Forever and a Day (52 page)

“That would be great, thank you.”

Out of the blue she blurted out, “Xander? Do you not think we will be rescued?”

Xander shrugged, “Truthfully?” He shook his head, “At least not by a search party. I constantly watch the horizon and nothing. At night, I haven’t even seen a jet liner fly over. Like we talked about, I think a rescue will come when we get a surprise visit from some fishermen or scuba divers.”

Halo smiled and inwardly she felt a little thrill in her insides, more time with him is good. “Oh, ok.”

“I’m sorry Halo, I know you must want to get home. I’m doing all I can, I can break open the phone…” He offered.

“No! I mean, it’s fine. We have food, water and great company. I’m good.” She replied with a slight arch in her eyebrow.

“Ok. I just don’t want you to think I’m trying to keep you here all to myself.”

“That’s not a bad thing!” She blurted out before she could stop. She thought this blurting out thing was not normal as she usually was in control of her words. She watched him smile.

“I, uh do so enjoy your company, Halo. I still sometimes think I’m in heaven or maybe in a coma at a hospital having a wonderful dream…”

“Well! I feel real and so do you. So if that is the case? We should just enjoy it!” She gave him megawatt smile that lit up her face.

“I am, trust me. I am.” Xander said quietly as he was in awe at her beaming smile at him. He enjoyed every waking second when he was with her.

They ate the fish and leftover breadfruit for breakfast. Later he helped her with brushing her teeth and combing out her hair and put it back into a ponytail for her. He sat across from her in the tent as she wrinkled her nose at him.

“What?” Xander asked.

“I really need a bath, Xander.” She sighed.

“Uh, I can take you down to the water… uh… maybe that won’t work? Tell you what; I’ll see what I can do. In the meantime I can heat some rainwater and you can clean up while I’m gone.”

“Gone? Where to?” Halo asked immediately hearing his words.

“I was planning on getting the garden cleaned up… we had a red sunrise this morning.” Xander replied with a shrug.

“Oh. What’s that mean?” Halo asked.

Xander smiled, “Not sure if it really is true: Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky in the morning, sailor take warning. Something like that, I don’t want to take any chances. The clouds on the far horizon are still only puffy and white, but I would like some rain to replenish our supplies.”

“You think we’ll get a storm?”

“Dunno, but I’d like to get the drainage ditches cleared and prune some of the veggies. I’ll bring back another pineapple too.”

“Ok… water would be good before you go, I really would appreciate it.” She said with a slight downturn of her lips.

“Will do.” Xander noticed her demeanor changed to a sad one, “Hey, I won’t be gone too long, ok?” He watched her nod to him, “Check out my book reader if you would like, there is a survival guide in there. It explains how to do the palm weaving.”

“Ok, I will.” Halo said as she rubbed her thigh with her hand and looked towards Xander’s suitcase.

Xander let her be with her thoughts and began heating up rainwater in the metal water pitcher. He got a small lunch ready for himself then walked out of view and got dressed in his khaki cargo shorts and his red Star Wars T-shirt. Checking the water and finding it hot, he grabbed a towel and took it and the water over to Halo.

“Here you go. If you don’t mind I’ll hang our red blankets up to air out?”

“Of course, and thank you.” She replied and looked up at him. “Star Wars fan?” She asked, not wanting him to leave.

“Oh yeah!” He replied with smile, “It’s my running shirt.”

“Millennium Falcon. Nice.” She pointed to the front of his shirt.

His smile broadened, “Star Wars fan yourself?”

Halo nodded and held up her hand, her first two and last two fingers separated in a ‘V’, “Live long and prosper.” She deadpanned.

He paused and his smile faded, “Uh… Halo?”

She could not hold back and began giggling. With an altered voice she quickly added, “Strong in the force this one is… hmm yes.”

His smiled returned and replied with relief and a chuckle in his voice, “Whew, I thought I was going to have to try and explain…”

“There is no try…” She laughed cutting him off.

“Do or do not.” He finished.

Her smile faded and she sighed, “I should let you leave already. It’s like I don’t want you to go, I’m sorry.”

“I can stay if you need me to.” He offered.

“No, no. You need to get things done. If you can bring me back some palm fronds and I’ll see what I can do.”

“You got it.” He had the urge to give her a kiss goodbye once again as she looked up with her large sad, gorgeous blue eyes. His heart hurt at that look, but he had things to take care of, as he did not trust a rescue would happen anytime soon.

He got a long goodbye look and a little wave from her as he headed off with a pained heart.

As he left her view Halo sighed heavily as she scooted close to the edge of the tent and picked up her little soap bar from the Emporium Hotel and began soaping up the hand towel.

