Chapter 6

Sitting on the small patch of grass, Alexandra leaned against the tree while enjoying the shade it provided. Chaotic playground sounds—laughter, shouts, childish voices, and an occasional teacher’s whistle—seemed more distant than they actually were. Absently tugging individual blades of grass from the dirt, it didn’t occur to her that she was damaging the lawn. Instead, she was too busy thinking about Halloween costumes.

Katie wanted to be a princess, but Alexandra wanted to be a gypsy. If she were a gypsy, her mom would have to get her a tambourine. Alex liked the jingly sound of a tambourine. But Mom always wanted the sisters to have matching costumes. Alex didn’t think it was fair. Tommy always got to be what he wanted. This year he was going to be a pirate. She knew it was just because he wanted to swing around a sword. Boys were dopy.

“You’re gonna get in trouble.” A boy’s voice broke her concentration. Alex looked up. Jimmy Keller stood over her. Wearing a wrinkled, button-down, green-plaid shirt and jeans, he was one of the chubbier first graders. Not quite as tall as Alexandra, he had brownish-red hair and a spattering of freckles across his friendly face. Some of the other kids teased him about his weight, but Alex didn’t. She stopped tugging at the blades of grass and frowned.

“Why?” Alex wore one of the new school dresses her mother had purchased at the end of summer. Red and green plaid, with a white Peter Pan collar, it was one of her favorites. The dark fabric concealed any grass stains she might get from sitting on the lawn. Unfortunately, her white socks did not fare as well nor did her new pair of shoes, which were covered with scuffmarks due to her habit of rubbing them together while she sat on the ground.

“You’re pulling up the grass. Teachers don’t like that.” Jimmy sat down next to her and looked toward the dodge ball circle, where a spirited game was taking place. One of the players was Jimmy’s older brother, Ryan. Another was Russell Coulson, but Alexandra didn’t know either boy. Unlike her little sister, Katie, she hadn’t gotten a good look at Russell when he had visited her house.

“Why aren’t you playing?” Alex asked, nodding to the game of dodge ball taking place.

Jimmy shrugged then asked Alex the same question.

“Maybe if I was a boy.”

“But girls are playing.” Jimmy watched the game as they talked.

“If I was a boy, I could wear Levi’s instead of a dress. Then I’d play.” Girls had to wear dresses to school and Alex didn’t like the stinging slap of the dodge ball as it hit her bare legs.

“Oh,” Jimmy said, not really understanding what she meant.

“What are you going to be for Halloween?” she asked.

“A cowboy. Do they have a very good Halloween here?”

“I don’t know. Don’t you know?”

“We just moved here over the summer,” Jimmy told her.

“Us too. Do you like it?”

“It’s okay. We get to see our dad more, which is cool,” Jimmy said.

“What about your mom? My mom works next door at the high school.”

“My mom died when I was little.”

Alex turned her head, looking from the dodge ball game to Jimmy. She had never known anyone who didn’t have a mother.

“You don’t have a mom?” Alex couldn’t believe it.

“No. Not anymore.”

“Do you miss her?” Alex asked.

“I guess. It’s hard for me to remember sometimes. But Ryan tells me about her.”

“Who’s Ryan?”

“My older brother. See, that’s him playing dodge ball. The one in the red shirt.”

Alex looked and wrinkled her nose. The boy appeared to be about her brother’s size. She thought her older brother was dopy. Of course, that didn’t mean she wouldn’t sock a person who said something mean about him.

“So, why do you get to see your dad more now?” Alex was fascinated with this boy, who had no mother.

“We bought a motel in town. We get to live there. But we have to fix it up. He lets Ryan and me help on weekends. It’s my job to pick up all the nails.”

“Pick them up from where?”

“From the floor. Lots of nails on the floor when you’re building stuff. Doesn’t your dad build stuff?”

“No. My dad works with numbers.”

“Numbers?” Jimmy scrunched up his nose.

“He’s a count-aunt.”

“What’s that?”

Alex shrugged. “I don’t know. He works at the kitchen table with lots of papers. We’re not allowed to touch them. Katie spilled a glass of milk on them and got in big trouble last week.”

“Katie?”

“My sister. She’s just a little kid, in kindergarten.”

“You have any brothers?”

“Yeah, a dopy brother in the third grade. He thinks he’s so much smarter than me. But he’s not.”

“My brother’s in the third grade too. But he’s really smart. Sometimes he lets me hang out with him.”

Alex wrinkled her nose in disgust. “I don’t like Tommy touching my toys. Once he cut my favorite doll’s hair.”

Jimmy laughed. Alex scowled at him and then gave him a good punch in the arm.

“Oww!” Jimmy grabbed his injured limb and gave it a rub.

The recess bell rang. Jimmy and Alex jumped up and raced toward the classrooms with the rest of the students on the playground.

Standing on Main Street’s sidewalk scrutinizing the window display, Vera longed for civilization. Harrison insisted she buy her clothes locally—support the local merchants, he said. The dresses in Mabel’s weren’t exactly horrid, but they were last year’s fashions. Of course, she doubted if anyone in Coulson would notice.

“That black one was made for you,” a male’s voice interrupted her thoughts. Vera turned abruptly to the sound of the voice. It was him, the man who had kissed her at Clement Falls.

“You,” she said, unable to mask her surprise.

“Guilty,” he said with a chuckle, then stepped closer. Standing next to her, he looked in the store window, his attention focused on the little black dress hanging on a mannequin. “I’d love to see you in it.”

“What are you doing here?” She turned to look in the window, not wanting to draw attention to the fact she was standing on Main Street talking to a strange man.

