The box was full of CD’s, makeup, lip gloss, jewelry (some expensive, some costume), sexy underwear, unopened packs of cigarettes (Kim doesn’t smoke), full perfume bottles, and even some common things like an electric toothbrush, disposable razors, candy bars, kitchen utensils, and ballpoint pens.
I’d barely had time to contemplate what it meant when I heard the bedroom door close. “What are you doing with that?” Kim’s enlarged eyes met mine.
“Nothing. I was getting my coat and the dang box fell off the shelf and about decapitated me.”
She knelt and furiously scooped everything into the box. Then she slammed the flaps down, heaved the box to her hip, lifted it in the air, and shoved it onto the shelf, pushing it back as far as it would go.
“What is all that stuff?” I asked.
I’d never seen a more guilty looking face in my life. But Kim recovered quickly. “You know how my situation with Eddie can sometimes get me down?” she said.
“Yes.”
“Well, when he really makes me angry, I feel better after I’ve had a little retail therapy. That’s all. I hide the stuff in here so he doesn’t ask questions. He never comes in this room.” Her smile was stiff, and she wrenched her hands together so tightly I thought she’d break some bones.
“Oh.” Kim’s explanation made sense, because I’d probably be bankrupt from revenge shopping if Eddie was my man. But suspicion niggled under my skin. I believed her about as far as I could throw her. My head pounded and I wanted to go home, so despite my sixth sense that she was into something deeper than she would admit, I didn’t try forcing the truth from her. I’m not her mother. But I am her friend, and friends have each other’s back. No matter how I’ve tried since then, I can’t seem to get that stupid box off my mind.
“Where’d you get that swimsuit?” Kim asked Jackie. We were all relaxing around the hotel pool before dinner. I noticed a few of the ladies from our tour group strolling around the pool. I knew they were with the National Parks Wonders Tour because, unlike us, they were wearing their nametags. They waved, and we waved back.
“I don’t remember,” Jackie said. “Why?”
“I like it and thought I might look for a similar one when we get home.”
Jackie wrenched off her sunglasses. “You can’t afford this suit, Kim. Anyway, I thought Eddie only allowed you to shop at Walmart.”
Kim smiled, but I could see tension pull at her lips. “That’s just a joke. I can buy whatever I want, wherever I want. I don’t do hair as a hobby, you know. I earn a good living. And Eddie doesn’t own me.”
“Could have fooled me,” Crystal blurted.
Kim’s fists clenched at her sides. We were supposed to be relaxing, but she was wound tighter than a banjo string.
“Did you find your cell phone?” I asked to change the subject.
She held it up. “Yes, thank goodness. It was on the bathroom counter just as Jackie had thought.”
I was about to ask the group what time they wanted to eat dinner when a familiar voice sounded behind us. “How’s the water, ladies?”
We all turned our heads in tandem. There stood Keith, barefoot and in a pair of lightweight trunks and a tee shirt. A white towel was slung over one broad shoulder. His teeth practically sparkled in the sunlight when he smiled.
“The water’s fine,” Kim said, not knowing how the water was. She hadn’t even dipped a toe in. “Going for a swim before dinner, Keith?” she asked, blinking like she did when she was nervous.
“Just a quick one,” he answered, dropping the towel onto the lounger next to Crystal. When he winked at her, Crystal’s face turned ten shades of pink. “I try to do some form of exercise every day, even when I’m on a tour. Gotta stay in shape, you know.”
We all watched with our mouths hanging open as he stripped off the tee shirt and displayed a six-pack of rippled abs. No one seemed immune to his impressive physique, including me. Even the old ladies on the other side of the pool openly stared when he stepped onto the diving board and scored a flawless jackknife dive and an equally perfect splash. After swimming a half-dozen laps, he surfaced from the water and plowed his hands through his wet hair. When he pushed himself up and over the side of the pool, I thought every woman there was going to have a seizure.
Water rolled off his glistening body. “Boy, that water is refreshing!” he exclaimed. “You girls should join me.”
