Mixed Signals

by Ivy Raine

  Chapter 7

  “I’m terrified.” Susan stood on the curb shaking like a leaf. “I’m going on a trip with a man who hates my very existence.” She sighed. “Par for the course, I suppose.”

  “He doesn’t hate you. He’s just jealous.”

  Susan looked like she was about to cry. “Now I’ve hit an all-time low. The men are jealous of me.”

  “Here comes the cab! Just stick with me and you’ll be fine.”

  Susan lugged her heavy suitcase into the back seat. “If you wanna get this resolved, I can’t stick too close, if you know what I mean.”

  Rachel tumbled in behind her. “There’s no guarantee he’ll even talk to me. And try not to worry,” she teased. “You’re too cute to hate for long.”

  By the time the taxi reached the airport, the jet was ready to board.

  Susan grabbed Rachel’s hand. “I hope I don’t get sick. Remember what happened last time I was on a plane?”

  “Just don’t think about it.” Rachel eyed up the fancy charter jet. “And I don’t think there’ll be alcohol on this trip, so you should be fine.”

  “But I need the alcohol so I can keep my mind off of the fact that we’ll be hurtling through the air thousands of feet up. I’m an earth sign. I don’t do well off of the ground.”

  George and Mary were already seated when Rachel and Susan got on.

  “Hello, girls! Glad to see you both were able to make it.” George shook a finger at Susan. “This troublemaker is Susan, Mary.”

  Mary reached out and clasped Susan’s hand. “My goodness! You’re shaking!”

  Susan grinned in a defeated sort of way. “Yeah. Flying’s really not my thing. I’ll be okay as long as I can see out.” Claiming the window seat, Susan patted the seat beside her.

  Rachel stuffed her handbag into the compartment above her head and sat down with Susan. “She gets sick going up an elevator,” she teased.

  “Then you have something in common with Ryan,” said Mary. “He gets sick just thinking about flying.”

  Rachel grinned. “Really?” She didn’t know why she got such pleasure out of the fact that flying made him sick. Maybe it was because he tried so hard to be Mister Perfect in every other way. It was nice to know at least something about him was human.

  As if he knew the conversation entailed him, Mister Perfect arrived on the scene.

  “Sorry  I’m late,” he grumbled, settling into an empty seat just across the aisle from Rachel and Susan. “Traffic and things.”

  George tapped Rachel and winked. “You must have completely missed the fact that we have a guest, Ryan. This is Miss Reyes, a friend of Miss Peters.”

  Normally the one to engage in unwavering eye contact, Ryan instead gave a lightning speed nod toward Susan. “Nice to meet you, Miss Reyes.” He popped open his laptop and went to work tapping at the keys.

  Susan leaned out and gave a short wave. “Just call me Susan.”

  Without looking up, he gave a little finger nod and went back to work. Rachel glanced at him and did an internal sigh. He was actually dressed normally: jeans that fit oh, so well, a t-shirt that was just tight enough to make it look like he’d rip the sleeves if he flexed, and best of all, a five o’clock shadow to match his mussed up hair. Rachel wondered what lay below his jeans. Was he in the briefs or boxers camp? She guessed boxers, but that was yet to be determined. She felt like slapping herself for even thinking about it. She was angry and she planned to stay that way – at least until she forgot to be angry again.

  Once the plane was finally in the air and Susan’s stomach was under control, Rachel pulled out her cell phone to check for messages. As usual, she had a text from her mom. Every day since she moved to New York, her mom had either called or sent a text. In the more recent years it was usually text simply because Rachel was too busy to talk on the phone for extended periods of time. Her mother was her hero. She’d raised Rachel and her younger brothers all by herself from the time she was twenty-five years old, and in all those years, she never once dated. Rachel knew her mom’s love for her dad ran deep and there was no one who could ever take his place, but lately Rachel found herself wondering if she put her own life aside for the sake of her kids. That also made her wonder if real love could strike twice in a lifetime.

