Your Flight Will Leave Soon

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Your Flight Will Leave Soon Page 15

by Renee Blossom


  Lila dabbed at her eyes, yet again. “Do I have to leave?”

  Darcy laughed with her sister and it was a healthy release for both of them. As it turned out, Lila had been worrying about the shower even more than Darcy had.

  “I think they will try to carry the sofa with you on it,” Darcy said. “Not me though. I’ll break their backs.”

  Lila gave a dismissive hand wave, “You’re all of one twenty? Please. It’s me they can’t move. I can barely manage,” Lila said, standing up slowly with the arm of the sofa and Darcy for support. They waddled slowly toward the parking lot, talking about the games they played, which Lila got a kick out of and were totally unexpected.

  Darcy coudln’t stop thinking about the furniture and she wished her gut feelings would vanish, but it just woudln’t. Something was wrong. Very wrong.

  Ten

  Galen

  Galen called Anton on his cell on Sunday morning after a refreshing shower. He felt inspired. Motivated.

  He had connected with Anton through a friend of his, via Linked-In and they had traded messages several times over the last two months but without much progress. Hardly a solid connection. He felt odd asking for a meeting, face to face, on a weekend. Nothing felt natural about it, but he did it anyway. It felt like gambling. Worse. An intrusion. Who does this? It’s Sunday. Who messages someone on a Sunday for a business meeting, with someone you’ve never met?

  Darcy told him to go for it. Otherwise, he was holding himself back. Worst outcome is he turns you down. No loss. You’ve got nothing to start with. You’ll feel like a million bucks when it’s over, just for asking.

  Galen still felt out of place. Networking computers made sense. Networking among people, no so much. Why would he agree to have an impromptu meeting on a Sunday, in one hour?

  Rumors were circling that Google wanted to buy them out and price was the last hurdle to making a deal. Galen came up with questions, easily, about the possibility and thought maybe he should write them down, just in case, so he didn’t forget to ask. He found a notepad in the kitchen, which he used for his question list and jotted down anything he wanted to know about the company, about Anton’s job. Vision. Project direction. What changes in technology had them excited about the future?

  He liked the exercise but hated the idea of asking so many questions of Anton. Anton was agreeing to meet with Galen on his personal time.

  Galen dealt with a nervous sweat and didn’t know what he could do other than douse his hands with body powder, examining his shaved face for stray hairs, yet again. He wanted to make sure he was really clean shaven, not sporting dangling hairs like he had rushed with his razor.

  It is not an interview. No group interview non-sense. One man. Wear a suit? Galen didn’t have a suit, unless you counted the black tie he wore to the wedding which his aunt and uncle procured for him––had they rented it? He didn’t even know. It looked way too nice for a rental. So what should he wear? Not an interview, but way too important to wear shorts. Khakis? That felt safe. His new wardrobe, post weight loss, included a pair that looked presentable. White shirt? Too plain? It had a starched collar, long sleeve. His mother insisted that for the conference he had to dress semi-professional, so not to look like a bum when making contacts.

  “You might be talking to your future boss, so you better be prepared,” his mother had said over and over.

  Ironic at the possibility. Galen hadn’t planned on having an important meeting on the trip to California. But the opportunity had arrived. He laughed to himself, thinking about it, while driving a borrowed car from his aunt and uncle––a five year old convertible BMW they hung onto because the milage was low and it was just fun to drive on weekends sometimes––that Darcy had told him to make a contact, so he had some coverage for himself and his sister on their fib to his mother.

  He wasn’t worried about his mother’s opinion. So what if he went to a family wedding and didn’t get her permission? He kept asking himself questions about the meeting’s purpose––what did he want from the guy. Sure, a contact to a hiring manager, but where would that go? Did he want to take a job and move to the bay area? Darcy would say this meeting is good practice for Galen.

  Practice? It’s not a sport.

  What did people order at a meeting at a cafe, maybe a doughnut or croissant? Who paid? Galen had some cash, but he didn’t know what was customary and he didn’t want to do the wrong thing. And he figured everything is more expensive than he would think, because of the location. Reviews were good and he’d seen pictures, but not the menu and he wished he had checked it out before leaving the house.

