2. Henry
“Jesus!” I jumped to my feet, spun around, looked up the tree, and my jaw dropped. I frowned and blinked, unsure if I was actually seeing correctly. I sure was. A woman in a bathing suit was sitting on a branch in the tree.
“Hi.” She actually waved.
“Hello.” I cleared my throat. There weren’t too many things that surprised me. This did. “You hiding from someone?”
“No, no. It’s a great view up here. That’s all.” A red flush blazed on her lovely milky flesh.
I chuckled, pretty certain she was fibbing. “Okay then. You been up there long?”
“Well, I only just climbed up when you arrived.”
“Oh, sorry to spoil it for you.”
“It’s okay.” Her lips were really red, yet I was certain she wasn’t wearing lipstick; it was more like she’d been sucking cherries all afternoon. In fact, she didn’t look to be wearing any makeup, which was a refreshing change. Nearly every woman I knew plastered themselves in the stuff.
She peeled her fingers off the branch she was holding and flexed and clenched her hand.
“Do you need help to get down?”
“No, no, I’m good.” When she swept a wavy blonde curl away from her right eye and tucked it behind her ear, a pile of bangles on her wrist clanged together.
She must have been keeping perfectly still up there. One move and those jingling bangles would have given her away. I resisted chuckling. I rarely saw such adventure from a woman... from any adult, for that matter.
Except for the woman in my last relationship... Jane. Not that it was really a relationship. It was, however, one of the most exciting years of my life. Today was the anniversary of the last time I saw Jane’s beautiful smile and her sexy body, yet it felt like twenty years.
Jane was young and carefree.
Like the mysterious woman in the tree seemed to be.
“So, do you climb trees often?”
“Well, actually, this was my first time in a few decades.” She winced as she rolled from one butt cheek to the other on the branch. Yet she didn’t look like she was coming down.
As much as I felt that I should leave her to her peace, I didn’t want to either. I turned toward the ocean. “It’s a beautiful view.”
“Oh yeah, you should see it from up here.”
I glanced up at her again. “I’d love to. Is there room for me?”
Her eyes bulged. “Oh, ummm.”
“It’s okay, I’m joking. I’ll try it another day.”
She again adjusted her position and winced.
“I’m Henry, by the way. Are you Jane?” The irony wasn’t lost on me.
“What?”
“You know, Tarzan, Jane? In the trees.”
“Oh. I’m Roxie.” She giggled, and it was such a pretty melody that I couldn’t help but smile.
“It’s lovely to meet you, Roxie. Are you sure you don’t need a hand?”
“No, but ummm, could you just turn around, please, while I get down?”
“Oh, sure.” I tucked my hands into my pant pockets and turned to the ocean. A series of grunts and winces confirmed she was on the move.
“Do you come to this beach often?” I asked.
“No, first holiday here.”
“What brought you here then?”
“Ouch.” She winced.
“You okay?” I spun to her. She had one foot up on a branch almost at shoulder height while she pointed her toes on her other foot, reaching down to a lower branch. Her legs seemed incredibly long and --
“Do you mind?” she glared at me.
“Oh, sorry.” I spun back toward the ocean and sucked my lips into my mouth, trying not to laugh.
I had a funny feeling that this tree was some kind of lucky charm. Three times, I’d been with fascinating women beneath this foliage. Although the first female was barely a woman. Kimberley and I were only teenagers when we shared one of the most significant experiences of my life. Then again, losing virginity is probably one of the most memorable experiences in everyone’s life. Not always a good one either.
“Shit!” Roxie cried out, and a dull thud followed. She’d hit the ground.
I turned and strode to her. She was on her back, sand had flicked up over her chest and neck, and she had her eyes squeezed shut.
“Are you okay?”
“Yep, just fine.” She clenched her jaw and pulled her cherry lips into a thin line. She wasn’t okay.
“Here.” I reached for her right hand. “Let me help you up.”
Her fingers were long and slender, and nearly each one was adorned with a silver ring. Not in a trashy way, though. Each ring complemented the one beside it like they’d been chosen with great deliberation. I helped her to stand and was surprised by how tall she was, nearly the same height as me, six foot four.
