Chapter Nine
To say the plane ride was the longest of my life would be a gross understatement. I have two years worth of restless energy just waiting to explode, but I have no time to think of such things, especially since Mrs. Butterworth needs me.
I run to claim my small animal and nearly cry when I see her little crate. With great emotion, I pull it off the conveyor belt and set her free! Only wait, that’s not my cat. What the—I have just opened up the cage to a giant iguana. Where is Mrs. Butterworth?
“Mom, someone’s stealing Izzy!”
Spinning around to look at the little boy who was ratting me out, I find a large Hawaiian woman with a miu miu on glaring at me. “Give the boy his iguana and I won’t press charges.” The mom is now in my face. Beads of sweat pouring from her forehead as she leans in closer.
“Um.” I’m stammering. “I thought it was my cat, I’m so sorry I didn’t know. Here.” My words tumble out as I hand them the cage and continue to apologize as the little boy bursts into tears.
“She hurt him! Look he’s bleeding!” The boy is pointing at the iguana’s foot and tugging at his mom’s dress at the same time.
Oh. My. Gosh. I’m going to prison.
“Trouble?” I didn’t know Preston was that close to me until now. What does he think he’s going to do? Charm her to death?
“Mr. December!” The woman yells as she throws a camera at her small child and paws her way toward Preston. “Is it really you?”
Preston’s chuckles as he shoots me a “you’re welcome” glance and answers, “Why of course it is!”
The lady asks for his autograph, apologizes for the confusion when Preston explains to her that “yes, I’m sorry about my friend you see, she’s sick, she forgot to take her pills this morning and thinks every animal is her long lost cat”.
Then they both look at me with sad eyes before she answers, “Oh the poor dear, well here for your troubles.” And proceeds to hand him a box of chocolate covered macadamia nuts.
“Thank you, Sue,”
Oh great now they’re on a first name basis.
“It’s just hard sometimes when you love someone so much but they don’t know it.” Oh awesome, and now he’s fake crying. Perfect, shoot me now. She embraces him as he fake cries on her shoulder all the while giving me a thumbs up behind her back.
Sue, as he called her, leaves just in time for me to stomp up to him and raise my fist.
“Whoa there, careful where you bust those things out at,” he says pulling my hands down to my sides. Apparently, my hands are now weapons.
“Unbelievable,” I say pushing past him.
“What is?” He catches up to me.
“Your ability to sweet-talk anything wearing a skirt,” I say exasperated.
“So…” He steps in front of me, blocking my view of the conveyor belt. “Does that mean we’re excluding men? Because I’ve sweet talked my fair share of the male species, not that it’s something to brag about.” His smile is all together way too alluring for his own good.
“Curse you and your stupid fireman good looks,” I say, pointing my finger into his face.
He takes my finger and pulls me into a freakishly tight embrace. “Admit it, you kind of like me.” His lips are now inches from mine, causing me to do the double take between his eyes and his lips. Let’s be honest, every girl does it. It’s like the dance before the kiss happens the time when the eye contact goes from “hey I might kiss you” to “hey I’m going to kiss you’.
“I’m not going to kiss you,” Preston answers, interrupting my daydreaming.
“Did I ask you to?” I push him away so I can watch for Mrs. Butterworth.
“If that wasn’t you asking, I don’t know what is.” He leans over the conveyor belt and lifts Mrs. Butterworth’s cage into the air to examine the damage. “It appears Mrs. Butterworth has escaped.”
I feel faint. “What?”
“Look.” He points to the lock for the cage. I notice with absolute horror that he’s correct in his assumption. Not only is the lock broken, but Mrs. Butterworth isn’t inside.
Panic rises up within my throat as I look around the outside airport for any sign of a cat-napper. “We have to call the police,” I say, tugging his shirt for him to follow me.
“What?” He stops in his tracks and looks at me as if I’ve just told him I plan on murdering him and burying him in my back yard.
“We need to call the police.” I say it slower, irritated he didn’t catch it the first time.
