The disclaimers: Every character who matters is at least 18. A work of fiction (more or less). Any resemblance to any person, living or dead, is coincidental (for the most part).
Part 3 picks up on Monday morning, the day after the MC's ex-fiancé's sister, Hayleigh, agreed to accompany the MC to Nassau on what was to be the honeymoon. More unsettling revelations and an adventurous Hayleigh take the MC on a roller coaster ride.
This one actually has some "good" sex in it, not the cheating kind. Be patient with me, that sort of writing is very much out of my wheelhouse.
~~~@~~~@~~~
~~~ SUNDAY EVENING ~~~
I read Hayleigh's message several times before it occurred to me to respond.
"Can't tell you how much am looking forward to tomorrow. Endlessly sorry if I upset you earlier. Do not want to ever hurt you."
Hayleigh texted back a row of smiley-face emojis that had tiny red hearts for eyes. I set three separate wake-up alarms on three different devices, and drifted off to sleep.
~~~ MONDAY ~~~
As it turned out, I didn't need the alarms. It's strange how sometimes a person's own mind will set a subconscious timer and you wake up yourself before the alarms. I decided to grab another shower to help shake off the sleep. Thirty minutes later I was in my travel clothes and had my bags packed. I decided to go with casual clothes, but something much better than jeans and a T-shirt. The resort in Nassau was upscale, and more than that, I wanted to make a good impression on Hayleigh. It was almost as if I was courting her, which was silly, given the "circumstances" as she and I had decided to call them.
Steve called to check in on me. He joined my parents in the camp of people less than enthusiastic about my plans.
"Dude, in the pantheon of raging stupid things to do, this rates as epic. I admit she's cute. But not cute enough to do this. I'm supposed to be the careless one who does stupid shit without thinking about consequences, not you."
"Wrong, dude. She absolutely is that cute. Still, it's just a fun trip with a fun girl, and better to go with Hayleigh than to let the tickets and reservations all go to waste."
"I call bullshit. This will send Jennifer into high orbit, and you know it."
"Major side benefit, true. I admit the payback factor looms large. Assuming she gives a rat's arse about me anymore. Or really ever did."
"Bullshit! Jennifer will have a stroke when she finds out you're with Hayleigh. This is like when my dad found out that my mom was screwing my uncle. You'll be able to see the mushroom cloud from Nassau. Just don't get in too deep. But do prang her a few extra times for me though, OK? Good luck, dumb-ass!"
Steve was right about not getting in too deep, but in the moment I didn't care.
I came downstairs and said my good-byes to Mom, who gave me a big hug and told me to "have a good time," as if I was headed off to summer camp for a week. Summer camp never featured pink sand beaches and banging a hot little blonde. I couldn't find Danni to say bye to her. My father told me she said something about grabbing some breakfast from the local taqueria before she had to be at her shift at her summer job. I surmised that the real reason she took off was that she was still upset with me about the trip and didn't want to see me. I would smooth it over with her later.
The drive to the airport with my father mostly avoided the touchy subject of the trip itself. Instead we talked about preparations for law school at Northwestern. My parents were pleased that I managed to get accepted to a top-tier school that was close to home. We all would have preferred Harvard, or Yale, or Michigan. Who wouldn't? But none of those schools were keen on me. Besides, Northwestern offered me substantial tuition assistance, and combined with my other scholarships, savings, and a few loans, the finances worked out OK, even after the debacle that derailed my marriage. So instead my father and I talked about where I should live, whether I should try to get a roommate, and other similar chit-chat that we had discussed many times before. Before we knew it we were pulling up to the passenger drop-off area and I was getting my bags out of the trunk.
Dad was philosophical. "Your mother and I are truly sorry about how things turned out with Jennifer. I hope this trip helps you get your head straight and your heart mended." He extended his hand, his peace offering for being hard-nosed about going with Hayleigh.
I took my father's hand. "I don't care what they say, Dad, you're OK by me."
The Old Man pulled out of his pocket what looked like about $1,000 in cash. "Your mother I and were going to give this to you and Jennifer as an extra wedding gift, just so that you two would have money to splurge on something if you wanted. We figured that you and Hayleigh ought to have it. Treat her well."
I was genuinely surprised. "Jeez, this is so unexpected. Thank you! And I will. Treat her well, I mean. As crazy as this sounds under the circumstances, I really like this girl, Dad."
He smiled. "I know you do. Try to remember that she's not Jennifer. Have fun. See some sights. Laugh and play. Exorcise some demons."
My father got back in his car and rolled off. As I wheeled my luggage toward the terminal entrance I thought I saw Danni's car in the distance. There couldn't be too many bright green Mini Cooper Clubmans with Wisconsin Badgers plastered on the rear glass. It couldn't have been Danni's car though. What would she be doing here?
There weren't many people in our local airport's small terminal, so Hayleigh would be easy to spot. But I didn't see her anywhere. She said that she would arrive at least an hour before boarding, and it was past that mark now. My paranoia reared up again. After all of this, did I get stood up after all? No messages or missed calls on my phone. Panicked, I was about to text her when she emerged from the women's restroom.
