Chapter 48: Familiar Faces/Four Play

Holly’s wonderful idea meant that some things became more important than sex at that moment, so we showered together without dalliance, then went for a walk, naked, on the pristine beach. I had my arms around each as we returned to a group of puzzled folks at the dining area.

“Audrey likes this body. So do I,” I said.

“Me, too,” Holly interjected. “Almost as much as I like mine.”

“Well, this is a complication,” Doc said.

“Not at all,” I said. “We know Holly has nowhere to go, so she’s coming home with us. And we owe Audrey another life and body after that mess in Antigua. I could get down taking a trip down memory lane with this beautiful woman.”

“Well, that’s all well and good. But you know that the weekend isn’t over,” Doc said warily. “We have a plan...”

“I was afraid of that,” I said. “This has been amazing beyond words, but if this is a trip though my life, we know what the next chapter has to be.”

“Alyssa,” said Doc.

“Alyssa,” I agreed.

I sat down heavily in a chair. Suddenly, this weekend had gotten to be a lot less fun. I thanked Audrey one final time and sent her away while there was still some magic in the air. I sighed, sat back in the deck chair and rubbed my suddenly weary eyes.

“Nobody says you have to fuck her,” Darren spoke up.

“Another country heard from,” Doc said with amusement.

“Hey, I saw how he felt about her and what she did to him,” Darren said, shifting the blonde filling his seat and blocking his view. “She’s lucky he didn’t kill her.”

“Hey!” I said sharply. “Don’t give these guys the wrong idea.”

The blonde in his lap blocked the others from the knowing grin on my brother’s face. He was exactly right, and while her body would never be found if she met her demise on our cay, I did promise Stacy that her mother would be able to attend my wedding. I was also (correctly) guessing that she would not be a willing participant in my revelry.

“So where is she?” I finally asked, holding Holly tightly as she sat on my lap.

“Far side of the island,” Doc said. “Said she’d be in the hot tub with plenty of witnesses.”

“Nope. Not happening. I haven’t had anything good happen in a hot tub since this whole Master PC thing happened,” I said, shaking my head. “Clothes stay on, gloves come off.”

“Shit, Larry, don’t turn this into something ugly,” Doc said. “It’s been awesome of far.”

“Doc, the ‘something ugly’ was brought to this paradise by you,” I said, easing out from under Holly and pulling on and zipping closed my shorts. Holly eased into the chair I just vacated, silently watching me closely. “You should have known better.”

“Christ, Larry. Give me some credit,” he said, standing up to face me. “I did know better. You don’t think I didn’t think this thing through a dozen times before we ever got on the goddam plane? You’re the one who should know better.”

“Listen, I can make this a little bit easier for you,” Holly said. “There is a very serious piece of unfinished business that I should tend to.”

“You don’t dare go back to the cult,” I said. “Chuck told me that if they saw you, you’d be as dead as you are deprogrammed.”

“Don’t worry,” she said, standing up as if to go, but instead reaching out and touching my cheek. “This is family business. Real family business. I’ll never show my face around there again.”

“Do you need anything?” I asked.

“Well, I could use a little money,” she said. “I’ll pay you back.”

“Bullshit,” I said, smiling. “When you leave here, you’ll have $10,000 in cash in your pocket. Is that enough for your needs?”

“More than enough,” she said, leaning hard into a hug that almost felt like good-bye.

“Promise you’ll come back,” I said.

“I will be waiting for you sooner than you think,” she said.

“And I’ll be waiting for you,” I said, kissing her and forcing myself to move away. “I have to go talk to my wife ... ex-wife,”

I turned to go down to the beach. It was a long walk and I wasn’t in a hurry.

Much later, Doc told me what was said after I left.

“Can you get Chuck Arnovsky on the phone for me?” Holly asked Doc, suddenly with an urgent tone.

“He’s here. He might not be seeing visitors, but he’s in other wing of this place,” Doc said.

Holly slipped on some sandals and wrap and headed up to what Doc said should be his room. She found him balls deep in the island’s IT expert, who used to be named Manuel.

“Hey, Chuck. It’s Holly, your damsel in distress,” she said, grinning. “I was wondering if you could help me with a body...”

