Her First Vacation
Read Her First Vacation Online
Authors: Jennie Leigh
HER FIRST VACATION
By Jennie Leigh
Her First Vacation
Copyright 2013, Jennie Leigh
Self-publishing
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Books by Jennie Leigh
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Her First Vacation
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Kay
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“Lots
of action and adventure (and the romance is pretty intense, too!).”
Val
B
“Bitter
Wild is a wonderful adventure. Having both lead characters show such strength,
yet having the willingness to work together for the greater good is the
ultimate in reading for me. I loved it that the woman was the wilderness
expert, sure of herself and allowing no challenge to her role of leader while
in that world. Not many strong alpha men could successfully step back and
follow a woman while still retaining his alpha male role.”
sandiec34
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book is a must read for those who love cowboys, strong women, dogs, horses and
adventure. Oh, yeah, and romance, I can't forget romance.”
Sandra
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What readers are
saying about
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“Filled with action and romance.
Great characters you get involved with and want to
get to know.” Val B
What readers are
saying about Jennie Leigh
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“Jennie Leigh has done a
wonderful job, creating characters that you like and cheer for. I look forward
to more from this talented writer.”
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
The stunned silence that followed Claire Abernathy’s announcement
didn’t last long. Her sister, Diane, recovered first. She began to laugh as she
shook her head.
“You, on a cruise?
That’s too funny.”
She continued to chortle as Claire’s mother recovered enough from her initial
surprise to chime in.
“Really, Claire, what in the world
were
you thinking?”
Claire exercised the same supreme self-control she’d always
maintained when it came to her family. “I was thinking that I need a vacation.”
Diane had finally stopped laughing, though she was still
grinning broadly, showing off her perfect teeth. Like so much else about her,
the teeth were a façade, capped so the natural imperfections were hidden
..
“So you decided to go on a cruise?”
“Well, it sounded like fun.”
“Ha!
Fun for me or Mom or any of the
billions of other normal people in the world, but fun for you?
I don’t
think so.” Her gaze slid over Claire from head to toe and back. “Look at you.
It’s eighty degrees outside and you’re covered from neck to ankles. I haven’t
seen you go anywhere in public in a swimsuit in so long that I can’t remember
the last time. Do you even have a suit anymore?” She shook her head. “Cruises
are for normal people, not stodgy old schoolmarms. You’ll stick out like a sore
thumb and probably get seasick to boot.”
Claire felt the painful prick of her sister’s words but
didn’t let it show in her face or eyes. The fact was
,
Diane was right. Claire was, and always had been, a very reserved woman. She
wasn’t exactly shy. She couldn’t be shy and teach a bunch of eight-year-olds.
They might be little and cute, but they could eat a person alive if she wasn’t
prepared to stand up to them. But she was uncomfortable in her own skin. She
had been ever since she’d witnessed the way her sister transformed from girl to
woman.
Her gaze flicked to her sister. Diane had always been
beautiful and confident. From her gleaming cap of blonde hair to her full
breasts and long, shapely legs, she was completely at home with her own
sexuality. She’d sailed through puberty, blossoming into a gorgeous young woman
who would only get better with age, just like their mother, who was beautiful
and youthful enough at fifty to pass for their sister instead of their mother.
Margaret and Diane Abernathy were stunning women who could have any man they
wanted. They breezed through life, taking for granted the profound power at
their command. And while Claire knew they both loved her as much as they could,
she sometimes found herself struggling not to scream at the fates for choosing
not to give her even a smidgen of their sparkle.
She was tall, yes, but more skinny than shapely. Her legs
were so long that finding pants that fit correctly was difficult, unless she
didn’t mind paying a small fortune for the designer clothes her mother and
sister favored. Though Claire had enough money to pay a little more for her
clothes, she’d never been able to bring herself to be so careless with her finances.
She was a saver, a planner. So she bought less expensive clothes that didn’t
always fit her as well as they might and she wore skirts and dresses almost
exclusively because it was much easier to fit them than pants. The skirts
tended to be long because she couldn’t quite imagine why she’d want to show off
her toothpick legs. Add to her somewhat ungainly structure a pair of less than
spectacular breasts and a face that was much too angular to ever be considered
pretty. Her eyes were a muddled blue and her hair was a color she’d long since
come to term “drab brown.” For reasons she wasn’t even sure she understood
herself, she’d stopped cutting it years ago and now it fell past her waist. Of
necessity, she wore it in a bun just to keep it out of her way. For special
occasions she braided it,
then
twisted it into a bun.
