by Lisa Jackson
“Thank God.”
“You’ll feel better tomorrow,” Meredith predicted. “You’ll see.”
Gina grunted, then jumped up and ran to the bathroom again.
Sam took in Gina’s bathroom dash and looked almost distraught that Meredith was leaving so quickly. He opened a bag to show her all the things he’d brought back. “I got just what you said.”
“Good.” She gathered her purse and headed for the door.
“You’re taking off so soon?”
She muttered, flustered, “Well, yeah . . .”
He nodded, as if suddenly realizing how silly his words sounded. “Of course. It’s late. You probably want to get back to your own room.”
She thought about that and braced for a wave of revulsion. “Well, it is late.”
His eyes were warm with gratitude.
“Thank you.”
She averted her gaze. “Good night.”
“My night will probably be spent on the couch, so Gina won’t be disturbed.” He looked down at it. “I hope it’s comfy.”
The evil streak in her felt strangely buoyant at the thought of Gina and Sam sleeping in separate rooms in their honeymoon suite.
That inner smile disappeared as she neared her own room, though. What was she going to say to Janie? “What were you thinking?” “How much did you have to drink?” Or just, “Ew”?
When she let herself in, however, it was clear that she wouldn’t have to face this problem tonight. Janie was gone.
CHAPTER 6
Meredith’s travel alarm buzzed her awake in time to make the morning yoga session. She slapped the Off button with a groan and opened her eyes to the unslept-in but still rumpled bed next to hers. Janie hadn’t come back. Maybe she was already outside with the others.
Meredith crawled out of bed, slipped into yoga pants and a long-sleeved T-shirt, and went outside to face whatever this day had in store.
The morning yoga session was already in progress, but her sister wasn’t among those gathered in the weedy courtyard. Aside from Claudia, there were just the yoga moms—looking startlingly sober—and Fran. Meredith hurried over and unrolled her mat next to Fran’s. Even though the others were already on the ground in a cobra pose, she did an apologetic Namaste in Claudia’s general direction and tried to catch up. Nothing like hectic yoga to start the morning.
“Isn’t Janie coming?” Fran whispered to her.
Meredith hesitated, both because she didn’t want to receive one of Claudia’s disapproving stares for chatting and because she didn’t know. Also, what would Janie want her to say? Whether her sister saw last night as a onetime indiscretion or the beginning of something big was impossible for Meredith to guess. She was still in the baffled stage. Janie was usually so persnickety about boyfriends, so cautious.
Meredith opted to avoid the subject of Seth altogether.
“Sleeping in,” she said. “She might be a little sick.”
Fran nodded knowingly. “Gina’s down, I hear. Seth isn’t here, either—maybe he has the same bug.”
Meredith was glad when Claudia shot them the evil eye. She winced apologetically, gave Fran a shrug, and tried to concentrate on what they were doing. Stretching felt good. So did focusing. After a few minutes, some of the tension fell away, and she turned her face up to the blue sky and sun, and smiled.
I’m on vacation. Who cared about all the things that had happened yesterday—about Sam and Gina, Janie and her drama. Meredith felt good, and the day was gorgeous, and she was in Peru. There were still five glorious days before she even had to think about going back to her old life, to the stresses of her everyday routine. This was heaven.
The clicking open of a door interrupted her bliss. Seth’s door opened and Janie came out, dressed in her skirt and blouse from the night before and flip-flops. Her jaw dropped to see them all out there—apparently Janie had forgotten that her walk of shame this morning would have witnesses. She trilled a wave at them and hurried toward the lobby. A minute later, the group in their downward facing dogs craned to watch her as she came back out and flapped back to Seth’s room carrying two glasses of juice.
Not a walk of shame, then. Breakfast in bed.
“The one time I left my camera in the room,” Fran muttered.
After yoga, Meredith returned to the room and took a quick shower in the icky bathroom. Even under the disappointingly lukewarm spray, her good spirits from the class remained intact. There was so much to do today. Once Janie extricated herself from Seth, they could resolve the hotel problem and hit a museum or two. Or maybe take a bus to one of the nearby ruins. Nothing too strenuous, to give Janie’s foot a rest. Meredith frowned. Come to think of it, Janie had been walking pretty well on her way to the breakfast buffet set up in the lobby.
