Runway Romance (Love in the Air Trilogy) (16 page)

“You can’t knit someone out of your heart,” Patricia said.

“Who said he’s in my heart? We had a mutual lustful appreciation of one another, that’s it.”

“Then why are you so angry?” Kate asked. “I mean, if you don’t feel anything for him, it should be easy to let go, right?”

“Right. It is easy. It’s just the principle of the thing. I don’t like being lied to.”

Kate and Patricia exchanged glances.

“Stop that! Don’t make this into something more than it is.”

“I thought you were the one making more out of this than anyone,” Kate said.

Jenny sighed. Even while they were fighting, there was a part of her that wanted to reach out and pull Rich close, to fill her lungs with his scent. Maybe he was right, maybe she was neurotic.

“Maybe you two should write each other a letter. Then you can’t interrupt each other and tempers won’t flare,” Patricia said.

“Aren’t you supposed to be upstairs entertaining your boyfriend?”

“I was. He’s taking a shower. All the yelling interrupted us.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

“I needed a break anyway. The man has stamina up the ying-yang.”

“Where exactly is the ying-yang?” Kate asked.

“I don’t know, but wherever it is, Malelough knows how to get there.”

Jenny flopped into her recliner. “What am I gonna do, you guys?”

“I thought you already decided you were severing ties with him?” Patricia said.

“I’m miserable.”

“See! You are in love. Go talk with him.” Kate got up and began pulling Jenny out of the chair. “I’ll drive you over there.”

“I don’t even know where he lives.”

“But you know where he works. Call Stacy and get his schedule.”

“I guess I could. It’s probably not even worth it.”

“If he’s got you all riled up, it’s worth it.”

“What do you think’s going on with this old friend of his?”

“She could have gotten pregnant and he offered to marry her, you know, to save face,” Patricia said.

“What if he’s the father?”

“From what I overheard that doesn’t sound likely. What father would call his own kid an ‘arrangement’?”

“It does sort of sound like the kind of thing he’d do. Noble. Caring for another person more than himself.” Jenny cringed. “I called him a lot of names.” She bit her lower lip.

“He should have explained all this right from the start, then there wouldn’t have been all this confusion,” Patricia said. “It’s really no wonder you assumed he was a liar and a cheat.”

“What if he doesn’t want to explain anymore? What if he’s over me already?”

“If he was over you, he wouldn’t have come here to talk with you.”

“I practically told him to go to hell.”

“Don’t think about that now. Here.” Kate handed Jenny her cell phone. “Call Stacy and find out when he’s working.”

“I’m not so sure about this.”

“Or you could sit around the house pining away for the Mr. Right that you let slide through your fingers because you were too damn stubborn to make a phone call.” Patricia’s hands were on her hips and her stance held a stern mother’s pose.

“I’ll call. I’ll call. Man, you two are bossy.”

“You asked us for help, remember?”

“I guess I forgot that part.”

“Selective memory,” Kate said. “Shaun O’Leary has it, too. The entire time I was in Ireland he told me the same five stories over and over again. I was hearing them in my dreams.”

“Did you find anyone in Ireland you hadn’t already slept with?” Patricia asked.

Kate stuck out her tongue and made a bratty kid sister face. “At least I don’t bring my bedmates home with me.”

“I didn’t bring Malelough home. He’s visiting.”

“Sh… I can’t hear.” Jenny motioned for a pen. Patricia grabbed one and Kate grabbed a yellow sticky note. When she hung up, she said, “He’s working tomorrow night, graveyard shift.”

“It’ll be so romantic on the tarmac under the moon and stars,” Patricia said.

“Or else he’ll mow you down with that luggage truck he drives around in,” Kate said.

“Kate!”

“What? We don’t know how he’s going to respond. It could go either way.”

“He’s not going to chase you down the runway. He’ll be glad to see you and you’ll work all this out.”

“I hope so. I’m beginning to think I really jumped to conclusions.”

Chapter Nineteen

“What do you wear to a midnight meeting outside where you may end up as roadkill?”

“Don’t be so dramatic. Kate was just being Kate. Rich is not going to hit you with his truck,” Patricia said.

“Actually, he almost did the day we met. It happens more often than you’d think.”

“Well, just keep an eye out, and your ears open.”

“I think that’s better advice for him than me.”

“It’s good advice for both of you.”

Jenny glanced at the clock.

“Are you going with Kate to the doctor?”

“She hasn’t decided yet.”

