CHAPTER 24
Claire
Claire set down the hair dryer and picked up her brush, looking at herself critically in the gym locker room mirror.
“I look like crap. I have dark circles and am in serious need of some Visine.”
Sylvia gave her a sympathetic smile. “You need to get more sleep.” She gathered her chestnut hair, quickly pinning it up into a bun.
“I’m impressed that you’re keeping up with your workouts.
If I were in your shoes, I’d be vegging on the sofa with a tub of ice cream and a family-size package of Oreos. ”
“I have no choice. If I don’t work out, I’m up all night thinking.” She rummaged in her bag. “Crap. I forgot my spray conditioner.”
“I’ve got you.” Sylvia dug inside her satchel and produced a small purple pump. “Try this stuff. I’m obsessed.”
“Thanks.” Claire sprayed a bit on her ends. “And thanks for jumping on a plane to see me.” She’d been on pins and needles over her mother’s upcoming procedure, and her deteriorating condition kept Claire up at night.
“Of course! I meant it when I said I’ll come running if you need me.” She took back the bottle of conditioner and stuffed it in her bag. “Is there anything else keeping you up at night besides insomnia?”
“What?”
Sylvia gave her a sly smile. “You know what I’m asking.”
Claire finished brushing her hair and pulled it back into a ponytail. “Right now, there’s no one.”
“No one?”
“Nope.”
Sylvia shook her head. “Damn, woman. No wonder you can’t sleep. You need to get yourself someone to pound the stress out of you and cuddle up to after. Nothing like a warm male body snuggling you to help you drift off.”
Claire sighed. Things were so simple for Sylvia. If only Claire could be like that.
“What about Ian? You haven’t said anything about him for a while.”
The mention of Ian made Claire’s throat constrict. She hadn’t seen him in nearly three months.
“He lives in Las Vegas now.”
Sylvia’s eyes gleamed. “I know. I’ve seen him around.”
A spike of jealousy pricked Claire’s gut. It would be just like Sylvia to go for him. How had she even run across him? Las Vegas wasn’t exactly a small town.
“It’s crazy that he’s a pilot now.”
Claire raised a brow. “How do you know that?”
“Someone I know flies for LarsAir.”
Something was off about Sylvia. Her dreamy eyes, for one. “Ready for lunch? There’s this new place I’ve been dying to try.”
Sylvia slung her gym bag over her shoulder. “Let’s go, then. I’m starving.” Her lips curved into a little smile as she walked alongside Claire to cross the busy gym floor toward the exit.
By the time they reached Claire’s mother’s Chevy, Sylvia was sweating. They tossed their gym bags in the back and slid into the seats.
The inside of the car was sweltering. Sylvia squirmed. “Jesus, it’s like a wet sauna. How can you stand to live here?”
“I have no choice.” Claire started the engine, cranked up the air conditioning, and looked behind her to back out of the parking space. “Plus, you get used to it. After a while, you morph into a reptile.”
“I can take the heat in Vegas, but the humidity here makes it feel worse. I couldn’t get used to this.”
“That’s what I said, but …” Claire shrugged. “Come October, it’s nice.”
She turned out of the parking lot, easing onto the road, wishing she could have ridden her Harley. But Sylvia was deathly afraid of motorcycles and had flatly refused to go unless they took the car.
Claire slanted her friend a glance. “You didn’t check out a single hot guy back there. I spotted at least three. What gives?”
Sylvia’s smile widened into a wicked grin. “Not what gives, who gives. And, God, he gives it to me good.” She heaved a deep, contented sigh.
Claire flicked the turn signal switch. “New guy?”
“You could say that.”
Well, that was weird. No new guy had ever hindered Sylvia’s predatory behavior.
“You met him. Actually, it’s more like you’ve seen him. He was mine that night and has been ever since.”
“Whoa, wait. Who are you talking about?”
“Remember the jilted groom the night you visited me in Vegas?”
“Yeah.” How could she forget? It was the night she’d met and pounced on Ian. “You left with him and another guy.”
“Yes. Except that when we got into the room, and things got, you know, hot, Jonathan changed his mind about sharing and kicked the other guy out.”
“He kicked him out?”
“Well, he was nice about it. But he convinced the other guy to leave. I don’t know what he said to him, but he was smiling as he went out the door.”
“How far did you three get?”
Sylvia laughed. “Well, Devon started kissing me, and Jonathan was watching, and then he got this look on his face.” Her eyes sparkled. “And that was it. He couldn’t take anyone else touching me.”
“But what did he expect would happen? He went upstairs with both of you.”
“He did. But he had never done anything like that before and decided on the spot that it wasn’t for him.”
Claire nodded. “But you were. For him, that is.”
“That’s what he said, that I’m the one for him and that he could satisfy my every need all by himself.”
Claire couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “And?”
“And he does.” Sylvia’s voice was soft. “It’s incredible. I never thought this could happen to me.”
Claire stared at her friend’s glowing face. This Sylvia was unrecognizable. If Claire hadn’t had to keep her eyes on the road, she would have stared and asked who this was and what she had done with her friend.
“He says he fell in love with me the minute that lame polar bear line came out of my mouth.”
Oh, my God, love? What was next, marriage?
“He asked me to marry him.”
The traffic light turned yellow. Claire braked so hard that they lurched forward and back. She ignored Sylvia’s gasp and quick grab for the oh shit handle. “What did you say?”
“I said I want to see the ring first, then I’ll decide.” She lowered her voice, a dreamy look in her eyes. “But, Claire, I think he’s the one.”
The one to crush you when he leaves you.
