Beloved Gomorrah Page 10

  Kaia raised her mask to her forehead. “That was fun. When do we go down to the shipwrecks?”

  “Um…let’s wait until tomorrow for that,” Joanna said. To Charlie she remarked, “I think she’s ready for air sharing now, don’t you agree?”

  “If you stay in shallow water, yes. Try it first kneeling on the bottom, then—”

  “Fine, let’s go,” Kaia said, popping the regulator back into her mouth. She dropped under the water and made the hand slice to the throat, though she still breathed from her own tank. Laughing inwardly, Joanna reached over and tugged the mouthpiece out of Kaia’s mouth. Even through the mask, Joanna could see the surprise, but Kaia remained calm and had the presence of mind to signal again.

  Going by the book, Joanna linked her left arm into Kaia’s right one and pulled her close, at the same time transferring her mouthpiece to Kaia. She took two long pulls of air, then passed it back to Joanna, who inhaled conspicuously only once but deeply. Soon they exchanged the mouthpiece back and forth comfortably with Charlie nodding approval.

  Without breaking the rhythm, Kaia pointed out to deeper water and signaled, “Let’s go.” Pleased, Joanna rose off the bottom still gripping Kaia’s upper arm, and they set off in the same circle they had made before, with Charlie shepherding them.

  Though Joanna had shared air a dozen times before, it had never felt so intimate. She swam pressed against Kaia on one side, and the plug of hard rubber went from mouth to mouth, one breath for each, until it became almost natural. Each time she sucked in a lungful of air, she sensed the trust of the woman who held onto her, waiting for breath, and they were like twin creatures, nourished from the same vital source.

  But the paddling was awkward, and Joanna’s muscles began to remind her she was still recovering. Worse, it was her weak leg that was pressed against Kaia’s thigh, and it ached the most.

  Finally they were back in shallow water, and Charlie signaled with crossed forearms that the exercise was over. She let go of Kaia and felt the cool water on her newly exposed arm.

  Kaia stood up out of the water and raised her mask. “That was brilliant!” she exclaimed, slightly breathless. “I want to do more of that.”

  Charlie turned to Joanna. “How do you feel?”

  “Better than I thought I would. I guess I’ll be ready for work soon.” She omitted mentioning a specific day.

  “Good. Everything’s waiting for you. But look.” Charlie glanced down at his watch. “Gil’s finishing something up this evening and I promised to help him. So if you two are all played out, I’d like to call it a day.”

  “Thanks, Charlie.” Kaia undid her vest. “It’s been a lot of fun, and I hope we can do it again. Even better, I hope to be able to dive down to see the pieces you’re working on.”

  “My pleasure, ma’am. We’d love to have you see them.” Charlie helped them deposit their gear into the dinghy and shove it from the beach back into shallow water. “All right, ladies, I’ll leave you to your own amusement and get on with what I was doing.” With that he turned and hiked back up the beach to the rented car.

  Joanna watched him return to work and felt the first twinges of guilt. They were soon overshadowed, however, by the real twinges of pain in her leg and shoulder. She lay back against the inflated gunwale of the dinghy and closed her eyes against the Egyptian sunlight while Kaia motored them back to the Hina.

  *

  They were back on the deck within minutes, and the yacht returned to the dock long before sunset. Joanna withdrew to her cabin to change into dry clothes and made her way up to the salon, pleased at how well she could handle the stairs in spite of her fatigue.

  Kaia was on the far corner of the long sofa bench, her shampooed hair still damp and in ringlets, her knees drawn up. “Come here and have a glass of sherry,” she said. “It’ll be another hour before Abdullah makes dinner.” She held out a small goblet of golden liquid.

  Joanna took it and curled up next to her. “To the sea,” she said as they clinked glasses. She took the first swallow and the sherry went down, warming her like the amber glow of the evening sunlight that still filled the salon. She took a second sip of the luminous liquid and wiped a fleck of sugary residue from the corners of her mouth.

  “It was a lot of fun today,” she said. “But I’ve got to get back to the workshop.”

  Kaia nodded wistfully. “It couldn’t go on forever, could it?” She bent toward Joanna and ran a fingertip gently down the welt on the side of her head. “The scar, it’s healing quite well, isn’t it? It doesn’t tan, like the rest of you, but it’s definitely shrinking. I’m so relieved.”

