Authors: Alicia Hope
It was time to go home
,
and back to reality.
L
et what happened
on the island
,
stay
on the island.
Please....
Verity was relieved
to have a window seat by herself
for the
short
f
l
ight to Perth.
She could enjoy looking
at
the
o
cean
below
without having to ma
ke idle conversation
. Guy had chosen to sit beside
Brenda
, and Verity
was pleased to think they might have forged
a new friendship. But she also suspected
he’
d
known
Verity would
appreciate
some space and time to herself.
He
certainly
was a perceptive old buggar.
As the little plane flew over
Ploughman’s Reef,
Verity found herself once more
reliving
the
ill-fated dive trip
. She recalled the look on Royce’s face when she
’
d been about to sever her link to their shared air tank
,
in preparation for
the
emergency ascent to the surface. Although in a desperate, life
-
threatening situa
tion himself, she was sure
she’d seen
concern for her safety
as well
.
There’s
more to him
than meets the eye
, she
admitted grudgingly to herself.
What was it he said?
Oh yeah,
‘
Don’t believe all the hype.
I’m not the ogre many people think
I am.’
Well, m
aybe
you are and maybe you’re not. But I’ll decide that for
myself
, Royce
James
.
* * *
Claire thrust open the
villa
door
with a huge grin
,
and hugged her friend. ‘
Glad you’re back. H
ow was the island?’
She took Verity’s case and they both went inside.
‘It was lovely, Claire. What a beautiful spot. We’ll have to go there one long weekend so you can see it for yourself.’
‘Oh, yes, colour me ready and waiting!’
Three Bells Jack
sauntered over to rub himself lovingly against his mistress’s l
egs, purring loudly. Verity’s face split into a wide grin,
and
she
scooped him into her arms.
‘Hey, b
uddy, good to see you too.’
She put her cheek against his rumbling tabby head and followed Claire into the kitchen, where she saw teapot and mugs laid out in readin
ess for a cuppa and a catch-up.
Claire bustl
ed over to switch on the kettle,
and Verity said,
‘Thanks so much for looking after Jack and the place while I was away. Everything been OK?’
‘Oh, yeah, fine. It was a real hardship caretaking the
joint for you,
I can’t
wait
to return to my own mansion,’ Claire giggled,
and Verity threw her a
n amused glance.
Claire went on,
‘Just one thing
though
. Y
ou know how you said Jack had been off his food?’
Verity fixed worried eyes on her, so Claire
said
quickly,
‘Well, he was a bit picky the first night you were away, but after that he ate ev
ery single scrap, and I reckon w
ould’ve gone back for seconds if I’d offered ’em.’
‘Oh, really? That’s great news.’
Verity
scratched Jack’s ears and
hugged
him
to her once more
,
before putting him on the mat at her feet
and running her hand over his purring, arched back
.
She straightened and said matter-of-factly,
‘Now,
let’s get down to the serious business of a cuppa
and a chat. Got a bit to tell you, and something important to ask you....
’
In the days
that followed
her return home, Verity
assumed she
would
quickly and
easily
slip
back
into
normal routine
. She was c
ertain that being
in a familiar environment
again
would have
the
more private
memories of
he
r
island trip
, like those of most holidays,
fading
with almost impious speed into obscurity
. S
he felt
ready for a meeting with Royce, a
lthough her emotions
, when she dared examine them,
were still puzzlingly tender to the touch
.
He’d
sent
her
a message
early the first morning,
advising that
he’d be
on site
but away from his office
a lot of the time
,
busy instigating the
expansion project’s
next
phase.
She half expected
he’d
try to see her after hours,
but he’d
kept
his distance
. Despite
his physical dissociation
, he
still managed to infiltrate her thoughts
.
I
n bed at night, physically tired and hoping sleep would
overtake her quickly
, Verity
inevitably found herself lying awake, staring at the ceiling, with
her mind turning over and o
ver what had happened the
previous week. And the
last night on the island
featured
repeatedly
,
as though on a constant replay loop
.
What had he meant when he said, ‘
... you were becoming more to me than
simply
a boss
’
?
And ‘... I put
my career above all
else,
until now.’
And ‘... I have no intention of
repeating my mistakes
.’
Although she
angrily
ordered
herself to drop the subject so she could get some sleep
,
her thoughts
were determined to disobey
. They continually returned to Royce
,
and
hovered over the
second part of that dangerous question; the one she
was
avoid
ing
even
more desperately, but which seemed to
loiter
ever nearer
her consciousness
.
And another puzzlin
g phenomenon had returned.
Jack
was
off his food again.
‘What
is
it with you, mate?’ She asked, exasperated, when he once again turned
up
his nose at his favourite tuna dinner. ‘How come you ate alright when Claire was looking after you, but now I’m back, you’re on a hunger strike again?’ Verity felt around his furry body
with her fingers
,
but
he didn’t
have the
leanness
of a
hungry
cat
. Jack purred, enjoying the attention,
blissfully
unaware
he was worrying
his mistress.
‘Don’t do this to me, buddy.’ She
frowned and
drew him into a cuddle,
saying breathlessly into his fur,
‘I couldn’t be
ar it if anything happened to you
.’
He’d
been the one constant when
her marriage to
David, and the rest of her carefully constructed life,
had co
me crashing down.
Together, she and Jack
had been a united front against the wretched onslaught, and when David vacated the role
of
significant other in
her life,
Jack had stepped in to fill it
.
W
hen
his lack of appetite
persisted
,
she
took him to the vet
, only to be told
what she already knew.
Three Bells Jack was in fine health.
It was
a relief to have
it
confirmed, but still
perplexing
that
he wasn’t eating properly
.
The next
evening
,
Verity was sitting in her garden
enjoying a glass of wine
while
Jack
had
his daily prance outdoors
. She watched
as he meandered through the garden beds, ears pricked for any movement, before
climb
ing
up to perch
o
n
the top of her wide gate post. When he
bent
his head
to first lick and then
start
chew
ing on
something
, s
he sat bolt upright
, almost spilling her wine in the process
.
‘Ha
ng on
,
Jack, what are you eating?
’
She sprang to her feet and hurried
over to him
.
He
stopped munching for a moment and
turned languorous eyes on her
. A small fish’s tail hung
from
one
side of his mouth
, and a
nother tasty morsel rested at his feet
, still glistening with sea water
.
Verity inhaled sharply
,
and shook her head
.
‘So that’s it! Someone’s been feeding you
bait fish. I should’ve known, you’re a terrible sucker for fresh catch.
’ She
stretched
up
a hand
to tousle his grey head
,
and watched him
finish
crunch
ing
his way through the
bounty.
‘
Well,
I’m not sure I’m happy
about you
taking food from a stranger, but at least
it
explains your
lack of appetite for tinned tucker
.
’
Curious about who might have been leaving the fish, Verity
let Jack out earlier
for his prance
the following evening
,
and
sat outside with him, quietly sipping
her drink
. Sure enough, as the sun was
losing its red-gold
grip on
the horizon, she heard footsteps
on the gravel
outside her gate, and s
aw a hand reach
up
and place three
fat
, silver
bait fish on the post. It was a man’s
hand, she was
certain
of that.
A short dog-summoning whistle
and another crunch of gravel
heralded his imminent departure, so Verity
hurried over t
o peer through
the gate, to try and glimpse
the
generous an
g
l
er
. She
saw a wagging tail disappearing up the path, in front of a
tall man
carrying a fishing rod and
tackle box
in one hand,
and
a white
bucket
in the other
.