Lost and Found - 17

17

Clay’s arms wrapped around her and pulled her close; his lips met hers and took over. Within seconds they were on the verge of losing control.

                “We should head back...”

Amelia wondered whether she’d lose her nerve during the hour long trip back to the City, they’d been doomed in any attempt to kick start this relationship, and she had bad vibes that travelling back to Manhattan might see yet another disaster occur. So she lifted her fingers to the base of his neck, running them through his hair.

                “Can we stay here? Tonight I mean?”

He pulled back and stared at her, “really? You mean in a hotel?”

She nodded, “we don’t have the best of luck, and the time seems right...”

Clay looked around, “I don’t know if there are any hotels here.”

                “Who cares if it’s a shitty motel? We’re away for the night, enjoying ourselves.”

He pulled his phone out of his office and typed into it, “ok, somewhere to stay it is!”

Clay managed to Google a hotel a few streets away, and so bundling them into the car, he followed the directions to the ‘Casper Hotel’, which was almost as spooky as the name suggested. The website could well have charges to answer from Trade Descriptions! It was barely more than a motel, but it had a secure car park, and the rooms were clean and comfortable.

They had no bags, not even a clean tooth brush, so hand in hand they made for a small commercial centre that the receptionist had told them was three blocks away. Between the pharmacy and the Wal-Mart they managed to buy toiletries and some clean underwear. There was also a Chinese restaurant there, so they booked a table for later that evening.

Back at the hotel, they took it in turn to shower; suddenly the awkwardness she’d feared had arrived and they were both tiptoeing around the other, the romance and easiness of the beach long gone.  Wandering down to the Chinese restaurant, she slipped her hand into his.

                “Aren’t we a little underdressed for a restaurant?”

He shrugged, “I can’t imagine them turning us away, and anyway, it’s half past six, hardly prime dinner time. They’ll be glad of the table being occupied, you’ll see.”

Having lived with Li for most of the past ten years, Amelia was more adept than most with both the menu and the chopsticks. She chuckled as Clay battled on before she leaned over, “don’t be threatened, you can use a fork!”

His eyes widened with amusement, “that sounds very much like a challenge Amelia Parkin!”

By the end of the meal she was laughing, covering her mouth with her hand every time he dropped a piece of duck or chicken.

She was still amused and gloating as they walked the sandy promenade, enjoying the dusky late spring evening.  Stopping to stare out at the sunset, Amelia gripped the wooden fence that bordered the sand. She felt arms come around her and Clay’s hands settle either side of hers, his body almost touching the length of her back. Leaning slightly she pressed herself into him and he breathed a sigh next to her ear. A tingle of excitement fluttered down her spine at the sensation.   Turning slowly in his arms, she looked up at him.

                “It’s beautiful here.”

He nodded, “you’re right, beautiful.” But as his eyes never left her, she realised there was a poignancy, a deliberate double meaning to his answer. And that was all it took.

Sunday 24^th May 2008

Any awkwardness was long gone by the time they returned to the City. It had been a perfect night, and Amelia had found it the most natural thing to wake up curled in Clay’s arms, he’d kissed the top of her head, then they’d made love again. Now as they drove back to the City, Clay’s hand rested on her thigh, hers say over it, and Amelia couldn’t remember feeling this content, this happy in a long time.

Monday 1^st June 2008

                “You ready?”

Amelia was sat at her desk trying to answer a query that another colleague had left with her, before she shot off for her trip. As she looked up to see Clay leaning against the doorframe, her heart swelled. He was so good for her, and the last week she’d felt more cherished than she had in the rest of her life. They’d spent most evenings, and several of the nights together, and whilst he maintained a very professional distance at work, there was a warmth in his eyes every time they met hers. Like now. Smiling she glanced up from the email she was typing to bask in his attention, before with a groan, she looked back at the screen.

                “I won’t be a minute, I’ve just got to send this information to Paul...it always happens when you’re in a rush!”

Clay chuckled, a deep soothing sound, “we’re not in a rush, the flight isn’t for another few hours, but we can relax if we beat the rush hour traffic.”

She nodded as she typed dramatically, “ok, two seconds.”

With a triumphant whoop she switched off her computer, switching off from work for a moment. Saying that both her and Clay had laptop bags as part of their luggage, they were really only ever a few seconds away from any crisis that work might throw up.

A cab sat patiently outside the reception, and Amelia slid into the back seat as Clay loaded the bags into the boot.

                “JFK please!” he announced to the driver as he climbed in beside her. Then turned to Amelia, “our first trip together!”

She smiled really wanting his enthusiasm to take over her, to replace the sense of dread that had been building all week.

