I woke up early the next morning first stop, my best friend, the shower. Well second best friend, the title of the former still belonged to my bed. And not this hotel one but my own at home. Although by standards, the hotel provided mattresses superior to my own, something about the familiarity and the fact that it was mine made it all the more appealing. I ran the water and took a look at myself in the mirror before hopping in.
“How did I end up here?” I asked the image staring blankly at me and not literally but mentally and emotionally.
How? I had been more than satisfied with my life and now suddenly things that I was content with were no longer good enough for me. I felt empty somehow, like something was missing. I stood in the shower enjoying the soothing hot water trying to figure out what that was.
The good thing about keeping a busy schedule is that it leaves no room to dwell on things too long. As long as I kept myself moving I would be fine. Before I knew it, I was dressed and walking down the hall to the Doroughs’ room. I knocked gently and in less than a minute Howie opened the door.
“Grace. Good morning.” He greeted.
“Morning.” I saw his wife tending to the baby, fixing his bottle and getting his things ready. She was surprised to see me there.
“Ready?” I asked.
Did I hear myself correctly? Usually it was Leigh that came knocking on my door looking for me, but now it was I asking her if she was ready. This was not natural; it goes beyond and defies the flow of the universe.
“Yeah.” She said all chipper. She grabbed her purse. “You sure you’ll be alright?” She asked her husband.
I don’t know why she asked him this. James was his son and he had taken care of him alone before but I guess that was just natural for a mother to worry about those sorts of things.
“We’ll be fine. Besides if things get to busy Leighanne and Baylee offered to look after him, remember?”
Ain’t that a picture to envision, Baylee taking care of an infant, although when you think about it, he might do a better job than me. Maybe they should make Baylee his Godfather instead of me.
“That’s right.” She kissed little James on the forehead and whispered to him, “Mommy will be back soon.”
The little sentiment tugged at my heartstrings and I felt compelled to look away when she kissed Howie good-bye, not out of disgust. It was a tender moment that perhaps was best left private, and it seemed like I was intruding on it. I wanted to give them that privacy so I excused myself and waited for her outside. I envied her a little. She had the life that I didn’t know I had wanted. And as much as I denied it to myself, it was becoming more and more evident with every passing minute. It wasn’t a greedy envy, but a thankful one, thankful that at least she had what I had been denying myself. It made me wonder how some people so easily accept the very things that others fight hard to prevent.
“Okay, all set.” She came prancing out of the room. “You know you didn’t have to leave.”
I just smiled at her. “I know, but it felt like the right thing to do.
“What’s wrong with you?” She touched my forehead with the back of her hand. “Are you feeling okay?”
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”
“I don’t know.” She looked at me suspiciously. “You’re all smiles today. That’s not like you.”
I laughed and then she threw the old classic line at me. “Who are you and what have you done with my friend?”
“Oooo-kay, Miss Body Snatchers, let’s go.”
“No seriously Grace, I haven’t seen you like this in years. This… jolly, I like it.”
“Shut it; let’s go before Miss Jolly strangles you.”
“Okay now there’s a little of the Grace I’ve become accustomed to.”
“…and Howie has to explain to baby why he doesn’t have a mother.”
“Okay…that-that’s enough.”
“Went too far?”
“Yes.”
We both laughed down to the elevator.
That kind of attention usually made me want to crawl back into my hermit shell, it was the reason why I let grumpy shine through most of the time, but today it only made me laugh. I guess I was looking forward to this “girls’ day out”, as Leigh had so ingeniously put it, more than I thought I was.
~
Our first stop, Leigh had insisted was the spa. She had been so adamant about it.
“In order to effectively reap the benefits of Vegas, one needs to be properly cleanse and purified of the outside negative influences that effect the mind, body and soul, and that, my friend, starts with a full aroma therapeutic body message.” She claimed as we stood in front of the spa.
I looked at her unconvinced. “Right.”
When her long philosophical explanation didn’t work, she added, “that and I already made us an appointment.”
“Okay, lead the way Mrs. Miyagi.”
“Boy you are quite the comedian today aren’t you?”
We walked in the main lobby of a very fine spa. Kudos to Leigh for picking such a place. I wouldn’t even know where to begin finding an establishment like this. I looked on in amazement; words can’t even begin to describe this place. Everything was so shiny. It was beautiful but the fact that I could see my own reflection in almost everything was a little creepy. I looked around while my companion confirmed our appointment.
“Dorough.” She said to the nicely dressed receptionist.
“Yes, Mrs. Dorough right this way.” I heard her say as I poked my head around the corner.
I’d heard the sound of streaming water but I hadn’t imagined what I was seeing before me. A waterfall, who puts a waterfall in a spa?
“Come on.”My friend said.