Still, maybe they could take a bus trip to one of the nearby ruins, just to be on the safe side. That would be fun, and it would get them in the mood for tomorrow’s trip to Machu Picchu. They would stay overnight at Aguas Calientes, take the train back to Cuzco, then fly on to Lima for two days. And then home. She wanted to conserve her energy for the highlight of the trip—Machu Picchu—but she didn’t want to waste her time.
When she came out of the shower, she found Janie perched on the edge of her bed, putting on makeup. “Sorry about last night,” she said. “Didn’t expect you back so soon.”
“Obviously.”
“You don’t have to sound scandalized,” Janie said.
This was too much. “Seth? You never even said you liked him.”
“I never did until I had a few Pisco Sours in me. Also, I got a peek into his room earlier yesterday afternoon.”
Meredith shoved her legs into a pair of jeans. “His room?”
“It’s not the honeymoon suite, but it has a queen-sized bed.” Janie widened her eyes in the mirror and made her long, applying-mascara face. “And a big tub.”
“Wait. You slept with Seth because he has a better hotel room?”
“Well. Not entirely . . .”
“But last night, you two were in here.”
“That was the alcohol’s doing. Otherwise we would have made it farther down the corridor.”
Unbelievable. Meredith felt as if the solid ground beneath her feet had turned overnight into marshmallow fluff. Janie’s judgment had always been so important to her. Her whole life had been influenced by Janie’s opinions. But now Janie was acting like a . . . a room slut.
“What’s the matter with you?” Janie asked.
“You could at least acknowledge that this was a weird thing to do.”
Her sister looked at her as if Meredith had lost her mind. “Having a fling on vacation?”
Yes, a fling. That’s all it was. If a coworker had told her about this, or if it were just something she’d read about in a magazine, Meredith wouldn’t have thought a thing of it. But this was Janie. Janie, who leapt on her every stupid mistake and had actually badgered her about the only really promising relationship she’d ever been involved in.
“If it were me sleeping with Seth, you’d say I’d lost my mind,” Meredith pointed out.
Janie blinked at her with newly thick and luscious lashes. “Do you want to sleep with Seth?”
“No!”
“Then what’s your problem?”
Meredith sputtered and flung herself down on the bed. What was her problem? When she tried to put her finger on it, she couldn’t come up with exactly what was bothering her about this situation. She wasn’t a prude, and Janie was an adult. If she wanted to sleep with a flatulent, unitard-wearing nut muncher, that was her business.
Meredith took a deep breath and decided to change the subject. “Anyway . . . I thought we could take care of the hotel problem first thing.” She flipped the book open to the parts she’d highlighted. “I wrote down several places we can call. Fran would let us use her phone, or the lobby might. Then maybe we can hit a museum, or take a tour bus out to some ruins.”
“Hotel problem?” Janie a
sked.
Meredith nodded. “Claudia gave me the name of someone to talk to at her hotel, which sounds really nice. A little pricier than what we’d planned, though.”
“I’ll bet,” Janie drawled. “But why would we want to move now?”
Was she kidding? “You hate this room,” Meredith reminded her. And now she was beginning to see how her sister might be right to hate it. “Have you taken a shower in there? It’s like trying to get clean in a dense fog.”
“But it’s just one more night,” Janie said. “And Seth’s room is nice. Oh, and Seth wanted to go to the Mercado San Pedro. I thought I’d tag along with him today.”
“Oh.”
The subtext couldn’t have been clearer. Frustration was coursing through Meredith, but it made no sense. Yesterday she’d felt tethered to Janie . . . and now Janie was telling her to do her own thing. Why should that make her resentful?
She laughed humorlessly. “I didn’t realize you two were inseparable already.”
Janie dropped her mirror on her bedspread. “You don’t have to take that tone with me.”
“What tone?”
