Anchor of Hope (16 page)

She blushed and smiled, looking down as she remembered him carrying her to her bed last night. She tucked her hair behind her ear.

“Very well, thanks.” Ashley turned to watch the girls as they dodged and weaved their way through the crowds of people sitting on the grass and camping chairs.

“So you like country music now?” Jay turned towards the stage where a man wearing a cowboy hat sang into the microphone whilst strumming his guitar.

“No, not really. I came along to spend some time with the girls.”

“Is that why you were dancing?” He kept his eyes towards the stage, a smirk on his face.

Ashley’s mouth dropped open. “OK, they
made
me dance with them, but it was only for one song.”

“That was more than one song.” His smirk turned into a grin.

“How long were you watching?” she asked.

“Long enough.” He cast her a quick glance.

She laughed. “Well, that’s just totally embarrassing.”

The current singer finished and they began to re-set the stage.

Coco ran over, excited. “Jay! This is Miss Davis’s favorite singer!” Then she ran off to join Meika and a few other girls they’d been running around with earlier. the mention of Miss Davis’s name caused Ashley to experience emotions she knew she had no right to feel.

“Miss Davis seems lovely,” Ashley said, hoping to gauge Jay’s response.

“Huh? Yeah, I guess.” Jay shrugged.

“I think she likes you.” Ashley raised one eyebrow as she recalled Nicole’s obvious flirting from the other day.

“Who? Nicole?” Jay frowned. Ashley couldn't tell if he was playing dumb or if he hadn’t noticed.

“Yes, Nicole. I saw the way she was talking to you at the school. It’s obvious she likes you.”

“She wanted me to have a look at one of her walls,” Jay said.

Ashley raised her eyebrows, smiling.

“Strictly business,” he said. “She wants to put a doorway in.”

Ashley didn't believe him, but it wasn't any of her concern.

“Besides, she’s not my type,” Jay said, turning back towards the stage and folding his arms across his chest.

“A girl like Nicole is
everyone’s
type,” Ashley said, thinking of Nicole’s beautiful long red hair, piercing blue eyes and rosy red lips. A natural beauty.

The next singer came out on to the stage and the crowd went wild. Ashley and Jay sat down on the rug and watched the girls dance, twirl and spin to the music. Totally uninhibited. Ashley envied them—their innocence, unexposed to the harsh realities of the world.

Jay didn’t say much, as usual. Ashley usually talked enough for the both of them but this time they sat, side by side, grateful for one another’s company.

It was almost five by the time the singer came to his last song. It was a slow love song.

“Dance!” Coco yelled to Ashley and Jay. Coco had a little entourage of kids behind her, all giggling and watching Jay and Ashley.

Ashley laughed and shook her head.

“Dance!” Coco yelled again, giggling.

“Well, we can’t disappoint our audience, can we?” Jay stood and held out his hand to Ashley.

She shook her head and reluctantly took his hand. He pulled her to her feet and spun her around straight away. All the little girls laughed and pointed. Ashley felt embarrassed and out of her comfort zone, but Jay looked as though this was a completely normal thing to be doing. That was a surprise. He placed his left hand on her lower back, grasped her left hand with his right and spun her around, much to the delight of their young spectators. Ashley couldn’t stop laughing.

Then he stopped and leant forward towards her, dipping her back so far she thought she was going to fall over backwards. Coco and her friends clapped and joined hands, trying to copy Jay and Ashley’s movements. A few other spectators had started watching on with interest. Jay straightened Ashley up and lifted her into the air, slowly spinning her around. She placed her hands on his shoulders and looked down into his eyes. She had been laughing so much her cheeks were beginning to hurt.

He looked happy, enjoying himself as he watched her laugh and step out of her comfort zone. She felt the smooth muscles contracting and expanding as he slowly lowered her and they stood there face to face trying to catch their breath, still laughing. The whole time they had been dancing he never took his eyes off her once, seemingly oblivious to the onlookers.

The song finished and they cheered and clapped along with everyone else.

“Well, thank you for the dance,” Ashley said and Jay laughed

“Thank
you.”

“We better get going. We have to back at Mom’s for dinner at 5:30.” Ashley looked around at the girls.

“Do you need a lift?” Jay asked.

“You aren’t going to stick around? There are still a few more performers tonight,” Ashley said.

“Nah, I’m exhausted now,” he said, rubbing his back as though he had injured it, Ashley laughed.

“Well, in that case, that’d be great. Thanks. I’ll text Jess and let her know.”

She called the girls over and they said good bye to their friends.

Jay turned around as he heard a voice over his shoulder.

“Nice moves.”

There were two young men, who both looked to be in their early twenties.

“Hey.” Jay smiled. “What are you two doing here?”

“Making the most of our free time. This would have to be the first weekend in a while our boss has given us off.” The man speaking turned towards Ashley, smiling. “Our boss is a real tyrant.”

“So this is the reason you've been skipping out of work early, is it?” he asked Jay, nodding his head in the direction of Ashley.

Jay frowned, rubbing the back of his neck again. Ashley couldn't help but smile.

“Hi.” She held out her right hand. “I’m Ashley.”

The man placed his beer in his left hand and shook her hand. “James. This is Tyler.” He nodded towards the other man.

“So you guys all work together?” Ashley placed her hands on her hips, looking at Jay and the two younger men.

“I guess you could say that,” James smiled. “He’s our boss.”

“Not for much longer if you two don’t get out of here.” Jay feigned anger.

“We’re going.” James laughed and held up his hands, palms towards Jay. “You pair have a good night. Nice to meet you, Ashley.” James smiled, and so did Tyler.

