Angela lay down on her bed, hopeless, her heart still beating with the surge of adrenaline. There was no way she was getting any sleep tonight.
Ten
She woke up in a daze.The sun was shining brightly through her windows. She immediately thought of the night before. Had she dreamed it? Part of her wished she had; she wouldn’t have to face the consequences today, she wouldn’t have to face Michael. It would certainly be an awkward day. Maybe she could stay away from him all day. The island was quite big after all.
Who was she fooling? She would have to eat sometime. They would go searching for her. There was no use. She would have to go to the washroom. In fact, she had to right now. She would have to face him. As she put on her sandals on, she heard voices outside; everyone was up. She had no clue what time it was, but she was pretty certain she had slept in.
She grabbed her toiletry bag and as she made her way outside. She passed right by Eric.
“Lazy,” he teased.
“Hey don’t call me lazy. I went to bed late,” she explained, but didn’t elaborate. As she walked into the outhouse, she did her usual inspection for bugs; all clear. As far as outhouses went, this wasn’t a bad one. There were old magazines beside her anda fake bouquet of flowers hung up in the corner. She wondered who had put it up there. It certainly wouldn’t have been Michael, or even Dot for that matter. Maybe it was Michelle, or maybe Michael’s ex-wife. She would never know.
As she entered the cottage, she was greeted by Michael who was cleaning up after breakfast. He gave her a timid smile. She went to the sink to wash her hands. Not a word was spoken; only the clatter of dishes and the sound of the running water on her hands could be heard. She walked over to him and was the first to break the silence.
“About last night...” she whispered.
He looked at her intensely. She had his full attention.
“I was thinking...” she said.
He stared at her mouth.
“I should probably sleep on the pull-out tonight,” she suggested, slightly uncomfortable. “It would probably be best to avoid a recurrence of last night...” she shifted slightly away from him. “...that was a close call.”
He smiled his mischievous smile. “You’re just afraid of the bugs, aren’t you?” he teased.
“No. Absolutely not,” she protested, taking another step back.
“You are. You’re just finding an excuse. You just want to sleep in the comfort of modern convenience.” He came closer and whispered, “Blaming all this on us almost... making love.”
She was taken aback. “Is that what we were going to do?” she asked, curious.
“Honestly, I don’t know what I was going to do if you hadn’t stopped me.”
“Well, that’s exactly the reason I should sleep here tonight.” She was more certain then ever.
“You’re right. You should definitely sleep here.” He had lost all his inhibitions and he was laying it out on the table, as plain as he could; making himself crystal-clear.
“Because if you’re anywhere near me tonight, there’s no way I’m staying away from you.” And with that, he hung his dish towel and walked away, leaving her standing in the middle of the kitchen with her mouth open and her knees about to give.
Angela took what Michael had told her very seriously. Part of her wanted to go into his cabin that night and say. “I’m here, Michael. I’m all yours.” But she knew that was just a fantasy. She knew the reality of the situation was quite different. She knew he was right; she could not in her right mind be anywhere near him.
So with that thought, she stayed as far away as she could. She considered asking him to get her to the marina early, but she didn’t even want to go near him to ask him that. She spent the day doing some kayaking with Michelle and Eric, and reading with Dot. She helped with dinner, and sat two seats away from Michael, glancing down at her plate most of dinnertime.
At night, they played some Monopoly and there she found Michael and his son to be ruthless competitors; she could understand why he had been so successful in business. Michael seemed to have a target that he just wanted to destroy; her. She was the first out, having no hope; being the target of the most evil Monopoly player ever known to man. She, of course, took it quite personally.
“How can I stand any chance when you totally have it out for me?” she told Michael as she grudgingly walked away from the game.
“Hey, if you can’t play with the big boys, don’t play at all.” She didn’t quite know if he was serious or if he was joking.
Jeez, what did I ever do to you?
Later that night, she saw a softer side of Michael as she sat on the sofa sandwiched between Michelle and Eric, reading a French tabloid magazine with them, laughing at the stupid celebrity gossip. Michael sat across them in a club chair, reading the paper. She caught a glimpse of him looking at her; the scowl he had earlier had been was replaced by a tender expression.
It was getting quite late, and Michael told the kids to get to bed to free up the sofa for Angela. He pulled out the sofa, and opened the rustic pine coffee table where the sheets and blankets were. When Dot got wind of this, she couldn’t resist the urge to ruffle Angela’s feathers. “Oh, the special little lady couldn’t bare the cabin and all those scary bugs,” she taunted, laughing.
“I’m no different than you, Dot,” Angela argued.
