The sting of the rain was well behind him but the pain his gut remained. 200 miles on his motorcycle, through wind, torrential downpours and darkness did little to erase the most recent memory of his soon to be ex-wife. Her drunken commotion outside the Iron Horse Saloon was expected. She was a chronic boozer with huge dependency issues and often made an ass out of herself during biker events but what wasn't expected was her inebriated confession that her boss had been her lover for over a year. He suspected it but hearing it come from her lips, in front of others, was no different than being punched in the gut.
The confession came at the end of a long argument about her ability to ride her motorcycle back home. Trey had taken her keys when he knew she was wasted. He had to fool her to get them and when she finally put two and two together she became belligerent -- then mad. The volcano erupted when he turned his back to her to placate a bouncer and to see if he could get her a cab... It was then that she yelled out her news. The Iron Horse was too crowded and too bikerfied for any melodramatic silencing of the crowd... but his closest friends heard her and so did he.
The men in the group all said, "Oh shit..." The women simply looked at each other and said, "What?" Trey simply tossed her bike keys to his best friend, turned on his heels and walked toward his bike. Nobody followed. In less than four minutes his leather was on, his phone was off and his bike was headed south on US 1.
Kate had just hung up the phone for the 9th time. With her extended family arriving for the much anticipated family reunion, the logistics of the event, as usual, fell on her shoulders. For 19 years she had assumed the role of travel planner, vacation guide, complaint manager AND whipping post for each and every one of her husband's family gatherings.
These affairs had grown more elaborate and complex over the years. This summer, the headcount totaled 27 with every member requiring flight tickets, rental cars, and accommodations. What was once a small family get away trip to the coast had now turned into a convention of the damned... or at least that's how Kate thought of it...
If the reunion had grown over the years, her relationship with her husband had not. Sitting on the bed and staring at her phone that seldom failed to interrupt her private moments, Kate couldn't help but to chuckle when she thought of the latest addition to the party... her husband's 28 year old personal assistant. The new personal assistant complete with beautiful shoulder length red hair, full cheeks, tight ass and huge boobs.
Kate's suspicions that this was her hubby's latest fling were somewhat confirmed when she attempted to book the assistants room next to theirs. No, he demanded... the assistant must be lodged in the adjoining wing... the wing with more privacy and the farthest from the rest of the family members. The welling of a tear was halted when Kate recalled how she booked the assistant a smoking room... knowing full well that her husband, a former smoker, could no longer stand the scent of anything tobacco related!
With more details to tend to, Kate picked herself up off the edge of the bed, smoothed out her pants skirt, grabbed her purse, headed out the door and walked to the lobby.
As she had for the past many months, Kate saw an image form in her mind. More of a phrase, actually... Like a neon advertisement in the window of a bar, "EXIT STRATEGY AHEAD", beamed above and before her - as if all she had to do was walk forward to rid herself of the humiliation and heartbreak of her current situation...
The rain had let up north of Vero Beach but it took another 100 miles for the wet to leave his jacket and chaps. With no real idea of what he was doing, Trey only stopped for gas and to check his saddle bags for water.
He rode further south... passing Delray Beach, West Palm, Ft. Lauderdale then Miami proper. The sun came up over the condo studded eastern horizon as he passed the causeway for Miami Beach but he kept riding. Almost an hour later saw the intersection for Coral Gables and knew he had to make a decision... to turn around or keep going. It took one mile for him to decide that he wanted to have lunch further south... Key West became is destination.
Kate didn't notice the sun rise that morning because she was ensconced in the resort's business office trying to find a pediatrician for her 2 year old nephew who spent the night screaming with an ear infection. It did occur to her that the mother of the child could have as easily called the front desk and asked them for help instead of her room but Kate bit her finger in punishment for answering the phone at 5 AM...
An hour before lunch found Kate taking yet another cell phone call from her husband regarding someone's gluten allergy issue. She thanked God that almost everybody had arrived with the last stragglers expected before dinner.
It was just past noon when he navigated his motorcycle through the narrow streets of Key West and into the parking lot of his destination. Still a bit damp with his doo-rag a wreck, Trey unhooked his saddle bags and exhaustedly strolled into the resort front door. The reception area was packed, and the site of a leather clad biker with grime all over his boots raised more than a few eyebrows. Ignoring all those before him, Trey made to the registration line and found himself behind three very agitated retirees.
