Man of Mystery (23 page)

Frowning slight he says no and he is going to call him after he eats.  His mood is crisp wanting to ask him about the benefit but something is off.
Brandy scowls trying to look into his eyes since he is keeping his head down to eat and scan over the business section of the paper in front of him.  Glancing up he sees her staring at him realizing his moodiness shaking his head.  “I’m sorry that phone call just turned my stomach and it has nothing to do with you.  Sometimes people make a mountain out of a mole hill is the best saying I can think of.  Let’s put it behind us and have a great day.” he smiles trying to hide his phone call irritation.

“Ok, well if you were mad at me for using up the hot water, you would have a right to complain.” trying to joke to lighten the mood. He rolls his eyes with a grin so deciding the next step telling him how cool it was just seeing us on TV, which has never happened before.  His eyes pop open looking at her with surprise.  “When was this?” he asks

She explains what was on the news this morning.  It was when we were ate dinner last night they must have had a TV crew at the party since it was for a charity benefit she also saw Denny and Tiffany.  He nods rubbing his chin, “Well that explains it.” scowling slightly.  Explains what she asks. Now she is totally confused.

“My phone call was from home about being out last night.  It’s a long story and I don’t want you to worry about it.  Just social things seem to blow up in my face sometimes.  It’s nothing really but I am usually one to stay out of the camera’s eye just because people take things out of contrast.” He tries to explain but still so clueless.

“Like what things? I really don’t have a clue of what can be taken out of contrast.  Then again I have never been on TV before.”  Shaking her head because she is puzzled, it wasn’t like paparazzi or anything just the local news.  Then again she has never had to deal with paparazzi and never will in her eyes.

“It’s hard to explain and I will but not today, today is about you and I having a blast.  Come on get yourself dressed
I’ll finish eating and call Tim; time is wasting!” he sparks up.  Now getting excited wanting to see everything she can before we go home. Going to the bedroom to finish up because it is almost 8am remembering Sue said they are heading out in the morning and she doesn’t want to miss seeing their boat.  Dressed and ready finishing up her makeup in the bathroom and Nathan is ready to go.  He is dressed more casual with a light blue shirt on which make his eyes look so intense running up giving him a big kiss and hug.  “Well are you the excited one today!  We are all set I have a cab waiting and we will pack our things up when we come back later.” Taking her hand we head out for a day that she is sure she will always remember.

Getting to the docks by 9am we look around spotting their catamaran.  Sue told her last night that it is named “Our Passion” so she spotted it right away among several others that are docked.  She is on the stern sitting having a cup of coffee and on our approach she stands up to wave us onboard.  She ‘referring to the boat’ is beautiful and extremely large.  It must be over 70’ long with dual staircase that leads to the stern.  On the stern beside the Hot Tub and a Jet Ski it has a small bar with a table seating area.  She brings us up to see Tim who is in the bridge totally amazed at the state of the art controls.  He has two computer screens with a luxurious chair.  Not knowing all the gadgets Tim tries to tell her about different things but still so awestruck.  He joins us on the rest of the tour where she shows the galley, the kitchen and how each pontoon has a bedroom in it.  There stateroom is in the front and it has windows all along the front to see out.  She can’t help to just keep touching looking and absorbing as much as she can.  Nathan was right; these can fit a lot into them.  This one has 5 bathrooms and 4 bedrooms.  Way out of her league here.  After our tour we go sit in the galley as Sue fixes us some ice tea and a light snack.  Going to help her thanking her for letting us see her “Passion” and that she obviously named it right.  She would feel the same way if she could travel the oceans in something like this.  Wondering where they are heading next Sue tells her they plan to head south until about September.  They usually dock for a couple of months once they find out about hurricane season in Florida which they have a house in and then afterwards travel the Caribbean through the winter.  Tim has his office on the ship as well as at home so they can work and play.  Praising her on living the best of both worlds she warmly gives her a hug looking at her sweetly “Always follow your heart dear and you can do the same.”  She is so sweet; telling her “I’ll definitely keep that in mind.”  We chat for awhile and the morning is soon is leading into the afternoon.  We politely leave since we know they are heading out and Sue gives her email address Brandy to keep in touch.  She will send her photos of this year’s journey which she tells her she looks forward to receiving as we leave.