  “Me too.” Joanna inhaled the scent of rose hand lotion and wished the lovely hand would stay on her face. “You can hardly see the slashes on my arm now too.” She held out her left arm and Kaia ran a finger along the curve of pink welts. Joanna shivered with pleasure. “You’ve been so kind, you know. Taking care of me all this time. You’re not only beautiful, you’re a saint.”

  “Oh, someone’s had a bit too much sherry.” Kaia suppressed a smile. “You’re rather beautiful yourself, you know. And you don’t work for sleazy people.” Kaia’s hand was still on Joanna’s wrist and Joanna held very still, willing it to remain.

  “You don’t have to, you know. Under that gorgeous face is also a good heart and a conscience. Maybe you could buy a smaller yacht.”

  Kaia’s hand was warm and did not leave its resting place. They had breathed together that day and been locked arm in arm. Joanna wanted to breathe with her again. She studied the huge brown elliptical eyes, the wide Hawaiian cheekbones on flawless tan skin. She let her face drift closer and Kaia didn’t move away. She smelled of sunbaked skin and her lovely full lips opened.

  With a swish, the glass doors slid apart and Bernard strode in from the aft deck.

  *

  Joanna leapt to her feet as if bitten and stood nonplussed for a moment. “Welcome home,” she said awkwardly, forcing cheer into her voice.

  But Bernard seemed focused on the glasses they held. “Hard liquor in the afternoon?”

  Kaia stood up as well and edged toward the galley. “It’s just sherry. Can I get you a glass?”

  He set down his attaché case where Kaia had been sitting. “You know I don’t like that stuff. But you can fetch me a glass of beer.” He took off his linen jacket, revealing a rumpled white shirt. His slightly red face indicated the exertion of the trip and the hike along the dock in the still-hot sunlight.

  “I have the contract here, all negotiated and with the higher salary. They screamed like pigs but finally agreed. You just have to sign it and it’s done.”

  Kaia all but fled to the galley and Joanna backed away, wanting more than anything to be in her cabin, on the dock, any place but in front of Kaia’s husband and his sleazy contract. But Bernard blocked her way. “It looks like you’re finally up and about. That’s good. But stick around. We’ll celebrate.”

  In a moment Kaia returned with a glass of beer and handed it to him. “Bernie, we have to talk.”

  “Not now, Kaia. We’re celebrating. We’re making a new movie and we’re going to be rich. Well, richer.” He held up his glass. “To G-rated movies, our bread and butter,” he said, and downed half the glass.

  “Bernie, I don’t want to do it.”

  He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “What!? What the hell are you talking about? Don’t be a twit.” He set down the glass and opened the attaché case. “We talked about it. It’s a done deal, for chrissake.”

  “It’s financed by the Temple Foundation. They’re fundamentalists trying to force religion into politics and schools. I don’t want to be part of that.”

  “How do you know what they’re trying to do? Suddenly you’re an expert on politics?”

  “You know yourself it’s religious propaganda, and Joanna told me the Temple Foundation is lobbying against women and gays. They’re creationists.”

  He turned toward Joanna. “What the
hell are you doing giving my wife advice? This is our private business. You aren’t allowed to have an opinion about her acting contracts and what she should or shouldn’t do. You understand that?”

  “I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to intrude on your business. We were just talking about the Temple Foundation and I told Kaia what I knew. And those are facts. They are creationists and that movie looks like one of their vehicles.”

  Bernard’s well-tanned face grew pinkish with anger. “You ungrateful twit.” It seemed to be one of his favorite words. “I pay your medical expenses and invite you into my home to recover, for chrissake, and while I’m away, you poison my wife’s mind.”

  Kaia’s voice remained soft. “She didn’t poison my mind, Bernie. She just made me realize I had some principles.”

  “It’s way too late for principles. We passed principles two million dollars ago. As for you…” He turned toward Joanna. “You’ve worn out your welcome by a long shot. It’s time you left my boat.”

