No Ordinary Love (High Rise Novella Three) (2 page)

“You’ve been here long enough to know you don’t cross a Chinese mother when it comes to yum cha. It’s tradition. You don’t mess with that.”

“For some reason it was never an issue with the company I kept before.” Maddie thought about June and her growing belly. She was probably at dim sum as well, Mark’s family fawning over their pregnant daughter-in-law.

“Either way, you can’t blame Alex. She’s being a good daughter.” Nat chimed in. “They raised her well.”

Maddie nodded, hesitating to broach the next subject, even though it had been bugging her. “There’s also the case of the unmentionable ex.” She searched Nat’s face for a reaction. If anyone had information about Rita, it was her. “I know Rita cheated on her, but that’s it. It’s not as if I need all the details about their affair, far from it, but I do believe she would benefit from talking about it once in a while.”

“Give her some time.” Nat’s tone was serious. “It’ll sort itself out.”

“Really? How?” Maddie made eye-contact with Isabella in the hope of getting some support. “If she won’t even acknowledge the woman’s existence.”

“Alex is simply not the kind of person who needs to talk through everything extensively to process. She’s not that kind of lesbian. I mean, she is half-Chinese.” Nat sounded as if she really needed to convince Maddie of this.

“It’s not because they don’t easily talk about their feelings that they couldn’t benefit from it,” Isabella said. “I’ve been practising in Hong Kong for fifteen years and the only Chinese clients I ever get are the ones born and bred abroad.”

“I do hope it doesn’t come back to bite her in the ass.” Maddie, who had no interest in discussing the mental state of the local population, brought the subject back to Alex. “I wish she’d share more. I can see it in her eyes sometimes, this darkness, this well of emotions not dealt with.”

“There’s only one solution. Instead of talking about it with us, confront Alex.” Isabella extended her hand over the table and reached for Maddie’s. “And don’t push her.”

“She does have some wise things to say now and again.” Nat smiled at Isabella. “Then again, she attended university for about ten years so that education had better pay off.”

Maddie sagged back in her chair and let the easy banter between Nat and Isabella pass her by. As far as she knew, they didn’t have skeletons in their closet like Alex had.

* * *

“Did you tell them about me yet?” Maddie had awaited Alex’s return from Tai Po anxiously. After the impromptu chat she’d had with Nat and Isabella she was eager to get something out of her.
 

Alex walked over to where Maddie was sitting and pushed her down into the sofa cushions. “For now, you’re still my dirty, little, whip-cracking secret.” She smiled down at Maddie before kissing her.

Maddie wasn’t that dead-set on getting Alex’s parents’ approval, but she decided to use them as a way to instigate the conversation she wanted to have. “Are you afraid I won’t stack up against the memory of Rita?”

“What?” Alex pushed herself up, making her triceps bulge in the process. “No.”

“I know they thought the world of her.” Alex hadn’t given her that information, but Nat had mentioned it once, late at night after a dinner including too much wine. “I understand your hesitance.”

“You want to meet my parents? Is that what this is about?” Alex crawled off Maddie and sat down on the ottoman next to the sofa, far enough not to touch her accidentally.

“No. I mean, I do one day when you’re ready, but we’ve only just got together.” Maddie already felt herself pussy-footing out. She couldn’t do it. She didn’t have the words to address Alex in a way that would make her open up.

“How about when we’ve been seeing each other for three months? I’ll introduce you officially then, but you will regret it because you’ll be spending many a Sunday off the island.” Alex managed a smile again and it was all Maddie needed to let the subject go completely. Maddie wasn’t in the business of making Alex feel bad. On the contrary, her sole task was to make her feel as good as possible.

“Deal, but you’ll have to come back with me to Melbourne in the spring so my family can finally be convinced I’m not a complete romantic disaster.” It surprised Maddie she was thinking so long-term. And that she even contemplated introducing Alex to her family, who had only ever seen her with Emma.

“We’ll see.” Alex offered her hand and Maddie gladly took it. “Let’s just enjoy the delicious early stages of this relationship without worrying about family.”

A broad smile split Maddie’s face in two. “While you were being a family girl, I went online and bought this.” Maddie grabbed her iPad from the coffee table and showed Alex a picture of a dolphin-shaped sex toy. “Delivery in two days.”

Alex rolled her eyes. “You have a box full of those already. I’m beginning to worry about you.”

