San Diego - love comes in many forms

by Aj Harmon

  She popped a life saver into her mouth and hoped the sugary treat would keep any nausea at bay. Then she buckled her safety belt, leaned back in her seat and waited for takeoff.

  *****

  She’d never done anything like this in her life. In fact, as she ran through the airport, panicked that she’d miss the flight, she still couldn’t believe she was doing it now. It was well beyond her comfort level. When she’d checked online at five o’clock in the morning to see what ticket prices to New York would be, she could never have imagined that just over five hours later she’d have practically emptied her bank account and be making a mad dash to the gate, fortuitous in claiming the last available seat on the flight to the east coast even though it had cost her a bundle. The irrational and spur of the moment decision to click ‘BUY’ was causing her intense anxiety, and some buyer’s remorse. This could turn out to be a colossal waste of money…money she couldn’t afford to throw away on an absurd spur of the moment impulse. Amazingly enough she managed to slip down the walk-way and board the plane just seconds before the doors were closed and the crew began preparations for departure. She quickly moved down the aisle of the crowded plane and found her seat, 8C. With a deep breath, she shoved her carry-on under the seat in front of her and leaned back. She’d made it and there was no turning back now.

  *****

  The hair on the back of William’s neck pricked. The scent in the air was familiar…achingly familiar. Oh, how life could be cruel.

  He’d been talking to Greg about some stock picks and a strange sensation poured over him, like he’d been doused in it. He could actually smell her. He subconsciously missed Erica so much that he could actually smell her perfume. It flooded his senses…drowned him. If this was how it was going to be once he returned home, he was not excited about it one bit.

  “Are you alright?” Greg asked as he saw the instant change in his new friend’s demeanor.

  “Ah, yes, I think so.”

  “You’ve lost all the color in your face.”

  Jill’s voice filled the cabin as she asked all passengers to stow their belongings, turn off all electronic devices, and make sure all seats were in their upright position. And then the plane jolted and they were backing away from the gate.

  William looked to his right and nothing was out of the ordinary. Then, almost in slow motion, he turned in his seat and looked behind him, down the empty aisle of the plane. Erica! Erica?

  His back straightened and he grabbed at his seat belt, trying to undo it. Greg watched him with confusion and worry.

  “William? You need to stay in your seat. We’re moving.”

  “It’s her,” he whispered. “She’s on the plane.”

  Jill quickly noted something was wrong and raced to him. “Sir, I need you in your seat and your seatbelt buckled. Sir, please?”

  “But Erica is back there,” he pleaded.

  Jill looked at Greg. He shrugged not knowing what was going on.

  “Sir, we can figure this out after we are safely airborne and the Captain tells you it’s safe to move about the cabin. Until then I must insist you remain in your seat.”

  Knowing he was momentarily defeated, William sighed and nodded, re-buckling his safety belt and leaning back in the chair.

  “We’ll be fine,” Greg mouthed. “It’s okay. I can deal with this,” he whispered to Jill.

  Jill nodded and returned to her seat just as the plane began the rapid increase of speed at the top of the runway.

  “Erica,” William frowned. “I know it’s her.”

  “Tell me about her,” Greg asked, truly curious but also giving his companion something to focus on so he wouldn’t attempt his escape again.

  “I’ve loved her since I was fifteen.”

  “Oh,” Greg exclaimed. “Really?”

  “Really,” William sighed. “But I was a pathetic little thing. Still am, really. I let her marry my brother which was doomed from the start and I just reconnected with her two days ago after so many years and now she’s sitting right back there! Why?”

  “I don’t know,” Greg replied. “Did she tell you she was planning a trip?”

  “No! I mean she said it would be nice to come and visit me in New York but it’s not like we set a date or anything and as far as I knew she had to be at Rite Aid this morning.”

  “Rite Aid? Why?”

  “That’s where she works.”

  “Oh.”

  “So why is she on the plane?”

  “You’re sure it’s her?” Greg asked skeptically.

  “I’m sure. It’s her. I can smell her.”

  Somehow Greg understood his reasoning. He could smell Jill from across a crowded room. She had her own unique scent – Jill mixed with Givenchy – nobody else smelled like her. If William said he smelled Erica, he believed him completely.

  The airplane had lifted off and was soaring through the clouds. William impatiently waited for the Fasten Seat Belt light to flick off so he could march back down the aisle and ask Erica what on earth she was doing on his flight.

  22.

  ERICA LOOKED LEFT AND then right and peered through the windows as the plane climbed through the white puffy clouds. They looked like the yummy fluff on top of a lemon meringue pie. This was her very first flight. Anywhere she’d ever gone up until this point in her life had been by car, rarely even leaving the state of California, other than a long weekend every now and then to Vegas with a couple of girlfriends. Her right hand gripped the arm rest, her knuckles white, and her teeth were gritted, her muscles tense. She leaned her head back as her ears began to plug. Moving her jaw and swallowing a couple of times should have helped but to no avail. The young woman sitting next to her noticed her agitation and offered her a piece of gum. “It helps with the ears,” she explained. Erica took a piece, smiling and saying thank you, and popped it into her mouth.

