Reluctant Date (21 page)

Claire’s eyes met Daniel’s and they smiled at one another.
Then they looked back to where the dolphins were heading at speed across the
bay.
 
Nobody spoke until the final fin
had disappeared from view in a splash of rainbow coloured spray. Only then, and
without turning around from her lookout point at the stern, did Taylor-Ann
break the silence.

“That was magical,” she sighed. “Thank you Dan.
 
Now I truly feel I’m home again.”

“My pleasure,” he said, pointing the dinghy back towards the
pier and, as he did so, realizing that he suddenly felt very happy.
 
Pleased as he was to have his sister at home
again, he was under no illusion that his happiness had anything to do with
her.
 
No!
 
It was because of the smile he had exchanged with Claire, out there
amongst the dolphins.
 
It had been a
smile of mutual understanding, as if she somehow knew what his life was like,
knew about all the responsibilities he had, all the balls he had to juggle, and
understood and sympathized. And, unless he was deluding himself, there had been
something else too. He was sure her gray eyes had held an invitation, and it
was something he was going to follow up, Scott or no Scott, as soon as he had
done his duty by his family.

* * *

When they arrived back at the pier they were greeted by
Taylor-Ann’s double.
 
“That’s Melanie,”
she told Claire, with an airy wave of her hand towards the girl leaning against
the railings that surrounded the pier.

“I think I would have guessed that,” Claire told her,
laughing as she climbed out of the dinghy to say hello.

“Don’t be fooled,” Daniel called up from below, trying to
concentrate on securing the dinghy instead of looking at Claire’s legs
disappearing up the ladder above him. “They might look alike, but Melanie is
the sensible one.
 
She doesn’t talk as
much as Taylor-Ann either.”

“That is so not true!” Taylor-Ann pulled a face at him as he
joined them on the pier.
 
Melanie,
however, merely smiled.

He kissed her cheek.
 
“Where have you been?
 
It’s not like
you to disappear when you first arrive home. I was expecting the pair of you to
pester me until I agreed to take you out in the dinghy.”

“Oh around and about…I had a few people to see,” Melanie’s
voice was quieter than her sister’s, her eyes more solemn. “I’m ready to go
home now though.
 
Do you think dinner
will be ready? I’m starving!”

“Probably. Come on then.” He clambered back down into the
dinghy and held it steady while they joined him.

Claire watched them go with a smile.
 
“Don’t forget the barbecue tomorrow,”
Taylor-Ann called as Daniel started up the engine.
 
“It starts at twelve.”

“I’ll be there,” Claire waved goodbye, her eyes locking with
Daniel’s one last time before he turned away and headed out into the bay.
 
Even as her heart flipped she wondered
whether he had noticed that Melanie’s answer had been elusive, and that she had
changed the subject as to her whereabouts very quickly. Somehow she didn’t
think he had.

She walked away from the pier deep in thought.
 
What was his sister up to, and did Taylor-Ann
know?
 
Had she deliberately kept Daniel
occupied so that Melanie could visit someone she knew he wouldn’t approve of,
or was she just imagining the whole thing?

It wasn’t long before she found out because when she got
back to her apartment Scott was sitting on her doorstep waiting for her. She
stared at him in surprise.

“What are you doing here? I thought you said you had a date
tonight.”

“I did…have one I mean…except she had to go home early to
have dinner with her family.”

Claire frowned as everything clicked into place.
 
“It was Melanie wasn’t it? She was your date.
How come you never told me you were dating her?”

Then, remembering Melanie’s behavior when Daniel questioned
her, she shook her head.
 
“It’s a secret
isn’t it? You and Melanie are meeting in secret.”

He leapt to his feet in horror.
 
“How did you know?
 
I didn’t think anyone knew about us. Melanie
is so paranoid about her family finding out that I’ve had to promise to keep it
under wraps.
 
It’s not something I’m
happy about either, especially as far as Daniel is concerned.”

“I’m sure you’re not…but don’t worry, as far as I know your
secret’s safe. I just guessed Scott.”
 

He groaned as he tugged at his hair with anxious
fingers.
 
“If you’ve guessed then it
won’t be long before someone else does too.”

“Not necessarily.
 
I
just happened to meet up with her a few minutes ago, and there was something
about the way she spoke to Daniel that made me think she didn’t want him to
know where she had been and what she had been doing.
 
If you hadn’t turned up on my doorstep
immediately afterwards and told me your date had gone home early, then I would
never have put two and two together.”

“Well now you do know it makes it easier for me to ask a
favor.”

She unlocked her door and held it wide.
 
“Come in and have a beer.
 
You look as if you need one.”

He followed her inside and threw himself down on the couch
while she busied herself pouring out two beers and tipping some nuts and olives
into a couple of bowls.

“Bring those out onto the balcony,” she told him. “I want to
watch the sunset even if you don’t.”

He did as she asked and then slumped low in one of the
chairs she kept on the balcony and propped his feet on the wooden balustrade.
“It’s all such a mess,” he said dejectedly, tipping his glass and swallowing
half his beer.

“I suppose you and Melanie are seeing one another in secret
because she’s worried her parents won’t approve?”

“Yeah…something like that, and she’s got a point.
 
They’ll say I’m too old for her, that I don’t
earn nearly enough money to support us, that she’s still at college…that she’s
just a kid, except…except she’s not.”

Claire gave an inward sigh as she heard the pain in his
voice. Was there no end to the bleak undercurrents that swirled around the
Marchant family?
 
“Daniel wouldn’t react
like that,” she said.

“Don’t kid yourself! He would be even worse. To him
Taylor-Ann and Melanie
are
just
kids.
 
He won’t accept they’ve grown up
and, although it bugs me, I can sort of understand it.
 
