Friday Night Flights

by Susan X Meagher

  “Bears?” Casey laughed. “I don’t think so, but it’s well past suburbia. I guarantee she’ll see more deer than people.”

  “Well, she’s definitely not a fan of rural life, but maybe she’ll change her mind if it’s quiet.” She smiled up at Casey. “Either that or she’ll move back here, which I would truly love.”

  ***

  Casey stepped outside to go home after they’d managed to keep Lisbet awake until eight, with Kathy hoping she’d sleep through the night if she stayed up later. It really tugged at Casey’s heartstrings to watch the child settle down in her basket and smack her little Cupid’s-bow lips together like she was very, very satisfied to be horizontal. But she looked so small and helpless lying on the floor of the mostly empty room that Casey would have slept right next to her if given the chance. She didn’t want Ken and Kathy to realize how quirky she was, or she would have suggested the idea. But they didn’t know her well enough to realize she was a little odd, but entirely harmless.

  Ken walked her out, and stopped by the car in the driveway. “Did you see Kathy’s new wheels?”

  “This is Kathy’s?”

  “Uh-huh. Went out this morning and bought it without saying a word.” He laughed. “Last time she bought a car I slowed her down by at least a week, doing all kinds of research and trying to get a better deal. I guess she wasn’t in the mood for more of that.”

  “I didn’t know you could buy a car and take it right home.”

  “I didn’t either. But she told them she’d take it then or not at all, so they hustled to prep it. Knowing her, she got them to throw in the new car seat. She’s very persuasive,” he added, his smile showing he found that an attractive trait.

  “Did you know she was even interested in buying a car?”

  “I had no idea. But once Avery decided to move out, I should have guessed. Actually, I’m surprised she didn’t buy the new one for her, but since Avery’s just as stubborn, that might have been a long standoff.”

  “Mmm. Yeah, Avery’s pretty independent. Do you think she’ll accept Kathy’s old one?”

  “I think so. She clearly has to have one, and according to the dealer the old car was only worth a few thousand dollars. I don’t think her pride will get in the way—this time.” He laughed, looking a tiny bit like Avery when he did. “But you never know.”

  ***

  Only by begging her Uber driver to rush did Avery get to the twelve oh eight train. She hadn’t voluntarily been up that late in months, but she was still buzzing from the evening, which had gone exceedingly well.

  She’d picked the stories because they’d had a common theme, but she hadn’t been sure they’d work well together, given the authors’ varied styles. But Stefanic’s harsh, almost brutal imagery had been a nice counterpoint to Greenfield’s pastoral setting. And Ahmad’s stories were always colorful and sensual, a calming, soothing antidote to whatever craziness was going on in the world.

  Talking to such talented writers, as well as the super-literary groupies who tended to follow Short Shorts wherever it roamed, always gave her a high. But getting an immersion back into the world of carefully chosen words after spending most of her days with a beautiful little creature who could only babble had been rejuvenating.

  Avery had no idea why words had grabbed her attention at such an early age, and had never waned as the dominant force in her life, but it was a fact she couldn’t ignore. While she could hardly have been more grateful for her parents’ and Casey’s help in getting her relocated, she craved the creative chaos of her adopted home. She had no idea how she’d get back there, but it called to her like the mountains or the sea called to other people. The problem was that everyone understood why a person was drawn to the mountains. Far fewer could comprehend wanting to live in a place where a delivery truck nearly crushed you, while the bystanders just nodded like it had been the most expected thing in the world.

  ***

  It was almost two a.m when Avery parked on the street in front of her parents’ house, registering a strange car in the drive, but too tired to think about it much. She entered the house quietly, then tiptoed down the hall to see that Lisbet was sleeping soundly, with one little arm tossed above her head.

  Heading back to the living room, Avery removed her clothing as she walked. A quick trip to the bathroom only slowed her down slightly. She took a T-shirt from her bag and tugged it over her head, then dropped to the sofa and pulled the sheet her mom had set out up to her chin. Being horizontal had never felt so good.

  She was sure she’d been asleep when Lisbet’s car-alarm cry went off, and as she stumbled to her feet she saw that the clock on the VCR read two fifteen. Fantastic.

