by R. R. Banks
"What was that?"
"Nothing."
"Did you just take a picture of me?"
"No. I wanted to send Thea a picture of the window. Let her know we're on the way."
He looked at the window beside him.
"It's closed."
"It's tradition."
"To send each other pictures of closed airplane windows before you take off?"
"Yes."
"I thought you said you didn’t like flying."
"Well, you know what they say. It's good luck to sit down in a seat on an airplane with a closed window."
What am I saying?
"Who is it you know that is saying these things?
Before I could come up with the next nonsensical lie, I heard a loud ding overhead. I gasped and grabbed onto the armrest. The voice of the flight attendant came over the loudspeaker, welcoming us aboard. I looked around.
"There's no one else on the plane," I whispered.
Luca glanced around and shrugged.
"I hear people back in coach. Maybe no one booked first class for this flight."
I nodded.
"Does that happen a lot?"
"I don’t know. Maybe."
I figured that made sense. The only way he would be able to snag us first class tickets through his connections with the airline was probably if there were plenty of seats available in the first place. And I think it’s safe to say that having no other passengers meant there were plenty of available seats. The flight attendant went over all the safety procedures and I listened with rapt attention. I had watched movies about planes landing in the ocean and all the passengers floating out on their seats. I could get behind that. But this flight wasn't going to be anywhere near the water until we got to the resort. I needed to know what to do if we went down on land. A few minutes later the plane started its taxi down the long runway.
"You're shaking," Luca said from beside me.
I realized I had pressed myself against the very back of the seat as I squeezed my eyes closed and gripped the armrest.
"I really don't like flying."
I said it under my breath, worrying that if I said it too loud it would somehow offend the plane.
"You've mentioned that," he said.
He didn't sound like he was mocking me. Instead, his voice was low and soft again, compassionate even, as if he was trying to reassure me without having to say a word. A moment later, I felt his hand stroke mine as his fingers slipped under to touch my palm. His touch sent a shiver through me and I hesitated, trying not to let it affect me. Like Terri had said, that wasn't the intention of this week. I wasn't supposed to be attracted to Luca, and I certainly wasn't going to act on it. I just wanted to be there for Thea and hoped that pulling off this charade would somehow make that easier. I had to stop thinking about Luca that way. I had to ignore how sexy he was. I needed to maintain distance between us unless it was absolutely necessary.
I felt the pressure of the wheels beneath the plane release as we left the ground and I clasped onto his hand. The heat of his skin seemed to sear into mine.
I'd get right on that just as soon as my feet were on solid ground again.
Chapter Five
Luca
"You made it."
Roxie gave me a somewhat shaky smile as we got to our feet. I took one last look at the empty first-class cabin. It wasn't as luxurious as my jet, exactly, but buying out all the seats had definitely been worth it. I had inquired about how many seats were available when I first contacted the airline, intending on purchasing as many as possible. There were many reasons why I maintained my own jet. Not wanting to share my traveling experience with a group of strangers was one of those reasons. Especially snobbish, entitled strangers like you tend to find in first class. Conveniently for me, but perhaps not as much for them, their entitlement wasn't a match for the resources I had available at my disposal. After a few conversations and a bit of financial encouragement, I was able to convince them to bump the three other tickets to another flight. I was assured that they would be appropriately compensated, of course, but all that mattered to me was Roxie and I had space to ourselves.
Maybe I did have connections after all.
Roxie had obviously enjoyed the luxuries of flying first class, and I enjoyed watching her. She was a woman who belonged here behind the curtain. She might not have ever experienced it before, but she savored every second of it. She had no pretension and none of the jaded sense of superiority I encountered far too many times in my parent's social circles. It took some coaxing, but she finally relaxed when the plane had leveled out and it no longer felt like we were ascending. Then she allowed herself to take in what was around her. She unabashedly enjoyed sipping a cocktail and reclining in her seat. Once she got the entire cocktail in, she got up and changed seats a few times, just wanting to see what it would look like from the different areas of the cabin. She had a sparkle, a life in her that was exactly what I wanted to see. Sometimes that disappeared behind the wall she seemed to keep building between us, but when I saw flashes of the real Roxie, I wanted to draw it out of her even more.
We walked off the plane and I headed for the baggage claim. Instead of following me, though, Roxie veered off.
"Where are you going?" I asked.
"Just wait for me," she said. "I'll be right back."
She dipped into one of the lounges and emerged a few minutes later, looking like a completely different person. I almost didn't recognize her, and if it hadn't been for her walking directly toward me while stuffing the shirt she had been wearing down into her bag, I might have looked right past her. In the short time she had been gone, she transformed. Gone were the leggings and the baggy shirt, replaced by a pink and yellow floral sundress that swirled around her thighs and ended just at her knees. Pink heels showed off her legs, and the scoop of her neckline gave me just a glimpse of the soft skin of her breasts. She had shaken her blonde hair down from the messy bun she had twisted it into before we got to the gate and it now spilled around her shoulders and down to the center of her back. Freshly applied makeup enhanced her beauty even further and made her plush lips look velvety.
