Chapter Three – Cynthia

They didn’t actually get the chance to talk until it was well into the night. Tamara needed extra attention, and Tyrell was more than happy to give it to her. Cynthia watched them play games and read stories while she cleaned up after supper. Once Tyrell had put Tamara to bed, he came out and gave her a tired, worn smile.

“You didn’t have to do all the cleanup by yourself,” he said.

Cynthia shrugged. “I like a clean kitchen. Especially out here in rural areas, where there is a greater risk for mice.”

She shuddered. She hated mice. Had ever since she was little. The problem was that Tyrell didn’t have a cat around the place. Out here, that meant a greater chance for invasion. She wasn’t about to let her defenses get sloppy.

“There aren’t any mice in my house.”

“You never know that until it’s too late.”

Tyrell smirked. “Right. Well, shall we sit down and discuss expectations now?”

She nodded and settled down on the couch. Tyrell sat across from her, close enough that their knees brushed. A jolt went through her at the touch, as if he were electric. Her body’s reaction had her blushing and she smoothed her hair behind her ears, trying to avoid looking into his eyes. His red hair fell into his face, curling into a perfect little loop that she wanted to slide her finger in, to rub the silky texture between her fingers.

Her face heated further when he cleared his throat. “To start off with, I’d like to know what Ruby promised you.”

“Ruby. Right.” It took a moment for her to remember that it hadn’t been Tyrell whom she had been communicating with the past couple weeks, but Ruby.

She would be angrier at the other woman if Ruby hadn’t stopped by today to explain herself. Apparently, Tyrell worked far too hard and was always dragging Tamara out into the field with him. While Tamara seemed to enjoy it, it didn’t leave her a lot of quiet time. While Ruby’s actions had not been the best, her heart was in the right place.

Cynthia sucked in a deep breath and straightened her shoulders. The situation she found herself in was different than she’d imagined beforehand, but she’d make it work. “Well, um, she said that I’d be getting a salary of one thousand a month, and free room and board.”

Shock flitted across Tyrell’s face. His jaw dropped. “A thousand? What does she think, I’m made of money?”

Cynthia flinched. Broken down to a per-hour basis, a thousand a month wasn’t much. Granted, Tamara would have to go to school which meant Cynthia would have a lot of free time on her hands, but there was a serious amount of cleaning that needed to be done around the house, and she had her personal expenses too. With the free room and board, a thousand a month had seemed like a reasonable proposition, though, as she wouldn’t have to worry about basic necessities.

Tyrell leaned back on the couch, expression warring between fury and regret. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to shout.”

“It’s okay. I know that this is all unexpected for you.”

“It’s just that we’ve never been that well-off, and the last couple… well, decades have been hard.”

“Decades?”

Tyrell nodded but didn’t explain what he meant by that as he continued. “We’ve recently had a change in the structure of the leadership of the island, though. We’re becoming a closer-knit community, with more of the wealth shared… it used to be that we were divided into four… groups and we each hoarded our own goods. With things shared more equally, we’re all in better positions. But I don’t have that kind of expendable cash.”

“Right.” Cynthia sighed. Without rent and budgeting a small portion of her own personal food, she could get away with less. She had lost cell service halfway here, too, so she’d just cancel her number and have her parents phone the landline here. Or use Skype. “How much can you pay me, then?”

Tyrell glanced at his hands, seemingly ashamed. “I’ll have to go over the budget more closely, but probably… around five hundred.”

Cynthia’s eyes widened. Five hundred? Half of what she had been expecting. Could she make that work? She inhaled deeply and considered it. She didn’t have to pay for rent, or car insurance or maintenance. If she got a bike, she’d be able to ride into town when Tamara was in school. It wasn’t terribly far, only about ten miles. So that would mean no gas, either.

Even as her mind reeled from the unexpectedly small number, a bubble of excitement rose in her stomach. With Tamara at school and free time on her hands, perhaps she could start a side business for herself. It was something she had always wanted to do, but never had the time and energy for. Here, she would have the time and the push to get it started.

Cynthia leaned forward. She tried not to show how distracted she was. Before she made a decision, she needed to know exactly what sort of free cash she was looking at. “Would utilities be included in the rent?”

“You mean free?” Tyrell gave her a saucy grin, then nodded. “Yeah. All utilities. Uh, we get electricity and water nearly free since it’s produced on the island. We just have to pay a fee for upkeep, but shared with everybody on the island it’s small. I don’t have cable or internet or anything.”

“Cable isn’t necessary, but I’m going to want internet. Gotta keep up with Netflix somehow and my parents are going to want to skype me.” She started to relax and smiled at him. “What about groceries?”

“I’ll take care of basics for meals. Anything special you want you’ll have to shell out for.” He winked. “The good thing about being a rancher is that I can produce a lot of my own food. I can also trade my products for stuff I don’t grow myself.”

She nodded, a relieved smile crossing her face. She was going to be making only half of what she expected, but at least her expenses would be low. “Then I guess with all that taken care of... We can try out five hundred. At least, see how it works out. Who knows, maybe you won’t even like me.”

