Chapter 17

Love is in the air!

Bree caught Gina out of the corner of her eye. She thought that Gina would come join the fun they were having with Rachel. She looked and watched her walk slowly away. Bree didn’t like something she saw.

“Hey, you two, I need to get out now, I feel like a raisin”

“Go ahead Ursula, I’ve got little Ariel here in me power, har har harrrrr” laughed Jim in his absolutely terrible pirate imitation. Rachel was splashing him so he couldn’t see.

Bree grabbed her towel and dried off. She threw her cover up on, and went to where Gina was sitting, staring out the window.

“What’s up, Gina?” Bree said with concern. Gina was crying silently, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“I don’t know, Bree. Hormones, I guess”

“Don’t give me that, girlfriend. I know when someone’s hurting. Please, tell me what’s happening. If you’re hurting, I am too”

Turning to Bree, Gina tried to say something, but instead she lost it, crying into Bree’s shoulder with sobs of anguish. She couldn’t speak. All she could do was cry. Bree just held her, tears running down her face. “Let it out, honey, let it all out” Bree said softly to Gina.

Several minutes later, Gina had calmed down enough to talk. “I saw Rachel playing with Jim in there, having such a good time. She never had that with her father, really, he was always trying to get her to play baseball, football or hunting. She never liked those things or got them, but she played anyway to please her father. He would get so frustrated with her” she paused “He never would accept the reality of who she really was. I hurt for the lost years, I hurt for what Randy missed. I saw her with Jim, and what could have been with her father”

“I understand, Gina, I really do. I got my father back for a time. Rachel never will. But she is stating to move on, Gina. You have to see that”

“I do, Bree. I realized how much I miss having a partner in life. I see her with Jim, and I wonder....if maybe...there could be a future with him. It’s silly, I know. I mean, look at me. I’m as big as a whale, I have two kids already...I...”

“Gina! You’re beautiful! Where do you think Rachel gets her looks? You look twenty six, maybe twenty eight, You have a killer body. So what if you’re a little big from the pregnancy. Doesn’t everyone? You have had a mountain of stress thrown on you, and you still have the most beautiful face I have ever seen. It almost makes me want to color my hair dark...again”

Gina burst out laughing at Bree’s comment about her own hair. “Whatever, blondie. I am not that pretty”

“Don’t put yourself down like that, Gina. You are stunning, and any man that can’t see that is blind or stupid. It doesn’t matter if you’re pregnant or not”

“What would people say? Randy hasn’t been dead for five months yet”

“Who cares. Gina, how long has it been since you really had someone to truly share your life with”

“It’s been a long time”

Looking around to make sure no one was close, Bree said quietly “Look. I’m supposed to keep quiet about this, so you can NOT let on you know, okay?”

Gina leaned forward with interest “Okay, spill it”

“Jim volunteered to take this assignment without pay. I’m paying him, of course, but he still volunteered. He was asking me all sorts of questions about you. Most I couldn’t answer, because I haven’t known you all that long myself, but I know he likes you. A lot!” Bree giggled and got closer to Gina. “He LIKES you!”

Gina beamed “Oh my God! Bree, what am I going to do! I haven’t done this in years! What will my kids say?”

“They’ll love it as much as I do!” Bree hugged her. “I feel like I’m back in high school! I was going to burst if I had to hold that in any longer! Let’s grab some breakfast and talk some more about how to catch that big bonehead”

Gina and Bree left to go to the kitchen to grab some breakfast. Jim and Rachel were coming in to the room as the two women left. “What were those two up to?” asked Jim.

“Who knows? Old people stuff I guess. You should know all about that!”

Jim took his towel and snapped it at Rachel. She jumped and squealed even though he missed her. “I’ll show you old, you little rat”

“Maybe later, old timer. I have to get a shower and get beautiful, while you do whatever it is you do to look, well, pretty much the same!” She giggled and ran upstairs.

Jim shook his head as he watched her leave “Whoever gets stuck with her is in for the ride of his life”

Rachel took her shower and took her time washing her hair. It was growing fast and was down to the top of her shoulders. She was going to have to get it restyled. She couldn’t wait until it was long and down her back. It would look so pretty, she thought.

She finished, dried off and did her hair and makeup. She was getting better every day, and was done in twenty minutes. A little foundation, eyeliner, mascara, and pink lip gloss and she was done.

She put on her underwear, a pair of pink heart print panties, and a pink bra. She picked out a floral print blouse and a denim mini that went to mid thigh. She didn’t wear hose, as she really didn’t like the feeling. She thought they were too hot. She picked out a pair of blue ballet flats to wear around the house.

She was getting really hungry, and went down to the kitchen to grab a bite of breakfast.

Her mother and Bree were at the table laughing about something. “What’s so funny, Mom?” she asked.

“Oh, nothing dear, just a little girl talk. I’ll tell you later. Can I get you something for breakfast?”

“No, I’ll just have a bagel and some juice. That should be plenty for me until lunch”

“Make sure you get enough to eat, honey” cautioned her mother “I don’t want you going all eating disorder on me”

“Don’t worry about that mom! I need to eat plenty to get my ‘you know whats’ going! I still look completely flat on top”

“Don’t worry about that, honey, believe me, they’ll come in. Look at mine!”

Rachel made a gagging sound “MOM! I don’t want to look at your boobs!”

All three began to laugh as Jim came in to the kitchen. “I don’t want to know” was all he said, and turned around and left, which made the girls giggle even more.

