“Good morning,” Celia greeted, walking over and sitting on the couch next to him.
“Good morning,” he returned.
She leaned over and gave him a kiss on the mouth. It was not a kiss of passion, but one of affection and love. He returned it without even pondering the fact that most of society would think the gesture quite strange.
“Ready to go back to reality today?” he asked her.
She sighed. “I suppose it’s time,” she said. “First show tomorrow night. After that, the grind.”
“The grind,” he said, although, in truth, he wished that he could be the one going out on the road. He was, at heart, a traveling musician, and, except for a few brief travels with Bobby Z and Bigg G here and there, he had not been immersed in a tour since the Intemperance days more than eight years ago now.
God, he thought nostalgically, has it really been that long?
“Is Laura in the shower yet?” he asked Celia.
“She just stepped in when I left the room,” she replied.
“Maybe I’ll go look at her all naked and soapy for a bit,” he said. “Can you keep an eyeball on Caydee?”
“You know it,” she said with a smile.
He got up and went back to the master bedroom. Inside the bathroom Laura was indeed naked and soapy in the shower stall. He took a good, long, appreciative look at her (she could not see him because she was washing her hair currently) and then went back to his suitcase and pulled out a pair of underwear, a pair of shorts, and one of his tank tops. He carried them into the bathroom and then ran some hot water in the sink so he could shave. While the sink filled, he splashed some of it on his face and then picked up the pink can of Skintimate shaving cream. It had a picture of a woman’s leg on it and was designed and marketed for use by women on all of their delicate places that needed hair maintenance. The sexy, naked leg was all the marketing people dared display on the label. They could not really put a picture of a vagina there, which was a pity because it would probably sell a lot more cans if they did. Jake had accidentally discovered a few months before, when he had run out of his own supply and had to use Laura’s, that female shaving cream was actually far superior to shaving cream that was marketed to males. It had oils in it that made it smell good and that made the skin nice and smooth and moist and prevented chafing and rashes. He had been using the stuff exclusively ever since.
He slathered up and then began to scrape the stubble off his neck and cheeks. He was about halfway done when the shower turned off and Laura stepped out and began to dry herself with a fluffy white hotel towel. “You’d better leave some of that stuff for me,” she warned.
“There’s still half a can,” he told her. “Just don’t ever tell anyone I use this shit. That would be almost as damaging to my image as riding in your minivan.”
She giggled. “The Watcher would do an entire twenty-thousand-word article on it,” she said. “Complete with pictures.”
“That’s no fuckin’ joke,” Jake said seriously.
Laura put on her panties and a white bra. She then began to comb out her red hair and hit it with the blow dryer. Jake finished up his shave and then headed for the shower. He adjusted it to moderate warmth and then spent about ten minutes washing all the female scent and sex secretions from his body using a washcloth and body wash supplied by the hotel. He then washed his hair and rinsed. He did not repeat. By the time he was done showering, Laura was dressed in a pair of denim shorts and a green sleeveless blouse. Her hair was mostly dry and she kept it down.
“How do I look?” she asked him.
“Beautiful, as always,” he told her, earning himself a smile and a kiss that had a little bit of tongue in it.
“Did Caydee drink her bottle?” she asked.
“Drank it all gone,” he said. “She was making the rounds of the living room when I left.”
“She does love to motor.”
“Let her motor away. We got a long drive in front of us.”
“Hopefully she’ll sleep most of the way.”
“Hopefully,” Jake agreed.
While Jake put on his deodorant and then his clothes, Laura left the room, gave her daughter a quick hug and kiss, and then went into the secondary room to perform the ritual of mussing up the bed. She then folded up the crib and gathered all the baby supplies. She hauled them into the living room but left them there this time instead of setting everything up in the main bedroom. They were checking out today so there was no point.
Jake emerged and everyone went downstairs to the dining room, Jake carrying Caydee in his arms, Laura carrying the diaper bag. The dining room was moderately busy and a good portion of the guests there stared at the four of them as they were seated at one of the tables near the picture window that looked out over the lake. Most of the looks were simple curiosity at seeing actual celebrities in their midst, but a few were disapproving. There were whispered words, most of which they could not hear. This was fairly typical and all of them, even Caydee, were used to it and ignored it.
Laura and Celia both had the eggs benedict with a bloody Mary accompanying. Jake ordered a southwest scramble and orange juice. He gave a healthy portion of the egg and vegetable parts of his scramble to Caydee, putting it on a little plate on the high chair tray. She picked up pieces and put them in her mouth, usually saying “do” after each bite. She was getting a lot better at putting the food entirely in her mouth instead of wearing half of it, so all she required was a quick wipe-down with a baby wipe when she was done.
After Jake signed for the meal and added a generous tip—the waitress had been polite, efficient, and had not handed Laura a WEAVE card or accused him of Satanism, so she was suitably rewarded—they went back upstairs and packed up all of their things. They stacked them in the middle of the room for easy collection.
“This has been a great vacation, guys,” Celia said with a smile. “Thanks for bringing me along with you.”
“It was our pleasure,” Jake said. He gave a lecherous grin. “Literally.”
Celia chuckled. “That part was fun too,” she said, “but I was talking about the hiking, and the canoeing, and the helicopter ride we took. I can’t wait to see all the pictures I took! This place is so beautiful. I want to see it in the winter sometime. Do you think we can do that?”
“Sure, why not?” Jake asked.
“Sounds fun to me,” Laura said. “We never did get to go snowmobiling.”
“And we have to go to Venezuela again,” Celia said. “After the tour, we need to book a trip. We could visit my family and then fly south to Canaima National Park! That’s where Angel Falls is. The highest waterfall in the world. I’ve heard it is so beautiful there but I never got to visit. The only real way to get there is by air, which we couldn’t afford when I was a kid, but you have your own plane, Jake! Does this sound like something we can do?”
Jake and Laura looked at each other for a moment and then back at Celia. “Uh ... sure, we can do that,” he said. “Make a couple hops to Miami and then bounce over to Caracas and then Barquisimeto.” He smiled. “Yeah. That sounds like a lot of fun.”
“It really does,” said Laura, catching some of the enthusiasm. “I always did want to see more of South America.”
Celia smiled. “Let’s start thinking about it then,” she said. “After the tour, I want us to do this.”
“Then we’ll do it,” Laura said. She walked over to Celia and gave her a big hug. And then she kissed her softly on the mouth. “I love you, C,” she told her.
“I know,” Celia said, smiling back at her. “And I love you too, Teach.”
The Many Glacier Lodge was on the east side of the park and the Avanti was parked in a hangar at Glacier Park International Airport, thirty miles west of the park. The distance between the two places was only about sixty miles by air, but they were not traveling by air, they were traveling in a rented Toyota 4-Runner and, not only did they have to cross several high mountain passes, there really was no direct route from one point to the other. They had to exit out of the park to the east, drive for more than forty miles through the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, and then re-enter the park at the main east-side entrance. From there, they took the Road to the Sun up over the mountains and past the glaciers, seeing spectacular scenery during the trip, before finally coming down to the west entrance of the park and then driving another thirty-five miles to Kalispell. In all, the trip took three and a half hours. None of them minded, not even Caydee. They stopped frequently at the scenic overlooks so she could stretch her legs, crawl around a bit, and get her diapers changed. Celia took lots of pictures.