Page 19 of Beached Wedding

We got through the foot rub and Ikaika came back. For the next hour, none of us spoke while Fox and I were molded into a gob of warm clay.

I was lost to a hypnogogic state when Inga wafted a lemon scented cloth above my face to gently bring me back to the real world.

“Your fiancé is fast asleep,” she said softly. “I’ll let you wake him. If you’d like to put on your robes and enjoy our relaxation lounge, I’ll bring you some water and your complimentary champagne.”

I nodded, brain emptied of my ability to think or talk. I waited for the door to close then sat up and glanced at Fox. He was on his back and dead to the world, softly snoring. I sluggishly pushed my arms into my robe and belted it before I moved across to wake him.

“Fox?” I nudged his shoulder. “Can you wake up? We have to go to the lounge, but you can go back to sleep there.”

He sat up, but I could tell he wasn’t really conscious. I made sure to keep the sheet draped across his lap as I helped him put on his robe, then I had to risk a glance to see if he had managed to belt it properly. He had. Whew.

I picked up his slippers and we staggered to the covered patio where Inga was leaving champagne and cucumber water on a table next to one of the double hammocks. All the other hammocks and loungers were occupied.

As I crawled in, Fox followed right on top of me. His weight sagged me onto him and he swept me into an absent, one-armed hug that shifted me half atop him. His legs tangled with mine. We were squished together like shredded cheese in a taco. His whole body went lax on a long sigh and he was asleep again.

It was pleasantly warm, but there was a breeze. Inga draped a light blanket over us, handed me one of the glasses of champagne, then nudged the hammock into a lulling sway before she walked away.

I didn’t ruin the moment by thinking about whether it was inappropriate to be cuddled up with Fox. It wasn’t like I’d never been jammed up against him in a backseat or on a couch. It felt nice, actually, to be snuggled when I was so blue.

I carefully sipped, letting the sweet bubbles settle on my tongue while I listened to the distant pulse of waves and allowed myself to relax into the solid warmth of Fox’s body.

Relaxing wasn’t something I did very often. I actually couldn’t remember a time since elementary school when I hadn’t been stressing and trying to take control of some aspect of my life. I’d gone straight from the drama of my parents’ divorce to Whitney being pregnant to helping watch Fliss while Whitney finished high school and got her hair-styling certificate.

Once I graduated high school myself, I got a job at a bar and moved in with a workmate so Mom could sell our old house and buy a condo. I put myself through community college part-time between serving drinks and watching Fliss after school. My certificate in communications landed me a decent job by Pine Grove standards. I had reliable income if not a lot of it. The company supplied medical devices and offered decent benefitsand a year-end bonus. I bought a used car, rented my own apartment with a bedroom and a den, and started a retirement savings plan.

Small towns were notorious for limited dating pools so I hadn’t had much luck there. Plus, between Mom’s lectures and Whit’s addiction to deadbeats, I was cautious about letting a man into my life. I instinctively held them at arm’s length, not liking to talk about my childhood or let my guard down.

When Whitney’s love life had taken yet another nosedive a year ago, she and Fliss had moved in with me ‘temporarily.’ My relationship status had suffered even more as a result, but that was as much my fault as theirs. I couldn’t be bothered dating once I had someone to come home to.

It had been crowded, all three of us living together, but the location had worked for Fliss’s school and with Whitney helping pay rent, I’d been able to save for the first time. I’d been trying to decide whether to apply to university to finish my degree or look for a condo to buy when Izzy had come home for a visit.

She had left right after high school for Calgary, where she got her degree and began working in an accounting firm. Her job prospects were endless and her bank account had already been very healthy when her grandmother had left her some money.

“Come to Australia with me!” Izzy had said while we caught up over coffee.

Mom had been appalled that I would consider blowing my savings on something so frivolous. The plane fare was outrageous and backpacking like a hippie for three months? Why couldn’t I want until I was approved for a work visa at least?

Why can’t you wait. That was Mom’s eternal refrain. Wait, wait, wait.

It had already begun to frost at night. The idea of being somewhere warm while winter settled in had tipped the scale for me. So had the idea of ‘being like Izzy.’

I pulled the pin, bought the ticket, quit my job, and climbed on the plane.

When Izzy had abruptly decided to fly home a week into our adventure, I hadn’t been able to stomach crawling home to Mom’s superior sigh.

Way to dodge that bullet, I thought sourly as I drained my champagne.

Fox had saved me, which had been very unexpected since I’d been getting a vibe off him that Izzy and I had already overstayed our welcome. Our night at the pub had turned into an invitation to accompany a group of their friends on a camp and surf weekend. Izzy had shared Fox’s tent while they were away and kept doing so when we returned to the men’s beach house a few days later.

I had moved slower with Shane. He hadn’t pressured me at all, which was part of his charm. He flirted in an easygoing way and didn’t ask a lot of questions. Taking the step into intimacy had felt casual, but not in the derogatory sense. Sex with him had been nice, but it hadn’t been loaded with deep meaning or great expectations.

If Izzy and I had moved on in those following days, I probably would have kept Shane in my heart as a fond memory of my travels, like a hike that had been worth the shortness of breath because I had slept well afterward.

Instead, Izzy had picked up an email from a former colleague in Calgary who had moved to Winnipeg. He thought she’d be perfect for the team he was assembling at the branch of a bank there.

“Are you coming back with me?” Izzy had asked as she had looked up flights.

Without answering, I’d gone to the beach to soul-search. By that I mean sulk. Fox had found me and I had poured out my dilemma, repulsed by the idea of going back to Pine Grove so I could update a website selling medical devices.

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