Grounded Page 3

  Annie pushed her sunglasses on top of her head, using them to keep her fine straight hair off her face. Like a grain of sand in her pantyhose, Janice’s questions about Stuart irritated her. Janice had no motive other than concern, but she could be opinionated and didn’t mind at all telling anyone who would listen whatever she thought. It was part of why they were such good friends. They were different in that way. Annie had opinions but her Southern upbringing kept her from voicing every thought in her head.

  Annie tucked her purse in front of her, holding it like a small pet. My situation is different from Janice’s sister, she thought. Stuart wasn’t a kid out of college. He was a successful adult who could buy her a set of diamond earrings and a ring on the same day if he wanted.

  She felt the stone again in her ear, fingering the cuts of the solitaire and the metal setting. Stuart had commitment hang-ups. Who wouldn’t if his mother abandoned the family while the children were so young? But as they had grown closer, things had changed. They were taking a big step in the relationship. Stuart said it was huge for him, something he had never done with another woman. It was certainly big for her.

  A chaperone, looking pale-faced and out of breath, chased along behind a group of teenagers, calling out in a British accent, “Stay together, please!”

  She moved down a narrow alley, then suddenly the great Pantheon was in view. The stunning, ancient structure with a columned porch and the great bronze doors nearly two thousand years old stood majestic, as if holding court in the piazza. Annie knew from previous visits the Pantheon stood on the site of a former temple. The architecture was famous for the rotunda having a dome in equal height to the diameter of the circular interior that gave a sense of harmony. She didn’t walk inside today, instead choosing to admire it from the center of the piazza. Cafes surrounded the perimeter of the piazza, and a fountain in the middle near where she stood added background noise to the bustling center of activity.

  “Scuzi, dove …,” a man asked for directions in Italian.

  “No Italiano, sorry!” Annie said.

  The question was a compliment, she thought, due in part to her dark hair and the fact that she never wore sneakers like most other tourists. Annie considered taking Italian lessons, but she was never sure how long she would keep the flights to Rome she bid for every month. For international flights, giving up her weekends was a small price to pay for the experiences. Annie had always wanted to see the world, even from her roots in a small Kentucky town. She didn’t always get the Rome flights; sometimes it was Munich or Amsterdam. Janice, much higher in the line and a dual language speaker, preferred weekends so she could be home during the week with her children when Jimmy had to work second shift.

  Despite Annie’s effort to be optimistic, the airline’s prospects were disturbing. She tried to imagine herself working for another company, learning new service policies, perhaps having to go through the entire training process again. Ten years of seniority was not a lot in an industry where flight attendants worked up to and more than thirty years. Would there even be jobs available with other airlines in New York, or would the market be too flooded? A cloud of questions hung over the whole mess.

  But for now, she had this moment in Rome. She needed to enjoy it, soak it in and not worry about the future. Her grandmother always said today had enough trouble of its own, and that was true.

  She walked up the Piazza della Rotonda with the decorative iron light posts with mustard buildings and brown shutters and onto the Via delle Muratte. Annie heard the roar of the fountain mixed with voices calling to one another, shrieks and laughter, before she actually saw it. The small piazza was dwarfed by the Trevi Fountain, eighty-five feet high and sixty-five feet wide. Salvi’s famous creation incorporated the space of the piazza and the backdrop of the palazzo into the design. She paused to sit on a stone bench and watch.

  Around the sides of the piazza, vendors hawked their wares. A policewoman blew her shrill whistle anytime someone stepped into the water. To her right, a Japanese tour group listened as the guide talked about the fountain, or Annie assumed since it was in Japanese.

  Across the street from where Annie sat, a small balcony was lined with pots of different shapes and sizes. An elderly woman sat next to one of the containers and worked the dirt with her wrinkled hands. Annie watched as she dropped seeds into the pot and then covered them with the dirt. With a tin can, she poured a small stream of water over the seeds. Then she pushed the pot to a corner of the balcony where a glint of sunlight shone.

