Moonlight Salve-2

Naomi walked through the automatic doors and nodded at the receptionist sitting behind the huge silver and black imitation marble desk. The woman adjusted her black rimmed spectacles and leaned forward to press the blue button on the in-office intercom.1

"Mr. Anderson, You have a...," she looked over at Naomi and smiled.
"...a special visitor,' she finished.2

"Tell my daughter give me two minutes and I will be right down for her."3

The woman buzzed out.4

"I wonder how he knew it was you."5

Naomi smiled. "He knew I was coming today and you do say "special visitor" everytime one of us comes here."6

"No, I don't...okay, I do. But that is not the point." the woman laughing replied. "He'll be right down though so you shouldn't have long to wait."7

"Cool. I am not in any particular hurry."8

"Hot date tonight? With your young man?"9

"Yeah, man." A blush, which seemed never far from her cheeks on this particular day, started to make itself known again.
"We are supposed to be going..."10

Just then tall handsome man, with nutmeg coloured skin- as her mother called it, walked through the dark brown mahogany door to the left and behind the receptionist's desk.11

"Fraternizing with my staff I see."12

"Of course, Dad. The usual."
The father and daughter hugged in genuine pleasure at seeing each other. He pulled back from the embrace and pulled a keyring from his pocket that had two keys attached. As he swayed them playfully in front of Naomi's face, she gave a barely concealed squeal and just as she reached for them, he held them out of her reach.13

"Not so fast, young lady., you know the deal." He looked at her with an expression of expectancy on his face.14

Naomi sighed and reached into her purse. She retrieved the nice, new Barbados driver's licence card and handed it over to her father. He looked at it as if he were part of a fraud squad, as if he were trying to detect if it were counterfeit.15

"Come on, Dad. You know it's real. I got the receipt and everything. You just trying to be difficult!"16

"Of course I am. The only time after this when i will get to be difficult is when you get married and at the rate you and Rene are going that might be a while!"17

She rolled her eyes and gave a huge, longsuffering-daughter sigh. Mr. Anderson threw his head back and laughed. He then tossed the keys to her.18

"Here catch. Come along girl child. I hope you like the colour 'cause I know that is what you young women worry about nowadays, if it will match your dress and what not." He ducked the playful slap his daughter threw at him and trotted through the door with her in close pursuit.19

"So its is a four wheel drive, because I don't want you in some little easy-shackle-out vehicle driving on these roads with the madmen that does be on dem nowadays," his voice slipping into the dialect that showed itself up when he was talking about something that concerned him or that he was passionate about.20

Naomi gave him a quick hug of reassurance.21

"Dad, I know its hard for you...but I'm a good driver. You know I was driving about long before I did lessons. You taught me yourself. And I thank you for getting me a fourwheel drive. I know you love me that much, enough to get me a vehicle that would let me go offroading!!!"22

Neo Anderson looked at his daughter sharply before letting his expression relax when he observed the jesting expression running over her features. 23

"Hmph!" That was the only word he allowed himself before they reached the brand new black Range Rover Sport.24

"Dad, You serious?! This is what you bought?" The young adult in Naomi stood to the side while the child in her took over and started to bounce around and shriek. "I got a Range Rover! I got a Range Rover!"25

All her father could do was stand, laugh and shake his head in disbelief at the sight of his older daughter prancing about and generally behaving as if she had forgotten her senses.26

"I guess I made a good choice then..." 27

"Yes you did! Yes you did!!!! Dad, thank you for putting up the rest of the money, hear! I can't wait to show Rene tonight!" The last part of this sounded a bit muffled to her father's ears, as she had ducked her head in and was inspecting the layout of her new vehicle.28

"Chaaaaaaaaaaaa, Manual and everything! I love you Daddy!"29

"For Once!"30

"Stupse, Whatever Dad."31

They shared a smile.32

"Okay let me see you just do the basic stuff with it 'cause its different handling a bit from the van you went in for your test on. Since it is a bit longer and what not."33

Naomi happily agreed and complied with her father's request, executing the turns and all the other basic manoeuvres of driving.
She stopped just next to him. He leaned against the door and gave her a quick kiss.34

"Just be careful, okay sweetie? You are the only Naomi I have."35

Naomi nodded her head slowly and then gave him a fierce hug.36

"I will be."37

"Good, and tell Rene good evening for me. Be careful!"38

"I know, I know. Watch for pedestrians. Make sure I turn on the lights before night fully comes." She started to pull the car away. "Make sure the gas and oil are right. Look out for mice crossing the street and dogs doing the chachacha." Her laughter floated back and hit the ears of the man she called 'Dad', soothing somewhat the separation pangs he was now feeling in his gut.39

