Chapter 16: Priscila

Suggested Listening: "Priscilla" by Miranda Lambert

When she was growing up, her mother hadn't allowed her to read fiction books. "They rot your brain." Her mother would say before handing her a biography of Anne Frank, Eleanor Roosevelt, or Catherine the Great. That was what she grew up reading, biographies on brilliant women. It was one rainy Sunday at the library when she came across a book on Priscilla Presley. Regardless of what her mother had said in scorn, she found it fascinating and devoured all she could about the woman. She would often wonder, "What would it be like to share your husband with the whole world?" How quickly she was to find out.

That was precisely why she was sitting alone on a bed in The Belmond Copacabana Palace in Rio.

She had never been good at sharing, and sharing Jimmy's attention was a whole new ballgame. She was used to the constant scrutiny of their private lives by the media. Their wedding had made international news, regardless of all the secrecy that they had used and it seemed every other week or so she was either pregnant with triplets or couldn't get pregnant which was Jimmy was leaving her. None of what those rags came up with were true of course, and every once in a while someone seemed to understand how truly in love they were, but it was annoying nonetheless and she had thrown several punches at her punching bag after a particularly nasty piece of journalism.

There was also the fact that her husband was in high demand, so naturally, so was she. Spending an entire day at work, only to have to go home and change into a custom designer gown for whatever NeuCo was hosting that evening was quite commonplace. Or sitting backstage while he interviewed on some national television show or magazine. She never interviewed, she had no desire. She would support him when he did his, occasionally sitting at his side and answering random questions, but she refused to do a solo interview. Or waking up in the middle of the night to her husband rushing into clothes because work needed him. He simply could not say no.

That's why they had planned this vacation. A week in Rio de Janeiro, just the two of them. They hadn't taken one since they got married and they were much overdue. But this was marriage to Jimmy Neutron and, as usual, something went wrong.

"What do you mean we can't go?" She screeched.

Her husband sighed and raised up his hands in defeat. "It's just that there's a Science Nobel event that evening and they need me to-"

"Just tell them no! We've had this planned for months!"

He was silent and she was furious. After brooding silence she snapped. "Well, I am still going!" He hadn't said a thing when she left. Just watched in silence.

She asked for so little in this marriage. She put up with the women all over him at events. The nerdy admiration. The lack of (ahem) private time. Being in the limelight all the damn time. All she had wanted was a week of him to herself. "This is what you get Vortex." She said with a sigh, staring at the celling. "You're in Rio now, so you might as well enjoy it as much as you can."

She had ventured through the shopping center and through many of the museums before she hit up the local club by her hotel. The music, people, and bar reminded her of her college days. She had turned down several invitations to dance when a waiter appeared with a glass. "From the man in the corner with his regards."

She simply nodded and took a small sip of the drink before almost spitting it out. She could count on one hand the number of people who knew of her fondness for Bermuda Blacks, and a sudden sense of confusion settled over her. Quickly, she turned around to look at the corner booth where the waiter had pointed, but there was no one sitting there. Shivering, she decided to make her exit and stepped out into the cool Brazilian air. Trying to clear her mind, she walked towards the sea. She was staring at the moving water when she heard familiar footsteps behind her.

"I never pegged you for a club girl."

She stared straight ahead at the water, "What do you want?"

Her husband sighed. "C'mon, Cin-"

"No! Don't! Just don't." She finally turned around to face him. "I asked you for one week, just one, to have to ourselves and you couldn't give it to me."

"Cindy-"

"Do I really mean that little to you?" The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them, and she regretted immediately when Jimmy winced. It was the fear that had been growing in her mind for a while and had overtaken her when she was on the plane here. But she still hated that she had wounded him and she desperately tried to backtrack. "Jimmy, I- look, I know this was what I signed up for-"

"Well, no, not really."

She blinked. "Excuse me?"

"We fell in love with each other when we were 10 Cindy. We couldn't have predicted the future."

She sighed. He was correct of course. "I know but-"

But her cut off. "You were right. As usual. You need to be my first priority. I'm sorry."

She stared at the ground and causally moved some dirt around with her toe. "So, um, what are you doing here?"

"I ditched and came to find you." He stepped forward, gently took her wrists, and pulled her into his arms. "I took the whole week off."

She raised an eyebrow, "The whole week?"

He smirked. "The whole week. I am all yours," He slid his arm down to her waist and planted a kiss on her neck. "The more I thought about it, the more the idea of having private time with you sounded absolutely heavenly." He slid his hands lower, and continued to kiss her neck and collarbone. "So, what do you want to do?"

"I have an idea." She stepped back from him and disengaged his hands, giggling at the look of dejection on his face. This was exactly what she missed about not having him all to herself. She grabbed his hand and yanked him in the direction of the hotel.

"Why didn't you bring the jet?" She asked him as she cuddled up to him in the first class chair.

"It was in the shop." He said as wrapped his arm around her, attempting to ignore the looks of disbelief, double looks, and people trying to be sly about taking pictures of them. "Although I'm starting to remember why I bought the darn thing in the first place."

She gave a tired laugh, and curled up closer to him. "It's worth it." She yawned. "Rio was amazing."

"I concur." He said as he stroked her hair. "I was thinking we could go to Greece next."

She sat up a little straighter and looked at him. "Greece? Really?"

He nodded. "I know you always wanted to go. I figured we'll probably need a vacation by then anyway. What do you think?"

"That sounds amaz-"

"Attention passengers! This is your captain speaking, we are now turning off the lights."

It went dim and Cindy yawned again. Jimmy chuckled and kissed her head. "Why don't you get some sleep dear?"

"Okay," She whispered as she buried her face against his arm. "I don't know how you do these red eye flights."

He didn't say anything, he merely shifted to get both of them more comfortable as they prepared for takeoff. Once they were safely in the air, he allowed himself to relax. After taking one more quick peek to make sure Cindy was comfortable, he closed his eyes again and allowed sleep to overtake him.