Lost in Flight

by Neeny Boucher

  Christina was engrossed in reading the contents of the envelopes not once, but twice and by the third time, she wished she hadn’t. She wasn’t surprised at the information, but it still made her feel uncomfortable and more than a little violated. There were Gabby’s medical records, as well as her own, Johnny’s, and her father’s. Police reports, Gabby’s ties to political organizations, which were mainly environmental, but some had a radical edge.

  A copy of her mother’s death certificate, Christina and Gabby’s academic records, and work history. There were complete dossiers on the Martin family from home addresses to financial information, associates and business interests, Johnny’s criminal record, his stints in rehab, and his current girlfriend’s immigration status.

  To her horror, Christina found her dossier included a large section on Riley and his family, including his family trust fund, work history from being a cook to a stripper, to his current position as music manager, CEO of RPM Productions, and links to Mason Glenn. What was really horrible was Riley’s financial records were displayed and he was a lot wealthier, staggeringly so, than she ever expected or wanted to know.

  Riley had interests in all sorts of areas and owned multiple properties, including the one she was sitting in. Why hadn’t he told her? She felt terrible. He’d left and gone to a hotel room, letting her stay here, and it was his house. Christina had no right to this information and she put the paperwork back in the envelopes. She’d read enough and didn’t want to know anymore. She felt like a stalker.

  By the time Mandy arrived in the afternoon, Christina welcomed the interruption. She dangled Christina’s shoes from her fingers and wiggled her eyebrows saying, “Look what I got! I got them back from the Biker’s Bar and you owe me for having to go in there and flirt with those guys.”

  Christina had forgotten all about her shoes and she laughingly grabbed them off her friend. Mandy blinked and looked mischievous. “Oh, I’ve got some stuff in the car. Can you help me bring it up?”

  The “stuff” Mandy had in her car was boxes full of clothing that she’d brought for Christina. After dragging the boxes and Mandy’s luggage up the stairs, Christina cursed her for not leaving it in Shanwick. Mandy shrugged. “I was going to leave it there, but you took off so quickly I wanted to give it to you before you went back to D.C.”

  Christina looked at Mandy with narrowed eyes. “Why are you giving me your hand-me-downs? Do you think I’m poor and ugly?”

  Mandy stroked Christina’s hair gently off her face. “Definitely not ugly, sweetie,” making them both laugh. To divert Mandy from trying to foist her designer label, rock star wife chic, upon her, Christina asked her about the building project in Seattle that Bonnie had informed her about.

  Mandy looked confused. “Oh, it’s Dave’s idea really. I wanted to move back to Shanwick, but Dave didn’t want to. Seattle was as far as he’d go, so when this project came up we decided to go for it. Why?”

  Why: it was a good question. Christina wasn’t so opposed to the idea now, but she thought she should be on principle. When Christina told her how she felt, Mandy was horrified. “Oh no, no, no, Dina. If you’re uncomfortable with it, we’ll do something else. I doubt Riley would live there much anyway. He always takes off for months over winter.”

  Strange. Christina didn’t know he left for winter and her lack of knowledge was by design. She’d made sure the information channels had stopped about them when they divorced – it was a promise they’d both made to each other. Well, ‘promise’ sounds a lot politer than what happened. It was more of a yelled “You’re dead to me” retort from both parties.

  Christina used to pretend he didn’t exist, so she could move on with her life and not go crazy (ier) thinking about him. But that hadn’t worked out so well. It worked at a distance, but not when they were in close proximity.

  As much as she wanted to tell Mandy not to go ahead with the project, she found she could no longer muster the outrage. “It’s fine, Mandy,” she smiled. “Really. You do what is best for you and your family.”

  She heard Mandy say, “Dina, what aren’t you telling me?”

  Christina then found the clothes fascinating, picking items up, and making false compliments until Mandy grabbed her arm. Using all the considerable tools available, including her big eyes, sad face, and the worst one: “Bet you’d tell Bonnie. She’s your real best friend, not me,” Christina caved. In terms of mental arm wrestle and torture, Mandy was good.

