“Uh huh. A lot of stuff,” he smiled.
“Important stuff,” she said with a grin.
“Oh, I'm sure,” he said, pulling along the two suitcases.
“Geoff, I don't want to say anything about the baby until the time's right ok?”
“Ok,” Geoff said. “But we have to do it before we leave.”
They walked through the final gate and there was Ryan and Becky waiting and smiling.
* * *
Tracy walked through the arrival gate and Becky plastered on her best smile. “Wow,” she said under her breath, “she's really put on some weight.”
Ryan gave her hand a squeeze. “Becky, hush!” he said. “That's rude.”
“It would be rude if I said it to her face,” she whispered through her teeth. “What I did, was offer an observation to my husband with whom I have no secrets.”
“Right,” he said. “Well, knock it off.”
“Daddy!” Becky said wrapping her arms around Geoff's neck. “I’ve missed you!”
Geoff gladly accepted his daughter's hug. “I’ve missed you too, Honey.” He pulled her back so that he could look at her.
“You're looking well,” he said.
“Thanks, dad, so are you.” She turned to Tracy. “Hi. Tracy,” she said, her fake smile firmly back in place.
“Hi Becky. I hope you're ok with us staying with you,” she said.
Becky looked at Ryan whose eyes were boring into her. “It's fine,” she said. “I've made up a guest room. I hope that's ok.”
“We don't mind where we sleep,” Tracy said.
“No, we came to see you, and for the wedding of course. Couldn't care where we sleep.”
“How is Kendall?” Tracy asked.
“She's fine,” Becky said. At least she hoped she was. She hadn't had a chance to phone her and check.
“Why don't we go home and we can see about some lunch,” Ryan said finally after extending his own greetings. “We thought we'd barbecue out by the pool.”
“Sounds nice,” said Tracy.
“Sure does,” Geoff said. “I hate airline food. I'd love some barbecue and a cold beer.”
“Done,” said Ryan.
* * *
By the time Tracy and Geoff unpacked and came downstairs, Becky was in the kitchen fixing a couple of different salads.
“Can I help?” Tracy asked. She was amazed that Becky moved around the kitchen effortlessly. There was obviously no staff and she looked like she was totally at ease. She had on a one-piece swimsuit with a large T-shirt over the top and flip-flops on her feet. There weren't many outward changes but there was a subtle change in Becky. Her nails were still well manicured and beautifully painted, as were her toes. Her hair was perfectly cut as usual but was worn very casually in a ponytail. She seemed more comfortable in her own skin. Tracy could still sense an element, if irritation, where she was concerned, no matter how much Becky tried to hide it. This wasn't a spoiled teenager anymore; this was a young woman who had issues — issues that revolved around her.
“No,” Becky said as she bent over to get the rolls that were reheating out of the oven. “I'm fine. Hey dad,” Becky said shutting the oven door. She took out a beer and passed it to her father.
He took it with a smile. “Thanks honey. I'm just going to go outside to help Ryan.”
“Ok,” she said.
Tracy wondered if she should follow Geoff outside but decided against it. She was going to continue to make conversation if it killed her.
“Would you like a glass of wine?” Becky asked.
“No thank you. I wouldn't mind a glass of juice. I can get it.” She snagged a bottle out of the fridge and a glass out of the cabinet and wished she hadn't. She was only trying to help but again annoyance flashed across Becky's eyes.
* * *
“We'll eat outside,” Becky said, piling all the food onto a tray. She needed to get out of there before she said something she shouldn't. Just how did this woman know exactly where to find everything she needed? She was very familiar with the kitchen; she didn't ask where the glasses were, she didn't hesitate. She went straight to the right cabinet and helped herself. Did this mean Tracy spent a lot of time in this house while she was at school? Of course she did. How else would she have managed to seduce her father into following her to New York? She picked up the tray and stomped outside, leaving a stunned Tracy wondering what had just happened.
* * *
Recognizing the mood, Ryan took the tray from Becky and placed it on the table. It was obvious it was in danger of not making it to the table and he was hungry.
“I'll get some plates,” Geoff said nervously.
“No need, I got some here,” Tracy said from the French doors she was manoeuvring her way through.
“I see that,” Becky said, “let me take them.” She took the plates and dumped them before setting four places.
“Is something wrong?” Tracy asked.
“What could be wrong?” Becky asked. “You were helping out. I can see that.”
“Yes, I was,” Tracy said.
“I know,” Becky said.
“Then how about you drop it, Becky,” Ryan said in a no nonsense tone. He nearly told her to apologize but he could see she was trying to control herself, but something had happened to upset her. He just couldn't see what a few plates could have to do with it. He'd have to wait until a little later to find out.
“Ok, sorry, it was nothing,” she said obviously trying to get herself under control with great difficulty.
“That's ok,” Tracy said. She even put a hand gently on the girl's arm, but Becky recoiled.
