Interrupted Romance Page 11

  Dafna stepped closer to him. "Adam, I can see it. Slowly, now. Yes, that's it. Keep going, it's nearly in to the wall. Lower the rod and keep reeling in until I tell you to lift it up here. I'll grab the fish. OK, now. Lift!"

  Adam lifted the rod, turning towards her as he did so. She deftly caught the fish with one hand, putting aside her own rod at the same time.

  "It's a little bream. I think we'll let him go back to his mother, darling. You can catch his daddy instead."

  Removing the hook, she dropped the fish back into the water, watching it swish quickly down into deeper water, away from the wall on which they were standing.

  Adam was pleased with himself, despite the release of the fish, as it meant that fishing was something he could do alone… well, with just a little bit of help. He found it relaxing and loved being out near the sea. Dafna re-baited his hook and let go of the line.

  "OK, dear, you can cast again now. Catch something bigger this time, please."

  Adam cast first, followed by Dafna who had had to put a new bait on her line. For some time they caught only small fish, which they released back into the water. They had spent two hours at the end of the breakwater, when Dafna said, "I think it's time we went to the beach for our lunch, Adam. I'm hungry."

  "So am I. It must be the sea air. Let's pack up and go sit on the sand."

  She guided him back along the narrow breakwater.

  They found a small patch of sand in shade and set out their picnic lunch on a cloth that Dafna produced from the top of the Esky. She walked to the water's edge, picked up a handful of sand and scrubbed her hands together to remove the smell and feel of the baits she had handled. She cut and sliced tomatoes and lettuce and cheese, placing them into the bread rolls. The first one ready was handed to Adam. He had struggled to open the first bottle of Chardonnay, but succeeded through sheer stubbornness of nature. As she watched him she thought 'he isn't a Taurus for nothing!' Determination was written all over his face. He even poured a glass for each of them and they toasted each other, glasses held up and eyes on the other's face, even if only one set of eyes could see the face in front of it.

  When they'd eaten enough and drunk several glasses of wine each, they leaned back against the seawall, Dafna watching the tide ebb and flow in front of them, Adam listening to it. It was so peaceful there. Children were laughing and playing and splashing in the shallow water to their right, about thirty metres away. Dafna leaned against Adam and he lifted his arm for her to snuggle against his chest, while he held her about the waist. With one hand behind his back and the other playing with the hair on his chest, Dafna was content. Despite all that had happened to him, his body was still hard and fit, like an athlete. He had taken his shirt off on the breakwater and his skin felt hot from the sun, even though they had spent some time in the shade of the seawall. She'd forgotten to pack the sun block cream and he would probably be burnt as a result. The scars along his leg were looking too pink.

  Later in the day they walked along the little beach, but returned to their picnic spot within a short time as Dafna was watching Adam's skin catching the sun. She was concerned for the scar tissue.

  "I think we should head home," she said to him. It was almost 5 p.m. and she knew his parents were hoping they'd be home in time to join them for dinner.

  "Do we have to go, Dafna? I don't want to leave here yet."

  "Well, let's compromise and stay another half an hour, then go. Beseder?"

  "Beseder."

  The sun was getting lower in the sky and shining uncomfortably in Dafna's eyes when they finally packed up the picnic containers and the rods and headed to the car. Most of the day's crowd had already left ahead of them. She started the engine to get the air conditioning working, then packed everything into the car. Adam put his shirt back on and sat in the car waiting for her to join him. As they headed for home, he held her hand, caressing the fingers with his own.

  The traffic slowed and then stopped altogether. She turned and looked at Adam's face. He was looking ahead and smiling slightly.

  "What are you thinking about, Adam?"

  "Oh, just about our day out here. It's been such a long time since I was at the beach; such a long time since I went fishing, or had a picnic lunch like this. I've enjoyed myself so much with you. Thank you for doing this."

  "I enjoyed it too. You know, you caught most of the fish today. Next time, I will have to beat you."

  "Don't forget you spent more time baiting hooks than I did. I had more real fishing time than you did."

  "That's very diplomatic of you, darling. I suppose you're making sure I'll bring you again!"

  They both laughed. Adam squeezed her hand just as the traffic began to move forward again. She concentrated on the road ahead for a minute before clicking her tongue in exasperation.

  "What is it?"

  "The traffic is stopping again. There must be an accident up ahead somewhere. We’ll be here for ages at this rate!"

  Adam turned towards her and said, "Is there any food left in the cooler? Why don't we pull over somewhere handy and finish that off. I'm hungry again. It must be the sea air and sunshine that we've been in."

  Dafna eyed the rows of cars ahead and made a decision. "OK, that's a good idea. There's enough food left for a snack each, plus another bottle of Chardonnay. I can see a turn-off up ahead. When we get that far, I'll drive off the road and find a spot to stop. It won't be doing your car any good to creep along like this for the next hour or so."

