Lost in Flight (22 page)

When Riley returned from Seattle, he was served with divorce papers, and even in memory, the resulting events made Christina grimace.  She could have done things so much better, but she was young, motherless, and desperate.  Christina knew he had been served because he told Dave and Dave told Mandy.  Mandy rung her up and whispered in awestruck tones, so that Dave couldn’t hear that Riley was, “beyond furious.” 

Now that she knew Riley was home she waited, but he didn’t appear.  Johnny didn’t say anything to her and she got more anxious as the days wore on.  Mandy passed her information and advice, which went along the lines of, “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”  The answer was no, but she’d set things in motion now, and she’d have to live with the consequences.

After stewing on it for days and running different scenarios over with her two best friends, she decided she was going to have to go and confront him.  Bonnie thought this was the best approach and they had come up with carefully prepared speeches.  Her friends were insistent that she needed to stick to the plan with “no distractions.”  Bonnie was harsher.  She advocated “no retreat, no surrender.”

Christina knew exactly what Riley was doing, putting the onus on her.  If she wanted the divorce, she would have to go and fight him for it.  She didn’t welcome that thought, but if it would make him realize that she was serious then it would be worth it.  She decided her best approach was to ring him and start negotiations by telephone.  It took Christina five tries to ring him.  She sat staring at the phone for about an hour, but couldn’t bring herself to dial the number. 

She searched the fridge and found some of her Dad’s liquor, pouring herself a glass or three.  After her third glass of bourbon, Christina picked the phone up and slammed it down.  The second time, she actually dialed two numbers before putting it down.  Ditto times 3.  On the fourth time, she’d rung the number and when he answered she’d hung up.  She waited another fifteen minutes before trying again.

Christina got up and paced around the room telling herself:  “She could do this and to stop being stupid.”  It was ridiculous.  They used to tell each other everything and now she was too chicken to call him?  On the fifth attempt, she waited for him to answer the phone.  It was now or never. 

When he picked up, she waited for a bit and said, “Hi Riley.  It’s me.  Dina.”

There was silence on the other end and then he said, “Did you ring before?”  She lied and said she hadn’t.  Riley didn’t make the conversation easy.  She felt like she was speaking into an answering machine.  All her carefully constructed preamble at conversation disintegrated in Riley’s silence and passive-aggression.   Then it got ugly.

********************

Riley

Riley sat listening to Dina stumble over self-help words like “hostility.”  “I’d like us to meet,” she said, “you know – clear the air.  I don’t want there to be any
hostility
between us.”

He almost laughed at that, but kept it together.  When she said, “We could do this amicably,” he did laugh because it was laugh out loud funny.

In the last week, he’d given some thought to this problem with Dina.  He decided she needed a firmer hand.  If he gave into her, he may as well just hand over his balls. 
Here you are, Dina!  Take them.  Wear them as earrings
and he wasn’t going to do that. 

“Oh, so you want to talk to me now?  That’s interesting.  Pity you couldn’t have talked to me before serving me with divorce papers like a
fucking
coward,” he snapped. 

Riley heard her sharp intake of breath and it spurred him on.  She was nervous and he took some satisfaction in that.  In a voice dripping with sarcasm, Riley sneered.  “Hey.  I hear you’ve been accepted to college.  Wow.  Good luck and all that shit.  It would’ve been nice for MY WIFE to tell me instead of everyone else, but hey, what does it matter?  It’s not like we’re married or anything, right?” 

He heard Dina sigh.  “I told you I’d applied.  I told you I was going to go if I got in.  You didn’t want to come, but…”

There was no way she was putting this on him.  Hissing back at her, Riley seethed.  “Don’t put this on me, Dina.  This is your mother talking.  Not you.”  He knew he shouldn’t have gone there, but it was true, and he was going to stand his ground on it.  Her mother might have guilt-tripped her into living a life that she wanted for her daughter, but like hell he was going to play along.

Dina was furious, spitting out.  “That’s crap.  I want to go,” but he snorted over top of her.

“Sure you do.  How come you never mentioned it until your mother put it in your head?  It was always music once you’d finished school, but college?  I don’t remember that one or I do and you rejected it a long time ago.” 

