Opposites Attract (11 page)

Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin was picture perfect – so much so that it actually looked like a living postcard. Alexis did as Ethan suggested and took pictures of everything. The great thing about digital was that she could weed through the photographs later and delete the ones she didn’t want. The streets were clean and many of the houses looked late nineteenth century with tri-coloured wood siding and manicured lawns. Alexis wasn’t sure what to think of it. The place was almost too perfect – and too quiet, too clean, too middle America – and she found herself missing the busy, dirty streets of the city. Even the people were dressed a decade behind the times, their floral print dresses and denim hardly the latest New York trends. Though, to be fair, it wasn’t their fault New York was the heart and soul of the United States. They were more of the . . .

Alexis bit her lip, wondering what part the dairy state could qualify as. Bones, maybe?

Trees seemed to grow everywhere, the long white birch trunks shadowing the side streets. There was a collection of quaint little shops boasting cheap vacation T-shirts and cherry-decorated knick-knacks. A large drawbridge in the centre of town lifted over the dark waters of Lake Michigan to let yachts pass under. Seeing it rise up over the glistening surface was amazing, the steel beams a testament to man’s ingenuity.

‘I’ve always wanted to go on a yacht,’ Susan said, pointing at the large white boat. ‘Can you imagine that only one family lives on that thing?’

‘You mean one prince,’ Alexis said, chuckling.

‘What? Your family didn’t have a yacht?’ Ethan asked.

It took her a while to answer, as she tried to decide if he was just being curious or mean. ‘No, my mother hated boats.’

They stopped at a little corner gas station. Alexis watched from just outside the car as Ethan talked to the cashier. The girl giggled, tossing her short brown hair. Ethan grinned, a truly stunning look as he flirted with her. Alexis felt jealousy unfurl in her gut. She knew she had no claim on him, didn’t really want him for herself, but did he have to be so blatant? It wasn’t as if that morning meant anything, but did he have to hit on the very next woman he came across?

‘You look like you’re about to spit nails,’ Susan said, leaning up against the hood. ‘Care to share?’

‘It’s nothing,’ Alexis said.

‘You know, I don’t really like this depressed, closed-up version of yourself you got going on.’ Susan threaded her arm through Alexis’s, shivering in the chilled breeze.

‘Ethan might have come onto me this morning,’ Alexis said. It didn’t feel right not telling Susan things, but she wasn’t about to confess how he’d literally come onto her. ‘Just a little.’

‘What he do? Ask you on a date?’ Susan cuddled closer, laying her head on Alexis’s shoulder. ‘Brrr, it’s chilly here. I thought it’d be warmer today.’

‘I think it’s because we’re close to the water,’ Alexis answered.

‘So, do tell,’ Susan prodded. ‘What he do? Do you like him? What did you say?’

Seeing Ethan coming from inside followed by Ted, Alexis said, ‘Later.’

‘OK, but I want to know everything.’ Susan moved from Alexis to Ted, hugging him around his waist as he tried to open the car door. The couple looked comfortable together. Alexis glanced at Ethan. His eyes trained on her for a brief moment. He was wearing a navy-blue technician’s panel jacket with the small logo for Adam’s Heating and Air embroidered on the front. On the back was the screen-printed emblem of a skull surrounded by spider webs with the words, ‘Tornado Tattoo’.

‘Man, you wouldn’t believe this guy,’ Ted said, laughing, as they got into the car. He nodded his head at Ethan. ‘Everywhere we go it’s been the same. He smiles. The girls whimper. He says he does tattoos and they offer him stuff. Man, I’m beginning to think I got into the wrong business.’

‘Hey, you better not think about trying to seduce other girls to get what you want,’ Susan said, slugging his arm.

‘Yeah, being cool does have its perks,’ Ethan said, starting the car.

‘What did you get this time?’ Susan asked.

‘Actually, we’ll get to see a yacht later,’ Ted said.

‘We get to go sailing on a yacht?’ Susan gasped in excitement. Alexis couldn’t help but smile.

‘Ah, well, not exactly.’ Ted chuckled. ‘We kind of got jobs cleaning yachts and sailboats. That girl’s uncle owns a shipyard and he’s hooking us up. Since it’s spring, everyone’s getting their boats out. They’re understaffed and overworked.’

Alexis’s expression fell. They got her a job cleaning boats?

‘Pays pretty well I guess,’ Ethan said. ‘Tressa says they’re desperate for help this week.’