  Still. Then there was Anton’s questions. What would Anton want to know? He wouldn’t bring tests, but those were the easy part. Technology made sense.

  Tell me about a time when you were working on a project that failed. Uh. Yeah. Who didn’t work on something that failed? The project didn’t fail, it just didn’t work worth shit and they tossed it in the trash and moved on with their lives. Or figured out what they were trying to build was pointless. What was the big deal? What was wrong with being honest about building something that in the end didn’t work? That happened all the time. Programming was trial and error. Try this. Fail. Try something else. Fail. Try another angle.

  Test. Test. Test. Then after it works they pay people to break it. Then they pay people to tell you why it won’t sell and why no one wants it. Then they pay people to hack it. Debug it. On and on.

  Anton was sharply dressed, fitted clothing, trendy, young. Surprising. How old was he? He must have graduated young, considering his resume. He had been at two start-ups before, both were short jobs. A programmer. A software guy. A Clemson grad.

  Anton had a firm handshake for a small hand. He wanted to sit outside, only an iron fence separated their small round table from the sidewalk, pedestrians in decent numbers on a Sunday stroll, light jacket weather.

  “So. You are looking?” Anton said, shortly after they had ordered. “What area?”

  Galen pulled out his paper as though unsheathing a double edged sword and unfolded it carefully, then his questions, one by one, feeling as though he were interviewing Anton and while he was uncomfortable asking anything from Anton, Anton was relaxed, answering. His hands formed a steeple at the table and he had a calmness seen in men much older––twenty years his senior at least. Anton was all of thirty-one. SGM Nation was fast growing in the digital advertising and marketing space––not a true tech warrior, but a tech driven marketing company, their customers were Silicon Valley neighbors––and while he declined to answer, giving not even a subtle clue about a possible Google buyout, he didn’t deny or attempt to defuse the rumors, which Galen heard from a friend of a friend of a friend, who worked at Google.

  Galen knew the buyout rumors were legit. He’d have denied them if they were not. A deal was not imminent, obviously, but there was also a chance Galen wouldn’t have a job anymore after a potential deal were complete. Those things were very unpredictable. But any tech company he could work at, starting out, brought those types of risks. Layoffs, mergers, downsizing, whatever they called it. The industry was fraught with layers fighting for dominance, constant growth, new standards, formats and ice the cake with government regulation. Galen couldn’t predict the future.

  He had to decide what he wanted.

  A buyout didn’t matter. The company did. A job opportunity did. Once he got in at SGM he would have changes somewhere else with new connections. One job could lead to another.

  “I’d like to work for you,” Galen said and felt like he was being too bold. “What would you like to know about me?”

  He could see Darcy beaming over this conversation.

  Anton smirked, knowingly, a look Galen expected and knew that if he were to live in San Francisco, he had to get used to attitude, “I’ve seen enough. You’ll fit with us. My only question is when could you start?”

  Galen felt a little dumbfounded. Relocation? Drop everything and
move? Just like that. Could he decide to move from home, this fast, this far from home? He wouldn’t have an easy return, if it didn’t work out, but did he want to remain stuck in Florida, going no where, all his life?

  He could move out of his between family houses living arrangements at the same time. He’d put distance from both of them, a good and bad thing. But he’d have to walk away from his friends, his firmly planted and comfortable roots and make new ones.

  Maybe this was the opportunity he needed all along.

  He said to Anton, “When would you like me to start?”

  And held his breath, hoping that his aunt and uncle wouldn’t mind him staying longer term. For once in his life, he was happy to ask for that favor.

  Eleven

  Darcy

  As Lila climbed into her new SUV, sort of like a jumping jelly bean exercise with a supportive push from her sister, after Darcy got a good nostril filling of the new car interior and checked out the litany of technology safety features Lila didn’t fully understand or know how to use, Darcy watched the final boxed piece of Lila’s nursery set slide into the back of a maroon SUV. She swore. Inside her head. No visual on its driver.

