Catching Caitlin (8 page)

Scott’s door has his name
etched into it too.

Inside, his office had
the signs of being well used. Lived in. A stark contrast to Hugh’s blank canvas
of an office.

Framed photos of his
family were facing toward Scott. I managed to sneak a peek and saw a red haired
woman and two brunette daughters. They made up the majority of the decoration.

The years on his diplomas
betrayed his age; he was in his fifties, but he looked a lot younger.

An expansive desk
separated him from Hugh and I. He had a blue folder sitting open, which had
numbers and graphs on loose paper.
Is this about Hugh’s job?

After we had settled in,
Scott began: “Hugh, I’ve been looking at your past performance and dedication
to the job. You’ve been with us for a really short time, but I’ve never seen
anyone do as much or climb as fast as you do. You secured new locations for
nuclear power plants, hydro-dams, and, while I shouldn’t be giving you all the
credit, converted 40% of Nevada’s energy users to us. When I started this
program 5 years ago, I noticed a sickening gap in energy competition, a gap I
wanted to fill. Thanks to you,” he looked up from the folder, and closed it
with a flick of his wrist: "We've accomplished more than I ever hoped we
would in twenty years. I’m promoting you to VP of Silver Energy.”

“Vice President?” Hugh
stammered, “What about Randal?”

“Forget Randal. He’s old
news, he didn’t have the spark I see in you. I kicked his ass to the curb. All
I had to do what this old trick: open his folder, and open your folder next to
it. The choice could not have been more clear cut.” He pushed himself away from
the desk. Hugh stood to shake his hand. “Congratulations Hugh, I couldn’t be
more proud.”

“T-thank you, sir, I
couldn’t have done any of it if you hadn’t let me intern here.”

“I know it, no regrets.”
He laughed, holding his stomach. “Your salary will raise immediately,” he
glanced at me, as if he was hoping to gauge my reaction, “from
two-hundred-and-fifty grand to five-hundred grand. Of course, after stock
options... you’re looking more like two million.”

Hugh sat back down in his
chair, complete astonishment on his face. “...I don’t know what to say.” It
wasn’t even for me, but my heart was pounding in my ears. My knuckles were
white from clutching my knees.

“Say thank you. And go on
a vacation, you obviously deserve it. Why don’t you take Caitlin with you? She
seems like a nice enough gal." Scott winked at me, and I blushed. I wonder
what he would have said he knew I was leaving to go to Maine.

“I might do that, I just
might,” Hugh said. He stood up and straightened his jacket, almost as if he
were a new man.

“Yes, now get outta
here.” Scott waved us away, a smile crossing his face.

***

O
n our way back down to
the garage, Hugh seemed to regain his composure. He still had a sense of
excitability in his voice.

“What do you think, about
what Scott said?”

I made eye contact with
him. “About going on a vacation with you? I thought you were just saying that
to appease him. I wouldn't want to be a burden."

“You’re not a burden,
Caitlin.” He rubbed his chin, lost in thought.

“Did you know you were
getting promoted?” I asked. “You were being kind of quiet on the drive over.”

“I didn’t, I just knew
Scott wanted to talk to me about my work. I thought I was getting fired
honestly... he always fucks with me like that.”

“Well, where would you
want to go?” We made it back to his car. He leaned on the roof, crossing his
arms and staring off in deep thought. I mimicked him absentmindedly. He smiled.

“We can go to my dad’s
summer home, in Massachusetts. I haven’t been there in years, not since high
school. I’m sure he still has the place.”

I remembered him talking
about his summer vacations when we first started dating. The glimmering ocean
that was more like a lake, and how the trees seemed to stay in bloom all summer
long.

***

W
e headed back to his
house to gather our things. We couldn’t just hop on the plane without anything
to wear. Well, I couldn’t at least.

“I’ll be right back, I
just gotta get my weekend bag together,” he said. He went into the bedroom, and
I heard drawers slide open.

While he was rummaging
around in there, I decided a toast was in order. I dug through his alcohol
cabinet and found a nice bottle of wine.

I gathered two
wine-glasses and filled them halfway up, just the right amount. A good toast
for a good morning. I felt a little dry anyway.