  Chewing somewhat frantically, her ears eventually cleared and as the aircraft leveled off the brightness of the sun filled the cabin with golden light. What have I done? She was seriously questioning her sanity. Not only spending a fortune on her last-minute ticket, she’d also quit her job. Not by choice, though. When she’d called the store manager to tell him she needed some emergency leave, he’d said no. She begged him to let her go and when he’d said that the only way she wasn’t coming in to work today was if she quit, well, he really left her no other option, having already purchased her plane ticket. So she quit. It had all seemed reasonable at 5am and having so much to do and organize in such a short period of time hadn’t allowed her to dwell on the hasty decision until now. Was she crazy?

  Why would I ever think he meant I could visit today? TODAY!? But she knew why she had to go today. The more time that passed, the more her resolve to jump on a plane and fly three thousand miles would dwindle. She’d never go if she didn’t go now. And going was what she was doing and it scared her to death.

  Now that she’d become reacquainted with William, telling herself that she was content in her quiet life would never be the truth. There would always be the ‘what if’ and the ‘why didn’t I…’ and possibly even tears of regret. She had been content, of that she had convinced herself. She’d experienced a marriage and it had been a failure…she certainly didn’t need to fail twice.

  But William had changed it all. His confession of a teenage crush had left her with a hope that maybe, just maybe…she didn’t know exactly what, but there was hope! He’d made her question her happiness and question her acceptance that it was enough. It wasn’t enough any longer. She desperately needed to discover if there was more for her. Was there love in her future?

  With a deep breath she once again persuaded herself into believing she was doing the right thing. If there was even the smallest chance she and William could build a future together, now was the time to try. She just hoped that his flight arrived in New York before hers. He’d said he was leaving early so she assumed he was probably almost there. And that meant he would be at home wh
en she rang his doorbell just eight hours from now. She desperately needed those hours to prepare what she was going to say when they came face to face because right now she didn’t have a clue.

  *****

  Annie hated it when Evan was right. And once again, he’d called it. They hadn’t been in the air more than three minutes when her bladder began sending urgent messages. She assumed it had something to do with cabin pressure but that was just a guess. She wriggled in her seat, Evan glancing over and giving her the I-told-you-so look. She ignored him…or at least attempted to.

  Gracie was beginning to stir, a look on her face that said she was rather uncomfortable. Evan quickly unbuckled her and gently lifted her to his chest, rubbing her back and making shooshing sounds and reminding her that, “Daddy’s here.”

  The seat belt sign turned off and Annie made a dash to the back of the plane, hoping to beat the rush. But because she had so many rows to get past, she still ended up waiting in line, leaving Evan to deal with the fussing baby.

  He figured if his ears were plugged then the baby’s must be also, so he pulled a pacifier from the diaper bag and tried to give it to her. He wasn’t surprised when her sweet little face scrunched up and spat it out, as in the three days they’d had her, she never once accepted the thing. Her little back arched and her hands fisted and Evan knew she was seconds away from letting out a cry that said she wanted fixed whatever was wrong, and she wanted it fixed now! Evan tried a bottle next and thankfully she sucked in the nipple and relaxed in his arms. Crisis averted…for the moment.

  It was finally Annie’s turn in the miniscule bathroom and she hurried in and locked the door behind her. But as she was washing her hands a wave of intense nausea washed over her and her delicious breakfast of oatmeal came up much quicker than it had gone down.

  “Great,” she muttered as she splashed water on her face. It was going to be a long flight.

  *****

  Jill had closed the curtain between the two cabins, giving the first class passengers the privacy they’d paid for. But William was up and standing in the aisle, mentally preparing himself to talk to Erica. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other and then finally took a step.

  “Sir?” Jill asked.

  He swung around at the sound of her voice.

  “We have a lavatory at the front of the cabin. It’s reserved for our first class passengers,” she gestured toward the cockpit.

  “I need to go and find my…my friend,” he replied.

  “Oh, well, if you must,” she smiled.

  “I must.” He shoved back the curtain and stepped into the economy cabin and she was sitting just three rows away. Her head was back against the headrest and her eyes were closed. It was Erica. The passengers beside him looked up, curious as to what he was doing…waiting to see what was going to happen next. William took two steps and stopped.

  Is she asleep? he wondered as he noted her eyes closed. If she was, he shouldn’t wake her. That would be rude and he didn’t like to be rude if he could avoid it. He decided he would wait, after all, they were confined to a metal tube thirty-five thousand feet in the sky. It’s not like she was going anywhere. Happy with his assessment of the situation, and awfully relieved that he now had a moment or two to contemplate this odd situation he now found himself in, he began to turn back when he heard his name.

  “William?”

  He froze.

  “William! It is you!”

  Slowly, he faced her, shock readily apparent in his expression…and hers.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked.

  “Going home.”

  “But you said your flight was early this morning. Why are you on this one?”

