just talked to her this morning. I can pick her up after I drop you off at Jensen’s.”

“Got it all figured out, haven’t you?”

“Yup,” Amy said smugly, and grinned.

She guided her red Camaro into the Jiffy Stop strip mall and stopped the car in front of the pay phone. “Well?” she said as she put the car in park.

“All right. Should I call?”

Amy shook her head. “He might recognize your voice if he comes to the phone or answers it himself. This way, if I call and then you chicken out, he won’t be the wiser.”

Ann watched as Amy got out of the car and went to the phone. She had to hand it to her more sophisticated friend; Amy was a whiz at this stuff.

She saw Amy’s lips moving and then waited what seemed like an eternity before Amy flashed her the thumbs-up sign and nodded emphatically.

Ann felt her heart lurch. She had been half hoping that Heath wouldn’t be there. As much as she wanted to see him again, the thought of actually confronting him made her go weak in the knees.

What if he told her to get lost?

Amy scampered back to the car and chortled “Bingo” as she pulled open the door. She started the engine and the car shot out into the street, its tires kicking up sprays of gravel in her eagerness to get back onto the road.

“What took you so long?” Ann demanded, gnawing on her thumbnail.

“I had to get the number of the marina from information first. I didn’t exactly have it memorized, you know.”

“What did he say?”

“I didn’t talk to him. When somebody answered I just asked her for Heath Bodine, and when she went to get him, I hung up the phone. But we know he’s there.”

“For how long?”

“Probably until the place closes at nine.”

“But what if he leaves early? What if he goes out on a job and isn’t there when I arrive?”

Amy looked over at her in exasperation. “Then take a cab back home. Luisa’s gone for the day and your parents are out, anyway, they’ll never know the difference.”

“I only have ten dollars.”

Amy picked up her purse from the car’s console with her free hand and thrust it into Ann’s lap.

“There’s fifty in my wallet, take half. That’ll be more than enough, even if the cabbie takes you home by way of Santiago. Anything else, Nervous Nellie?”

“I’m not dressed right.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake Annie. You’re driving me nuts. You look perfectly fine.”

“This blouse is old.”

“It brings out the color of your eyes.”

“My hair is frizzy.”

“Sweetie, your hair would not frizz in the jungles of equatorial Africa. It looks the way it always does, sensational.”

“I have a zit on my forehead.”

Amy slowed the car and pulled onto the shoulder of the road. She put the car in neutral and looked over at her friend.

“We are three minutes from the marina. If you don’t want to go through with this, say so now and we’ll forget it, all right?”

Ann bit her lip. “I want to do it. I’m just... scared.”

“Scared of him?”

“A little. He’s so big and strong and, I don’t know, masculine. And he must have a reputation, or else why would my father and Luisa be freaking out just because I talked to him?”

“Hold me back,” Amy said, sighing. “If he were interested in me I would live at Jensen’s Marina.”

“Okay. Let’s go.”

The rest of the trip was conducted in silence. The marina was lit up as dusk was just falling, and through the glass walls of the showroom Ann could see the new boats up on blocks for display to potential buyers. The docks where the tenant boats bobbed at anchor led off to the water on the right; the repair garage was on the left.

“How are you doing?” Amy asked as she pulled to a stop at the entrance to the garage.

“I’m a wreck. My hands are like ice.”

“Go for it. Good luck.”

Ann got out of the car. Amy pulled away so fast that Ann knew Amy was not giving her a chance to change her mind.

Ann walked slowly inside the garage, where several boats were disassembled on the stained cement floor and the smell of oil and diesel fuel was overpowering. A middle-aged man with red hair, wearing a rugby shirt, looked up from a ledger at a desk by the door.

“Help you?” he said.

“Yes, I’m, uh, looking for Heath Bodine.”

“He’s out back with Joan. Want me to get him for you?‘“

Ann almost said no, but the man was already moving away. She stood shifting her weight nervously, wondering who Joan was, until she heard the sound of footsteps and saw Heath walking toward her.

He was wearing ripped and faded jeans with a sleeveless army surplus T-shirt and wiping his hands on a greasy rag. He stopped short when he saw her.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

Ann stared at his unsmiling face, the hard lines of his mouth, and her nerve failed her.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have come,” she muttered, bolting for the exit.

He ran in front of her and blocked her path. “Don’t go,” he said. “I was just surprised, I didn’t expect to see you.”

Ann looked back at him in mute appeal.

The redhead returned to his desk and examined the ledger again, humming under his breath.

“Joe, okay for me to use the office for a few minutes? ” Heath said to him.

“Sure, kid. It’s empty.”

Heath jerked his head toward a cubicle with a door at their left, and Ann followed him into it. Once inside Heath turned to Ann and looked at her inquiringly.

“I don’t know what I’m doing here,” she said miserably. “I just wanted to see you again.”

He gazed at her for a long moment and then walked past her to lock the door. When he turned back to her, his face was unguarded and vulnerable.

He opened his arms and she ran into them.

“It’s all right, Princess,” he said into her hair as she closed her eyes and relaxed into his embrace, reveling in the hard feel of his arms around her and the support of his shoulder under her cheek. “I feel the same way, I just wasn’t sure if you did.”

“I did. I do. I hadn’t planned to leave you the other day when the phone rang, and when I came back and you were gone—”

“Don’t explain,” he said, interrupting her, and she felt the rumble of his voice under her ear. “It doesn’t matter. You’re here with me now and that’s what counts.”