“You weren’t looking for the one!” Claire blurted and instantly regretted her harsh tone.
Sylvia went quiet for a moment. “See, that, right there, is why I didn’t want to tell you anything until I was absolutely sure.”
Claire stared straight ahead. “So, when’s the wedding?”
“Um, soon.”
She slanted Sylvia an Oh, come on look.
“Well, I was thinking a Red Rock Canyon wedding. The backdrops are breathtaking, and it’s only forty minutes or so from the strip. We can’t venture too far because Jonathan is test-flying this supersonic plane LarsAir has in developmental testing, and he’s the only one who can fly it for them.”
“Jonathan is a pilot?”
“He prefers naval aviator.” Sylvia’s eyes shone with pride. “He flew fighter jets in the Navy. Super Hornets. The man can land on an aircraft carrier; can you believe it?”
“That’s impressive.”
“I know, right? It makes me hot just thinking about it. So, yeah, we’ll have to honeymoon in Vegas. He wanted to just go to the Elvis Chapel, but I want a real wedding. He’s impatient, it has to be outdoors, and I want to beat the heat, so we’re doing it in two weeks.”
Claire’s eyes widened. “Two weeks?”
“A little longer, actually. Sixteen days.” Sylvia grinned. “Not that I’m counting or anything.”
Claire’s mouth fell open. That didn’t even give Sylvia time to determine if she really wanted to do this.
What was it with her friends and these snap weddings? Her hands felt numb as she gripped the wheel.
Silence reigned for a while, and Claire began to feel bad for her reaction to Sylvia’s stunning news. She should have shown enthusiasm or, at the very least, congratulated her.
“I’m happy for you,” she ventured.
Sylvia nodded. “Thanks.”
Claire cringed. Her friend knew her well enough to figure out what she was thinking: there was no way this could end well.
It never did.
“So … I know it’s short notice, but … will you come?” Sylvia’s voice was so hopeful, it made Claire’s throat tighten. “Ian is a groomsman.”
Claire’s heart skipped a beat. If she went, she would see Ian. An image of him in a tux, as he had looked the night she’d met him, flashed across her mind. But … “I wish I could, Sylvia, I really do. But I can’t leave my mother.”
Sylvia’s face fell. “I understand. I just thought …” She shook her head.
“Say hi to Ian for me.”
Sylvia opened her mouth, then seemed to change her mind about whatever it was she’d meant to say. “Will do.”
Just as well. She should stay away. Something was in the water, and she didn’t want any part of it. She wasn’t going.
·
“You’re going.”
Claire frowned at her mother. “No, Mom, I’m not. We’re only three weeks away from the transfer, and I’m not leaving you alone.”
“There’s nothing you can do for me that the doctors and nurses aren’t already doing. As much as I enjoy your visits and the cheat meals you bring me, you also have a life, and you need to get out there and live it.”
“I can’t take off from my new job.”
“Nonsense. The wedding is on a weekend.”
“I’d have to take Friday and Monday off.”
“And?”
“And I’m new. It wouldn’t look good.”
“Jake told me about the man you took to the Bahamas.”
Jake strikes again. Claire’s stomach roiled. “He what?”
“Apparently, that early flight you caught was even more special than you let on.” Her mother’s gaze sharpened on her. “Why are you treating me like a mushroom, Claire?”
“A mushroom?”
“Yes, keeping me in the dark and feeding me lots of manure.”
Claire couldn’t meet her mom’s gaze, so she focused on the game show on the muted TV. “I’m not feeding you manure,” she muttered, knowing she sounded defensive.
“Jake says you are in love with him.”
A startled laugh escaped Claire. “I’m not in love with Jake!”
Mom shook her head. “Not Jake. The blond man.”
“What?” Claire’s annoyance spiked. Just how much time was Jake spending talking about her with her mom?
“What’s his name, Claire?”
“Ian.”
And I am not in love with him.
“Tell me about Ian.”
“There’s nothing to tell. I … We had a …” Her cheeks flamed.
“You had a fling? Why are you blushing?”
Claire shrugged. “I’m not comfortable talking about these things with you.”
“I’m on your side, Claire. Always. And now I’m beginning to think I may have been wrong to fill your head with vitriol toward your father.”
Huh? What did her father have to do with all of this? She looked at her mother in confusion.
“Why didn’t you bring this man to meet me?”
“Because it wasn’t serious.”
“Jake says otherwise.”
Claire did her best to temper her anger. “He has no idea what he’s talking about. And can you please stop discussing me with Jake?”
“I thought you were dating him.” It was her mother’s turn to sound defensive. “I asked him when you’re going out next, and he told me he didn’t think you wanted to see him anymore. You only went out with him for me, didn’t you?”
Claire said nothing.
“This other man … what’s his name again?”
“Ian.”
“Ian. What’s the story?”
“There is no story. We saw each other a few times.”
“Uh-huh.” Her mother’s knowing smile brightened her entire face, and for a moment, she didn’t look ill at all. “Sylvia tells me your guy lives in Las Vegas and that he’ll be part of the wedding. You should go.”
He’s not my guy.
“When did you talk to Sylvia?”
“She called to see how I was doing.”
I’ll bet she did. “Look, Mom, I appreciate what you’re trying to do. But I’m not going to Las Vegas. It’s not a good time for me to go.”
“Says who?”
Claire heard the door open but didn’t look that way. She stared at her mother, who peered over her shoulder with a strange look in her eyes.
“Who will take care of you if I’m in Vegas?”
“I will,” came a male voice from the doorway.
A very familiar male voice.
It couldn’t be.
Claire turned. And felt the breath leave her lungs.