Eagle River (16 page)

“Well, that’s enough of that,” Maggie commented. “So, tell me, what have you been up to?”

“Nothing too thrilling. Pretty much same old, same old. Just school.”

“Are you seeing anyone?”

“No. I’m taking a break from the whole dating thing. I need to get my own act together.”
Besides, I can’t have the guy I want, and any other would be a poor substitute.

Maggie nodded. “I felt that way for a while after my divorce.”

“Can I take your orders?” A waitress had appeared at the table.

Chapter Twenty-One

Exes

~ Kjersten ~

“It’s freezing. Hurry up.”

“I’m trying,” Kjersten shivered. “My fingers are frozen.”

Lauren stared at the plume of smoke that was her breath. “Remind me why we decided to go to school in the Arctic Circle? We could be at the University of Florida right now, drinking margaritas and having gorgeously tan hunks rub oil all over our bodies.”

“I don’t know if they have any hockey players in Hawaii,” Kjersten commented dryly as she swung the door open.

“Hey, I’m over the hockey player thing. Now, I’m into tennis players.”

The long, sterile halls were dimly lit and the white tiles of the roof and the shadowy gray walls extended in two directions. The girls’ footsteps echoed weirdly through the empty, dimly lit corridors.

“This would be the perfect location for a pursuit scene in a Friday the Thirteenth movie,” Kjersten observed as the two women walked quickly to the Genetics classroom.

“It is pretty creepy here at night,” Lauren acknowledged with a shiver.

“Look, the lights are on,” Kjersten observed, gesturing at the small, rectangular window that glowed brightly in the darkened hallway. “Somebody else must have flies hatching tonight.” She opened the door.

After the cold, inhospitable darkness of the hallway, the genetics lab was brightly lit, comfortably warm, and reeking of a sickly sweet, sticky odor that was reminiscent of rotten bananas.

“What is that smell?” Lauren groaned. “I think I’m going to yak.”

“That’s ether and banana,” Kjersten explained. “You’ll get used to it in a sec, then you won’t even notice it.”

“Banana?” Lauren echoed questioningly.

“Yeah. That’s what the little buggers eat.” A very tall girl, who was red headed and fully dressed in black commented from her seat down at the table.

“Hi, Cat,” Kjersten greeted her classmate. “You know Cat, er, Cat, don’t you, Lauren?”

“Yeah. How’s it going, Cat?” Lauren acknowledged the other girl.

“Good. See this stuff?” Cat held up a scoop of blue powdered crystals from a bag. “Just add water and Voila! Wonder goo. They eat it and they live in it.”

“You science people are so gross,” Lauren groaned.

“My problem is that I can’t sort the flies very well. They all look pretty much the same to me. When I do get them differentiated, it takes me so long that they start to wake up. Their little legs start to twitch. So, I ether them again and again and before you know it, they’re dead,” Cat observed.

“Let me see.” Lauren jumped up from her seat and ran to where Cat bent over the microscope. “Wow, the little legs are moving. That one... He’s walking. Oh wait! He just lifted off.”

“Could you pass me the ether?” Cat said.

“I’ll bring it over,” Lauren offered. In her rush, she hit the bottle and it tipped over. She righted it quickly, but a pool of it had spilled. Cat grabbed two towels, one for her face and the other for the spillage.

“I didn’t realize that it was open,” Lauren apologized. “Can’t we open a window or something?”

“No, they’re locked. Try not to breathe the stuff.”

“Does it make you high or something?”

“I don’t know about high, but I always feel a little brain dead in this room,” Cat remarked.

The little group moved to another one of the long, narrow tables. Kjersten got to work sorting her flies.

“I can’t believe your parents spend a couple of thousand dollars a semester so that you can play with bugs,” Lauren remarked.

“I spend a couple of thousand dollars each semester to play with dead things in Anatomy and Phys,” Cat offered.

“The life of the bio major,” Kjersten remarked.

“That is so vile.” Lauren shuddered. “Please, let’s talk about something else. I can feel those Ranch Pringles that I snarfed starting to work their way up.”

“Now that’s gross... Hey Cat,” Kjersten called out, not lifting her eyes from her microscope. “You’re a reporter for ‘The Turnip,’ right?”

“The Turnip?” Lauren questioned.

“It’s an alternative student run paper,” Cat explained. “Haven’t you seen it? It’s in the Student Union and everywhere on campus. And yeah, I am.”

