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Since then, I'd been asking myself all week why I hadn't told her I needed to think about it. The conclusion I'd come to was that I got caught up in the moment. It happened to plenty of people, but I had never been the kind of man to allow something like that. But in that moment, I had been entirely taken up in her. I still was, and it had made me want to say yes to anything she asked of me.
It was what every man wanted to give the woman he was with. Nothing made you feel more like a badass than the ability to give your woman anything she asked for. But now? Now the reality of what I had agreed to had settled in, and I was starting to feel uncertain.
The two of us had been dating for almost no time at all. Arguably, it was much too soon to be meeting her ten-year-old daughter. Not to mention the sister, for fuck's sake. I had a feeling the sister would be that over the top, insanely protective kind of girl who would threaten to rip my balls off if I didn't do
right by her sister.
Meeting the family was going to make things a hell of a lot more complicated, and I wasn't sure I was up for that, even for a girl like Jess.
A nearby conversation caught my attention. Two pilots had just sat at the table next to me.
“It’s a fucking shame, right?” the bald pilot said.
“It certainly is,” his bearded friend replied. “I’ve gotta say, I never saw it coming.”
“Neither did I!” Baldy said. “I feel like kind of a jackass for not seeing it, but I didn’t. I didn’t think he was ever going to get cut loose.”
“Right?” Beardy said. “He was a nice guy, too.”
“He was. Kind of a mess lately, but still a nice guy. It’s a shame.” Baldy shook his head.
“It is. Although you have to admit, he was getting worse, right? Please tell me I’m not the only one who saw.”
“No, definitely not,” Baldy said, frowning. “He was getting worse for sure.”
My plan had been to think through the potential mess with Jess. The Lounge had been the perfect place for it because there were very few things it could offer up that would distract me. I never drank before or between flights, and I wasn't overly friendly with any of the staff coming through the doors. Very little could have deterred me from figuring out what the hell I was going to do about the July Fourth picnic, but the conversation of the two men who'd just taken the seats next to me managed it just fine. They were close enough that it wasn't strange for me to insert myself into their conversation. After clearing my throat, I dived in.
“Excuse me, guys, I’m sorry to interrupt.”
"Shit," Baldy said, laughing genially. "Don't be. We're the ones who sat down right next to you and started running our mouths. We probably sound like a bunch of chicks gossiping."
"No," I assured him, trying to sound calm so I could keep these guys feeling okay about talking to me. "You’re not bothering me. I was just wondering who you two are talking about, if you don't mind my asking. I'm wondering if I know the guy."
“You might,” Beardy replied. “He was flying all of the time up until recently.”
“Who?” I asked.
"Guy named Fred Stevens,” Baldy said. “He's been a pilot for a long time. It's fucking sad, you know?"
“And he got fired?” I asked.
Beardy nodded. "He did. He got suspended a little while back, and there was some talk that he might clean himself up, get his act together again, and get back to work. But I guess it went the other way. He was drinking a lot, you know? He was drinking pretty much all of the time."
"It got pretty fucking bad," Baldy chimed in, shaking his head glumly. "Bad enough that this can't really be a surprise to anyone. He's always liked to party, but lately, he's been hitting the bottle all the time. It only got worse after he got suspended. I flew with the guy a couple of times, and I knew what he was doing."
“Did you?” I asked, becoming genuinely annoyed for the first time since the conversation had begun. “You knew he was drinking while he was flying?”
“Sure, but that’s not the rarest thing in the world. A lot of guys do it. He just started doing it more than he could get away with. I knew that, too. I noticed it a couple of months before the suspension came. I was hoping he would just take care of it on his own before anything happened.”
“Yeah,” Beardy said mournfully, shaking his head. “I was kind of hoping the same thing. From what I heard, somebody turned him in before he got the chance. Looks like the rest of us better start watching our asses.”
“Why do you say that?” I asked, hoping I sounded more casually interested than I felt.
“Come on. We’ve all been there, right? It’s not like we haven’t all knocked a couple back before a flight. It’s just part of it.”
“Is it?” I asked.
“Comes with the territory,” Baldy said. “Only now, we’re all going to have to watch our asses, right? If there’s some guy going around turning people in for every little infraction, we’re all going to have to watch ourselves.”
