The Four Corners of the Sky_ A Novel - Michael Malone [88]
“So much for flying to Emerald, Brad, like you said you were going to.” Leaning her head around his, Annie looked up and down the corridor for the man in the blue T-shirt but didn’t see him.
Brad set her back on her feet. “I did go to Emerald. You’d taken off for here. Then D. K. blackmailed me into giving some—get this—‘business’ friend of his a freeload ride; said if I wouldn’t do it, he wouldn’t give me taxi clearance. D. K. said this guy was trying to hook up with his girlfriend in St. Lou. Whatever.”
Not paying much attention, she nodded. Brad kept talking. “They needed another Hopper jet here anyhow, so I figured, hell, I’ll fly it myself. Because Annie might need my help.” He gave her his sweet look.
“That’s a lot of trouble to go to, Brad.” She was touched, she admitted. “You’ve got a mustache. It looks good.”
“Thanks. Happy Birthday, A.” He clasped her in a hug. “Sam filled me in. Guy from air traffic was gassing on to me about this old Piper Warrior coming in on a w and a p. So I go, that’s Annie! Good job, babe. Rough?”
“Could have been worse. Sam talks too much.”
The little white Maltese’s head stuck out of the cloth carrier, barking shrilly. Brad jerked his hand back. “Malpy? What’s he doing here?”
Annie pulled away, studying Brad’s face. “My dad just told me on the phone to ‘thank’ you. What does that mean? Thank you for what? Has Sam put you up to something with Dad and told you not to tell me?”
Blushing pink, Brad stretched his arms behind his head as if he were starting an exercise. He shrugged in an unconvincing way. “Sam’s my bud. She just wants us to get back together.”
“Wants you and her to get back together?”
“Come on, don’t be sarcastic, A. You and me.” Malpy kept barking. Annie shoved the dog back inside his carrier bag as Brad turned truculent. “Sam said your dad was, you know, real sick. So what’s wrong with her staying in touch? You hate Jack so much, maybe she never wanted to talk about him.”
Annie was taken aback. “Everybody in my life seems to be in touch with each other except me. Why is that?”
He cuffed her chin, a gesture that had always annoyed her. “Here, looks like your shoulder’s bothering you.” Despite her resistance, he took Malpy’s carrier and tucked it under his arm. “Damn, this dog’s a porker.”
Annie decided not to defend Malpy’s weight by going into the details about the courier case hidden beneath him. “So you don’t know what my dad meant by thanking you?”
“No idea.”
They walked down the corridor toward the food court.
“How’s Clark? Haven’t seen him in ages,” Brad lied.
Annie was distracted by the disappearance of the man in the blue T-shirt. “Same. Good.”
“Not my biggest supporter but a great guy.” He looked her up and down. “You look awesome. How long’s it been since I’ve seen you?”
“Eight months.”
“That long? Amazing.” He gave his handsome head a shake.
“Not really, considering we’re getting a divorce.” Annie knew Brad was lying to her about Sam and her dad, but wasn’t sure of what the lie consisted. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time. As for her father, presumably he’d done just what he’d said he was going to do—flee the airport for Miami as quickly as possible—so there was no sense in continuing to wait for him here.
She walked with Brad back past the Admirals Club. “I need to fly to Miami,” she said. “But there’re no seats available.”
He replied, “Did you eat dinner?”
“No.”
“You need to eat. Then we’ll figure out Miami. I know people.”
During their marriage the only place Brad hadn’t tried to make decisions for her was up in a jet plane. He had always been proud of her skills as a pilot, just as she’d always admired his. His talent for flying was the first thing, after his looks, that she’d liked about him. But when not in the air, they were as awkward together as footless birds.
On the upper level of the main terminal, they found a table at a “bistro” overlooking the rotunda, near where the Lindbergh plane hung from the ceiling. They ordered chef’s salads that arrived too quickly to be anything but prepackaged. Annie watched Brad