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She claps her hands. “That’s a good one!”
The depression and the grief went hand in hand. Turned out I’d been dealing with the feeling of dread and lack of self-worth for a while before my mom passed. I’m on a low dose that keeps me even keeled. “I’m surprised Gillian didn’t tell you that…that Dana was the one who invited me.”
Willow snorts. “Well, Gillian and I are old friends, but that doesn’t mean we catch up as often as we should. You know? Don’t you have people you know that you might not see them for several years, but then you get into the same room and it’s like…” She trails off. Her green eyes meet mine, trying to tell me something without words. It gives me the shivers. “…no time has passed?”
I shake my head. “Don’t really have anyone like that, actually.”
Her face falls ever so slightly, but then she forces a smile again. “Come on, let’s sit. Catch up.”
She practically tackles me onto a velvet couch. I manage not to spill the champagne. Thank god, because I’m going to need it to get through this conversation. I knock it back and then let Willow chat my ear off.
As I listen, or half listen, I see Kira across the room. My eyes plead for help, but she merely witnesses, apathetic. She must think Iwantto be sitting here, captive by Willow. Quite the contrary. There’s a reason we broke up, after all.
And to be honest, the reasons aren’t that deep. My mom died. The relationship was already on the rocks. I pulled away and then cut her off completely. I think I knew from the beginning it wouldn’t be forever. Willow wanted things I didn’t. A traditional type of guy with a traditional career, someone who would move out to Orange County and support her career as a housewife and future mother.
Don’t get me wrong, those are formidable things to want. People should be whatever they want to be. However, I was twenty-eight. I couldn’t even fathom a mortgage, let alone a wife and child. Childrenif Willow had anything to say about it.
It just made sense to let her go along with my mother. Start completely fresh.
“So, when I heard Gillian was getting married, I just had to be in the party. You know?”
Just like Willow toaskto be in a wedding party. “Of course.”
“I mean, Gillian, Lola, and I were like…the Power Puff Girls or something.”
“Which one were you?” I ask.
Willow giggles and leans into my ear. “Guess.”
I’m not drunk enough for this.
“Everyone, we will be getting ready to taxi. Please make your way to your seats. Once we are in the air, we will begin lunch service,” Ingrid announces.
Perfect timing.
* * *
To my chagrin,Willow has somehow weaseled her seat next to mine. I was actually supposed to be beside Kira, but Willow came up and begged and begged. “We’re catching up. Old times, you know?”
Kira looked to me for permission. But what was I going to do? Shake my head? Give her a thumbs down? I merely shrugged. Thought she might get the message.
She didn’t.
Luckily, the seats are wide, another perk of the private plane lifestyle. That doesn’t stop Willow from leaning onto the arm of my seat the whole time we’re taxiing and all the way through takeoff.
“Oooh! I love that moment where the wheels leave the ground!” she announces to me, her voice much too loud for the nearly silent plane.
“Yeah, me too,” I say and lean my head back. Maybe if I close my eyes, she’ll get the idea that I don’t want to talk.
“God, do you remember the last time we took a trip together?”
Guess not. “Oh yeah. It was–”
“It was Costa Rica. Remember that?”
I sigh. That was the beginning of the end in my memory. Her taste at the time was much too much for where I was financially. I have to do my best not to show my hand that now, I’m several tax brackets ahead of where I used to be. “I do.”
“Oh, it was such a nice trip.” I feel her breath on my ear. “Averynice trip.”
