Keeper of the Light

“Yeah,” he said, feeling terribly sad. “Rozer.”

Annie looked at her son. “Can’t you say hi, precious?”

The little boy buried his head in the tempting hollow of her throat.

“He’s sleepy,” she said to Paul. She laid Clay back in the playpen and covered him with a light blanket.

“What are you doing here?” she asked. “Are you on vacation? Who are you with?” She didn’t wait for any of his answers. “I’d like you to meet Alec—unless that would be difficult for you.” She plunked down on the sofa. “Oh Paul, how did you ever forgive me? It was terrible, the way I did it, but I was so mixed up with my father being sick and all.”

“I know.” He sat down next to her on the sofa and took her hand. “I’m here at least for the summer,” he said, and there was a discernible crack in her smile that he tried to ignore.

“The whole summer?” she asked.

“Yes. I’ve got a role in the Lost Colony play.”

“That’s wonderful,” she said, but her voice was uncertain.

“And I’m staying in a little apartment in Nag’s Head.”

“Are you alone?”

“Yes.”

And then she seemed to catch on. “Why here? Why the Outer Banks?”

“Why do you think?”

She shook her head and pulled her hand away. “I’m married, Paul.”

“Happily?”

“Very. I’ve changed a lot. I’m not so…wild anymore. I’m a wife and a mother. I have responsibilities.”

“Well, could I see you sometime? Just two old friends meeting for lunch?”

“Not if you want something more from me.” She had folded her arms across her chest and shifted away from him on the sofa.

“I’ll take whatever you’re willing to give me, Annie. If that means one lunch during the entire summer, then that’s what I’ll settle for.”

He wrote his number on a notepad on the coffee table, hugged her once more and left, determined to wait at least a week before he tried to see her again.

The play was his salvation. His role was demanding, and the camaraderie of the cast absorbed his time during the day when they were rehearsing. At night, though, he couldn’t stop himself from imagining Annie in her little cottage, contentedly bedding down with her tall, pale-eyed husband.

The Lost Colony opened on a steamy night that made the heavy costumes intolerable, but the crowd of tourists was enthusiastic. Paul felt good when he stepped backstage for intermission. He had just taken a bottle of Coke from one of the backstage hands when he spotted Annie by the dressing rooms, her eyes fixed on him. One of the male cast walked past her, reaching out to touch her hair. She smiled at the stranger, absolving him, as though she understood he had been powerless to keep his hands to himself.

Paul walked over to her. “I’m glad to see you,” he said.

“You were spectacular, Paul,” she said. “These tights really do something for you.” She touched his hip, and a jolt of electricity shot through him. He looked into her eyes and saw that she knew exactly what she was doing.

“Annie…”

“Shhh.” She touched her fingertips to his lips. “After the show,” she said, smiling. “There’s a place we can go. A friend of mine’s. You can follow me. I have a red VW convertible. You’ll see me.”

He did see her, sitting cross-legged on the hood of the VW under a light in the parking lot. He declined the invitation to go out with the rest of the cast to celebrate. Instead, he followed Annie closely in his own car, hypnotized by the way the air lifted her red hair in the darkness. They drove over the bridge into south Nag’s Head and turned onto Croatan Highway, and he hugged the rear of her car for the next fifteen miles. Where the hell was she taking him? She finally pulled into a sidestreet, where she stopped her car and turned around to call to him.

“Park here and get in my bug,” she said.

He obeyed her and had barely shut the VW’s door before she made a U-turn and was out on the road again.

“Where does your friend live?” he asked as they passed through Southern Shores.

“You’ll see.”

They drove another few miles between dark, shadowy dunes. Paul hunted for a light on the horizon, but aside from the swath of light cut by Annie’s headlights, they were in total darkness.

“Where’s Alec tonight?” he shouted against the wind.

“Working on the mainland. He does a lot of work with farm animals these days.”

“Where’s your little boy?”

“Neighbor.” The car bounced in a rut and he held on to the armrest.