“After meeting you, I decided to get off that damn mountain and rent a room in town.”

“After meeting me? What do I have to do with it?” She glanced askance at Anthony Marino, then quickly moved her gaze back to the window display.

“There was nothing in Clement Falls that caught my interest. And then I met you.” He continued to look in the store window.

“You don’t even know me, Mr. Marino.”

“I know I’d like to get to know you better. I’m glad you remembered my name. But please, call me Anthony. I hope you also remembered our kiss,” his said silkily.

“Are you following me?” she asked in a whisper.

“Does the thought frighten you?”

“A little,” she confessed.

“I’d like you to be a little afraid of me.”

She turned to look at him. “Are you a dangerous man, Mr. Marino? Do I need to tell my husband about you?”

“I hope you don’t tell him. It might make it more difficult to convince you to become my lover.”

“You’re quite bold, aren’t you, Mr. Marino?”

“So I’ve been told.”

“And a little ambiguous.”

“How so, pretty lady?”

“I’m not sure if you wish to proposition me or frighten me.”

“Why can’t it be both?”

“You don’t make any sense.”

He leaned closer and whispered, “It’s the sex.”

Vera frowned in confusion.

“The sex, pretty lady. You’ll find it more intense, more passionate if you have a healthy dose of fear. It’s the unknown, the uncertainty you’ll find addictive."

“I have no death wish.” Vera turned abruptly and faced the window again. Anthony laughed at her response.

“Oh, trust me, Princess; I’ve no intention of hurting you in that way. A little rough sex perhaps but nothing lethal. I’ve always taken good care of my toys. Rarely break them.”

“Do you have any idea who I am?” Vera was both outraged and titillated at his words.

“Yes. You’re the princess of Coulson, and you live in an ivory tower. I imagine you lead a very mundane life despite your husband’s money. If you belonged to me—even temporarily—I wouldn’t be satisfied putting you on some display shelf, where I simply looked and didn’t touch. I’d be impatient to take you off the shelf, unwrap the package, and play with my favorite toy.”

“I’m not a toy,” Vera snapped.

“I’d like to make you mine. We’d have fun, Vera. I promise. I’ll show you a good time and when I have to leave in a few months, you can go back to your boring life, but at least you can remember what it was like to live life to the fullest for a short time.”

“This is crazy talk. I need to go.” Vera started to turn and walk away. Anthony reached out and took hold of her wrist. Instead of pulling away, she looked down at the hand that held her.

“Wait, walk with me for a second, I want to show you something. I promise; I won’t hurt you. I don’t want you if you aren’t willing.” He released his hold.

Against her better judgment, Vera followed Anthony down the sidewalk. They paused at the walkway leading to the restrooms.

“If you decide to take me up on my offer, just park your car along Main Street. Walk to the restrooms, and you can enter the back of the Cliffwood Motels through the trees. My room is number ten. It will be open. You’re always welcome.”

Without another word, he turned and walked in the opposite direction. Silently, Vera stood on the sidewalk watching him get into a car and drive away. Nervously, she glanced up and down the street, to see if anyone had seen her talking to Anthony Marino. There were less than a half dozen people on Main Street, and all were some distance away, and none seemed particularly interested in whom she had been talking with.

Instead of returning to her car or Mabel’s Dress Boutique, Vera turned down the walkway leading to the restrooms. After using the facilities, she walked back outside and glanced at the rear of the building. Curious, she looked around to make sure she was alone, and then she walked toward the trees.

Pulling the branches to the side, she peeked through the limbs and looked at the back of the Cliffwood Motel. Hearing something, she glanced behind her. While looking at the building housing the restrooms, a hand reached between the trees and grabbed hold of her wrist. Before she knew what happened, she was yanked between the tree limbs and found herself standing on the sidewalk near room ten, with Anthony Marino.

“I didn’t imagine you’d come so soon!” he said with a laugh.

“You scared me!” she snapped, brushing leaves from her sleeve.

“Sorry, love, I was just happy you came.”

“I didn’t come for you!” she insisted. “I had to use the restroom, and I was just curious to see. I never looked back here before.”

“Well, you need to pay a toll if you want to return to the other side.” Boldly, he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close to him. She could feel the proof of his arousal pressing against her belly.

“Let me go,” she hissed. “Or I’ll scream!”

“And how will you explain why you’re here?” He pulled her tighter. “One kiss and you can go. And you better hurry; the guy who runs this place is fixing a leak in room nine, and is likely to walk out any minute.”

“Let me go!” She squirmed.

“One kiss, Princess. And I want a real one. Then you can go.”

Vera looked up into his dark eyes. She could tell by his stubborn expression he wasn’t about to let her off without a kiss. How would she explain the situation if she was caught? What would one kiss hurt?

“Fine. One kiss. Then let me go,” Vera said primly. Dropping her purse to the sidewalk, she wrapped her arms around his neck. I’ll show him a thing or two about kissing!

Brazenly planting her lips on his, she boldly slipped her tongue in his mouth, intending to shock the man. Instead, her response fueled his desire, and before she could comprehend what was happening, his mouth ravaged hers. Their tongues fenced, and heat rushed through Vera’s limbs. She pulled him closer, succumbing to his dominance. She didn’t resist when his right hand moved down her back and slipped to the front of her blouse, boldly capturing her left breast in his hand. He squeezed tightly, giving her a taste of how he liked to play rough.

Vera heard men talking, and it wasn’t coming from the direction of the restrooms but from the motel. Abruptly she pushed Anthony from her, grabbed her purse off the ground, and made her hasty escape through the trees.