Calm Harbour

Chapter three

         Claire’s eyes fluttered. She groggily looked at her alarm clock. 5:17. She grunted and rubbed her eyes. The sun was setting, and she could see the orange hue through her thick brown drapes. It was close to six hours that she had been sleeping, but she felt like she could sleep all night. A grumbling in her stomach stopped that thought in it’s tracks though. She flung off the blankets and crawled out of her sanctuary.





         After making herself a tuna sandwich, she sat comfortably on her sofa and turned on the TV. Small town cable was not the best, but at least it had all the basic channels. After flipping through them for the third time, she finally settled on the news.





         She munched solemnly on her sandwich, watching the news, but not really listening to it. Hockey scores, economic reports, the war in Iraq. But then, something caught her attention, as she was chewing her dry sandwich.


         “Reports of a multi-million dollar company is said to be purchasing land on the island. Many top economic officials deem this project risky, yet the company’s CEO states that by purchasing this land, they hope to bring in culture and education to an area that lacks much of this.” The blond news anchor spoke through Claire’s TV. “Steve Gibbons spoke with Ronald Thatcher of Thatcher Barnes Ltd to discuss these developments.” The camera clicked over to a balding man in a blue suit.


         “We’ve recently collaborated with another company based in Calgary for this project. We haven’t announced where we are building this project, and all I can say is that we plan to build a large, multi-functional facility in which to house many different educational and cultural programs. We believe that wherever we build this institution, the economy will grow exponentially.” The balding man smiled through his thin moustache.


         Claire shuddered. There was something wrong with that man. To Claire, he seemed awful, and cruel, but, she had only just seen him on TV. His grin was wide and thin-lipped, and just plain mean. Claire flipped off the TV and picked out a book instead.





* * *





         Claire pulled her Sunfire into Mojo’s café. It was just after one and she had decided to take a late lunch. It was an unusually warm day for February. The sun was shining, and the weather was crisp, promising for an early spring. The snow that had fallen the day before was melting; the run off swimming in puddles on the sidewalks.


         Mondays were always Claire’s busy days. Hurdled between stacks of blue-prints, or running an errand for her pushy boss, being a design consultant was not as glamorous as it sounds. She did however, love her job. She worked with many people in the design and building of resorts. Her current project was a 300 room, 50 cabin, three restaurant, one day spa, five star resort on Salt Rock Beach. The resort was due to open in the summer, and already it had reservations. Mel Gibson had booked a cabin for the winter.





         Claire walked into the cozy café and scanned the room. Her attention was turned to the corner were a flailing arm was trying to get her attention. She smiled and walked over to Monika, who had a caramel macchiato sitting on the small mosaic tabletop. Claire smiled at this gesture of friendship.





         “Geeze, you know me well.” She said as she sat down and swung her purse on the arm of the chair.





         “You haven’t drank anything but in the last two years.” Monika pointed at the steaming drink. “I didn’t think you were going to change now.”





         Claire smiled. “Nope. I’d rather be predictable.”





         “I also ordered us two soup and sandwiches.” Monika sipped her blueberry tea.





         “OK, great. I’m starved.”





         “Busy day?”





         Claire sighed. “Always. I’m just getting stressed with this deadline coming up. The owners have approved the day spa, and now all that’s left is getting the interior designer to come in.”





         “I hear there’s some big name celebrities making reservations already?” Monika’s eyebrows went up and she rested her chin on her hand.





         “Yeah, Mel Gibson and Steve Martin have booked the waterfront cabins already.”





         “Wow, that’s incredible.” Monika shook her head making her blonde hair wisp back and forth in front of her eyes. “Who’d ever thought that we would have celebrities here. Here, in our little town.”





         “I know. You’re more star struck than I am though.” Claire moved her latte to the side as the waitress came and put her plate in front of her. She nodded thanks to the waitress and looked back at Monika. “I’ve seen some when I lived in Vancouver. There’s always some there. Filming, or recording. I once saw Jay-Z at McDonald’s ordering a Big Mac.”





         Monika crinkled her nose. “Not much for rap myself, but I get your meaning.”





         “In any case, this town will be booming in the next few years.” Claire took a small sip of her chicken noodle soup. “Did you watch the news last night? There’s some big facility being built on the Island. Some sort of educational and cultural thing. They haven’t announced where yet, but it’s a big to do about it.”





         Monika swallowed her bite of sandwich. “Yeah, I heard that. I wonder where they are building it.”





         “I don’t know, but the man they had on the news gave me the creeps.”





         “Really? How so?”





         Claire wiped a crumb off her lips and took a sip of the warm, comforting caramel flavoured concoction. “I don’t know. I can’t explain it, really.” She shrugged. “Just the look of him, he just appeared… I don’t know. Weird.” She ended helplessly.





         “Hmmm. I never got that feeling, but then again he did seem a bit strange. Maybe it’s those big city type people. They are all just weird.” Monika teased Claire.





         Claire laughed. “We’re not all weird.”





         “OK, maybe you’re an exception.” Monika grinned.





         “Thanks.” Claire laughed. “But, seriously. That guy was just creepy. There was just something wrong with him. I wish I knew how to explain it.”





         “Oh well. It’s probably not a big deal. You get creeped out by any guy who looks at you funny.”





         Claire grinned. “Yeah, probably explains why I’ve been single for four years.” Monika noticed a shadow cross over Claire’s face. Monika sighed.





         “I’m sorry hun, I didn’t mean to remind you of Curtis.”





         Claire twirled her spoon in her soup. “That’s OK. It’s just been a long time since I thought about him.” She looked up at Monika and forced a small smile. “It’ll be fine.”





         They finished lunch in sombre conversation, Monika carefully not mentioning any men what-so-ever to Claire. It was after two when Claire left her at the café and went back to work. She sat in her office, overlooking the harbour, tapping her pen on a blank pad of paper. It had been a long time since she thought about Curtis, and every time she did, unfortunately she always thought about the night that it happened.