Along for the Ride

by Michelle M. Pillow

  Vincent gave her a wry look. ‘As opposed to me holding us up so I can examine bug specimens.’

  ‘Doesn’t count.’

  ‘And why is that?’

  Megan grinned. ‘Because you’re sitting right here and we’re bitching about the people who aren’t sitting right here.’

  ‘Ah, I see. So you won’t talk about my bugs and I won’t mention how I think your idea of climbing straight up the side of a mountain only to jump off a perfectly good ledge into unknown waters is a horrific way to spend an afternoon.’

  ‘Exactly.’ Megan took another drink of her beer, finishing the bottle. She leant over, setting it down on the deck next to her other empty ones.

  Ryan moved to the back of the line and now Kat was the leader as the others’ arms fluttered from behind her, turning her into some mythical creature with wiggling tentacles. Unable to help herself as the song ended, Megan tossed back her head and laughed. ‘What do you say, Dr Richmond? Should we go show them how it’s done?’

  ‘Mm, one moment.’ He grabbed his wineglass and drank the liquid down fast. ‘OK, I might just be drunk enough now.’

  ‘Hey Ya’ started, an odd contrast to the older music they’d been listening to.

  ‘Come here, bug man,’ Kat ordered, crooking her fingers at him. ‘Come dance with your wife.’

  ‘Anything you say, my butterfly.’ Vincent instantly went to Kat, grabbing her into his arms and lifting her off the ground. His dancing was reminiscent of a cross between a Tango and the Lambada.

  ‘I always hear this song, but don’t know who sings it,’ Sasha said, taking Ryan’s hand and using it to twirl herself around.

  ‘They don’t teach you pop culture in college?’ Ryan gave Sasha an expression of mock horror.

  ‘Outkast,’ Megan answered, getting their attention. At their stunned look, she said, ‘What? I listen to music. I’m hip. I know what’s going down.’

  ‘Oh, yeah, Miss Law and Order, you’re real groovy,’ Sasha teased.

  ‘Shut up and dance with me,’ Megan ordered. Cutting in, she grabbed Sasha’s hand and began wiggling about the deck in what she knew to be an outrageous excuse for dancing. She did it on purpose, knowing if she were to seriously try it would be disastrous.

  Sasha spun her around and Megan found herself twirled into Ryan’s arms. She inhaled a deep breath, instantly pushing back. He grabbed her hand, automatically drawing her forwards so she was once more within reach of his embrace. Sasha put her hands in the air and skipped around the two couples, clearly not caring that she didn’t have a partner.

  Fresh air filled her lungs and Megan couldn’t help but lift her arms to her sides, taking deep breaths. Ryan touched her cheek, a light skimming movement. He looked as if he might try kissing her, so she dropped her arms and began mimicking some of Sasha’s dance moves.

  Vincent and Kat moved fluidly together, as if sensing each other’s body, knowing without words what the other would do. Megan wasn’t so confident with Ryan. They didn’t instinctively know each other’s next move. So, when they danced, it reflected the newness of their relationship in each halted movement, each hesitant touch.

  If Ryan felt the awkwardness, he didn’t let on. Megan tried to look into his eyes, without appearing to gaze up into them. Being with him, in Montana, with no mysteries piling up on her desk to be solved, felt strange. She didn’t feel like herself, not her normal, put-together, take-charge self. Here, it was easy to pretend this wasn’t her life. She was someone else, someone free of responsibility and consequence. It had been a lifetime since she’d felt . . .

  A flash illuminated Ryan’s face. Megan blinked, seeing spots along the side of her vision. She frowned, shaking her head as if she could recapture the drunken insight she’d been having. Since she’d felt . . . ? Damn. It was gone and Megan was left with a feeling of something important she couldn’t quite reach waiting on the edge of her mind.

  Beatrice made a loud noise of joyous contentment. ‘Ah, look at you all. If only my Sasha had someone to dance with.’

  ‘Ugh, Mom, get Megan settled first, then work on the other two before you get to me.’ Sasha didn’t stop dancing.

  ‘Smile for the camera!’ Beatrice called.

  ‘Mom,’ Kat scolded as she ran towards their mother. ‘Be careful with that, please.’

  ‘What? Oh, I only dropped it that one time.’ Beatrice sighed as Kat jerked the camera out of her hands.

  ‘And broke an eight-hundred-dollar lens I’d spent months selling my blood to get,’ Kat answered. ‘I gave enough plasma to save the entire state of New York.’