“Oh,” Lauren commented.

“Whatever happened to those frat boys who exposed themselves pissing out of a window?” Kjersten asked.

“I heard something about it,” Lauren commented. “Do you know all the juicy details?” she asked, her eyes alight with curiosity.

“These guys got tanked one afternoon a few weeks ago,” Cat explained. “They were all hanging out on their porch. Two women were walking by. The guys started to yell stuff, whistle and catcall. The women yelled back at the guys. So, one of them pulled down his pants and pissed out the window, several others did the same.”

“Idiots,” Kjersten commented.

“Then what happened?” Lauren asked.

“Well, the women called security. They said that the Frat guys had ‘brandished’ their penises at them like weapons, in a threatening manner, and that they felt violated. Anyway, it looks that the guys are being held responsible and made to face disciplinary actions. Jerks. I think they were some kind of athletes, maybe wrestlers. The whole macho, male bonding thing goes to their heads, and they treat women disrespectfully.”

“Not all athletes are like that,” Kjersten commented.

“No offense, Kjersten, but the jocks you’ve dated haven’t exactly been role models,” Lauren commented.

Kjersten shook her head and rolled her eyes. “No offense taken. Cam was a jerk.”

“Cam? Cam Fawst,” Cat shook her head reflectively. “Been there and done that, too. Sexy, but a total asshole.”

“You were with him, too?” Lauren questioned incredulously. “That guy gets around.”

“Yeah, he used to come into the Nasty Habit, where I bartend. Turns out, he was seeing both Kjersten and me at the same time.”

“What a pig!” Lauren commented.

“We figured it out at the beginning of the semester. By then, both of us were done with him so it didn’t really matter. We just bonded over it,” Kjersten commented. “The best part is that Cat had two bouncers kick his ass.”

“No way. That is so cool. What is it with that guy?” Lauren questioned.

“Well, he is hot,” Cat remarked. “He has an unbelievable body. I’ll admit he rocked my world. We had fun together. Then, I figured out that I was just a booty call for him, that he had a real girlfriend. So I had two of my friends kick his ass. Not kill him or anything, but at least give him something to think about.”

“Was Kjersten the girlfriend?” Lauren asked.

Cat nodded.

“Cam’s like a drug,” Kjersten said. “He gets you hooked. He’s an asshole, but there’s something about him. He comes across all cocky, but there’s also this lost little boy look in his eyes.”

“Yeah, well, he’s going to have to grow up now.” Cat observed. “I heard from a reliable source that Cam is going to be a daddy. His current girlfriend is pregnant.”

“Are you serious?” Kjersten was shocked.

“Yup. That’s what I heard,” Cat responded. “I sort of know his current.”

“Guys, I feel a little weird,” Lauren interrupted. “Not quite high, but definitely funky. You sure that the ether won’t affect us?”

“It shouldn’t,” Kjersten answered.

“Kjersten has to see Cam again soon. They are in a wedding together.”

“You serious?” Cat questioned, her dark eyes, bright and sardonic.

“And the best part is that Galen Odgers is in the wedding, too,” Lauren commented.

“Galen Odgers,” Cat stated. “That name sounds familiar.”

“He’s another guy that I used to date,” Kjersten admitted.

“Who is he?” Cat asked.

“The quarterback for Illinois University,” Lauren responded.

“We all come from the same home town. We’re all in a wedding together,” Kjersten said and shrugged.

“I am impressed.” Cat smirked. “I’ve got to start running in your circles. You doing some kind of comparative study or something: `QBs of the Big Ten.’ Ow, you didn’t just kick me, did you, Kjersten?”

Kjersten had pink creeping up her neck, but she laughed. “Galen went to my high school, too.”

“And you were the head cheerleader or the homecoming queen, right?”

“Nope. Co-captain of the volleyball team. I am definitely no cheerleader or homecoming queen. It’s a complicated story, but Galen dumped me, then I hooked up with Cam. Low self-esteem at the time, I guess. I had a hard time being alone.”

“So which one was better in the sack?” Cat questioned with a mischievous grin. “I mean, I know how Cam was, but what about Odgers?”

“Galen and I were the first for each other. We learned things together. We experimented together. We knew how to touch each other. The sex was pure magic.” Kjersten’s eyes drifted closed.