  Though she tried not to, Rachel stole peripheral peeks at Junior every so often. How could he sit there the entire time and not even accidentally look her way? And why did she have this juvenile desire to do something dumb to get his attention? She’d graduated at the top of her high school class, had gotten into one of the best schools in the country and had earned her bachelors in business in three years. Yet, here she sat, twenty-eight years old and fighting back the urge to shoot spit wads at him just to make him mad. Never in her post puberty years did she ever have to work so hard to make someone pay attention to her. She felt kind of guilty about it when she thought of the three years Ryan tried, and failed, to get her to notice him. Maybe this was his version of payback. She groaned internally. This was going to be a very long trip if Junior didn’t change his attitude.

  Rachel spent the next hour shifting between two fantasies: wanting to rip his limbs off and wanting to rip his clothes off.

  “Rach? Rach. Earth to Rachel!” Susan elbowed her. “Getting sleepy?”

  She hadn’t really thought about it, but now that Susan had mentioned it, she did feel pretty drained. “Yeah. A little. How about you?”

  “Not a bit,” Susan whispered. She pointed behind them, and Rachel turned around to see George and Mary dozing in each other’s arms. “Looks like fun. Come here.”

  Susan propped a pillow against her shoulder for Rachel to lay her head on. “Do you remember the time when we were little and we wanted to camp outside in the yard?”

  “Yes,” Rachel yawned. “I remember very clearly that you peed on me because you were afraid to tiptoe through the dark the use the bathroom.

  Susan laughed. “You would remember that part. But, do you remember what you told me?”

  “I’m sure I told you a few choice things before I slugged you.”

  “You did, but after you slugged me, you told me that because I was a scaredy cat, we both got peed on.” She nodded toward Ryan who was sleeping with his chin against his chest. “Well, right now you’re both scaredy cats and if you don’t watch out, you’ll both wind up covered in pee.”

  Rachel teared up. “You know, you’re not as dizzy as you make yourself out to be.”

  “It’s all part of my evil plan to rule the world.”

  George tapped Rachel on the shoulder. “Look below you. We’re almost there.”

  “That was fast.” Rachel rubbed away the tears blurring her vision and looked at the time on her cell phone.

  George beat her to it. “One hour and fifteen minutes almost exactly. Makes for a nice getaway from the summer heat of New York.”

  The lights of Bangor spread out like a nest of fireflies, trailing out into fading fingers that became thinner and thinner as the eye followed them.

  “Have you ever been to Maine?” George asked Rachel as he leaned up to poke Junior in the back.

  “No, but I’ve always wanted to visit the rocky coast,” said Rachel.

  “Ryan’ll have to take you both to Schoodic Point. It’s one of the most majestic places in the world.”

  “What are you setting me up for?” Junior rubbed his hands over his face. “Disregard everything he told you, whatever it was.” After a millisecond glance at Susan, he gave Rachel a nasty look and turned back to gather up his computer.

  “Don’t worry about it,” Rachel snipped. “I’ll be spending most of my time with Susan, anyway. By the way,” she said, ignoring an even nastier scowl from Junior. “Where will Susan and I be staying?”

  “With us, of course!” Mary looked surprised that Rachel hadn’t already known that. “We have a summer home near Acadia Park. You’re going to love it. Ryan and Elizabeth spent many a summer afternoon down by the
water collecting rocks and looking for treasure.”

  “And blueberries,” Junior chimed in. Of course the statement was made to his mother and not to her, but Rachel felt a small flutter of hope when he didn’t spit it out like venom.

  “Oh, yes. How could I forget the blueberries?” Mary leaned over and kissed George. “It seems like old times. We’ll all be here together again.”

  A streak of guilt shot through Rachel. She’d seriously considered telling Ryan everything – including the part about his dad being a swinger – but seeing them together and happy, it now seemed evil to even think about going that route. No, she’d just have to find another way.