  Something about the woman reminded Annie of her grandmother. This universal need to grow something, even when surrounded by the bustle of the city, was a common thread binding man and woman since the beginning of time.

  After an hour of enjoying the scene, Annie decided to take her turn at the fountain’s edge. Fishing a coin out of her purse, she turned her back to the fountain as legend required, made a wish and tossed the coin over her shoulder.

  Tuesday morning’s flight made Annie wonder how an airline could teeter on the brink of bankruptcy with full flights. Every trip she had worked in the last few months had been either full or near full. Today, the flight from Rome to New York was no different.

  “Good afternoon. May I take your coat?” Annie asked the first man who entered the business class cabin on her side. He handed her his sport jacket. A father, mother and two young children entered Janice’s side of the cabin together, and Annie stopped on her way to the closet to take the man’s leather jacket while Janice situated the children. She hung the coats in order of passenger seats for later reuniting with their owners.

  After everyone was seated, Annie offered the passengers orange juice or champagne. She was halfway down the aisle when a heavyset, middle-aged woman stumbled into the cabin with a bulging shopping bag.

  Janice intervened. “Can I help you?”

  The woman’s face was flushed and the dash to the plane had obviously winded her. She handed Janice her boarding pass, too out of breath to talk.

  “You’re right here in front, the aisle seat,” Janice said. The woman managed a breathless thank you and moved to the front, bumping passengers with her bag as she went.

  Several minutes later, they were in the air and waiting for the pilot to indicate they were at cruising altitude. Facing the cabin, Annie watched the late arrival talk nonstop to her seatmate, hearing bits and pieces of the conversation. The man kept looking down at his book and, when that didn’t work, he plugged in the headphones and hung them around his neck, but the woman didn’t get it. As soon as they could move around the cabin, she would try to divert the woman long enough for the poor man to put on his headphones or feign sleep. It worked nearly every time. Once she had a man so happy to be relieved of the talking that he tried to give her a hundred dollars when he exited the plane. She didn’t take it, but it was a nice gesture.

  When the tone sounded, Annie unbuckled her seat belt and went over to the woman.

  “Did I hear you say you’re from Illinois?” Annie asked her.

  “That’s right. Peoria! Are you from Illinois?” The woman’s face was wide and smiling. The man next to her shot Annie a grateful look and slid the earphones over his head.

  Peoria was Stuart’s hometown. It was a good excuse to divert her for a moment. “I’m not, but I know someone who is. I’m sure it’s a big place.”

  “Not that big. Who do you know?”

  “His name is Stuart Henderson.”

  “Stuart Henderson? Curly blond hair? You’ve got to be kidding. My niece dated him. How do you know Stuart?”

  Later, looking back on that moment, Annie could not explain why she said what she did. Before the words could be formed in her mouth, something held her back and kept her from revealing their relationship.

  “We met at a charity event.”

  “He’s a piece of work. Good looking, but a character.”

  “Really? Why do you say that?” Out of the corner of her eye she saw Janice motion for
her, needing her help in the galley. She held up her index finger, asking for another minute. Annie was mesmerized by this woman and repelled by her at the same time. Was she talking about her Stuart?

  “He and Sandy lived together for four years, dated two before that. Never could make a commitment. Last year, when she turned thirty-eight, she finally got tired of it. Wasted six years of her life with him.” The woman leaned in as if telling a secret. “I don’t know how Sandy expected anything different. He did the same thing with another girl before he moved to New York. I guess she thought she was different.”

  Annie held her breath. She must be wrong. Stuart said he had never lived with another woman. Yet the ages matched up. Stuart would turn thirty-nine this year. Her legs went weak, and she crouched next to the woman, unable to move.

  “I like Stuart. Charming as they come, successful, a real looker, but he’s got some kind of commitment issue. Sandy tried to get him to go to counseling, thought it had to do with his mother leaving when he was little. I don’t know. I was glad when she finally broke it off. He would have lived with her forever if she could have agreed to it. You know how some women are.”