“And what about Cam?” Lauren prompted.

“He’s ... forceful. He likes to be in control. He looks at you likes he wants to devour you and then, he does.”

“You are so right,” Cat commented. “You’re getting me all hot and bothered now.”

“But I have to see both of them at this wedding and I don’t have a date,” Kjersten continued.

“You know I’d go with you if I could,” Lauren said. “But I have to go home that weekend. I promised my mom.”

“Which weekend are we talking about? Cat asked.

Kjersten glanced at her hopefully. “The third one in April. We’d go up on a Friday night and be back on a Sunday.”

“If you want someone to go with, I’ll go,” Cat offered. “This sounds too delicious to miss. Besides, it would be fun to see Cam again. He’ll freak if I show up.”

“Let’s do it,” Kjersten responded with a twinkle in her eye.

Chapter Twenty-Two

The Pontoon Ride and the Reception

~ Kjersten ~

Tom and Maggie’s wedding day afternoon proved to be cool, gray and drizzly. After the ceremony at the Faith Lutheran Church in town, all of the guests went to the Silver Beach Marina where they were to take a boat over to the Eagle River Lodge. Tom and Maggie had already departed while the wedding party gathered under a green and white striped awning, waiting to embark onto another waiting pontoon boat that was to carry them to the reception.

Kjersten, whose shoulders and upper chest were bared in the bridesmaid gown, shivered. “I wish we could go on the next boat ride,” she muttered to Cat, who stood at her side wearing a short, form-fitting black dress.

“Yes, but the wedding party has to get over to the lodge for pictures. You are in the wedding party.”

“I know, but look who’s on our boat,” Kjersten muttered.

Cat just chuckled, eying Cam and Galen and their dates. “This is exactly what I was hoping for.”

“Let’s get on last,” Kjersten suggested. “That way everyone else can get settled down and seated.”

“You mean Cam and Galen and their dates, right? Come on. Have some fun. Cam does look hot in his tux. He is great eye candy,” Cat murmured.

Kjersten nervously shook her head. Thankfully, she hadn’t had time to speak with either ex before or after the service. Unfortunately, there would be forced intimacy on the boat for the next twenty minutes or so. She took the step down into the pontoon boat and Cat, whose tight skirt prevented her from separating her legs, followed a moment later.

Cam nodded to Kjersten as she made her way to the bench under the Bimini top. His date, a tiny, top-heavy cheerleader type in a painted on sequined dress was tilting precariously sideways on a bench seat. She already appeared to be totally tanked and miserable. But Cam was paying no attention to her. His eyes were lasered in on Cat. “What are you doing here?” he demanded when she drew abreast of him.

Cat, who was his equal in height, glared right back at him. “I’m here for the wedding.”

“You bitch,” he snarled. “You’re lucky those guys didn’t seriously hurt me. I could have pressed charges against you.”

Cat put one hand on her hip. “That would have gone over well. I can see the headlines, ‘Cheating Coyote Quarterback Beaten Up by Night Club Bouncers.’ You can bet I would have told the whole story, if anyone had been interested.”

“You two are here together?” Cam snarled.

Both Kjersten and Cat smiled.

“About a year ago, we discovered that we had a lot in common,” Kjersten stated.

Cam had the grace to blush, then he shook his head and deliberately turned his back on the pair of his former lovers. “Classic,” he muttered.

As they moved further down the large pontoon, Kjersten gripped Cat’s hand. “That was so awesome,” she whispered.

“This trip was so worth it,” the other woman responded with a satisfied grin.

“She the pregnant one?” Kjersten mumbled to Cat, gesturing at Cam’s date with some concern.

Cat shook her head no.

Just then, Galen and his date appeared on the dock. He handed his date carefully into the boat. Cam and Galen exchanged curt nods and then proceeded to ignore the other.

“Chivalry has not died,” Cat pointed out, taking a seat beside Kjersten at the far end of the benches, one from which someone had already wiped the water off.

Galen’s date was a tall sporty-looking brunette. Once they were onboard, the couple moved down to the end of the pontoon where Cat and Kjersten sat. Taking possession of the bench opposite them, Galen covered the bench with his overcoat for his date and she sat down. He avoided making eye contact with Kjersten. “I’ll be right back,” he commented to his date, then went to help the other bridesmaids on board.