  With confusion in his voice, his reply was sharper than he’d intended. “I could very well ask you the same question. I was led to believe you had to work this morning.” As her face fell, he instantly regretted the tone that he’d used.

  Erica’s eyes dropped to her hands and for a moment he didn’t think she was going to reply.

  “A friend of mine invited me to New York to stay with him.”

  He saw something in her eyes as she risked a look up at him. A slight sparkle perhaps. A wave of jealousy rolled over him until he saw the corners of her mouth twitch.

  “I hope he doesn’t mind that I’m taking him up on his offer,” she added. Hope filled her expression.

  “Any gentleman would be a fool not to want you. I mean, to not want you to stay with him. I mean, of course he wouldn’t.” He was flustered so he stopped talking. And then light bulb clicked on. For a brilliant man, sometimes he wasn’t very smart. “Oh! You’re coming to see me!” His words were not much more than a whisper and Erica just smiled.

  *****

  Evan watched the scene in front of him unfold. It appeared he was witnessing a very tender moment, one that perhaps should have been in private rather than in front of nearly two hundred perfect strangers. Annie slid back into her seat, her face looking rather ashen.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  She shook her head. “Breakfast just came up,” she frowned. “And I still do not feel good.”

  Gracie had almost finished her bottle and Evan propped her on his shoulder trying to get her to burp. It only took a few seconds for her to pull her tiny knees up into her body and squirm. There was definitely a bubble needing to be released. After a couple of minutes, with no success, Annie motioned him to give Gracie to her. She stood up and bounced and rubbed the baby’s back, trying not to get in the way of the gentleman in front of her who was in deep conversation with the woman in the seat directly in front of hers.

  One burp escaped, but Gracie didn’t relax, so Annie kept bouncing and rubbing, rubbing and bouncing. And then it happened again. Her stomach felt as though she were on a roller coaster and it rolled violently giving Annie the signal to run. She lunged over the seat and shoved the baby into Evan’s arms and took off dawn the aisle, all but shoving the other passengers out of her way.

  But she only made it half way…to row twenty-one. The two flight attendants had the beverage cart locked in the middle of the aisle, blocking her path to the lavatory. One arm over her stomach and her other hand over her mouth, the flight attendant closest to her recognized the signs and flew into action, calling out to clear the aisle, releasing the brake on the cart and pushing it to the rear of the plane, causing quite a commotion. At that moment Gracie let out the scream of all screams, leaving Evan to try and relieve her of her gas.

  It took a few moments before Annie was safely ensconced in the bathroom, heaving her insides out. With beads of sweat dotting her forehead she knew she’d be there for a while, hoping that Evan could deal with a tiny case of tummy bubbles.

  But it wasn’t anything Evan had had to deal with before. Gracie was one unhappy baby. Her cries were heartbreaking and he was beside himself, unable to calm her. The people sitting around him started to stare. The noise coming from this seven pound baby was louder than he imagined possible. A woman, probably a grandmother, across the aisle offered to try and burp her so he handed Gracie over, only to have her returned a couple of minutes later screaming just as loudly.

  Jill stood at the curtain between the first class and economy cabin, watching the man struggle with the baby. She had no real experience with children, but as her passengers were content and placated, she figured it was worth a try to offer to help.

  Her first class passenger was standing in the aisle…in her way. He and the woman he was talking to seemed to be completely oblivious to what was going on around them and she finally had to tap him on the arm to get him to move.

  “Sir? If you’d like to return to your seat?” she asked politely.

  “Oh,” William replied. “I’m in your way. I apologize.” He slid into the empty seat behind Erica.

  “Actually sir, that’s where I was going.”

  William looked slightly irritated. His brow furrowed and then he had an idea. He stood and leaned over the s
eat in front of him to the young lady sitting in the middle seat. “Are you traveling alone?” he asked.

  She pulled the ear-buds from her ear. “Huh?”

  “Are you travelling alone?” he repeated.

  “Yeah.”

  “How’d you like to finish the flight in first class?” he offered.

  “Huh? I can’t go up there!”

  “If you don’t mind, I’d like to trade you seats.” He looked down at Erica who looked back at him with a big smile.

  “Hell, yeah! You don’t have to ask me twice!”

  Erica stood to let her out of the row and Jill looked at William for confirmation. “You’re sure?”

  William nodded. “Please?”

  Jill shrugged and escorted the young woman to William’s seat, 2C, all the time baby Gracie was screaming her tiny little lungs out.

  “So,” the young woman said. “Are drinks free in first class?”

  Jill rolled her eyes and asked her what she’d like.

  “A Bloody Mary, please.”

  “I’ll need to see some I.D.,” Jill smiled as pleasantly as she could.

  In just a couple of minutes, passenger 2C was settled with her drink, a pillow, a blanket, and a boxed lunch and Jill headed back to Row 9 to help with the baby whose cries had only gotten louder. Her father was obviously stressed out and just as worried about the people around him who were starting to complain.

  “Sorry,” he repeated over and over again.

  “Here,” Jill said as she held out her arms. “Let me try for a bit.”