Forever and a Day (50 page)

Back at camp, he constructed a spit from the left over branches and set it up over the fire pit. He prepared the breadfruit by coring it, he then placed the core of the pineapple from earlier into the breadfruit’s cavity and plugged it up. He got a nice fire going with help from the emergency raft’s lighter and got the breadfruit baking.

He went to the tent, kneeled down and watched Halo sleep. Her breathing was miraculously getting better, he wondered if it really was the cupping or something else entirely. He knew sure as hell she had pneumonia as they came up on the island. The elderly he had dealt with usually spent weeks or months recovering or died from pneumonia. He was happy at her progress but it perplexed him. Her weakness was a given due to lack of food for her on the raft. He figured she should be able to walk a short distance in a few days at the least.

He watched as she slowly kicked away the blanket again exposing her panties again. He took a long moment before he looked away. He could not help notice that she was in great shape, he could just make out the lines of her abs and her muscles in her legs. When he felt his blood rising he swiftly turned away and went back to the fire, leaving her partially uncovered.

He sat looking at the fire and waited until it began to burn down. When the fire was mostly glowing coals, he spit the gutted fish on a long branch and placed it over the fire. With a stick, he pushed the blackened breadfruit from the fire to let it cool. Reaching back, he grabbed a coconut and the piece of metal he found on the beach.

As he began to strip the covering away from the coconut, he heard Halo whisper hoarsely out to him. He dropped the coconut, leaned into the tent and saw her smiling at him.

“Is that fish?” She asked excitedly.

“Yes ma’am!” Xander said proudly.

“How?” Halo said trying her voice fully, it came out scratchy but it was audible.

He smiled and nodded at her, “Made a fish rack while you were sleeping. It wasn’t out there long before a nice sized fish got hooked!”

It was then he noticed that she noticed that she was uncovered. She looked down at herself then back up to him, “Sorry.” She weakly tried to cover herself for his sake.

“I covered you up earlier, but you insisted on kicking them off.”

“Does it bother you?” She asked quickly.

Xander looked away, rubbing the back of his neck. He returned his gaze to her face, “Not sure how to answer that. You look fabulous?” He said with a smile and doing his best to ignore her oh so sexy legs and lacy black panties.

She pulled the blanket over her midriff but left her legs exposed, “Good answer. It’s really warm in here, can sit with you out there?”

“Sure!”

Xander went to the fire and turned the fish on the spit first then got the items he needed to get her set up. Doing so, he went back in, carried her out then gently placed her on the blanket and sat down next to her against the log.

Halo noticed the coconut still in its husk, “You were doing something with that?”

“Yeah, here watch.” He picked up the coconut and pointed down at large rock that ringed the fire pit, “Here can you hold the bowl in your lap?” He asked and handed her one of the ceramic bowls.

He showed her where to strike the coconut on the side, he then smashed the coconut down hard on the rock and it quickly split and began leaking milk. He held the coconut over the bowl in Halo’s hands and drained it. He then struck the other side of the coconut and it spit open. He easily pulled it apart and showed her the white flesh inside the shell.

“Wow!” Halo said surprised, “At home it’s a screwdriver and a hammer. And this has the husk on it still.”

He smiled at her and cautiously tested the cooling breadfruit. He found that it was cool and brought it over and removed the plug. He took the bowl of coconut milk from Halo and poured it down into the core.

“That smells like pineapple bread.” Halo as she watched what he was doing.

“Yep. I put the core of the pineapple in it, now goes the coconut milk.” He put the plug in and set back close to the fire then checked the fish, “Almost ready!”

“God, I’m so hungry!” Halo said, licking her lips.

Xander chuckled and took the fish off the fire. He slid the large fish off the spit and onto the red Virgo aircraft’s tray. Using a butter knife from the plane, he quickly cleaned the meat from the bones. He separated a small piece for himself to try. He blew on it for a second then plopped the piece of fish in his mouth, “Mmm! It’s good.” He smiled and placed half of the fish into a bowl, grabbed fork and sat down next to her. “You wanna try or may I help feed you.”

Halo looked down at her hands, hesitated and looked to him, “I think I can, but I’m afraid I’ll drop it.”

“Well, we don’t want to waste it. I don’t mind.” He held out the first bite to her and as she went to take it in her mouth, he quickly moved the fork away playfully and shot her a smirky smile with a glint in his eye.

“Xander! I’m hungry!” She giggled and wanted to poke his ribs with her finger but did not have the strength.

“I’m sorry… I couldn’t resist.” He chuckled and held the forkful of fish back up to her mouth.

She kept her eyes on him as she slowly opened her mouth and he gently placed the forkful of fish between her lips. He watched her close her eyes as she tasted the fish.

“So good…” Halo murmured as Xander readied the next bite for her.

“I see that! Enjoy it, as fish may be our sole source of protein for a while.” Xander chuckled and fed her the rest. He wiped her mouth with a towel and readied the breadfruit, “This may or may not be dessert…”

She gave him a little wicked grin, “Oh really? If not, then what is?” She immediately tried to look serious due to the words that she failed to stop from exiting her lips.

