Cona Island

Chapter 6

Melody hummed and skipped cheerily through her day until it was time to leave for home. When they drove up the driveway, Buttercup the dog came to greet them in earnest. Melody loved her up, then rushed inside the house for a change of clothes.

She was going to wear a dress the colour of the clear blue sky, because blue was a happy colour, and she was ecstatic. She checked if her make-up was still good, and worked her hair into a messy bun. She didn’t really wear a bunch of paint. She liked simple, natural-looking make-up.

And besides, dressing up too much might give the impression that she was actually bothered with Drake. They probably already thought that. Because she was very exquisitely bothered with Mr. Hot and Gorgeous Johnson. And she sucked at lying about her feelings.

“Okay,” she said to herself in the mirror, “There is no reason at all to be nervous. Pull yourself together and act normal! It’s just a handsome guy coming over for dinner, that’s all.”

Satisfied with herself, she went back into the kitchen.

“Need any help?” she asked Nanna, standing with her fists in her hips.

Emily checked the lasagne in the oven and smiled with satisfaction as she heard the cheese bubble and the whiff of its saltiness touched her nose. “I’m finished with dinner, but you can set the table.”

Melody fetched plates from the upper cabinets.

“Honey,” Emily added, “Use the nice plates, would you?”

Melody gaped. “Nanna, those plates are for special occasions!”

And they were lovely porcelain dinner plates, decorated with subtle gold vines around the edges. Dave bought them for Emily fifteen years ago as an anniversary gift in a shop on the mainland that only sells antiques. She’d been eyeing them for months before that.

“I’m well aware of that, sweetie.” She said with her back to her, taking the lasagne dish out of the oven with white oven mitts strewn with blue flowers.

Melody decorated the table with a singing heart, and Bethany and Dave brought in fresh flowers from the garden, a stunning mix of hibiscus and bird of paradise tropical flowers that were native to the island.

Buttercup started barking outside, and Melody all but jumped out of her flats. “Ohmygod he’s here! Okay, okay! Everyone, please act normal!”

Bethany rolled her eyes. “Speak for yourself.”

Emily watched through the kitchen window as Buttercup ran up to him, a good sign. He hesitated a moment before bending down and loving her up. She licked a thousand puppy kisses like she’d been waiting for him to come home for years. Good sign number two.

Dave held onto his reservations, at least until the kid took out a bunch of flowers from the passenger seat, which told him that he was still a little bit old-fashioned. And in Dave’s mind, old-fashioned was more often than not gentlemanly. Jason had never brought flowers to either one of his women. He saw him hesitate a moment, inspecting the roof trim on the west side of the house with curiosity, the one he hadn’t gotten around to fixing yet, and wondered what exactly he thought about that.

Melody ran to the front door and ripped it open. Hubba hubba, hello hunkiness. And she planned to show him just how excited she was that he actually came over. She let out a rousing scream, then dashed down the steps and flew right at him, throwing her arms around his neck.

“Oh jeez,” Drake laughed. He’d spend two hours debating back and forth whether he should come at all. He was so pensive that Cliff noticed it at work, and by the end of his shift he couldn’t remember a single thing he’d done. Every logical thought told him not to go. But Melody’s elation just blew all those doubts to smithereens. At least the driveway gave him a few seconds to prepare his balance. “Mel, you’re ruining your aunt’s flowers.”

His eyes caught Bethany in the doorway, and he assumed Dave, behind her.

“That’s the Melody welcome,” Bethany stated calmly, while she chewed on a wafer straw.

“I’m so glad you came!” Melody chirped when she released him.

“If he can survive that, he’s a sticker.” Dave murmured behind Bethany.

“Yup.”

Drake gazed into Melody’s eyes for a moment. What the hell. He folded his lips over hers in a sweet, tender kiss that made her feel sappy and mushy. He lingered, then drew away. She stared at him with parted lips, then her smile grew and she dragged him by the hand into the house, both of them flustered and half breathless.

Drake took a moment to compose himself and extended a hand to Dave first, who seemed very severe. “Mr. Andrews. I’m Drake Johnson.”

Dave seized his hand, and was secretly impressed with his strong grip. His grave face softened and he smiled, tugging Drake close with one arm for a man-hug. “Welcome to our humble home.”

“You have a lovely home, Mr. Andrews.” Drake said.

“Call me Dave.”

The bungalow had a loft upstairs that was Bethany’s bathroom and bedroom. It had white clapboard on the outside, with the roof tiles done in a light blue. Inside, the house was done in traditional country style, with natural light spilling in from large square slotted windows. Checkered cloths, wood in whites and light blues. Flowers and birds and motifs of them everywhere. Even a rooster cookie jar on one of the counters. It was a true home. He could feel it was more than a house, there was the tenderness of love in it. And the outside was as lovingly looked after as the inside, though he noticed there were a few minor maintenance jobs which Dave probably didn’t have the time to get to.

Dave released him from the hug and Drake held out the flowers to Emily. “These are for you, Ma’am.”.

“They’re gorgeous,” she admired them, smelled them. “Did you get them from Rita’s Sweet Blossoms?”

He gave a nod. “That’s right. She arranged them just thirty minutes ago. I didn’t want them to wilt.”

“Thank you. I’ll put them in water. And call me Emily for goodness sake, hell you can even call me Nanna, too.” She went into the living room.

Melody crossed her arms. “Where’s my gift?” she pouted.