She brushed the sand off her chest. “Well, that didn’t exactly go as planned.”
“Unplanned events are often the most interesting.” I smiled and held my hand forward. “Hello, I’m Henry.”
She chuckled and placed her hand in mine. “Hi. Roxie.”
Her eyes were fascinating. Golden honey colored on the outer edges of her irises, which blended to a deep burnt orange color around her pupil. I’d never seen eyes like it. She pulled her gaze from mine and resumed flicking sand away. Every movement had her abundant jewelry jingling.
“I feel terrible for ruining your peace.”
She shook her head. “It’s okay.”
Her sky-blue bathing suit was tied up around her neck and had an opening at the cleavage that showed just a hint of her bust. A couple of grains of sand were resting atop her lovely mounds, and I had to resist flicking them away. The last thing I wanted to do was scare her off. Not when we’d just met under my lucky tree.
I believed in fate. Meeting Jane last year had been fate. Maybe this was, too.
Before I did something rash, like crushing my lips to hers, I stepped back a pace. “So, are you staying at the holiday park?”
“Yes.” She stopped the sand-brushing, and when she ran her hand through her blonde curls, I noticed she wasn’t wearing a wedding ring.
“Are you staying for much longer?”
Her honey eyes met mine. “Till 2nd of January.”
Ten more days. I was meant to fly home tomorrow. But I was returning to an empty house. Christmas was going to be a lonely one for me this year. My mind shifted into overdrive as I considered how I could wrangle more time with this woman. “I feel really bad about interrupting you.”
“It’s okay. I should be getting back now anyway.”
“That’s a shame. Can’t you stay a little more?” I peeled my shirt off and laid it on the sand. “Here, would you like to take a seat?”
“Oh.” Her eyes bounced up from my chest, and a small smile curled on her cherry lips. “Ummm. . . are you sure?”
“Of course. It’s the least I can do after ruining your solitude. I know what it’s like to need peace every once in a while.” I indicated for her to sit.
As she stepped in front of me and around the shirt, I admired her lovely curves. She had the body of an athlete, long slender legs with the right amount of shape. Narrow waist, which filled out to womanly hips. Her skin was milky white, as if it had never been touched by the sun. That was a rare thing in Australia.
She brushed her bottom, no doubt trying to dust off more sand, and I noticed the mottled pattern in her skin from the branch she’d been sitting on. I nearly chuckled again and wondered how long she would have stayed up there if I hadn’t seen her.
As she sat, she pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them. Around her ankle was a delicate silver chain with a tiny butterfly clasp.
I sat at her side, far enough away to give her space but not too far that I couldn’t reach out and touch her. “Do you work in jewelry?” I indicated toward her ankle.
“Oh.” She chuckled. “No.” She raised her foot off the sand, and I admired how elegant it was, nothing like my ex-wife’s chunky feet. “I just like them.” She wriggled her long fingers, showing off all her rings too.
“So, what do you do?”
She turned to me, and the sparkle in her eyes made me glad I’d asked. “I’m a costume designer for Village Studios.”
“Oh wow, I bet that’s interesting.”
“Yeah, I’m really lucky. I love my job.”
“Worked on any movies I’d know?”
“Probably. . . Narnia, Skull Island, Guardians of the Tomb. The latest one was Thor.”
I nodded. “Impressive.” It was easy to tell she loved her job, so it was the perfect place to continue the conversation. “How’d you get into it?”
She huffed, shrugged her shoulders, and turned her gaze seaward. “Blind luck really. My mom bought me a sewing machine when I was seven, and I started making my own clothes. I moved on to making costumes for my school plays, and when I went to my first Supanova, it opened my eyes to a whole new world.” She turned to me. “Have you ever been to one?”
Her passion was obvious, and I wished I could say that I had. “No.”
Her eyes widened. “Even if you’re not into costume play, you should go. It’s fascinating.”
I instantly thought of Jane and her costume play and wanted to say that, yes, I was absolutely into costumes. If Jane had never put on a sexy disguise and pretended to be a woman named Memphis, I would never have met her. That was fate. I couldn’t help but think that meeting Roxie was fate, too. “I’ll put it on my to-do list. So how did that lead to you working for a movie studio?”
