So Different When so Alike #3
“Hello?” I answered the call.
“Lore, hey,” he said, “is Josephine with you?”
“Yeah, we are at the beach. Do you want to talk to her?”
“That’s alright. Just tell her that our choreography class moved half an hour earlier.”
“Oh, sure.”
“We’ll come to pick her up soon.” We? I registered. So, Miles was coming here too.
“Okay, yeah.” I mentally rolled my eyes. “See ya!” I hung up, passing the message to my sister.
In less than half an hour I kissed my sister goodbye and headed for a swim. What a perfect plan that was!
“I’ll tell the guys you said hi.” She slowly started packing her things.
“Sure.” Walking backwards, I smiled at her and with a swift twirl I strode away.
It took about two minutes for me to notice him at the shore, and then only another two minutes for the three of them to vanish from my sight.
With a deep inhale, I held my breath and dove under the warm, salty water.
Muffled silence enveloped me at once. Eyes tightly shut, I let my body drift, my hands making slow, gentle movements to keep me submerged.
How long could I hold my breath? I began counting in my head…
thirty-one, thirty-two, thirty-three…and suddenly…
my eyelids shot wide open. If I could scream, I would have.
Someone else’s hands were on my waist, quickly pulling me up from under the water.
Between my coughs and choked yelps, I heard my name.
“Florence? Are you okay?”
“Miles?” I mumbled, rubbing the burning seawater from my eyes. A blurry figure appeared in front of me. “You scared the hell out of me!” I rasped, blinking rapidly until his face finally came into focus.
“I scared you?” He stared at me. “I thought you were drowning!”
“What?!” I shot back, suddenly realising his hands were still wrapped around me. Quickly pulling away, I hissed, “What are you even doing here anyway?” Not interested in his answer, I started swimming back to the shore.
“Wait,” he called, following me. “Florence?”
“Leave me alone,” I rasped.
“Can you tell me what’s wrong?” I felt the grasp of his hand in mine. He pulled me back to him, our bodies colliding with a splash; two lost ships on a stormy day.
“Miles.” I gritted my teeth, pushing against him, unsure if I was resisting him or the pull of the water. “Let go of me,” I muttered.
“I don’t think so.” He gripped my hand tighter. “Not until you tell me what is going on with you.”
“God, Miles, you really are something!” I blurted out, struggling to uncurl his fingers from around my wrist.
“Look, if that’s about yesterday, I’m sorry I lied.
I’m not entirely sure why I did that…but all I knew was that I wanted to spend some time with you!
” His words suddenly made my breath hitch, a salty aftertaste in my mouth.
I no longer fought him, and his grip loosened too, though he still pulled me closer.
“Florence…” He whispered my name, his fingers slowly gliding between mine, entwining our hands together.
A million tiny goosebumps erupted across my body.
My gaze hesitantly travelled upwards, noticing his Adam’s apple bob in his throat, his jaw tense as he chewed on his wet lips.
His once-platinum hair was now ash grey, his eyes intently staring at me.
Those grey, stormy eyes…we were so close, too close, that my body and my mind refused any control.
Would he at once let go of my hands, I felt like I’d probably just go down, slowly sink under the water.
Holding my gaze, he kept looking at me as if studying my expression. What could he learn from it? Then, his eyelids slowly lowered to my mouth, making my breath catch in my chest. A confused frown must have painted my face; not the clueless one, but the one aware of what was about to happen next.
But what about everything he said this morning? God! Was I simply going to forget that? Just because the sexiest man of my dreams was about to kiss me. Yeah…tempting, but…where was my dignity? As much as I wanted that—and, honestly, even more than that—well, that wasn’t the point…
My lips parted a few times as I tried to pull myself together.
Just as he leaned in—Good lord, I thought I was going to fail…
but then, there I was—a true heir, a daughter of Elizabeth Grant, whose poison must have run through my veins since the day I was born.
Not something to be proud of…and yet I took what I got.
“Miles.” I suddenly pressed my palm against his chest. “Listen, you are good-looking and all—” I forced a scornful smile as I spoke.
“—but at times you can be, um, how to put it right…” I raised a single eyebrow.
“A lot to take in?” After registering confusion, a slow realisation darkened in his eyes.
