Friday Night Flights

by Susan X Meagher

  Casey’s smile grew wide. “I bought your house from my dad. I signed the sales contract last night, and paid him off.”

  “Are you serious?” When Casey nodded, Avery threw her arms around her and hugged her tightly. “I’m so happy for you!”

  “I am too. Really happy. Since the day I knew my mom was going to inherit this house, I’ve been unhappy with the plans she and my dad have come up with.”

  “Then why didn’t you offer to buy it before?”

  “I assumed he’d want a whole lot more than I had to spend, but I got him to tell me the truth about his plans.” She laughed a little. “I’m glad I’d never told him I was interested in buying, since he would have jacked the price up.”

  “I hope you didn’t pay a lot for it. The water heater in the kitchen is kind of an eyesore.”

  “I paid a fair price. My dad tried to nail me, but my mom put a stop to that pretty fast. I only had to pay what he truly thinks he could sell it for, which isn’t a lot. If I do the work myself, I could have a nice little spot here.”

  “You’d fix it up and live here? Really? Your room is awfully nice.”

  “Oh, there are definitely plusses to living at home, but the minuses are piling up.”

  “So…I can stay for a while?”

  “You can stay for as long as you want. I’ll be able to pay the property taxes and have a little left over from your rent, so I’ll put that in a separate account and use it for the building fund.”

  Avery clapped her on the back. “Congratulations! I certainly didn’t know you had any thought of doing this, but I’m really glad to have you as a landlord. Would you like me to sign a lease?”

  “No need. I’m not in a rush to make improvements, but I might start making plans. It’s never too soon to make plans.”

  “Great. Now I plan on paying the rent I owe you, Casey. You didn’t make an agreement with me. Your dad did, and it’s a moot point now.”

  Casey shook her head firmly. “No dice. I paid for the place out of my savings, so I don’t have a mortgage. It will cost me nothing to honor the offer my dad made you, and it’ll make me happy to give you a little surplus. You just have to buy something…anything with the money. God knows you need a million things, and now that you’ll have some security you can’t use the excuse that you’re just passing through any longer.”

  Avery grasped her arms and pulled her close. Looking into her eyes always made her feel a little off-kilter, but she forced herself to stay on track. “Did you really do this for yourself? Promise you didn’t throw a whole lot of money into this house just for Lisbet and me.”

  “Promise,” she said, unblinking. “The house means a lot to me. You two being able to stay longer is a very nice bonus. So go ahead and put those pre-school applications in, but rest assured you don’t have to leave until you’ve got everything sorted out. Who knows? Maybe the rent in Brooklyn will be less when Lisbet’s ready for pre-school.”

  Avery smiled at her. “I’d always guessed you were the most optimistic person in my circle, and you just cinched it.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Helena’s word was her bond. Just days after she’d given Avery approval to start planning, two Brooklyn-based interns created a new channel on the inter-office communication app. Avery got a message as soon as she turned her phone on that morning, inviting her to a video chat at nine. That was a nice surprise, and after she and the enthusiastic interns spent a few minutes introducing themselves, she gave them the spiel about what she hoped they could accomplish.

  They were full of ideas, reminding her of her early days with the magazine, when she’d interned the summer after her junior year at Bard, thus igniting her love of all things Brooklyn. After giving them specific marching orders, she left them to it, having far too many things to manage to keep a very close eye on them. She was determined to monitor the channel to make sure they weren’t wasting their time on things she could clear up quickly, of course, but she was going to give them more autonomy than they would normally get. She just hoped she didn’t regret that decision.

  Starting the project would definitely be more work, but it was work she got a charge from. It also would give her an excuse to be in closer contact with people from the office, something she’d missed while spending hours a day editing in the hinterlands.

  While she had every confidence Helena had assigned her the most promising interns, she couldn’t trust them to find appropriate venues for the readings. Besides the fact that they didn’t know the Hudson Valley, they didn’t have experience in sweet-talking venue-managers into trying something different. That was her bailiwick, and it was going to be a time-consuming process.

