“MORNING,” ANNIE SAID, as she made her way to the cupboard for a coffee mug.
“You don’t look very chipper to be heading out on a big trip,” her grandmother said, snipping coupons as she spoke.
“Slept awful.”
“I can imagine,” Beulah said. “I’d be a mess if I thought I would soon be hurtling over the Atlantic Ocean for eight hours.”
Annie tried to smile. If only that were it. The strained conversation with Jake had made for a restless night. Her troubles went far deeper than a little trip anxiety.
“Can you think of anything else I need to do before Janice gets here with Mama DeVechio?”
“Nothing comes to mind. Tomorrow night I’ll take her with us to the Country Diner and Sunday to church and then dinner back here. I reckon the rest will play out however it’s supposed to,” Beulah said.
“I hope it goes well. I’ll call when we get there and I’ll keep you posted on what we find out. It might be easier for me to email updates to Evelyn,” she said.
Beulah reached across the table and put her hand over her granddaughter’s.
“Thank you for going. It means a lot to me. God’s will be done, no matter what. Don’t be afraid to tell me anything, I want to know the truth.”
***
Annie accepted Jake’s offer to drive her to Lexington and bring Mama DeVechio back to Beulah’s house. After she hugged her grandmother goodbye, he loaded her suitcase into the back of his SUV. When they pulled out of the long driveway, he reached for her hand, and the gesture comforted her.
Sometimes a creek is too high to cross, her grandfather used to say about emotions. Have to let it go down a bit and then you can cross it.
If only the creek would go down and not turn into a raging river, she thought.
In front of the airport, Jake drew her close.
“There won’t be time later for goodbyes,” he whispered. “I’m here if you need me.”
Her chest tightened. If only she could tell him all her fears.
“I do love you,” she whispered as Janice called her name.
Janice stepped off the escalator. Right behind her was Mama DeVechio, a petite woman who wore a bright pink dress, with a mound of salt and pepper hair.
Annie embraced her friend and then turned to Jake.
“Jake, meet Janice,” she introduced them.
Jake gave Janice a big smile and a hug.
“Mama, this is Annie Taylor and Jake Wilder,” Janice said, nearly a head and shoulders above the tiny woman.
“Hello,” she said, extending her arm, “I so happy to meet you,” she said to Annie. “And this eez our boyfriend? Oh my, he eez so handsome. Am I to ride with you?”
She’s flirting, Annie thought, amused, as Janice cut her apologetic look over the top of Mrs. DeVechio’s piled-high hair. And she was an attractive woman, the dress hitting her just above the knee and a scarf tied stylishly around her neck.
“It’s my honor, Mrs. DeVechio,” Jake said.
“She checked two huge bags,” Janice whispered. “I have no idea what all she is bringing. I told her it was just for a week, but she waved me away.”
Like a queen, Mrs. DeVechio directed Jake on which bags to pick up from the baggage claim area.
“And, she’s got a handbag stuffed full of who knows what,” Janice said. They watched as Jake pulled off both of Mrs. DeVechio’s very large suitcases. Janice handed the smaller bag to her mother-in-law.
“You’ll have to carry this, Mama; Jake’s got his hands full.”
“He eez forte,” Mama said, smiling and nodding her approval at Annie.
“Ready?” Jake asked. Janice kissed her mother-in-law on the cheeks. Annie brushed her lips against Jake’s but he avoided her pleading gaze. A second later, Mrs. DeVechio whisked him away.
“Be good!” Janice called to her mother-in-law. Mrs. DeVechio answered with a wave of the back of her hand. Jake glanced over his shoulder and grinned.
“I hope this isn’t a mistake,” Janice said as they went to the airline counter for their boarding passes. “Promise me we will still be friends no matter what happens?”
Annie laughed, releasing the pent up emotions.
“I promise, but I can’t speak for my grandmother.”
“Mama’s not been on a farm since she left Italy,” Janice said on the plane to Atlanta. “In the five years she’s lived with Jimmy’s sister in Chicago and now us in Brooklyn, we’ve hardly had the opportunity.”
“How’re you doing with her in the house?”
“All in all, it’s working out okay. She’s great with the kids and she loves to cook for us. The problems happen when I actually want to do something myself in the kitchen. Then it is as if I’ve offended her and not appreciated her cooking. If she decides to live with us permanently, we might need a bigger house,” Janice said. “But I don’t want to do anything until we know the airline is stable after the merger a few months ago.”
Annie remembered well the turmoil in April when the airline she and Janice worked for, TransAir, was merged into Patriot Airlines. The months leading up to the announcement were unsettling. It was likely to take a while for the dust to settle.
“How do you think Patriot is doing?”
“I think it will come out a stronger airline, but there are lots of things to work out. I don’t want to make any big financial moves right now until we are in a better position. That’s partly why Jimmy is taking this work out West. It’s good money we can save toward a new house.”
Once they were off the commuter flight to Atlanta, they headed to their gate in the international terminal. It was strange for Annie to be with Janice pulling suitcases in normal clothes, since their time together was usually in uniform as flight attendants.
There was a chance they could get to Atlanta and not be able to catch the ride to Rome, despite Janice checking the passenger loads ahead of time. But when they got to the gate, all was well, and there was plenty of room on the flight. They even had a seat between them allowing a bit more comfort in economy class. They could rest better before renting a car and driving south to Naples.
They talked with the flight attendants, neither of whom they had met before. They found out the crew had worked with Patriot prior to the merger. Janice engaged one of the attendants over some of the differences she had noticed coming from TransAir. No longer a part of that world, Annie settled down with a magazine.
As soon as the meal service was over, she tried to sleep. Once they landed in Rome, they would have a full day ahead of them, and she wanted to be fresh for the task at hand.