  ‘I can’t believe you’re still using that one on her,’ Megan said to Kat. Ryan’s arm was still along her side, holding her near him, but not too close. It had become like that over the last few days. She hadn’t noticed the exact moment that he’d started touching her without direct passion, but it felt normal that he did. ‘You got it used for fifty dollars at a police auction.’

  ‘Megan!’ Kat gasped, her eyes wide in mock distress, as if to ask, ‘How could you rat me out like that?’

  ‘Katarina Matthews, er, Richmond,’ her mother scolded, remembering her married name at the last second. ‘You may be grown, but I’m still your mother and I can ground you if I want. I can’t believe you made me think . . . Oh!’

  ‘Ha ha,’ Megan taunted playfully. Sasha giggled. Ryan’s grip tightened on Megan’s hip and, though she refused to look at him, she was very aware of every place their bodies touched. ‘Kat’s in trouble. Kat’s in trouble.’

  Sasha joined in the singsong chanting and Megan used it as an excuse to artfully pull away from Ryan’s hold. As soon as she did, she wondered why she had. Her skin missed his heat. Who was she kidding? She missed him holding her.

  ‘Kat’s in trouble. Kat’s in trouble,’ Sasha and Megan repeated, their voices growing in volume.

  ‘Shut up!’ Kat yelled, reminding Megan of when they were kids. ‘Shut up or I’ll tell Ryan that you came to my house looking for a sexy designer gown to wear for him while we were here!’

  Megan’s chanting died mid-sentence and Sasha’s voice tapered off soon after.

  ‘Megs?’ Sasha gasped, covering her mouth like a naughty child.

  Megan’s jaw dropped and she eyed Kat in shock. How could her sister have said that? And in front of Ryan? ‘I . . . I . . . No, but, I . . .’

  Kat nodded, pursing her lips tightly together. ‘Not so loud-mouthy now, are you?’

  ‘But, I . . .’ Megan looked helplessly at her mother. How could she use the ‘Mom wanted her to dress up so they could go to a nice restaurant’ excuse with her mother standing right there, able to deny her claim? She felt the eyes of her family on her, of Ryan, as they waited for her to speak.

  Her mind raced with panicked thoughts. Omigod, Ryan will think I wanted him to be here. That I was excited to be with him. Hurry, think of something quick.

  ‘Megan?’ Ryan whispered softly. Or did she just imagine she’d heard his voice over the ending threads of the song. Her heart was pounding and everyone was staring at her. Even her father’s face appeared on the other side of the window, his figure outlined by the soft firelight inside the living room’s fireplace.

  ‘Yeah, well,’ Megan pointed at Kat through the sudden silence. ‘Kat’s pregnant! With a baby!’

  Another song began, but Megan couldn’t process what it was over the soft almost whining melody. Stunned, she watched as her world seemed to spin and slow. Each expression was etched on her mind as she looked from face to face.

  Kat gasped. ‘Megan!’

  ‘Butterfly?’ Vincent made a weak noise of hesitant excitement. ‘Kat, is it true? A baby?’

  ‘Yippee!’ Beatrice yelled, jumping up and down like a maniac. ‘Kat, sweetheart. Oh, I have to tell someone. Douglas, Douglas!’ Their mother ran into the cabin. ‘Douglas, hurry, I need to use the phone. I have to call someone.’

  The deck exploded into a sea of chaos as everyone started talki
ng at once.

  ‘Megan!’ Kat screeched.

  ‘Oh, butterfly, is it true?’ Vincent asked, pulling Kat to his chest with a happy smile. Her face became muffled in his chest and her hands lifted to weakly pat his arms as he rocked her back and forth.

  ‘Congratulations,’ Ryan said, going to shake Vincent’s hand. ‘This is wonderful news. I know you’ll both be wonderful parents.’

  ‘Damn it, Megan,’ Kat said. ‘How could you tell?’

  ‘Congrats, sis! I can’t believe I’m going to be an aunt.’ The music inside had stopped with the commotion, but Sasha did a little happy dance anyway.

  ‘Butterfly, what’s wrong? Don’t you want to have my baby?’ Vincent looked hurt.

  ‘No, yes, but yes, of course I want to have your baby,’ Kat assured him, torn between glaring at Megan and trying to comfort her worried husband.

  Megan swallowed. She couldn’t believe she’d said that. Shaking, she didn’t move from her spot as she stared at Kat.