All in all, she knew the total package was nothing to write home about. She was
the ugly duckling of the family. Unlike the fairy tale, though, she’d never
turned into a swan.
She gave a small shrug as she answered her sister’s harsh
words. “You may be right. But I’ve decided that I’m going, and I’m not going to
change my mind.”
Her mother rose to her feet and came toward her. Margaret
Abernathy had never been the stereotypical June Cleaver mother. In fact, she’d
never quite managed to grow up at all. When Claire and Diane’s father died,
Margaret had been wholly unable to handle the day-to-day responsibilities of
managing a household. It had fallen to Claire to step up and fill that void,
which was why she was such a pragmatic person. She was the adult in the house,
even now. There were times, though, when her mother liked to make the effort to
shoulder the mantle of maternity. Apparently, this was one of those moments.
She reached out and laid her hand on Claire’s arm.
“Darling, I completely understand your desire to get away
for a while, but couldn’t you find something more in keeping with your
personality and lifestyle? Diane’s right about a cruise, you know. I just can’t
imagine you enjoying yourself.”
The first thought that popped into Claire’s head was that
she’d enjoy any time that she got away from this house and this town and the
endless monotony of her life. She didn’t give the thought voice, though,
because she would never tell her mother and sister just how tiring their
constant neediness was for her. They were both grown, yet they still relied on
her to tend to the little details like paying bills and going to the grocery
store. She was sick to death of all the responsibility. It had been building
for months, maybe even years, until she finally decided that if she didn’t get
away for a while she was going to snap.
It wasn’t just her mother and sister. It was everything
about her life. She did the same thing every day. The only variation in her
schedule was the shift from being in school to the summer break and she spent
most of that tutoring. She hadn’t been on a date in more than a year. Her last
night out with a man had been a total disaster. It had ended quickly and he had
never called her again. There was a man she worked with, another teacher at her
school, who had shown some interest in her, but she ignored his subtle
overtures. He was a good man, the sort that would make a considerate husband.
She just wasn’t interested. Not in him.
The truth was, deep in her heart, buried beneath all her
pragmatism and sensibility,
was
a spark of romance.
Rationally she knew it made no sense. She couldn’t stop herself from clinging
to a tattered hope that somewhere out there was a man who was meant just for
her.
A man who would touch her as no other ever had, who
would see beyond the bland outer shell to the true woman beneath.
Not a
knight in shining armor, since she didn’t need to be rescued, but a man full of
honor and passion and intelligence. Her standards might be high, and her hope
might be irrational to say the least, yet she clung to it with all her strength
because if she ever let it go, then she feared that she would simply fade away.
She would become the “stodgy schoolmarm” her sister accused her of being. She
was already in danger of losing herself in the tedium of her life. That’s why
she’d tapped into her savings and planned this trip.
She was driven by desperation and nearly overcome with
uncertainty and fear. What if she’d made a mistake? What if her mother and
sister were right? For the sake of her own sanity, she refused to give the
doubts more than a passing consideration. The cruise was booked, as was the
flight that would take her to the port where she would board the ship. The
money had already been spent and she wasn’t going to let anything, especially
her own lack of confidence, get in her way. She squared her shoulders as she
met her mother’s gaze.
“I’m going, and that’s final.”
There must have been something in her voice or her eyes, a
hint of the determination behind her decision. Her mother blinked once,
then
dropped her hand. Claire saw the mild shock in her eyes
and understood it. Claire didn’t put her foot down often, and she virtually
never stood up to both her mother and sister at the same time. She’d let them
overshadow her for years, given them an almost instinctual deference because
she hadn’t been able to stop herself. Even she was awed by them. She knew
better than to imagine that things would ever change, but she was at least
going to stand up for herself once in her life. Mistake or not, this was her
choice and she would deal with the consequences, whatever they turned out to
be.
Diane shook her head as she shot her sister a disgusted
look.
“Fine.
Go on your little cruise. But I expect to
hear you tell me I was right when you drag your miserable rear back here.” She
snorted.
“If you actually go through with it at all.”