Riley and Mrs. Martin had always had a difficult relationship, made worse when Dina had taken up with him.  They’d tolerated each other, but there was no real connection and the final straw was when he and Dina ran off and got married.  Her mother blamed Riley and hadn’t even attempted to hide the fact. 

He knew it was unfair, but being gentle and understanding hadn’t worked.  He was going for shock tactics, and to be honest, he was furious with Dina.  Being served with those divorce papers… made his fists clench thinking about it.

Dina snarled.  “How could you say such a thing?  It’s cruel,” but he snapped back, “whatever” over her.  To his surprise, Dina lost her temper and started swearing.  She wasn’t a huge potty mouth and when he heard her yell, “You are a total prick and nothing, but a stupid dick,” he started laughing.

She ranted on calling him, amongst other things:  “an asshole, pathetic, childish, and a fuck-fuck-fucker.”  He couldn’t help himself.  He burst out laughing, openly guffawing while she was still yelling.  

Once he’d recovered, he quipped.  “There’s my girl” and hung up on her.  He gave her an hour – at the most.  He knew she’d turn up wanting to argue the point with him and this time, if she wanted a fight, he’d be only too happy to oblige.  Riley made himself comfortable and waited for Christina to arrive.

********************

Christina

Christina sat on the edge of the bed, with the phone in her hand staring at it in disbelief.  He had hung up on her.  He-had-hung-up:
on her
.  Screw him.  If he wanted ugly: so-be-it.  She grabbed a flashlight and stormed out the door, over the fence and onto the Riley’s farm.  She stomped swinging the flashlight, like it was a dangerous weapon.  She was in such a rush that she tripped and stumbled a couple of times, but she got up. 

By the time she got to Riley’s, she’d worked herself into an awesome state of righteous indignation.  There were lights on in the house, so she knew he was awake.  She stood outside calming herself down and trying to wipe the sweat off her face when the backdoor opened.  He was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt and he was looking at her in a way that conveyed he wasn’t pleased. 

********************

Riley

Riley heard her coming.  She was as regular as clockwork.  He looked at her with a scowl on his face, but he wanted to wrap her in his arms and hold her.  She looked tired - worn out and haunted.  Instead he steeled himself, because this was going to be a battle and he wasn’t prepared to lose this one.

Dina was breathing heavily and sweating.  He was surprised.  She had an aversion to jogging and she must have run to get here so quickly.  She made a move to walk up the steps, but Riley blocked her.  He stood at the top with his arms folded, glaring down at her.  “What do you want?”  Riley growled.

He watched her hesitate and straighten herself up.  “Is it okay to talk?”  Dina asked politely. 

The corners of his mouth quirked, but he kept his face impassive.  He asked her in all innocence, “About what?” 

Riley watched Dina’s eyes darken and press her lips together.  He imagined she was counting in her head to try to calm himself down.  “I thought we could talk, you know, about the divorce papers.”  She whispered the last bit, which amused him. 

“I thought we had,” he said.  “You sent them, I ignored them.  What’s there to talk about?  See – ta-da – no problem.”

Dina’s mouth dropped open and she snapped.  “This is ridiculous.  Why haven’t you signed them?” 

He pursed his lips, frowned, and rubbed his chin as if he was deep in thought.  Riley then opened his eyes wide and clicked his fingers.  “I know, because I don’t want to.” 

Riley watched Dina’s face contort with anger.  Yep.  If she was trying to be calm, she just lost the battle.

He looked at her and smiled widely.  He watched Dina blink for a bit and then storm up the steps onto the porch.  “IT’S NOT FUNNY,” she shouted.  “STOP LAUGHING.  IS THIS JUST A BIG JOKE TO YOU?”

“OF COURSE, IT’S A JOKE TO ME,” he yelled back.  “THIS WHOLE THING IS A FUCKING JOKE!”

“YOU-YOU-YOU,” she shrieked, and to his and her own surprise, she slapped her arm out hitting, him in the balls. 

He clasped his knees and tried to breathe. 
That-really-hurt.  Oh-shit-that-fucking-hurt
.  Riley could hear her apologizing, but it came from a distance.

“I’m so sorry, Riley.  I’m so, so sorry,” she moaned.  “Are you all right?” 