“Oh, well, I started entering my costumes into competitions, and after three years of being in the finals at both Comic Con and Supanova, I won. I walked off the stage, and Village Studios approached me straight away. Within a month, I moved to the Gold Coast and started my dream job.”
“Fantastic.”
“Sure is. So, what do you do?”
“I’m an Otolaryngologist.”
“Bless you.” She giggled, and I liked her just a little bit more.
I chuckled. “Yeah, funny. I’m an ENT, ear, nose, and throat specialist. Bloody boring compared to your career.”
She tilted her head. “I bet you get satisfaction from helping all those people, though.”
“I guess so. Still doesn’t make it fun.” Our gaze met, and something knowing crossed over her eyes, like she knew exactly what I was talking about. She turned her attention back out to the water, and I did, too. Their silence wasn’t at all uncomfortable. In fact, it was pleasant.
A delicate breeze drifted up from the shoreline, and its salty scent took me back to my childhood and the dozens of hours I’d spent playing on this very beach.
That pleasant smell and the beautiful young woman at my side made me feel alive again. After I’d let Jane go, I’d fallen into a depression that had sucked the life out of me. Jane had made me feel young... invincible. But leaving Jane had been the right thing to do. As much as it broke my heart, and I was certain I’d broken hers too, it had to be done. Jane was way too young for me and had a whole life ahead of her.
Sneaking a glance at Roxie, I wondered if she was too young as well. I guessed her age to be mid-thirties. Nearly half my age. My stomach sank. She was too young. I wanted to slap myself for even considering she’d be interested in me.
She picked up a stick and doodled in the sand. “So, what do you do for fun, Henry?” When she turned to me, my heart skipped a beat. It was like I’d been taken back in time forty-odd years. She looked so similar to Kimberley, the young girl I’d lost my virginity to, that I could barely breathe. They had the same delicate skin tone and the same high cheekbones. Same pouting lips. If Roxie’s eyes weren’t so unique, I’d believe she was Kimberley. I swallowed back the confusion. “To be honest, Roxie, it’s been way too long.”
She shrugged. “Sometimes people don’t know when they’re having fun.”
My jaw dropped. Her comment was exactly like something I’d say. “You know what, you’re right. I’m having fun right now.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Really?”
“Yes. Sitting in a lovely shady spot overlooking the ocean and getting to know a beautiful woman while we admire the view. Yes, this is my kind of fun.”
She made some sort of snorting noise and snapped her eyes away as if embarrassed. Her hand went to her hair, and she fiddled with a few curls. “You must need your eyes checked.”
“Nothing wrong with my eyes.”
She pivoted to me again, frowning. “I’m covered in sand, my hair’s a mess from the salty water, and I’m pretty sure I’m sunburnt.”
“You don’t look sunburnt.”
She pointed a finger. “Ahuh, so the other two are correct.”
“Well... you are covered in sand, but your hair looks perfect to me.”
Her giggle came out timid at first, but then she tilted her head back and her laughter came from much deeper.
“What?” I loved how she laughed, and I chuckled with her.
She wiped away tears. “Sorry, I don’t know why I’m laughing.”
I had no idea what I’d said either, but I was glad I had. “Don’t say sorry, I like it.”
Her brows tugged together as her eyes seemed to study me. I hoped she liked what she saw. I turned sixty a few months ago, and although I didn’t yet feel it, the number made me think I was old.
She turned her gaze toward the ocean. “Do you come to this beach often?”
“I did many times when I was a kid. My family came here for a holiday every Easter and Christmas until I was about seventeen. But I came again last year. I was surprised this tree was still here.”
She tilted her head. “What made you come last year?”
I stewed over the answer for a couple of beats before deciding on the truth. “I brought a woman here for a picnic.”
“Oh, sorry, it’s none of my business.” She snapped the twig she’d been toying with and tossed the bits away.
“No need to apologize.”
We fell silent, and the tumbling waves were the only thing that interrupted the peace.
Her lips tugged into a thin line. “It’s a nice spot for a picnic.” I had the impression she wanted to say more. But she didn’t.