Next we head up the boardwalk with arms around each other’s waist.  There is an amusement park that she wants to bring Nathan to loving to go on the roller coaster and Ferris wheel.  We chat about the Bush’s elaborate Catamaran totally agreeing that is was exquisite.   She can never imagine herself sailing the ocean up and down the coast even though it sounds exciting.  He laughs and says maybe someday.  We get to the park pulling him to the roller coaster so we can take a ride.  It branches out over the water and it looks so exciting.

His expression is a little paled “Is something wrong, don’t you like roller coasters.” she asks concerned.

“Well, it has been several years since I have ridden anything in an amusement park.  Honestly the last time wasn’t that fun.  Someone got sick on me” he blanches.

“Really, I thought that only happened in movies.” jokingly saying back.  “Come on I promise not to puck on you.” we get in line.  Once we get to the top telling him the best spot is in the front because if someone does get sick it is behind us.  He raises an eyebrow with are you for real look.  We buckle up and off we go.  As we feel the pull of the mechanics pulling us up to the top he looks pale again.  Hoping he can handle this and we are off down the first big hill then jerked to the right. 
She is exhilarated with the free fall feeling putting her hands up in the air for the second hill.  He is still holding on tightly to the bar looking at her like she is crazy.  Brandy is laughing with tears from the wind whipping her face.  Before you know it the ride is over look like she has to pry his fingers off the bar. 

Whispering in his ear, “You can let go now unless you plan on doing another round.” giggling.  He comes out of his trance getting up. 

“So was it really some kid that got sick or was it you? You seemed a little scared on that ride.” teasing him.

“No it wasn’t me.” frowning slightly at her “I have to admit you scared the hell out of me when you lifted your arms up, I felt like I was going to fly out of the car on the first hill.”

“OK, I’ll take it easy on you for the next ride; we will just do the Ferris wheel, how’s that?”  She sees color is coming back to his face.

“That sounds much better” and we go over to ride that.  Once we get on we cuddle up while they load on passengers we head up into the sky.  You get a great view of the city from up here enjoying every inch of it.  He has definitely relaxed more and takes in the view beside her.  It is so beautiful, definitely she wants to come back to visit here again.

Since our day is flying by we don’t wait for any more rides and go get a quick sandwich before we head back.  Passing by one of those throw a ring on a milk bottle, she spots a cute little dog stuffed animal with Atlantic City bandanna around its neck.  Walking over asking how many do you need to make to win it.  The guy says just one.  Nathan asks “Do you want me to try and win that for you” as she is about to pay the man to toss.  Grinning, “I tell you what, I get three chances and I will give you the first two.” She replies

Smirking at her, “OK, I think I can do this, what’s so hard about tossing a ring on a bottle.”

“Oh, you will find out.” she tells him.

He really takes his time eyeing it up and tosses the first ring like a Frisbee and it hits the bottle but doesn’t land on it.  Frowning like he has got this he tries it a little softer throw and it just lands between the bottles.

“Ok, you got me, let’s see what you got.” He states.  Smiling she takes her position eyes up the bottle biting her tongue slightly to the side tosses looping it just right onto the bottle.  His mouth drops open not believing she did it with one throw.  The guy hands her the prize and we start to walk away.

“How did you do that!” he exclaims.  Laughing “I told you I grew up in small town which means there were plenty of farms and plenty of those kinds of bottle around.  We had to do something for fun.  I won most of the time.” Not trying to brag but it was true.

Still smiling, handing him the dog, “Here this is for you.” she tells him looking rather surprised.  “Something to remember this day by” smiling triumphantly.