“That disdainful tone. What’s the matter with you? It’s like you’re prematurely turning into a judgmental old spinster.”
She was judgmental? “You were worried about my even having lunch with Sam yesterday.”
Janie’s face screwed up in confusion, as if she didn’t quite grasp the connection. “Of course I was worried. You two have a history.”
“Ancient history. And yet you treat it like it’s this unspeakable thing—you and Sam both. As far as I can tell, no one’s even told Gina that Sam and I were a couple. I would think you’d want to score some points over your frenemy, if nothing else.”
“How would that score points on her? He improved, makes good money, and now she’s got him.” Janie shook her head. “That’s not a win for our team.”
“He’s more than a snappy wardrobe and a bank balance,” Meredith said, growing angry. “He’s warm and funny and intelligent—he always was. Okay, he brought me spreadsheets instead of roses. That seemed like a huge deal when I was twenty-two. But you know what? I’d love it if someone did that for me now. I hate doing stuff like that for myself, but any idiot can pick up a ten-dollar bouquet at the deli.”
Janie’s expression fell slack. “God, you really do still love him.”
“No—no, no.” Meredith slapped her hand against the mattress. “This isn’t about me. If I’d really been carrying a torch for him, then I could have Googled him and looked him up years ago. I’m not selfish. I want him to be happy. But I don’t know if Gina really appreciates what she has.” Which sounded . . . weird. She felt her face redden, especially when Janie’s penetrating gaze bored into her. Meredith shook her head. “But of course, she probably does appreciate him. I mean, I was with her last night. And she was talking about him and coming on this trip when she didn’t even really want to, just for his sake, so . . .”
The more she babbled, the more her sister’s shrewd look took on a pitying cast. “You were talking to Gina about Sam last night?”
“I looked in on her while Sam was at the pharmacy.”
“Why?”
Meredith shrugged. “Sam asked me to.”
Janie’s lip jutted out sadly, and she reached across the gulf between the two twin beds to grab Meredith’s hand. “I’m so sorry about this. It’s just opening all sorts of old wounds.”
“No, it’s not.” Meredith put her sister’s hand aside and chuckled. How many times did she have to reassure her? “I’m not some pathetic, heartbroken spinster, or a jealous psycho who is going to try to wrestle Sam away from a relationship that he seems perfectly content to be in. You said it yourself—the ring’s bought.”
Janie’s brows rose. “A generous cushion cut with a diamond band. I’m guessing he loves her to the tune of sixteen grand, at least.”
Meredith lurched off the bed, hiding her dismay at her sister’s stubborn insistence on putting a numerical value on emotion, and also...
Well. Sixteen grand. Maybe dollar signs didn’t equal love, but there was no denying they made Sam and Gina’s relationship seem more . . . concrete. Irreversible.
Not that she’d ever thought about reversing anything.
Good grief. Her brain kept going in circles. “I should probably get moving. I think I’ll go on the tour to Tipón.”
“What is that?”
“A ruin outside of town. Sure you don’t want to go?”
“No thanks. I’m sure I’ll have seen enough ruins by the time this trip is over.”
Meredith loaded up the backpack she’d brought with her with essentials she might need during the day—a bottle of water, her guidebook, and her emergency kit. (Tylenol and Band-Aids.) At the storefront where the guidebook sent her to buy tickets for the tour bus, she gave the man her fare and turned to wait the twenty minutes he said it would be before their transportation arrived. A familiar figure was waiting on the concrete bench he pointed her to. Fran looked up at her. “Oh, hi! Are you doing this tour thingy?”
“I planned to.”
“Me too, only I don’t know if they have free Wi-Fi. Could you ask the guy selling tickets?”
Meredith laughed. “You’re overestimating my Spanish. Also, I think you’re overestimating the modernity of these buses.”
“That’s probably true.” Fran sighed and slumped against the wall. “I’m getting this weird vibe from the rest of the group, aren’t you? It’s pissing me off.”
“What weird vibe?”