“This one’s waterproof, though. And turbo-charged.” Maddie pulled Alex closer and sunk her teeth softly into the flesh of her shoulder.

“I may have to confiscate your credit card before this online shopping gets out of hand.” Alex let herself slide onto Maddie. “They have support groups for that, you know. I’ll go with you if you can’t find it in yourself to go alone.”

“Shut up and kiss me already.” Maddie pulled Alex’s tank top over her head, gasped as she always did at the sight of her flawless torso, and pushed her down into the sofa.

ALEX

Alex clicked the reply button to the e-mail Rita had sent her, then closed the e-mail window altogether. She’d repeated this process five times already. She’d read Rita’s e-mail about a hundred times, even though she knew it by heart by now.
 

Rita confessed to having been a heartless bitch. She’d taken Alex for granted for too long. She’d acted as if nothing could touch her. She’d never forgive herself for hurting Alex the way she did.
 

But just because Rita was coming to terms with her mistakes, Alex shouldn’t. Still, there was that tug. It had started deep inside of her. Not immediately after receiving the e-mail. Anger had come first—a crash of blind rage rushing through Alex’s blood. Who did Rita think she was? Casting Alex aside like that and then trying to weasel her way back in with an e-mail. But this was Rita and, try as she might, Alex couldn’t ignore her. Not forever. Not when the words blinking on the screen spoke of enduring love and endless regret.

Alex had Maddie now. She could be strong. She found herself in a good position to face Rita. She could have the upper hand in this. And it might be exactly what she needed.

Alex started typing and, despite the hammering of her heart, she knew she was doing the right thing. Not for Rita. Definitely not for Maddie, who Alex had kept in the dark about Rita’s message, but for herself. She could face her fear head on. She’d meet Rita, stare her straight in the eyes and tell her to go to hell.
 

Thursday after my evening class. The Rambler at 9.30 p.m.
It was as simple as that. Alex was confronting Rita four months after their brutal break-up. She’d have to pick up some extra classes this week, to burn off the stress.

Apart from when she’d just received the e-mail, the topic of Rita had been left untouched between her and Nat. This was Alex’s private battle—and she knew what Nat would say, anyway. Alex had contemplated telling Maddie, but she couldn’t see the point. She tried to keep conversation about Rita to a minimum in any circumstance. She didn’t want what she had with Maddie to be tainted by tales of what Rita had done to her and how incredibly inadequate it had made her feel. Rita was the past, Maddie the future.

Alex flipped her laptop shut, gathered some clean underwear in her backpack and made her way to Maddie’s floor.

* * *

“Let’s do the Dragon’s Back tomorrow.” Alex glanced at her three table companions who were all indulging in too much wine. “It’s one of the easier hikes in Hong Kong.”

“Don’t you have family dim sum?” Maddie, who’d probably drained a bottle all by herself, slipped her hand on Alex’s thigh.

“That was last week, babe.” Alex remembered how Maddie had tried to corner her. It had only resulted in a half-hearted attempt at trying to make her open up about Rita and Maddie had soon abandoned her efforts when she’d sensed Alex’s reluctance. Maybe we can talk about her after Thursday, Alex thought. Maybe I’ll be able to deal with it then.

“Easier? You are taking the more advanced age of our companions into consideration, I hope? I’ve done it a couple of times and it nearly killed me.” Nat raised her eyebrows. “Language is my thing and
easy
is not the right word to describe the path running over that mountain.”

Alex needed action. As much as her body needed the rest, she couldn’t bear the thought of a lazy Sunday afternoon. Exercising was the only activity capable of putting a stop to the endless churning of her brain. Had she made the right decision? What would Rita say? Should she tell Maddie? “Children do it. Pensioners do it. Everyone does it. You all belong to an excellent gym which keeps you in great shape. All that’s left to do is go easy on the wine.”

Nat reached for the bottle and topped up Alex’s glass. Alex let her, she wouldn’t drink it and that way it didn’t end up in Maddie’s glass.

“I’ve tackled the Dragon’s Back many times. Admittedly, it has been a while, but I’d love to do it again. It’s a wonderful Sunday afternoon activity in winter.” Isabella smiled at Alex. “Good plan.” She turned to Nat. “I’ll show the ageists how it’s done.”

“You don’t have to prove anything to me, darling.” Nat shot Isabella a wink. “I’m well acquainted with your high levels of endurance by now.”

