A Life Earthbound (17 page)

Rhiannon, on the other hand, found Sierra to be a pest and nothing more than a sharp thorn in her side.

“I need to put my things away upstairs. I’ll meet you in the atrium in a few minutes.”

Rhiannon turned away and swept up the stairs to her room, her perfectly normal day ruined. In a sour mood, she tore open her bedroom door and stepped inside, putting her things away in their proper places. She reached for her ‘human world’ purse, a light and chic Gucci bag the color of warm rose, and deftly transferred the necessary items into it. Her lip gloss, mints, lotion, pen and pad of paper set, her aspirin, and lastly, several hundred dollars of United States currency so they could pay for Sierra’s items. Knowing it was too much a hassle to bother her mother, her father, or Thea for the money, Rhiannon used her own private savings that she barely used anyway. Maybe one day Sierra would thank her.

With one last glance around the room to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything, she left the room. She spotted Capri stepping out of her own room, looking light and breezy in khaki shorts and a gauzy white blouse.

With a warm smile, Capri walked forward. “Good morning! Are you going somewhere?”

Feeling the edges of her sour mood fade slightly upon seeing her friend’s cheerful, bright smile, Rhiannon forced herself to smile in return. “My father asked me to take Sierra to Los Angeles to get a new dress for tonight.”

“Oh, that’s right, it’s Liam’s birthday today!” Capri remembered, smacking her forehead with a bright laugh. “Gosh, you know, I’ve been so distracted lately, I forgot to get him a gift. Do you think I could come with you?”

She wanted to say no and save her friend the trouble of dealing with Sierra’s annoying shopping spree, but Rhiannon didn’t have the heart to say no. No one, it seemed, had the heart to say no to Capri.

“If you’d like. Though I must warn you, Sierra is going to drag us to probably fifteen different stores, and insist on trying on every item of clothing in each,” Rhiannon warned, leading the way toward the stairs.

“I don’t mind. I haven’t been shopping with girlfriends in such a long time. This is going to be so much fun!”

Though she wholeheartedly disagreed that what they were about to do was fun, Rhiannon just nodded with a half smile and kept her mouth shut.

By the time they reached the first store on Rodeo drive in Beverly Hills, the initial concept of getting a new dress for Sierra had turned into a full blown girl’s day out. Sierra had dragged her closest friend Cilla, Liam’s little sister, along for the ride and she was now insisting on getting new clothes also. Rhiannon had a dreadful hunch that she was going to end up footing the bill for that as well, not to mention lunch and snacks to keep the girl’s energy up for a day of shopping.

Rhiannon was slowly beginning to feel a headache bloom painfully behind her right eye.

She sat with a politely bored expression on her face outside the dressing rooms in Ralph Lauren, itching to rub the stress point in her neck that was also starting to ache. Capri sat beside her, cheerful and excited to be out.

“So I was thinking of seeing if there’s a guitar store around here…Liam’s old one is looking a little worse for wear, I think he’s had it at least five years or so. I figured I’d get him a new one,” Capri said, her smoky eyes lit with vibrant pleasure. “Do you think that’s a good gift?”

Rhiannon smiled at the thought, knowing it was exactly the right gift for Liam. “He’ll love it, Capri,” she said, looking at her friend. “We’ll look for one after lunch, okay?”

“Okay.” Smiling, Capri covered Rhiannon’s hand in her own, squeezing it gently. “Are you alright? You look a little out of sorts today.”

“I’m fine,” she said automatically, but when Capri continued to watch her with knowing eyes, she knew she was caught. With a heavy sigh, she tried to smile. “It’s nothing, really. I just had a lot of work planned for today and being here puts a damper on all of it. But once we get home I’ll be able to catch up.”

“And you have the party to look forward to tonight,” Capri added, sighing happily as she released Rhiannon’s hand and sat back against the sofa. “I love the parties we have on Euphora…all the family coming together to celebrate…it’s so wonderful.”

Reminding herself that Capri had gone years without so much as a decent birthday party, Rhiannon tried to push back her own distaste for them. Sure, it was nice to get everyone together, but it felt as if they were constantly having parties and working less and less. She still took pride in her work and would certainly avoid a party if necessary to finish what she had to do. It was her duty, after all, to be an Earth Dryad, not to party.

She was distracted when she heard a cluster of giggles coming from the stalls of the dressing rooms, only to look up and see Sierra and Cilla both emerge, donned in luxurious knee length dresses.

“So, what do you think?” Sierra asked Rhiannon as she pranced forward, whirling around to showcase the pixie-like ocean blue dress. It had a ruffled skirt and a strapless straight line bodice, and from the looks of it, was genuine silk.

Rhiannon eyed the dress critically. It was too fanciful for her taste but she supposed it suited her capricious, pretty little sister perfectly.

