Capturing Cara

Chapter 2

Chapter Two

A little over four hours later, Cara stretched out her arms and legs, shooting the little gold symbiot on Abby’s wrists a wink as she sat all the way up. Trish was announcing they would be landing shortly. Cara glanced at Carmen, who had removed her sleep mask and was busy pulling a leather jacket out of her duffle bag before turning to look out of the small window of the jet.

“So, how long before we land?” Cara asked. “Cool, not a cloud in sight. Man, this is a little bitty place, isn’t it? Looks like the town I grew up in.”

Abby laughed in excitement. “Yes, it is small, but it’s home.”

“Looks like you have a reason to be back. Is he cute? Does he have a brother?” Cara asked mischievously.

“Yes, he is, and yes, he has four brothers,” Abby replied distractedly before she realized what she had just said.

Laughing, Cara stretched again. “Busted! Well, if they are cute, point me in their direction. I’m always looking for a good time in a small town.”

Abby couldn’t help but laugh. Cara had the kind of personality that no one could resist falling in love with. She was a ball of energy. Even sitting still she moved around.

Cara saw Abby’s amused smile and couldn’t help the rueful grin that curved her lips, “I’m a little ADHD. I couldn’t sit still if my life depended on it, and I only sleep about four hours a night if I’m lucky. Drives everyone nuts, but I get a lot done. I have an IQ out the wazoo. Needless to say, most people—and all men—can’t stand being around me for more than five minutes. Oh, but I do love to drive them crazy first.”

Abby chuckled. “Well, you haven’t driven me crazy yet, and I have thoroughly enjoyed your company.”

Twenty minutes later, Cara stood up, stretching her arms and legs. God, she was so happy they had finally landed. Luckily, she had gotten some much-needed sleep, and with a little caffeine, she would be almost ready for round two—as long as it didn’t mean a return flight that night.

She was going to have to think up some type of excuse to get Ariel and Trisha to postpone the return trip until at least sometime tomorrow. Cara’s mind was running through a hundred different reasons when Ariel’s voice came on to say they would be at the gate in just a few minutes. When Ariel thanked everyone for flying Hamm Air, the only airline where pigs did fly, Cara couldn’t contain the laugh that burst out. She absolutely adored these two women who could make life so much fun.

The airport was dark except for the few lights on some of the nearby hangers, the airport terminal, and the blue running lights on the runway. Cara climbed down the steps of the jet as soon as the plane had stopped. Taking a deep breath of the cool, fresh night air, Cara felt the tension begin to melt from her neck and shoulders.

You know, Cara berated herself silently, if you had picked a different career than being a jet mechanic, you wouldn’t have to worry about flying in a tin can! What was sad was that Cara really loved to fly—she just didn’t like the claustrophobia that came with it. If she could live her life flying in a biplane or floating in a hot-air balloon she would be in heaven.

Cara turned to watch as Ariel and Trish climbed down out of the jet, followed by Abby, who had grabbed her overnight bag. Carmen hadn’t come out yet as she was talking on her cell phone to someone. Cara had a feeling she didn’t want to have to spend any more time than necessary around any of them, especially Ariel. Abby was looking between the three of them with an expression like she was trying to get her nerve up to say something but wasn’t sure how to.

“It’s really late for you to head out tonight. Would you like to stay at my place for the night? It’s a little ways up the mountain, but it is really beautiful. I have an extra bedroom if you don’t mind doubling up and an oversized couch that makes a great bed,” Abby said, looking nervously back and forth between the three of them.

Cara let out a sigh of relief. Yes, she thought, the perfect excuse!

“Sounds great to me!” Cara said, stretching again in exaggeration. “I’d go bonkers if I had to get back in that tin can tonight. I’d love to meet your man. You said he had some brothers? Any chance of meeting them between tonight and tomorrow morning? I love meeting new guys. I’m trying to break my record of driving them off. I think the longest any guy has put up with me has been ten minutes.”

Trisha and Ariel laughed. “Ah, Cara, I think that Dougie guy lasted twelve. What do you think, Ariel?”

“Oh, at least twelve, maybe even thirteen minutes,” Ariel added.

Cara laughed out loud. She knew exactly who they were talking about: her last blind date the two of them had set her up with about a week ago. They had surprised her at dinner with a physics professor from the local university who lived across the hall from Trisha.

It turned out the surprise had been on them when the guy had started puffing on his inhaler within about two minutes of meeting her. It might have been due to her recitation of Stephen Hawking’s theory of black holes in excruciating detail, and how relationships could be correlated to it. “You two are nuts. You were so drunk.” Cara suspected that had played the biggest part in their kidnapping of the poor professor more than actually trying to find her a man.

“You can’t even remember his name. It was Douglas. Not Dougie,” Cara said in a perfect imitation of Douglas’s outraged, nasally voice. Of course, she was the one who had nicknamed him Dougie, knowing it would irritate the uptight scholarly ass, whose opinion of her clearly was that if brains were dynamite, she wouldn’t have enough to blow her nose. Ariel, Trish, and Abby burst out laughing. “Oh yeah, good ole Dougie,” Trish said, wiping her eyes. “How could we forget?”

Trish looked at Abby and smiled. “Unlike some people we know, Ariel and I both need at least eight hours of sleep more than once a month to survive. We would love to take you up on both of your offers.”

Abby frowned. “Both of my offers?”

“Yeah, bed and brothers.” Cara, Ariel, and Trish smirked.

“I appreciate the offer, but I think I’ll skip. I had transportation delivered earlier. I think I’ll head out as I slept most of the trip,” Carmen said quietly as she came up as if out of nowhere.

Cara listened as Ariel tried to talk to her sister, but it was obvious to her Carmen had already made up her mind. Cara felt bad for both of them. She didn’t know Carmen that well, only what Ariel had told her. But she did know Ariel and didn’t like to see the pain in her friend’s eyes as she watched her sister walk away.

Turning, Cara was relieved when she heard Abby say she was going to get her truck. “Sounds great,” Cara said with relief. She headed for the jet, calling out over her shoulder, “It won’t take me but a minute.”

Less, if I can manage it, thought Cara as she climbed into the jet. God, I hate closed-in spaces. Grabbing her tool belt and backpack, she counted twenty-three seconds. Yup, nothing like a little claustrophobia to get her butt in gear.

“I’ll catch up with Abby, and see you guys in a few minutes,” Cara said as she jumped down off the steps of the jet.

“Okay. It’ll take us about ten minutes or so to close everything up,” Trish said, glancing worriedly at Ariel, who was silently watching Carmen walk away into the darkness.

Cara touched Ariel’s arm gently as she walked by her in silent support. Ariel gave Cara a sad smile before she turned around and followed Trish into the jet.

Cara decided she needed to give Ariel something else to think about. Maybe if the brothers Abby knew were any fun, they could distract Ariel for a while. Hell, maybe if the brothers were any fun they could distract her for a while. It wasn’t as if they were going to be around long enough to fall in love with any of the guys, and there wasn’t any harm in having some fun, even if it was only for a couple of hours.

Cara grinned as she hurried to catch up with Abby. The idea of maybe doing some heavy petting cheered Cara up. She might not want to go all the way with a guy, at least none of the ones she knew, but that didn’t mean she didn’t like to cuddle and kiss. The way she looked at it, it was like watching the Circuit de Monaco. A girl could enjoy the looks and sounds, appreciate the performance, but could call it quits if she didn’t like how it was going.

Yup, thought Cara, I could handle a little excitement tonight!