Tuesday
Ginny was enjoying the salad, the margarita, and the blow-by-blow account of the wedding in paradise. Caroline was pulling no punches, starting with a narration of the long flights, there and back, with detailed descriptions of her fellow passengers. Caroline was a good observer and an insightful judge of character. She made her fellow travelers come alive in the retelling.
“But what about the wedding?” Ginny prompted.
“I’m coming to that.”
An hour later Ginny’s side was hurting from laughing so hard. There had been the usual miscommunications, lost items, overindulgence (with consequences), and a long string of Caroline-saves-the-day events.
“She was lucky you were there.”
Caroline nodded, a half-smile on her face. “Yes, I suppose so.”
Ginny brushed the tears from her eyes and swallowed another gulp of margarita. Now they were coming to it. “But?”
Caroline sighed. “I’m glad I went.” She sat back in her chair, her expression thoughtful. “But I don’t want to do it again.”
“Why not?”
Caroline’s eyes met hers and Ginny found a complicated mix of disappointment and relief in them.
“This sounds so corny, but they’re not my people.”
Ginny nodded. All of them had, at one point or another, discussed the pros and cons of being born into a culture as different and demanding as the Scots. The ongoing lament was, “Why can’t I just be normal?”
“They expected all sorts of things from me I either didn’t understand or wasn’t prepared for, most of them having to do with spending money.”
“Like what?”
“Well, tipping huge amounts and gambling all night long and buying liquor by the bottle, then pouring it in the bathtub.”
Ginny waited for her friend to go on. Adolescent behavior happened at home, too.
“But it was more than that. They weren’t happy, Ginny. Not one of them.”
Ginny’s brows rose. “Not even the bride and groom?”
“Not even them.” Caroline leaned forward, resting her arms on the table, her eyes on the glass she was turning round and round. “They struck me as always on parade.” She glanced up. “Do you know what I mean?”
Ginny nodded. “Aware of other people’s eyes on them at all times. I’ve seen it.”
“Yes, that’s right. No down time, no relaxation, no genuine emotion. None that I saw, anyway.”
“But a wedding is a very public occasion. Maybe they relax at home.”
She sighed. “Maybe, but I guess I expected to see joy, or at least satisfaction. Instead what I saw looked more like a stage production.”
Ginny felt that was a good description of the modern wedding, but didn’t say so.
“What about the young man Jodie wanted you to meet?”
Again, Caroline’s eyes registered eloquent disappointment. “He was completely taken up with himself and at the same time kept trying to put me in my place.”
Ginny frowned. “What do you mean? He was rude to you?”
“Oh, no. He was much too well bred for that. It was more that I didn’t know how to behave. He kept trying to teach me what I was supposed to say or do or think. He was very sweet about it. He treated me as if I was a foreign exchange student, unaware of how things ought to be done.”
“But isn’t that true? You and Jodie have very different backgrounds.”
Caroline nodded. “Yes. It was true and he was trying, but again, there was no warmth there. It was all instruction, with a tiny bit of impatience thrown in to show me how far beneath his expectations I was.”
“Expectations?”
Caroline squirmed. “I wouldn’t sleep with him. I wouldn’t get drunk with him. I wouldn’t skinny dip with him. I’m a prude.”
Ginny snorted. She’d seen Caroline at work during the Friday night dances. If anything, she was a confirmed flirt. “You behaved yourself.”
Caroline glanced up, wrinkling her nose. “Yes, I did.”
Ginny was smiling now. “Well, that’s not such a great obstacle. He just needs to behave himself as well.”
Caroline picked up her glass, drained it and ordered another. “It’s not that I can’t misbehave,” she said. “It’s just that I wanted so much more than a weekend fling.”
Ginny looked at her friend. “What did you want? What do you want?”
Caroline’s eyes took on a soft glow. “Decency, courage, genuine emotion. I wanted a human being, not a glittering fake.”
“You want the Hieland Hero.”
Caroline smiled swiftly. “Yes. I do.”
“So why did you think you’d find him in Hawaii?”
Caroline was silent for several moments, thinking it over. “I suppose it’s because we hear so much about equality, that every race, religion, and culture is equally valid, that it should be easy to cross those lines, to interbreed. But I don’t think I believe it.”
She looked up and met Ginny’s eyes. “Some types of behavior really are better than others. Not getting drunk every night is better than getting drunk and wasting money and good liquor and your reputation. Being faithful to one man or woman is better than sleeping around. Taking care of one another is better than discarding anyone who can’t advance your career or pocketbook.”
“What you’re describing is family and we both know there are some cultures that feel the way we do. But there are many more that don’t. That set you were with for the wedding, they think money can replace family.”
Caroline squirmed. “I hate to think of Jodie as being that shallow. We’re friends.”
“Yes, you are. Friends, not family.”
Their eyes met and Caroline’s suddenly narrowed. “Something’s happened.”
Ginny dropped her eyes to the table. “We were talking about you.”
Caroline leaned forward. “We were talking about belonging.”
“Well, you and I belong to the group we were born into. The question is whether that should be enough.”
Caroline nodded. “I think, for me, the answer is yes. I belong here and I don’t belong among the glitterati. They don’t live up to my standards.”
Ginny sighed, the corner of her mouth turning up in a wry smile. “Welcome home.”
“Now, tell me what’s been going on with you? Obviously something has.”
Ginny leaned back and thought about the last week. What Caroline wanted to know was what had happened to her love life.
“I found out today Hal has been lying to me about Jim.”
“I thought you already knew that?”
Ginny shook her head. “Not this. You remember we decided I should work with Alex and avoid both Hal and Jim?”
“I remember.”
“Well, Alex told me today Hal had access to that virus and Jim did not.”
“Okay.”
“Hal told me Jim had worked in that lab for two weeks. Not true.” She licked her lips. “Jim told me Hal had access and I refused to believe him. Now I find out Jim was telling the truth and Hal wasn’t.”
“Oh, Ginny.”
Ginny nodded. “My stubbornness getting in the way, again.”
“Does this clear Jim?”
“No. It just means he wasn’t in that lab. He’s an expert. He could have come across that bug someplace else. But it does mean I owe him an apology.”
“What about Hal?”
Ginny squirmed. “At its least damning, it means Hal is so jealous of Jim he’s making up stories about him. That’s not the kind of man I want to marry.”
Caroline reached over and laid her hand on Ginny’s. “I’m so sorry!”
Ginny sighed. “Does this mean I should be looking closer to home, too?”
“Do I know? I always thought you had it made, except Hal hadn’t gotten around to proposing.”
Ginny nodded. She, too, had thought it didn’t matter that Hal was not one of the clan, but maybe she’d been wrong. He’d refused to come to any of the Homestead events. She had dragged him out to the Games one year, but that was it. No ceilidhs, no dancing, not even the kirk. The unspoken message was that, if she married him, she would have to leave her world behind.
“Well, I feel the need for a girl’s night out. Care to come destroy some targets with me tomorrow evening?”
Caroline grinned. “You’re on and I’ll bet you the range fee I can beat your score.”
* * *