  ‘I need to speak with my daughter,’ Beatrice yelled into the phone so loud her voice carried outside. ‘I don’t care if she doesn’t have phone privileges. I don’t care if you are the US Navy, I’m her mother. I didn’t spend fifty hours in labour to be told by you I can’t talk to my daughter. This is a family emergency. Her name is Ella Matthews.’

  ‘Kat,’ Megan finally managed. ‘Oh, Kat.’

  ‘Megan, how did you even know?’ Kat stepped towards her.

  ‘I saw the pregnancy test this morning in the . . .’ Megan motioned weakly in the direction of the upstairs bedrooms. ‘Ryan was in our bathroom, so I . . . It was in the trash.’

  ‘Always playing the detective, aren’t you?’ Kat whispered, her eyes wide. ‘How could you tell them?’

  Mortified by what she’d done, especially in light of Kat’s expression, Megan wasn’t sure what to do – a feeling she wasn’t too familiar with having. Kat’s anger, Megan could have handled, but the look of complete shock and utter disbelief was worse. Her sister looked as if she’d been betrayed and that betrayal was a light Megan had never seen in Kat’s eyes.

  ‘Kat . . .’ Megan tried to think of the right words.

  ‘It was my secret to tell,’ Kat said, so soft the others couldn’t hear.

  Her sister turned her back on them and that’s when Megan realised the seconds had been drawn out, seeming longer than they had been as her guilt swam inside her. Vincent looked mildly worried, but the others didn’t seem to have a clue what was happening between Kat and Megan. There was more than what was being said in words. Kat was pissed off and doing her damnedest not to show it in front of everyone else.

  Shaking her head, Kat forced a smile to her face as Vincent walked with her inside. Her expression was strained as Megan watched her through the window. Vincent shook Douglas’s hand excitedly. Sasha ran to open another bottle of wine. Beatrice continued arguing with whoever was on the other end of her phone call to Ella.

  ‘Huh,’ Ryan said softly. Megan turned to him, stunned to find him still with her on the balcony. He lifted Kat’s wineglass. ‘Cranberry juice.’

  ‘She wouldn’t drink, not with the baby.’ Megan turned back to the window, watching the scene inside. Her pregnant sister didn’t look at her. ‘Not Kat. She’d never harm another soul. It’s not in her. She’s not like me. She’s sweet.’

  ‘Why don’t we go inside with the others and celebrate?’ Ryan tried to pull her arm. ‘So you told her secret. I’m sure she’ll get over it. Good news always has a way of keeping people happy. She probably had some grand plan as to how she was going to announce it. You know Kat.’

  Megan jerked away from him. ‘You go, Ryan. I’ve done enough damage for one night.’

  ‘OK, so we’ll stay out here together and –’

  ‘Ryan, go.’ Her tone was harsh, but she didn’t try to soften it. She turned her back on him, facing the mountain range that wasn’t visible in the dark distance. ‘I don’t want you right now.’

  For a moment, he didn’t speak. Finally, Megan saw him nod his head, from the corner of her eye. ‘I see.’

  The sound of his footfall hit hard upon the deck. Megan bit her lip, rolled her eyes towards the expanse of the starry heavens in an act of self-deprecation before saying, ‘I didn’t mean it like that. I don’t want to be with anyone right now.’

  There wasn’t an answer and when she turned, his name on her lips, she found that he’d gone inside and was taking a glass of wine from Sasha. Megan crossed her arms, her body shaking. She had really put her foot in it this time.

  Her head ached, but, if Megan had any doubts about her run-of-the-mouth accident the evening before being just a dream, Kat’s cold stare directed at her cleared up the confusion. Her sister sat, wrapped in a blanket on the couch. The television played softly in the background. Since there was no reception, Megan knew she was watching one of the very few DVDs available to guests but thought better of asking what it was called.

  Rays of late-morning sunlight streamed in from the picture window, but Megan was too hungover to notice the pretty scenery. She’d come inside the night before only after her mother’s insistence and continued to drink herself into a near stupor. Sadly, she didn’t even remember going to bed, only that she’d awakened in her clothes in the early hours to puke her drunken guts out. Ryan hadn’t been there.

  ‘Where is everyone?’ Megan asked, knowing instinctively that Kat wouldn’t answer her. By everyone, she really meant Ryan, though her father, Vincent and Sasha were missing as well.

