I smiled. "Thirty-three, never married, never want to be."
He offered me a hand up. I took it. His hand was big like him and nearly swallowed my hand to the wrist. His eyes were perfect brown like polished chestnut. Curly brown hair was cut short and had never seen the inside of a styling salon.
I couldn't stand straight with only one heel so I took the shoes off. "It was lucky I wore heels today."
"Damn straight. How many of 'em are after you?"
"Six."
He gave a low whistle. "They want you bad."
I nodded. He was right. One Cupid was standard, maybe even two; they didn't seem to like to be alone much. But a lust of Cupids was a damn posse. All for little ol' me. Had I offended someone? I had an awful thought, an uncharitable thought. Had my mother paid them off, slipped one of the little winged horrors some sweets? Cupids didn't need money, but they loved candies and desserts. It was frowned upon, but everyone knew it happened. Corrupt Cupids with a sweet tooth.
"I'm Tom Hagan," the man said.
"Rachel Carrdigan." We shook hands again and his hand was warm and callused. There was something oddly appealing about his square face. If I hadn't known better, I'd have wondered if a pink arrow had gotten me. Pink for infatuation.
"Were you out to lunch?" he asked.
"Yes."
He smiled. "Well, it isn't much, but I'll split mine with you. Cupids don't have much patience. They'll wander off if you can hide long enough."
"You sound like an expert."
"Hey, I'm two years older than you. They've been after me longer."
I laughed. "All right, if you're sure it's not trouble."
"It isn't like the shop is busy today."
I glanced around the warm interior of the shop for the first time. Hand-carved wood was everywhere. Small furniture, shelves, animals. All the folksy wooden things the tourists bought in droves, but it was winter now and the tourists were gone. I always wondered how some of the shops made it through the off-season. One of the good things about being a lawyer, crime was always in season.
Tom brought a rocking chair he'd made himself to sit beside his own chair. He gave me a lap-size linen napkin to spread over my business skirt and shared a huge roast beef sandwich and apple pie. The pie was delicious and I said so.
"Made it myself." He seemed embarrassed but pleased. Since I couldn't boil soup without burning it, I was impressed.
I called my office and said I'd be later without explaining the reason. We spent a very pleasant time drinking fresh coffee and talking about small things. Nothing major or earth shattering, but comfortable.
Tom glanced at the clock. "I hate to say it, but it's probably safe for you to leave."
"My God, it's two. I had no idea it was that late." I smiled. "Maybe I'll be needing a wooden shelf or two for my condo, soon."
He grinned and, I swear, blushed. "I'd like that."
There was a little click down in my solar plexus, pleasure. Who needed Cupids? I limped in my high heels, one heel on, one heel off, but it was better than going barefoot on freezing cobblestones.
Tom let me out the back door, just in case. We both looked up and down the alley. Nothing, empty, home free. "Thanks for everything, Tom." I shook his hand and felt that warm tingle as our skin met. Probably nothing would come of it, but it was nice anyway.
I turned just before I rounded the corner and waved. He waved back, smiling, then his face changed and he was running for me. "Behind you!"
I whirled. The Cupids were flying in at my back. I flung myself onto the ground. A white arrow buried itself into the cobblestones near my head. Tom was running toward me, shouting.
A white arrow took him through the chest. He staggered back, eyes wide and surprised. He stumbled back a few steps, then fell backward onto the cobblestones. I screamed, "Tom!" I heard the whir of wings above me. I turned, slowly, and stared into shining blue eyes. A small feminine mouth smiled at me. The little gold bow pulled back, a white arrow pointing at me.
A second Cupid with slightly paler hair and baby-blue wings floated off to the left, bow trained on me. I wasn't getting away this time.
"Get it over with, you ugly little harpies," I yelled. I threw my shoe at them, the one with the broken heel. The Cupid dodged effortlessly. How could something that chubby be so graceful? I saw the arrow leave the bow, then felt a sharp pain in my chest, over my heart. Then nothing but darkness.
TOM and I woke in the alley and did the only thing we were able to do, fall in love. It was a nice wedding as weddings go. Our mothers sat in the front rows beaming at us. Both of them admitted to having bribed the Cupids, but it had all worked out for the best, they said, smiling smugly.
