There Was This Girl 6 – Tiffany

I was just on the way to pick up a new plane. New to me anyway, and I didn’t want to mess around with the service center when I left for home, so I stopped in at the Safeway just down from the airport near Fountain Road and Murray and ran in for some goodies. I’d spent the night in the hotel, flying in from Lambert the night before, which was Monday. It was already Tuesday. Time flies, right? Anyway, I went into Safeway, getting ready to veer left into the deli area.

There was this girl.

She was standing there, a tear in her eye, just staring out the door.

“Ma’am, are you all right?”

“No, my fiancé just told me he had another woman and asked me if I’d be interested. I told him to fuck off. No, mister, I’m not all right.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, but I’d like to help and I’m in a really, really good mood. Wanna have some fun?”

“God, no. Get away. I’m not that kind of girl.”

“Good. I’m not that kind of boy. I’m buying a new airplane in about a half an hour and flying home with it. Call in sick to work and come with me, you can call them and him from the plane, tell him you met a multimillionaire that thinks you’re cuter than a button and deserve better than his sorry ass and let him eat his heart out.”

“You’re full of shit.”

“Yes, usually I am, but I’m grabbing snacks for the ride home now, what kind of potato salad do you like?”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes. If you are over seventeen, I’m serious as a heart attack. I don’t want to get picked up for kidnapping a girl against her will or anything.”

“I’m twenty. The baby red potato stuff.”

“Cool. Me, too. I see this relationship going somewhere. I’ll bring you home in a couple days. There’s a hotel up the highway from my house you can stay at until you want to come home. Come on. Fried chicken?” She nodded.

We picked through the deli, hit the wing credenza, or whatever they call it, the hot table with the different wing flavors on it, paid for our snacks, and left for the airport. She smiled. She had to be scared out of her ever living loving mind, but she smiled. I didn’t do anything to keep that smile at bay, or stop it, either. I signed for the plane, they made sure the bank draft went through, I went over it with their ground crew, did the preflight by the book, then strapped her in next to me, still dumbfounded, got myself hooked up, and headed for home.

When I pulled back on the yoke, and we were airborne, I’m pretty sure she said, “What the fuck did I just do?”

“Sorry, your name, please? I’ll need it for the manifest and log.”

She laughed, heartily. Tiffany. Tiffany Williamson. Yours?”

“Charlie. Charles Constant. The third, if it matters.”

“Of course it does, Mr. Constant. Someone went to the trouble to put that there, let’s celebrate it.”

“Tiffany, can you just call me Charlie? Just call me Charlie, for now, OK? Mr. Constant seems a bit formal for this little getaway.”

“OK. Charlie. You said I could use your phone?”

I took it down and handed it to her. It was an old-style corded satellite phone. Definitely an afterthought in this plane, and I was replacing it soon. “Dial the whole number, you don’t need the one in front, then push that green button. It should go through. If not, try again.”

“Hi, Daddy. (Pause.) I have no idea. In the air over somewhere. No, someone elses. You were right about Fred. It took almost a year, but you were right. (Pause.) Another woman. He wanted me to meet her. (Pause.) I told you, I don’t know. I told Fred to leave me alone then I stood there, pissed, staring out the window, trying to decide whether to call you or walk home, and the next thing I know, I’m picking out stuff from the deli at Safeway then getting on a plane with a cute guy I thought was giving me a line of bullshit. (Pause.) No, so far, he bought my favorite potato salad, claims it’s his, too, and we’re heading east in a little jet. No lies so far. (Pause.) Settle down, Daddy. He seems nice. He can’t do anything Fred hasn’t done at this point except make me smile. He’s cute. Did I mention that?”

She looked over at me. Ut Oh. “He wants to talk to you.” Shit. I didn’t expect the Daddy call. I thought maybe she was beyond that.

“Yes, sir. Charles Constant here.”

“What exactly are you doing, young man?”

“Making your daughter smile?” I looked at her. She smiled directly at me. “She was crying when I saw her at Safeway, and now she’s smiling. I don’t mean to be flippant or disrespectful, but I see that as a win. She’s cute, and she’s cuter when she smiles. Your daughter is a beautiful woman.”

“Thank you, I’ll tell her mother you said that. Right after I tell her you kidnapped her, are crossing state lines, in an aircraft, and ... I’m thinking of at least six federal felonies here.”

“None actually, sir. She came aboard willingly after I tempted her and lured her onboard with the baby red potato salad. The girl knows what she wants. Look, sir, I’m putting her up at a hotel in St. Louis, a suburb, anyway, and I want her to call this Fred jerk and tell him what she’s doing. I’ll have her home in a couple of days. I have a board meeting tomorrow, I plan to take her out for dinner tomorrow night, go shopping or sightseeing and make her smile some more on Thursday, and if you and/or she insist, I’ll bring her home on Friday. Sound like a plan?”

“Board meeting?”

