Chapter 10
Ten
She woke up in a daze. The sun was shining brightly through her windows.
She immediately thought of the night before.
Had she dreamed it? Part of her wished she had; she wouldn’t have to face the consequences today, she wouldn’t have to face Michael.
It would certainly be an awkward day. Maybe she could stay away from him all day. The island was quite big after all.
Who was she fooling? She would have to eat sometime.
They would go searching for her. There was no use.
She would have to go to the washroom. In fact, she had to right now.
She would have to face him. As she put on her sandals on, she heard voices outside; everyone was up.
She had no clue what time it was, but she was pretty certain she had slept in.
She grabbed her toiletry bag and as she made her way outside. She passed right by Eric.
“Lazy,” he teased.
“Hey don’t call me lazy. I went to bed late,” she explained, but didn’t elaborate.
As she walked into the outhouse, she did her usual inspection for bugs; all clear.
As far as outhouses went, this wasn’t a bad one.
There were old magazines beside her and a fake bouquet of flowers hung up in the corner.
She wondered who had put it up there. It certainly wouldn’t have been Michael, or even Dot for that matter.
Maybe it was Michelle, or maybe Michael’s ex-wife. She would never know.
As she entered the cottage, she was greeted by Michael who was cleaning up after breakfast. He gave her a timid smile.
She went to the sink to wash her hands. Not a word was spoken; only the clatter of dishes and the sound of the running water on her hands could be heard.
She walked over to him and was the first to break the silence.
“About last night...” she whispered.
He looked at her intensely. She had his full attention.
“I was thinking...” she said.
He stared at her mouth.
“I should probably sleep on the pull-out tonight,” she suggested, slightly uncomfortable. “It would probably be best to avoid a recurrence of last night...” she shifted slightly away from him. “...that was a close call.”
He smiled his mischievous smile. “You’re just afraid of the bugs, aren’t you?” he teased.
“No. Absolutely not,” she protested, taking another step back.
“You are. You’re just finding an excuse. You just want to sleep in the comfort of modern convenience.” He came closer and whispered, “Blaming all this on us almost... making love.”
She was taken aback. “Is that what we were going to do?” she asked, curious.
“Honestly, I don’t know what I was going to do if you hadn’t stopped me.”
“Well, that’s exactly the reason I should sleep here tonight.” She was more certain then ever.
“You’re right. You should definitely sleep here.” He had lost all his inhibitions and he was laying it out on the table, as plain as he could; making himself crystal-clear.
“Because if you’re anywhere near me tonight, there’s no way I’m staying away from you.” And with that, he hung his dish towel and walked away, leaving her standing in the middle of the kitchen with her mouth open and her knees about to give.
Angela took what Michael had told her very seriously.
Part of her wanted to go into his cabin that night and say.
“I’m here, Michael. I’m all yours.” But she knew that was just a fantasy.
She knew the reality of the situation was quite different.
She knew he was right; she could not in her right mind be anywhere near him.
So with that thought, she stayed as far away as she could.
She considered asking him to get her to the marina early, but she didn’t even want to go near him to ask him that.
She spent the day doing some kayaking with Michelle and Eric, and reading with Dot.
She helped with dinner, and sat two seats away from Michael, glancing down at her plate most of dinnertime.
At night, they played some Monopoly and there she found Michael and his son to be ruthless competitors; she could understand why he had been so successful in business.
Michael seemed to have a target that he just wanted to destroy; her.
She was the first out, having no hope; being the target of the most evil Monopoly player ever known to man.
She, of course, took it quite personally.
“How can I stand any chance when you totally have it out for me?” she told Michael as she grudgingly walked away from the game.
“Hey, if you can’t play with the big boys, don’t play at all.” She didn’t quite know if he was serious or if he was joking.
Jeez, what did I ever do to you?
Later that night, she saw a softer side of Michael as she sat on the sofa sandwiched between Michelle and Eric, reading a French tabloid magazine with them, laughing at the stupid celebrity gossip.
