Chapter 27

SUNDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 8

Bill and Kathy stopped at the Kawuneeche Visitor Center. After looking at the exhibits and picking up pamphlets of things to see, they got a more detailed map. They read the suggestions about sunblock, information about temperature change, and frequent, even sometimes drastic, weather changes. An older female ranger approached them and asked if she could help. She talked to them for ten minutes or so, very enthusiastically, about the park and its attractions.

They entered through the Grand Lake entrance near the visitor center. Although they had talked and cut up on the plane when she had been a flight attendant, and spent many hours together as he taught her to fly, still, it was more than pilot and flight attendant, or instructor and student. There was still a gulf remaining between them that Kathy wished wasn’t there. Bill always maintained a little of his professionalism when they were alone together, justifiably so, Kathy knew, because he was married. But after their conversation on the driveway, things had changed a little, and the kiss had helped some too, she hoped. But during their tour of Winter Park yesterday, there had still, somehow, been a small amount of tension.

Today, they were more relaxed. Kathy looked out the window during a slight lull in their joking and conversation. I am so, so glad I didn’t let Brannon fuck me. I’m in love with this man, but with everything that’s going on, I still don’t know whether he takes me seriously as a prospective mate. He’s got to know that his marriage is over. Linda has told him all those things, and he’s listened to the tapes. Even if his wife should suddenly change her mind, surely he wouldn’t try to go on.

I kissed him before I even realized I was going to do it. But that was just my thanks for what he did for me, and my joy of the moment. I don’t know what it was when he kissed me back, but it was beyond nice. Still, he just treats me like a friend. He obviously likes doing things with me. Heck, we’ve gone to dinner at beautiful places over and over while Wainwright’s people vacationed and played, not to say anything about all those trips to DC. Before, I never thought I had a chance. But his divorce is an almost absolute, whether he does it or she does it. But darnit, he treats me almost like his daughter. I’m twenty-five years old. I’m a woman. Well, not very experienced maybe, but I darn sure would like for him to teach me.

I don’t know whether that asshole I was engaged to was any good or not. He got me off most times, but it sure wasn’t as good as some of the girls said theirs were.

She unobtrusively glanced at his pants as he turned in the seat to check for traffic. He doesn’t run around with a hard-on like a boy, but I’ve seen a bulge there from time to time when his pants are pulled tight. And he’s a man, not an idiot like Brannon stuffing something down there to impress. Chances are, what I saw there is man. Crap, what’s wrong with me? If I keep thinking like this, I’m going to be so excited that he will smell me. I would be so embarrassed that I could never look him in the face again.

“Oh, Bill. Look at that lake. Pull over, please.”

As Madison parked in the little pullover, he wasn’t quite sure what had attracted Kathy’s attention. Then he saw it. Kathy was out of the SUV in a flash, standing by the water.

The lake, probably only a couple hundred yards long and maybe two hundred feet wide, was bordered on two sides by the road. The opposite side had evergreen trees sparsely lining its bank, with the exception of an area midway of the trees that had nothing. The lake did not have a ripple on it, and the dark water made a perfect mirror. The trees were beautifully reproduced in the still water, and the gap in the trees showed a snow-covered peak in the distance that was also reflected in the water.

“Oh, Bill, if we just had a camera.”

Madison laughed and turned back to the Escalade. “Whoever fixed our lunch and topped up the tank put what appears to be a brand new Canon digital SLR on the seat. If I can figure out how to operate this thing,” he laughed a couple of moments later as he took it out of its case, “we’ll have some high-resolution pictures to take back with us. Jeez, I didn’t even know that they came with this many pixels.”

Giggling like one of the teenagers, Kathy ran to stand with her back to the lake. Bill laughed and started taking pictures. A few minutes later, a family with two young boys pulled up, and Bill asked the man if he would take his and Kathy’s picture together. As he put his arm around her to smile at the camera, Kathy put her arm around his waist, too. You had better run now, Big Boy. If you don’t, and that bitch does divorce you, we might look like that family one day.

She felt tears mist her eyes, and quickly turned away to look at the gorgeous little lake, before Bill noticed her tears.