“Hey boys,” Jay called. “Don’t drink too much. I don't want any phone calls on Monday morning saying you’re too hung over to show up for work!” He smiled, but Ashley couldn't help feel that he would be a stern, no-nonsense kind of boss.

As they were walking they passed Nicole. She was with another woman. Nicole was wearing a white sundress which left little to the imagination. With her curves and stunning features, she caught the attention of men from all around the park. Ashley felt guilty that she was with Jay when she knew Nicole fancied him. Nicole’s eyes rounded when she spotted Jay with Ashley, and she looked as though she wanted to reach out and talk to Jay but he simply nodded in acknowledgement and continued walking beside Ashley, leaving Nicole standing stunned, mouth ajar. Perhaps she wasn’t used to being rejected by men—or at least, not by the man she had her eyes set on.

It was still light but the sun was beginning to go down as they headed towards the exit. The girls spotted the animal petting tent. It had baby rabbits, lambs, piglets and ducklings.

“Can we go in?” the girls asked.

“I don’t know girls. We don’t want to be late.”

“Pleeeease?”

“All right, but quickly.” Ashley succumbed to their irresistible pleadings.

The lady operating the tent looked to be in her late forties, plump with a brown hair and a friendly face.

“Hi, Jay. How you been doing?” she asked as the girls went in to play with the baby animals.

“I’m well thanks, Donna. How’s the family going?” They sparked up a conversation. It appeared that Jay and Donna were acquaintances.

Ashley had her hands full of rubbish—empty drink cans and hot dog wrappers. Perhaps she should throw the trash out while the girls played.

“I’ll be back in a minute,” she said to Jay, holding up the rubbish to indicate that she was headed to the trash cans.

He nodded in acknowledgement and continued his conversation with Donna. If Ashley remembered correctly, there were two large trash cans around the rear of the toilet block near the back fence.

As she turned the corner three men were standing around the bins, laughing about something. They looked drunk and Ashley hoped she could dump her trash without drawing any attention to herself. There wasn’t anyone else around and something about the men made her feel uneasy.

She dropped the rubbish in the bin and turned to leave.

The shirtless man jumped in front of her, blocking her exit. He had a can of beer in his hand and he reeked of alcohol.

“Where are you off to?” His words came out slurred.

“Home, actually. Excuse me.” Ashley tried to step past him. He sidestepped, blocking her again, and his two friends came up beside him, laughing and spurring him on. 

She turned around deciding she would go in the opposite direction, but as she did she felt the shirtless drunk grab her backside.

“Hey!” She spun around, smacking his hand away.

He held up his hands in self-defence.

She was angry but they weren’t worth her time. She turned to walk away again and heard them laugh.

“Come on,” he taunted. “You wouldn’t be wearing them shorts if you didn’t want it.”

His friends laughed and she felt a rush of anger surge through her.

She spun on her heel, facing them. “How dare you! I can wear whatever I want without having to defend myself from morons like you!”

They all laughed harder, as if entertained by her outburst.

“You have no right to touch me. You should be ashamed of yourself!”

She saw the drunk men look behind her and she turned to see Jay standing directly behind her.

“Everything OK here?” Jay asked, looking at the men, then at Ashley.

Ashley nodded, not wanting to get him involved.

“You her boyfriend or somethin’?” shirtless drunk asked.

“No,” Jay replied, coolly.

“Husband?”

“No.”

“Brother?”

“No.”

The guy laughed, looking at his two friends for encouragement before turning back towards Jay. “Then you got no business here.” He spat on the ground, tucking his thumbs into the front of his belt buckle.

Ashley saw Jay’s jaw bone clench and his hands formed fists.

She intervened, placing her hand on his forearm. “It’s OK, it’s nothing. Let’s go. I’m fine, really.”

He slowly turned his eyes to hers. He nodded once and together they turned to walk away. After a few steps Ashley was sprayed with beer. The shirtless drunk had thrown his can at Jay, hitting him between the shoulder blades, spraying alcohol everywhere and bouncing off onto the ground.

Jay stopped walking and tensed up. Ashley bit her lip, not knowing what to expect. She could see he was furious and trying his hardest to control his anger.

The shirtless guy said something inaudible, but she knew it was offensive and Ashley held her breath, hoping Jay wouldn’t react. She could see he was using every ounce of strength not to turn around and pound them all.

Before she even had time to grasp what was going, on the shirtless guy had run up behind Jay and was poised ready to hit him in the back of his head with his closed fist. Ashley's hand involuntarily shot up to cover her mouth as she watched on in shock. In one swift movement Jay ducked, dodging the blow, rotating 180 degrees on his heel as he came up  and brought his right fist up, impacting with a sickening crunch on shirtless drunks chin. Ashley was stunned at the speed and ability with which Jay moved. If there had been any previous doubt as to the functionality of Jay’s upper body following his war injury, it was dismissed now. The drunk dropped to the ground as though his legs had failed to operate. He lay there moaning, blood beginning to seep out of the side of his mouth. He spat. Saliva mixed with blood pooled onto the ground.

He cursed as his friends ran to his side. “You broke my tooth!”

Jay stood there, breathing heavily, anger burning in his eyes. His fists were still clenched. It was all over before Ashley had had time to comprehend what was happening. Jay looked at Ashley, his face blank and unreadable.

He blinked a few times and looked back at the guy on the ground. He was sitting up now rubbing his jaw. Then Jay did something so surprising Ashley couldn’t believe it. He held out his right hand towards the man on the ground. The drunk slapped his hand away but Jay held it out again, not saying a word. The drunk spat out blood again and reached out, accepting Jay’s hand. Jay pulled him to his feet and the two met face to face.

Ashley waited expecting Jay to throttle him again, but he didn’t.