Page 66 of Menage a Passions
Saying goodbye to the lake house in Iowa wasn’t the hard part. For Becca, that was delegating who was riding with who to the airport two hours away, all while Izzy and Caitlyn had their last minute panic about forgetting somethingveryimportant.
I don’t know what they could forget.Everything was packed. There was nothing in rural Iowa for them to pick up for the pageant in New York. Yet there the coach and her protegee were, already climbing into Caitlyn’s rental car to discuss some finer points of the interview portion. That was enough to make Rebecca get back in Christine’s car. The woman was delighted to have some companionship. Although she was flying with everyone else to New York, her husband and son were picking up the car at the airport so she didn’t have to pay for parking.
Caitlyn would have paid for it, but Rebecca knew that her parents hated taking gifts like that. They were go big or go home people if Caitlyn was helping withanything.She wouldpay for her father’s healthcare, her nephew and nieces’ college educations, and for her mother to completely remodel her kitchen to make all of her professional baking dreams come true, but things like paying for long-term parking were “silly” in Christine’s book.
In a way, Rebecca understood. But she had to hear all about it on the way to Des Moines.
And once she was on the plane to New York, she was roped into interview training.
“How much personal responsibility do you believe the average American has toward mitigating climate change?” Rebecca had to read that again. “That’s heavy.”
Caitlyn reclined her seat, arms and ankles crossed as she stared at the plane ceiling. Her baggy sweater swamped most of her torso while her hair splayed over the side of the seat and tickled the impeccably clean floor. Across the aisle, Izzy was knocked out, sleep mask on her face and mouth catching any flies that happened to hop on board before the private plane took off from Des Moines. Christine was on a loveseat in the back of the cabin, a glossy magazine that she picked up at the airport flipping between her fingers.
“That’s a dumb question,” Caitlyn said.
Rebecca patted her partner’s shin in sympathy. “That’s the next one on the list Izzy gave me.” According to the coach, these were previous questions from recent years.All questions winners have answered and scored a lot of points on.There was an additional cheat sheet where Rebecca could compare Caitlyn’s answer with the highest score. She refused to look yet because she didn’t want to influence her girlfriend’s answer.
“Let’s see…” Caitlyn mulled it over, aware that she wouldn’t have this much time while actually on stage for the Mrs. United States of America beauty pageant. “To be blunt…”
“Never be blunt,” Izzy muttered before turning her head away and resuming her snoring.
“I believe that the average American has an empathetic duty to care about the environment and climate change insofar as it affects our everyday lives and the future lives of our children and grandchildren. I do not doubt that there isn’t a mother on this stage who isn’t afraid of what kind of world her children will inherit…”
“Good job mentioning the mothers,” Izzy mumbled.
This was Rebecca’s life until Caitlyn was so tired of playing interviews that she decided to take a nap as well. While Christine continued to read, Rebecca attempted to make herself comfortable on the other loveseat while scrolling through her phone.
“We’ve already made it to New York,”Jane posted to the group chat.“Cecelia is playing it cool like she isn’t the most excited kid in the world. Can you believe it?”
“Didn’t she have school today?”
Jane was quick to respond.“I pulled her out early. Another olive branch of mine toward her. She said she didn’t have anything important happening in the afternoon so I decided to time us arriving in New York with the rooms being available. We are already in the side-by-side suites. I’ve decided to stay with Cece in one so you girls can take your time acclimating when you get here. The only difference is that one has a bathtub and the other does not. Guess which one I’m letting my lovelies have?”
“You’re a saint, Jane.”
“No, just smart. I know not to come between Cait and her baths. Anyway, let me know when you’re about to land.”
A separate, private message for Becca popped up in another window.
“I hope you know how much I’ve missed you this past week, Becca. And Cait, of course, but I know she belongs to the pageant the minute she checks into the hotel. Do me a favor and spare me an hour after she runs off. I’ve promised Cece at least the three of us would go out for dinner later, so we don’t have the evening to ourselves.”
Becca never knew if it was endearing that Jane typed with more contractions than she usually said out loud. Was this her way of speed texting? Going against all of her posh upbringing outside of Hong Kong?
“I’ll do my best.”
“Also, please don’t tell me you’re already on your period again, love.”
“Quite the opposite.”
“What does that mean???”
Becca left her on read.Let her chew on that for a bit.Because the simple answer was that Becca desired one thing. Perhaps one thing only, and she was not going to get it with Caitlyn and so many other people on the plane.Let alone her mother. Ugh.It would be nice to be a little loud again. Because their couple of attempts at sex that past week were always subdued with the knowledge that Christine was sleeping on the other side of the wall.Didn’t stop us, though.Caitlyn had been desperate.
Their pilot Noah once again performed a perfect landing at a private airfield in New York. The original plan had been to land in New Jersey, but JFK had a spot for them, and Noah had long learned to take it whenever he had the chance. Becca didn’t have a preference, but both Jane and Caitlyn did. Whatever they wanted? They got.
Including Becca.
“Hey.” Cece was sitting in the lobby when the group of four rolled into the hotel with their luggage. “Jane stepped out forsome refreshments. Anyway, that’s what she said. She asked me to wait here and to inform her when you arrive. Or something.”