I found myself kicking seashells and walking as slowly as I could as I shuffled around the cay’s pristine beach.

I noticed the birds for the first time. Elegant seabirds coasting on an updraft, awkward pelicans dive bombing into the waves and coming up with lunch.

I noticed the trees. They were all slanted to the west, likely as not blown that way by some long-forgotten tropical storm. A fallen tree lay in the same direction.

I noticed the beach. The sand was a pure white, but it was swarming with tiny crabs of all kinds, including the kind who take up residence in abandoned seashells. Thankfully, there were no jellyfish apparent on this largely unused stretch of sand, since I was barefoot.

I’m not sure how long I walked – it wasn’t that big of a cay, after all – but I came up on a building I did not realized was here. At first, I stupidly thought it might be the residence for the staff, but they were always on call, so they clearly had quarters adjacent to ours. This, I understood finally, was where Doc was stashing my party favors. Leaning on the railing, blonde hair blowing in the sea breeze, was my ex-wife.

“Your playthings from the other night are already gone,” she said by way of greeting. “Already flying back home, barely aware of their mind-fuck.”

“But you’re aware?” I asked.

“Your friend the doctor didn’t think it would be much fun if I thought this was normal,” she shrugged. “Pretty sure that ‘kidnapping’ isn’t normal.”

I was now standing directly below her. “So you’re here against your will?”

“Of course I am,” she said. “But I’m here, so we might as well do this.”

“Do what?” I didn’t get it.

She pulled her sundress up over her head and threw it into the air. The breeze caught it and it soared into the air like a multi-colored kite. It literally soared up and out of sight over the island, leaving a suddenly changed Alyssa standing there literally looking as good as the day that I met her. And that was Doc’s gift: to Alyssa, who was also changed mentally, we had just begun the courtship dance.

“I think I want to give you a chance to change your mind,” she said. “You give me a chance, then I think you’ll see that the right woman for you is standing right here with no clothes on.”

“You make a convincing argument,” I said. “Come walk with me.”

She skipped down the stairs, a blossoming beauty of 21, not a weary and bored 38. Her beauty never actually faded, but the light in her eyes that seemed to reflect the ocean was something I did not see for a long, long time after Stacy was born. And it was only rekindled, I figured, when she’d found her island girl and remembered what it was life to be in love. None of this was spoken as we walked, hand in hard, back towards the point of the cay that I’d wanted to explore since I saw it on our initial flight approach.

“Where are we going?” she asked, I think regretting she’d shed her dress. She was probably expecting to be taken inside, not for a walk in the sun.

“We’re going to enjoy one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen,” I said, nodding up the beach.

“So much of the Caribbean is gorgeous,” she agreed. “One reason why I wanted to become a travel agent.”

“I’m sure you’ll see the world,” I said, hoping it didn’t sound too much like foreshadowing.

“We can see it together, you know,” she said. “You with your laptop, you can write yourself around the world – and take me around the world a time or two as well.”

That made me smile; Alyssa’s mind was never too far away from her next fuck.

“I’m more of a guy who wants to settle down and have a family,” I said. “So does my bride-to-be. That’s the fundamental difference, I’m afraid.”

“But we’re good together. You know we’re good together,” Alyssa said, turning to face me and placing my hands on her boobs.

“We’re great together,” I agreed. “But we also met at exactly the perfect moment in our lives. Don’t you think you’re going to want more than one landlocked guy with the world at your feet?”

“Anything could happen down the road,” Alyssa said, squeezing my hands onto her boobs. “I think that worrying about the future just fucks up the moment we’re in now. Don’t fuck up this moment, Lawrence.”

“Let’s just walk,” I said, continuing on towards the point. To my surprise, she balked.

“I’m not sure we’re supposed to go around there.” she said, taking my hand and pulling me towards her beach house.

“I don’t see any No Trespassing signs,” I said, tugging back as my curiosity kicked in.

“It’s not that ... well, I guess it’s not for me to say,” she relented, drawing close once again and wrapping my arm around her waist.

The unnamed point of this (so far) unnamed cay had a natural rock jetty trailing out towards the nearest small, uninhabited island, but above it was an area to walk, watch or sunbathe. To my surprise, I was able to make out two distinct figures sunbathing on the rocks even though we were over 100 yards away/.