  The woman laughed and her shrill voice bounced around inside Annie’s head like a ricocheting bullet.

  Annie tried to stand, to say something intelligent. “It’s the cat she really misses now, not Stuart.”

  “Cat?” Annie managed to form the simple word.

  “Yeah, a big orange tabby Sandy named Chester. A dog was too much for Stuart, so he agreed to a cat. Her new apartment building didn’t allow pets, so she had to leave him with Stuart.”

  Chapter Three

  Janice covered Annie’s end of flight wrap up so she could head straight to Stuart’s office. She needed to see him, to hear him admit the truth to her, to explain why he had lied.

  “Wait, honey, let me go with you,” Janice had said, sounding like a mother. “You’re too upset.”

  “I’m okay. Just cover for me.”

  Annie decided to take the subway since it was late afternoon and traffic would be terrible. She got off at the financial district, after what seemed like the longest ride ever. She rode the elevator to the 20th floor of Stuart’s office building, her travel bag in tow. When the doors open, she flew past the receptionist, who was calling after her as she raced back to Stuart’s corner office. Annie had been here only once before, not long after they first started dating, when he wanted to show her off to everyone.

  The lights were out. The office was empty. She took a deep breath and let out the last hour of anxiety.

  “Annie?”

  Annie turned to see a man looking at her over wire-rimmed readers.

  “Greg Stein. We met at the Christmas party.” He shook her hand. “Are you looking for Stuart?”

  “Yes, I was …” She couldn’t think of what to say next.

  Greg shifted his weight. “I think he left for Florida this afternoon. Have you talked to his assistant?”

  “No. Is Martha here?”

  “Martha left last month. Felicia is the new girl.” Greg pointed to a desk near Stuart’s office in the maze of center cubicles. “Doesn’t look like she’s there either. Wait just a second.”

  Greg stepped deeper into the labyrinth. He asked a woman there about Felicia. “Where is she?”

  Annie heard the woman say, “Where do you think? With Stuart, drinking daiquiris in Florida.”

  Annie’s face grew hot. She quickly turned to look into Stuart’s empty office. On a table next to a copper lamp was a picture of Stuart in a tuxedo and Annie in a gown, dressed for a charity ball. The perfect couple.

  Greg cleared his throat. Annie turned to face him, hoping the color had faded from her cheeks.

  “She’s not here. Is there anything else I can help you with?” His eyes were kind, and she sensed what he didn’t say had more to do with her pride than any desire to protect Stuart.

  “No, thank you.”

  Annie could feel him watch her walk away, pulling her bag. She raised her chin and stepped deliberately.

  Annie stared out the window of the subway car, seeing nothing. Instead, she was lost in the memories rewinding in her brain of the day’s events. First, the lady on the airplane, blubbering out painful truths while they still had hours of an overseas flight to get through. Annie had done her best, serving lunch and then dinner to the business class customers, getting their extra drinks and hot fudge sundaes while all she wanted to do was lie back in a chair and cover herself with a blanket. Then the trip downtown and into Stuart’s office building, looking absurd in her navy blue uniform and pulling her black rolling bag, all in the desire to see Stuart face-to-face and hear him confirm or deny for himself the woman’s claims.

  Why hadn’t he told her about Martha leaving? And who was this new Felicia, and why was she going to Florida with him? Martha had never traveled with him.

  Inside his apartment, Annie found Stuart’s note on the kitchen island: Baby—big invitation from Jack Carney came through at lunch today. Can’t pass it up. Will call you. Love, Stu

  Annie dropped on the cold leather couch, letting her rolling bag fall to the floor and her purse with it, its contents scattering when it hit the parquet floor. The escaping air from the leather couch and crash of her bag falling scared Chester off his perch and a flash of orange dashed across the floor.