His look turns pensive as he answers, “It’s not that I didn’t hear you, I just don’t understand why we need to call the police and inform them that your naked cat has escaped. She could be anywhere.” He lifts his arms in the air.
My throat starts to close as tears threaten to fall down my face. Not again, I can’t cry in front of this man again. It’s not just a cat, though, and everyone knows it. Well, only Kristin and I know it. I continued to nod my head in understanding, but feel myself weaken as I see Kristin and Brad walk our way.
“You guys ready?” Brad calls as he nears us.
Kristin looks at me with mixed confusion then Preston fills her in. She rushes to my side. “It’s not just a cat, Preston. We need to call the police.”
Preston rolls his eyes again. “What am I missing? Does this cat possess diamonds in its belly or something? Some sort of national security secret?” He’s trying to tease me, but I’ve had enough. I cry as Kristin pulls me into a hug and tries to console me.
Brad whispers to Preston, “The cat, it was a gift from her dad. He gave it to her for graduation. It was the last present she got from him before he died.”
Preston’s face pales at the news. He mutters that he’ll be right back before I break into sobs again. Why was I so stupid? Why would I bring my cat? I could have left her home where she’d be safe, and now it’s my fault that she’s gone. We aren’t going to search the entire island of Maui for her, it wouldn’t be fair. And she doesn’t even know how to find her way back home, considering it's across the ocean.
Kristin leads me to a chair where I sit. Brad brings me some bottled water and Pepsi to get my sugar levels normal after all that crying.
“Guys, this is silly.” My voice is now hoarse from all the crying. “We aren’t going to find her, let’s just cut our losses and go to the resort. Maybe she’s at the Boise airport and someone found her.”
We had searched the entire airport as well as notified security. There was nothing else we could do.
“Meow…Meow…Meow.” Now I hear her in my head; just perfect. “Meow…Meow.”
Wait, is that...
My heart stops as Preston walks up with Mrs. Butterworth in his arms amidst several fresh scratches. “She was in the plane still. I had to pay the pilot to go back in and search for her in the cargo hold. She wouldn’t come to him so I had to crawl in there and get her out. Thus the scratches. I think she’s okay, just a little scared.” My hero.
Running to him, I pull her from his arms and plant a kiss right on his lips in front of Kristin and Brad, not only shocking myself but Preston and Mrs. Butterworth, considering she let out a low hiss. I didn’t expect it to feel like this. His lips are warm and oddly comforting, yet there’s a controlled passion behind them. Abruptly, I pull away and clench my fistsas his face smirks.
“Remind me to do you favors more often.” Preston answers, wiping an escaped tear from my eye. And I know it's cheesy, but I start crying again. Not because I’m sad, but because he cares enough to climb back into a plane and find my lost cat. Unfortunately I’m still shaken by the kiss, enough to walk in the wrong direction for my luggage.
Kristin and Brad both lift up their eyebrows in surprise before exchanging smug glances between themselves. Please, as if they had anything to do with this, plus it’s not like I’m marrying Preston. I’m just thankful and I wanted to show my thankfulness in a good way. But I’ll admit his lips did feel good against mine, in a platonic way of course. It wasn’t so great that I’d think about it the entire way to our resort, maybe.
****
“Holy cow!” I yell as we enter the town of Kaanapali. It’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen. Honest, I want to live here, just think! Then Mrs. Butterworth wouldn’t need sweaters anymore. Looking out the window, I take in the smell of fresh cut flowers and ocean. Does it always smell this nice here? I close my eyes in ecstasy as the car takes us around another corner down into the valley. The water is so blue it doesn’t even look real. Though I’ve complained about having to share this vacation with Preston, that’s the last thought in my head as I absorb the beauty of this place. Somehow it seems like a small sacrifice in comparison. Although I do wish I was with someone who wasn’t so infuriating, that way I would have a friend to explore the island. The look of love between Kristin and Brad tells me I won’t be seeing them much. After all, they’re in a penthouse suite, while Preston and I are in separate rooms. Hopefully, our rooms won’t have connecting doors, and perhaps they’ll be separated by a few stories as well.