Galen looks delicious. He was wearing his dark blond hair longer than Kjersten had ever seen it, and it had a wave. It was combed back and styled. His body had grown thicker and taller, and the way that his pants fit on his muscular thighs nearly made her mouth waterwhen he walked to the front of the boat, where the other guys in the wedding party were congregating. Kjersten stared hungrily at his ass. It looks so grabable.

Cat caught Kjersten ogling Galen’s ass and winked. Kjersten blushed and looked away. Cat rolled her eyes at Kjersten expressively.

“Hi, I’m Sarah,” Galen’s date gushed.

“I’m Kjersten.”

“Cat.”

“Where are your dates?” Sarah asked.

“We came together,” Cat offered.

“Oh,” Sarah responded. “I’m so okay with that. I think it’s great that you feel comfortable enough to come together.”

“No, you don’t understand,” Kjersten broke in, seeing the amusement on Cam’s face.

But then Cat took her hand. “You know how it is, Sarah, you try new things in college, right? We found that we liked it.”

Sarah’s eyes went wide and Galen, who had just returned, chuckled.

“Kjersten.” Galen said, finally acknowledging her.

“Galen. It’s good to see you.” And it was. Her heart was suddenly pounding. “How are you?”

“Fine. I mean, good. And you?”

“Good, too.” Think of something clever to say. Or, just say something. Anything. But nothing came to mind. They both looked away from each other.

Once everyone was loaded, the boat pulled away from the dock. The other bridesmaids and Cat were engaged in the usual wedding chit chat but Kjersten zoned it out. Instead, her eyes and her entire attention were drawn to Galen. Look at me. She willed him. See me.

But he kept his face turned to the front of the boat, eyes fixed on the approaching shore.

So, Kjersten glanced ahead as well. The sun was bursting out ahead of them, burning away the heavy gray clouds. The entire panorama took her breath away and she was happy for Maggie and Tom. They deserved this beautiful day. Galen looks so good. His hair curls. Her fingers twitched with the forgotten sensation of running her fingers through it.

Kjersten glanced over at Cam. He looks good, too, she admitted grudgingly. Though shorter, he was broader than Galen with well-developed arms. His hips were narrow and his belly, washboard flat. But there was something too slick about how his hair was coiffed, something too polished about his veneer.  He glanced up and caught her looking at him. He grinned at her, and Kjersten deliberately looked away. Asshole. Dismissing him from her thoughts, she glanced back at the sky and the water. She breathed the rich, fresh lake breeze then exhaled slowly. This is so weird, being here with both of them. We pretend to be polite strangers. How odd, with everything that has happened between us, with what we’ve been to each other, all three of us. Oceans of history, all moving under the surface.

It was then that Galen turned from chatting softly with one of the bridesmaids to look at Kjersten.

Her gaze locked with his and her breath caught. There was naked longing in his gaze, desire for her, and it consumed her, set her aflame. Suddenly, the two of them were locked in a moment. There was a depth to his look that pierced through her and ensnared her. There was so much in his eyes, knowledge of himself and of her, and a nearly painful yearning suddenly stirred to life and echoed in Kjersten’s soul.

Found, I feel found, and I didn’t know I was lost.

“Hey,” Cat whispered and elbowed her, breaking the spell. “Don’t be so obvious.”

“What?” Kjersten asked.

“You two look like you’re going to eat each other alive. The girlfriend’s noticing. He does have a date, you know. You two are so not happening tonight.”

Kjersten looked up and found Sarah’s eyes upon her, speculation in them. Still, she couldn’t resist glancing back at Galen. He was still looking right at her, seemingly oblivious to all of the people around them. His gaze seared her, nearly tangible. Every part of her ached for him. Did I even understand that I still cared this much when I lost him? Somehow it hurts more now. Maybe we were too young before, too inexperienced to know what we had. Awareness of each other was a live current passing through the air between them, connecting them, drawing them together, back to each other.

“Man, you two got it bad,” Cat commented.

Kjersten glanced down then, breaking the connection. He has a date, maybe a girlfriend, so why does he look at me like that? Does he still feel something for me? I can’t speak to him here or at the reception, but when will I see him again? Her eyes felt suspiciously full and she swallowed the tears rising in her throat.

“I feel sick,” Cam’s date announced loudly from her seat near the other end of the boat, breaking the spell. She turned and rushed down the length of the pontoon to where Kjersten and Cat were sitting. She climbed up on the bench, staring down at the water.