  Helena called a few days later, once again catching Avery while she was trying to get Lisbet ready to leave the house. “I found the perfect assistant for you,” she said, not bothering with the usual conversational chit-chat.

  “Assistant? You have the money to hire an assistant?”

  “Of course not,” she said, laughing a little. “But I do have the persuasive powers to talk someone great into helping you out for free.”

  “I like the words great and free. Where do I find this gem?”

  “Right in your neck of the woods. Kinderhook is close to you, isn’t it?”

  “As a matter of fact, I live in metropolitan Kinderhook, as I refer to it. Give me their contact and I’ll get the ball rolling.”

  “Sometimes even I’m astounded at my efficiency. At one o’clock this afternoon, Faith Pallone will meet you at Ginger’s Luncheonette in Catskill. Lunch is on me,” she added.

  “You’re making my lunch dates now? Not that I mind…”

  “Faith suggested meeting you over lunch, so I asked her to pick the spot. Your expense account is covered in cobwebs, Avery. Feel free to dust it off and have a drink or two. You can imagine it’s 1960, and you’re at the Four Seasons, surrounded by editors from publishing houses too many to count.”

  “I’m afraid my imagination isn’t that good, Helena,” she said, knowing those heady days of publishing would never, ever come back.

  ***

  Faith wasn’t your usual intern, an earnest twenty-year-old English major. Avery wasn’t certain how old she was, but she appeared to be over sixty. Since that was exactly the demographic Avery wanted to tap into, she was beaming with happiness when they sat down at the renovated diner with a surprisingly large dining room attached.

  Their server wandered over immediately, asking for their drink order. When Helena had suggested they have a few drinks, she’d obviously been thinking of trendy Brooklyn restaurants, the ones with long lists of artisanal cocktails. Here the drinks were nonalcoholic, but they sounded pretty darned good. Avery observed Faith while she spoke to the server, asking detailed questions about how their lemonade was made.

  Faith was very stylish, with short, snow-white hair and substantial, violet-framed glasses. She didn’t wear a lot of makeup, but what she wore was subtle and very natural-looking. Avery would have immediately picked her out as a member of New York society, with her well-tailored china blue pantsuit and expensive heels. But she spoke to the server like they were co-workers, which immediately put Avery at ease. You could trust a woman who treated restaurant workers with respect.

  “The lemonade sounds delicious,” she said, still engaging the young woman with questions. “But I don’t think it’s exactly what I want. Can we have a little more time?”

  “No problem,” their server said. “I’ll swing by in a few.”

  Faith turned to Avery and said, “I wanted something sweet, and I was hoping they used some cheap mix that would taste like candy. I should have known better. Ginger takes her food very seriously.”

  “Same for me,” Avery said, “as long as someone else is cooking, that is. When I’m on my own, I take it frivolously.”

  “Oh, I’ve been in the frivolous stage myself. When my kids were small I thought it was an accomplishment to serve them something warm. I coul
dn’t aim a bit higher than that.”

  “I’m lucky that my daughter’s still primarily breast feeding,” Avery said. “Once she’s not satisfied with small bites of chicken and green beans, I’m going to be in trouble.”

  “Oh, Helena told me you have a baby! Tell me all about her,” she said, setting her chin on her hand, looking like she was leaning in for a good story.

  In a matter of minutes, Avery started to feel like she’d known Faith for years. If this hadn’t been a business meeting, and if Grace had given off any lesbian vibes, Avery might have asked her out. They simply got each other.

  After they’d twice asked for a little more time, Avery finally picked up the menu. “We’d better decide what we want or they’re going to toss us.” She scanned the listings, which were few. Luckily, she wanted every one of them. “I don’t know how this place has escaped my notice, but I’m going to race over the Rip Van Winkle Bridge every week if the food is as good as it sounds.”

  “I think it’s better,” Faith said. “My older daughter’s a chef in Buffalo, and she’s the one who brought me here the first time. You know how people in the business all know each other.”