His eyebrow ever so slightly raised, “Okay then, moving on!” Xander chuckled, prepared the cantaloupe-sized breadfruit by peeling the blackened skin away, and then cut it in half releasing the smells of baked bread, pineapple and coconut.

“Wow! Smells wonderful! Like baked bread and Pina Colada!

He chuckled as he deftly sliced it up into bite-sized chunks, “Thanks, let’s hope it tastes as good as it smells.”

“Where did you learn to use a knife like that?”

He looked up at her as he readied her breadfruit, “My father owned a restaurant, and I worked there a kid, up until he died.” He shrugged and held up the fork with a chunk of breadfruit perched on top, “I liked the kitchen, I became a chef of sorts.” He tested the breadfruit with his lip and blew on it before he offered it to her.

Halo paused as she saw the sad twinge in his eye. She had an urge to reach over and caress his face, instead she took the mouthful of breadfruit, “It’s good!” She smiled. “Was your dad a chef too?”

He gave her a sad smile, “My dad told me he was a cook in the Greek army… he taught me a lot.”

“Awesome! I am so lucky to be stranded on this island with Mr. Chef Ramsay!”

Xander’s face pinched up and he groaned loudly.

“Oh, is that bad?” Halo asked as he readied another bite.

“I don’t care for people who treat others the way he does. I understand the compliment, and thank you.”

“Welcome. Do you cook at home?” Halo asked. Xander guffawed and almost dropped his fork.

“What?” Halo asked quickly.

Xander shook his head, “Ah… that is my wife’s self-imposed job description. She insists on cleaning and cooking, I’m not allowed near the stove unless I’m reheating something. She is very systematic and quite OCD.”

Halo looked up at him with a start, “Is there something wrong with a little OCD?”

“No, unless it drives everyone crazy… why? You OCD?” He asked playfully.

“Um, a little. I think it’s a female thing. I get that she wants to take care of you…” Halo said, reluctantly giving his wife a compliment.

“A little is fine. When I can’t cook anymore in my house? Yeah…” He gave Halo her last bite.

“Xander! Oh my! Here I ate my dinner and now yours is cold. I’m sorry that was rude of me!”

“Not a problem.” He wiped her mouth and smiled.

“Hurry, you must be starving! Eat!” She urged.

He reached over and got his bowl of fish and began eating, he saw the look of relief pass across Halo’s face.

“You know, I am breathing so much better. The elephant got off my chest finally.” She watched as Xander nodded as he was finishing his dinner. “Are you going to do some more cupping?” She asked tentatively.

Xander stopped chewing the breadfruit that was in his mouth and looked at her. He swallowed it and it went down hard. He cleared his throat with a cough, “Uh, if you think it will help. I can.”

“Oh, I mean if you don’t need too…” She quickly added.

“No, no. I can. Uh, how’s your back?” He asked quietly as he wiped his mouth.

“Still hurts, it’s a little better though…” She lied. It was much better she thought and felt her face get warm.

“Ok, maybe we’ll work on it a little. Let me get things cleaned up first.”

“I wish I could help you clean up… I’m sorry I’m such a pain.”

“Not a problem!” Xander shook his head and smiled then got up with the bowls in hand and looked down at her pouty face, his heart rebounded off his ribcage at her lower lip slightly sticking out.

“I’ll make it up to you.”

With a nod, he began gathering the cooked fish remains and placed them in a bag. He thought if more of the vegetables in the garden were ripe, he could make an awesome fish stew with the bones as his soup base. Instead, he decided he would use the remains as bait tomorrow.

He rinsed the bowls and set them aside for later. He bagged the remaining breadfruit for later and set it inside the tent on his suitcase. He got the bowls readied for cupping and the stick with the cotton ball. He went out of the tent and saw Halo was looking up at the stars, the light from the fire illuminated her and she looked so incredibly gorgeous it took his breath away, he snapped out of it when she turned her attention to him.

“Hey! Why don’t you take a break? I feel like I’m your slave driver! Maybe we can sit and watch the stars come out first?” She asked with hope in her voice.

“Sure! I can lay out the blanket on the beach for a better view?”

“I’d like that.”

He came up to her and as usual, picked her up then grabbed the edge of the silvery blanket and carried her down towards the surf. Dropping the blanket to the sand, he got it laid out with his foot and gently laid her down upon it. He heard her sigh as she looked up at the stars.

“So many more to see and so beautiful, aren’t they?” Halo asked as he laid down next to her and looked up..

“Yes, very.”

She gazed happily at the dense starlit sky and murmured, “At home, I would sit out by my pool at night and watch the lights of the city… the stars were always mostly drowned out by the light.”

“Sounds nice.” Xander replied and thought of Robert Montclaire. She probably sat with him like this there…

“I guess.” She murmured.

Xander picked up some sadness in her voice, maybe she was missing her handsome Robert? He wanted to ask badly but thought it would be rude. “Nice pool?”

“Oh my, yes!” Halo looked over to him and smiled, “I so love my house Xander!”

“Tell me about it?” He watched her lips part into a full smile and he swore he could see her eyes twinkle in the starlight.