We smiled back; what else could we do? Arrows of true love had hit both of us. We were in love, married, happy, vengeful.
My mother is a widow. Tom's mother is divorced. All we need now is a corrupt Cupid, with a sweet tooth.
THE EDGE OF THE SEA
This is another story that I wrote when I lived in California for a few years. It's the only time in my life that I've lived near the water. I've almost drowned four times. At one point I had my dive certificate. I thought it would help me overcome my phobias. Then I had a diving accident, and now I'm claustrophobic on top of being afraid of water. Oh, well. This is a very sensual story, and was the first peek of that side of me as a writer. But it is a melancholy story. The idea of it--that fear and longing that the ocean fills me with--will be visited at more length in an upcoming Anita book. Some of the characters introduced in Danse Macabre will be helping me explore some of the themes of this story in more loving, and even more frightening, detail.
ADRIA woke to the sound of the sea. She lay under the cool wash of sheets, wondering what had woken her. Moonlight spilled through the white curtains. The rushing hush of the sea poured underneath the balcony. It filled the bedroom with an intimate whispering noise. What had woken her? There was a sense of urgency, as if she had forgotten something.
She sat up, brushing strands of dark hair away from her face. She called out, not really expecting an answer, "Rachel?"
The only sound was ocean, a purring roar along the sand.
Adria slipped on a pair of jeans that lay rumpled by the bed. Her nightshirt flapped almost to her knees, a man's extra large. She padded barefoot over scattered fitness magazines and clothes. The living room stretched perfectly neat, like a magazine cover, where no one lived. Rachel's neat and tidy hand was visible everywhere.
Adria's hand brushed the music box on the end table. It sang a few forlorn notes. The music boxes were Rachel's hobby. She called them her vice.
Adria walked across the thick white carpet to the short hall. It led to the bathroom and Rachel's bedroom. The door stood ajar, moonlight spilling into the black hallway. Adria froze, pulse thudding against her throat. The urgency she had woken with turned to fear. They had shared the house for almost two years. In all that time Rachel had never left her door open. She had a habit of listening to music as she fell asleep. The sound would leak through the house if the door were open.
No sound. The rushing sea seemed muted in the hall. Adria paused, almost touching the door. "Rachel?" Silence. "Rachel, can you hear me?"
Adria touched the door; it swung inward. The bed was rumpled, pale sheets turned to silver by the moonlight. Rachel's clothes lay neatly folded on the back of the room's only chair. Even her shoes were toes out, heels touching, just waiting to be put on again.
The drapes flapped in the wind, cord slapping the screen. Adria jumped then laughed, but the laughter sounded wrong. So quiet. She walked to the window. There was always a chance Rachel had gone outside, though that was more something Adria would do than Rachel.
The beach was a narrow whiteness, heavy and pale under the moon. The ocean rolled gray and silver, white foam riding the waves, as it whisper-roared, eating away at the shore. Rocks gleamed dull black as the surf swirled and blew white spray up into the air. During the day Adria
had jogged every inch of the beach but moonlight made it an alien place.
Adria heard something, a moan, a muffled cry. She wasn't sure if it was the sound of pleasure or pain. Adria smiled to herself. If she went out there and Rachel had a boyfriend on the beach...Adria turned back to the room. No, there were no other clothes. If Rachel had undressed, so would he.
Rachel had only brought two men home in as many years. Both times, she had given Adria advance warning. Rachel was not a casual person in her surroundings or her relationships.
Adria checked the open bathroom, but she knew, could feel, how empty the house was now. She was alone, alone with the sea. And Rachel was out there somewhere. Adria began listening to her own heartbeat. It was impossibly loud. Something was very wrong.
She slipped on a pair of deck shoes and opened the sliding glass door that led down to the beach. She left it open behind her; a vague thought that she wanted someone to know where she had gone.
The night air was cool; she shivered in the thin shirt. She debated on going back and getting a sweatshirt, but no, she needed to find Rachel.