  Joanna had already retreated to the dining area, and she set down her glass. “I’ll do that, right away. I’m sorry for the trouble I’ve caused.” She turned and hurried down the circular staircase, anger and frustration suppressing the pain in her leg. While she threw her few possessions into her rucksack, she heard Kaia and Bernard upstairs quarreling. The word twit occurred again.

  Fortunately, she traveled light so it took only moments to pack. She zipped up the rucksack and checked the charge on her cell phone to make sure she could call Charlie from the dock. Her face grew hot at the embarrassment. Bernard was right; she had been out of line. She had forgotten she was a visitor in a world she knew nothing about. And now Kaia would be left to deal alone with the wreckage.

  “Excuse me, miss.” A crewman stood in the doorway.

  “Huh? Oh, it’s you, Jibril. Listen, thank you so much for all your help this last week. I feel terrible that it’s ending this way. They’ve been so kind and now I’ve sort of thrown a wrench into things.”

  Jibril stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. “They are not so kind as you think, miss.” He dropped his voice. “It was Mr. Allen who caused the sharks to come. He threw a rotten fish into the water and that brought them. We told him that was not allowed and divers were around us, but he didn’t care. Then they decided to take care of you for to make you not cause trouble. It was not kindness, it was…” He searched for another word.

  Joanna stared at him, appalled. “Calculation.”

  “Yes, miss. It was that.” Lowering his eyes, Jibril let himself out of the cabin and went below to the engine room.

  Joanna dropped back onto the bed. She was breathing heavily and her heart pounded, but uncertainty paralyzed her. How could she get through the salon to the dock with a modicum of dignity? How could she face the two people who had pretended to be her benefactors when the whole time they had been exploiting her?

  She heard another knock at the door, but before she spoke, Kaia came in and closed the door behind her. Joanna stood up from the bed. “I apologize for Bernard’s rudeness,” Kaia said. “He explained the importance of the contract and how I can’t get out of it.” She shrugged faintly and seemed to droop in helplessness and defeat. “So it’s really my fault that it came to this ugly scene.”

  Joanna could think of nothing to respond, and so a moment of tense silence fell between them.

  Kaia forced a weak smile. “But we had fun this week, didn’t we? And you’ve gotten better, which was the whole point, wasn’t it?” she added limply. “Maybe I can come and see you at your workshop sometime?”

  The bile rose in Joanna’s throat. So that’s how far things had advanced in those five minutes. The Hollywood couple had reconciled, doubts had been extinguished, and all that remained was for them to get rid of the gullible guest and thorn in their side.

  “I don’t think so.” Joanna wanted the remark to sound solemn, but it came out a croak.

  “What? Why not? What have I done?” Kaia backed away a step.

  “Jibril told me about Bernard throwing the rotten fish into the sea. And that you both conspired to bring me here to prevent litigation. So very American of you.”

  Kaia recoiled visibly then glanced around, as if searching for an explanation somewhere in the cabin. Her hands came up in supplication. “I swear to you. It’s not what you think. Maybe at first I wanted to do what Bernard suggested, but soon I really liked having you aboard. I wanted you to stay. I loved every minute of it.”

  It all looked and sounded too theatrical, and Joanna would not be made a fool of again. “Of course you’re going to say that. No one wants to admit taking advantage of an injured person, a person you caused to be injured.” She took a breath. “I trusted you, I groveled, thanking you every day for your kindness. But it was all play-acting. All the while I thought you liked me, cared about me.” She heard the whine creep into her voice but couldn’t stop it and was on the edge of tears. “That’s so…humiliating.”

  Kaia’s hands went up again, more helplessly this time. “Listen, you have to believe me. Right away, I was sorry. Right away, I started having fun with you. And it’s been six wonderful days. What can I say to convince you that I do care about you? That I care for you?”

  “Nothing. There’s nothing you can say that won’t sound like acting. It’s your trade, after all.” Joanna took hold of her rucksack and was about to step toward the door when she spotted the Hawaiian cane with the carved scarlet ‘i’iwi bird propped against the wall. She snatched it up and held it out to Kaia.

  “I thought that you were giving me a tiny bit of Hawaii, and this bird seemed a little like you, exotic and vulnerable. I was wrong. You’re as common as a shark, you and your creepy husband. Thanks for everything,” she said bitterly, and dropped the cane onto the bed.