* * *
Becky escaped to the bedroom after lunch with the excuse that she wanted to change into something warmer. She looked up from her perch on the edge of the bed when Ryan quietly opened the door.
“Hi,” she said. She wasn't surprised to see him. In fact, she had hoped he'd follow her.
“Hi,” he said, sitting next to her on the bed. “Want a hug?”
She nodded and burst into tears.
“Becky, what's wrong?” he asked pulling her close. “Did Tracy say something to upset you?”
She would have loved to say that she had, that Tracy had baited her or said something horrible, but she hadn't. She was nice. She was always nice. Why wouldn't she be? She'd won. She'd set out to win her dad away from her and she'd achieved what she'd set out to do. “No.”
“Then why are you so upset?” he asked.
“I just am,” she said. “I can't help it.”
“That's really not a good enough reason to be rude.”
“I'm TRYING!!!” she shouted.
“Hey! That's the only chance you're going to get. I'm not shouting at you and I don't expect you to shout at me either. Talk to me, I want to help you feel better but I can't if you don't tell me what the problem is.”
“She knows where stuff is,” Becky said quietly.
“Sorry?”
“She got herself a glass of juice and she knew exactly where to find a glass.”
“Oh Becky. All this upset over her knowing where a glass was? She could have just had a stab in the dark and picked the most obvious cabinet and got it right.”
“And there was the plates.”
“Ok, well, you weren't in the kitchen. She could have opened every cabinet before she found the right one.”
“Did she sleep with my Dad in this house? Oh God, in this room?”
“Becky, I don't know. Not in the daytime while I was here but even if she did this is a new bed. This is our bed. No one has been in it but us.”
“I need to know,” she said with a sniffle.
“I don't know how I can get that information,” Ryan said. “Even if I felt comfortable asking, which I don't, that's their private business.”
“I need to know,” she repeated.
“Why does it matter?”
“I don't know, but it does.”
“Honey, I don'
t want to have to lay the law down about this, because I know you're struggling with it, but you do have to try and work it out.”
Becky sighed. “I don't know how.”
“Talk to Tracy. Tell her how you feel, without being rude.”
“I'll try,” Becky said.
“There's something I have to talk to you about too.”
“Oh?”
“Your dad wants me to go away overnight, on Wednesday. If you're not comfortable being here by yourself with Tracy then I won't go,” he said. “I mean it, Honey, your call.”
Actually she would love some time to get all this out in the open, she thought. Especially without her husband there keeping tabs on her manners. With both him and her dad away she could be as open and honest as she wanted. It was about time she had the chance to tell Tracy exactly what she thought of her. She'd never had the chance, not as an adult. “No, you go. Tracy and I will be fine,” she said. When the words were out of her mouth she felt a weight lifted from her shoulders. Finally, she was going to have an opportunity to direct her anger to the right place, squarely in the face of the one and only, Tray Dean. The fact that she now shared her dad's last name, the name that was once hers, was irrelevant to Becky. She would always be Principal Dean to her.
* * *
The next few days went over fairly peacefully. When they were all together, Becky managed to behave so well that both Tracy and Geoff were convinced that she had managed to put whatever ill feelings she had towards her stepmother to bed. Ryan wasn't quite as convinced. The turnaround happened too fast and he knew Becky, he knew she hadn't resolved her feelings. She was doing a good job of hiding them but that wouldn't help anything in the end. In some ways, he hoped she'd shelved it for the duration of the visit, in other ways though, he knew this was going to have to come to a head before it got better. This situation was like a simmering volcano and sooner or later it was all going to erupt. He just hoped they were doing the right thing by leaving them to it to work it all out. Geoff had seemed to think it was the answer. Her dad had promised he'd talk to Becky and explain his reasoning before they left, so that would ease it a little.
* * *
“Becky,” Geoff said, flopping down on a chair next to Becky by the pool.
“Hey Daddy,” she said.
“I was wondering if we could have a chat.”
“Of course,” Becky said curiously. “What about?”
“About you going away to school and what prompted it. Apart from the fact you were expelled, of course,” he said with a teasing grin.
“Daddy it wasn't funny,” she said seriously.
“I know that, Becky, I know it more than anyone.”
“Ok.”
“No really. You're an adult now, I think I can talk to you about things and maybe you'll listen and try and understand.”
“Daddy, I get it, really,” she said. “I messed up and I had to finish school somewhere.” She really didn't want to talk about it. She'd forgiven him already a long time ago and she knew exactly where the blame had to lie and it wasn't with him.
“Yes, that was the end result but it started a long time before that,” he said.
“Daddy, I get it, I told you.” She knew he was just trying to date the trouble before Tracy was on the scene. Well, nothing was going to change her mind. There'd never been any trouble between her dad and her before that Principal came on the scene.
“Are you sure?” he said. “Because Ryan was doubtful that you were really over this.”
Becky took a deep breath. “Daddy, Ryan is mistaken. I'm fine,” she said.
“Ok then, if you're sure, but you'll tell me if you’re not?”