There you go, jerk! Quickly pushing away, I swam as fast as I could, leaving him there alone.
***
Around 6PM, I peeked out the window and watched dark, grey clouds coat the horizon.
The scene reminded me of an apocalypse movie.
Suddenly, a flash of lightning ripped across the ominous sky, making me gasp.
A terrifying roar of thunder followed a second later, echoing through the vastness.
Tall trees swayed to the wind’s insistent whisper, their leaves rustling in the swirling air.
“God…That looks scary…” I muttered under my breath, glancing at the six empty plates around the table. My parents weren’t here and neither were Jo and Mark. “Dorothy?” I headed to the kitchen, finding our housekeeper there. “Did my parents leave a message at all?”
“No, Miss Grant. Nothing apart from the dinner menu request.”
“I see.” I smiled at her. “Well, thank you.”
Fishing my phone out of my mini dress pocket, I quickly dialled my sister, fingers drumming a frantic rhythm against the kitchen counter. It rang only once before she answered.
“Jo? Is that you?” I pressed the phone to my ear, her voice crackling through the speaker.
“Where are you guys?” I asked with a slight edge of worry in my voice.
“God! It’s pouring here. We were heading home from choreography class but the roads flooded quickly. We had to pull over.”
“But are you okay?”
“Yeah, we’re fine. If the storm doesn’t let up, we’ll probably stay at a hotel for the night.”
“Yeah…Oh, Jo, did you hear from mum at all?” I asked, noticing Miles standing nearby, his eyes focused on me.
“She mentioned something about seeing friends. I didn’t get the details.”
“Okay. Well…be safe.”
“If anything changes, I’ll let you know,” she said, hanging up quickly.
Another rumble of thunder echoed in the sky, making the windows tremble, and then it poured at once. A rhythmic shower drummed against the roof tiles, the soft patter of rain on the windowpane; the insistent drops lulled everything into a peaceful slumber.
“Is everything okay?” Miles stared at me.
“Um…Jo and Mark are probably going to stay over at the hotel, but my parents…I…I haven’t heard from them.”
“Did you try calling them?”
“Yeah. No answer.”
Suddenly the lights went off. A blind darkness swallowed the house at once.
“God,” I breathed, my hands fumbling for the phone in my pocket. “We must have candles somewhere.”
“Miss Grant?” Dorothy’s quiet voice cut through the blackness. “Your mother called.”
“Is she okay?” I headed towards her voice, switching on the torch on my phone.
“Yes, Miss Grant. They had to stay over at the hotel as there was a huge tree blocking the road.”
“I see…thanks, Dorothy.” I sighed with relief.
“So.” She quickly lit the candles. “Dinner for two then?”
“Um.” I frowned for a second. “Why don’t you join us?”
“Oh, no! I couldn’t…I really couldn’t.” She politely smiled at me.
“That’s nonsense! Eat with us, please, I insist.” I stared at her. Not an entirely selfless request, but I wasn’t going to have a candlelit romantic dinner for two with Miles.
“If you are uncomfortable dining at the table, we could move to the kitchen?” Not that Miles had a say in that, but he did nod to my suggestion.
*
As the dinner went on, Miles and I pretended like nothing happened between the two of us.
We were on the second bottle of wine and Dorothy, who once said that it was highly inappropriate for her to drink at work—her ponytail loose, cheeks slightly flushed—was now the one pouring the glasses.
She let it free, and from behind that quiet personality and polite features a completely different woman took over. And she was fun.
“Wow, that duck was lovely,” said Miles.
“Thank you, Mr. Hanson.” Sorry?! I caught myself blinking a few times in confusion. Did she just call him ‘Handsome’? I mean…with a face like that, I wouldn’t have been half surprised!
“Please, it’s Miles,” he offered.
“So,” I raised a glass to my lips, “Where did you learn to cook like that?”
“My mother,” Dorothy replied with a warmth in her voice.
“Are you close?”
“Very.” A bittersweet smile flitted across her face. “And then she became unwell.”
“Oh,” I cleared my throat. “I’m so sorry.”
“Well…it’s hard and…so sudden…nothing we can do about it,” she sighed. “Every day is different. She is there, but sometimes…”
“She is not…” Miles’ voice faded with a frown, as if he knew exactly what Dorothy was talking about.