Later, at the top of the mountain above the tree line, they pulled into the parking lot of the Alpine Visitor Center. As they got out to go into the beautiful peaked-roof building, its exterior made of logs and rock, they met an older couple that were walking two little dogs.

“Are those Chihuahuas?” Kathy asked the lady.

She smiled back and said, “Yes. The brown one is a deer-head, and the black one is an apple-head. But they’re both Chihuahuas.”

The man, gray haired and gray bearded, spoke up, “Our kids are grown, so I guess you could say that these are our children now.”

The couple laughed at their own little joke, as Kathy leaned over to pet the black one, who wagged herself all over wanting attention.

The lady, her hair still a light red, but showing a little gray, appearing younger than the man, said, “The brown one just endures people, other than us of course, but the black one goes against tradition for Chihuahuas; she loves everybody.”

The man picked up one of the Chihuahuas, whose nose twitched to catch the smells. “Is this your first trip to the park for you and your wife?” he asked, glancing at Kathy, but talking to Bill.

Kathy could feel her face instantly flame. Well, at least he didn’t say, “for you and your daughter.”

Bill didn’t even blink as far as Kathy could tell. “Yeah, this is our first time. How about you two?”

“Oh, we’ve been here many times,” the man said. “Heck, when our son was twelve, we took a picture of him standing over there,” he said pointing, “right after the plows cleared out enough of the snow to get in here. We came in the next day after school was out. I think it was May 25th, if my old memory doesn’t fail me, and we had to wait down the mountain for the plows to finish. Our son stood against the wall of snow, and as best we could figure from his height and guesstimating, the snow was at least twenty feet deep here in the lot before they plowed most of it out. The whole area,” he said gesturing to the walkway on the other side of the lot going up the slope of the mountain, “was many feet deep in snow. Although the drifts up there weren’t as deep as they were in the parking lot. It was impressive walking up the walk with walls of snow on each side, though.

“We came through from the Estes Park side a couple of years ago, about this time of year, second week in September...”

“It was the third week, Dear,” his wife corrected him.

He grinned at her, “ ... and we never did get up the mountain. The road was barricaded and the ranger at the visitor center said they were plowing out the road from a snowstorm, but he couldn’t, or wouldn’t offer even a guess as to how long it would take. We waited around for a couple of hours, but the guy acted irritated that we had bothered him to ask. So we just went on with our vacation. We lucked up today; there are a few snowbanks that haven’t melted, but the roads are clear, even up here. But that might not be true tomorrow. Things change quickly this high up; heck we’ve been here in August when there was snow on the sides of the road.”

Bill got the man to take their picture standing by the visitor center, and they said their good-byes as the couple herded their “children” into the car, put the dog’s seat belts on, and drove off waving and smiling at the younger couple.

Much as they did with the first visitor center, they looked at the exhibits, reading everything, taking their time. Both got a cup of coffee and sat down at a little table to drink it, looking at the fabulous view out the back of the center.

“Where’re we going now, pilot?” Madison asked as he took a sip of coffee, then frowned. “This stuff looked like it was about to boil in the pot, but it isn’t...”

Kathy grinned at him, as he embarrassed himself for a pilot not instantly picking up on the problem. Winking at her, he said, “Don’t you smirk at me. Eleven thousand seven hundred feet here. Water, or in this case, coffee, boils at a lot lower temperature; therefore, the coffee isn’t as hot as we’re used to.”

“Getting slow there in your ‘old’ age, Skipper?”

“Not too old to turn a certain young lady over my knee.”

“Oohh, now that sounds interesting,” she teased.

Madison’s face colored. “You blushed,” she said, poking him in the ribs. “An old married man like you, blushed.”

“Not too much longer,” he responded. “I can’t believe I’m just about to be divorced. I got married for life.” Taking a step to a nearby trash container, he threw the nearly-full cup of coffee in. “By the time I put in two little containers of cream, the coffee is just warm. I like hot coffee,” he said, his voice sounding a little irritated.

Kathy tossed hers too. “I asked about the tundra, and the lady behind the counter said there was a little walkway with an exhibit just a little farther on,” she said, knowing that Bill was hurting.