“We’re hardly girls anymore,” Annette said, laying her paperback book in her lap and peering over her sunglasses.
“That’s for sure,” Crystal said. “Annette’s birthday is Sunday. She turns fifty.”
Annette fired Crystal a look that would have made her head vaporize had Annette’s eyeballs been laser beams.
“But she doesn’t look it, does she?” Crystal added quickly.
Keith’s eyebrows lifted, and his gaze locked on Annette. “No, I would have guessed a youthful forty at the most.”
A shy expression washed over Annette’s face and she smiled, obviously pleased.
Keith moved toward us, sprinkling us with water drops when he shook his head. “I like to celebrate when we have someone on tour with a birthday. We’ll be in Jackson Hole, Wyoming on Sunday. How would you like to have a picnic in a beautiful park for your birthday, Annette?”
Her eyes lit up. “I wouldn’t want you to go to any trouble.”
“It’s no trouble. If I’m really lucky, I might even be able to round up a cake. With your figure, you don’t have to worry about the calories.” When he winked, she actually blushed like a schoolgirl. He grabbed his towel from off the lounger where he’d tossed it and toweled his face. “Have a great evening, ladies, and get a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow we hit the road! I look forward to seeing you all in the morning. We’re going to have a great time together.”
His gaze swept down the row of us and then he saluted. Like vultures eyeing prey, we all craned our heads around and gawked as he strutted away.
Like a bolt out of the blue, it suddenly occurred to me that I’ve always been mistrustful of extremely good-looking men. Guys like Keith Creswell get away with bad behavior because of their looks, and because there are silly women who can’t believe a guy so delicious could really be extremely rotten.
CHAPTER FIVE
Annette
“Why didn’t one of you stop me from ordering that fried ham and cheese sandwich and onion rings?” My intestines cramped on cue, and I groaned. “I should have known better. Grease has become my archenemy as I’ve gotten older.”
Kim patted my hand. “Sorry, Teresa. We all have our crosses to bear as we age. Mine is lactose intolerance.”
“I suffer from acid reflux,” Donna chimed in.
Crystal added to the discussion. “My gout flares up if I eat food high in purines.”
“Too bad you all don’t have an iron stomach like mine.” Jackie patted her flat tummy, and I stuck my tongue out at her. She could eat like a horse, and anything she wanted, and still never gain an ounce or suffer from a humiliating disorder such as irritable bowel syndrome. The aging process and natural effects of gravity hadn’t affected her waistline or boobs any either. Her body was as trim and perky as a teenager, and the only one of us to order dessert. She finished off her hot fudge and whipped topping sundae and then let out a little burp. “Oops. Excuse me. That was good.”
Sometimes I really hated Jackie.
We ate dinner at the Paradise Café, along with the majority of the other National Parks Wonders Tour travelers. I knew, because they all wore their nametags. There were forty of us total, not counting Keith and Wayne. As I glanced around, I noticed Chuck and Bill, AKA Romeo and Casanova, were sitting in a nearby booth enjoying the company of three white-haired ladies. Other groups sat together getting acquainted.
“What do we do now?” Donna asked when we finished our meals. “It’s too early to hit the sack but too late to get tickets to a show.”
“Everything’s so expensive, anyway,” Crystal sai
d.
“We could take taxis to the strip and see the buildings lit up at night,” Kim suggested.
Jackie stood up and slung her purse over her shoulder. “I’m going to gamble in the hotel casino. Who wants to join me?”
“Not me,” Crystal said. “You know my therapist says I have an addictive personality. I could get sucked in and lose all my money.”
“Come on,” Jackie urged. “You’re not going to lose all your money on slots. It’ll be fun. I’ll put the brakes on if I see you turning into a one-armed bandit junkie.”
“I don’t know…”
“I’ll give you the money to start with.”
Crystal jumped up. “In that case, what are we waiting for?”
“Are you guys coming?” Kim asked Annette and me as she and Donna rose from the table.