“Yes Daddy, I'll tell you. You go on your business trip and I’ll be fine. I promise.”
Geoff kissed his daughter's head. “Why don't we go and have some tea with Tracy,” he said.
“Sure,” Becky said, her smile firmly in place. Oh goody, she thought, tea with her favourite person. Since when did her dad start drinking tea anyway?
* * *
The next morning Geoff and Ryan had an early flight and Becky was all set to drive them to the airport. She was thrilled to find that Tracy was dressed and ready to go as well. Not. Stupid woman couldn't even give her one morning alone with her husband and father. Not one.
“You don't mind if Tracy tags along do you, Becky?” Geoff asked.
“No, of course not,” she said convincingly.
“We could stop and get some breakfast somewhere on the way back,” Tracy said hopefully.
“If you’d like,” Becky said. Like hell, she thought. As soon as her Dad and Ryan had got on the plane she was going to drop Tracy off at home and go to Kendall's. After all, she was the maid of honour. There might be something she had to do. She also did want to check up on her friend, get the gossip on her spanking. There'd be time for confronting Tracy later that evening.
* * *
Tracy tried to make conversation as they got in the car in the airport parking station but she got little to no interaction from Becky. “Where would you like to have breakfast?” she asked her stepdaughter.
“Not hungry,” the younger woman replied.
Tracy paled a little. The fact was that she needed to eat. The drive and the lack of food were starting to make her feel sick. “Becky, if you don't want to stop and eat that's fine, but I'm going to need to go through a drive-through or something.”
“There's food at home,” Becky said. “You can have a bowl of cereal or something.”
“Becky, it's just…”
“Look, I have to get to Kendall's ok. We'll be home in twenty minutes. You can wait twenty minutes can't you?”
Tracy didn't have the strength to argue or to beg. “Fine,” she said and wound down her window in the hope that the cool breeze wafting across her face would make her feel a little better.
* * *
Becky stepped on it; the quicker they got home the better. Tracy had always been a domineering witch but she hadn't taken her for a whiner. Geez. No wonder she'd put on weight, all she ever thought about was food. Who got sick just because they missed breakfast? By the time she stopped in her driveway Tracy bolted from the car and tore inside.
“Fine,” Becky said to no one, “be like that.” And she was supposed to be the immature one.
* * *
Tracy made a beeline for the house and the downstairs bathroom, regretting not having eaten at least something small that morning.
As she sipped her tea sometime later and nibbled on a sandwich, she shook her head at her own stupidity. She thought she was over the morning sickness so she thought it'd be ok to wait to eat. She also thought that she and Becky were having breakfast before they made their way back to the house. Becky had obviously just agreed to that to placate her dad and Geoff. She placed her hands protectively on her belly. “Sorry, little one,” she said. “Guess we're just going to have to find another way to get through to your sister.”
* * *
“Becky!” Kendall said, running out to the car as Becky pulled up. She yanked her friend out of the car and into a hug as soon as her door was open. “I didn't think you'd be over today. I thought you said you were staying with Tracy.
“I was,” she said. “Well at least that's what I told her I was going to do. I just couldn't bring myself to.”
“So where is she?” Kendall said.
“At home.”
“On her own?”
“She's a big girl,” Becky said. “Bigger than she was before anyway.”
“Becky that's a little mean,” Kendall said.
Becky was shocked. It was unlike Kendall to criticize her. Even a little. She was always on her side. “I know. And I know that's not me. She just brings out the worst in me or something.”
“Beck, you know I love you and I'd do anything for you, right?”
“But?”
“I think you maybe could try a little harder to get along with her.”
�
��Why does everyone always assume it's my fault?”
Kendall smiled. “Um, maybe because every time her name is mentioned you have a fit?”
“I could be being provoked.”
“Were you?”
“Sort of.”
“How?” Kendall asked.
“She knows where everything in the kitchen is kept.”
“Is that all?”
“Isn't it enough?”
“Hmm. Why does that bother you so much? I mean, she hasn't been here much but even when they stayed in the motel last time they did visit.”
“I know.”
“Well, isn't it possible?”
“Possible I guess,” Becky said begrudgingly. “I just have a feeling though that she knows my house.”
“Does that really matter, even if she does?”
“I think she may have slept with my dad there, in what was my dad's room.”
“In your room?” Kendall asked, wide eyed.
“Yeah.”
“Ewww!!!” Kendall said with a shudder.
“Uh huh.”
“Look, you have to put that thought right out of your mind before you lose your mind. That is so gross, Becky, I might lose my mind if we keep talking about it.”
“Ok, ok,” Becky said. “I need to ask you something.”
“What is it?” Kendall asked curiously.
“Why didn't you tell me that my dad and Tracy were invited to the wedding?”
“I didn't know. That's the truth,” she said. “My mom said she knew that if I knew, I would have told you.”
“That's good,” Becky said with a smile. “I can cope with anything if you're still on my side.”
Double Trouble Page 7