“Yes. Dad is turning the company over to me this week and since he’s not going to be around long, wants to get it over with. Personally, I hope he bugs me for another sixty years, but he and God, from what the doctors say, have other plans.”

“That Constant, huh? If you hurt my daughter, I’ll kill you. Let me talk to Tiff.”

“Yes, sir, but if it really is me that hurts your daughter, sir, I’ll let you.” I handed her the phone without saying goodbye. He was being a typical father. The kind that daughters love for more reasons than sons will ever know.

“I will. Yes, Daddy. Please don’t scare Mommy, please. You two being apart now is bad enough. (Pause.) OK, Bye.”

“Push the red button now, then do the same with Fred.”

She called Fred. “Yeah, hey, it’s your old girlfriend, Tiffany. I’m sorry I cussed at you and said, ‘fuck off’. I’m in my new boyfriend’s jet on the way to St. Louis. (Pause.) Call my father. He’s not happy about it, either. Probably a lot less happy than you are, Fred. Oh, and what I really meant to say was “Fuck off, Loser.” She pushed the red button. “Not a very brilliant conversation, but what the hell. It’s been a rough day.”

We talked. She was a nice kid. Junior year of college. Wants to teach. Father is military, as are a lot of people in Colorado Springs. They’ve travelled around a lot, Germany, Japan, Italy, and looks like the Springs will be the end of the line. Daddy will have twenty-eight years in, full bird colonel and Wing Commander out at Pete Field.

I told her I could relate. I was in for a while, Air Force, as a pilot, as was my father, and grandfather. Vietnam, Desert Storm, and Afghanistan, with associated assignments, in reverse order. None of us was career, but each of us gave at least six like Dad did. Grampa did seven, and I gave almost eight. She asked what I did now, and I explained how Grampa and Dad had built a little niche in the electronics industry and they had passed it down. I was next, as Dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and wanted to spend his last healthy months goofing off, not working.

She asked about Mom, getting me to frown for the first time all day, so I told her about the drunk in the pickup doing about eighty that broadsided her and my sister both, killing them instantly, so the doctors said. We can only hope. She apologized, I told her not to worry about it, and the conversation went cold dead for about fifteen minutes.

We started final approach into Chesterfield, I had a lot of talking, and listening, to do, so she just quietly sat and watched. She was a very pretty girl.

On the ground, then pulling into the hangar and stopping, I held her hand and pulled her up out of the co-pilot’s seat.

“Charlie, that was fun. Ours has a propeller.” She started laughing.

“WHAT?”

“Daddy has a little Cessna 182. I think they call them Skylane Turbos or something now. It’s old, but really nice. I’ve been flying since I was sixteen.”

“Way cool, Tiff. I’m glad. Seriously. Come on, I’ll take you shopping for some clothes for the next few days then to the hotel.”

We hit the Boone’s Crossing area, stores galore, and more in malls across the street and down a ways. We had a ball. She took my hand a couple times and swung it like she was having fun.

“Charlie, this is going to sound a bit slutty, but do you have a guest room, or are you hiding me from someone?”

“Totally the former, not EVEN the latter. I just thought you’d be more comfortable in a hotel.”

“No, I don’t think I would. I have flannel pajamas, clothes and shoes to wear for the next three days, and a smile on my face. I’d like to just go home with you and talk. You have any beer? I could use a beer.” I nodded, hugged her, carried her packages out to the car, and off we went.

She asked, “I assume you have shampoo, then?” I nodded. “We bought me a toothbrush, and I have a comb in my purse. I should be all set. Oh, and the shoes, I assume the trainers were for me and the heels were for you?”

“Busted.” She giggled. “We’ll find everything you need, young lady. You’re fine.” We did, too. Once I got her home, we put her stuff in the guest room, I showed her the ensuite, told her she could wash the clothes if she wanted before she wore them, which she took me up on, then while they were being tumbled, we chatted some more. Fred was an older guy, blue collar, Daddy never cared for him, but he seemed to be responsible, except when he took her out drinking. That almost ended badly a couple of times.

She thought the issue today was probably her fault, and he could probably sense she was getting cold feet and wanted a security blanket. She went on to tell me she was more unhappy about the way it happened than the fact that it happened, and thanked me for breaking up that entire thought process.

“One in a trillion chance this,” she waved her arms, “could happen, but yet, here I am, a thousand miles from home, and meeting a new person, a nice person, so far, and no longer heartbroken. He’s not, so why should I be.”

Her phone rang. It wasn’t her father. “Shit,” she said. “May I?” I shrugged. “What? What do you mean if I’m not there, she’s not there? That’s stupid. You left me for a woman that wanted me? Oh, God, Fred, you are an idiot. Look. I’m in a little town called Winfield, in Missouri, and I have no control or concern, for that matters, about your personal life anymore. (Pause.) I’ll get my stuff later. Hell, Fred, we weren’t living together. Just put my stuff in a box and set it in the corner. (Pause.) No. Tell her yourself. (Pause.) Goodbye Fred, Charlie’s trying to kiss me, and the phone is getting in the way. Ungh Uhhnn. Gotta go. Bye.” She ended the call. Her playing and making sounds like I was trying to kiss her was a hoot. She’s as funny as she is pretty.