“I’ll meet you there in a little while.” My stomach gripped like a lasso had been roped around my middle and was squeezed tight.
“I’ll wait with Teresa,” Annette said, probably noticing my face contort.
“Okay. Feel better.” Kim and Donna blew kisses and left.
Annette pulled a bottle from her purse and handed me what looked suspiciously like a brown horse pill.
“What’s this?” I asked.
“It’s an enzyme capsule. All natural. Take it with water. It should help your problem.”
“Thanks.” I was willing to try anything, so I downed the pill with the remainder of my iced tea. Literally, within a matter of minutes, my cramps had dissipated. “You’re either a miracle worker or a witch, Annette.”
She chuckled. “More like a walking pharmacy.” She opened her bag to show me three more pill bottles inside.
“What’s all that?”
She lifted each bottle from her purse. “This one’s for high cholesterol. This is for anxiety. And this one’s to help me sleep at night.”
I knew about her high cholesterol, which still surprised me because she was thin, but I hadn’t realized the stress of her home life had driven her to the other pharmaceuticals. She shoved the bottles deep into her purse and changed the subject.
“Wasn’t that nice of Keith to offer to buy a cake for my birthday on Sunday?”
“It certainly was. I have a feeling he does whatever it takes to make his travelers happy.”
“Can you believe he thought I look ten years younger than I am?” Annette chuckled and rolled her eyes, but I could see Keith’s comment had made an impact.
I wondered how long it had been since a man had paid her a compliment. From what she’d shared with me, Bruce left early each morning and worked late every night. When he was home, he rarely paid attention to her. They hadn’t had sex in months. To add to her woes, Dustin, their twenty-six-year-old son, was unemployed and on the brink of divorce and had moved back into the house. From the tears I’d seen her cry lately, he was too angry and self-absorbed to speak politely to his mother, let alone say something nice.
Although she was educated and held a professional job as a paralegal, I’d watched Annette’s confidence slip in the past year. Now that I knew she might be dependent upon pills to help her cope, I was worried.
“Has Dustin got any job prospects?” I asked, feeling things might be better if her loser of a son wasn’t in the house adding to her stress.
She shook her head. “No, but I don’t want to talk about Dustin on this trip, if that’s okay with you. Or Bruce, either.”
I nodded. “No problem. But you know I’m always here if you ever need to get things off your chest.”
She smiled. “Thanks, Teresa. You’ve always been a good friend, not only to me, but to all of us. You’re the only one who has her act together. We’re all turning fifty this year, and each one of us is struggling with some issue, except you. How do you do it?”
“Do what?”
“Manage to be happy and content with your life.”
I shrugged. “I’ve always accepted the hand I’ve been dealt. Less drama that way.”
“Even in high school I admired you,” Annette continued. “You never worried about what other people thought of you. I wanted to be more like that, but I’d been instilled with a different set of values. My whole world revolved around being pretty, popular, and making sure I had a date every Saturday night.”
What I remembered was how Annette’s mother had pushed her into beauty contests and local modeling gigs as a little girl. By the time she was in high school, it was clear that Annette felt any love and praise she received at home depended on her making the cheerleading squad, Homecoming court, and being voted the Most Popular or Best Looking in the class.
“Remember when Bruce and I broke up right before the prom of our senior year?” she ruminated. “I thought my world had ended. Mom was so disappointed that I couldn’t hang onto my popular boyfriend.”
That had been a terrible time for Annette. Bruce had dumped her, briefly, for the football coach’s daughter. “You and I were each other’s date,” I recalled, chuckling and trying to make light of a situation that had occurred decades ago. “We even had our picture taken together under the archway of flowers.”
She laughed. “I was so afraid everyone thought we’d become gay. How stupid was I, anyway?”
“You weren’t stupid. Too concerned about perfection maybe, but your mom drilled that into you. Annette, you were always an intelligent person and still are.” Except for marrying Bruce the month after high school graduation, I thought. Even at eighteen and standing as a bridesmaid in their wedding, I foresaw the train wreck their marriage was to become.
