it. Go study. Go off and lie in the sun. Either or both. Alone.
Because you don’t want to start with a man now anyway. Not yet.
And for a moment she saw the doctor’s hands on her through the thick haze of fever, dark hands against her pale naked thighs. She smelled the stink of her own illness in her mouth and the hospital smells and the cigarettes on his breath as he leaned over, as the oily hands moved up and up…
No, she thought. Not yet by a long shot .
So which will it be? Mykonos or Santorini?
Dodgson returned to the table and she watched him and Lelia finish their dinners in hostile silence. Danny was talking with Michelle and the German girls, all of whom seemed very nice. She tried to pick up the conversation, something about a pharmaceutical company back in the United States. But Dodgson and Lelia continued to distract her.
She felt something brush her leg.
Damn these cats! she thought.
They’ll be the death of me.
DODGSON
“I just want to know one thing,” she said, leaning toward him, whispering. “Which of us are you going home with tonight?”
"What?"
The question came right out of nowhere. He’d made no moves on the British girl at all. None. In fact he’d arranged with Andreas at the Romantica to get a second room there just to be alone with Lelia. But she was serious. Her voice like a nice quiet bludgeon.
“Lelia…”
“I just want to know.”
“Lelia, I just met her. She’s Danny’s friend.”
“Aren’t we all.”
“What’s that mean?”
“You all share a room together. Don’t tell me you haven’t fucked Michelle. How is she, by the way? Is she good? Is she as good as Danny seems to think she is?”
“Cut it out, Lelia.”
“Maybe I should fuck her myself and see.”
It was all he could do to hold onto the whisper through the rising anger. Games again. He saw Billie watching. The last thing he wanted was some childish scene but she seemed bent on that.
“I don’t give a damn what you do with them, really,” she said. “I just want to know who you intend to take home tonight. Presuming you’ve made up your mind.”
He’d had enough.
“Look, I'll answer your question for you. The room is waiting. It seemed a good idea at the time for us to be together. Now I’m not so sure. You keep this up and you can take a walk on the beach, you understand me?”
She started to say something but he cut her off.
“No. You understand me? Just shut the hell up, all right?’
And she did.
He didn’t need it. She was beautiful, intelligent and as sensual a woman as he’d ever met. But mostly she was maddening. And he didn’t need it He didn’t need the mind-fucking, not last night, not this afternoon and not now.
Good god. Charles Manson.
He found himself wondering the best way to leave her.
He had the feeling it wasn’t going to be easy.
DODGSON
Dodgson, Lelia, Danny and Michelle were the last to leave. Billie and the German girls had been as graceful as possible about it, given the lethal silences.
They walked home through town and into the long wide valley, the limestone cliffs like open shears glowing in the moonlight. The night was clear and there were so many stars in the sky, the breeze felt so good, the stillness was so complete and perfect that it was hard to stay angry at anyone-he felt himself softening toward her, and what remained was disappointment, a sadness.
Another whirlwind romance, he thought. Another bad choice on his part. One of many. He knew that the rest of tonight would be merely saying goodbye to her. Matala was too small a town for them to remain there together without bumping into each other all the time and that was no
Because you don’t want to start with a man now anyway. Not yet.
And for a moment she saw the doctor’s hands on her through the thick haze of fever, dark hands against her pale naked thighs. She smelled the stink of her own illness in her mouth and the hospital smells and the cigarettes on his breath as he leaned over, as the oily hands moved up and up…
No, she thought. Not yet by a long shot .
So which will it be? Mykonos or Santorini?
Dodgson returned to the table and she watched him and Lelia finish their dinners in hostile silence. Danny was talking with Michelle and the German girls, all of whom seemed very nice. She tried to pick up the conversation, something about a pharmaceutical company back in the United States. But Dodgson and Lelia continued to distract her.
She felt something brush her leg.
Damn these cats! she thought.
They’ll be the death of me.
DODGSON
“I just want to know one thing,” she said, leaning toward him, whispering. “Which of us are you going home with tonight?”
"What?"
The question came right out of nowhere. He’d made no moves on the British girl at all. None. In fact he’d arranged with Andreas at the Romantica to get a second room there just to be alone with Lelia. But she was serious. Her voice like a nice quiet bludgeon.
“Lelia…”
“I just want to know.”
“Lelia, I just met her. She’s Danny’s friend.”
“Aren’t we all.”
“What’s that mean?”
“You all share a room together. Don’t tell me you haven’t fucked Michelle. How is she, by the way? Is she good? Is she as good as Danny seems to think she is?”
“Cut it out, Lelia.”
“Maybe I should fuck her myself and see.”
It was all he could do to hold onto the whisper through the rising anger. Games again. He saw Billie watching. The last thing he wanted was some childish scene but she seemed bent on that.
“I don’t give a damn what you do with them, really,” she said. “I just want to know who you intend to take home tonight. Presuming you’ve made up your mind.”
He’d had enough.
“Look, I'll answer your question for you. The room is waiting. It seemed a good idea at the time for us to be together. Now I’m not so sure. You keep this up and you can take a walk on the beach, you understand me?”
She started to say something but he cut her off.
“No. You understand me? Just shut the hell up, all right?’
And she did.
He didn’t need it. She was beautiful, intelligent and as sensual a woman as he’d ever met. But mostly she was maddening. And he didn’t need it He didn’t need the mind-fucking, not last night, not this afternoon and not now.
Good god. Charles Manson.
He found himself wondering the best way to leave her.
He had the feeling it wasn’t going to be easy.
DODGSON
Dodgson, Lelia, Danny and Michelle were the last to leave. Billie and the German girls had been as graceful as possible about it, given the lethal silences.
They walked home through town and into the long wide valley, the limestone cliffs like open shears glowing in the moonlight. The night was clear and there were so many stars in the sky, the breeze felt so good, the stillness was so complete and perfect that it was hard to stay angry at anyone-he felt himself softening toward her, and what remained was disappointment, a sadness.
Another whirlwind romance, he thought. Another bad choice on his part. One of many. He knew that the rest of tonight would be merely saying goodbye to her. Matala was too small a town for them to remain there together without bumping into each other all the time and that was no
Similar Books
