96 Hours (27 page)

Imagine her surprise when their once-a-month visits started to feel like less than enough for Abby.

It had been almost three weeks since their last visit and Abby was feeling like a junkie who needed a fix. Badly.

They were going to have to talk about this.

Because Abby had a solution.

With a sigh, she reached for the TV remote just as there was a light tap on the door. She flew to it so fast, she wasn’t sure her feet actually touched the carpet.

Before Erica could utter a hello—or even register that it was, in fact, Abby who’d answered the door—she was yanked inside, slammed bodily against the door, and subjected to a determined plundering of her mouth. Her bag slid off her shoulder and fell to the floor with a thump as she let go of everything she was holding onto so she could cup Abby’s face in her hands and give back as good as she was getting.

When they finally parted, flushed and breathless, they stood with their foreheads pressed together.

“Hi,” Abby whispered.

“Hi,” Erica replied just as quietly.

“You’re late.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“I’m torn right now.” Abby brushed Erica’s hair back from her face.

“Between?”

“Getting us downstairs where everybody already is because they’re probably wondering where the hell we are, and ripping every stitch of clothing from your body with my teeth.”

Erica’s swallow was audible and Abby kissed her again. After several minutes, she wrenched their lips apart, holding Abby’s mouth away with some effort. “Okay, how about this: we go downstairs, visit, eat because I’m starving, and when we get back up here tonight, you can have your way with me. Deal?”

Abby feigned a pout, but relented and let Erica take quick stock of herself in the bathroom while she waited on the bed.

“Have you seen anybody yet?” Erica called from the sink.

“I had a cocktail with Mr. Baker a little while ago.” Abby saw him and his wife on a fairly regular basis at home, so visiting with him here was just an added bonus. It was hard to see him alone, though.

“He made it? I wasn’t sure if he would. It can’t be easy for him to be here. I completely understand why Mrs. Baker decided not to attend.”

“Yeah, they seem to be hanging in there, but it’s rough. He wanted to be here, said he felt like he owed it to the MacDougals, and she agreed, but couldn’t bring herself to tag along. Too painful. Maybe next time.”

Erica exited the bathroom and stood before Abby. “Ready?”

Abby hadn’t really even looked at her before she’d pounced, so she took the opportunity now. Soft denim jeans, a white Henley, and brown sandals made for an understated yet classy outfit. Erica had taken to wearing little to no makeup and Abby thought she was even more beautiful because of it. Her hair was a little shorter than it had been last October, but still the rich coppery-red, and there was something in her eyes that Abby had grown used to, but which she knew the others would see as different, something solid and confident.

“You’re stunning,” she said and meant it, as she stood and took Erica’s hand in hers.

Erica looked down at their entwined fingers, then up at Abby, an eyebrow arched in question.

“Is this okay?” Abby squeezed.

“I was going to ask you the same thing.”

They’d kept their relationship under wraps, at least from their fellow Plane People as well as the MacDougals, because, to be honest, neither of them was sure it would work. But it had been nine months and Erica had become much too important to Abby to pretend. Abby’s expression was one of radiance, her face lit up as she gave Erica a quick kiss on the mouth. “Let’s go.”

Many people in the crowd at Tomcats stopped in mid-conversation to watch when Abby squealed and launched herself at Brian, wrapping her arms and legs around him like some kind of monkey, laughing and hugging and pecking kisses all over his face. He was just as delighted to see her and spun them in a circle. Erica shook her head with a grin, taking in those at the table, feeling so warm and content inside that her eyes misted.

Michael was up first, wrapping Erica up in a heartfelt hug. “Hello, love,” he said softly in her ear. “You look fantastic.”

So did he. His face glowed as he introduced her to Gwen. Next to her was Kate MacDougal, looking very much like a pretty, feminine version of her father with strawberry blond hair and a sprinkling of freckles across the bridge of her nose. Her eyes held the same inherent kindness as her mother’s.

“I’ve heard so much about you,” she said to Erica.

“And I, you. Thanks so much for the use of your room, by the way.” A tap on her shoulder made her turn and there was Brian. He swooped her up as Abby greeted Michael.

“Hey, Red,” Brian said.

“Brian. You look great.”

“I feel great,” he said, and his green eyes twinkled.

Abby was now hugging Corinne and Erica waited her turn, her heart swelling as she saw a tear spill down Corinne’s cheek. She let go of Abby and immediately grabbed Erica.

“It’s so good to see you,” she said, her voice cracking.

Erica held her tightly. “You, too. I’ve missed you.”

They spent the next few hours laughing and drinking and catching up. Erica looked around the room, scanning the faces, amazed by how many people were there and even more amazed by the fact that this was a mere fraction of the total number of people who went through the same experience those at her table had. From the online chat rooms, she knew that everybody wanted to do things, to take steps to say thank you to the residents of Gander who’d been so kind and generous during their stay. Passengers from the flights that had been housed in the local schools had created scholarship funds to help students there. Erica’s flight had taken up a collection to get the Lions Club new appliances for its kitchen. All the passengers who’d had pets looked after by locals were giving a large donation to the local animal shelter. And tomorrow, there was a picnic at a nearby park where a monument was being erected as a gift to the residents of Gander from the Plane People.

The atmosphere was thick with joy and happiness and once again, she was struck by the fact that an event so awful had led her to meet some of the most incredible people on the planet, people she knew would be part of her life forever.

As conversation continued and alcohol flowed, Abby and Erica touched like any couple would, finally unconcerned about making their relationship known. Abby laid a hand on Erica’s knee as she leaned over to talk with Corinne. Erica toyed with the ends of Abby’s hair as they listened to Michael tell the story of how he and Gwen had met.

Brian and Corinne exchanged a knowing look at one point, then grinned like fools.