  They agreed to meet at the center of town in a half hour, wander, see where they day took them, now that the shower was over. Lila had to pop home before heading out again.

  Darcy bid her sister farewell, quickly getting behind the wheel and sped guiltily to catch the maroon SUV, hoping to follow it to Lila’s place. But it didn’t go that way. What the hell.

  Darcy followed the car all the way to a posh neighborhood in Delafield, not far from the park and parked at the street, as the car pulled into the garage.

  Elnora got out of the maroon SUV and smiled faintley, as though strained, when she saw Darcy walking up her long driveway.

  Darcy felt like she were intruding, but she couldn’t rationalize out her curiousity. That was partly true. She wanted, most of all, the nursery set in place, ready to go at her sister’s house, in the baby’s room, so momma could rest easy that her baby’s nest was ready. Lila had started nesting a month earlier and had been waiting on the shower; this was part of the reason the shower date pushing back to May from April was an issue of contention for Lila, but Darcy hardly had enough time to make the date in May happen.

  Why did this have to happen? Today. Darcy had to see to it that the furniture made it to Lila’s house and at least was on display, even if it were all still in boxes. Putting it together wasn’t an issue. Oliver could complete the assembly, presuming Elnora didn’t want to. Lugging heavy furniture to what what most certainly her own garage didn’t make sense when she could take it right over to Lila’s place after the shower. Or she could have left it at the shower, for someone else, most likely Oliver, to haul it home.

  Elnora had a strained relationship with Lila, according to Lila. If asking Marcella, the relationship between Darcy and her mother in law was downright hostile. You could say they tolerated each other on good days.

  “Lovely shower, Darcy” Elnora said, “Fine presentation,” she went on, tugging a leather strap over her shoulder, a small clutch at the end of it, sparking in mid afternoon sunlight, much like her gaudy wedding band. Darcy tried not to stare and wondered how she hadn’t noticed the magnificent ring before.

  Darcy felt like her compliments were hallow, even if any sensible person could see the girls did a phenomial job turning a tent and card tables and chairs into a magical pink wonderland, but it didn’t matter what Elnora saw at the party or not.

  “Did you need help with the nursery set?”

  Elnora paused a moment as though Darcy’s question were peculiar. “Oh. No. Of course not. I’ve an installer coming. Er, assembler, I suppose. They will set it up in the guest room for me and it will be just lovely.”

  Darcy didn’t know quite how to respond. It took her several seconds too long to sort it out. Elnora was keeping the nursery set for herself. She’d made a charade about it at the nursery and the opening was the pinnacle of the shower for Lila, which Elnora undoubtedly understood, but she didn’t seem to take that seriously. Or she didn’t care.

  Lila would become a total basket case if she knew about this latest move from her mother in law.

  What could Darcy say to Elnora at a moment like this? She told herself to take the high road but that didn’t seem quite right.

  “You’re joking, right?” Darcy said, walking the driveway to close the distance from Elnora, who seemed dismissive about the whole conversation, as though she might click her garage door shut in Darcy’s face, if she could.

  Darcy’s mind raced for options like speeding in a dream. No real options worked in her mind and it only panicked her more.

  “Not at all. I said to Lila I would get a nursery set for the baby and I did that. I never told her who it was for,” Elnora said, with the corners of her mouth taking a new angle, a smile she fought off and partially won. Smug. Arrogant. Condescending.

  Darcy thought to slap the woman across the face until she remembered that this woman was Oliver’s mother and thought better of it, though she considered how good it would feel to knock her out on the fancy garage floor next to her Cadillac. Steal the furniture.

  “She expects that set at her house for the baby. You know she’s been waiting, stressing, needing,” Darcy said, knowing Elnora was incapable of feeling even slightly guilty for what she had done, but it was worth trying anyway. “You’ve given her a gift…”

  “It is still a gift, now, thank you for coming and for throwing my daughter in law a splendid baby shower. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

  Elnora didn’t miss a beat, continuing into her house and closing the garage, the door slowly working its way down as Darcy stood there, watching the heavy door close less than a foot away, in disbelief. The day was ruined. Glorious day. The shower had come together perfectly. All things fell right into place. Lila was overjoyed. This was quite possibly worse than having it rain all day. There was nothing else Lila really wanted other than the nursery set. She had to have it.