Michael sat across them in a club chair, reading the paper.
She caught a glimpse of him looking at her; the scowl he had earlier had been was replaced by a tender expression.
It was getting quite late, and Michael told the kids to get to bed to free up the sofa for Angela.
He pulled out the sofa, and opened the rustic pine coffee table where the sheets and blankets were.
When Dot got wind of this, she couldn’t resist the urge to ruffle Angela’s feathers.
“Oh, the special little lady couldn’t bare the cabin and all those scary bugs,” she taunted, laughing.
“I’m no different than you, Dot,” Angela argued.
“I guess we’re both high maintenance divas - only I’m more attractive, of course,” Dot said as she stretched her arms out on the open pull-out sofa. “I’m certainly worth the trouble. But… I don’t know about you,” she added, lying on the bed.
“Get off the bed please,” Michael told his mother, half serious, half laughing. “She is worth the trouble too,” he added.
“Um...interesting...you think?” Dot said, mischievous as ever. “What were you guys doing last night?” she asked, sitting up, a smile on her face. She was enjoying this.
Michael and Angela stood speechless.
“I heard screaming last night and I looked out and saw you go in her cabin,” she said, looking at Michael. She wasn’t accusatory at all, she was teasing, inquiring, thirsty for some exciting information. “You came out and then... you ran back in, and you were there for a while.”
“Mum, were you eavesdropping?”
“Never you mind what I was doing,” she laughed. “Spill the beans, out with it,” she urged.
Angela was still speechless. She had always been incompletely unable to lie and was useless under pressure.
Michael was extremely annoyed; if there was something to talk about, a son would definitely not want to talk about it with his crazy mother. “Not that it’s any of your business Mum, but I was just helping her. She got stung or bit. We’re not sure.”
“Oh I see... you came to her rescue.”
They were without words.
“I bet you did a lot more than rescue her,” she said, laughing as she walked away. “But like you said, it’s none of my business… so I’m off to bed.” She had the uncanny ability to leave them alone in the most orchestrated awkward scenarios.
They stood there, staring at each other. They both looked at the pull-out bed. They looked at each other again.
“Well, I’m sure you’ll be fine. I’ll be off too,” he told her as he practically sprinted for the door, barely putting on his sandals. “You can turn off the lights. See you tomorrow,” he said as he ran out the door.
Angela surprisingly fell asleep quite quickly, exhausted by the lack of sleep from the night before. Fading into her last thoughts, she drifted off to sleep: Just a boat ride tomorrow morning… and I survived it. No bugs... good.
As Michael helped her put her bag into the back of the car, he gave her a final smile; a longing look.
He gave her a quick hug; she wanted it to be longer.
She looked at him walk away, his navy blue cotton t-shirt hugging his body nicely.
She figured she deserved an award for resisting him for two whole days.
Although, she had almost not resisted him but all in all; they hadn’t done anything she regretted.
She realized that she could not go on resisting him, and that she would have to walk away, far away.
She peeked into the snack bag he had made her for the road: a soda, a sandwich, an apple, some chips and two chocolates.
He knew her. This was exactly the sort of thing that made her crazy for him; these small kind acts mixed with his utter sex appeal made her want to do unthinkable things with him.
She contemplated her plan as she drove home. Maybe she could meet up with Dot at the library. Surely, she could get someone to drive her; she wasn’t mobility challenged at all really.
She would go to the estate one last time and say a proper goodbye to Michael. It’s the least she could do; having shared all these wonderful intimate moments with him. Anything less wouldn’t do. She would thank him for everything he has done for her.
She would tell Robert that it’s over between them.
He wasn’t right for her. She finally realized that.
After having lived real love, she realized what she had with Robert was not love; she wasn’t sure what it was.
She would end up alone, but she figured that’s what she needed.
She needed to spend some time with herself.
When Angela got back home, she wasn’t ready for what was waiting for her. As she came in, she dropped her bag by the door and patted her cat Trixie who was delighted to see her. She went to fetch herself a drink from the fridge.