“It’s fine,” she said mildly, turning her attention to Cilla, who had slipped into a cute coral pink dress with modest lines and a golden weaved belt. The girl smiled at her and tugged at the skirt self consciously.

“Does this one look okay? I wasn’t sure, but I really liked the color,” Cilla asked, tucking a strand of her curled strawberry blonde hair behind her ear.

Rhiannon nodded politely while Capri gushed. “I think you both look beautiful.”

“If those are the dresses you want, then take them off and I’ll go pay for them. Then we can find you shoes.”

“Don’t be so pushy, Rhiannon,” Sierra began, her hip cocking out with attitude. “I think we should try on a few more, Cilla, just to be sure.”

Cilla grinned in response. “I did see this one green dress that was cute.”

“See, we’re not finished yet. So you’ll just have to wait,” Sierra said haughtily, daring her older sister to object.

“Maybe while you girls try on a few more dresses, Rhiannon and I can run down the street and look for a guitar for Liam,” Capri suggested, noticing the frustration on her friend’s face.

Rhiannon looked away from her snobby sister to meet Capri’s eyes. “We really shouldn’t leave them alone…Dante is still out there somewhere.”

“Oh, you’re right.” Capri bit her lip thoughtfully. “Well, then why don’t you and I browse the store for a bit? I’m sure we can find something for ourselves, too.”

With a nod, Rhiannon got to her feet and stared down at Sierra, barely veiled disdain in her eyes. “One more hour, then we’re out of here.”

Receiving an equal look in return, she swept from the dressing area out into the main store, Capri in her wake. Determined to do nothing more than keep Capri happy, Rhiannon followed her around from display rack to display rack, making appropriate noises of approval and disapproval when her friend held up an item.

When the time was up, Capri had picked a casual autumn dress the color of ripe pumpkin with burgundy floral patterns and a pair of flats to match. Rhiannon, her mind already reeling at the cost of everything, had chosen nothing. Her wardrobe was more than complete already.

Sierra and Cilla went with the original dresses they had tried on, much to Rhiannon’s annoyance. But she kept her mouth shut and took the dresses and coordinating shoes up to the register, along with Capri’s items, to pay for them all.

Capri insisted on paying her back, but Rhiannon waved off the notion. This was to thank her for coming along on this dreadfully boring trip. Besides, the dress Capri had chosen was much cheaper than the ones the girl’s had picked. Sierra’s dress alone cost well over a thousand dollars.

They went to lunch at the Blvd, an overpriced sidewalk café just off the Four Seasons Hotel. But it was the closest place for lunch on Rodeo drive, so they didn’t have many options. She just ate her thirty dollar Greek salad and tried not to shudder when the bill came.

By the time they made it back to Euphora, it was nearly time for dinner and Rhiannon was exhausted and cranky. Not that Capri hadn’t made the trip more enjoyable than it would have been otherwise, she reminded herself, noting that she would need to properly thank her friend later when she had time.

Until then, she had work to do.

She raced upstairs, running on less energy than she’d had that morning. She diligently switched out her bags and grabbed her books and headed down to the Greenhouse.

Sierra and Cilla had disappeared upstairs with their shopping bags to try everything on again, and Capri had gone to her own room to figure out a way to wrap Liam’s gift. It was a Gibson steel string acoustic guitar made of Hawaiian koa wood and spruce, stained a rich golden color that faded to black on the edges.

The moment Rhiannon had seen it, she’d known it was perfect for Liam. She had practically forced Capri’s decision to purchase it. But Capri was easy going and went along with the suggestion, especially since she figured Rhiannon knew Liam better anyway.

Pushing it from her mind, Rhiannon headed into the Greenhouse with an hour to spare before dinner. If she wasn’t able to get everything done before then, which was unlikely, then she would just work through the party. She was sure no one would miss her anyway.

But before she could push open the door, the sound of sobbing stopped her. She hovered inside the doorway, in limbo and unsure what to do.

Peeking in, she spotted her father sitting at his drafting table, his face in his hands and his back shaking with vicious sobs.

For a moment, all she could do was stare at him. All her life he’d been so strong, sturdy and refined. And she only remembered one instance where he had cried around her, and that had been right after Capri had been taken. So to see him now, a broken version of the man she knew, shook her to the core.

Deciding to leave him in peace, she slowly backed away and silently shut the door.

Work would just have to wait.

After dinner was
finished, everyone rushed upstairs to get ready for the party.

Rhiannon, however, took the opportunity to return to the Greenhouse, this time knowing her father wouldn’t be there. He was upstairs with her mother, and other than the emptiness in his eyes and the hollowed look of his face, no one would know he’d been weeping just hours earlier.