  So Christina confessed to Mandy about the singing, the dancing, the conversation about pregnancy and periods, the date with plane,s and the kissing. While Mandy emptied the contents of the boxes on the bed, Christina told her about the lots and lots of kissing. She braced herself for criticism, but Mandy didn’t say anything.

  Christina said, “It’s crazy, right?” but Mandy shrugged.

  “I don’t think so. I always hoped you two would work it out one day. It’s only crazy if you two let it get cray-cray and I’m not telling Dave, because he so wouldn’t get it, but no. I don’t think it’s crazy at all.”

  Mandy grabbed a particularly skimpy number that would barely cover Christina’s butt, saying “this one.” Then the women started arguing about fashion and decorum. Mandy decided she needed back up, so she called Gabby on Skype.

  The three women divided the clothing into piles: 1) Christina, 2) Gabby and 3) oh hell no! They had serious arguments about it and Mandy kept putting ones from the “oh hell no” pile back into the other two when Christina wasn’t looking. To Mandy’s annoyance, Gabby would nark on her.

  In exasperation, Mandy snapped. “You two are like the worst clothes friends in the world – ever.”

  “Hey, Dina,” Gabby laughed, “I think the last time you and I went clothes shopping it was for Mandy’s wedding. You took me shopping in Seattle and Dad gave me his credit card. We hammered it! Then you girls did my hair for the wedding.” They all looked at each other and laughed until their sides hurt.

  Mandy said, “Oh, that’s a nice memory. My strongest one was my mother being a wedding Nazi. Commandant Robinson we called her behind her back. Oh my god!”

  Christina laughed along with them, but her memories of that time were quite different.

  Chapter Eighteen – Return flights

  Christina, Shanwick, The Past, July 2007 (Five and a half years ago)

  It was summer break when Christina returned home to Shanwick for Mandy and Dave’s wedding. Their wedding had been planned for a long time and she had negotiated her bridesmaid requirements with her studies. The week before she was heading back for the wedding, an excited Mandy called her making her promise to be matron of honor.

  Christina frowned. She’d already agreed to, so why was Mandy asking her this? She swore her heart stopped for a minute when Mandy informed her that Dave had asked Riley to be the best man.

  She processed this information frozen in shock and blurted. “Noooooo.” There was no way she was doing this, not with Riley in attendance. Was Mandy crazy?

  When she articulated as much, Mandy got upset. “You promised,” she shrieked.

  “Uh-huh,” said Christina, “that was before you told me Riley was going to be there.” Mandy did what she did best. She implemented the waterworks torture and wheedled until Christina caved.

  “Dave and I had like this huge fight, Dina. You and Riley both have to agree or neither of you can come. I fought for you, Dina - for you.” Mandy showed no mercy, pulling out the big guns. “You promised! Since we were kids - you said – you have to.”

  Christina couldn’t believe it and when she reluctantly agreed, Mandy screamed with delight then whispered. “By the way, you have to behave – both of you. It’s our wedding day – so no dramas.”

  Wow. It just got better. Christina swore that whatever happened, she would not allow anything to spoil the day. She came close to breaking that promise, but managed to keep it. Only just.

  In the years that Riley had been away, Christina had returned hom
e on a semi-regular basis for the holidays, even though she hated the place, but hardly ventured out. She hadn’t run into Riley in all that time and although she picked up the odd bit of information, “odd” being the operative word, she’d put any encounters with him to the back of her mind. This time was different. He would be there, and inevitably, they would come face to face.

  Christina also decided to take this as an opportunity to re-start divorce proceedings. In college, she’d become friends with Gillian Bindman whose mother, Debbie, was legendary in feminist circles for shattering glass ceilings in the legal profession. Christina had spent many years keeping her past life separate from her current one, but now she needed to trust someone. She chose Gillian.

  Taking Gillian out for coffee, Christina asked her a set of “hypothetical questions” about an idiot girl who may or may not have married in her teens, and wanted a divorce, but her husband was reluctant. Gillian stared at her for a bit.