Ever since Mr Marchant lost his sight Daniel
has had to run the family business. He makes all the financial decisions
too.
 
And he’s the one who is putting the
twins through college.
 
He’s the one who
set Carl up in business as well.
 
And
he’s also the one who does his best to stop his mother giving in to complete
despair.
 
So it’s not surprising he has
started thinking like a father instead of a brother.
 
I’m sure he’s just looking out for them when
he tells them they are too young to be romantically involved with anyone…but it
doesn’t make it easy for me, or for Melanie.”

“So what is the favour?” Claire’s heart sank as she spoke
because she was sure she wasn’t going to like it, whatever it was.

“I want you to come to the barbecue with me tomorrow,”
Scott’s eyes shifted away from her in embarrassment when she looked across at
him.
 
“I know it’s a big ask, but if I
arrive with you then it will allay everyone’s suspicion and take the pressure
off Melanie. Please say yes Claire, because I must see her.”

Chapter Eighteen

Busy flipping burgers, as well as taking care the steaks
didn’t burn; Daniel had little chance to talk to Scott and Claire when they
arrived at the barbecue.
 
Not that he
wanted to talk to them, not after last night.

He had just finished eating dinner with his parents and sisters
when the manager of Claire’s apartment block had called his cell phone.
Apologising for disturbing him, the man explained he had forgotten to give him
some papers for a forthcoming meeting.
 
He offered to bring them over but Daniel told him he would collect them.
Promising to arrive early the following morning to help set up the barbecue, he
kissed his mother and sisters goodbye. Then, with a brief farewell to his
father, he strode out across the deck and down to where he had tied up his
dinghy.

As he set off across the bay he gave a sigh of relief.
 
So far, so good!
 
His father had been reasonably pleasant to
Taylor-Ann and Melanie.
 
There had been
no second thoughts about the barbecue, no suggestion he was anything other than
pleased to have them home again.
 
And
because he was being cooperative his mother had lost her hunted look and begun
to relax and to enjoy the girls’ stories about college and their friends.
 
It was probably too much to expect that
things would stay that way all summer but he could at least hope. In the
meantime it was good to escape the confines of family and responsibility and
think, instead, of Claire.

His heart lifted as he puttered across the bay.
 
The memory of the smile she had given him
earlier wouldn’t go away. He was sure he had seen an invitation in her
eyes.
 
Maybe Carl was right and she and
Scott were just friends.
 
Maybe it was
time he made a move. After all, she had been in Dolphin Key for long enough now
for it to seem an entirely natural progression. Later, if there was a later, he
would admit he had enticed her to Florida for entirely selfish reasons, but
right now getting her to agree to a date was the first thing he had to do. He
would ask her tomorrow, at the barbecue.
 
No! He had a better idea.
 
He
would act right now, before he got cold feet.
 
As soon as he had collected the papers that were waiting for him, he
would go up to her apartment, knock on the door, and invite her out.

With a smile of relief now he had made his decision, he
glanced up at her balcony. His heart plummeted like a stone when he saw Scott
sitting there. Although he couldn’t see Claire very clearly, it was obvious
that they were sitting very close together. Then he saw Scott wrap his arm
around her shoulders and hug her.
 
After
that he stopped watching. So much for the invitation he was sure he had seen in
her eyes.
 
It was nothing more than his
imagination going into overdrive.

And now here they were again, at the barbecue. They had
arrived together. They were sitting together, and they appeared to be very
happy. With a sigh he turned back to his cooking. At least he had something to
occupy him, something to take his mind off the heart-wrenching sight of them
laughing together.

* * *

“Hello. You look as if you could do with some help.” He
heard the amusement in her voice, as he swung round to face her.

“Are you offering?”
 
Smiling at her was an effort but he managed it.

“I am actually. And you had better take me up on it because
I seem to be your only option.”

He laughed, and it was a genuine laugh this time. The lawns
and the deck were swarming with people, most of them young, all of them intent
on enjoying themselves. Even his father was smiling at something that
Taylor-Ann was saying, while his mother was busy setting out salads and baskets
of bread on the long table set up in the lozenge of shade provided by the side
of the house.

“I guess I’ll say yes then.”

For the next twenty minutes they worked side-by-side without
talking as they served meat onto plates, and piled onions, relish, burgers and
sausages into split rolls.
 
Finally, the
last person had been served and, with a sigh of relief, Claire wiped her hands
on a paper napkin.

Daniel put a piece of sirloin steak and a sausage onto a
plate and handed it to her.
 
“Here…it’s
your turn now.
 
Go and get yourself some
salad.
 
It’s time you got back to your
date.”

“My date? Oh, you mean Scott.
 
I don’t think he’s missed me at all.”

He followed her gaze and saw Scott sitting with Taylor-Ann,
Melanie and some of their friends. From his hand gestures it was obvious he was
explaining something to them. They all appeared to be hanging onto his every
word.

“It’s a good job he’s with you because the twins and their
friends are at just the right age to be far too susceptible to his good looks
and charm,” he told her, trying to keep any hint of bitterness out of his voice
as he turned back to the barbecue and began to pile his own plate with food.

“He’s really not
that
bad!” Claire sounded defensive as they walked across the grass together. “And
he can’t help how he looks.”

Nor can you
thought
Daniel as he glanced at her.
 
She looked
cool and fresh in a blue sundress that swirled about her ankles. Her toenails,
which were peeping out from flat, strappy sandals, were painted a deep cerise
color.

As they approached the table, she changed the subject.
 
“Something that Taylor-Ann said yesterday has
been bothering me Daniel.
 
I need to
know…I need you to tell me why you let Beth arrange for me to stay in one of
your best holiday rentals instead of hiring it out for the summer?”