“As a young mother, you went to school and became a paralegal,” I continued. “Not many women have the determination, brains, guts, and energy to take on such a big challenge. You career is still going strong, and you didn’t achieve that success because of the way you look.” Shapely with long dark hair, blue eyes, and flawless skin, Annette was still a beautiful woman.
“Thanks, Teresa. You should have been a cheerleader in high school. You know exactly what to say to pep people up when they’re down.”
“It’s a gift,” I said, smiling.
Our conversation halted while we said hello to some of our fellow travelers as they strolled past our table.
“Aren’t you with our tour?” one of the elderly ladies asked. From her nametag, I saw her name was Winnie.
“Yes, we are.”
“A group of us are going to soak in the hot tub out by the pool and enjoy some frozen cocktails. Would you care to join us?”
I looked at Annette. “I’m feeling better. What do you think?”
“Take a walk on the wild side,” another lady named Doris said. “We’re old, but you’ll find we’re a lot of fun.”
A grin filled Annette’s face. “Thanks for the invitation. Sounds like a great way to start this vacation. We’ll go upstairs and change into our swimsuits and be right out.”
The ladies said they’d order us each a strawberry daiquiri from the pool bar.
Before Annette and I slipped into our separate rooms to change, her eyes sparkled, and she said, “I feel like this is the first day of the rest of my life.”
I gave her a hug and hoped she wouldn’t need one of those sleeping pills that night.
CHAPTER SIX
Crystal
I’d never been in a hot tub before, but the tingly feeling that ran through my arms and legs almost reminded me of a pot high. It had been years since I’d smoked, but you never forget those magical sensations. I quite liked how soaking in bubbling hot water for an hour reduced my mind to a mushy mass of warm oatmeal.
“Are you guys drunk?” Crystal’s loud voice jarred me out of my happy, semi-lucid state. A pair of flip-flops smacked across the concrete to stop dangerously close to my head. The moment I twisted my neck and looked up, the jets located behind my back surged and sent a pleasant jolt through my body. When I squealed, Annette and the five ladies we shared the hot tub with roared with laughter.
Crysta
l nudged my shoulder blade with her foot and repeated, “Are you drunk?”
“We’re all drunk, honey!” Doris exclaimed. Again, we laughed.
“Looks like you’re having a better time than we did,” Jackie droned.
I craned my head around to the other side and saw Jackie, Donna and Kim standing next to Crystal. They looked like four little ducks in a row. “You didn’t hit the jackpot?” I asked.
“No,” Donna answered. “It’s a good thing we’re leaving Vegas tomorrow. We practically had to pull Crystal off the slot machine kicking and screaming.”
“I told you I can get addicted quickly,” she replied sourly. “Nothing good ever happens to me. I thought my luck might change if I kept playing. I was so close to winning!”
“The only thing you were close to was getting thrown out of the joint for carrying on like a lunatic.” Jackie turned on her heel. “I’m going to bed. Are you coming, roomie?”
Kim nodded. “Keith said he’d see us bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in the morning. That means getting our beauty rest.”
“We don’t want to disappoint him,” Donna added with a smile.
Annette’s swimsuit made a swooshing sound when she rose from the hot tub and reached for her towel. “I’ll go with you guys. Getting up early to travel, and being in the hot sun all day has caught up with me. Soaking in the Jacuzzi has made me even more sleepy.”
“Party poopers,” one of the older ladies teased.
“Are you coming?” Donna asked me, as she wrapped the towel around her shivering shoulders.
“I have my key. I’ll be there soon. My bones want to enjoy just a few more minutes of heaven.”
“You guys go on. I’ll stay here with Teresa,” Crystal said, waving goodbye to our friends. Once they’d left, she slipped off her flip-flops and sat on the edge of the hot tub. When she dangled her feet into the steamy water, she let out a small moan. “Wow, that feels wonderful. I should have joined you all instead of letting Jackie talk me into gambling.”
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