“That just leaves me then.” Maddie started to slur her words. If she didn’t stop drinking soon she would never make it to the top tomorrow. “I’m a Dragon’s Back virgin, I’m afraid. In fact, in all the time I’ve been here I’ve only been on one hike and that was the one across Lamma Island.”

“That’s not a hike,” Isabella, a seasoned walker, said. “That’s a leisurely stroll.”

Maddie turned to face Alex. “I trust you only have my best interests at heart.”
 

Alex pondered this statement for a second. She wasn’t planning to climb this mountain to benefit Maddie’s health. This was a purely selfish activity, set up only to take her mind off Rita. “I’ll be with you every step of the way.”

The look in Maddie’s watery eyes brimmed with love. “I know you will.”

MADDIE

The hike was a bad idea. Maddie’s temples throbbed, her calves burned and she had a foul taste in her mouth. Yet, the view was almost worth it.
 

While the others seemed to float upwards along the narrow, steep trail, their feet barely touching the ground at an ungodly pace, Maddie lagged behind more and more. Alex waited for her at regular intervals, but Maddie felt increasingly alone in the staggering landscape of green mountains and indigo sea.

“Bad legs today, Madison?” Isabella asked, a self-righteous smile on her face.

Maddie loved her friend dearly, but she felt so miserable, so out of touch with everything they were enjoying, she limited her reply to a low grunt.

“Clearly your girlfriend hasn’t been working you hard enough.” Nat put a hand on Isabella’s shoulder. “I, on the other hand, am extremely proud of mine.”

They both stood there gloating, basking in the improbable love they’d come to share. They truly were the oddest couple ever.

“Come on, babe.” Alex shuffled a little closer. “The worst is over now.”

“You said that last time we stopped, before this hike turned into actual rock climbing.” Maddie had caught her breath and was able to string sentences together again.

Alex grabbed her hand and pulled her up. “Look at this.” Alex waved her arm in front of the splendour below them. White-tipped waves crashing to shore and wet-suited surfers trying to catch them. Endless forests in all shades of green stretched away from them. “Aren’t you glad you decided to stay in Hong Kong when you see this.”

“I didn’t stay for this.” Maddie curled her arms around Alex’s waist. “I stayed for you.”

Alex inched closer until their bellies touched, Alex’s rock hard abs brushing against Maddie’s irregularly heaving abdomen while she recovered from the effort. “I love you.”

There was an intensity in the way she said it Maddie hadn’t noticed before, an urgency to her words previously hidden—or non-existent.

“I love you too, baby, but I’ll love you even more once you’ve gotten me off this mountain in one piece.”

“How much more are we talking about?” Alex nuzzled her lips against Maddie’s neck.

“Hey, lovebirds.” Nat’s voice cut through their tender moment. “If we want to see those surfers up close before dark, we’d better get going.”

Maddie’s mouth fell open in desperation. The surfers seemed impossibly far away.

“It’s mostly downhill.” Isabella could always read the distress on Maddie’s face. “Before you know it we’ll be listening to the roar of the waves with a cold beer in our hands.”

“Best not mention any alcoholic beverages.” Alex gently squeezed Maddie’s neck before letting go off her. “Come on, I’ll walk behind you. We’ll let them get away from us and enjoy a romantic walk down. Just the two of us.”

Butterflies flapped their wings in Maddie’s stomach. She searched for Alex’s hand and didn’t intend to let go of it any time soon. Her body was in ruins after too much wine last night and the unexpectedly steep climb over uneven, treacherous mountain paths, but she had Alex and as long as she had someone as strong and capable as Alex by her side, she would be all right.

Together, they made it down, Nat and Isabella mere dots in the distance whenever the path ran straight long enough. Maddie had already been convinced of her feelings for Alex before she’d climbed the Dragon’s Back, but came down the mountain with everything she felt reconfirmed and strengthened.
 

The disobedient curl that kept leaping free from Alex’s pony tail and jumped up and down on her forehead. Her athletic hands on Maddie’s back when they crossed a particularly difficult stretch of rocks. The way her abs stood out beneath her top when she twisted her body sideways and the immediate effect it had on Maddie. The sweet words of encouragement she had whispered in her ear on the final short climb to the beach. Despite her hangover, it was a gorgeous day and Maddie felt privileged to spend it with the most beautiful woman she knew—and she got to take her home afterwards as well.