“Leigh.” I whispered. “Is that a waterfall?”
“Yes.” She laughed.
“Who puts a waterfall in doors?” I didn’t dare touch anything and not wanting to dirty even the floor, I tiptoed all the way to the room the woman had led us to. Leigh laughed at me for doing this. It just didn’t feel right to place my entire dirty shoes on such a pretty surface.
Inside there were two massage tables surrounded by more waterfall replicas. I leaned into the woman standing by my side. “Where did you find this place?”
“A friend recommended this place to me a few years ago, and I loved it, come here every time we’re in Vegas. It’s very popular place and you need to book at least three months in advanced, sometimes more.”
“So you made this appointment three months ago?” I asked.
“No, of course not.”
“Oh, okay, I was going to ask how you-”
“I made it as soon as the Vegas shows were confirmed.”
Now I had to ask. “And what made you so certain that I would come with you?”
She just looked at me with a little smirk. Oh, she’s good. I told you before; Leigh has a way of getting people do things she wants them to.
~
“Mmm.” I moaned as I felt the fingers touch my aching muscles.
“Oh, honey, you’ve got a lot of knots.” Said the therapist. “When was the last time you had a massage.”
“I’m afraid I never have.”
Leigh laughed aloud. I’m sure she was envisioning the look on the woman’s face. “How can you go through life not ever experiencing a massage?”
“That’s what I’ve been telling her all these years but she won’t listen to me.”
“I know.”
I hate to say it but Leigh was right, it felt wonderful. I tried hard to keep quiet but the sounds kept escaping from my mouth. I don’t think I’ve ever moaned this much even at the hands of a man, much less another woman. I had a feeling there was something on her mind, something she wanted to ask me, but she never said anything. She just let me enjoy my first massage in peace. I thank her for that. Minus the moaning, the ooohs and the ahhs, the rest of the session was quiet.
After the massage, we enjoyed fancy pedicures complete with a nonstop supply of champagne, though we didn’t drink more than half a glass each. Leigh warned that alcohol, before or after a massage was not the best combination nor did she recommend it.
“It gets you drunker, faster.”
“Really?” I had never heard of anything like that, but then again, I’ve never had a massage before so I wouldn’t know, would I?
“Yeah. A friend of mine, who was a massage therapist, told me that once. I don’t really remember why. Something about the blood circulation, I don’t know.”
We hailed a cab after we walked out of the spa. Now freshly relaxed and looking fabulous with our pedis and manis and don’t forget the amazing job the ladies did with our makeup, armed with credit cards, it was time to hit the stores. I’m not one to splurge my money. I’d much rather save it for emergencies, but hey, I had never pampered myself and I think it was about time I did. I’ve earned it. A little shopping spree once won’t hurt, will it?
“So how’s your week been?” Leigh asked.
“You mean aside from the grueling work and Nick constantly torturing me?” I joked.
“Ha ha. Yeah.”
“Alright I guess.”
I had tried on a couple of dresses, it had been a while since the last time I wore a dress. I’m not a tomboy or anything. I am a girl and I do love girly things, the makeup, the shoes all of that nice stuff, hell back home I have a collection of teddy bears and plushies guarding my bed. I just had no reason to wear a dress since Leigh’s wedding. It felt nice to wear one. I fell in love with a red mid length one that hung on the wall. It was absolutely gorgeous and I had to have it, but it came with a gorgeous price too. One that I could not afford.
I concentrated on the ones that I could that were just as pretty although they hadn’t capture me the way red did.
“You know Grace, Nick only picks on you because he likes you. That’s his form of approval. His way of accepting you into the club.”
“You mean, like an initiation?”
“I guess you could call it that.” She laughed as we made our final selections and headed for the check out. “But he doesn’t mean any harm but it. He’s only letting you know that you’re in with him. Thought it is a strange way to show someone, but come on, this is Nick. He’s not exactly a full grown man, he’s…Nick!”
The cashier rang up my buy, two dresses, a few pants and the tops to go with them, and of course no outfit is complete without shoes and a purse. The total hurt my pocket but I had to remind myself that I deserved it. I dug into my bag for my credit card. I would pay for this later but I didn’t care.
“Oh no, no, no.” Leigh pushed me aside. “It’s all going to be together.” The clerk nodded and began scanning her items.
“Leigh, no.”
“Don’t worry Grace I got this.”
“Leigh?”
“Really?”
“But-but it’s too much, I can’t-”
“Relax, Howie told me to. He gave strict orders and said they were not negotiable.”
“What?”
“Yeah, he told me to tell you that you were not to pay for anything and that you should consider this a Christmas gift and a thank you.”
“A thank you?” She nodded. “For what?”