Abby tipped toward Erica a little later and asked, “How long before Brian asks Kate out?”

“There will be a date planned by the end of the night,” Erica said. “I’m certain of it.”

“I don’t know, they say that long-distance thing never works out.”

Erica turned to her. “Well,
they
are obviously mistaken.”

Abby held her gaze for a moment, then said, “I’m happy here.”

“Me, too.”

“I love Gander. I really do. There’s something about it—” She tapped her chest with one finger. “I feel it here. You know?”

Erica squeezed her knee. “I do.”

They watched the room, scanned their own table, reveled in being around people who made them feel warm, loved, like family.

A realization hit Erica then and she turned to Abby. “Hey, hear anything about the job?” Abby hadn’t given her many details about the interview she’d had the previous week, said she didn’t want to jinx it.

“I got it.” Abby bit her bottom lip.

Erica blinked. “What?”

“I got the job.”

“Oh, my god, that’s great!” Erica said, practically squealing. The others stopped their conversations and looked. “Abby got the job she interviewed for last week,” Erica told them.

“That’s terrific, Abby,” Claire said, her face lit up. “Can you tell us about it now?”

“She didn’t give you any specifics either?” Erica asked with a good-natured roll of her eyes.

“She was afraid of jinxing it,” Brian told her.

“So I heard.”

They all turned expectantly to Abby.

She wet her lips, nodding slowly.
Moment of truth,
she thought, though she hadn’t expected it to take place in front of everybody. “It’s a small, up-and-coming company that a friend of a friend turned me on to. There’s some great potential and it’ll be an opportunity for me to use my degree again. Finally. Which will make my parents very happy.”

Chuckles went around the table.

“Good for you,” Michael said.

“Whereabouts is it?” Erica asked, sipping her wine.

Abby cleared her throat. “The company’s in Raleigh.” She immediately took a swig of her beer, afraid to look at Erica, though she could feel her eyes on her. The rest of the table had gone quiet, as if everybody was bracing for a reaction. If it had been unclear to anybody what was going on between the two women, it was apparent now.

“You mean,” Erica began, having a hard time stating the obvious. “You mean, you’ll be working in Raleigh?”

Abby nodded, still not able to look her in the face. Instead, she spoke to her beer bottle. “I’ll get a little apartment, don’t worry. I don’t want to crowd you We can each have our own lives. If you want. I’m good with that as long as it means—” She swallowed hard and finally shifted her gaze to meet Erica’s. Her words came out in a long stream of run-on sentences, as if she was afraid to give Erica any room to speak, lest she bring it all crashing down. “As long as it means I can be closer to you. I know we promised to take things slowly and we have and it’s been good. But, Erica, once a month is hard. Isn’t it hard for you? It’s hard for me. It’s really hard for me. It’s harder than I thought it would be. When I’m with you, not only am I ridiculously happy, but I’m content. I feel safe and sure, like it’s the way things are supposed to be. And when I’m not with you, I’m waiting until the next time I will be. So once a month, I’m giddy and ecstatic and the other three weeks I spend in limbo. And I don’t want to do that any more. I want to be with you. It doesn’t have to be all the time, because I know that might freak you out, but I want to see you more often. I
need
to see you more often. Once a month isn’t enough for me. I need to see you more and oh my god could I just shut up now?” She covered her face with her hand and shook her head slowly back and forth, bracing for the wrath of Erica.

Instead, she felt warm fingers prying her own hand off her face, then using her chin to turn her head so she faced Erica. Erica, whose crystal blue eyes were misty and shining. In that moment, everybody else at the table, the room, the entire hotel simply fell away. There was nothing, there was nobody but Erica, holding her by the chin and smiling at her.

“Abby?” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Hm?”

“Answer me one question. Okay?”

Abby nodded once. “Okay.”

“Why?”

Brows furrowed. “Why? Why what?”

“Why do you need to see me more often?”

A slow grin began to creep across Abby’s face as she thought, not for the first time,
She’s going to make me say it.
Surprisingly, it didn’t scare her. It didn’t freak her out. It didn’t make her feel like she was breaking out in hives. Rather, it felt like the next logical step. It felt like the truth. It felt right. She cleared her throat as if about to make an important announcement.

“I need to see you more often because I am in love with you, Erica.” A delighted gasp issued from Corinne and Abby had to stifle a smile. “I am in love with you and once a month is not often enough to see the person you’re in love with. That’s why.”

“Sounds like a damn good reason to me,” Brian said, raising his glass over the table. “To being in love.”

As the table clinked glass against glass and made statements of “hear, hear,” and “cheers,” Erica stroked a fingertip down the side of Abby’s face, stunned, impressed, and relieved by her admission. She’d been wondering. She’d been waiting. She’d been patient, letting Abby set the pace for the relationship, but she’d been getting restless, wondering what the next step should be. Wondering if there even was a next step for them, hoping there was, but afraid to ask, afraid to push. And today, Abby had grabbed her by the hand and taken her there.

“Well?” Abby said quietly as the friends around them fell back into conversation.

“Well what?” Erica teased.

Abby rolled her eyes. “You’re killing me here. You know that, right?”

Erica laughed, squeezed Abby’s thigh. “I know. I’m sorry.”

“So, what do you think? About what I said.”

“Honestly, there really is only one response I can give.”

Abby chewed on the inside of her cheek, bracing.

Erica’s face broke into a wide smile. “I love you, too.”

Georgia Beers
was born and raised in upstate New York, on the coast of Lake Ontario and just a short drive from the wine country of the Finger Lakes. The winner of one Lambda Literary Award and two Golden Crown Literary Awards, she is the eldest of five daughters and has been writing since she was old enough to hold a pen. When not writing, she watches too much TV, goes to matinees alone (introverts like to do that), reads voraciously, and invents new reasons not to go to the gym.