Whitewater Rendezvous

CHAPTER FIVE

Megan stood looking out of the thick insulated window in her room, sipping coffee and berating herself for her cowardice.

You won’t be able to hide from her much longer.

There was a knock on her door. “Come on in,” she called, and Justine entered, carrying her three dry bags of gear. She dumped them inside the door.

“Got any more of that?” she asked, indicating Megan’s steaming mug with a tilt of her head.

“Sorry, they only give you enough coffee for four small cups, and this is the last of it.”

“That’s all right. I’ve got to get going anyway if I’m going to have time for breakfast before we go,” Justine said. “Just wanted to stop and make sure you haven’t changed your mind.”

“No. I know it’s silly. I’m going to have to spend the next eleven days with the woman. A plane ride shouldn’t matter one way or the other.”

“I understand, Megan. It really is eerie how much they look alike.

They say we all have a twin somewhere.”

“I guess. Anyway, thanks for hustling to get ready to go in my place.”

At dinner the night before, Chaz had announced the arrangements for the morning fl ights to the river, since they all couldn’t fi t in the Twin Otter. She would take the fi rst fl ight out at eight, along with Linda, Pat, and Megan. Sally would take the second at nine-thirty, with Yancey, Justine, and Elise.

Megan didn’t object at the time, but she’d decided, after another mostly sleepless night, that she’d take any opportunity she could to avoid having to be close to Chaz. So she’d tapped on Justine’s door a half hour earlier and asked if she would switch fl ights.

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KIM BALDWIN

“What do you want me to say if she asks why we’ve changed places?” Justine asked.

“Say I overslept and needed the extra time to get ready.”

“Anything else I can do?”

Megan shook her head. “Thanks, though.”

“You sorry you came along?”

Megan sipped her coffee and thought about it. “Yes and no. I have to admit that Alaska is everything you said it was. And more.

Spectacularly beautiful. And I’m actually beginning to look forward to the whole kayaking thing.” Her expression went grim. “But every time I look at her, it tears my guts out all over again. Instead of relaxing, I’m reliving some of the worst nightmares of my life.”

Justine took two steps and put her arms around Megan. After a moment, Megan relaxed and hugged her back.

“She was a shit, Megan,” Justine said gently. “You need to move on.”

“Oh, I moved on a long time ago.” Megan disengaged from their embrace.

“Have you?”

“Oh, come on. I date all the time.”

“And how many women in the last fi ve years have you dated more than once or twice?”

Megan turned away to look out the window again, and the question hung in the air. “You better get going,” she said fi nally, without looking at Justine.

“I didn’t mean to get you pissed off at me.”

“I’m not.” Her tone and posture made it clear that she most certainly was.

Justine sighed. “I’ll see you at the river, then.” When Megan made no move to answer, Justine picked up her gear and departed.

I am over you, Megan chanted again and again to herself, as if the words could form a talisman to keep images of Rita and their life together at bay. They’d had fi ve wonderful, perfect years together. Life in suburbia, white picket fence, exotic getaways, and exceptional sex.

But so far, Chaz had been stirring up mostly negative memories.

Memories of the day. March 29. The day Megan’s orderly life turned upside down, and everything she thought she knew went right out the window. The day a stranger told her that her loving, devoted wife was

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Дата добавления: 2015-11-14