“Yeah, it’s special.”
“So why did you come today?”
I rubbed my hands down my trousers and again decided to tell the truth. “That woman I brought here on the picnic... well, I broke up with her a year ago today.”
“Oh. Sounds like you still miss her.”
I sighed. “I miss the fun we had. Yes. But I’m glad we ended our relationship.”
“Why? Oh god! Sorry.” Her eyes bulged. “You don’t have to answer that. It’s none of my business.”
“It’s okay, I don’t mind talking about it.” I touched the back of my hand to her thigh, and although it was brief, I didn’t miss the warmth beneath her milky flesh. “Jane was too young for me. She was twenty-nine. Under half my age.”
“Half?”
“Yep, just turned sixty.”
“Wow, you don’t look sixty.”
I smiled. “Thank you.”
She shrugged. “I mean it. In my industry, people try all sorts of things to look young. Not all of them good.”
“I know what you mean. I’m surrounded by people who are battling against the inevitable. Being young isn’t about your looks; it’s about attitude.”
She chuckled. “Okay then. How old do you think I am?”
“Really? You shouldn’t ask that question.”
“I know. But I’m curious.”
I groaned. This could go either way. “Well, based on where I found you, I’d say mid-teens.”
She chuckled. “Very funny. I’m serious.”
“Well, now that you’re out of the tree and I’ve had a better look, I’d say early thirties.”
“Pfft, you’re just being kind.”
My brows shot up. “I’m serious.”
She flicked her hand at me as if shooing me away. “I’ve passed the big four-oh.”
My heart skipped. Maybe the mysterious Roxie wasn’t too young for me after all. “Well, you don’t look your age.”
She turned to me, and again, she studied me with her gorgeous honey eyes. “Do you live around here?”
I huffed. “I wish. No, I live in Sydney.”
Her shoulders sagged, and her expression seemed to darken. “What brought you up this way then?” Her obvious disappointment buoyed my confidence. Maybe Roxie was interested in me.
“I’m here for a conference. We have one on the Gold Coast every year.”
A little hum tumbled from her throat. “So, when do you leave?”
“I’m here for a few more days.” I lied. I’d just made a snap decision to abandon my flight home, yet it felt so right. And although I was about to lose a shitload of money canceling that flight, there was also a chance I wouldn’t be able to book a return one either.
It was Christmas, after all.
But I didn’t care. I’d take the long-haul bus home if I had to. Right now, the only thing that seemed right was getting to know Roxie a little more. Maybe a lot more. I’d only had a feeling like this once before, and it had turned out to be the right one. I wasn’t about to question it this time.
A comfortable silence settled between us, and the sound of a motorboat cruising out to sea drifted over the beach toward me.
After a minute or two, she pushed up from my shirt to stand, and her jewelry jiggled as she dusted her hands. “Anyway, I better get going.”
I stood up, too, and faced her. “I really enjoyed meeting you, Roxie. Are you free tonight?”
Her eyes dazzled, and she tugged her lip into her mouth. “Well, I guess I can get away for a few hours. After dinner, maybe?”
My heart swelled. “How about we meet here? Under the magic tree. Do you drink champagne?”
Her eyes brightened even more. “I drink anything.”
“A woman after my own heart.”
Her smile lit up her face, and the honey in her eyes glowed like they’d been ignited. “Would you like me to walk you home?”
She stepped back, fiddling with her bangles. “No, no, it’s okay.”
“Okay, see you here about nine?”
“Yes.” She rolled her bottom lip through her teeth. “Don’t be late.”
“Not a chance in hell.”
When she smiled it seemed so genuine and sweet, yet it was mingled with an interesting mix of shyness and cheekiness. She turned on her heel and as she walked away, pointing her toes into the sand with each step, I admired her hourglass figure. Her bathing costume revealed just the right amount of her bottom to be cheeky. Just how I liked it. When she reached the path that led away from the beach, she glanced my way and I waved.
She waved back and did a little jig thing before she stepped from my view.
When I turned back to the ocean, I rode the same wave of exhilaration I’d felt when I met Jane two years ago.
This time, though, the woman I was interested in wasn’t hiding behind a disguise.