Tressa? Alexis frowned, turning to get another glimpse of the gas-station cashier. She was watching them out of her window. The woman would so be named something like Tressa. Ethan reached into his back pocket, pulling out a piece of paper.

‘What’s that?’ Alexis asked. ‘Her phone number?’

‘No.’ Ethan smirked. ‘Directions to a house we can rent pretty cheap. It’ll only cost us thirty bucks a piece for three days.’

‘Three days?’ Alexis asked. ‘We’re going to be here that long?’

‘Why not?’ Susan asked. Alexis could tell her friend liked the idea. ‘It’s a beautiful location. I saw a sign back there for fresh cheese. You know, Wisconsin is the dairy state. We have to try the cheese.’

‘I want to try some of that cherry wine,’ Ted said. ‘Sounds interesting.’

‘I think I saw a billboard for vineyards,’ Ethan said. ‘And I got a map of the peninsula.’

‘You actually bought a map?’ Alexis asked, unable to help herself.

‘Only of the peninsula,’ Ethan said, winking at her. ‘Don’t worry, doll, I can still get us lost in the Midwest.’

Her stomach fluttered nervously at the playfulness of his tone. OK, why was she flirting with Ethan?

The directions led them through a long grove of trees, taking them to the outskirts of town. Ethan slowed down, looking for street numbers. ‘Ah, here it is.’ He turned into a long driveway. A new, modern ranch-style house was on one side of the drive. An older dwelling was on the other.

‘Which do you think is for rent?’ Susan asked.

‘That one.’ Ethan pointed to the older one. It was blue-grey. The paint was chipped off the sides and it was smaller compared to the other nineteenth-century houses in town. ‘Tressa said they’ll have a washer and dryer inside we can use, a fridge, stove, whatever. The weekenders cancelled and lost their deposit, so we get it half-price.’

‘Perfect,’ Susan said. ‘I could stand to do some laundry.’

‘Mm, I could stand for you to do my laundry, too,’ Ted said.

‘Me too,’ Alexis quickly said, scrunching up her nose and making a silly face.

‘Well, as long as you’re offering,’ Ethan said, laughing as Susan baulked in horror.

‘Nice try, guys,’ she said dryly. ‘But, I’m not doing anyone’s laundry but my own.’

They got out of the car. A woman came out of the ranch house and smiled, waving. She was elderly, with hair as white as snow and thick glasses that hung from a gold chain. She wore a pink smock with cherry patterns over her clothes that buttoned down the front. By the fine dust it looked as if she’d been baking.

‘Are you Tressa’s friends?’ the woman asked. She walked in an unusually spry way for her obvious age.

‘Hi,’ Ethan said. ‘I’m Ethan James. This is Ted, his wife, Susan. And this lovely woman over here is my fiancée, Alexis. Tressa mentioned you had a place to rent?’

Alexis froze. What? She was his what? She might be a little out of it, but she was pretty sure she’d remember getting engaged.

‘She all right?’ the woman asked, nodding at Alexis. ‘Are you all right, dear?’

‘Oh, yeah, sure. She’s a little travel sick, that’s all.’ Ethan walked around the car to her. He put his arm around her shoulders and squeezed. ‘Aren’t you, honey? She’ll be fine once she lies down.’

‘Oh, poor thing,’ the woman said. Reaching into her smock, she pulled out a set of keys. ‘We had a cancellation for the weekend, so it’ll be a hundred and twenty dollars up front. Firewood is in back. Feel free to light a bonfire in the fire pit. Row boat’s on the dock. Life jackets are in the shed. No loud music after ten o’clock, but you can stay out as late as you want.’

‘Sounds perfect. Thank you,’ Ethan said. She unlocked the side door and handed him the keys. Ted pulled out his wallet and gave the woman sixty dollars for him and Susan. Alexis reached into her camera bag and handed the woman thirty. She blinked in surprise, looking from Ethan to Alexis and then back again. Ethan handed her thirty as well. She took their money and left.

‘It looks like my grandma’s house,’ Susan said, laughing. ‘Look at all this stuff. It has to be from the fifties.’

From the side door they could walk straight into the kitchen, down the basement steps, or into a small bedroom. The home was completely furnished. In the kitchen, an old floral vinyl tablecloth matched the pale-yellow chairs. A corded, rotary dial phone hung on the wall. The cupboards were stocked with a hotchpotch of dinnerware – from green glass bowls to pottery-spun coffee mugs to shot glasses. The refrigerator was empty and there was no food in the house.

