Pieces of Me (2 page)

Davis hadn’t always been this way. Like most men, he’d dreamed of having a wife and children. However, he’d spent so much time trying to build his business that he just didn’t have time for a wife and family. That was what really destroyed his marriage.

On the rare occasion that Davis would step out for social events, it was not difficult to have his pick of women. After a while, they all started to seem the same. Typically, very beautiful, very smart, and all looking to be ‘Mrs. Davis Chatham’. That was the case up until he’d met Natalie Anne Mathews, or Anne. Anne was a hot-tempered red head. Initially, Davis loved her passion. It didn’t hurt that she was gorgeous. But, it had been those emerald green eyes that caught him. She’d turned those piercing green eyes on him at a dinner party. She made a joke about something he couldn’t even remember now and made him feel as if they were only two people in the world who understood the punch line. She was as smart as she was beautiful. He didn’t have to worry that she was after his money because her family was very wealthy. Davis knew within the first five minutes of meeting Anne that she was the one. However, Jane had warned him about moving too fast. Davis didn’t listen. He’d married her in an elaborate ceremony six months after they’d met.

Davis thought he’d married the woman of his dreams until he realized Anne, like all people, had what he thought was just a quirk. She absolutely hated being alone. And, his business kept him gone…a lot. This was not just an issue in their marriage, it was THE issue. It took some time, but once Davis understood that he tried to adjust his schedule and did his best to spend as much time with her as he could. But, Davis couldn’t seem to give her enough. He had been working days, nights, and weekends for several months trying to close a couple of major accounts worth billions. Closing those deals would make him not just a player in the game but THE player in the game. Davis tried to make it up to her with gifts and flowers. In retrospect, if he had it to do all over again he would have tried even harder to figure out a way to spend more time with her.

It wasn’t long before she started looking for attention elsewhere. By the time Davis realized his marriage was in trouble, it was too late. She’d asked for a divorce and moved out. He would have done anything and tried everything to convince her to save their marriage. For a time, he thought he had a chance. Until, one night he’d gone over to her place with flowers and a bottle of wine hoping to surprise her with a two week trip to Italy. He’d worked miracles to pull that amount of time together. She’d come to the door in a sexy negligee looking like she’d just been thoroughly screwed.

Anne looked nervous, “Davis…what are you doing here? I wasn’t expecting you and you didn’t call.”

“I thought I’d surprise you with dinner and a night out.” He tried to hand her the flowers but she wouldn’t take them.

“Babe, who’s that at the door?” Davis heard a male voice behind her and realized she hadn’t let him inside yet. It wasn’t long before her half naked lover made an appearance.

Davis was ready to kill him. He charged at him and Anne tried to stop him. She put her hands up against his chest pushing as hard as she could to block his path. Then she yelled at him, “Davis, you should have called! You shouldn’t even be here!”

“You’re still my wife! What the hell, Anne? I thought we were working on our marriage.”

“No Davis! I asked you for a divorce and I meant it. I won’t take a back seat to anyone and especially not your work! It’s over between us. Accept it and leave…please.”

The pain was so real he thought he was having a heart attack. Anne pushed him out and closed the door in his face. For a few minutes, Davis stood there stunned staring at her door. Finally, he turned around and left.

A couple of days later, Anne had the nerve to serve him with divorce papers asking for millions. Not that she needed the money but more likely to take from him what she thought he valued most…his money. Even after all that drama Davis still didn’t want the divorce. He knew it was mostly his fault for being an absentee husband and he thought he still loved Anne. He’d never been reduced to begging for anything in his life but he begged her to save their marriage. Until finally, she stopped taking his calls.

The hurt eventually turned to anger. He was just thankful he’d listened to Jane about getting an ironclad prenup.

Davis decided then and there to never give another woman the power to hurt him like that again. From then on, he focused all of his energy on his business. However, Jane had other plans. She didn’t want to see him destroyed by Anne. She’d always thought Anne was spoiled, self-absorbed and needy. She never understood the connection between them in the first place but after the divorce she did her best to keep her brother from becoming bitter. That was one of the reasons she’d introduced him to her friend Dana Lasso. She hoped they would have a connection. Unfortunately, there was zero chemistry between the two.

Dana and Jane were great friends and that was the only reason he’d agreed to finance part of Dana’s philanthropic vision. He knew Jane was just trying to keep his mind occupied on things other than work and Anne. So far, she hadn’t been successful.

*****

After boarding the plane, Nicole took a sleeping pill. They had been in the air several hours before the turbulence woke her up. The turbulence had been bad but suddenly the plane made a steep drop. Nicole gripped her arm rest before inhaling deeply and muttering “I hate flying.”

One of Mr. Chatham’s associates, an older gentleman maybe in his late 50’s or early 60’s, gave her a warm smile “So do I…so do I. I’m Phillip Bell by the way, Mr. Chatham’s accountant.”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Nicole Donleavy. I’d shake your hand but then that would mean I’d have to let go of this armrest. I’m a little too freaked out at the moment to do that.”

Phillip chuckled “Mr. Chatham’s plane was just inspected right before this trip. I know the turbulence is a little rough but I’m sure it will even out in a little while. You are perfectly safe and this is coming from a gentleman who abhors flying.”

Nicole relaxed just a little…but only a little. She looked over at Mr. Chatham and his other associates. They were pecking away on their laptops. She couldn’t understand how they could remain so oblivious to everything when the plane was moving so erratically.

Phillip followed her eyes and said it loud enough for Davis to hear him “I heard Mr. Chatham bark at you earlier. I promise his bark is worse than his bite.”

