Chapter 4: White Palace
After having a quick breakfast with Red's home made bread and some marmalade, Red decided it was time to do some washing.
"Are all your dirty clothes in this pile?", Red asked Liz as he grabbed the items off the bedroom floor.
"Yes, everything's there. Do you need a hand?"
"No, no, I'll be fine. If you could just open the door for me so I can go straight to the shed? I saw a sink in there, so I'll do the washing there and hang them to dry."
Liz got up and hobbled to the door. Her knee was much better but she was still afraid to put too much weight on it. She opened it and held it for Red to go through it. "Let me know if there's something I can do", she said.
"Don't think there is anything, sweetheart, just make yourself comfortable and wait for my return" he said with a warm smile.
Red walked to the side of the cabin and opened the door of the shed with his elbow. It didn't give so he put some more weight into it. Suddenly the door swung open and he stumbled inside, almost tripping over some clothes that fell from the pile he was holding. "Dammit!" he said, but couldn't help but laugh about it.
He threw the pile on the floor next to the sink and turned on the warm water tap.
While the sink was filling with water he went looking for detergent. He found a jug in one of the cupboards and poured some in the water.
He started to wash the items by hand, taking piece by piece from the pile, washing them and putting them aside to be rinsed later.
He stopped dead in his tracks when he noticed the next item on the pile of clothes.
It was a red lace thong. He picked it up and just stared at it. His mouth went dry at the thought of Liz actually wearing it. He started to picture her in his mind and he could feel his body react to that image.
He shook his head in an attempt to shake the image and quickly washed the thong and put it aside. He came across another pair of panties but they were nothing like the red thong.
After he was done with the rinsing, he placed the clothes over a few strings that hung from one side of the shed to the other. He took a step back to check his work and when he was satisfied that it was all in place, he went back into the cabin.
"Ok, all done. It probably won't dry very fast, but at least we will have some clean clothes again soon", Red said with a satisfied smile.
"That's great!" Liz beamed, "I can't believe all the work you're doing around here. I don't know what I would've done if I'd been stranded here on my own".
"Well, you would never be stranded anywhere on your own, cause I am always around", Red laughed, "and if I'm not around, I certainly know where you are at all times".
There was a time when Liz would have shuddered at the thought of Red being so present in her life. But she had to admit that she actually liked having him around. He was right; as long as he was there he would protect her and let nothing happen to her.
She smiled up at him, "I've been practising the crosswords while you were away. It seems to get easier with each puzzle".
"That's great. I knew you would pick it up quickly. And it's a nice pastime".
"How is your knee doing by the way? Let me have a look", Red said as he sat on the couch next to Liz, not waiting for her answer.
He carefully placed her leg over his knees and took a closer look. "The swelling is almost gone, that's good."
Liz sat, leaning back with her nose in her latest crossword. She barely noticed what was going on until she felt Red's hands starting to massage the area around her knee. God that's good, she thought while closing her eyes for a moment.
"I hope it's not too painful?" Red asked carefully. He recalled the moment that he hurt her all too well and didn't want that to happen again.
Liz could hear the strain in his voice and felt terrible. She knew he still felt guilty about hurting her, when in fact he hadn't hurt her at all.
"No, it's fine. It's feels really good actually", she told him; giving him a shy look over her book but Red wasn't paying attention to her face.
He was focused on the task at hand and Liz took this moment to study him, peeking over her puzzle book.
She loved the way he could be so focused on things and she wondered if he ever did a crash course on massage because his hands were doing an amazing job.
After a while Red looked up and she quickly stared at her puzzle again, acting like she was thinking hard about one of the questions.
"What do you say I show you how to make a nice meal? As far as that's possible with the ingredients at hand" Red inquired with a smile on his face.
"That sounds like a plan. What do you want to make?"
"I was thinking about pasta, with a nice sauce of some kind. I'll need to check what's there", Red said, "but I think I saw some canned tomatoes".
"Sounds great! We can get started on that in a bit but I want to finish this puzzle first. Can you help me with that?"
"Of course I can. Let me see", Red said as Liz sat up straight and moved in closer.
They sat there side by side trying to solve the puzzle.
Red couldn't help but feel very content. He was worried at first when they got stranded here about how things would be between them but it all seemed to work out perfectly and they were getting along much better than he had anticipated.
They were having such a good time that after they finished the crossword, they went on to the next. In the meantime Red had fetched them a bottle of wine and they were just sitting there, drinking and solving puzzles.
Red would let Liz try to solve it, but occasionally she would ask for his help.
"Oh, come on Lizzy, you really don't know the answer to that?" Red said teasingly. Liz answered him with an elbow between his ribs "Stop mocking me and help me out, you big know-it-all". They laughed at their own silliness and moved on to the next question.
"Ok, I think it's time to start making dinner. I'm quite hungry to be honest and we really need to eat something if we're going to keep drinking like this", Red laughed.
"Ha, you might be right about that", Liz chuckled, already feeling a bit woozy.