He flashed her a wicked grin. “Your gift is that I’m walking with you tomorrow morning, and then afterwards I’m buying you breakfast at Emma’s.”

Her mouth dropped open for a moment, and then she hopped, softly clapping her hands together. “That is a nice gift!”

He ran his hand through his hair, and swept his gaze from her to Dave, and back again. He was a little unsure of himself, naturally a little out of place. But he reminded himself of what Melody had said. He had to give people a chance. The locals of Cona Island were not the people of Willow Greens. They were thousands of miles apart, literally.

Melody gave him a tour of the house. By the end of it, it was time for dinner.

"How old are you, dear?" Emily asked when they were settled around the table.

"Thirty-six," Drake answered.

"Cliff told me you were a marine. How many tours?" Dave sipped some wine.

Melody could all but feel him stiffen beside her. She took his hand under the table and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"I… kind of lost count. I made Sergeant. I was eighteen when I joined." Which wasn’t good enough.

“Where’d you go?” Emily asked. She wanted to try to get a picture of what he’d been through without seeming too intrusive.

“Syria and Afghanistan, mostly. But the independent contractor I worked for has divisions all over the globe. So we travelled.”

Good God. “What made you join?”

Drake poked at his peas with his fork. Emily noticed that the why was a sore spot. “I wanted to make a difference in the world. It was a very, naïve notion, now that I think of it.”

Dave shrugged. “Sometimes small acts can make the biggest difference. Change starts at home and spirals out from there. What’s a soldier your age doing all the way out here?”

He just moved the fork around on the plate now. He’d lost his appetite. He swallowed hard. “I lost my leg on the last tour, and half my hearing. An amputee can’t be used in the field. I still consult for them now and then, but it’s not the same.”

“Hah. I suppose it wouldn’t be. But there are plenty of other ways to inspire change in the world that don’t involve holding a gun.”

Melody noticed Drake’s face soften slightly, and his shoulders relaxed a little. She silently wished that she could yell You see? You were afraid of nothing! “That’s what I’m trying to figure out.”

“I invited him to come with me to the soup kitchen one day.” Emily said. “I think you’d really like helping those people. I do. Makes my day to feed someone who’s hungry, or talk to someone who needs a shoulder.”

“What was it like? After the explosion?” Bethany asked it so casually, like they were talking about the weather.

“Beth,”

“No it’s fine,” Drake interrupted. “Maybe I should just talk and get it over with. I can already see that this isn’t going the way I thought it was going to. That’s a good thing,” he added when he saw panic in Melody’s eyes.

And then he let loose, thinking of it like it wasn’t his own story, like he was talking about someone else. It’s the same thing he did when he had to talk about it with the psychologists.

“It was hell, and a lot of pain. I was in and out of consciousness for most of the time, and there were a couple of occasions when they thought I wasn’t going to make it. Shrapnel flew after the blast, and I took a lot of metal. I have thirty-two scars over my body from shrapnel alone. I shouldn’t have been alive.” And at that last sentence, emotion started creeping in. He breathed it down. “Steven and I made it out, but he doesn’t really count as being alive because he’s in a coma, and if he ever wakes up he’s going to be a vegetable. I came to the island because I had to get away. From the place I grew up, from the people and their pity. I didn’t belong there, that’s why I went on so many tours. No one would hire me for work there, because everyone knew I had the disability. They didn’t think I could work.”

“Why on earth would they think that? Who the hell is that shallow?” Emily asked, annoyed.

Drake smiled a little. “Part of it was because of my parents. They never wanted me to enlist in the first place. They wanted me to run a toy store. When they came to visit me in the hospital, they told me how disappointed they were in me. That they always knew this would happen. No one will ever want to look at me again. I was just a waste of their money. They raised me, sent me to school, wanted me to get into Business School, and I threw all that to pieces when I became a soldier.

I told them I was never good enough anyway. They wanted a girl, and they always said if I hadn't grown upside down, they would've had two. Because I was part of a twin." He let out a half-laugh that was twisted with sorrow. "I couldn't even do that. I couldn't even grow right in my mother's womb. Anyway, they spread rumours of how useless I was with one leg, in an effort to force me into the family business. And most people just took it because they were ignorant, I suppose.”

He took a strained breath. “I came to Cona Island because I wanted to get away from everyone who knew me. I wanted to start over, and I wanted to get away from where all the stress was. Because Willow Greens, as peaceful as the name sounds, was a big part of my anxiety, according to the shrinks. The only good thing I ever had from it was Abigail.”

“I’m sorry you had to go through all of that, dear.” Emily said sympathetically. “Some people should never have children. And good on you for making the choice anyhow. We could always use more hands here. Honey,” she put her hand on Dave’s on the table. She was working with a plan. “Do you remember Elmur who died three years ago?”

Dave smiled. “’Course. How could I ever forget that old coot?”

Emily leaned toward Drake. “That old man was eighty-two when he arrived on the island. His children wanted to put him in a frail care home but he wouldn’t have any of it. He was a carpenter, and he worked for himself until he keeled over from a heart attack one day in Emma’s Café. We always thought he’d fall off someone’s roof while fixing it, or die from heat stroke on a hot day because he worked his ass off. He was ninety-six when he passed. And didn’t miss a day of work.”

Drake smiled lightly. He had to admit, he didn’t think he’d feel this comfortable talking about everything. But maybe it was because they weren’t making a big deal out of it. They were understanding, but they weren’t pitying him and dancing around the dinosaur in the room.