I was literally stunned. Rather, Hayleigh was stunning. She was wearing a pale blue skirt that perfectly matched the curves of her hips and led the eyes to what had to be the best pair of legs in all 50 states and 5 territories. A matching yellow and blue short-sleeved blouse brought out her upper curves without being at all tarty. A lightweight blue linen jacket was folded over her arm. Her thick blonde hair, which usually fell in soft curls that reached past her shoulders, was in a perfectly set ponytail secured with a blue ribbon that exactly matched her skirt. I had never seen Hayleigh like this before. She looked even better than she did in her bridesmaid's dress, and she was deadly in that bridesmaid's dress.
Hayleigh was scanning the terminal looking for me. I waited until her gaze pointed in my direction and then pretended that I just saw her, too. I didn't want her to know that I had just been standing there like a nitwit checking her out. When she saw me she broke into a big smile and propelled herself to me in that half-walk half-skip that only women seem capable of doing. She hugged me like we had been paired-up for years. She stood on her tip-toes to give me a quick peck on the cheek, and then flashed a killer smile that was nowhere to be seen at the wedding.
"You clean up pretty good," she said with a dollop of playful sarcasm.
"Thanks, but I don't hold a candle to you. Honestly, Hayleigh, you are unreasonably gorgeous!"
"Oh, stop!" she said with mock dismissal, but I could tell that the compliment made her glow inside. She didn't just throw her outfit and look together. She spent some time on getting things just right, and I knew at least this much about the female psyche, she would have been disappointed if I hadn't noticed. Believe me, I noticed.
I stood there like a moron, tongue-tied. Now that the moment was here, I was choking. Hayleigh to the rescue. "Well, if you're done checking me out we should get our bags checked and boarding passes issued, right?"
That snapped me out of my fog. Crap! She knew I was checking her out. "Yes, we should. We have a lot of flying ahead."
There were a couple of small groups in line ahead of us, which gave us time for some chit-chat. I mentioned seeing what looked like Danni's car here at the airport. That prompted an unforced laugh from Hayleigh.
"It WAS Danni's car." My face must have betrayed my confusion, so she explained. "I told you that a 'friend' agreed to take me here. Danni IS my friend you know."
I was backpedaling now. "I know she is. I'm just surprised that you asked her to take you, considering."
"You have it wrong, Tom. I didn't ask Danni, Danni called and offered. She told me how important this trip had become for you, and she wanted to make 100 per cent sure that I got here on time. She didn't want to leave anything to chance."
That was a troubling bit of information. "I wish she hadn't told you that. This trip is important to me, but I don't want you to come with me out of pity or feeling obligated or anything. I only want you to go if you genuinely want to be with me. Honestly, Hayleigh, hope this of your own free will, not because you feel you have to, or feel sorry for me."
Hayleigh got misty-eyed on me. "Tom, now you listen to me. I called YOU to ask if the offer to come in my sister's place was for real, remember? I'm here because I want to be here. I'm going to let you in on a secret. I'm more than a little fond of you, and I have been for a while. But you were engaged to my sister, so that was that."
That was an interesting admission. I had no idea she fancied me. Not like that anyway. Sure, Danni had said so yesterday, but I wrote that off as another of Danni's over-the-top exaggerations.
Hayleigh took my hand in hers and gave it the same gentle squeeze she did at the church. I returned the gesture. A warm flush coursed through me when she kissed my cheek.
Then she said something totally unexpected.
"Of course, you should know that I don't have complete free will in this deal. Danni was emphatic that if I hurt you my body would never be found. So I have to be good to you, or Danni will kill me. Literally, I think."
The tension dropped measurably. "That's funny, because Danni told me that if I hurt you she would dispose of me in that fire pit we have in our back yard. I'm not sure whether I would be dead already or burned alive."
Another misty-eyed look. "Then I guess we better not hurt each other, eh?"
"Right." I don't know what motivated me to do it, but I lifted her hand to my face and kissed it. I could fall for this girl if I wasn't careful. My father might have been right after all; this trip could end badly for both of us.
We soon found ourselves next to be checked in. Thankfully there was no trouble about Hayleigh's ticket, and in no time we had our boarding passes in hand and headed to the gate area to be poked and prodded by the TSA. The line was mercifully short, and soon we were seated at our gate waiting to board the little Embraer turboprop for the hop to Minneapolis-Saint Paul. We barely sat down when Hayleigh's phone rang. Her demeanor changed immediately; the call clearly was unwelcome. She didn't answer. Not that it mattered. Whoever was calling was blowing up her phone.
"Something wrong?"
"Not yet there isn't. But I did something that might cause a problem." She didn't look at me when she said it. "I couldn't just disappear without letting my parents know where I was. I mean where I was going. So I left a note on my bed telling them that I decided to go with you. That was my father calling, so they must have found my note."