  It was her mother who answered. ‘The guys have gone fishing. They should be out of our hair all day.’

  Great, Megan thought grumpily. In light of her queasy stomach and throbbing temples, she wasn’t too disappointed about being left behind.

  ‘And Sasha?’ Megan asked, just as her sister came out of the downstairs bathroom.

  ‘Sasha is bloated and crampy,’ Sasha answered, moaning dramatically as she picked a coffee mug off the counter and stumbled to the couch to sit by Kat. She tugged on her sister’s blanket until Kat let go and they both could snuggle. ‘Mommy, can you hand us the remote? It’s too quiet. I can’t hear what they are saying.’

  ‘Oh, poor things.’ Beatrice shook her head, instantly falling into the motherly role at Sasha’s childish endearment. Calling her ‘Mommy’ was a free pass to getting whatever they wanted. ‘It’s a good thing we’ve decided to spend the day in.’

  Realising she still stood in the kitchen in front of the coffeepot on the bar, Megan grabbed a clean mug and finally poured herself a cup. As Beatrice handed Sasha the remote control only to lean over and tuck the two girls in, Megan had the strongest urge to join the two of them on the couch so she could get in on the motherly pampering. Knowing Kat would probably like nothing more than to throw her out the window if she tried, she instead chose to sit across from them on a chair.

  ‘Mommy, can you get the window, we’re getting glary spots,’ Sasha said. She gave Kat a mischievous smile, clearly aware of what she was doing. By the look on Beatrice’s amused face behind them as she went to draw the curtains, their mother wasn’t unaware herself.

  ‘Thanks, Mommy,’ Kat and Sasha sang out in unison. Now that the room was darker, it was easier to see the television screen. Couples danced in a line, dressed in period clothing that had to be over a hundred years old in design.

  ‘I thought the only movies they had were westerns and musicals,’ Megan said, hoping Kat would answer.

  ‘Kat brought this one,’ Sasha said.

  ‘What is it?’ Megan asked, taking a sip of her hot coffee only to flinch as it burnt her taste buds. She leant over to put the mug down on the coffee table. Their mother had disappeared into her bedroom.

  ‘I dunno,’ Sasha answered.

  ‘Pride and Prejudice,’ Kat said, her tone flat as she refused to look at Megan. ‘And why don’t you stop talking before you ruin this for me, too.’

  Megan held her breath, stunned that Kat ha
d said it. Out of all the sisters, Kat had always been the most tolerant, the most accepting towards her and the most forgiving. But her words hurt, cutting deeply at her core. If she didn’t have work and if she didn’t have all her sisters, she was left with nothing. Having Kat mad at her was a fate worse than being transferred to vice to play prostitute for the rest of her career. Megan dug her back into the chair, slouching. There was no way this day could get any worse.

  ‘Guess what I have,’ Beatrice called in excitement. ‘Since the guys are gone and we’re stuck here all alone without a car. I thought we’d do makeovers. Who’s first for the spa treatment?’

  Megan tilted her head, seeing that her mother carried two large black bags. Spa treatment was her mother’s way of politely saying waxing legs, plucking eyebrows, filing nails and lying around with seaweed mud herbal gunk on their faces – or whatever Beatrice’s latest facial concoction was.

  ‘And I think Megan should go first.’ Beatrice winked at her.

  Megan could barely suppress her groan at her mother’s proposed torture. She’d been wrong. The day was definitely looking to be a lot worse.

  ‘Great.’ Megan forced a smile, trying to hide her sarcasm. ‘Can’t wait to get started.’

  ‘I don’t understand why we can’t catch a fish as long as our outspread arms, like the guy in all the brochures,’ Vincent said, lifting the squirming fish he’d caught with one hand. It was only five inches long. The creature opened and closed its mouth, as if gasping for air. ‘OK, then, back you go, little guy.’

  ‘Don’t want to keep him?’ Douglas asked. ‘I think it would have made a fine hors d’oeuvre.’

  ‘Perfect, one tiny hors d’oeuvre for seven people.’ Ryan laughed. He’d been trying hard to enjoy himself, or at least to act like he was enjoying himself. Megan’s comment the night before stung. She’d said she didn’t want him, like he was some plaything for her to screw while she was on vacation with nothing better to do. He’d been foolish to think she really liked him.

  ‘It wasn’t tiny. The way I remember it, the fish was this big,’ Vincent said, holding his hands out to signify what equalled the size of a dolphin.