“Yeah…but we still get to have good days,” she sighed. “Oh, the storm seems to have died down.” Dorothy glanced at the window. “I should probably head home to my family.”
Glancing at the two empty bottles of wine, I hadn’t even noticed the rain had stopped.
“Um…let me get you a cab,” Miles offered, hands dug inside his pockets, reaching for his phone.
“Thank you, Miss Grant, and you too, Mr. Hanson.”
“God, Dorothy,” I laughed, “when my mother is not around, please call us Florence and Miles.”
“Um…I’ll try.” She smiled and quickly ran to the car.
“Get home safe,” I called out, closing the house door behind her. “Brr,” I shrugged. “Cold.”
Candle in my hands, I glanced at Miles, an instant, awkward silence settling between us.
“Um…” I began as we both headed to the kitchen. “Earlier, about Dorothy’s mum…how did you know she meant Alzheimer’s?”
“My gran.”
“Your gran?” I paused, staring at him.
“Yeah.”
“Um…is she…?” I was hoping he’d say okay.
“Also dead,” he muttered.
“Jesus! You definitely have a way with words.”
“Well…but it is true. They are all dead.” His jaw tensed at once. He was hurting.
“Miles?” I stared at his determined face. “Don’t say it like that…”
“How do you want me to say it?” He paused, a crease forming between his brows.
“I don’t know…surely, they deserve more than just ‘dead.’”
“Yeah, well,” he snorted, “I don’t think using the other words will change the outcome much anyway.”
“I didn’t say it would, but simply talking about them…”
“Florence!” His eyes held mine for a beat longer. “Good night!” he muttered.
“Good night?” I shot back with a question.
“Yeah, you heard that right,” he turned to walk away.
“Are you quite serious right now?” I blurted, taking a few steps forward.
“Jesus, Florence…what do you want from me? I told you already that wasn’t something I wanted to talk about, and if you expect me to sit and cry about it, sorry to disappoint you, but that ain’t going to happen,” he rasped, an intense gaze fixed on mine.
“So, unless you have another topic in mind, this one is definitely over.”
Even if it happened a while ago, I knew it was still a fresh wound I wasn’t going to cut open again.
He was angry and hurting but, like he said, he wasn’t going to cry about it.
Each of us dealt with grief differently, and maybe that was his way, right or wrong; it wasn’t my place to judge.
Even though I chose to open up to him, we still were no one to each other.
He didn’t have to do the same with me… God, I knew how ridiculous that must have sounded.
There I was, complaining about my family when he grew up losing absolutely every single person he loved.
Even at times when I felt lonely, I knew it wasn’t the same.
Or if I said I could imagine what he meant, it still was not even close.
Perhaps, I thought, that was the reason he kept his distance at times, or being so…
closed off—why would anyone want to relive that again? Perhaps I understood that now.
“Um…I’m…” Shaking my head, I took a step back. “You are right. That’s absolutely none of my business. Sorry.” I forced a smile, quickly turning to walk away. “Good night.”
A glass of wine in one hand, a candle in the other, its amber glow flickered across the tall walls as I slowly headed to the living room.
A lonely couch standing in the middle seemed like a good companion for this evening.
With both legs rolled underneath, I sank into the soft fabric, raising the delicious pinot noir to my lips, inhaling its rich aroma first, then taking a small but a very complex sip of red.
***
“Florence? Hey?” I heard someone whisper. “Wake up?”
The room was dark and hazy as I opened my eyes. “Miles?” I mumbled, my voice drowsy as I spoke.
“You have fallen asleep on the couch. Let me help you get upstairs, okay?”
“Ahem,” I managed.
Now…wait, how did we exactly get to my room? As I next lifted my eyelids, we still were coated in complete darkness. I felt the mattress dip under me, his arms wrapped around my shoulders, and then my head slowly sank into the pillow.
“You smell good,” I murmured.
“Do I, now?” he asked, and I knew there was a smile in his voice.
“Yeah.” Slowly closing my eyes, I mumbled, “You really, really do…” Finding his hand in mine, I felt his thumb gently rub against my palm. “Stay,” I drawled the words, whispering, “I want you to…”