Roxie had been cute before, but now she was stunning.
"That was impressive," I said when she looked up at me. "You're like a superhero."
"You honestly did not think I was going to show up looking like that, did you?" she asked. "I told you, it was purely for security purposes."
"Everybody's just arriving from traveling to the wedding," I said. "No one is expecting you to look perfect."
"I'm the maid of honor," she said, speaking the title with great reverence. "People are going to have their eyes on me from the minute I get there. They're just waiting for me to slip."
"You know, for people who are supposed to be your friends and family, it doesn't sound like you like them very much."
Roxie shook her head as we made our way toward the baggage claim.
"That's not it," she said. "I love them. Really, I do. But weddings are like reunions. Any type of reunion. Family reunions, high school reunion, college reunion. They are all designed for one purpose and that's to keep score. When you walk in, people start evaluating you. Especially when you're part of the event. As maid of honor, I'm supposed to be as perfect as the bride, but not overshadow her. If I don't look put together and happy, then I'm jealous and bitter because my best friend is getting married and I'm still alone."
"Are you jealous and bitter?"
"No," she said. "I'm really happy for Thea. She and Bryce are amazing together. I've never seen her as happy as she has been since she met him. They're perfect for each other."
"But you aren't married."
"Thank you for that reminder, Captain Obvious. But that's exactly why you're here. Everybody expects me to show up alone and miserable."
"Why?"
"Well, because the last time they saw me, I was alone and miserable."
"You haven't been home since breaking up w
ith your ex?"
"No. When I left, I really left. Thea and my parents have come to visit me, but I haven't been back. So, they expect that I'm going to get there and be the same pathetic spinster as always."
"You're not pathetic," I said. "And I don't think spinsters are actually a thing anymore, so you're probably safe on that front."
Roxie stopped by the conveyor belt and turned to look at me.
"Look, Luca. I appreciate you trying to make me feel better, but that's not why you're here. I just need to get through the next week without being humiliated. That's all. I don't want anybody looking at me in that pitying way. I don't want anyone to ask me when I'm going to find a man or if I've met someone special. I don't want to end up sitting at the table alone while I watch everyone else dance and socialize. I don't want to watch Brad and Heather. I just want everyone to think that moving to New York was the best thing I could have done and that I'm living a wonderful life there. Not that I ran away from my problems at home and I'm still as alone and miserable as ever."
I didn't know what to say to her, so I nodded. I couldn't understand what she was so worried about. It didn't make sense that anyone who loved or cared about her would make her feel that way. The luggage started along the conveyor and I grabbed my bags and the ones I recognized as the ones Roxie had left at the check-in counter.
"Do we have everything?" I asked.
Roxie nodded.
"I rented a car. We should be able to just pick it up and go."
Three hours later we pulled into the gravel parking lot in front of a blue-grey building that looked as though it had been worn down by the salt-laced air over the years.
"Is this the right place?" Roxie asked.
"I have no idea," I said. "I'm not the one who was invited."
I was feeling much less enthusiastic about this experience than I had when we first started out this morning. I shifted my position, trying to adjust the luggage that was crammed between me and the dashboard. One of my legs was numb, and I was fairly sure I had sustained a broken rib from her suitcase during a particularly tight turn we took while lost in a neighborhood designed to mimic a conch shell. Such a stupid idea.
"Thea mailed me a detailed breakdown of the species of trees on the grounds of the resort printed on vellum, but she didn't include a map."
"You would think a resort that is used as a wedding venue would have accurate GPS directions."
"You would think," Roxie said. "And yet you were with me when we almost drove off the pier."
The lot had several cars in it already and she pulled in beside one of them. I wiggled my fingers, reaching for the door handle, but had shifted my position too much and could no longer reach it. Roxie climbed out of the car and ran around to my side. She opened the door and pulled the suitcase off me. I groaned with relief when I felt like I could breathe again. Once the other bag was moved off me, I had enough space to push the rest out and follow them. I stretched my back and turned to glare at the contraption behind me.
"For something they call a smart car, that thing is really fucking dumb."
"Yeah. The rental company will be getting a phone call. Not only did it take over an hour to get the car when I should have been able to just walk out and drive away, but I also said I wanted a compact. Not a smart car."
"It is definitely compact. Paint it brown, put a handle on top, and you could use it as a lunchbox."
"Oh my god, I am so hungry. Let's go put our stuff in our cabin and find everybody. There's a welcome party that started about twenty minutes ago."