Tyrell grinned at her, eyes sparkling. “Oh, I don’t think that’s possible, Miss Jones. You are a very likable person.”

Her stomach fluttered. A blush rose up her cheeks and she managed to give him a smile that she hoped didn’t seem too flirtatious. Tyrell nodded and stood. He left without a word, leaving her rolling his words around her brain over and over again. She was going to like being here; she just knew it was going to be fantastic.

“Although…” Tyrell came back into the room, his smile faded into a scowl. “You should know, there are some people who aren’t happy that you’re here. Distrustful of outsiders and whatnot. I’ll get you a radio, for you to call me if any of them show up at the house.”

Cynthia’s brows rose. “They wouldn’t try anything, would they?”

Tyrell shook his head. “No, but I don’t want you to be uncomfortable. There’s one guy, James Smith. He’s a real piece of work and might try to scare you off. If he comes around I’ll deal with him. Okay?”

“Okay.”

Tyrell nodded. Cynthia considered him for a moment longer. Was he kidding? She couldn’t imagine why someone would try to intimidate her into leaving just because she wasn’t from the island. He seemed dead serious, though, and she shivered. Well, after living in New York for five years, she could handle anything. Couldn’t she?

***

“Cynthia, can I ask you something?” Tamara stared up at her with a very serious expression on her young face.

Cynthia smiled at her. It had been a couple of weeks since she had arrived on the island, and things were settling into a good routine. She walked Tamara to the bus stop in the morning and picked her up again in the afternoon. Today, they had gone into town. Cynthia was looking for something that she could make during the days when she was on her own, to try to build up a small online business. Tyrell was working, out driving his cattle to a new field, so she had brought Tamara with her.

“You can ask me anything, sweetie.”

Tamara brushed her strawberry-blonde curls from her eyes and nodded once. “What’s sex?”

Her voice was rather loud and carried through the store. A few of the other patrons glanced over curiously. A few of them chuckled. Cynthia’s face turned bright red as she froze. She had plenty of experience nannying for younger kids, but this situation had never come up before. This was something that a parent ought to explain to their child. She wasn’t sure what Tyrell did and did not want his daughter to know at her age. As she cast her eyes about, floundering for an answer, she took Tamara’s hand.

Smiling to make sure that Tamara knew that she wasn’t in trouble, Cynthia spoke quietly. “Why don’t we go get an ice-cream and talk about it, okay?”

“Yum!”

At the ice-cream store, Cynthia radioed Tyrell, explaining quietly what had happened. Tyrell, his voice full of laughter, asked her to bring Tamara out to the fields. Relief washed over Cynthia.

Tyrell was waiting for them in the fields, and she smiled at him while they approached. Tyrell seemed to be quite calm, which helped soothe her nerves. Cynthia had decided long ago that it was the best thing for children to understand the mechanics of sex as soon as they became curious. God knew, if she had been taught about sex earlier, she wouldn’t have gotten into the mess her marriage had been. She knew next to nothing about it when she was a teen; what she did learn, she learned on her own, from the stories friends told her and later, from watching porn.

It had left her with a very skewed understanding of what sex was and what it meant. If she had been told what it was or what it should be, rather than just being told ‘don’t do it or you’re evil’ she wouldn’t have married Michael when she had. She wouldn’t have thought that he was the end-all of her life, that she was ruined for relationships because she wasn’t a virgin anymore.

Tyrell took Tamara’s hand. “I heard that you asked Miss. Jones what sex was.”

Tamara’s face fell. “Was it a bad thing?”

“No.” Tyrell shook his head. “It’s not bad. Come on. We can talk about it, angel. First off, you know how some of the cows are pregnant, right?”

Cynthia took her leave. She partly wanted to stick around, to see how Tyrell would handle the questions that Tamara would no doubt throw at him. But she didn’t know him that well, yet, and it was a discussion that they’d best have alone. She returned to the truck, and after a moment Tyrell sent her a text saying Tamara would stay with him the rest of the day. With nothing else to do, she headed back to town.

Her mind drifted back to her own life growing up as she walked around the stores, finding what was for sale and what the prices were. If only she had learned more from her parents. Maybe then she wouldn’t have been a divorcee before she reached the age of thirty. But life wasn’t like that, you couldn’t go back in time.

“Hey there.” A smooth voice behind her brought her out of her thoughts. She jumped as she turned, then smiled to see Rex Tesla standing there. Her heart beat a little faster as her face flushed.

“Hi,” she squeaked out. Actually squeaked. She grimaced.

Rex, however, only laughed. “I was hoping that I’d see you again. I thought, since Jarvis looked so mad when I came to visit you, I’d better keep my distance.”

Tyrell hadn’t fully explained why he didn’t want Rex around. Cynthia couldn’t imagine what it could be. It wasn’t like he was one of the people who didn’t want her on the island. There had to be another reason, but Tyrell hadn’t shared whatever it was. Maybe Rex had picked on him in high school. Who knew?

There was heat flaring in Rex’s eyes, though, a look of hunger as his gaze trailed down her body. It made something inside her twist. He was a very attractive man. Tyrell was even more attractive, though. And she had to admit, her attraction to him was far more intense.