  “I don’t know many chefs, but I could fill Carnegie Hall with all of the MFAs in my contacts list.”

  “That’s my younger daughter,” Faith said. “She’s a sculptor who followed the creative caravan to Detroit last year, one of the few cities where an artist can still get studio space that’s close to affordable.” She sighed heavily. “I want both of my girls to find their own ways, but I would have preferred they’d found it nearby.”

  “Do you have any grandchildren?”

  “Not yet.” She shrugged her shoulders, looking concerned, but not overly so. “Maybe not ever. Both of the girls claim they want children, but I think they’re running out of time. Brooke’s married, but she’s thirty-six and working sixty to seventy hours a week. Alissa’s going to be thirty-four this month, which means she has a little time to spare, but she hasn’t had much luck in love. Since she doesn’t want to be a single parent, she’s got some work to do.”

  “Been there. I was in Alissa’s position, and just pulled the ripcord.” She felt her smile grow at the mere thought of Lisbet. “Absolutely no regrets, thankfully.”

  Faith let out a sigh. “I suppose I should I envy you, with your youth, a good job, and a new baby.” She smiled, revealing a single dimple that was pretty adorable. “But I’m in such a good place in my life I can’t bring myself to crave anything I don’t currently have.”

  “That’s great to hear. I’m happy to say that my mom feels just about the same way. She’s retired, has enough money coming in to let her not have to worry about paying the bills, and she’s helping raise my baby—something she’s been looking forward to for years. Sometimes I envy her,” Avery admitted. “But that’s mostly because she’s happily married to my dad. Like Alissa, I haven’t been very lucky in love.”

  “You want to fall in love? Leave it to me. I know more people in the Hudson Valley than you’ve met in your lifetime,” Faith said, winking conspiratorially. “Describe your ideal man, and I’ll find an acceptable facsimile.”

  Avery laughed. “I have an ideal woman.”

  “That’s even better,” Faith said, with her pale eyes twinkling. “I know far more women than men. I could have easily found someone for Alissa, who’s also gay, but she hasn’t lived in New York since she went away to college.”

  “Well then, you can use your skills on me. My ideal woman lives in Brooklyn, has a rambling two-bedroom apartment, and deeply craves parenting a child. Can you hook me up?”

  “Rambling?” She laughed again. “Isn’t that a beautiful word for an apartment? My husband and I had a near-rambling Classic Six on the Upper West Side.”

  Avery dramatically clutched her heart. “A Classic Six? And you call it near-rambling?”

  Faith laughed. “Well, I know it’s unseemly of me to say my Classic Six wasn’t commodious, because it was. But I was greedy, and lusted after the Classic Seven next door. That extra bedroom would have come in very handy.” She playfully dabbed at her eyes. “Boo hoo for me.”

  “You always judge your circumstances by what your friends have. I was insanely jealous of a friend whose studio had a little blip-out big enough for a tiny writing desk. That sounds crazy, but at least I own my jealousy.”

  “Oh, I’m attuned to the madness New York real estate can engender. We bought our apartment for seventy-five thousand dollars in 1985. We not only felt like we’d been robbed, we moaned about our foolishness for investing that kind of money on a silly apartment for over ten years. Finally, prices started to creep up, then they launched into a sprint that shows no sign of dying off.”

  “Did you sell?”

  “Five years ago this month. With the proceeds, we bought a four-bedroom, three bath home in Kinderhook, on eight acres. Then we did a gut renovation. With the money we had left over, we took a cruise…to New Zealand.” She rolled her eyes. “It’s not a good time to be a young creative person in the city, but it certainly was in the 1980s. If you could avoid being stabbed in the street, you were golden,” she added, tossing that off so cavalierly that Avery had to laugh.

  Their server appeared once again, and Faith put her menu down. “We’re enjoying each other’s company so thoroughly that we haven’t put any thought into our lunch. What do you think we should have?”

