“I'm going to kill you when I can move my arms again,” Neal said, cheerfully exhausted. On the upside, he hadn't thought about his mate once since the test had started.
He would have gone straight for the buffet, starving from the exertion, but his unerring compass for the woman's location told him that she was already there, so Neal limped himself to the staff quarters instead, and collapsed on the picnic table in the sun.
Just as he was considering sneaking into the kitchen and braving Chef's wrath to steal food directly, Breck appeared with a plate of food and a bottle of water. He didn't even feign bringing it for himself, but put it right in front of Neal.
“Well done on Bastian's brutal test!” he said admiringly, fanning himself.
“Saw that, did you?” Neal figured Breck was just teasing him. The head waiter flirted with everyone, men and women, but no one seemed to take it very seriously.
“The two of you, swimming around at the dock in those little shorts? Wouldn't have missed it for the world!” Breck winked and Neal was too tired to glare back.
“Congratulations on your certificate,” a gentle voice interrupted them, and Neal sat up respectfully in his seat and stopped shoveling food into his face.
“You heard about that, too, Mrs. Atheson?” he asked sheepishly, looking at the petite older woman who was smiling at him.
“It was a perfectly lovely show,” the ocelot shifter said with a saucy wink. “A number of us were watching from the pool deck.”
Neal blushed.
Then he realized that she was holding a small piece of luggage.
“You're leaving,” he said in surprise.
Like the gazelle, she had spent longer in Beehag's zoo than Neal had, and she had very few belongings.
“Amber and Tony have bought a house in Maryland that has a mother-in-law apartment attached, and they’re anxious to have me move back to the States. Tony has gotten the visa all sorted through his agency.” She settled beside him on the picnic bench. “There are no more leads here to help me find my husband, and let's be honest, if he's even alive at all, it's unlikely he will come back to this island. If he does, Scarlet assures me she will send him my way.”
“She will.” Neal could say that with conviction. However temperamental Scarlet was, she was deeply honorable.
“More than that, I'm finally ready to be back out in the world,” Mrs. Atheson said softly.
I'm not, Neal couldn't say out loud.
He only leaned over and let Mrs. Atheson enfold him in a motherly hug.
“Thank you for all of your help,” she said, and near his ear, whispered, “You'll be ready sooner than you think, too.”
Neal gave her an extra squeeze, and insisted on carrying her light bag up the last steps and out the resort entrance to where a Jeep was waiting to take her to the airstrip on the other side of the island.
Neal struggled with her departure, keeping a brave face over the stumbling uncertainty that he felt. Breck made no bones about crying as he hugged her goodbye, but Neal kept a stony face, not wanting to admit the empty hole that remained as the Jeep sped away. It was a gap made more keen by the impossible nearness and imposed distance he was keeping from his mate.
She was so close, he sensed, and part of him wanted to find solace in her touch. The rest of him wanted to save her from his poisoned brokenness.
Chapter Five
The pool alone was worth the grueling journey, Mary decided again. She had come to that conclusion her very first day at Shifting Sands, and every morning discovered it all over again.
The frightening foreign airport, the tiny cramped airplane ride, and the terrifying winding drive from the airstrip were all small payment for the delicious cool laps she could do in the stunning pool. Very rarely did she have to share the water with others, who seemed to prefer the beach or lying in the sun on the deck as humans or animals. There were never any raucous children running around to spoil the peace. The space was long enough that she could lose herself in the stroke and kick, and feel graceful and athletic, as she never did out of the water.
The palm trees made dappled shade that she could rest in at the edges, or she could choose a sunny spot to tip her face up to.
She got a massage the first day, and a pedicure and a haircut the second.
The Spanish-accented woman who ran the spa, Lydia, offered to groom her in animal form, but Mary demurred; that felt a little intimate.
The staff as a whole was welcoming and friendly. The few times she’d seen Scarlet, the woman had gravely asked if she was enjoying herself, which Mary could always answer with enthusiastic affirmative. The handsome head waiter, Breck, even flirted with her unexpectedly, skirting the very edge of too much attention to keep it easy-going rather than outrageous. Her housekeeper even apologized for the unseasonable amount of rain they were having, as if it were something they could control.
If it hadn't been for the mysterious pool cleaner who haunted her thoughts, Mary would have believed it was an absolutely perfect vacation.