He stroked his knuckles down her cheek. “Let’s get going. How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine, no after effects.”
Thank fuck.
“Did you eat? I don’t want you getting drunk on me. Trying to get your way and seducing me.”
“Not on a week day,” she said and winked at him.
He was so shocked, she giggled. It was so carefree. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt carefree let alone heard it. Probably eleven years ago.
She gently pushed him back with her bottom and then opened the door. “How are we getting there?”
“I brought the buggy from the house.”
“The Turner Buggy?”
“Yeah.”
“Wow, I am being spoiled.”
“It’s just a buggy, sweetheart. Get in,” he said once he’d slammed her front door.
“This is the special buggy. No one is allowed to ride in it unless they’re being picked up at the quayside.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, Cynthia Turner has made it very clear.”
“Well, I’m her favourite so she’ll forgive me.”
Heidi gave him a side glance as if to say Cynthia doesn’t have favourites. Heidi would be half right. She tolerates him the most and he’ll take that as being a favourite.
Jason waited for Heidi to settle and then he drove off to the Rum Distillery. They had tours running in the evening and he’d booked them into the final one of the day at eight.
“I haven’t drunk rum in years. I used to love long island iced teas but the hangover the next day is the worst,” Heidi said.
They’d wandered around the giant cylinders with a shot glass of rum that was replaced in every room with a different blend. By the fourth room, Jason was feeling the effects. He’d slung his arm around Heidi’s waist and she didn’t pull away. There were at least ten others on the tour and he didn’t know a single one of them. They could be locals or they could be tourists. The rum was good, and he picked up a couple of bottles at the exit. The distillery was the first part of the date. The second part and the bit he was most looking forward to was coming up on the horizon. Island life was better at night when you wanted to be alone with a girl. Especially when it was cloudy, and the moon was hiding. They’d spent many evenings cosying up in the flower fields at night before she had to be home and he took a risk bringing her back. The place had sentimental value for both of them. Heidi thought it was just sentimental for her and tonight he would confess.
He’d met her at the beginning of summer and by the end he was in love.
She was his best friend’s older sister and not someone he should be lusting after. Six weeks into their secret relationship, and one starry night, he made love to her in the flower fields. It was the best night of his life. The downside to life on an island, there were no quick one-night stands to lose his virginity. Everyone would know. But he trusted Heidi not to tell. Well, he would’ve trusted her if he’d told her it was his first time too. She’d asked him to be her first, and he was so nervous he’d put it off for weeks.
“Where are we going?” Heidi asked bringing him back to the present.
“I thought we could go for a walk along the hills. It’s fairly private along here, so you might let me kiss you.”
He took her hand and helped her from the buggy. They walked in silence to the other end of the secluded hills and walked through the wild flowers and into the tall grass. He brought both of his hands up and rested them on each side of her neck and then rested his forehead against hers.
“Do you remember this place?” he asked.
“I’ll never forget it, Jason. It was the best night of my life. Everyone remembers their first time.”
“Do you regret it was me?”
“Never, why would you think such a thing?”
“Because of how we ended.”