Rachel's footprints started at the bottom of the steps. They led down near the surf, where the sand was firm, wet, and easier to walk in. Water swirled shockingly cold around Adria's ankles. The water was crumpling the edges of the tracks, sweeping them away. Adria began to jog, hoping to trace the prints before the sea took them. She fell into a familiar easy stride, arms pumping, breath deep and even. It felt good. Her fear faded in the face of something so ordinary.
The only sounds were the rush of waves and the slap of her feet as she ran. Moonlight gleamed along the shore, showing everything in stark shadows and silver light. The footprints ended at the rocks. Adria touched a cold boulder and began to clamber over them. She slipped on a strand of seaweed and fell hard on one knee. The sharp pain forced her to lean against the damp rock and wait for the knee to move again. She could see over the rocks now, to the beach beyond. They were there.
Rachel's long blond hair was spilled out across the sand. He lay on top of her, his nude body made up of muscle, pale flesh, and shadows.
Adria felt foolish, surprised, and relieved. She meant to turn away, to leave them to their privacy, but something stopped her. A wave curled up the beach and tugged Rachel's hand up and down, loose, limp, unresisting. Adria watched for a few minutes, embarrassment swallowed up by fear. Rachel never moved, not a hand, not her head, not her leg. There was a limp quality to her as the man rode her that was more terrifying than any struggle.
The man buried his face in the sand, baring Rachel's face to the sky. The face was totally slack, nothing.
Adria couldn't breathe for a moment, couldn't think. She screamed, "Rachel!"
The man looked up, startled. Adria had an impression of dark eyes, impossibly large, a sculpted face. Beautiful was the word that flashed in her mind. She scrambled down the rocks, not sure what she would do if he didn't run. Had to try. She was screaming as she came. Someone would hear; someone had to hear.
He stood, and there was a tension to him. Adria stopped, panting, and stared at him across the sand, across Rachel's body. She had seen a wolf once, while hiking in the mountains. It had turned startled eyes to her. There had been nothing human in its eyes. There was nothing human now.
A light flashed on at the nearest house. He jumped, startled, and ran, not up the shore, but toward the sea. He ran into the surf, and it cut him across the waist and he dived between the waves, clean and neat, vanished. She watched his head surface and then his arms as he stroked for deeper water.
Then he dived, and what splashed after him was the curving lines of a tail, like a whale, or a dolphin. He vanished under the waves.
Adria stood there for a heartbeat. She couldn't have seen it. Could she? Adria glanced back at Rachel. She lay unmoving, horribly still.
Adria knelt in the wet sand. Her shaking hands couldn't find a pulse. She pressed her ear to the chest and held her own breath. Adria had expected to hear a heartbeat. Even though she had thought death, she wasn't prepared for silence. She pressed her cheek against Rachel's slack mouth, nothing, no breath. "Oh, God, oh God."
A man's voice called from the house where the light had flashed on. "Is everyone all right down there?"
Adria couldn't answer for a minute, couldn't think, then she yelled, "Get an ambulance, and get the police. It's an emergency! Hurry!"
"I'll call, don't worry." He rushed back inside.
Tears threatened hot and close. "No!" She tilted Rachel's head back, pinched off the nostrils, and began breathing for her. The chest rose and fell, four breaths, four rises. Adria stopped. "Breathe, Rachel, breathe."
Surf rushed in and tugged at her body. "Damn it, Rachel, damn it!" Adria breathed and then cupped her hands over the chest and pumped, counting, "One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand." She crawled back to Rachel's head and breathed. Then pumped the chest. "Rachel, breathe, damn it, breathe. Oh, God! Help me!" Tears choked her, trying to steal her own breath away. She couldn't cry yet. Not yet!
A man was there in his pajamas and bathrobe. He knelt in the wet sand. "I called the ambulance and the cops."
Adria looked at him. She couldn't think what to say. "Help me."
"I'll pump the heart, if you breathe."
She really looked at him for the first time, younger than she had thought. She nodded and breathed three quick breaths. He pumped the heart, like he knew what he was doing.
"Rachel, please, please." Breathing, breathing until she felt light-headed. She looked at the man as he worked to start Rachel's heart. His eyes held hopelessness. Adria shook her head, tears tracing like fire down her cheeks.