They walked into the kitchen area where Liz took a seat at the table, wine glass still in hand. Red looked around and saw an apron hanging from a hook and put it on. "This will make me look more professional" he winked at Liz.
Liz giggled, "You look very smart there master chef. I promise I will pay attention to your class!" "Or at least I'll try", she muttered under her breath.
"Alright, let's see what we've got here. Canned tomato sauce, some oregano, basil, garlic and olive oil…I think that will do". After preparing everything Red turned to Liz, who was still drinking at the table.
"We start by heating the oil", Red began, "and then we add the basil, garlic and oregano for only about a minute before adding the sauce. We give that a good stir and we let that simmer for about 10 minutes"
"We also put a pot with water on, to boil the pasta later".
Liz heard Red talk but wasn't paying attention to the cooking class anymore.
She watched him move, watched his hands cut the ingredients, watched him prepare the best meal possible with the very few things available as her mind drifted off to yesterday.
She couldn't help but think back to when she tickled him. The lovely sounds that he made, sounds she'd never heard before. The dangerous criminal that became so vulnerable by being tickled.
She got up and slowly made her way towards Red, who was focused on the stove.
"It smells lovely", Liz said while getting closer. Red looked up and saw her approach. "Yes, not bad for a vegetable tomato sauce", he smiled.
Liz came even closer and Red saw a wicked smile on her face. "What's going on? What are you doing?" he asked as Liz extended her arms towards Red's sides.
"You look like you need to be….. Tickled!" Liz squealed and went for his flanks.
"Oh god no, Lizzy, please, not again!" Red pleaded and tried to dive away.
While trying to slip past Liz, his shoulder touched hers, pushing her off balance as she was still not steady on her feet.
Red saw it happen and just as she was about to fall over; he caught her in his arms. "Close call", Red whispered, while staring into Liz's eyes.
Liz, feeling fuzzy and confident because of the alcohol, took a hold of Red's face and planted a firm kiss on his lips.
The kiss only lasted for mere seconds, but to Liz it seemed forever. Wow, she thought, this is so much better than I'd ever imagined.
Red was overwhelmed by Liz's action and it took him a second to realise what was going on. Her lips felt amazing and he couldn't believe this was happening.
But he thought it was the alcohol talking, so he broke the kiss without hesitation.
"Liz, sweetheart, we shouldn't…" Red started sweetly, when Liz interrupted him, "I was just following instructions", pointing at his apron.
She gave him a shy smile as Red looked down and read his apron upside down. 'Kiss the Chef' it said. He started blushing. "Ehm, thank you?" he muttered. They looked at each other, still standing in each other's arms.
Suddenly their mouths were kissing again. Their lips wanting, begging for more. Red slowly licked her lower lip and Liz opened her mouth slightly, to grant his tongue access.
Their tongues found each other and started dancing and exploring. Red's hands went up in Liz's hair, tangling and tugging and Liz's hands were on Red's back, moving up to his neck.
They kissed until they were both desperate for air. Red rested his forehead against Liz's, breathing heavily. They were both lost for words and not sure how to react to what just happened.
They stared at each other until Red heard the water boil. "I need to put the pasta in the water" Red said; glad that there was a distraction, something he could do to take him away from this moment.
"Right" Liz went to sit at the table again, confused about what just happened.
They had their dinner at the table instead of in bed, accompanied by another bottle of wine. "This is lovely Red, very nice after all the canned food" Liz exclaimed after they'd both finished.
"Yes it is. And as you saw, it was very easy to make".
Liz didn't dare to tell him that she actually barely paid attention when he was explaining the cooking to her so she deflected "I found a deck of cards so I thought maybe we can play a game later?"
After cleaning up and throwing more logs on the fire, they went to sit on the floor at the coffee table. "Ok, let's play some poker" Red said, shuffling the cards.
"Er, I'm not sure I am able to play poker right now" Liz giggled, "I had too much wine I'm afraid".
Red shook his head, "tut tut tut, Lizzy", acting like he was scolding her but the twinkle in his eyes gave away that he didn't mean it at all.
"Well, let's play some Snap then?" he said while dealing the cards. "You know that game right? And it is very easy"
"Yes, Snap I can manage" Liz laughed as she threw her first card on the table.
They had lots of fun playing, as they were constantly slapping each other's hands while going for the cards. Of course Red won most of the time, as Liz was too slow. She tried to steal some of the cards a couple of times, which made Red laugh uncontrollably.
The whole kissing incident was forgotten, until it was time to go to sleep.
Liz was already in bed when Red came out of the bathroom and joined her.
He normally would wrap an arm around her or she would crawl into his arms but tonight was different and they both felt it. Liz was quite intoxicated and quickly fell asleep on her side, facing away from Red.
Red just lay there on his back, listening to the clock ticking and staring at the ceiling. He knew things had changed between them, but wasn't sure what the next step would be.
After what seemed like hours, he fell into a restless sleep.