  Now what? She had to meet Lila in ten minutes. Center of town. If she pushed it back, would Lila suspect something is wrong and start asking questions? That would be like Lila to do.

  Back in the car, Darcy got on her phone and reached out to Monica, Jessica and Tera on separate text messages, hoping that one of them had an idea.

  Galen. He was removed and unbiased. Darcy texted him, to ask his opinion, on chance he had a magical idea that worked. Chances were, he wouldn’t have a clue. Darcy had nothing to lose. If Lila found out her mother in law kept the coveted nursery set after she’d given it at the shower like that, it would destroy whatever pleasantness they had between them.

  Would Galen have a suggestion before Darcy wedged herself into a family fight that could permanently wedge Lila from her in-laws for the rest of their lives? The animosity would last for years and may never subside. Oliver and Lila’s kids barely knowing their grandparents, even though they lived close. Sad. Unbearably disheartening.

  Darcy decided she had to get Lila a bedroom set without her knowing that her mother in law was keeping the set she bought all to herself. That meant she had to find the same model. Searching online revealed how expensive Lila’s choice had been. At a cool $999, it was no casual purchase. Would Oliver spring for it, to save face on behalf of his mother? That idea seemed too easy and meant that Oliver would have to harbor a secret from his wife, which might be more than he had tolerance for.

  Who else would pay for this set? She couldn’t ask everyone who attended the shower to pony up for the furniture. Not on the spot like that. Sure, it was an emergency, but still. Thinking that way didn’t feel appropriate. Way too much to expect from people. And Darcy couldn’t stomach even the thought of telling her sister about Elnora’s most recent dagger. But she couldn’t stand to add more to her rapidly accumulating credit card bill, even though it would be for a good reason. Baby furniture wasn’t exactly an impulsive purchase
for herself. The notion of using her savings to cover the costs was equally repulsive.

  What the hell. Darcy felt at odds with herself and desperate for a diplomatic solution. Otherwise, it was war. And as dumb as it sounded, even though Darcy knew it wasn’t her call to pull this stunt on Lila, the shower date had been pushed back because of Darcy’s planning and Lila would have been happy sitting in a living room or some community center for the shower, provided she got her nursery set. She might have preferred that, actually, if it meant getting her furniture setup at a sooner date.

  The nursery had been painted three times, the second painting happened because she changed her mind on the exact shade of grey she wanted and the third project was because the initial repaint had missed several spots. Lila was concerned about blending.

  Text from Galen: that’s one cold fish. He used the emoji. Try Craigslist or EBay. Good luck.

  Awesome. Could she buy a used one and slip it past her sister? She wouldn’t notice hairline scratches, maybe, but any real wear would be detected. Then there’s the smell. New furniture smells new.

  Options racing through Darcy’s mind were quickly dwindling.

  Monica texted back: tell me that’s a joke.

  Darcy texted Monica back: crying face emoji. Any ideas?

  Monica texted back: Oliver? Sorry.

  She hadn’t heard from Jessica or Tera yet, but to Darcy, it was feeling pointless. That exact set wouldn’t be easy to find in stock just anywhere. To find it on clearance, nearly impossible and Darcy could only hope.

  Jessica texted the name of a liquidation furniture store, suggesting it was worth a shot.

  Darcy called the store, finding the number on Yelp and they had nothing left for baby furniture. The guy she got on the phone didn’t sound very interested. Besides, the store was a healthy forty minute drive one way. She considered trying other stores on her short list but forgot that idea as soon as Oliver called. He got to the point about lingering shower details, decorations they could keep, serving dishes which needed to be returned and the sofa which was from their living room, had been put back okay. Darcy was quick to address his concerns and started her car, knowing she had to leave to meet Lila in town.

 

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