  Her hand trembled when she picked up her cell phone. It wasn’t even turned on. She had forgotten to do it in her haste to leave the airplane. There were four voice mails .

  Annie, I met the plane, and Janice said you were already gone! Get to my office now! Her boss, Bob Vichy, sounded irritated on the first message.

  Bob needs to see you, Annie, Janice said. I told him you had a family emergency. Better get back here as soon as possible. Call me after you meet with him.

  Annie, where are you? The plane landed an hour ago. I need to see you in my office today. Bob again, this time sounding angry.

  The last message was from Stuart. Hey, babe, thought you would be on the ground by now. Jack Carney invited me and some of his friends down to Miami for some golf and poker. We’re at Teterboro loading Jack’s G-5. I’ll be back on Friday. Call me.

  She dialed the number, but it went immediately into voice mail. She ended the call and tried Bob Vichy. It also went to voice mail. Bob, it’s Annie. I had my phone off. I’ll be there within the hour.

  The apartment felt like a shrinking box, with walls closing in and the ceiling crushing down. This place she had loved, because it was Stuart’s and she loved him. Now it felt cold and sinister, as if it held secrets she didn’t want to know. He had owned it for six years, he once told her. They must have picked it out together, she thought, looking around the apartment with a new understanding. Sandy and Stuart together, until it became obvious he wanted nothing more permanent.

  In the corner of the room, the peace lily wilted, once again lacking water. The sight of it caused her eyes to well with tears. Annie shuddered, feeling as if the temperature in the room had dropped several degrees. She had to get out, but before she did, Annie took off the diamond earrings and placed them on Stuart’s nightstand. They looked so pretty, glistening against the shiny black lacquer.

  At the door, Annie took a last look around while Chester’s green eyes bored into her. The sight of him reminded her to add food and water to the feeders. It wasn’t his fault, after all. “There, enough for you until your owner gets back.” She bent down and scratched Chester behind the ear. “Go play with the toilet paper.”

  In one last defiant gesture, Annie swept the sagging peace lily onto her hip like a toddler before grabbing the rolling bag with her free hand. I’ll come back for the rest of my things later.

  “Another flight today, Miss Taylor? They’re working you awful hard,” Howard the doorman said as he held open the door and smiled, his eyes on the wilted plant.

  Even Howard would have known about Sandy.

  Annie hailed a cab for the trip
back to the airport and her supervisor’s office. After swiping her access card, she was admitted into a buzzing hive of activity inside the TransAir offices. Solemn-faced executives moved from offices to cubicles, giving and taking instructions, checking computers, talking on phones and huddling for subdued conversations in the hallways.

  Annie heard Bob before she saw him. Dropping the handle of her luggage at the door, Annie shifted the peace lily onto her other hip and waited at the threshold. Bob waved wildly with one hand while he yelled into the phone.

  “It’s out of my control! There’s nothing I can do!” He saw Annie and motioned for her to come in. “Hey, we’ll talk about this later. I gotta go.” He slammed down the phone and turned to Annie. “It’s about time you got here. Where were you? I met the plane and you were already gone. And what is that?” He pointed to the plant as if it were a criminal.

  “It’s from here. Long story. What’s wrong?”

  “It’s done. Patriot bought us out. Effective immediately. They already worked everything out so when they told the employees, it would be a neat, clean cut. It happened yesterday. My other flight attendants have been told, but I had several planes in the air. When I got to your gate, you were gone. What’s that all about, anyway? They’re about to go public with the news and I’m in hot water if I can’t tell all my people first.”

  “It was an emergency. I’m sorry. So what are you saying, Bob?”

  “I’m saying you don’t have a job … right now, anyway. I barely have a job.”

  Annie felt her legs give way. She sat hard in the chair.

  Bob sighed and walked around to the front of his desk. “Look, there’s a chance we can hire you back in a few months after all this settles down. I met with my new boss this morning. Patriot plans to hire back the best down the road, after they combine routes and figure out what they need and what they don’t. You are at the top of my list.”