*******************************************************************40

The wind danced through the Range Rover's window and playfully pulled at Naomi's hair. She was getting the hang of the vehicle and was more relaxed in her driving, although not entirely. She slowly leaned forward and pressed the button for the auto tuner on the radio. Almost every station was playing sappy love songs, but she was looking for something else. After all, she would be hearing quite a bit of that in approximately forty-five minutes.41

Her fingers kept pressing until she found a station playing some real music that has some bass so that she could drive. She had caught the song quite soon after it had begun and the strains fo the opening the bass line in "Summer Love" crashed out and vibrated the entire jeep. She tapped the steering wheel and sang along when the vocals of Justin Timberlake joined in.42

"I can't wait to fall in love with you. You can't wait to fall in loveeeeeeee with me!" 43

She was so caught up in the song that she didn't notice the admiring glances that the male drivers on the road were giving the jeep, or her. The song moved from "Summer Love" to strains of the house song "Love is Gone". The beat pulsated through the seat giving her a little rush of excitement which, coupled with the thought of seeing Rene soon, caused her skin to turn a little pinker.44

"What are we supposed to do, after all that we've been through. When everything that felt so right is wrong. Now that the loveeeeee is goneeeeeeeeeeee!" Naomi danced and let the rhythm of the music flow over her body. The rhythm seems to direct her movements as she drove.45

"Love is goneeeeeee, Love is goneeeeee!"46

She turned into the long driveway that would lead to Rene's house. The pulses in the music seem to push the vehicle forward and it was only then that she realised how loud she had the radio. Giggling, she lowered the radio before she arrived at the end of the driveway and the beginning of the carpark in front of the set of town houses, one of which housed a bundle of kisses and hugs and lots of another thing just for her.47

She turned the radio completely off and concentrated on easing the black sleek vehicle into what seemed to be the only parking space left at the end of the lot farthest away from the buildings. She doubted her reversing skills a little and this translated in her spending 5 minutes longer than usual manoeuvering into the space. A sigh was expelled from her lips as the jeep finally slid into the position she wanted it to.48

She started to gather her stuff together, taking time to stick the licence card into the glove compartment under the insurance certificate her father had taken out on the car, and had paid for the first year. Placing her phone to her ear, she continued to gather her bags to her as she waited for Rene to pick up on the other end. She got the answering machine again. She shrugged her shoulders and rummaged around for the key she had to his house.49

Sliding her feet out of the jeep, she heaved the bags and turned to lock the door. The central locking clicked loudly, and the alarm beeped as she engaged it. Naomi turned, sliding the bags to her back and bounded her way to town house number 13. She keyed in the password-56834382- into the alarm keypad, which flashed blue then green, alerting her she had successfully disarmed it. Smiling to herself as images of Rene and his tongue floated through her mind, she inserted the key into the lock and a jolt of excitement shuddered through her when the lock allowed her entrance.50

She chucked her handbag into the chair nearest the door. As she looked around she noted that Rene's shoes were not near the front door, so he probably was there yet. Disappointment filter through her body. It was quickly overthrown by anticipation as she realised she had time slip on the new pink and red teddy she had bought specifically for this night. 51

She picked up her bag of clothes and made her way to the stairs. She paused make sure she had everything. Continuing on she took the steps two at a time. Ginuwine's song replayed in her head. The sensations she had experienced start to come over her again. And then they stopped abruptly.52

She had just opened the door to the bedroom she and Rene shared and had found that he was not still at work as she thought. He was quite at home. And he was sharing the bedroom with someone that looked so much like her, that if she had not known that she was the one now with her mouth wide open, she might have mistaken it for her.53

"Rene!!"54

The two bodies sprung apart. Untangling their limbs from the other and she now realised why she might have mistaken the other person for her. The woman looking at her with hostility looked so much like her. From the different shades of brown that were her skin, hair and eyes, to the very cut of her features. The woman who had been kissing Rene and had been having his tongue do the things to her that Naomi had only just been imagining looked so much like her they could have been sisters.55

"Noralee?!"56

And they were sisters. It has taken a while because of the shock of finding Rene in that unexpected position, but she now fully recognized the other participant.57