Only about a quarter of a mile from the visitor center, they rounded a curve and saw a half dozen moose standing on the tundra, grazing.

“We can’t walk on it, but they eat it,” Bill laughed, somehow finding it funny. “I wonder if the ranger is going to write them a ticket.”

“Quit trying to be funny, and get the camera. I thought that brochure said they were loners and that you would seldom see more than two together?”

Bill chuckled. “Maybe the guy that made the brochure forgot to tell these guys. Hey, it looks like an extended family. That looks like everybody from grandpop to the latest grandkids to me.”

“They’re so far away, but I’m afraid that they’ll be gone by the time you change lenses.”

Bill laughed as he pulled the camera out of the case. “Even with just the zoom on the camera and that hundred yards, with the megapixels this thing has, you’ll still be able to count the hair on their heads.” He put the case on the hood of the SUV, set the camera on it, lay across the vehicle and shot a number of pictures. Just as he was finishing, something spooked the animals and they ambled off.

“Well, we got some pictures of some meeces,” he joked, putting the case with the extra lens and memory cards back on the seat, but this time, left the camera out of the case.

Later in the day, they ate their lunch in a picnic area. After cleaning up, they strolled to a little waterfall and sat on a convenient bench (half log). Both were beginning to be a little tired, and thinking about starting back toward the retreat. “Shall we head back?” Madison asked, “We have some flying to do tomorrow, plus a drive to the airfield. We couldn’t see all this place in two days, heck, maybe a week.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Kathy said, “but first, we need to talk a little.”

Raising an eyebrow, he quipped, “Uh, I thought that’s what we’ve been doing all day.”

Kathy ignored his comment and turned more toward him. “Have you decided what you’re going to do with Linda when this all comes down?”

Bill seemed to shrink. Blowing a puff of breath out, he said, “I wish I knew. I tossed and tumbled half the night thinking about that. Mr. Wainwright says he’ll get something worked out, but I can’t see what it could be. Even if he can find responsible people for her to stay with while I’m gone, they’ll still be strangers. And living a little with them, then a little with me, just isn’t an answer.

“Why did that bitch do this to us?” he suddenly asked, his voice harsh.

Yes, Kathy thought. Now, you’ve got the right attitude. You didn’t do anything wrong, big man. Get pissed!

Kathy suddenly sat stunned – an idea hitting her, hard. No, that would never work. Well, not the way he wants, but it just might work, and if it did, everything would be solved. But it’s too soon to mention it – way too soon.

Her mouth opened and her voice spoke, while she thought she was still considering Linda. Appalled, she heard herself ask, “Why do you ignore me? You know darned well that Jill’s going to divorce you. You haven’t done a thing wrong. Why do you ignore me?” she repeated.

I didn’t say that. Oh shit. I didn’t say that, did I? Oh, crap. Now you’ve blown it, you idiot. The guy’s hurting from the slut he’s married to screwing her doctor buddy and planning to take everything Bill has, and you say a dumb thing like that. He’ll never have anything to do with me now. What have I done? Oh, shit. Oh, shit!

I’m sorry, Bill. I shouldn’t have said that, her mind said. But her mouth said, “I know darn good and well that you have feelings for me. I can feel them, and I can see them in your eyes. I’m not asking for anything, now. You’re still married, but you haven’t done anything wrong, and this isn’t the end of your world, although, I know it feels like it just now. Your daughter and I get along great, and it’s not put-on. There won’t be any conflict there. And I’ll stand by you and help all I can while you fight through this.

“And stop thinking about yourself as too old. Apparently I like older men. Well, I darn sure like one, anyway.”

From somewhere, he came up with a paper towel, and wiped her face. Why is he doing that? she thought, the tears pouring down her cheeks not having registered at all.

Bill wiped more tears before she grabbed the paper towel and wiped her eyes, herself.