“What?” Cat asked.

“I think I’m going to throw up. It’s either the mojitos or the water or...” Suddenly, the girl leaned over the side of the pontoon and began to vomit into the lake.

“Oh, gross,” someone commented.

Both Sarah and Galen stood up and shifted away from the sick girl.

“You okay?” Kjersten asked.

Cat reached over and pulled the girl’s hair back.

“Cam?” Kjersten called. “Your date needs help.”

Cam took a step back under the Bimini cover, took in the scene of the miserable and ill girl, and then growled, “Can this get any worse? Paige, you’re just embarrassing.”

The sick girl began to sob miserably.

“Come on, Cam. Have a heart,” Kjersten protested. “She’s in bad shape.”

“She’s pathetic.” Cam scowled, turning away.

“Cam, you’re such an asshole,” Cat exclaimed. “You need to take care of her.”

“I didn’t sign up to babysit. Obviously, she can’t handle her booze. She can go to our room when we get to the lodge.”

“Seriously Cam. You need to step up here,” Kjersten insisted.

“I don’t have to do a damn thing, including listening to you. You always were a bossy bitch, Kjersten.”

“Don’t you call her that,” Galen broke in.

“Come on, Odgers. You know she’s a bitch, a hot one, I’ll give you that, but a bitch.”

That was all it took. Galen pushed through the crowd, took a swing, and clipped Cam in the chin. Then he stood, fists raised, on the balls of his feet, ready to fight.

“Stop them!” the pontoon driver shouted.

Cam also clenched his fists, clearly ready and eager to go, but then, to Kjersten’s amazement, he took a deep breath, straightened up and adjusted his jacket. “You know, Kjersten, Galen, you two deserve each other. Everyone here knows you want to fuck her and from the looks of it, she wants to jump your bones, too. You’ve been eye fucking each other the whole time we’ve been on this boat. Just go get the job done, Galen. Maybe she’ll show you some of the things I taught her. I know you’ll appreciate them.” With that, he turned away and walked to the other end of the boat, leaving a stunned silence in his wake.

Kjersten closed her eyes. Let me disappear right now. Don’t let me be on this boat, going to this reception. Let it be over with now. She didn’t dare look at Sarah, Galen’s date.

“Wow,” Cat mouthed to Kjersten, once awkward conversations had started back up. “Wow, am I glad that I came.”

The island and the brilliantly illuminated, glassed in gazebo where the reception was taking place finally came into view.

Cam jumped out as soon as they docked. He didn’t say a word to anyone and just ditched his date. Cat and Kjersten were left to maneuver Paige over to the gang plank and then into Olson’s lodge, where they handed her off to Maggie’s mother. Galen and Sarah left the pontoon in a whispered but clearly heated conversation.

Charmingly decorated for the reception, the great room of the Eagle River lodge looked magnificent from the towering stone fireplace to the barrel vaulted ceilings. The woodsy décor had been given a rustic chic wedding makeover with foliage chains adorned with tiny white lights and multicolored lush cabbage roses. The rectangular head table was raised on a dais and looked out over the other round guest tables. Kjersten, who was seated at the head table, was relieved to find herself at the opposite end from Cam and Galen. Despite her best intentions, she caught herself stealing glances at Galen.
Stop it. He’s here with that Sarah girl. I’m not going there.
As for Cam, he had already found another attractive female wedding guest to sit with him. Cat appeared to be having a good time with another one of Coach’s former players, a big guy who had graduated a few years before Kjersten.

“They look so happy,” Tami, the bridesmaid seated beside her commented.

“What?” Kjersten said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you.”

“Tom and Maggie. He doesn’t take his eyes off her and she’s glowing.”

Kjersten truly looked at Maggie and Tom, but for a moment another face, a beautiful one with red gold hair, filled her mind’s eye. Jessica Odgers. Kjersten shook her head. Why think of Mrs. Odgers? Tonight is about Maggie and Tom. They did look brilliantly happy. Tom also appeared relaxed and content, not a demeanor that he usually wore. One of Maggie’s young daughters was on her mother’s lap and the other was seated between Maggie and Tom. The bride was radiant in her old fashioned, A-line lace gown. They looked like a family, like they were meant to be together. Kjersten was so very happy for them and what they had together, but she also ached with loneliness.