Davis ignored Phillip. He’d been typing up notes from the audits for several hours and was probably why his headache was getting worse. He needed to finish up before they landed.

The plane lurched hard to the right. Then, a couple of moments later, there was a loud
CRACK
. It sounded as if a gun had gone off. The attendant, having difficulty walking in the cabin, went to check with the pilot. When she came back her face was white as snow.

“Ok, everyone please put on your seatbelts. Mr. Chatham, it appears that we’ve lost our right engine. The pilot has called it in and we’re looking for the nearest place to put the plane down for servicing. We should be able to do that with just the one engine.”

Davis started to rise out of his seat to go talk to the pilot when there came a loud and shrill whistling noise. It sounded as if it was coming from the left side of the plane. It was so loud that Davis couldn’t hear Phillip speaking to him. The plane began lurching before it suddenly dropped like a rollercoaster. There was a ‘
whack...crack
…and then
BOOM
!’ Nicole’s eyes were wide as saucers. She hoped she was wrong, but this plane felt like I might be going down. That was crazy. Mr. Phillips had just reassured her the plane was fine. This had to be her over imaginative mind. She tried not to be calm. Then, the pilot came over the intercom. “We’ve just lost our left engine. Please put on your life preservers and make sure you’re buckled up. We’re over water and I’m going to try to glide her down. It’s going to be a rough landing.

It may have only been seconds but felt like forever. The descent was fast and terrifying. Her heart was in her chest. Nicole was in a full blown panic. She tried to look out of her window to see what was happening but it was too dark outside to see anything. Her stomach was in her throat as the plane continued to descend.

Moments later, the plane crashed into the water. It split apart on impact. It felt like Nicole’s body had been slammed onto concrete. The impact knocked out all of the lights but one. However, it flickered on and off. Something hard smacked up against her head and it hurt like hell. Nicole tried to get her bearings. When she looked back at the tail of the plane, it was completely gone. Phillip, the flight attendant, and Davis’s other associates were all in that part of the plane. She was wet and the water was quickly filling up what was left of the cabin.

“Unhook your seatbelt Nicole!”

Nicole couldn’t see him but she heard Mr. Chatham’s voice. Although she wasn’t a strong swimmer, she knew she had to get out of the plane. The water was filling up fast. Her head was killing her but she’d deal with that later. Nicole pulled and pulled but the seatbelt was jammed.

“It’s stuck!”

She jerked it but couldn’t get it to unfasten. Somehow, Davis made his way over to her and ripped it open.

“Go…swim as hard and as fast as you can!” Then, he turned around and went in the opposite direction. She was frozen in place. Her eyes were starting to adjust to the dark and she could see Davis grab something before he started heading back towards her. When he came back he yelled.

“Move Nicole, NOW! Start swimming. Kick as hard as you can!”

That shook her out of her shock. She kicked as hard as she could. She kicked and kicked and kicked but it felt like something was trying to swallow her back inside. She kept kicking until finally the pressure to pull her back inside lessened. She was getting tired but kept kicking and moving her arms. It was hard to see or hear anything with the rain falling except for the whizzing and gurgling sound of the sinking plane. Once she thought she was far enough from it she turned around and saw it go completely under water. What happened to Davis? She couldn’t see him. Nicole started screaming “Mr. Chatham! Mr. Chatham! Please answer me. Mr. Chatham where are you? Anybody!”

Nicole was alone and surrounded by water in every direction. The rain stung as it pelted her skin. “Mr. Chatham!” There was still no answer. Nicole was terrified she was going to die in this ocean. Her legs were starting feel like lead. Her movements were slowing. Still, she looked around desperately trying to see or hear anyone.

After what seemed like an eternity, Davis broke through the water. His lungs were on fire. “Nicole!”

Relief washed over her. She screamed out “I’m over here.”

“Keep talking I’m going to swim to the sound of your voice.”

“I’m over here. Mr. Chatham, please hurry my legs and arms feel so heavy.”

Davis made it to Nicole. He’d gone back to the plane to get the emergency inflatable raft. He knew if the plane crash didn’t kill them the sharks might. “I went back for the emergency raft.”

“Thank god. I don’t think I can hold myself up much longer.” They waded water while he opened the raft. Once it inflated, Davis helped Nicole get onto it before he climbed on board. Davis frantically searched for the emergency box held within the raft. He knew there should have been some flares inside of it. It was hard searching around in the dark and rain but he found them. It took him a moment but he was able to fire two shots into the air. Then he found a tarp like contraption inside the box. They could use that to protect them from the rain. He moved over to Nicole then covered them with it.

“Are you ok?”

He didn’t’ get an answer from her. Davis located the flashlight and pointed it in her direction. Nicole was out cold. She had what looked like an ugly gash on her forehead. Davis felt for a pulse. It was there and beating strong. She must have passed out. He checked her cut; it wasn’t very deep. He put direct pressure on it before wrapping it up from the supplies in the emergency kit.

Davis was exhausted but came out from under the tarp and got up on his knees. The water was too choppy to stand up in the boat. As tired as he was he had to find the emergency radio. He thanked god when he found it. Otherwise, this situation could quickly go from disastrous to impossible. Davis tried the radio. Nothing happened. He tried it again….nothing. The radio was dead. Davis yelled into the night “damn, Damn, DAMN!”

He took a deep breath and started calling out into the darkness for everyone that was on the plane. He called out for what seemed like hours until he was too exhausted to call anymore. Finally, Davis crawled back under the tarp with Nicole and passed out from exhaustion.