Tuesday 2^nd June 2008

The plane landed at eight am, and the journey from Heathrow to their central London hotel took almost another hour, and they were both exhausted when they closed the door of their room. Amelia kicked off the shoes that had seemed so suitable for work the previous day, but had almost crippled her on the eight hour flight. They both opened their laptops and logged on to their emails, but within fifteen minutes, Clay was emerging from the shower with only a towel tied low around his hips, as Amelia hung up a call to Li.

                “She’s VERY excited! As you can imagine. She wanted to include us, meet for lunch, but I told her to concentrate on enjoying her day. We’ll see her at seven, at the museum.”

The publishing house had chosen one of the famous London museums as the location of the launch, and Amelia could only imagine the lengths they would go to making it perfect. Li had spent an age telling her all about her plans, hair, makeup, interviews, photo shoots...Amelia didn’t want to spoil a moment of it by pulling her out of that.

Clay nodded as he towel dried his hair, “to do that we need some sleep first!”

Amelia nodded, admiring the view before answering, “I’ll just take a shower first.”

By the time she’d shed herself of the grubbiness of the flight, Clay was fast asleep, so she snuck in the bed and he instinctively wrapped his arms around her. Sleep came quicker than she thought possible.

All week she’d pondered the thought of what to wear. After all this was a huge night for her personally, she had been the sounding board for this book and even the first amateur editor it had had. It was almost as much her baby as Li’s. That was without thinking about her first confrontation with the man who’d broken her heart twice...and his new supermodel-esque wife.

She paused from applying her makeup to glance at Clay, once again he was half dressed, his crisp suit trousers almost on when the call had come in from New York. He was now hunched over the small table that adorned the room tapping into his laptop whilst talking frantically to one of her colleagues back at the office. When he finally hung up he was exasperated, pacing the room a few times before turning to her.

                “Malcolm has just lost six figures on a contract; this is the start of this dip!”

                “Shit! Is it salvageable?”

He shrugged, “I’ve given him some pointers.”

                “If you need to go back...” she offered the suggestion knowing it meant so much to him, but the thought scared her more than she thought possible. She was only here because he was going to be at her side, the only one who knew about her relationship with Sol.

Shaking his head, Clay took her hand, “I’m here for you! That’s what I promised; they’ll just have to cope without me...without us.” Lowering his head he placed his lips gently on hers. “Now get your backside into gear, we’ll be late!”

Amelia looked him up and down deliberately taking too long looking at his bare chest, and when she met his eyes, she smiled, “from where I’m standing you’re looking like the only one dragging his heels!”

Checking her dress, a strapless blue creation that was far more clingy that she normally wore, it really was amazing what the love of a great man could do for your confidence, then sliding on the dramatic heeled shoes that matched perfectly, she was stood waiting when Clay appeared from the bathroom.

                “You look stunning!” he gasped as he took in the full dramatic effect of her outfit.

Coming across to Clay, she straightened his dark tie, the brushed the lapels of his suit, “you don’t look to bad either...in fact I think we make a dynamic couple Mr Brinkworth!”

As their cab slowed down outside the museum amidst lanterns, and red carpet, she was shaking. This was more nerve racking than anything else she’d ever done. Facing her demons...and then some.

Clay helped her out of the car, and offered her his arm. The door to the museum reception was flanked by two liveried men, there was no expense spared for this book launch and Amelia could only think that was a good sign.

Taking two glasses of champagne off a waiter’s tray inside the door, Clay handed her one, and then led her into the room. Probably a hundred people milled around, Li had explained most were critics, reporters and suppliers, but there were also a few people there such as friends and contacts of her and the publishers.

They stopped to the side of the room, somewhere that they could view the goings on with ease without being stick in the middle of everything. It was then she spotted Li being inundated by dozens of people asking questions. She looked lovely, her thick black hair pulled up into an exotic pile atop her head, and she was wearing a modernised version of a traditional Chinese dress. She looked traffic stopping.

                “Li looks great!” Clay leaned in to mirror her thoughts. “But can’t say as much for that woman over there!”

She loved that Clay fell into gossip so readily, they both enjoyed people watching and she chuckled a response. Sliding an arm around her waist he pulled her close, “saying that I didn’t think there’d be quite so many here tonight!”

She nodded, “I doubt Li will even know we’re here!”

He dropped his head to mouth into her ear, “well we are here and I know she’ll come find you, and as soon as we can, I can get you back to that hotel...that dress is doing things to me!”

She turned to look at him, “Mr Brinkworth!” Her mock indignation made them both laugh.

                “I’ll go get us some more champagne, shall I?”

As she made to answer him, Li looked up and made eye contact. Her eyes lit up with happiness and as she waved, Clay leaned in again to whisper, “See I told you she’d spot you.”

As Li waved, the rest of the group she led all turned to follow her gaze, and it was then that two dark, humourless eyes met hers, but as they saw the target of Li’s wave an indescribable expression took over them. Amelia leaned back against the wall, her body betraying the outward calm t finally seeing him. 

Sol.