After she was done cleaning up she felt better, she had even dug into her purse and found a bottle of Givenchy perfume and spritzed herself. She was even strong enough to take out her ponytail and let her hair breathe. She tired out quickly brushing her hair, but got enough done to be satisfied. Digging into her suitcase, she took out her clothes that had gotten wet and set them out in the sun around her. Opening up the dress boutique bag from Brisbane, she found her red dress had not suffered any water damage. Pulling it out she smiled with the thought of wearing it for Xander someday.

She laid back on the blanket with the dress held to her chest. Her smile grew as she thought what he would think of her all dressed up as if they were at some film premier. She fantasized that he would not be able to resist her and he would be hers and with that thought the feeling in her heart soared high above the island.

She imagined them dancing together at the Met Ball someday… with that thought, an exciting and good feeling warmed her belly and spread to all her extremities. He would look so hot in a Tux… she reveled in the warm fuzzies that reverberated through her. She imagined kissing his lips on the dance floor, with a soft exhalation she let sleep find her.

She awoke to a late afternoon breeze blowing through the tent. She looked out and saw that the sky was full of gray billowing clouds. She looked around for Xander but he was not back yet. She remembered the red dress on her chest and as quick as she could she put it away carefully in the bag then it went into her suitcase as well the rest of her clothes. Digging around she found a loose fitting long sleeve pink hoodie. She thought about wearing a bra, but if she could get Xander to rub her back again it would only get in the way. Besides, she liked giving him a view. She did change her undies into her little black yoga shorts; they were not as sexy as panties but was warmer as it was cooling down.

She pushed the suitcases back in order and propped herself up against hers and waited. She kept looking out of both ends of the tent watching for him, her hands rubbing the tops of her thighs at each glance. She began to worry and began picking at her fingernails. Every time she noticed, she was picking at them she clasped her hands in frustration. The urge to tinkle poked at her, she glanced over to the water pitcher and decided that would be a last resort.

After fifteen minutes of fretting and worrying if something happened to him, she heard him approaching. She quickly put on some lip gloss and ran her hands through her hair. As soon as her hand came away from her hair, he peeked in the tent.

“Halo! Wow, you look fabulous!” Xander said with a big boyish grin.

She saw he was shirtless, “Xander! Look at you! You are all wet! It’s breezy out there come inside and let me help dry you off.” She held up her dry dishtowel and beckoned him in. She watched him take a moment as he thought about it. When it looked like he was going to beg off, she pointed at the spot next to her. “Come on in and sit here.” She saw his posture begin to relent to her request, but his eyes showed that he was thinking about it. She urged him further, “Don’t just stand there, come on!”

He shrugged and stepped up and brushed the sand off his legs and sat down. She began drying off his shoulders then his chest. She saved his hair and face for last. She gestured for him to lean his head down and she began towel drying his dark hair. With her fingertips, she raised his chin up and gently dried his face as she looked into his deep green eyes. She saw he was trying not to show his enjoyment, but she knew. “You take a swim?” She said as she booped him on his nose with the towel.

“Uh, yeah, I was really dirty and I had to check the fish rack. We’re having fish again, I think these ones are kinda like small tuna.” He paused and leaned slightly close to her and closed his eyes, “That perfume… that’s the French one you did the commercial for? The pink bottle one.”

Halo quietly leaned close and exposed her neck close to his nose. From the corner of her eye she saw his eyes open wide at the proximity of their faces, “Here get a closer whiff.” She watched as he breathed in her perfume, “Do you like it?”

Xander drew away and nodded, “Very much. I, uh got my wife some for her birthday…”

“Oh.” Halo replied quietly. “She like it?”

“Uh well, she took it back to the store and exchanged it… for a J. Lo one.”

She faced him now and debated whether to delve further, curiosity won out. “She didn’t like it?” She saw his consternation as it passed over his face, “She took it back because it was mine, right?” She asked.

“Yeah…” He mumbled.

“So your wife doesn’t like me?” She asked with a curious look. She saw his forehead wrinkle up and he looked constipated all of a sudden. It reminded her that she had to go, but she knew something was up and she wanted to get to the bottom of it. “Hey, I won’t be upset if your wife doesn’t like me. What gives? It’s ok, really.” She urged.

“Uh, well no. Not really.” He murmured with embarrassment. He knew the next question but he let her ask.

“Why?” She held up her finger as he began to answer, “Wait. It’s because you like me, isn’t it?” She saw his face flush red and she saw him give her a little shrug. He looked like some little boy whose hand was just caught in the cookie jar. “Oh my… this is interesting. You follow me on Twitter and Facebook?”

He slowly shook his head at her, his face still flushed. “Well...”

“Wait a minute there is more here than meets the eye. I know I’m putting you on the spot, what’s up? Come on, it’s ok.”

She saw his shoulders slump and he was now looking down at his hands, “You added me as a friend as well as many others when you tried to do a personal page. You had to delete it because you were spammed by requests and private messages you said. I wasn’t entirely sure it was you posting...” He sighed heavily.