“You’re a better friend than I am.”

“Why?”

“You didn’t try to talk her out of having an abortion.”

“That doesn’t make me a better friend. You’re entitled to your opinion.”

“Yeah, but it’s Kate’s decision in the end. I should have been more supportive, like you.”

“I don’t know if not speaking up is the right thing or not. I just went with my gut. I’d have a hard time knowing what to do if I were in Kate’s shoes. All the logic and reason make sense. Then I think about those tiny little fingers and toes. I mean, it’s a whole other person that you helped make. How do you deny your baby life?”

“Why didn’t you say any of this to Kate?”

“Because I knew she’d already thought about it all, probably from more angles than I can think of. She wouldn’t make a decision this important on a whim.

It reminds me of those t.v. talk shows where they bring in fourteen year old girls who say they want to get pregnant and have babies. Come on! That seems inhumane to me. They’re still practically babies themselves. How can they possibly care for another human being when they can’t even take care of themselves?”

“Most of them are still living with their parents and going to school.”

“That’s what I mean. It almost seems like they’re doing the kid a favor by not bringing them into that kind of environment.”

“The parents, grandparents really, end up doing all the heavy lifting.”

“You got that right. What are they gonna do? Kick their child and the baby to the curb. No way. So, everyone hunkers down and puts in the time and effort to raise the kid the best way they can.”

“Except the fourteen year old who thought babies were so cute.”

“Of course, Kate’s not fourteen.”

“No, she isn’t.”

Jenny pulled a midnight blue tank dress from her closet. “With a belt and my red stilettos?”

“You’ll be the most beautiful roadkill on the tarmac.”

“Hey,” Kate said, entering Jenny’s bedroom.

“Hey. How’re you feeling?” Jenny asked.

“Not sure. Weird.”

“Weird how?” Patricia said.

“I think the baby’s trying to talk to me, tell me what it wants.”

“What’s it saying?” Jenny asked.

“It’s all jibberish.” Kate sat on the end of the bed, picking up the dress and fingering the material. “Is this what you’re wearing when you meet Rich?”

“Yeah. What do you think?”

“I think you want to make with the sexy time with your new luggage-carrying boyfriend.”

“I’d settle for a truthful conversation about this whole marriage thing.”

“Come on, you’re telling me if he grabbed you and started kissing you -- rubbing his body against yours and telling you how much he missed you -- you wouldn’t cave right there and let him devour you?”

“Well, I didn’t exactly say that. He is an amazing kisser, though. I just need answers. My head is swimming with all these doubts, but underneath I desperately want to believe in him.”

“Spoken like a true enabler,” Patricia said.

“I know.” Jenny sighed. She held the dress up to her body and looked in the mirror at her reflection. “But I’ll be a damn hot-looking enabler.”

“That, you will.”

“I have to get going,” Kate said.

“I can be ready in thirty seconds,” Jenny said.

“Me, too,” Patricia chimed in.

“Thanks. I think I’m going to go alone. I need time to think. Not that you wouldn’t give it to me, but I also need the quiet, so I can really focus on the baby.”

“If you need us, call,” Jenny said.

“For anything,” Patricia added.

Kate nodded, then headed for the bathroom to throw up. “I’m not sure if that was nerves or morning sickness.”

“It’s late in the day, I’d say nerves,” Patricia said.

Jenny retrieved several sealable plastic bags from the kitchen. “Here. In case you need to urp again while you’re in transit.”

Kate stuffed the bags into her purse. “Here’s hoping I don’t need to use them.”

They both stood at the front window and watched as Kate drove away.

“You’re looking a bit green around the gills. Do you need a puke bag, too?” Patricia asked.

“Maybe. I’m having second thoughts about meeting Rich. Maybe I should just wait.”

“For what? I thought you wanted answers?”

“What if I don’t like them? What if the answer is that he’s a lying, cheating, conniving, two-timer?”

“Then you’ll know for sure.”

“I don’t want him to be a lying, cheating, conniving, two-timer!”

“I know. None of us do.”

“You’re spending a lot of time not canoodling with Malelough.”

“He’s great fun to have sex with, but we don’t really have a lot to talk about. I don’t get all his philosophy talk. When I suggested a movie, he went into this big thing about Hollywood actors being overpaid. When I mentioned professional sports paying their players huge sums of money, he went off on a tangent about how they at least have skills. I didn’t want to fight about it, but he was so wrong. Actors have skills and they have to study for years to be good at their craft.