Camp Mansfield - Chapter Thirteen

"I'm a gate 12 parked outside by the baggage claim.  The policeman is telling me to move, but if you hurry I won't have to go around the airport again" explains Mariah wondering just how long it really takes someone to find their luggage.   "It's not like it is the first time he has flown.  He is usually the last one to leave after a flight.  The whole airport could be empty and I'm still waiting."

"Maybe he's helping people get their luggage off of the conveyor. I've seen him do that before when our families went to Colorado last spring" suggests Julia appreciating Rush's thoughtfulness with the families with small children and the elderly on their previous flight.

"He needs to move and forget about everyone else" justifies Mariah not wanting to miss of second of potential time spent with the other visitors.

Peering up from  her phone, Julia notices a man in a brown tweed coat coming out of the automatic entrance doors looking around as if he is lost.  He asks the security guard standing next to him a question and profusely nods.  "There he is!"

Mariah immediately honks her horn a few times to get his attention and then decides to just land on the center of her steering wheel until he responds to her location to the annoyance of other unknown passengers lined up on the sidewalk waiting for an upcoming ride from a family member or friend.

Rush quickly steps back and does an sharp turn while waiving to Mariah who completely ignores him.  Julia waves back cupping both of her hands begging him to hurry to their SUV,   Rush loads his large suitcase into the vehicle and takes a seat in the back next to Julia.

Julia whispers "Don't you want to sit up front?"

"No that's okay.  It's safer here when Mariah is in this kind of mood" informs Rush noticing the daggers that Mariah is reflecting in the rearview mirror. "To be honest, I'm kind-of scared of her right now."

"What took you so long?" angrily asks Mariah speaking over her radio that has the volume turned up much loaded than it should be. 

"Why is the radio so loud?" asks Rush "Can you turn it down, I can't hear you very well"..

Julia kindly answers his question acknowledging that Mariah is intentionally ignoring him and rolling her eyes, "Its turned up so she can rehearse her karaoke as she drives to work, at least she gets in lots of practice time even if it doesn't do her any good."

"What songs have you been rehearsing? What songs are you putting on your video blog this week?" inquires Rush knowing that to ease his girlfriend's temper its always good to ask questions about herself.

"This week I'll be performing "Fake Love" by BTS, "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen, "Respect" by Aretha Franklin, "I Me Mine" by the Beatles, and "All I want for Christmas" by my namesake." confidently replies Mariah more than willing to discuss her music with her loyal-by-default groupies.  "I'm live streaming tomorrow at 7 pm if you would like to tune in".

"It looks like this will be an interesting program" politely offers Rush unsure of his girlfriend's true talent but unwilling to contradict her. "How did you choose these particular songs?"

"As you know I'm a great fan of k-pop and BTS is at the top of the charts right now.  Who doesn't know Bohemian Rhapsody, I-Me-Mine, or Respect?  When I sing, you really can't tell any difference" without humility explains Mariah entirely convinced of her innate abilities.

"Yeah that's right" sarcastically replies Julia sinking back into her seat with her arms crossed hoping that she can find her ear plugs before tomorrow's night program that her mother insists that they watch every Sunday night. Out of all the things mechanical that their mother cannot figure out how to use, she ironically has figured out how to save each one of Mariah's programs so they can be watched again and again.

"What do you think of my new Niavri bag?" turning to Rush as Julia hands him her bag "Don't you love the butterflies and flowers on the pink background. The multicolored handle accents it perfecting.  It's to die for!"

"It looks nice" politely replies Rush entirely uninformed on women's fashion or their designers "I hope it is useful to you."

"Do you know each one is hand painted?" genuinely asks Julia believing the conversation to be of the utmost importance to enlighten Rush. "Each one is designed in leather. This one is called the 'Spanish Garden' with the delicate butterflies."

"I like the zipped side pocket for the phone" observes Rush quite impressed that it was designed with practical storage compartments.  "It seems that you are often searching for your lost phone, so that would be pragmatic in keeping track of it."

"Yes, I guess so" agrees Julia not so much impressed with the design but the beauty of the purse.  "You seem to notice things for their usefulness, at least that is something."

"I leave the fashion up to you and your sister.  Fortunately, Mariah sends me a list with photos so that I know what to purchase on each of my trips.  She helps pick my suits for my business trips which I would otherwise have worn only the same favorites until I met her" explains Rush in repeating his own rationale for choosing Mariah over Julia only a few short years ago  "She suits the kind of wife I need in my industry.  Someone who is aware of fashion and can represent my  company and also myself well without much cajoling effort.  You're sister never asks my opinion on fashion or much else, she only requires that I compliment her."

"We have some new guests in town, I think you might remember them" offers Julia "I think you might remember them, Mary and Henry Crawford."