  The woman pushed back her obviously-dyed black hair, revealing a full tattoo sleeve of comic superheroes. “If you don’t care about calories, I’d have the chicken and waffles.”

  “I certainly don’t care about calories,” Faith said. “Avery? Do you care?”

  “Not a bit. Care to split a chocolate shake?”

  “I thought you’d never ask.” She smiled up at the server. “Two straws, please.”

  ***

  Casey got ready to leave Kathy’s house just before five. Her resolve to maintain some distance hadn’t held, and she’d gone back to her habit of stopping by after work nearly every day. But she’d started to leave before Avery arrived, allowing herself a shaky belief that she was claiming her independence.

  The front door opened, and Avery entered, all dressed up and beaming with energy. “I had the best lunch,” she said, walking over to give both Casey and her mom big hugs. “I’m taking the whole gang over to Catskill for dinner first chance we get. It was to die for.”

  “You put on a dress to go to Catskill?” Kathy asked.

  “I did. I had to meet my new assistant, and she suggested this fantastic diner. I wasn’t sure how she’d dress, so I went with business attire.”

  Casey watched her talk, having to concentrate to avoid staring. It was still cold more often than it was warm, but people were starting to wear a little color to celebrate the first feeble signs of spring. Avery had joined the trend, looking fantastic in a simple wrap dress that showed off her newly-trim body. Breastfeeding must have done the trick, since she ate as much as Casey did, but had clearly lost all of the weight she’d gained during her pregnancy.

  Her dress was navy, with small yellow polkadots covering it, along with a yellow and white silk scarf that she’d figured out how to tie artfully around her neck. Just a little eye makeup to tint her fair lashes dark, and some lip gloss made her look like a very successful professional, which, Casey had to admit, she was.

  “Can you?” Avery asked, grasping Casey’s arm for a quick squeeze.

  “Can I what?”

  “Stay for dinner? I’m bursting with information, and I’d love to talk to you about it.”

  Her resolve to head home early flew from her head the minute those pale eyes locked onto her. “Love to.”

  ***

  Because Avery was dressed so nicely, Casey did most of the baby-minding, and she sat on Lisbet’s right at dinner, since that seemed like her favorite food-throwing hand.

  Avery sat across the table from the baby, confusing her slightly, but she handled it we
ll, making faces and shrieking in her direction frequently.

  “So,” Avery said, her eyes dancing. “My new assistant is wonderful.”

  “You sound like you’re discussing your first crush,” Kathy said.

  “I’d go for Faith in a second if she wasn’t happily married.”

  “Oh, how nice! Helena found a lesbian for you. Maybe she can introduce you to some women.”

  “She’s not a lesbian, Mom. Sadly,” she added, chuckling. “But even if she were, she wouldn’t pick me. I can’t see her as the type to choose youth over experience.”

  “How much younger are you?”

  “I’m not sure, but she has a daughter my age. I got the impression she’d written for quite a few years before she met her husband, so she’s probably around seventy.”

  “And she’s going to be your assistant?”

  “Uh-huh. People were talking her up when she was fresh out of Sarah Lawrence, and she’d published short stories in various literary magazines, but she put her typewriter away when she had her daughters. She hasn’t written in over thirty years, but I’m going to try to coax her creative side back out. Faith might be my assistant, but she’s also going to be my project,” she said, smiling like that cat that ate the canary. Casey had no idea what Faith was like, but if Avery wanted to get her back into writing, she might as well dust her typewriter off.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  The bitter end of winter was Casey’s least favorite time of the year. Spring seemed a long way off, fall was barely a memory, and gloomy days were more the rule than the exception. Every year she vowed to head south for a vacation, but she’d never pulled it off. And even if she’d had the drive to plan a trip this year, which she didn’t, her obligations would have prevented her from having fun in the sun. The Baby Brewers might not have brought millions into the coffers of Kaaterskill Brewery, but she was very much into it, as were her loyal band of parents, all of them going stir-crazy from the long winter.