Hugh just got promoted to
vice president of his company. His boss said after stock options, he’d be
looking at almost two million a year. Two million?

I couldn’t fathom it.
More than a hundred grand a month.

More than I had ever made
at any job, even in a year. Of course, I couldn’t expect much from the jobs
I've held. Retail hell generally.

Taking the glasses in my
hands, I pushed open the bedroom door with my hips. Hugh was just taking some
things out of his closet when he saw me. I shot him a coy smile.

“I think a toast is long
overdue for you, Mr. Evans.” I pulled his hand and placed a glass in it. Hugh
grinned, his eyes sparkling. “To your promotion.”

“To us,” he corrected me.
I couldn’t help but laugh.

“to us, then.” I raised
my glass and we clinked them together, before I downed mine in two big
swallows. He made a face, clearly impressed. He took a long drink of his own
glass and set it down.

“I’m going to call James
and make sure he can give us a flight out. If he can’t, we might have to wait a
couple of hours.”

“Okay.” I set my glass
next to his and pushed them together, the crystal letting out a soft clink.

I wandered into the
bathroom, making sure I had a toothbrush. When I stepped back into the bedroom,
Hugh was already getting off the phone.

“James says he can take
us in a couple of hours. He just got in from Seattle and needs to take a
break.”

“That’s fine. What do you
want to do?”

“We could run into town
and grab a movie. We’re not really in a rush. James won’t be leaving without
us.”

“Oh man, a movie? I
haven’t been out to see one for so long...” He kissed my cheek. Coupled with
the wine, I was undoubtably rosy. He smiled at me, searching my eyes.

“Let’s get going,” he
said. He gave me a squeeze before we gathered our luggage and climbed into his
car.

***

A
fter the movie, we
headed down to the airport. Heat lines waved at us as we drove down the
highway, wet mirages fading in and out of reach.

“I remember you talked
about this place, I hope it doesn’t disappoint,” I said, jabbing him with my
arm. He feigned injury and laughed.

“So no doubts about
returning to Maine? Instead of a magical vacation to Massachusetts?”

“Honestly, I couldn’t
think of a place I’d rather be than with you.” I touched his arm and gave him a
gentle squeeze.

“You wouldn’t know it,
but the town we’re going to can have quite a night life.”

“Oh yeah?”

“We’ll have to go out,
get a nice dress for you, the whole thing.”

“Oh god you can’t get me
a dress. You’re already taking me all over the country.” I rubbed his arm,
feeling that electricity between us. It sizzled and popped. I felt goose bumps
all over.

***

A
t the airport it felt
like we were running through the gates. I didn’t remember him walking that fast
since the last time we were together. I didn’t know where to go, so I was just
dodging in and out of the throngs of people, trying to keep my eye on Hugh.

Finally, we made it to
our gate. Outside in the terminal, James was waiting, looking pleased.

“Hello, Hugh, I’m glad
you called when you did. I just got the plane refueled and we’re ready to go.
Where to?”

“Cape Cod, Massachusetts,
James.”

“Oh? Back to the east
coast? What’s the occasion?” James asked.

Hugh gave our bags to one
of the airport attendants. He started up the stairway when he answered James’
question. “I just got a promotion, to VP.”

“Oh really? I had a
feeling something was up. Scott was talking about you last time I flew him
around,” James said. He smiled.

I followed Hugh up the
plane’s steps, and James came right behind me.

After we boarded, he
secured the door and started preparing the plane for take off.

Hugh and I took our same
seats. It was ridiculous to think I had a usual seat on a private plane, but
that was how my life was looking at the moment.
If I could just hang on to
this.
But I had a feeling that was going to be really hard. I glanced at
Hugh’s ringed finger and felt my stomach knot a little bit. I was going to have
to get used to seeing his wedding band. Even if it made me feel weird.

“We’re going to get in
pretty late aren’t we? After the time change...” I said.

“Oh?” Hugh perked up, as
if I woke him from daydreaming. After a moment, he heard me. “Yeah, we probably
won’t get in until after midnight. But don’t worry, flying in over the harbor
should be pretty, with all the lights and the moon reflecting off the water.”

“That sounds incredible.”

After a few moments of
taxiing, the plane took off smoothly. It
was
late in the day and as we
cleared the white cloud cover, the sun was low on the horizon.