But it was a bad idea to get involved with someone she worked for… not to mention that Tamara was bound to be hurt if something did develop only for it to turn sour. And there wasn’t any harm in a little bit of flirting, was there? Rex seemed harmless enough…

She grinned at him. “I was hoping to see you, too.”

Rex offered her an arm. “Want to walk with me?”

Cynthia smiled and nodded. “I’d love to.”

They walked all over town, talking and laughing. It turned out that Rex was a fisherman. He worked with a large fleet to bring in fish for the island, as well as selling on the mainland. The more he talked, the more she understood what Tyrell had meant about the island being in a poor financial spot. It seemed like they had next to nothing coming in from the mainland.

After a few hours, Cynthia radioed Tyrell to tell him she wasn’t going to be there for supper and went out to eat with Rex. Conversation flowed naturally between them. When they were wrapping up dinner, Cynthia sat back and laughed.

“I feel like I’ve told you everything about my life. My ex always said I overshared. I hope I didn’t scare you off.”

Rex shook his head, a smile on his lips. “No scaring, here. I’ve met far scarier women.”

He winked. Cynthia laughed again and pulled out her wallet as the server brought over the checks. Rex snatched hers from her and shook his head, insisting on paying himself. As Cynthia sat back, smiling at his gentlemanly behavior, a man sitting at the far end of the café caught her eye. It was the same man that had been on the boat on the way over.

The man glowered at her with the same hatred he had then.

“Something wrong?” Rex asked.

Cynthia shook her head. “Just that man over there.”

Rex twisted, locking eyes with the man, whose glare intensified. Cynthia’s cheeks burned, and she wished she hadn’t said anything. Now the man knew she had noticed him.

When Rex turned back to her, a scowl was on his face. “Don’t mind him. James Smith. The local bigot and asshole. He’s just mad because you’re not… from around here.”

So that was James Smith. Cynthia could see why Tyrell didn’t want him around her. The man looked dangerous, just from the hatred in his eyes. She tried to ignore him as she gathered her things. Rex walked her back to the car and leaned against the door as she got in.

“Drive safe.”

“Thank you.”

He leaned through the open window and brushed a kiss to her cheek. Sparks ignited in the pit of her stomach. With a wave, Cynthia drove away. She beamed as she drove back to the farmhouse. It had been a long time since she had gotten that kind of male attention. Since before the divorce, actually. Michael hadn’t been the most attentive husband at the end. It felt good, knowing that she was still desirable.

Tyrell sat at his computer when she walked in. He turned toward her, a smile on his face. It fell quickly, though, as he sniffed the air. “You were with Rex.”

Cynthia laughed, startled by the proclamation. “What?”

“I can smell him on you.”

Cynthia’s brow furrowed. She hadn’t noticed any particular scent about Rex, other than a clean, salty spray. Her frown turned into a glare as Tyrell sat there with narrowed eyes. Anger and judgment were all over his face. What was it to him whom she spent time with? And that whole ‘smelling’ Rex on her. What was that about? Had he been spying on her?

She drew herself up taller. “Yes, I was with Rex. We had a nice dinner.”

“I asked you to—”

“You asked me not to have him around the house because you didn’t want him around Tamara. She wasn’t there. You are not going to start telling me whom I can and cannot spend time with.”

Tyrell had the good sense to look abashed. He ducked his head and swept his hair out of his eyes. “Right. Well. Um… sorry. I guess I sort of overreacted there.”

Cynthia snorted. “Sort of?”

He fell silent.

She waited for a moment longer before she folded her arms. “Is there a reason why I shouldn’t see him? Is he some sort of serial killer or something? Does he like to drug women?”

“What? No, of course not!” Tyrell’s expression was almost comically horrified. “Why would you think that?”

“I don’t. But you’re being all shifty and cagey about it. What else am I supposed to think, other than you must have a really good reason to want me to keep my distance?”

He flinched and kicked the floor. For a moment, she thought that he was going to tell her that she shouldn't go out with Rex because he, Tyrell, wanted to date her. But he didn’t say that. In fact, he didn’t say anything at all, merely mumbling under his breath.

“What was that?” Cynthia moved a little closer, hope sprouting in her head.

“I… Nothing.”

She backed up a step again, heart sinking.

Get a grip, girl. Rex liked her. That was good enough. He wasn’t as hot as Tyrell, but he was interested. He was sweet and charming. Why should she give him the cold shoulder in the hopes that Tyrell might like her? Even if he did, he was her boss and it wasn’t happening.

Tyrell shrugged, still not looking at her. “My problems with him are mine. They shouldn’t affect you. And I hope that maybe…”

He didn’t finish. Cynthia waited for a moment longer before snorting and heading up the stairs. Why should she avoid Rex because of some grudge? Tyrell said it himself. Their problems had nothing to do with her. And she wanted a man in her life again. It wasn’t as though Tyrell was looking at her with lustful eyes…

She sighed as she closed the door to her room. It didn’t change the fact that she would have preferred Tyrell over Rex any day of the week.

What is wrong with me? she wondered, then pushed both men from her mind. She wasn’t here for a grand romance. She could have some fun but there would be no falling in love. That was all there was to it.