He held her off at arm’s length to look down into her face, and then laughed.

“I’m getting you all dirty,” he said.

She threw her arms around his neck again. “I don’t care. Hold me again.”

He obeyed, crushing her to him, and she felt his lips in her hair. When they moved down to her cheek, she lifted her mouth eagerly for his kiss.

It left her breathless, eager for more. He knew what he was doing; this was not the shy, tentative kiss of an inexperienced adolescent but the mature embrace of a man. She clung to him, her lips opening to admit his probing tongue, pressing herself against his lean body until she could feel his unmistakable reaction. It didn’t alarm her, it only made her hungry for more.

There was a knock at the door. “Hey, kid, I need to get in there for the day’s receipts,” a male voice said.

Heath pulled Ann’s arms from around his neck and took a step back.

“We can’t do this here,” he said breathlessly. “Can you meet me when I get off work at nine?”

Ann nodded, her heart still pounding.

“I have my bike out back. We’ll take a ride, okay?”

“Okay.”

He moved to unlock the door. “And whatever you’ve heard about me or my family,” he said, “don’t be afraid. I’d never do anything to hurt you.”

“I’m not afraid,” she said, and suddenly she wasn’t.

The door opened and the redhead came into the room, shooting Heath an amused glance.

“I’ll see you later, okay?” Heath said to Ann, careful not to look at her.

“Later,” she echoed, and walked out of the office and through the garage, not seeing a thing.

She waited until she was outside the doors before she jumped for joy.

* * * *

The hour and a half until Heath got off work seemed to last a decade. Ann went to a sandwich shop down the block from the marina. She sat there nursing several sodas and staring uncomprehendingly at a newspaper until it was time to walk back to Jensen’s. When she got there, the redhead was locking the doors of the garage with a woman standing at his side. He grinned at Ann and said, “Heath will be right out, miss.”

Ann nodded.

Heath emerged from the office door, a gray, hooded sweatshirt tied around his waist. He smiled when he saw her and called out to the others, “G’night, Joe. G’night, Joanie.”

The woman waved as the couple climbed into a van and the man started the motor.

“Joe and Joanie Jensen, sounds like a British comedy team,” Ann said to Heath as he joined her.

“Yeah, I know, but they’ve been good to me. Joe took me on when I was just a sophomore in high school, didn’t even have working papers, didn’t know a thing. I’ve been here ever since.” He took her hand as naturally as he had kissed her and led her around to the side of the building.

“Are you the only ones who work at night?”

“Actually, the place closes at six. They own the marina, so they’re here after hours to do paperwork and bookkeeping, stuff like that. I come in some nights to finish whatever repairs they didn’t get to during the day, and sort of clean up, you know?”

Ann nodded. She didn’t even care what he was saying, his presence was so overwhelming. He stopped short in front of a huge Harley-Davidson chained to a cement post and said, “You ever been on one of these?”

Ann shook her head.

“I didn’t think so,” he said dryly. “Not exactly the mode of transportation favored by the country-club set, is it?”

Ann surveyed the motorcycle warily.

“We can just take a walk if you’d rather not get on it,” he said, responding to her expression.

“No, it’s all right. I want to try it. What do I do?”

“Just climb on behind me and hang on tight to my waist,” he replied.

“I think I can do that,” Ann said, blushing.

“Yeah, I’ll bet you can,” he replied, laughing. He released the chain and then sat on the bike, kicking it into life. Then he unsnapped a helmet from the crossbar and handed it to her.

“Put this on,” he said to her.

“Where’s yours?”

“That is mine. I wasn’t expecting company. I’ll get another one for you tomorrow. Come on aboard.” He held out his hand and she took it confidently.

Ann felt a glow as she climbed onto the bike and wrapped her arms around Heath’s waist. He was getting her a helmet. There would be more times like this.

“Okay back there?” he said, turning his head.

“Fine.”

“Where to?”

“I don’t care,” Ann said, and she didn’t.

They roared off down the incline from the marina to the street, and when Heath reached the road he opened up the bike, traveling at a rate of speed that made the wind whistle in Ann’s ears and the nighttime scenery merge into a blur. She leaned forward and put her head against the back of Heath’s shoulder, closing her eyes and just enjoying the sensation of his warm, muscular body under her hands. When she finally felt the bike slow down she was almost sorry, raising her head to see that Heath was pulling into a clearing above the bay. They were on a height looking out toward the causeway bridge, which twinkled with strings of lights in the warm and fragrant darkness.

“It’s so pretty,” Ann said as he helped her off the bike. “How did you know about this spot? I’ve lived on Lime Island all my life and have never been here.”

“I drive around a lot,” he answered shortly. He untied the sweatshirt from his waist and spread it on the ground for her to sit upon in comfort. The innate gallantry of the gesture pleased her, and she sat with great ceremony, curling her legs under her.

“Where are we?” Ann asked.

“The hills above Port Lisbon. That’s the commercial dock area down below, where you see the boats.” He lay back on the grass and folded his hands behind his head, staring up at the stars. She could just see the white bandage near his thumb, smaller now. He had replaced the gauze pack from the hospital with a square of white tape.

Ann waited for him to speak, certain that he would, but curiously not anxious to rush him. Normally she was one of those people who charged in to fill the gap when a silence fell, but already she knew that with Heath, the situation was different.