“I don’t know how you do
all this flying around.” I helped myself to the drink compartment.

“It is,” he said. “Do you
want to pour me a drink too?”

“Sure.” I pulled out the
whiskey and two glasses. “Cold glasses are really the only way to go.” I filled
both glasses with caramel color.

I gave him the drink.

“To our trip,” he said. I
clinked my glass with his and nodded.

We swallowed our drinks
and I felt my cheeks burn. He was right. I didn’t have a reason to doubt us
working out. Maybe I was just surprised, things didn’t turn out like I
expected. I’d have to stay more positive. Things would work out. They’d have
to.

S
everal hours and some
naps later, we landed in Massachusetts. Hugh already had a car ready at the
rental counter, so we began our drive around Cape Cod. It was enchanting.

The night sky reflected
off the harbor, giving it an eerie feel. Since the waves were protected, the
sea wasn’t nearly as tumultuous as I was used to back home.

I rolled down my window
and let the cool breeze come in from the ocean.

“It’s nice isn’t it?” he
asked. “Wait until you see the house. It’s been on my dad’s side of the family
for years, since I was a kid at least. His dad used to take him when he was
little, so my dad took me. Some of my earliest memories are in that little
house.”

I smiled at the thought.
I looked back out the car window, smelling the sweet breeze. It always managed
to send shivers up my spine.

I was feeling good, a lot
better about us. I tried not to think about what the future might hold, about his
wife, or anything like that.

This week was going to be
for us.

***

I
t was a quarter to one
in the morning when we pulled up to his summer home.

A sandy beach was only
fifteen feet away from its back yard. How the home hadn’t been overtaken by any
kind of surge in the harbor was beyond me.

The summer home was a
small cottage. It was painted red, with some powder blue shutters adorning the
windows. With a white coat of paint, it’d be hard to tell it apart from any
other kind of north eastern architecture.

To the side of the house,
a small shower was set up guests to get sand off their feet from the beach
before they came inside. He unlatched the door and pushed it open with a gentle
shove. Wind and weather and age creaked, and the house shook itself free and
came back to life.

“I just need to make sure
all the water is turned on and check the breaker box, I’ll be right back.” He
wandered into the far side of the dark house.

It felt different, it
felt intimate. It wasn’t just his house I was visiting, it was his childhood.

In high school he told me
stories about when he’d visit the beach house. One afternoon I had asked him
why all his stories where from when he was a kid.

“Why doesn’t your family
go anymore? Why don’t we just go, the two of us?”

“I don’t really want to,
you know. It was something we did together as a family. My mom is sick, and
there really isn’t a reason to go anymore.”

A couple months later,
his had mom passed away. She had been sick the entire time I knew her, with
every kind of ailment you could name. She only got worse and worse, until she
was hospitalized. Hugh stopped coming to school for a while back then, and he
wouldn’t return any of my phone calls.

After she died, he
started coming back, but he wasn’t the same anymore. Before I knew it, he was
graduating and leaving me behind.

I heard the rush of water
as he kicked the valves over. Then he yelled out: “Try the light switch.”

I flipped the one near
the front door. All the lights in the house lit up, giving off a brilliant
yellow glow.

The house was quaint.
Couches from the 70s and 80s littered the main living room, all situated around
a tender looking fireplace. The walls were paneled and most of them had
wallpaper covering them. The kitchen was gleaming with white tiles, a white
fridge, and white floors. In there, the most conspicuous thing was the oven,
which had obviously been replaced at some point.

It was cozy. I threw my
bag on the ground and collapsed into one of the love seats. Hugh appeared from
one of the hallways, grinning.

“Already making yourself
at home I see.”

I laughed a little, “What
am I supposed to do? Stand at the door?”

He joined me on the
couch, reaching over and kissing me on the neck. “No, I much prefer you right
here.”

I felt a warmth building
up between us. A kind of intense friction. I wanted to explore that, but I was
exhausted from the flight out.

That didn’t mean he
couldn’t convince me. His cock was hard inside his pants, and I could feel its
warmth against my legs.

He pushed into me,
kissing me. I parted my lips, letting him get a taste.

