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“This helps.”
He holds on tighter, and so do I. It means so much to me that he came, knowing I’d be upset and need a friend.
“I feel like I did when it first happened.”
“I’m sure. Have you heard any of the details?”
“No, and I don’t want to. I’m so afraid of a massive setback. It’s taken so much to get this far…”
“I know, and you’re right to protect yourself from things you don’t need to know.” Gage leads me to the sofa, sheds his coat and sits next to me, putting his arm around me and bringing my head to rest on his chest as he runs his hand up and down my arm.
“Mike’s partner said there could be lawsuits.”
“He had insurance, right?”
“Yes, but… What if they come for me, too? The other people on the plane… Their families have become my friends. And now they might sue me?”
“They won’t.”
“I don’t know… If they feel they have a case, why wouldn’t they?”
“Because they know it wasn’t your fault, and if they’ve become your friends, they won’t want you and your children to suffer any more than you already have.”
“My heart is broken. Someday our children will find out that he was blamed for the accident that took him from us.”
“I only know Mike through you, but I believe he did everything he could to try to prevent the accident because you know he wanted to come home to you and the kids. He wanted the others to get home to their families.”
“That’s all he cared about. He said it all the time—that his only job was to deliver people safely. And he cared so, so much about that. Even with having thousands of hours of flight time, he was still constantly doing continuing ed, training in the simulator, doing everything he could to stay at the top of his game, as he put it. I just can’t for the life of me imagine how he could’ve made a mistake that led to a crash.”
“You’ve said they encountered heavy, clear-air turbulence, right?”
“Yes, that much I already knew.” Others on board had sent terrified texts to loved ones about the turbulence.
“Even the best of pilots is still human, Iris, and in a situation like that, there’s probably an element of panic, even with all their training.”
“Turbulence freaks me out, but it never bothered him. He said it was a normal part of flying.”
“But maybe what he encountered that day was unlike anything he’d ever experienced, and perhaps it exceeded all his training.”
“I suppose that’s possible.” Talking to him has calmed me somewhat, and I decide I should tell him so. “It helps me to have you here. Thanks for coming.”
“I was in a meeting when I saw something online. I told my colleagues I had to go and jumped in the car.”
“Means a lot to me.”
“I’m here, Iris. For as long as you need me.”
“That’s apt to be a while.”
“That’s fine with me, sweetheart.”
GAGE
It breaksme to see her so devastated as she goes through the motions of picking up her kids, getting them snacks and listening to their nonstop chatter about their school days. The Iris I know is a force of nature, able to deal with anything that comes her way or the way of anyone she loves. She’s the one we turn to when shit goes sideways in our lives, and I want her to have that same support. Midafternoon, I summon the Wild Widows for an emergency intervention at Iris’s house.
Bring food and drink, I tell them, after giving them a quick summary of what’s going on.
Wait,Roni says.Mike was the pilot? My sister said he was a passenger…