Bree’s phone rang, and she looked at the caller ID and picked up. “Hi, Gia! What’s up?”

“I’ve been to the Harris house, and picked up some things for Rachel, I have her cell phone and most of her clothes, as well as her makeup kit, which I’m sure she will want. Ice is bringing some more things for Gina and Maria. The house is trashed. There’s blood everywhere, and a ton of cosmetic damage. They won’t be able to live here for some time. I’d say at least a month or two of work needs to be done to get the place livable again”

“Thanks, Gia. I’ll pass that along to Gina. Anything else?”

There was a couple of calls on their machine, one of those was from Julie’s clinic. You may want to have Gina call”

“I’ll tell her. I’ll see you when you get here”

Gia disconnected and told Gina about the call from Julie’s clinic, and that her things would be coming from the house.

“It looks like they trashed your place, Gina. I’ll have my contractor take a look at it and give you an estimate for the damages. I’m sure you’ll want to turn that in to your insurance carrier”

“Yeah, I will” she sighed “I’m not sure I ever want to go back to that place, or that horrible town”

Rachel let out an audible gasp. “Mom, we have to! I just started making friends! I can’t leave Becca! I don’t care what the people there think! Please!”

“You mean after all you have been through, you still want to go back there?” asked her incredulous mother.

“Yes! I finally have friends, and the people who did this are in jail. If we have to move, I’ll have to start over again. Please don’t make me do that”

“We can talk about it later, Rachel. We’ll see what we can do if it’s what you want, but your safety comes before everything. You can always make new friends, but I can never replace you, is that clear?”

“Yes, Mother” pouted Rachel as she crossed her arms.

“Save the attitude, young lady. I said we’d see, and that doesn’t mean no”

“Okay” but the pout remained.

“They are bringing some of your things over from the house” added Bree “Including your cell phone”

“Awesome! I’d forgotten about it! I have to call Becca to make sure she knows what is up”

“I took the liberty of telling Becca some of your story, and asked her to pass along to everyone that you were safe, but couldn’t talk right now” said Bree. “you can call them from the land line here if you want”

“No, I’ll wait for my phone, but thanks”

Gia and Ice brought all the items from the house in and Rachel snapped up her cell phone and charger as soon as she saw it, thanked Gia then she was up to her room.

“Thanks, guys” said Gina. “I really didn’t want to go back there just yet”

“No problem, Gina” answered Gia. “It was the least we could do, and since we almost have the same name, it was almost like doing it for myself!”

Laughing, Gina said “I’d never really thought about it, but you’re right! My guardian angel is an ‘n’ away from being a Gina”

“Look, we are going to be in town on another assignment for Steve for the next few weeks, so anything you need, Bree, call Steve’s number”

Bree looked concerned “Where is Steve?”

Ice answered, “He checked out for a while. He said he wanted to get his head right. This op screwed him up. He said there were too many mistakes on his part, and he needed to get away” he paused, stretching his arms “He always was a drama queen”

Biting her lip, Bree asked “Where did he go?”

“Don’t know. He did tell me to tell you that he would call you when he got there. He took his satellite phone, so I’m betting he’s off the map somewhere”

Bree took a deep breath and sighed “I wish he would have told me”

“He said that Rachel and her family need you right now, and not to worry about him”

“That’s easy for him to say” Bree pouted. “I need him here”

“That’s what he said you would say” laughed Ice.

“Oooooohhh, that...that...man!” sputtered Bree while stamping her foot.

“He said you’d say that too”

“Oh he did, did he? Did he say I’d do this?” she then placed her thumb behind her teeth and flicked it forward, the Italian way of “flipping the bird”

“No, he didn’t say you’d do that” said Ice as he gave Gia a sidelong glance. “Look at the time! Spider! We need to get going. Tell Jim we said hello!”

The two mercenaries beat a hasty retreat in the face of Bree’s temper. She was not happy. She poured her heart out to Steve, and this was what he did? How could he? Didn’t he realize how she felt about him? When he called, she was going to give him a piece of her mind.

Bree turned to Gina and hissed “MEN! I will never understand them! I practically throw myself at his feet, something I might add I have NEVER done to any man, and he takes off on some damned safari?”

Gina found this side of Bree cute. She knew that Bree loved Steve very much and that she would welcome him back with open arms if she could just understand why he did what he did.

“Bree. Listen. Didn’t you hear what they said? He’s doubting himself right now. He needs to regain his confidence, and he’s probably out doing some macho thing to prove to himself that he has still got it”

“Oh, I know, I guess. I don’t know why I couldn’t have fallen for some accountant who worships the ground I walk on” she groaned.

Gina laughed “It’s our curse, Bree!”

Gina and Bree brought their things upstairs, and started putting them away, Rachel was trying to call Becca and getting frustrated. “Where can she BE, Mom?”

“Oh, I don’t know, in school, maybe?”

“Shoot! I forgot! I’ll leave her a message to call me when she gets out”

“You do that, and then get downstairs and bring your clothes up and start putting them away”

“Oh! Okay, Mom”

“I have got to get dressed, girls” said Bree. “I’ve still got my bikini on under this robe. Let me get showered and I’ll be back to help you out”

The rest of the day was spent unpacking and getting ready for Garrett and Maria’s arrival. Gina was feeling much better now, and more desirable now that she knew she had a potential suitor. Bree was still a little aggravated at Steve for taking off to parts unknown. She also resolved that when he got back, he would be too tired to go anywhere else. Bree smiled at that.