  ***

  Getting up and out wasn’t an easy task. Avery was so tired she ached, but she dutifully fed Lisbet and drove to her new home at eight a.m.

  The new place was stark, but that was kind of a benefit. Not having a place to lounge would force her to sit at her desk, where she always worked more efficiently. Just to avoid having to go back downstairs, she carried the sandwich her mom had made with her, peeking into the plastic grocery bag to find a sleeve of vanilla wafers, her favorite cookie. She was smiling with contentment as she sat down and booted up her computer. She didn’t have internet yet, and thought she might not get it at all. Her phone could serve as a hotspot to download files without a problem, and doing it that way would prevent her from goofing around much. She didn’t have much patience for poking around the web at slow speed, and doing the hotspot guaranteed a tortoise’s pace.

  She walked over to sit on the wide window sill as her computer came to life. It was a sunny, warm day, and all she could see was the vivid green of the leaves that decorated every tree. Her ruminations of the night before seemed kind of silly now. The constant noise of Brooklyn did nothing but raise your blood pressure. If she still had any after nearly being mowed down by a truck, that is. She shivered, realizing it had only taken two weeks to have the calluses that had formed around her nerves start to thin.

  ***

  Avery popped the last of her cookies into her mouth, determined to finish editing a five thousand word piece that had to come in at thirty-five hundred. Helena was very patient with pieces that needed every word to convey their truth. But this one, while good, was bloated. Avery was certain it would be a stronger piece when it lost the fat, and equally certain the writer wouldn’t agree. The excitement she’d heard in the guy’s voice when she’d called to tell him they’d accepted the piece would definitely be absent after he’d read her suggestions. But the sooner this young writer learned to pare things down, the better he’d be.

  She could edit on her computer when she needed to, but she much preferred looking at the words in print. The sheets she’d printed off were now marred with red ink, looking a little like a crime scene.

  She looked at the clock on her computer, then lifted her head to stare out the open window. She’d known it was afternoon, but had no idea the sun was more than halfway to the horizon. Racing to transcribe and send off the edits, she took her plastic bag and ran down the stairs. It had been an excellent day. She’d pumped and stored six packets of milk, gotten a difficult edit done, and hadn’t even been tempted to lie down and nap. Best of all, the only noise she’d heard was a lawn mover, and even that hadn’t been especially loud. Wouldn’t it be funny to find she was really a country mouse?

  ***

  When Avery pulled up to the house, she wasn’t surprised to see Casey’s truck. Slightly…unhappy, but not surprised. It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate everything Casey had done for her and Lisbet. But she’d been looking forward to spending the evening with her baby—alone. Now she’d have to be social, something she just wasn’t in the mood to be. While she could be an extrovert, it always took her a day or two to recover from having to be really out there. And Short Shorts always stretched her affability to its limits.

  As she went into the house, some of her grouchiness disappeared the momen
t Casey walked toward her, holding the baby like a little prize. “Look who’s home,” she said in a soft, sing-song tone. “Your favorite person in the whole world.”

  “What’s going on?” Avery asked, forcing herself to refrain from saying, Why are you here?

  “Your mom called to say she needed to run some errands. She thought it would be easier to leave Lisbet at home, so I came over after I dropped the desserts off at the restaurant.” She stopped, giving Avery a concerned look. “That’s okay, right? I don’t want to butt into your time with Lisbet.”

  “It’s fine,” she said, angry with herself for being so territorial, not to mention ungrateful. “Boy, just looking at her is making my breasts leak. Mind if I feed her?”

  “She’s due. She’s been doing that thing where she roots against anyone who’s holding her.”

  Avery took her and cuddled the baby for a few moments, smiling when she started to babble excitedly, clearly glad to see her. “How did my mom get out to do errands? I have her car.”

  “You don’t have the one she bought yesterday.”

  Avery stared at her, watching Casey’s expression slide into a playful smile. “Apparently she showed up at the dealer, bought the one she wanted, and forced them to give it to her before they’d prepped it fully. That’s why she had to go back today.”