"Don't worry," he said, "I won't give up until you do."
"Then we won't give up."
They were still trying to breathe life into Rachel when the ambulance came. Adria sat in the rising surf, watching as they worked on Rachel. They punched needles into her arm, set up an IV of some clear liquid. They did what Adria and the man had done, but nothing worked.
Adria noticed the world looked flat, one-dimensional. There was no depth to anything. And all the noises seemed distant, dreamlike. She stared at her own hand and couldn't figure out what was wrong. Why had everything changed?
They strapped Rachel to a gurney and began to carry her up the steps to the road. The police came in a flash of red and blue lights, a kaleidoscope against the darkness. There were men asking questions, but Adria couldn't concentrate on it, she couldn't hear them. Someone had thrown a jacket over her shoulders; it was too big and sleeves flapped in the wind as she followed the gurney to the ambulance.
A tall man with a gold shield clipped to his coat stopped her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "We'll need to ask you a few questions."
She nodded. "I understand, but later." She looked up at him. "I have to go to the hospital, for Rachel."
"I understand. Just tell us where he went. You are our only witness."
She nodded, "He swam out to sea."
The detective frowned. "Are you sure?"
"He swam out to sea."
"Thank you."
A second detective pushed close and looked ready to ask other questions, but there must have been something in her face that stopped him. "We'll talk to you tomorrow then, miss."
She nodded and crawled into the ambulance. Adria made herself as small as possible riding in the corner, not crying anymore. Everything seemed so distant, unreal, dreamlike. The world wasn't meant to be flat, like cardboard.
The sirens blared to life, and they were out on the highway in a spill of gravel and brakes. She looked up at the paramedic as he checked Rachel one more time. He met Adria's eyes once and then wouldn't look at her again. Wasn't it a bad sign when they wouldn't look at you?
"She's a doctor."
He glanced at Adria. "What?"
"Dr. Rachel Corbin, that's her name." It seemed important that he know she was a doctor. Adria wasn't sure why, but if anyt
hing made Rachel who she was, it was that. She was a doctor.
He whispered, "Oh, God." And shouted something through the window to the driver.
Rachel's hospital was the nearest one, so very close. They would take Rachel to Rachel's hospital, Rachel's emergency room.
THE police drove Adria back home as dawn was easing through the clouds. She stood in her own living room, looking out the sliding glass door. The sea was an immense blue, rolling out and out until it touched the sky.
The sun was rising and Rachel wasn't rushing out to her car. Adria would still be in bed. The vague roar of Rachel's car was one of the sounds of morning. But not today.
The doctors had given her something to take. They said she was in shock. She hadn't taken the pills yet, and if this was shock, it didn't feel so bad. It didn't feel like anything. Adria felt distant, light, as if a strong wind would blow her away, shatter her into slivers of glass. She knew Rachel was dead, but it was a distant knowing, as if all of last night had happened to someone else.
If she walked into the other room, Rachel's things would be there waiting. But Rachel would never come for them. Adria tried to make last night a lie as she stared out at the sea. So bright and blue, so inviting.
The dark-haired detective said, "Ms. Reynolds, do you feel up to answering questions now? I wouldn't ask, but you are our only witness, and the sooner we start, the sooner we can catch him."
She answered without turning around, staring out the window. "Yes, I understand."
"Tell me what happened last night; take your time."
Adria took a deep breath and let it out. Her voice belonged to someone else. She listened to some other person tell about waking up and going out to look for Rachel. The voice that was hers and not hers told everything, even glimpses of something impossible.
The second detective had gold-framed glasses that didn't quite hide his eyes. "Excuse me, Ms. Reynolds. Would you repeat that, please?"
"Repeat what?"
"The part starting, I watched him swim out to sea, and then he dived, flashing a length of tail, like a whale or a dolphin. Is that what you meant to say, Ms. Reynolds?"
Adria thought about that for a minute, cheek pressed against the cool glass. "I didn't mean to mention it to you, no. It's what I thought I saw." She shook her head, forehead against glass. "I don't know."