"What the hell!?"58

"Nao, it isn't what you think it is!" Rene was now out of the bed, hurriedly putting on a pair of black and red boxers.59

"Oh so this isn't me-finding you- having sex with my younger sister!"60

"What I mean to say is..." Naomi could see from the flashing expressions on his face that Rene was searching for an ending to that sentence.61

"Oh shut up Rene!" The female voice caused Naomi to turn sharply towards it. "Naomi has found out and we might as well not keep hiding it. Yes Naomi, me and Rene been having sex."62

Naomi's eyes widened as the tension in the room increased three-fold with that proclamation.63

"YOU WHAT?!"64

"And it aint the first time either."65

"You and You...", Naomi couldn't seem to get her words together. Rene started to move in her direction as if he meant to touch her.66

"Don't even think about moving. Because if you move, I am so likely to cut your balls off." Rene froze at this, not so much so because of the words but more because of the cold look that had taken over Naomi's eyes.67

A strange calmness seemed to settle of her body, as Naomi took a few deep breaths to steady herself and clear her head. She slowly looked around the room taking into account the clothes strewn everywhere, the almost statue-like pose that Rene had found himself in, the blue sheets that she had bought for the bed now pillowing around the naked, and always bigger breasts of her sister.68

"Okay, Noralee. You have 3 minutes exactly to tell me what the hell is going on here."69

Noralee started to protest but caught the look that Rene was giving her as well as the no-comprising expression that had settled on her older sister's face. She gave a stupse and cocked her eyes up at her sister.70

"If you hadn't come when you come you didn't going to know anything." The dialect poured her lips, something that didn't usually happened but seemed apt considering the less than formal situation she was now in.
"Naomi, I like Rene. He knows what to do in bed, which is more than I could say for most of the guys that at university with me." She ignored the gasping breaths that this caused her sister to take. "And hey, it aint like you know what to do. You never had anybody before he, and he had to teach you everything."71

Naomi narrowed her eyes and looked at Rene out of the side of her eyes when she heard the things she thought were private between the two of them spewing from her sister's mouth.72

"Whereas, I already know what to do. And men like that. If you wanted to keep him you should of done more." Noralee looked her sister up and down. "Not my fault that your man, well our man, prefers my body to yours and my experiences to..." 73

Noralee never got to finish that sentence because just at that moment Naomi pulled her hand all the way back and let it find its way to her younger sister's cheek with all her body weight behind it.74

"You are not my sister." Naomi proclaimed this with an unearthly calm.75

Noralee started to get up, with the obvious intent to fight. Naomi kicked her in the stomach, earning a yelp and her sister's quick retreat to the other side of the bedroom. Rene surged forward to help Noralee and the sides of his face met with Naomi's knuckles and his stomach, her knee. He crumpled to the ground. Noralee moved as if to go to help him, but one look from her sister squelched that idea.76

"Rene." Naomi stood over him, waiting until he worked up the courage to look into her eyes. "You owe me the $2000. See to it you get it to me. Make sure I don't see you, because if you do...be sure my dad will have something to say about it."77

Rene's face contorted with pain as she kicked him again in his mid-section.78

She picked up the bag that lay forgotten on the floor. She walked to the door. Then as if she remembered something she turned back reaching into her bag. She caught her sister now sans blue sheet helping Rene to sit up. She raised her hand and lightning flashed at least twice through the room. Or at least it seemed that way to the other two occupants of the room who were caught unaware and were confused as to what was happening.79

"Happy Valentine's day." Naomi walked out the bedroom, down the stairs, stopping only to pick up her other bags and to throw the key to the house into the sink. She tucked the camera she had used to take pictures of her ex sister and her ex boyfriend into her handbag, tucked herself into the vehicle and drove purposefully from the parking lot, never once looking back.80

She drove until she reached an open patch of grass near her father's office. By then the tears were nearly blurring the road completely and she could not continue driving. Stopping the Range Rover, she leaned over steering wheel and let the tears flow down her face until she had no more water left in her. 81

Restarting the car, she drove into the carpark of her father's office, narrowly missing a white Toyota as it swung out of the entrance-exit. She heaved herself out of the jeep and made her way automatically to the reception area of the office. The receptionist who had greetly her warmly only a couple of hours before, took one look at her face and buzzed in to Mr. Anderson's office with the carefully coded message about a family emergency.
The last thing Naomi really remembered happening after that was her father coming out with concern on his face and her handing him the digital camera with the last pictures already on the screen. Everything after that was a blur.82