“Well, the yoga moms were running off to go mountain biking and wine drinking, which don’t even sound like two things that should go together. They’re sort of insular, if you ask me. Claudia is living in her ritzy Zen bubble, and everybody else seems to be paired off. It’s a little boring, and frankly, it makes for lackluster blog posts.”
“Well, maybe this tour will give you something to blog about when you get back.”
Fran didn’t look convinced. “Ancient irrigation systems? Meh. I shelled out for this trip thinking it would be a mini version of Eat, Pray, Love. Instead, it feels more like Drink, Walk, Yawn.”
“Tipón looks pretty in my guidebook.”
“Yeah, but it’s going to take the whole day.” Fran said this as if she had a million things to accomplish that day.
Meredith inhaled a calming breath. What was the matter with all these people? Never had so many incurious people come so far to see so little. At least, the ones she was hanging out with. The yoga moms were adventurous. Pickled, but adventurous.
“It’s only thirty kilometers, but I’ll go ask the ticket guy how long the drive is,” she told Fran. “That is, I’ll do my best.”
She got up and went back in the little shop front to ask. On the way back out, she met Sam on the shop’s stoop. He was clearly heading inside. Her heartbeat ramped up before she could give herself a stern command to cool her jets. Sixteen thousand dollars. She smiled at him in greeting, even though she felt her heart sinking. What a day-trip this would be. Her and Fran, and Gina and Sam.
“Are you catching the tour bus?” she asked.
“I hope so. I’m not too late, am I?”
“No, but . . .” She looked behind him, wondering where Gina was. She was a little surprised that Gina would be up for a trip like this. Usually when a person was sick to her stomach, the last place she wanted to be was on a tour bus.
He took hold of her elbow. “I’m so relieved I can talk to you. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to tell you how wonderful you were last night.”
The hair on the back of her neck prickled. She could feel Fran’s gaze on her. The woman was standing several feet away, no doubt was watching with interest. “It was nothing—”
“It meant so much to me,” he said. “I was a mess, and you really knew exactly what I needed.”
Oh God. Before she could say anything, or flash him a warning with her eyes, she heard Fran call out,
“Smile, you two.”
They both turned a fraction of a second before a camera clicked. Too late, they both froze, aware of their closeness, huddled in the doorway, his hand on her arm.
Fran grinned. “You know, I don’t think I will go on this outing, Meredith. But you two have fun.”
When she was gone, Meredith groaned. “Great. Where’s Gina?”
“Back at the hotel,” he explained. “She’s still not feeling very well. She said I was just bugging her hanging around the room.”
“Poor Gina.” And poor her. She was not going day-tripping alone with her ex-boyfriend. Janie would flip.
“We might have to give Machu Picchu a miss,” Sam said.
Meredith felt her eyes bug. “Miss it entirely?”
“I don’t want to drag Gina out there if she feels bad.”
Sam’s disappointment was palpable, but he was willing to give up the main event of the trip for Gina.
“It’s too bad you might have to miss it, but I understand.”
“So this might be my big chance to go look at ruins,” he said. “Better make the best of it.”
She felt torn now. Should she bow out of the trip to Tipón? The only reason for doing so was purely superficial: She was worried about what Janie might think. But Janie’s moral compass had plummeted in value since she’d basically admitted to sleeping with a guy to gain access to a better bathtub.
Plus, wouldn’t running away be proof that she still had uncontrollable lingering feelings for Sam?
Of course, it would have helped if she didn’t have lingering feelings for Sam. If not uncontrollable, then at least unresolved. And contradictory.
A van rumbled around the corner, its tailpipe letting out a belch of black smoke that in itself seemed ominous. “I’m not sure if I should go, either,” she said.
He looked disappointed. “Why not? It’ll be fun.”
She swallowed. “I know, but . . . Well, I wouldn’t want there to be any talk.”
“Who’s going to talk? Fran?” He laughed. “Anyway, who cares?”
She eyed him sharply. “Gina might.”
He shook his head. “I doubt that. When we came back from lunch the other day, she wasn’t even fazed. I don’t think she sees you as a threat.”
