Lost in Flight by Neeny Boucher Read Free Book Online Page A

here – in Shanwick.  The ex-love of his life, former wife, sister of his best friend, and part of the only family he’d ever really felt he belonged to.
    That woman had torn through his life like a tornado and together they’d wreaked havoc on just about everyone around them.  He’d loved her since he was 16 years old – when he’d first seen her really sing and she’d lit up the stage.  It took him nearly a year to pluck up the courage to ask her out and it had been intense from start to finish. 
    A part of him still loved her, but a large part hated her as well.  He hated the way she could affect him and drive him crazy like no one else in the world.  She’d look at him with those dark eyes that haunted him, reminding him that as far as she was concerned he was a failure:  he couldn’t make her happy.  It hadn’t always been like that, but the end of their relationship tainted it all. 
    Riley hated it, but he owed her.  He knew that.  Distance and self-reflection had given him that insight.  In fact, he owed all the Martins and whether Christina liked it or not, he was sort of here for her.  
    Now he’d screwed it up.  He’d never planned on any of this happening.  He was going to keep himself in the background, but it hadn’t worked out that way. He didn’t know what he wanted more in this moment:  to hold her or hurt her, but neither was an option. 
    With a last look at the Martin home, Riley decided he’d just get out of here.  It stood out on the landscape, not just as the last house on the street before farmland in Nowhere Ville but also, as a converted barn in a sea of plain little boxes.  He’d always thought the house suited them.  It was ahead of its time, different and creative, and had no place situated on that street.
    Riley ran the rest of the way back to his farmhouse to get underway.  The farmhouse used to be Riley and Christina’s home when they were married.  They’d had a lot of fun here and times that weren’t so much.  The history didn’t bother him when she wasn’t here, but it did now she was back.
    He stuffed his clothes in a bag and walked over to his parents’ place.  The house was empty and he presumed they were all at church.  Riley left the keys to his truck and farmhouse on the kitchen table with a note explaining that he had to be somewhere for work. 
    Riley sighed.  He imagined his parents would be getting the low-down after church about the events that transpired this morning, and he didn’t welcome that discussion.  He got into his Audi A4 and shook his head.  “Christina Martin” – she was no good for him and he knew if he stayed, he was just a six-pack or half a bottle of whiskey away from making more of a fool of himself over her again. 
    He didn’t know what it was about her and he’d stopped trying to analyze it.  She was unpredictable, talented, funny, and smart.  She was also a scatterbrained, stubborn, bat-shit-crazy-ass bitch.  She brought out every protective instinct in him and others less noble.  He didn’t know what the magnetic pull was, but he resented it.
    Riley pulled out onto the road and as he passed the Martin home he saw Mandy and Bonnie leaving.  Oh good one .  Christina would have told them all about it and it would do the rounds amongst their friends.  He gritted his teeth and made his way to the highway, where he accelerated out of there.
    What Riley needed was to get his head into work and Christina out of it.  He knew he shouldn’t have baited her, but he couldn’t help himself.  Watching her unravel gave him more pleasure than it should have and they’d inflicted enough damage to each other over the years.  This time, as far as he was concerned, they really were done.
     
    ********************
     
    Riley made Seattle mid-afternoon and drove to his house in Fremont.  He hardly ever used this place because he traveled a lot for work, and he was becoming increasingly weary of that life-style.