Taking the Leap (River Rain 3)

Photo on screen of Chad Head standing alone, tie askew, holding two glasses of champagne and looking like he doesn’t know where he is.

Cut to picture of Blake Sharp, leaning too far forward, mouth too far open, her bodice at her inside breast gaping a little too much and showing nipple.

Cut back to Elsa.

“Whoops! I forgot the spoiler alert! It isn’t a PG rating today, my wonderful watchers. Please, someone in the Blake camp, share the wonders of double-sided tape. Wardrobe disaster at your own pre-wedding cocktail party? I can’t. Fortunately, eventually, class arrived to tip the night in the right direction.”

Picture on screen of Alexandra and Drusilla Lynch, sitting at a bar, heads close, chatting, while the men around them watch.

Cut to photo on screen of Hendrix and Jamie Oakley, Oakley has his hand on Hendrix’s arm in a friendly/fatherly fashion, they’re smiling at each other while several women stand close, watching.

Cut to photo of Hendrix and Oakley standing while Alexandra and Drusilla continue in their seats at the bar. They’ve now ordered food, and it’s clear Hendrix has said something amusing, for they’re all laughing.

Cut back to Elsa.

“Oh me! I do play my favorites, don’t I? But seriously, they just make it so easy. Jamie Oakley is the sheer definition of getting better with age. And his daughter Drusilla, the apple of his eye, indeed, she’s the red shine on the entire Big Apple, is such a stunner, she’ll be snapped up in a trice. And I cannot wait to see who claims that blazing beauty. But, what’s this I see?”

Close-up grainy photo of an unusual but stunning diamond ring surrounded by a surfeit of the same resting on a left ring finger.

Cut back to Elsa.

“Yes. That’s on Alexandra’s finger. And yes, it’s uh-may-zing. And yes, I’ve never seen a ring like that used for that very particular purpose, but how marvelous someone knows how to buck tradition at the same time following it and enhancing it. And yes, rumor has it this means it’s official. But boo! We don’t have that official news officially. Once we do, guess who’ll be the first to know?”

Elsa points at the camera.

“You! Now, I’m sorry to report that today’s exchange is so very short.”

Elsa frowns.

“Though the good news is, we have days ahead of us of the ostentatious dragging out of the Sharp/Head wedding, so my exchanges will probably be more frequent.”

Elsa claps in front of herself twice.

Then she does a forward-flapping wave.

“Now, until our next exchange, keep it positive. Elsa is signing off.”

The branded Elsa wink and blowing of kiss.

Sign off.

Chapter 22

The Line

Alex

Rix’s ringtone woke us.

He grunted and took me with him when he rolled to his back and reached to the nightstand.

I lifted my head from his chest to see him looking at his phone.

I looked at it too.

And saw it said Mags Calling.

I also saw the time, which was six-twelve in New York.

Though in Flagstaff, it was a lot earlier.

We both pushed up at the same time, Rix yanking the charger out of his phone and taking a call that could not be good, coming at that time in Flag.

“Mom, all good?” he answered.

He listened.

I watched, tense.

He relaxed.

Automatically, I relaxed with him.

“Yes,” he said. “Yeah, Mom.” Pause and, “Yeah and no. It’s a diamond ring. It’s from me. It means something. But it doesn’t mean that,” Pause again, his sleepy-alert eyes coming to me. “Yet.”

Oh.

My.

God.

His attention went back to the call.

“Alex’s family is kinda fucked up.” Pause and, “Mom, you meet them, you’ll understand that using the words ‘fucked up’ is the only way to go.”

I started laughing.

Rix smiled at me and kept speaking to his mother.

“So, we’re kinda messing with their heads, mostly her sister’s, who’s seriously uncool with Alexandra.” Pause and, “Yeah.” Pause and, “No one ever said that. It’s not official. But we’re official. Though you already knew that.” A further pause and, “I should have warned you. But how could I know that woman would broadcast an exchange maybe hours after that shit went down, and she’d see the ring?” Another pause and, “No. Yeah. It’s good. We’re good. I’m good. New York has good pizza. And we gotta get up and get ready for some uppity-ass brunch that’s gonna suck.” One last pause and, “Get some sleep. Love you. Love to Dad. And totally. We’ll come up again soon when we’re back. Later.”

He tossed the phone on the nightstand.

Then he shared unnecessarily, “Mom saw the ring.”

“Elsa?”

He nodded.

“Wow,” I mumbled, impressed in spite of myself. “She’s fast.”

“She’s a pain in the ass.”

“She’s that too.”

Rix was done with this.

He communicated that with, “Wanna fuck or you want me to eat you out?”

My legs shifted.

He gave me another option. “Or sixty-nine?”

“I wanna suck you,” I told him.

“Then sixty-nine,” he decided. “Because I dig your mouth on my dick, but I want your cunt on my tongue.”