  “We are talking about you, right?” When Christina nodded, Gillian said, “I’d suggest that someone gets legal advice from a professional – like my mother.”

  They met Debbie in the city at her offices and Christina was awe struck. With Gillian’s prompting, an embarrassed Christina gave Debbie the “hypothetical questions” and waited for her response. Debbie asked Christina similar questions to the ones her original lawyer had asked in Seattle.

  When it came to the ‘communal property’, Christina got the kernel of an idea. She gulped even thinking about it, because it was harsh, but it would put the acid back on Riley. Swallowing her distaste, Christina outlined her plan to Debbie who looked at her in open admiration and smiled.

  “I’m impressed. Not bad for a law student, but I would recommend that we try to get him to sign the papers amicably and then proceed with your idea.” It was a reasonable compromise.

  A determined and divorce paper-carrying Christina was picked up from the airport by Bonnie, who bear-hugged her, and pushed her back for a scrutinizing look. “Wow,” Bonnie said, “natural hair? I’d forgotten what it looked like and it looks good on you.” Christina self-consciously touched her hair. She was still getting used to it not being dyed black.

  Bonnie was still living in Shanwick, working for a local real estate agency, so she filled Christina in on all the local gossip. Of course, she avoided some of the top gossip items: 1) The return of Christina and Riley; and 2) Whether the town would survive matter and anti-matter being in the same place at once.

  It was only when they were nearly home that Bonnie broached the subject of Riley and asked Christina how she was feeling. She shrugged. “I’m fine,” but Bonnie stared at her until she confessed the truth: she was dreading facing Riley. Bonnie assured her that she was in her corner and that whatever happened, Bonnie would back her up.

  Bonnie dropped Christina off at her family home and let her go inside to get settled. As soon as she did the hugs and kisses with Dad, and Gabby, she called Mandy letting her know she was “here” in the cheeriest voice she could muster. Mandy wanted Christina to come over as soon as she could in the morning so they could catch up.

  Dad and Gabby were pleased to see Christina, and excited about the wedding. They’d been invited and were really looking forward to it. The Martins had been asked to perform a few songs at the reception, but really because Mrs. Robinson had allowed it. Johnny was due home in the next day or so, as he was one of Dave’s groomsmen.

  It was almost as if they would be all back together again. Almost. Her mother was never coming back and being at home always reminded her of that.

  When her father and Gabby went to bed, Christina called Bonnie, and asked if she wanted to go out for a drink somewhere. Bonnie picked her up and they drove to the Hub & Spoke, a little restaurant-bar on the outskirts of town. It wasn’t as rough as it was today, but the crowd wasn’t of the middle class variety either.

  There were a few people in the place, so the two women ordered drinks and found a little booth. Bonnie put some music on and they sat talking, and laughing. Every now and then, they’d see someone they knew who would smile or wave at Bonnie, and then go goggle-eyed when they saw Christina.

  She guessed psycho-drive-your-husband-away-from-town-head-case rumors were hard to overcome. When the goggle eyes happened, Christina and Bonnie would just glare at whoever stared at them too long until they ambled off. It appeared that being thought a psycho had some benefits.

  Being in Bonnie’s company made Christina feel relaxed and she felt some of the tension leave her body. They ordered more drinks and Bonnie insisted on going to the bar because there were a couple of guys checking her out. Christina watched in open admiration as Bonnie sashayed her way through the room and she was giggling. Bonnie gave her a Marilyn Monroe wink and blew her a kiss.

  Christina was still smiling at Bonnie’s antics when she looked around the room and saw Riley. He was standing by the bar at the entrance where you just come in staring directly at her. Christina felt the blood drain from her face and the wind go out of her in an “Ooooh.” She knew it would hurt to see him, but she didn’t realize it would feel like she’d been punched hard in the solar plexus. She was actually struggling to breathe.

  Riley stood there with his hands in his pockets and his shoulders hunched up. There was little expression on his face, but she could tell from his body position and sullen pout, that he wasn’t expecting, nor pleased to see her. They broke eye contact when Bonnie leaned over saying, “Dina? Dina? Are you okay?”