Walking past, just to the right, a woman perched herself at the concierge desk. What made this more interesting than any other woman was the sight of her in her tight fitting dress suit with her elbow on the counter and her left leg flexed, shoe dangling from her toes...
Whimsy was what came to Trey's mind... and he found that he was staring at her.
"Sir.", the reception desk attendant spoke.
He was transfixed on the shoe dangling from Kate's foot and the hypnotic motion of her calf muscle.
"Sir.", the receptionist repeated.
Still fixated, Trey noticed also that her pants skirt was moving in response to the slight movements of her ass muscles.
"SIR!"
Kate heard the clerk almost shout and turned toward the direction of the commotion. Doing so, she immediately locked eyes with the man starting at her legs... She held her gaze until his eyes traveled upward and met her eyes.
Lips slightly parted, as if in awe, Trey met the woman's eyes.
"SIR!"
Trey turned his head as if he'd been slapped in the face. In some ways he was... but the look on the face of the annoyed reception clerk told him to simply get on with the business of checking in!
He quickly did so and turned back... she was gone.
Kate was walking fast toward the elevators and was completely confused. What was it about a simple look that made her feel the way she did. She knew that she was attractive, she had spent hours in the gym and prided herself on looking good, what just happened was different.
She had just entranced a man and then she ran from him. She didn't even stick around long enough to get the room list she had asked for. All of a sudden, Kate wondered what she had become. In an instant she decided to shed the cloak of a frustrated and ignored wife of a skirt chasing senior executive and enjoy the benefits of a man's stare.
She stopped before the elevators, turned and headed back to the front desk.
Now he was gone.
Trey took the key, signed the register and didn't care a hoot what anybody thought. He had seen a sight that ignited a small spark in his soul and he grabbed his gear and made his way to the ground floor rooms on the east wing. His smile was brighter than the blush he was sporting.
Kate saw him disappear around the hallway corner as she made her way to the front desk. With a sigh, she took the room list from the dumbfounded attendant and retraced her way back to the elevators. Her phone began to ring...
The next several hours for both were a blur.
Kate managed to get every family member, and the new busty assistant, checked in and settled into their rooms. Each was prepped regarding the elaborate dinner plans for the evening.
Trey touched base with his family since his cell phone was littered with voice mails and texts of relatives and friends wanting to know his whereabouts... Frustrated with retelling the same old story, he shut his phone off, took a hot shower and inventoried his clothes. His clothes... he had his damp jeans, a few bike event T shirts, his leathers, two pair of socks and his boots. Not really Key West attire...
Not wanting anything more than a nap, Trey tucked himself in bed and launched some porn on his smartphone. He didn't even get past the cheesy opening credits before falling fast asleep...
Kate could only have dreamed of taking a nap. Her afternoon was one crisis management issue after another. Rooms to change, more food allergies to deal with, blood sugar strips to find... all made worse by the frustration of not bumping into her biker stranger again...
Trey was sleeping hard but hunger plucked away at his subconscious and soon he found himself up and deciding to join the rest of the resort for dinner. His clothes, dry but not clean, were collected and soon he looked exactly as he did when he arrived. He pocketed his room key, turned the door handle and made his way to the dining room.
By 6 PM Kate rushed to down to the lounge to preside over the gathered family throng and attempt to remind them of the dinner details before the adults got sloshed. Dinner for both was an afterthought -- Trey enjoyed a seafood dinner at the bar -- attempting to free his mind of the events of the past 24 hours and Kate didn't even seat herself since space limitations within the private dining room made it necessary for her to offer her place to one of the two unexpected surprise guests that accompanied her "evil" cousin, Marlene.
The flurry for each was so intense that they didn't even allow themselves the opportunity to revisit the brief encounter with each other earlier that afternoon. There simply wasn't the emotional time or energy to do so...
If Trey's dinner was the definition of emotional indifference then Kate's was the polar opposite... She found herself alone in the ladies room crying her eyes out, only hoping no nosey stranger would offer misdirected comfort. She thought the dinner went well until her husband and Mother in Law both took her aside separately to bitch about dozens of issues. Kate saw her dignity stripped away, one slice at a time, as steel lined tongues carved details of numerous complaints into her soul.
Tuning out her blue haired monster of a mother in law, Kate remembered the EXIT sign and immediately her humiliation turned to anger... and she vowed that this would be the last time she would ever allow herself to be treated less than she deserved.