  Avery rolled her eyes. “I was so tired last night that the fact there was a different car in the driveway didn’t register. Obviously, I was just as groggy this morning.” She shook her head, trying to absorb everything. “I don’t know why I’m surprised. My mom’s too generous for her own good.”

  “No arguments there. But I think she might have used this as an excuse. She told me she’d been wanting a new car for a year or two, but couldn’t justify the expense. Now she can.”

  “Well, I should complain, but I really do need a car. I’m going to drown in the expense of getting my house furnished.”

  “Hey! Check out what I brought.” Casey went into the kitchen and emerged with a high chair, the very high-end model that investment bankers dragged from their cars when they were returning to their Brooklyn brownstones from their weekend places in the Hamptons.

  “Did you say brought, or bought. Because if you said bought…”

  “No way,” Casey said, holding her hands up. “Julie’s parents are kind of rich, and they showered Benji with all of the baby stuff normal people realize they don’t really need.”

  “But…they must want it if they still have it.”

  Casey smiled. “Julie’s always wanted to have a second, but she hasn’t been able to talk Ben into it. Maybe seeing Lisbet will convince him he needs a daughter, too.”

  “Not sure it works that way, but I’ll gladly use this until they need it.” Avery looked the chair over, nodding with satisfaction. “I definitely don’t need anything this fancy, but it’s fantastic.” She let out a laugh. “I wish Ben and Julie had given birth to twins, since I’d love one this nice for my house.”

  “Do you need one?”

  “No, I’m set. I bought mine at a second-hand shop in Brooklyn. It probably doesn’t meet all of the current safety standards, but my dad checked it out and says it’s sturdy enough.”

  “Kids are so expensive,” Casey agreed. “I think Julie would have liked twins, but Ben’s good with one.”

  “How can I thank them? Should I write them a note or send a nice bottle of wine or something?”

  “Wine?” Casey laughed. “Ben’s not a wine guy. But they’d appreciate a note.”

  “I’ll do it after we have dinner.” She sniffed, trying to detect the scent of anything coming from the kitchen. “I know what Lisbet’s having, but how about us?”

  “I was going to go home, but I can cook…”

  “Let me take you out. It’s the least I can do for all you do for us.”

  “What about your parents?”

  “My mom can take my dad out for dinner when they get home. She’s clearly got money burning a hole in her pocket.”

  ***

  They went to Avery’s favorite spot, the local drive-in ice cream stand where Casey had stopped the night Avery went to watch her play softball. Avery had never been able to figure out how Joe’s managed to make good burgers, dog, and even tacos, given they couldn’t have had much room in the kitchen. Late on summer evenings, there could be thirty people in line for their homemade ice cream, which really was worth the wait. But they managed to have a good crowd for lunch and dinner, too. In her opinion, having made a lifelong quest to find the best, their chili cheeseburgers were the ne plus ultra.

  It was still warm enough to sit outside, even though the sun was just about to set. Lisbet was in her car seat carrier, which Casey had set on the picnic tabletop. She kept teasing the baby by holding a French fry above her head, saying, “One of these days, you’re going to know the joy of junk food, Lisbet. I bet you can’t wait.”

  “She’s still just got the one tooth. I think she’s pretty happy with the status quo.”

  “She sure seems happy,” Casey agreed. She dipped a fry into a mound of ketchup and popped it into her mouth. “How about you? I couldn’t help but notice you didn’t look overjoyed at seeing me tonight.”

  “Ooo.” Avery reached over and grasped Casey’s arm, holding it for a second. “Am I really that transparent? Or are you just really good at reading people?”

  “Mmm…both?”

  “I’m sorry if I didn’t look happy. I’d planned on grabbing Lisbet and going home. I wasn’t in the mood to be social with you or anyone else.” She sighed, closing her eyes. “I was up until well after two, and I worked nonstop today. I didn’t think I had it in me to be conversational, but now that we’re out and I’m chowing down on my favorite high-calorie meal, my mood has improved.”

