Page 5 of Colvin
The charge indicator pinged to warn him they’d exhausted half the stored power, so reluctantly he took them back to the beach and landed smoothly at the kiosk. After helping Ivy out of the harness, he had to support her for a few minutes while she regained her ‘land legs’ and balance.
She clung to him, laughing at herself as she wobbled and wavered. “Like a toddler,” she said. “The ride was one of the best times of my entire life, thank you so much.”
“The pleasure was all mine,” he answered truthfully, happy to have given her such a rare experience.
As they finally began walking toward their beach chairs, Ivy said, “I’m thinking though we need to establish guidelines. Guests probably shouldn’t fly over the resort itself. Not many people are going to be as expert at antigrav maneuvering as you are. And there could be privacy concerns.”
“You said you wanted to see it all,” he reminded her.
“And you said you’d analyze the threat potential,” she replied with a chuckle. “I guess both are official enough sounding reasons for our flight path.”
“Are you hungry?” he asked.
“Starved. You and the antigrav did all the work but I’m famished. There are a variety of casual eating spots here along the beach—I want to lie in the sun and bask after my meal, I warn you.”
“Fine with me. I’m thinking the body surfing looks interesting.”
Companionably they argued over which place to choose for lunch and settled on fish and chips, hot, crispy and delicious. True to her word, Ivy lay in her chair and napped after eating, worn out from the flying. It had been a terrific experience but intense. Colvin was happy to body surf and swim while keeping an eye on her to make sure no one bothered her while she was asleep. The resort had lifeguards and a roving beach patrol but he regarded Ivy as his responsibility for the five days of their date and nothing was going to happen to her on his watch.
As the afternoon wound down, Ivy woke and joined him in the surf for a swim. As they were toweling off, he asked, “What did you want to do tonight? More dancing? Take in a show?”
She gave him a shy glance. “Believe it or not what I’d really like to do is have room service and then curl up and watch an action trideo marathon. We can eat popcorn and candy and you can tell me what the trideos get wrong about their stunts and military maneuvers and I’ll interpret the romances. Deal?”
He was surprised but the evening she was outlining appealed to him. Presumably they’d sit close together on the big couch in the suite’s main room and proximity to Ivy was everything good. When they were swimming she’d been in his arms more than once and Colvin was pretty sure she was signaling her interest in him and her willingness to explore their physical connection. She was so much younger so he’d be careful to make certain what she wanted before he made any serious moves, much less took them to the bedroom but the date was going in that direction.
“Sounds terrific to me,” he said. “You’re not going to believe this but I actually need to do a little shopping before we head to the hotel.”
“You’re kidding? Shopping, are you serious? Lucky for you I get an employee discount.” Her smile was wide as she teased him. “What are we shopping for?”
As they packed up their things, he explained. “I have a bunch of nieces and nephews so whenever I go somewhere new that isn’t a combat zone I like to get them each a souvenir. It’s my way to remind them I may not be around much but I’m thinking of them. I don’t get back to Ardanna Prime on leave often.”
“It’s a nice idea,” she said, walking beside him as they left the beach and made their way towards the shopping district. “What are the ages we need to buy for?”
“It’s a big range—little kids to teenagers. I try to get them all the same thing, typically something small.”
“I know the perfect thing.” Ivy led him to a big bustling gift shop, which carried all the sorts of trinkets and knickknacks a guest could ever desire to take home as a memento of their time at Resort Planet. She took him straight to a big display of colorful stuffed animals, each one wearing a striped tee shirt with the IDA resort logo. “These are Mirminny and Moomenny,” she said. He must have had a horrified expression on his face because she was laughing so hard she could barely continue. “I didn’t name them, don’t blame me! We hired an exorbitantly expensive promo firm to design them. They’re cartoon cute versions of small local furry mammals. The little ones in your family will like them to cuddle and the teenagers will think they’re funny. See, they have different accessories too. We’ve learned they’ve become quite a collectible out in the Sectors, much in demand. They can only be bought here but some people have filled their suitcases with them and resold them. There are also knockoffs. Trust me, even if your older nieces and nephews aren’t impressed, they can sell them for a nice little sum. Here, touch the plush fur.”
She thrust a Mirminny in bright neon green at him before he could fend her off and Colvin stood there feeling like an idiot with the stuffed animal dangling from his big hand. “I believe you,” he said, tossing it back to her as fast as he could. “Help me pick the right ones. The store can drop ship them, right?”
“Do you have all the addresses and information?” Ivy sounded skeptical. “Be forewarned my discount doesn’t apply to interstellar shipping.”
“I send them all to my mother since she’s the matriarch of the Lawben family and she makes a big production out of distributing them. I’ve got her address memorized and I can afford the shipping fees. I’ll want to send the parcel expedited.”
Ivy had a great time selecting the ridiculous toys for each of his young relatives, making him tell her a bit about each child or teenager before she made her choice on his behalf. Colvin enjoyed talking about his family and then he wrote a brief individual note to each recipient, leaning on a counter in the back of the store to do so. He noticed Ivy wandered to the display and picked up another Moomenny, in yellow, with a blue tee shirt and bought it while she was waiting for him to finish his notes. He wondered if she was getting it for herself and if not, for who then? The way she stuffed it deep into her beach bag as soon as it was paid for made him think she wanted to keep it a secret.
It hadn’t escaped him how she was willing to talk about her job, about the resort itself, about generalities like favorite books and the latest news from the Sectors, but she skillfully deflected each attempt he made to learn more about her past or her family. She’d give vague answers or turn the question back on him. He had no secrets—at least no nonmilitary ones so it had taken him a while to realize he wasn’t finding out much about her as a person. He’d leave here in a few days not really knowing Ivy Wilson at all, which made him sad. Colvin was convinced there could be a much deeper connection between the two of them if Ivy would only let down her walls but he was at a loss for how to maneuver around them. This was the first time he’d been so interested in a woman on a deep personal level and he was at a stalemate, which is not where a general of his stature wanted to be or often found himself.
“Do you want your own kids?” Ivy asked as they finally left the store.
“I always expected to have a wife and family,” he admitted, “But it never happened for me. I was gone so much of the time and the years flashed by while I did tours all over Ardannan territory and the Sectors on joint missions. It’s one of my biggest regrets but at least I have my nieces and nephews.”
“And they’ll have their Resort Planet souvenirs soon,” she said with a smile before shifting the conversation to a different topic.
When they got to their suite at the hotel, Ivy disappeared into her room, shut the door and was there for quite a long time, He drifted past the closed door and heard voices so he knew she was on a com call but the hotel’s soundproofing was too good for him to catch any words. Eventually she emerged, having changed into a comfortable looking pair of old pajama pants and a tee shirt with a top ranked Sectors tisba team’s logo and the uniform number of their number one scoring player.
“Have you ever seen them play?” he asked as they studied the room service menu.
“Not in person. Although I’d love to someday.” She pointed at the number on her chest. “I heard him speak at a companywide meeting once, done with holos of course, which was a thrill. I try not to miss a game during the season even if I do have to watch them on a delayed basis. My staff knows not to tell me who won before I have the chance to see the game.”