He leaned in past my
mouth, tickling my ear with his breath. “Tomorrow, I’m going to go get you a
present,” he whispered. "A beautiful woman like you deserves so much.”

I smiled, a deep sense of
gratitude overwhelming me. He snuggled up next to me, his breath hot and body
hotter. I ran my fingers through his dark hair. He moaned underneath my touch,
and squeezed me. “Are you tired?”

He nodded. “Yes. I always
just want to sleep when I get here.”

“Let’s crawl under the
covers then, and doze off. It's been a long day.”

He slid his arm under me,
and lifted me up as he stood. I laughed, wrapping my arms around his neck to
stay balanced. I don’t think anyone had ever carried me before, probably not
since I was a baby.

“How could I be so lucky
to meet you again?” I asked.

“That’s funny,” he said,
a slight chuckle growing in his throat. He walked into the bedroom and set me
on the bed. “I was going to ask you the same thing.”

***

I
woke up with the sun in
my eyes. I never realized how bright it was with the ocean to throw it into the
room. I held up my hand to block the light, and turned to see Hugh still
snoring next to me. The blankets were wrapped around him, the top sheet tangled
around his arm.

Up until that point Hugh
always surprised me by being the first to climb out of bed. It dawned on me
that I hadn’t even been with him for more than a couple days. A whirlwind by
any standard — especially compared to the rest of my life.

Thinking back, it was
always kind of like that with him. Even in high school, he just had this kind
over power of me. I just wanted to be with him. We just had this magnetic
attraction.

I slipped out from under
the covers, being careful not to disturb him. I made my way to the kitchen and
started pulling out stuff to cook some breakfast. I never had a knack for it,
but maybe today I would be able to manage something as simple as eggs?

I opened the fridge and
found it completely empty.
Oh yeah. We just got here.

I decided to crawl back
into the sheets, and snuggle up on him.

His chest felt hot to the
touch, and I laid my head on it, feeling his heartbeat. I tried to match my
breathing to his breathing, that feeling of oneness... euphoric.

Hugh stirred, and I
greeting him with a hushed voice, “Good morning.”

He blinked his eyes at
me, struggling to get a sense of what was happening. He sat up with a jerk,
nearly pushing me over.

“What’s wrong? What
happened?” I asked him, more shocked than anything.

He stared at me hard, as
if he didn’t recognize me.

He blinked, and he
regained his composure, his breathing heavy.

“What happened?”

“I forgot...” he looked
around again, maybe lost in thought, “I forgot we came here. I was really
startled.”

My skin stopped crawling,
and I relaxed. I put my hand on his bare chest, threading my fingers through
his chest hair.

“Mmm it’s okay, it’s just
us here.”

He smiled, and kissed me.
It felt different than before, there was some kind of loneliness attached to
it.

“I was going to make you
breakfast,” I said. “But there isn’t any food.”

He chuckled a little.
“Oops. We got in so late, I guess we forgot to grab any.” He swung his legs
from under the sheets, and stood.

I watched his back, and I
could see every taut muscle shiver under his skin. I amused myself with the
thought that I wasn’t just looking at a man in his boxers, but a man who made
two-million a year.

“What are you smiling
about?” he teased me. He thought for a moment, then continued, “I know a great
place we can get something to eat,” he said, as he pulled some folded up clothes
out of his suitcase. He set out a pair of khakis and a cottony button-up.
“Afterwards we can go shopping, a little reward,” he winked at me.

“You really know how to
make me feel like I’m in high school again.”

I hopped off the bed and
unzipped my own suitcase.
I wish everything I had wasn’t wrinkled.

“Oh,” I thought for a
moment. “What went wrong...? I don’t even remember. Like it was so long ago.”

He slipped a leg into his
khakis. “I think we argued a lot, about little things.”

“Yeah,” I wrinkled my forehead.
“That’s right.”

“We’re different people
now though, Caitlin.” He scooped his arm behind me, pulling me closer to him.
He smelled amazing. How did a man who just woke up smell so good? “We’re older,
wiser, and... richer.”

“You’re richer,” I teased
him, playing with his tie. I buttoned up his shirt.

“Well, for now, it’s just
me...” he trailed off.

When he told me he loved
me then?