  “A good cheeseburger can do that,” Casey agreed. “My mom’s on another one of her diets, so we’ve been getting a lot of vegetables. She thinks meat’s the culprit for the weight that’s crept up on her.” She let out a laugh. “No matter what the diet is, it always allows for generous servings of cookies.”

  “Tell her to try breastfeeding. I’m not sure how much I’ve lost, but the shorts I bought after I had the baby are almost too big to stay up.”

  “I think it’s a little late for that for my mom, but she’d do it if she could. I think she looks great, but her self-image is pretty bad.”

  Avery wiped the chili from her hand and reached over to pat Lisbet’s leg. “I’m going to try to keep my little Sweet Pea from getting into that ‘I’m only worthwhile if I’m thin’ thing we drop on girls, but I assume society will counteract all of my positive messages.”

  “It can do that.” Casey looked at Avery for a moment, then said, “Girls have to be thin, straight, tall, but not too tall, and smart, but not too smart. Sometimes I wish Lisbet had been a boy. The world’s easier for them.”

  Avery shrugged. “In some ways. But I’m glad she’s a girl. I think I’ll have a better chance of understanding her as she grows up.” She met Casey’s gaze and smiled. “I’ve never understood boys.”

  “Even when you were dating them? You always had a boyfriend in high school.”

  “Not always…” She smiled, remembering a detail that she hesitated just a moment before revealing. “I had my first encounter with a penis right in this parking lot. That’s a fact I’m not going to share with Lisbet, by the way.” She look a look around, seeing only families. “The old owners didn’t care if you parked your car over in the corner and sat in it for hours. I think the new folks keep a closer eye on kids.”

  “Well, well, well,” Casey said. “I’ve never been fond of sex in cars, but I guess you do what works.”

  “We didn’t have sex-sex. I was actually shocked at the fact that he whipped it out. I took a look, but I wasn’t going to do any more than that.”

  Casey laughed. “I knew guys who liked you. I was always impressed that they didn’t think you were a slam-dunk.”

  “
Um…you mean that they had to work to get me to have sex? Because I didn’t—”

  “No!” She laughed harder. “They had to work to have you pay any attention to them at all. You had to be convinced.”

  Smiling, Avery nodded. “I guess that’s true, but that was probably because I wouldn’t admit to myself that I was a lesbian.” She took a fry and nibbled on it, slowing herself down so they’d get cold and make her not want as many of them. “So you sat around with guys discussing girls? Kind of cool.”

  “Nah. This was senior year, when I was on the football team. There was a lot of standing around and waiting during practice and I eavesdropped a lot.” Her smile grew wider. “The smart guys really liked you, and the less smart guys were always trying to understand what your appeal was. They liked the girls they didn’t have to work for better than you.”

  “Interesting. I had a steady boyfriend senior year. And no, I didn’t understand them even when I spent a lot of time with them. By the time I stopped dating guys, which was during my senior year at Bard, I was at my nadir.”

  “Na—what?”

  “Low point. I’d broken up with the guy I’d been seeing, certain I had no idea what men liked, wanted, or feared. That hasn’t changed.”

  “Mmm. I work with almost all guys, and as near as I can tell they want to hang out with other guys. Even the most sensitive of them seems to prefer sitting around after work having a beer, delaying going home as long as possible.” She held up her hands. “I don’t get that. Why get married and have kids if you’d rather hang with your buddies?”

  “Got me. When I had a girlfriend, I wanted to be with her more than anything. There wouldn’t have been anything they’d offer after work that would have made me want to delay going home.”

  “Me too. I love the guys I work with, but if I had a girlfriend…” She tugged on Lisbet’s tiny bootie-clad foot. “A girlfriend who was an adult, that is, I’d race out of work at three on the dot.”

  Hesitating for a second, Avery had to force herself back on track to reply. Sometimes when Casey referred to how tough it was to find a partner who wanted a baby, she felt at best invisible, at worst outright rejected. But she was certain Casey wasn’t trying to be rude, so she tried, largely unsuccessfully, to convince herself that she was simply oblivious. “That will be a lucky woman,” Avery managed to say. “I hope you find a fertile young thing who’s ready to pop out a whole litter of babies for you.”