“Yes it is, you are full of surprises and thank you” as he takes it with a silly smile on his face.  We decide to walk the beach lucky for us we both have sandals on.  On our way we grab a couple of hot dogs.

“So, it seems to me that you haven’t really been to a lot of amusement parks before.  Don’t they have those in Australia?” she asks

“Yes they have them in Australia, but my family doesn’t really do amusement parks.  The one time I did go it was with a Nanny we had when we were kids.  She thought it would be nice for a change, she was watching my brother and me while our parents were out of town.  We did enjoy it until my brother got sick on me on the roller coaster.  When my parents returned then my brother told them about the park, they fired her.  She was a really nice Nanny too but I was only 11 and I didn’t have much say in it.” He sighs.

Wow she is floored; they fired the nanny for taking the kids to have fun, which is awful and strange.  They never took Nathan to an amusement park.  Trying to figure out her words and her curiosity too, “I’m sorry to hear that, but I am a little puzzled.  Is there a reason they don’t like to take you to amusement parks themselves, even if you went on easier rides?  I don’t understand why they fired the nanny when no one got hurt or anything.”

“Well to give you a better understanding of my family, they really don’t do public scenes very much unless it’s controlled.  My father likes to have control of what is going on and they felt like amusement parks are not a controlled environment.  It’s too much publicity in my father’s eyes that can back fire on him.  Like if someone had caught Brent getting sick it would be all over the news or something. I know it sounds strange but my father is a very important man back home and he doesn’t like to be covering up anything that could possibly be embarrassing.” Looking at her to see if she understands what he is saying.

With a frown slightly nodding “Oh, so your family must be pretty important back home I take it?  Kind of like celebrities?” she asks.

“I guess you can put it that way, we try to stay out of the lime light” sighing “It’s not easy back home to do that, that is one of the reasons I left, we are not as well known in another country.  It’s really not an easy lifestyle when I am home.”

Warming up to that cupping his face to look at him eye to eye, “So, I take it you like it here because you don’t have to worry about that am I correct?”

With a thoughtful look “Yea, you’re right, it is like I can finally just be myself and not worry who is watching me.  It is very relaxing but then again I was viewed last night and I slipped.  I never paid attention to the fact that they have TV crews there at the party.  I have to be more vigilant or word travels fast.  It’s not like I can’t attend parties I just prefer to not be centered on at any parties, do you understand?” He asks her sincerely looking at to see if she understands his concern.

“OK, done deal, we together will be more vigilant and I will keep my eyes open too.” She smiles warmly back at him.  He is opening up to her not that she knows everything that is going on he just likes to keep his life private and obviously back home it’s for a good reason.  She can live with that.

We are back at the hotel even though we should have checked out hours
ago; they are very courteous since Nathan paid them an extra tip as we pack our bags to go home.  We meet up with Tiffany and Denny in the lodge to go to the airport.

By the time we get home it is about 7pm but we are all starving, going to a local café to get a bite to eat.  Since Nathan and Brandy were together on the plane ride just talking about our upcoming week she didn’t have a chance to talk to Tiffany that much to see how her day was.  She tells her all about it while the guys discuss their plans for Atlantic City in the upcoming weeks.  Listening to Tiffany telling what she did while they were gone sneaking glimpse at Nathan seeing he is back to business and comfortable with it.  Talking about his family makes him somewhat uncomfortable she can see from our earlier conversation but that’s ok.  Feeling good he has started to open up more.  The guys bring us home and carry in our luggage.

She is alone with Nathan in her room as he places the luggage on the futon/bed.  “You know I think you need a real bed.  That isn’t the most comfortable thing to sleep on.” He states with a raised eyebrow.

“Yea well, I’ll get one once I make enough money to buy one.  Until then I will be fine.” tilting her head like she will deal with it like just like she has for the past year.

“Well, If I’m going to stay here again, don’t you think it would be more comfortable in a real bed?’ he asks