  A sick looking Christina couldn’t do much more, but nod in Riley’s direction. Bonnie slowly turned and looked at Riley, and turned back to her friend. Christina said to Bonnie, “I feel sick, Bonnie. I can’t breathe. I actually think I’m going to throw up.”

  Bonnie put the drinks down on the table. “Here, drink this up.”

  Christina sipped her drink trying to quell the queasy sensation in her stomach. She wanted to just get out of the place, but her eyes kept sliding back to Riley. By this stage, he had his forearms out and was leaning on the bar talking to one of the pretty blonde waitresses with her hair up in a ponytail.

  She saw Ponytail whisper something in Riley’s ear and touch his arm. Riley smiled and looked down at her, saying something back, making her laugh. Christina recognized moments of intimacy when she saw them and she didn’t want to see any more.

  Riley briefly glanced up at Christina so she looked away and focused on Bonnie. Christina was looking surreptitiously for exits that wouldn’t take her near or past Riley and Ponytail. With a fake smile plastered on her face she said to Bonnie, “Can we get out of here without going near him?”

  Putting her drink to her lips Bonnie nodded. “As a matter of fact, we can. This place is on the market and listed with our firm. This is what we’ll do. We’ll finish these drinks and then you go to the bathroom. I’ll meet you there in about five and we’ll go out the back.”

  It sounded like a good plan and much better than the one she’d been formulating about jumping out a window and running. The two women sat there pretending everything was “fine” sipping their drinks until they were finished. Once they were done, Bonnie gave Christina the nod and she got up with as much nonchalance as possible heading to the bathroom.

  Christina felt like she was walking in hostile territory and imagined all eyes were on her. In particular, she could feel Riley’s – burning into her back. It took all her will power not to run the final bit to the door leading out to the bathroom, but she maintained her composure.

  She went in and waited for Bonnie. On observation, she thought this place was in serious need of a makeover and a cleaner that took their job seriously. The pink paint job was flaking and the accessories in the bathroom were all black. The mirror was splattered with god knows what and the bright fluorescent light just highlighted the dingy-grimy-shabbiness of the place. Christina didn’t want to, but she needed to use the facilities.

  Bonnie came in as Christina was just washing her hands. She decide
d she’d wash them again too when she got home. Bonnie needed to use the facilities as well, so Christina paced nervously as she waited. After she was finished, Bonnie, being Bonnie, took the time to touch up her make-up, and apply some new lipstick.

  Christina had to stop herself from screaming at Bonnie to “hurry the F up,” because every part of her body was telling her to get out of there as fast as possible. Bonnie, however, was not the sort of person to do some mad rush fleeing without looking perfect. She would not be moved.

  Opening the bathroom door, Bonnie went out first and told her to “follow me.” They turned left and headed out a door marked private into a hallway. It was dark in there and after the retina burning fluorescent lights in the bathroom, the two women found it difficult to see. They had to move at a slow pace with Bonnie running her hand down a wall to keep her bearings. Christina was right behind her trying to keep as close as possible.

  When Bonnie knocked into something and halted to rub her leg, Christina missed body-slamming her by one stride. Someone had left a box in the hallway and Bonnie smacked right into it. Cursing and swearing, Bonnie went around it holding Christina’s hand.

  It looked like this part of the building had once been used as accommodation, but now she wondered if there were other guests like spiders and rats in there. The thought gave Christina the creeps and she suppressed a shudder. She decided she’d watched way too many horror movies when visions of limbs coming out of the walls to grab them popped into her mind.

  It felt like an eternity, but it couldn’t have been more than ten minutes before they came to another door that opened into a storage area. There were windows that let the moonlight into the place, so they could better see. Both women felt relieved to be out of the suffocating darkness of the hallway.

  They stopped for a bit to have a breather, grinning at each other and saying “phew.” Christina said, “I don’t know about you, but that terrified the crap out of me.”

  Bonnie nodded and grinned. “Yeah, me too.” Bonnie stopped to get her bearings and pointed right. “If I remember correctly, there’s a door over there that takes us into a foyer. The exit door should be right through there.”