“What a mess. She evidently knows me, or of me, from somewhere, and when he mentioned a threesome, she was all for it. Ickkkk. She doesn’t want him, though. How sad. Let me get my things out of the dryer, and we can call it a night. Charlie, thanks for saving me. I appreciate it.”

As she walked by, I reached up, she squeezed my hand and kissed the top of my head.

We said our goodnights, she went off to the guestroom, and after I heard the flush and the water run, it was quiet. I hoped she really did feel OK. What a jerk that guy was!

Happens every spring and early summer in the Midwest. The thunder tolled in, lightning started, quite actively, lighting up the sky for several seconds at a time. I dozed after it woke me, then a huge thunderclap hit and the bed moved. Flannel pajamas. She pulled my arm around her, backed into me and went back to sleep. That was how we woke up.

“Good morning, sunshine. Not fond of thunder and lightning?”

“Not even a little. Help me make coffee?”

We got up, she combed her hair out, and after I hit the head, I showed her where everything was.

“What time is your meeting, Charlie?”

“Ten, wanna watch? It might be fun. Three guys, all Dad’s friends, telling me exactly what I want to hear.”

“Would the skirt and blouse be dressy enough with the high heeled sandals you bought?”

“Perfect.”

The meeting was a formality, I was named CEO and COO, Dad was demoted to CFO, an honorary title to continue his employment and keep him involved so if I got into trouble, he could bail me out. Truth was, it was to make sure his medical insurance continued. He was only sixty, Medicare wanted nothing to do with his issues. Tiffany watched, quietly, interested, but in a detached way.

We discussed it later. “You the boss now?”

“I guess. I now control the happiness of about forty-five people. As well as the safety and security, in one way or another, of a few hundred thousand.”

“Oh, the electrical things.”

“Electronic, but yeah, those. It’s what we do. Anyway, let’s walk around, then I’ll take you to lunch. Want to catch a movie?”

“Sure.”

I showed her around the plant, explained when she asked that they were at the time producing our last invention, and I was actually taking a break I worked on it for about four months straight, until week before last, making sure it was what I wanted it to be. I probably had four days off the whole time and was recovering from exhaustion when I did. Now it was my turn to have a day off.

She looked extremely serious when I said that, and just held my arm and squeezed. “Cool. You OK? Rested?”

“Working on it. Now, thanks to you, I have an excuse. Thank you for coming back with me. I’m really glad we did this. Tiffany, thank you for crawling into my bed last night, too. It’s been a long time since I’ve had someone close to me, and it felt good. Really good.” She looked at me and grinned, nodding.

When the tour was done, we went back to my office, I’d been in dad’s office for a month already, told my office manager I was out for a couple days, not to hesitate to reach me, and If I didn’t answer, we were in the theater.

Alice said, “No problem, now get out! You’re no good to us dead. Nice to meet you, Tiffany.” Alice started working here for my grandfather. She didn’t take any shit from anyone.

Tiffany laughed, waved goodbye to Alice, and Shandra, my more subdued secretary, thanking them for their hospitality, and we were off.

I left her in charge of everything, lunch, movie, walking the mall, dinner, the whole bit. I bought some more things for her, one a dress for the next night, hoping I could take her out somewhere nice. I was probably taking her home on Friday and wanted to get all I could in before then.

“Charlie, is there any chance I’ll see you after this?”

“God, Tiffany, I hope so. I think you’re a great girl, and I’d really like that. Will your father allow that?”

“I don’t live at home, Charlie. My parents are separated, probably divorcing, and I don’t want to be near either of them full time. Too much drama. It’s a painful thing. I should be careful saying that. Losing either one of them, I’m sure would be worse, and that’s where you’ve been and are going again, but it’s bad.”

We were walking the mall after the movie and before dinner when the conversation took place.

“Are you missing school right now?”

“No, actually, serendipity could not have been timed any better. Spring break. Out all week.”

“But you’re not off on a beach somewhere?”

“I told you I wasn’t that kind of girl.”

“Good point. Want to?”

“No, maybe later. I’d rather just spend some time getting to know you. You don’t have to impress me with beaches and trips and such. The plane was enough. I know the rest is just a phone call away.” I chuckled.

“Got it. I hope I didn’t overdo it. I mean, lunch, and a movie, and dinner, that’s quite a date day.” She giggled for me.

“You’re fine. And silly. I love it. If you’re in a man’s jet plane, 30 minutes after meeting him, and we didn’t really meet. We didn’t share names until we were over Limon.”