  As soon as the car reached the dirt track leading away from the main road, Dafna turned down it and motored slowly along it, watching for a place suitable to pull over and set up the picnic area. It was almost dark but she soon found the place she deemed to be suitable to pull over. There would be sufficient space on the track for a car to pass if anyone else drove this way along the beach road. She hadn't been here before… never turned off the main coast road to explore these little tracks in daylight, never mind at dusk. The place she chose was close to low sand dunes, with only small patches of grass showing through the sea of sand spread by the coastal winds.

  They were out of sight of the traffic and the little dunes dimmed the sound of motors. Across the dunes, to the west, the surf was hissing and swishing against the shore.

  Dafna switched off the lights but left the radio playing softly. Adam got out of the car and walked around to the boot to collect the Esky, while Dafna spread a rug over a level grassy area. She guided Adam back to the rug and they set up their picnic under fast-appearing stars. It was a very peaceful setting and one with which Adam seemed very much at home. He was in darkness all the time, so having no sunlight to see by made no difference to him. Dafna, on the other hand, was racing the fading light to put some sandwiches together before it became too dark to find the food containers. She heard the cork pop from the wine bottle, followed by a gentle clink of glasses being bumped together. Adam had found the Chardonnay without any difficulty. He listened to the sound of the wine as it filled the glasses, guessing when to stop pouring.

  With a plate of sandwiches each, a glass of wine by their sides, soft music, starlight, it all seemed such a perfect way to end the day. Dafna was having doubts about whether she should have stopped in such an isolated place, remembering how Adam reacted when they were alone in her bedroom. But then, this was not the bedroom, not the parents' home…

  Adam asked her, "What can you see here, Dafna? Where are we exactly?"

  "Well… there's not a lot to see. It's dark now, Adam. But, there are lots of stars coming out now. There's a wonderful clear sky above us, not cloudy, just starry. All around us are low sand dunes with tufts of vegetation growing from them. It's mostly sandy, with some small patches of green grass peeping through the sand where we are sitting."

  "How high are the dunes? Too high to walk up?"

  "No. Are you thinking of walking up them?" she asked, her voice rising a little at the thought.

  "Maybe. I can hear the surf. It isn't f
ar away. When we finish eating and finish the wine, how about we walk over to the water? It's still so humid and hot that a cool paddle would be nice, wouldn't you agree?"

  "I… well, yes, it would, actually. OK. When we finish our picnic we'll do that."

  They sat listening to the surf, and in the background the 'Adagio' by Albinoni played into the night atmosphere. It was a companionable silence that they kept, listening to pleasant music in a setting such as this. The 'Adagio' changed to Vivaldi's 'Four Seasons'.

  As the music ended and another tune was begun, Adam asked Dafna, "Have you finished eating now? Could we walk to the beach now, do you think?"

  "Sure. I'm ready. Let's go."

  Adam stood first and reached out his hand to pull Dafna to her feet. "Wait," she said, "I think we should put these things back into the car and lock it up first."

  Having secured the picnic gear in the car and locked it, Dafna then took Adam's hand again and gave it a little tug.

  "Come on, Adam, we can go now."

  He waited while she turned him in the direction they needed to walk and then stepped out eagerly, up and over rows of small dunes, none more that two metres high. It would have been easier to walk along the track, but the dunes were more interesting. They made their way over the last of the dunes and down onto the beach itself. The hiss of surf was more like a gentle roar now that there was nothing between them and the sea. Adam stumbled as his feet came down off the slope of the dunes. He let go her hand and ran towards the sound of the sea. Laughing, and calling him, Dafna followed as fast as she could go. His speed over the sand was surprising and she only caught up with him when he stepped in the remains of a hole dug in the sand, sprawling on his chest, sand spraying up from the impact.

  Dafna fell beside him, gasping from the effort. "My God, you're fast on your feet! I didn't know you could run like that," she said as he rolled over onto his back. He lay on his back, hands behind his head, gazing unseeingly up at the night sky.

  "It feels so good to be here… away from rooms, houses, hospitals! Even though I couldn't see much, I was claustrophobic always being inside somewhere. This is invigorating, wonderful."

  Dafna put her arm across his chest, snuggled close to him. "I didn't realise it was driving you mad or I would have taken you out more often, sooner," she said. "Why didn't you say something? I thought you were comfortable and feeling 'safe' being indoors most of the time."

  "I suppose I was, some of the time. At your mother's house, in the garden, it was nice. I could smell the flowers and trees, but I knew it was enclosed to a certain extent. I couldn't just get up and walk as far as I liked in any direction without treading on something or falling over something, like I can here. The beach, at night, is perfect. Nobody to fall over, no steps, gardens, walls… if I go too far one way, my feet get wet, then I know to turn and go another direction. This is where I feel most comfortable."