Beyond the kitchen was a living room. Old photographs hung on the wall next to giant plastic butterflies. The burnt-orange couch had doilies over the arms and the avocado chairs matched the avocado carpet. The carpet was faded where the light shone in the large bay window.

Alexis stepped closer to the window, setting her camera down on a chair. The back yard overlooked the bay. She could just make out the faint outline of a lighthouse across the water. ‘Wow.’

‘Great view,’ Susan agreed. Then, with a mischievous glint in her eyes, she said, ‘So, um, Ethan, remind me again. When exactly did you and Lexy here get engaged?’

‘Tressa told her grandma that on the phone,’ Ted answered. ‘She said the woman would hassle us less if we were serious couples on vacation and not just drifters.’

Alexis didn’t say a word. She felt Ethan’s eyes on her and wondered at it.

‘Mm, well, I kind of like the idea of playing house for a few days.’ Susan wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. ‘I saw some stairs. Want to see if that leads to another bedroom?’

Ted groaned. ‘Yeah, let’s go check that out.’

‘I think they just claimed the upstairs,’ Ethan said.

‘I’m going to go get my stuff,’ Alexis answered. ‘Can I have the keys to the trunk?’

‘I’ll come with you.’ Ethan led the way back outside. He popped the trunk.

‘There are three bedrooms!’ Susan called, waving from a second-storey window.

‘Great!’ Ethan yelled back. To Alexis, he said, ‘You should be happy. You get your own room.’

‘Do you have to tattoo the girl now?’ she asked, wondering again at the jealousy.

‘Actually, no, she said her parents would kill her.’ Ethan laughed as if at his own private joke. ‘I figured if everyone wants to, we could go out tonight. I might be able to scrounge up some business that way.’

‘Did you really get us jobs cleaning yachts?’ Alexis asked, her tone a little sharper than she’d have liked. She wrinkled her nose in distaste. ‘I think I’ll have to pass.’

‘What?’ His tone mocked her. ‘Afraid to get your hands dirty?’

‘No. I just don’t feel like being someone’s maid.’

‘Tell me then, Ms Grant, how exactly do you plan on making any extra cash on this trip?’ Ethan asked.

‘I’ll . . .’

‘Yes?’

‘I’ll think of something. It won’t be cleaning yachts.’

‘You know what your problem is? I mean, don’t get me wrong, you got a lot of them, doll. But one of your main problems is that you’re just too . . . prissy.’

Alexis gasped. ‘I am not prissy.’

‘Yes, doll, you are. You’re like a little ornament someone stuck up on a mantlepiece for twenty years.’ Ethan slung a bag over his shoulder before reaching to grab a second one. ‘I’ll bet you’ve never actually been dirty a day in your life.’

Alexis grabbed her bags and followed him inside. His words stung. ‘What does getting dirty have to do with anything?’

Ethan stopped, turning on his heels so fast she almost ran into his chest. Looking down at her, he grinned. ‘Ah, trust me, some of the best activities in life come with getting dirty.’

‘You’re a pig.’

‘Yeah, probably, but the ladies must like it because I do get laid a lot.’

Unable to stop the words, she said, ‘What? I’m not the first sleeping woman you’ve attacked with a dry hump?’

Ethan frowned. ‘I can’t figure something out. Are you mad that I made you come? Or are you mad that I’m never going to do it again? Or is it you’re mad at yourself for liking these scummy tattoo artist’s hands on your little debutante body?’

Alexis felt the blood drain from her features. ‘I did not like it.’

‘Methinks you protest too much,’ Ethan mocked, walking to the side bedroom. He tossed his bags on the bed.

‘Now listen here, Sir Stupid.’ Alexis followed him. ‘I am not protesting.’

‘I’ll take this room. Wouldn’t want any of my late-night guests keeping you all awake.’

‘Well, maybe it’ll be my late-night guests that keep you awake,’ Alexis said.

‘Doll, the men you sleep with probably can’t stay up past ten.’

‘What is that supposed to mean?’ She put her hands on her hips.

‘It means, that you wouldn’t be able to handle anything more than a stuffy, uptight, anal retentive, briefcase-carrying snob who has more interest in pleasing himself and his greed than the woman in bed with him. The kind of man who wouldn’t be capable of showing you a knock-down, drag-out good time in the sack because he’s too worried about what everyone else thinks. Just. Like. You.’ As he said the last word, he shut the bedroom door in her face.

‘That’s not true,’ Alexis yelled, stomping away from him. She marched into the bathroom and threw her bags on the floor. She knew that Ted and Susan were probably having sex upstairs and the last thing she wanted was to have to listen to them.