“For getting Nick off his back. You know that boy’s been troubling him for years and he was glad that finally someone could get his attention off of him. Howie knows firsthand how easily Nick can drive someone up the walls; said you deserve it-some pampering, I mean.”
“Oh really? Well in that case…” I turned to the cashier, “I’ll take that dress on the wall.”
“Which one?” She asked.
“The red one.” I pointed out to it and bothh she and my shopping partner leaned over to look at the dress I was talking about.
“Yeah, I thought I saw you eyeing it. It’s gonna look great on you.”
“And tell Howie I said he’s an ass, but thank you and he’s welcome.”
~
Hunger kicked in about an hour into our shopping spree. Leigh treated me (or should I say Howie did) to lunch at this awesome restaurant that served Indian food. I’d never had Indian food but I heard it was great. I let Leigh take the reins on this one. I had no clue what to order. It was just like her to have me try something new, just like she had with the sushi in 2005 when we were in Japan. I’ve never cared too much for fish and the thought eating it raw was repugnant, but she made me try it and at first I’d found the taste a bit odd but now I love it and could it every day. Therefore, I trusted her and expected I would enjoy this meal as well.
She ordered the Tandoori Chicken and something called Kabuli Naan, which I had no idea what it was, but I heard her say chicken (the only word that I did understand) and told the waiter I’d have the same. We sipped on champagne while we waited for our food. I wondered if it was okay now to have some now, but I figured Leigh wouldn’t have ordered them if it wasn’t safe. When the waiter came with our dishes, I thought hey this isn’t so bad. It did look appetizing; it looked like, well, like chicken. I don’t know what I was expecting to see. Halfway into our meal, which I must say was quite tasteful, I found myself asking her something I had always wondered about.
“How did you and Howie fall in love? I mean how did you know he was the one? How did it all happen?”
“Are you sure you really want to know? It’s a sappy story. Sure you can handle on the mushy stuff?”
“I think I can manage, lay it on me.” I said bravely.
She chuckled. “I’ll give you the short version and I’ll try not to make you throw up, wouldn’t want to insult the chef now, would we?”
“Of course not. I’ll do my best to keep the chunks down.”
“Well, it was…unexpected. I signed on for a job…” Of course, that part I knew. “I didn’t expect to find love, especially not with him. I started traveling with them as you know and at first, it didn’t start off as anything more than a professional relationship. But one night in Rio, I had gone to a nearby café to have a cup of coffee and a piece of pie. Somehow, I’d managed to get some of that apple pie in my hair and I was wiping it off when Howie came in. He saw me there asked if he could join me.
‘I could use the company,’ I said.
He ordered himself a latte and took the seat next to me.
‘What are you doing up so late?’ He asked.
‘I couldn’t sleep.’
He looked at me, down at the table and then back at me. ‘So you thought a cup of coffee would help you?’
We laughed. ‘It’s decaf.’
‘Oh. Well that’s okay then.’
We stayed there talking until four in the morning when we thought we should call it a night. I was tired and didn’t think I would have any trouble sleeping. On our walk back to the hotel, it started raining. We ran until we found shelter in an alleyway with two building roofs blocking the water. We’d planned on staying there until the rain let up a bit. It was a small space, he stood behind and put his arms around me to keep me warm and out of the water. It was nice, just being there hearing the drops fall down, romantic even.
‘Your hair smells like apples.’ He said.
I angled myself so that I could look at him. His smile was breathtaking, then my eyes met his and in them, I saw what I hadn’t seen before. I turned my whole body around to face him. He held me tighter. I rest my head on his shoulder and I whispered, ‘I feel like a kid again. Outside, playing in the rain, as children we spend so much time, but as we grow up and become adults we forget what it feels like to dance in the rain.’
‘Let me remind you.’
He took my hand and led me into the pouring rain…and we danced. We just danced.”
The look in her eyes told me that she still remembered that day vividly and would so for the rest of her life.
“I didn’t even know he was interested. You see, I was just like you Grace, bitter, scorned with no ambition, no drive. I was so wrapped up in my own self pity that I’d been blind to what was there in front of me, I hadn’t notice the signs, but that night something occurred, something changed inside of me, it was like I had just been born.”
I was in awe after hearing her story, so much that I couldn’t even eat anymore. The waiter came and discarded our plates. “Will that be all for you ladies?” He asked.
We nodded and he left the bill on the edge of the table.
“You know what the killer part is?” She grabbed the black book without even noticing the white paper it held; slipped her credit card inside and placed it back where the waiter had left it.
“Hmm?”
“Is that I when I finally did get to my room, I couldn’t sleep.”
Author's Chapter Notes:
So here is the new chapter. Grace and Leigh get a little more intimate here.
Chapter End Notes:
Hope you guys liked it, and as always than you all for the great reviews!