  "I'll remember that," Dafna murmured above his chest. She could barely see his face in the moonlight, but he looked happier than she could remember.

  He took his hands from behind his head and wrapped his arms around her. She put her head down on his chest, listening to his heart beating, and they stayed close, like that, for some time. The sound of far-off traffic could barely be heard… just an occasional angry blast on the car horn, as an impatient driver tried to hurry things along; a siren wailing in the distance. Out to sea, a few lights twinkled on a vessel well offshore, moving ever so slowly south, towards Tel Aviv perhaps.

  Eventually, Adam stirred. He rolled Dafna over so that he lay across her, slowly moving his lips across her face, down to her lips, where they lingered, teasing. Her arms were tight about his shoulders, eyes closed, lips parted. She gasped slightly as he took his lips away from hers, choosing to kiss her nose, her forehead, her cheek. She turned her face towards him, inviting him to kiss her fully on the lips. But Adam, teasing still, turned away again to kiss her ear, her other cheek, until finally she caught up with his roving lips and kissed him firmly. Dafna felt his arms clasp her in a vice-like grip, his lips hard upon hers, pulling her body to mould with his. She thought she would stop breathing if he continued to crush her onto the sand. Slowly, he eased his weight from her, lips never parting, passion never fading as one hand slid from beneath her body up along her thigh, her hip, her waist to her heaving breast. Once there, his hand fondled the breast, playing with the nipple until it rose up hard and perky. He lifted his head from hers, slid kisses down along her neck, along her shoulder to where the loose, over-sized T-shirt had slipped off her shoulder, lingered there a hot moment before moving again toward the nipple. As his lips and tongue moved over her nipple, Dafna gasped again. There was only the thin T-shirt between his lips and her skin. Adam moved his hand from her breast and slid it up under the T-shirt, again caressing the breast, as his lips found hers once more. She moaned in ecstasy and moved beneath him.

  Gradually, they became aware of a different sound close by. A snuffling sound, followed by a soft cough. They broke apart, both breathing heavily, and turned towards the source of the sound. Standing about twenty metres away was a large dog on a leash, watching them intently with dark eyes - the snuffling sound came from him - the cough had come from the man at the other end of the leash - part of an army patrol team, whose duty it was to see that the shoreline was kept safe and free from invaders from the sea. The soldier was carrying an automatic weapon, which was pointing at Adam.

  Adam, of course, had no idea who or what was near him. Dafna was somewhat embarrassed and more than a little frightened. The IDF had a reputation of ferocity if threatened in any way - perceived or actual. It wouldn't be the first time Arab infiltrators had come ashore at night, intent on causing as much damage as possible to person or property. The soldier standing over them wasn't going to let them go without making sure they were 'innocent'.

  She sat up quickly, placing a steadying hand on Adam's arm, as she felt the tension in him responding to her sudden movement.

  "What is it? What happened?" he asked.

  The soldier stayed where he was, keeping a safe distance until he was assured that they weren't terrorists pretending to be lovers. He whistled shrilly and three more soldiers appeared from the dunes.

  Adam jumped, not realising someone was so close to them. "Who is that?"

  "ID!" The soldier barked at Adam and Dafna, shining a torch into their eyes, blinding Dafna.

  Dafna spoke almost simultaneously… "We have no ID on us. Everything is back in the car - over there." She pointed back toward the dunes.

  The other soldiers arrived on the scene and the patrolman with the dog appraised his corporal of the situation as he saw it. They agreed there was a car parked at the far side of the dunes, a cork from a wine bottle had been found nearby. Some ten minutes later, having been escorted back to the car, they were told that they could proceed on their way home. The traffic jam had eased following the clearing of the accident a few kilometres along the road. One of the soldiers recognised Adam from the newspapers and TV coverage of his hijacking adventure, so they were allowed to leave the beach. They were joking with Adam, saying that they were on a training patrol and they wished the dog hadn't alerted the pair to their presence, as the scene they witnessed was just getting interesting!

  Dafna was blushing furiously by the time they got into the car again. The memory of Adam's body over hers was still vivid in her mind's eye. The feel of him, his lips hot on her skin - she could still feel it - his arms around her, so tightly… and those bastards had been watching for God knows how long!

  Adam was reading her mind. He reached out and held her hand, squeezed it. "I'm sorry I let you in for that," he said. "I didn't know we had company, sweetheart."

  "I know you didn't. Neither did I." She let out a long sigh of relief - or was it frustration. "I want to get away from here, from them," she said, starting the engine. They had spoiled an almost perfect night.

  CHAPTER 19

  Days went by,
with Dafna and Adam trying to spend as much time as possible in each other's company, between visits to the hospital to see Susan, who was making slow progress towards recovery from her injuries.