  She stepped toward the cabin door and tried to pivot past Kaia, but the hand on her arm spun her back around.

  “Maybe you’ll believe this.” Kaia grasped her by the shoulders suddenly and pulled her close, covering her mouth with her own. Astonished, Joanna froze for a moment. Then she felt the moist inside of Kaia’s lips, the pressure of her teeth, and tasted the sherry they had both just drunk.

  Was the kiss a trap too? The thought shot through her mind. But she had yearned too long for Kaia’s touch and so she kissed back, cautiously, then with ardor, pressing against the sherry-sweet mouth. They had shared air a few hours before and now their two breaths streamed across each other’s faces. She encircled Kaia with her arms, feeling the expansion of her ribs in rhythm with the hot exhalation on her own cheek.

  “Jesus Fucking Christ, what are you doing with my wife?”

  Kaia broke away and looked toward the doorway where Bernard stood filling the space.

  Joanna searched for words but found none. It was a frightening moment, yet excruciatingly banal. Husband finds wife cheating. She had no words. Only Bernard said the obvious.

  “Get the hell off my boat, you pervert.”

  With a last dazed look at Kaia, who was ashen, Joanna snatched up her rucksack and brushed past him in a fury.

  Chapter Ten

  Taciturn and sullen, Joanna limped up the steps to her room at the artists’ hostel. Directly behind her, Charlie carried her bag, less out of necessity than as a gesture of comfort. Even without reporting the details of the confrontation, Joanna knew that he sensed something unpleasant had happened, for he was suddenly very solicitous.

  Hanan, the widowed manager of the hostel, met her at the top of the stairs. As always, she wore a galabaya of some indiscriminate dark color and a black headscarf, in spite of the heat. To Joanna’s surprise, Hanan set aside her broom and embraced her lightly.

  “Praise God!” She threw up her hands in rejoicing. “Welcome back, Dr. Boleyn. I was so sorry when Charlie tell me about accident, but God has bring you back. We prepare your room for you. Very nice now.”

  “Thank you,” Joanna said, touched. “I’m afraid I left it in rather a mes
s the morning I went to dive. I know this isn’t a hotel with room services, and you’ve gone way beyond the call. I’m very grateful to know you’ve cleaned it up for me.”

  “Fahimah, my oldest, made the clean. And don’t to worry. She was very careful everything. She wants to be diver, but I tell her not to touch of your dive things.”

  Joanna glanced down the walkway and saw a young woman with a broom. She had the same dark skin and narrow Arab face as her mother, though she wore no headscarf. Egypt’s generation gap. “Is that Fahimah? Please thank her for me.”

  “No, that is Fayruz, the young one. They both help me with the work. You are needing anything? A bottle of water is already putted in the room.”

  “You’re very kind, but I’m fine. I just need to get a good night’s sleep.”

  “That is good,” Hanan declared. “If you need me, I am there.” She pointed toward the painted concrete house across the parking lot where the family resided. “If you want to send message, you know computer connection and fax machine are in office. We close at six, but for you we will open special.”

  “Thank you again. Fortunately, Charlie has been taking care of that for me. We don’t need to send anything this evening.”

  After another embrace, Joanna continued to her room and unlocked the door. It was, in fact, pristine. Her clothes were hung up, and all her books and spare equipment were neatly arranged on the floor. An unopened bottle of water stood on the night table.

  Charlie loitered for a while in the doorway while she unpacked. “Are you sure you don’t want a bite to eat? We can go to Falafel Ali’s, which you really liked before.”

  “Thanks, Charlie, but I’m not hungry and not much up for conversation either. Please understand. I’ll see you in the workshop tomorrow. At eight, say?”

  “Yeah, sure,” he said neutrally. Eight o’clock is fine.”

  When he was gone, Joanna let herself drop limply onto the perfectly made bed. She trusted her own abilities, physically and mentally, to go back to work the next day, but for the moment, she was paralyzed. Fury, humiliation, and a sense of betrayal churned in her stomach. She imagined a dozen revenge scenarios, beginning with a lawsuit and ending with a hand-grenade attack on the Hina. She snickered at the latter image, imagining herself blithely buying a grenade in the El Gouna souk.