Not by a long shot, and she was going to pay.  When she reached for his arm, Riley darted away and pounced, grabbing hold of her.  His grip was like iron because he was trying to keep himself propped up without keeling over.  It was working until Dina started struggling.  

“Take your damn hands off me,” she snarled. 

Not a chance, sweetheart
, he thought.  Not after that.  Some things deserved an immediate response and this was one of them.  Riley turned her around so that he was behind her and wrapped his arms around her.  He caught her by the wrists, crossed them over and held on tight.

She was furious and tried to kick backwards into his shins, but couldn’t get enough momentum or a direct hit.  When she tried stamping on his feet, he kept moving out of the way so she couldn’t get him.  Dina was yelling at him to let her go, but he just laughed.  

Dina tried to get away from him, but he wouldn’t let her go.  No.  It was time for some punishment.  Riley said quietly in a low tone.  “It’s not nice to hit a man in the balls, Dina.  I think you should kiss them better.”  This made her struggle even harder, growling and cursing, which made him laugh out loud all over again. 

Riley was furious, but trying to keep his temper under control.  He growled in her ear.  “I’m going to let you go now and you’re not going to hit me okay?  If you do, I’m going to turn you over my knee and spank you.  It’s only fair.  If you hit me, it deserves something back.  Agreed?” 

To his satisfaction, Dina agreed, so he released her.  Once he let her go, he saw Dina wince and rub her wrists.  He hadn’t meant to hurt her and he felt bad.  He reached over to her asking, “Hey.  Did I hurt you?  I’m sorry.” 

His hands moved toward her automatically to check the damage and she slapped him.  Again. 
That-was-it
.

Riley’s head snapped up and he looked at her.  Her eyes had gone wide and neither of them moved.  Then Dina bolted down the steps towards the fields. 
Not this time
, he thought.  He chased her shouting, “A promise is a promise, Dina.” 

He caught up with her, grabbed her around the waist and dragged her back toward the house.  Riley was conflicted.  One part of him was in shock and another was trying not to laugh.  Unfortunately, humor won out and he started laughing, which made her crazier.  She went psycho – writhing, kicking and screaming at him.  It was difficult to hold onto her, but he clenched his jaw and picked her up under the waist, threw her inside the house and kicked the door closed behind them. 

Riley couldn’t believe it.  This was ugly.  They’d never acted this way toward one another before.  Destroying inanimate objects?  Sure, but this?  No way.  It had always been him and her against the world.  Now she was acting like a beast!

Dina ran and put the table between them, facing off with him on the other side.  They played feint and dodge, and he could tell Dina was actually a bit frightened. 
Good
, he thought,
she should be
.  

She kept yelling, “STOP IT,” but he shook his head. 

“No way,” Riley snarled.  “What do you expect, Dina?  I’d just put up with you hitting me when I told you I wouldn’t?  Fuck that.” 

Riley saw her swallow and gulp.  After moving around and around the table, where he couldn’t catch her, he got sick of it, picked the table up and threw it out of the way.  Dina yelped and went to run, but he grabbed her.  Dragging her to the couch and putting her over his knee, he was about to start the spanking when she bit him hard on the thigh.

She was biting him –
what the fuck
– and it god-damned hurt.  Tears sprung into his eyes from the pain and he tried to jerk his leg out from her jaws of death.  For a moment he was tempted to smack her on the back of the head to make her stop, but resisted the urge.  Instead, he pushed the side of her face and swore in relief when she let go. 

And then - she bit him again – harder.  Riley clenched his jaw in anger.  If she hadn’t drawn blood the first time, he bet she had now.  He bellowed, “Stop it Dina!  A deal’s a fucking deal.  If you don’t stop biting me, I’m going to spank you bare-assed.”  Dina stopped biting.

True to his word, Riley spanked her.  Six times.  He was angry and he did it with more force than he intended.  Her head jerked forward with each smack, but she refused to cry out, which made him angrier.  Unlike the Rileys, the Martins didn’t go in for corporal punishment. 
Well, maybe they should have
, he thought, it might have made her better behaved.

When he’d finished, he let her go and she dropped to the floor.  She turned around to scream at him and then burst into tears.  Dina wasn’t the sort of person that cried to get attention.  When she cried, it was because she meant it.