At the mention of their names, Rush feels a pang of insecurity but quickly recovers "Yes, I remember them.  We worked at camp together many years ago. Mary was quite beautiful from what I recall.  Henry seemed to be the leader of everything.  He was quite charming and all the girls seemed to follow him around. How long are they in town for?"

Suddenly interested in the conversation in the back seat, Mariah jumps in "They're staying for a year.  They've rented my parents retirement home just a mile up the road from camp.  We'll get to see the Crawfords all the time".

At this Rush licks and bites his lips as if contemplating a tough decision, "Have you seen them yet?"

"Last night they came over to the house.  Tom and Ted are in town too for awhile.  Ted is consulting with DHQ and Tom is working on a PR project with his team.  Oh yes, and Faith was there too.  She hasn't changed much since you saw her a year ago, still the same" continues Mariah "Henry is so handsome now too!"

"He looks like a model on a magazine!" Julia barges into the conversation "I could barely breathe when I saw him."

"What about Mary? How did she seem to you? Is she doing well?" carefully asks Rush not entirely sure he wants to hear the answer.

"Of course, how could Mary look anything else but stunning" offers Julia a little envious but aware that she will never reach that level of perfection.  "She a professor at the university but is taking a sabbatical this year to work on her second thesis. I wish that I were half as smart and beautiful as she is."

"What did you think of Mary when she was younger?" curiously asks Julia "Was she as pretty and fashionable then?  You were a little older than me, so I know how I felt from my perspective."

"Yes, she was quite attractive.  She always seems to have a string of boys following her around including myself for awhile.  But she is a tease.  She's broke many hearts along the way I am sure" signing states Rush recalling too many nights of following her around the campgrounds all day in hopes that she would sit next to him during the late night staff snacks, but continually being disappointed in the minimal response to his efforts. "The guy she seemed to like the most was Tom.  I think they dated, but Tom dated nearly everyone so who knows how serious it actually was. His friend, Yates, was interested in  her too but I don't remember how they broke up either, it's been too long ago."

"I haven't seen Yates for ages since Tom graduated from high school and I was still in middle school" replies Julia "I use to have a secret crush on him but I was too young for him to notice.  My best friend, Emma, and I in eighth grade use to sit and listen to him play in his garage band with Tom. I think you were in that band too."

"Yes, Tom played the drums, Yates was on guitar, and I played my sax.  Ted would also occasionally play the keyboard, since he was younger his schedule was a bit different from the others. We were seniors but Ted was a sophomore and Mary was a junior. It wasn't a great band, but we could play some tunes" remembers Rush with a touch of nostalgia. "How wonder how we would sound together today?"

"I wanted to sing the lead vocals, but Tom wouldn't allow me to.  He said I would ruin the image of the band" snorts Mariah "I would have helped you guys.  He let Mary sing though because he was dating her. I was a freshman.  I had to sacrifice my talent so that she could have a place in the band next to Tom."

"Faith was there too but often helping to set up the equipment or run the sound board.  Wasn't she in the same grade as you, Mary? Weren't both of you freshmen?" Inquires Rush "Faith was more than willing to help at any moment.  She was quite skilled at fixing things too if needed. I was quite impressed with her abilities.  Although she was younger, I think that I had a bit of a crush on her in college for awhile and followed her around, but she didn't seem to notice me much."

On hearing this information familiar chords of jealousy gnaw at Mariah as she interjects, "Oh that was just a school-kid crush.  Is it even worth remembering?  Faith has probably already forgotten all about you.  You might have liked her for a day, but the one you chased was me in college."

"I seem to remember you chasing Rush not the other way around" intercedes Julia remembering that Mariah didn't even notice Rush until she had expressed some interest in dating him" Julia remembers Mariah suddenly deciding to chase Rush full speed ahead like she does with everything.

Mariah doesn't say anything but catches Julia's eye in the review mirror raising her lip to warn her if anything more is said there will be trouble later.

"It looks like we're almost here.  Is that Tom, Henry, and Mary in the sports car next to us?  Who does the car belong to?" asks Rush.

"That is Tom's new toy.  If  you have an hour, he will tell you all about it. I don't know how much he spent on it but he has no right to complain about my closet" confidently replies Julia "He made a deal with this company he is working with and they gave him an advance on his current project."

Upon arriving Mariah parks her SUV right next to Tom's sports car.  She pretends to miss the step when exiting her car while Henry conveniently complies by catching her from falling. She snuggles closely pretending to re-establish her balance and re-positioning her shoe that has somehow managed to fall off, resting her arm around him for balance, Mariah demurely adds "Thank you.  I'm so glad you caught me. I might have hurt myself if you hadn't been there right now."

"Whatever you need, I'm always here" replies Henry with a wink while keeping his arm firmly around her shoulder until he notices Rush scowling in front of them and suavely lowers his arm, extending his arm to shake hands, "Nice to see you again, Rush! How's it been going?"