"Cabin?"
"Yes," she said as we started our way across the parking lot. "One of the reasons that they chose this place was because of the little cabins. The main building only has two suites and the ballroom, but everybody in the wedding party and a few close family members have their own little cabins to stay in for the week."
"Adorable."
"Just so much I can't even stand it."
A breeze blew up around us and I realized that it was almost chilly.
"You know," I said, "when you said that it was a destination wedding at the beach, I thought there would be more of a tropical vibe going on."
"I know," she said. "Leave it to my best friend to have her wedding at a beach resort that is almost as much rock and trees as it is sand. Apparently, Bryce has taken a ton of vacations here and he said it's gorgeous during the day. I'm just going to take his word for it for now."
We were walking past the main building toward the cabins I had seen dotted through the grounds in the distance when we noticed a large sign posted in the middle of the walkway. We paused to read it and Roxie's head hung in defeat.
"You're here!"
Roxie and I looked up to see a woman running down the front steps of the main building. Her arms were flung open as she rushed toward Roxie, engulfing her in a hug before Roxie could even put her luggage down.
"We made it," Roxie said. "I'm sorry it took a bit longer than we thought. There was a bit of a snafu with the rental car agency."
"You should have just called," the woman, who I assumed was the bride, said. "I could have had Daddy meet you at the airport."
"No, no," Roxie said. "I'm sure he has enough on his mind right now. He didn’t need to come out and rescue me at the airport. Besides, I enjoyed the drive with Luca. We haven't really had a lot of alone time recently, so it was nice to be with him."
Oh, this is starting now. OK. Here we go.
"Hi," I said, juggling the bags I held so that I could reach my hand toward her. "I'm Luca."
"Thea," she said, giving Roxie a look. "It's such a nice surprise to have you here with us, Luca."
I looked back and forth between the two women.
"You didn't know I was coming?"
"Oh, no! I knew! Roxie told me that she was bringing her boyfriend with her."
"She meant that it is a nice surprise that I have a boyfriend," Roxie said.
"Well, you never mentioned him before. How was I supposed to know, best friend who is supposed to tell me everything?"
I remembered the conversations that Roxie and I had when we first started sending texts. Roxie had put down the bag of hers that I wasn't carrying, and I reached for her hand, holding it tightly.
"We've been together for about a year now. We had been keeping it pretty casual, but over the last few months, it's gotten a bit more serious between us."
I repeated the message that Roxie had sent me almost verbatim and noticed her eyes slide over to me.
"Right," Roxie said. "You and Bryce were so serious when we met and then in the last few months, you've been engaged and thinking about the wedding. I just didn't want to seem like I was trying to make it all about me."
Thea got an emotional look on her face and threw her arms around Roxie again.
"You are the most wonderful best friend in the entire world," Thea murmured against Roxie's hair.
For a moment we stood like that, my hand pinned between the two women as Thea clung to Roxie like she was preparing to go off to war.
"So, what's up with the cabins?" Roxie finally asked.
Her voice was muffled somewhat by Thea's shoulder pressed against her mouth and Thea sniffled as she stepped back from the hug.
"I'm sorry about that," she said, gesturing toward the sign we had just read informing us that the cabins weren't ready yet. "There was some confusion with the staff and things got kind of messed up, but they've assured us that it's being taken care of and it will be just another hour or two before everybody can settle in. I have someone making sure that they follow through with that and getting everybody assigned to the right cabin."
"I'm not in Cabin 1?" Roxie asked.
"You will always be Cabin 1 in my heart, Roxie," Thea said. "But apparently last summer they renamed the cabins and did some renovations so now we have to rethink everything."
"You didn't look at the cabins before you made the reservations?" Roxie asked, sounding shocked.
&nb
sp; "No, I just looked at pictures that Bryce had from one of his vacations."
"That doesn't sound like you. You didn't even check the website?"
"It doesn't have a website!" Thea trilled, seemingly enraptured by the thought. "Isn't that quaint?"
"I'm not sure that's the word I would use."
"They operate completely by word of mouth and people booking reservations year after year," Thea continued, ignoring Roxie. "When Bryce told me about it and showed me the pictures, I just knew it would be perfect."
"That really doesn't sound like you."
"I know," Thea sighed. "It's something about being engaged. It just changes you. The whole thought of getting married…" she sighed again, and I wondered if it had something to do with the elevation, though by the sound of the waves, we couldn’t be too high above sea level. "I can't describe it."
"So, what do we do with our luggage?" Roxie asked after a brief pause.
Thea drew in a little breath as she snapped out of her love-induced trance and smiled.
"Bring it inside," she said. "One of the suites is mine, but we've set up the one that Bryce is staying in as a welcome center until the cabins are ready."