“Why don’t you wear
this?” he leaned over and pulled out a yellow dress from my suitcase. I
frowned.

“Because it's wrinkled.”

“Well, maybe a
little." He smoothed it between his hands. “We
are
on vacation.” He
said this in a way that made it sound like, who gives a shit?

“That doesn’t mean I want
to look like a hobo.”

“Well, put it on anyway.
We’ll pick you up something in town, after we eat. I hardly think anyone can
judge us for looking a little sloppy during breakfast, you know.” He smoothed
out his own shirt, and walked into the bathroom. He ran the sink and started
brushing his teeth.

I decided he was right. I
slipped the yellow dress on, smoothing it over my legs.

He had a mirror behind
the door to the room, and I didn’t look too bad; little folds in the design
made the wrinkles almost look like they were on purpose.

He came back out of the
bathroom, blowing his breath on me, “Smell good?”

It did. “Minty.”

“Excellent. Do you want
to get going? I know I’m starving.”

My stomach growled, right
on cue. We looked at each other and laughed, before heading out the front door.

***

W
hile the beach house was
a good trip from the airport, it wasn’t very far out of town. The sun had
warmed up the harbor quite a bit and little sail boats and propeller boats
littered the skyline.

Hugh parked along the
street. There weren’t any parking meters, which seemed unusual to me. Bangor
wasn’t exactly the biggest city in the world, but even it had parking meters.
More than anything though, it made me realize how little I ever got out of the
house.

“This place.” Hugh stood
with his arms on his hips, striking a dramatic pose. The restaurant in front of
us looked like any other mom and pop breakfast diner, but his smile told
another story.

“Okay,” I shrugged. I was
so hungry, I would have settled for any kind of fast food.

As the hostess seated us,
I watched Hugh, his eyes seemed like they were glowing, but maybe it was the
blue of the harbor catching them just right.

The server gave us two
glasses of water and I drank mine greedily after she left the table.

“Wow,” Hugh commented, a
slight chuckle rising in his voice. “You were thirsty.”

“We had wine last night,
that always makes me parched,” I said, as if I had wine all the time. He sipped
his glass, lazily looking over the menu.

It was a fairly basic
list of breakfast items: sausage and eggs, a pancake explosion which said it
was three to four plate sized pancakes.

I looked up at him, he
was clasping his water with both hands. He was smiling, but seemed a little
lost in thought.

“How long have you worked
for Silver Energy, Hugh?”

He stirred, like I caught
him in a daze. “I think...” he scratched his chin, “Four years? Yeah. Six
months after Marcia and I moved to Reno, Scott hired me as a full-time
employee.”

“And you’re already Vice
President of the company? You sure you didn’t...” I mimed a blowjob.

He laughed, a bit a of a
nervous edge to it. “No, no, no. Scott is always that kind of... excitable.
He’s been kind of like a second father to me.”

I nodded, glancing around
for another glass of water. Hugh pushed his towards me. “I can see that.”

“Anyway, he saw potential
in me from the start, but it was still a risk to hire me.” He squeezed his
hands together, his knuckles whitening.

“Why?”

“Just a fresh kid. Six
months after they hired me... I lost Marcia.”

“Hugh...” I let my voice
trail off. I should have known.

“I threw myself into
work. I don’t know why — it felt good I guess. I could go in and zone out for
hours and hours. At the end of the week, I’d have a huge paycheck. That felt
good too. So I kept doing it, going in for hours and hours. A couple of months
later, they changed me to salary, so my extra hours didn’t matter. I did it
anyway. I’d put in sixty hour weeks. I started calculating it out — I could
stay at the office eighty hours a week if I wanted. I probably did that for a
year.”

I was silent. I didn’t
know what to say. He was spilling his guts to me in this diner, and our table
never felt wider. An arms length. I put my hand on his, and felt it tremble a
little.

“I think it was only
later that I realized I didn’t want to be at home, I didn’t want to be around
the life we made together. I made great strides at work too, it wasn’t wasted
dawdling you know. The next thing I knew, I was getting promoted left and
right. Scott could barely believe it either, since he was getting commendations
for taking the plunge in hiring a sophomore year college student. By the time I
graduated college, I had been promoted four times, and was making more money
than I would have dreamed of before.”