“Friends of yours?” I asked, tweaking a nipple for fun.

“I’m not saying anything,” Alyssa answered. “Except that I wish you’d stop right here.”

“That sounds like the best reason to keep on going,” I replied. “You coming?”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” she said, falling in step behind me. The two figures, who I could now tell were women, naked women, were oblivious to my approach, although I could hear music and conversation passing between them. The next thing I noticed was yet another head of red hair reclined on a towel. And a few steps closer, their familiar forms stopped me dead in my tracks.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I said, quoting one of my favorite movies.

“So you know them, I’m guessing,” Alyssa said dryly.

“If this was real world setting, you’d know them very well yourself,” I said. “Maybe you’d better stay here?”

“Told you,” she said. “I’ll just wander back to the cabana.”

Alyssa turned to leave as I began my slow, uncertain approach to two people I knew well but did not, in any way, want to see here this weekend. But I did turn around and watched a magnificent ass atop two long, tanned legs walking away.

“Too bad there wasn’t a heart included in that package,” I sighed. I would not be looking Alyssa up again.

Instead, I was able to get within 10 feet of the sunbathing beauties without being heard thanks to the crashing waves and their MP3 player. I took a deep breath; this weekend was winding down fast.

“Hey ladies,” I said cordially. “Fancy meeting you here.”

“Hello, Lawrence,” Sara Wilson, wedding planner, Vegas co-conspirator with Nicky and the wife of one of my drunken friends on this trip, said with absolutely no surprise in voice.

The other familiar face screamed slightly out of surprise when she heard my voice, briefly covered herself in a purely spontaneous act of modesty. But now, upon mutual recognition, she dropped the towel.

“Hey, dad,” Stacy said.

“Hey yourself,” I said, hugging them both. “How the hell did you get here?”

“We had another flight, another limo,” Sara said. “I picked up she and Audrey – I hear you figured out Audrey was impersonating your dead friend, right? – and we had another charter flight here about an hour behind you. We met the other ladies when we got here and had a fascinating discussion about the man of the hour.”

“I bet,” I grumbled.

“You know, Mom doesn’t have a clue I’m her daughter,” Stacy said. “Can Master PC really mindfuck people like that, dad?”

“Evidently,” was the best I could reply. “Remember is this the brainchild of Doc Harris and Chuck Arnovsky, not me. I’m loving it, but I take no credit, blame or responsibility for this insane weekend.”

“If you’re done with Alyssa, here is how this is going to end,” said Sara, pulling Stacy alongside. “Tonight, for the first time ever, it’s you, me and Stacy, anything goes.”

“That sounds ... interesting,” I said.

“No. No, no, no,” Stacy said, pulling away. I noticed that she glowed with a golden tan she’d never even cared to have before. “The plan tonight is you, me, Sara and Alyssa. If she doesn’t know I’m her daughter, then this could be an epic evening.”

“And you’re not going to need therapy after that?” I asked seriously.

“Shit, dad. This is therapy,” Stacy replied. “You and I have spent the last several years hating mom. Well, she’s in a different place now, so let’s spend this night, at least, loving her. Maybe it will make things better later.”

“We’ll we need to retrieve her from the cabana, then,” I said.

“No, you don’t,” came a voice from behind us. Alyssa climbed up to our little sun porch. “So, you’re my daughter in another life, huh?”

With the tables turned on Stacy, she was speechless. She looked to me for help, but all I did was shrug. Not surprisingly, it was was Sara who salvaged the deteriorating situation.

“This weekend isn’t real,” Sara said, putting her arms on Alyssa’s shoulders and giving her a light kiss on the cheek. “It’s Fantasy Island – literally. None of this has anything to do with our lives. It’s all about his life, and for a little while, Larry is all that matters. This is going to be something he can take with him for the rest of his days. That means any of us might forget this tomorrow. Unless it’s too damn much fun to forget.”

“It does sound like fun,” the aroused Alyssa said, looking deeply in Sara’s eyes. “Fun is all it needs to be, right?”

“But it’s still going to be kinky knowing that, one day, you’ll give birth to me, right?” Stacy said, drawing close to Alyssa in a very un-familylike way.