Bill glanced at his pretty copilot as she blew her nose. Her shorts bundled a tight ass made that way by a lot of time spent in the dojo. The muscle structure running down her legs flexed as she crossed them and glared at him, tossing her head and sniffing. Her upturned nose was red from crying, but her short hair, that never seemed to be mussed, fell back into place, even as the wind ruffled it for a moment. She hugged the light jacket to her as she opened her mouth to chastise him some more, he figured.

Feeling his heart melt for her, a feeling that he had tried to deny for the last six months or so, he reached over and touched her lips, stilling her coming tirade, instantly. “Kathy,” once more he tried, “I really am old enough to be your father. Twenty years from now, when I’m an old man and you’re still a vibrant young woman, you might not be as pleased with the age difference.”

“Oh, so I would still be a vibrant young woman – three – years older than you are now, but you on the other hand are too old. You’re arguing from both sides of the coin, old man. You’re going to have to do better than that,” she laughed, then sniffed as she fought not to cry.

He took her in his arms and hugged her as she snuggled to him. “Kathy, I can’t ... I took vows that I meant to keep. Have kept...”

Kathy whacked him in the side, harder than she meant. “I’m not asking for anything. Just to stop thinking about me like I’m a kid. If you respected my abilities and my mind, as surely you did, or you would never have done what you did to keep a job open for me, then think of me as an adult that knows what she wants. I’ll be there for you when this is over. And I would never try to make you violate those vows. But one day, I’ll be waiting. And, I’m tired of this, ‘I’m too young,’ routine. I’m a woman. A woman who will wait, and do her best to help you through this.”

He suddenly hugged her fiercely, then kissed her forehead. His eyes focused on her mouth for a moment, but he seemed to tear himself away. Taking her hand, he said, “Let’s get started back. You can bet we’ll have people lined up to go just about everywhere before our wheels even touch the tarmac in St. Louis. Mr. Wainwright said he talked to Mr. Tingle. They had something come up and they’re using commercial, but Mr. Wainwright nixed Tingle calling us in.”

“Let’s get back, spend some time with the Matthews, Mr. Wainwright and Margaret. We’ll have to leave out really early in the morning.”

They walked back to the Escalade holding hands, both of them extremely aware of the other’s touch. Kathy tossed her tissue in a trashcan, got in the vehicle and settled in – happier now than she had been in a long, long time.

MONDAY MORNING SEPTEMBER 9

Jeff got up at four as usual, did his fourteen miles, then somehow getting back early, fixed a pot of coffee and went to the living room to relax while waiting for the others to get up. As he turned in the door, he saw Wainwright coming down the hall.

“Coffee is ready if you want a cup before we go,” Jeff said, then went on in and sat down near the window. Frank came in a couple of minutes later, pulled up a chair and sat holding his coffee, just looking out the window.

“What have you got on your mind, Frank?”

Frank chuckled, then blew on his coffee to take a sip before replying. “Am I that obvious? I’m going to have to work on that.”

Jeff took another sip, set his coffee down and raised the foot support of his recliner, watching a gust of wind blow multicolored leaves past the lights. “Ever since you’ve been here, you and Margaret have been attached at the hip, especially in the morning when you get up. Now you’re here twenty minutes early and she’s not. You’re not frowning, nor do you appear to be uptight, so I doubt if it’s serious. How am I doing?”

Leaning back in his chair, Wainwright looked over at Jeff and grinned. “We’ve pretty much clicked from the beginning...”

Jeff broke in with a chuckle, “Yeah, except when you tried to ramrod my wives into calling 911.”

“Shit. I guess I’ll never live that down. I’m just glad you came in before they taped my mouth shut. Margaret would have reminded me about that on my deathbed,” he finished with a sick chuckle. “But other than that ... remember when you first came up to the office? You brazened your way past a couple of secretaries, walked into that conference with my vice presidents like you owned the place. When I stood up, you stuck your nose in my face and asked, ‘How would you like to be rich?’ Fuck, I thought Tingle was going to strangle, he laughed so hard.

“When I smarted off and said, ‘I am rich.’ You just grinned at me and said, ‘Not yet, you’re not. But you will be if you’ll get rid of these people and listen to me for thirty minutes.’ You never looked away, nor blinked even, that I can remember. You just radiated absolute confidence.”

“I thought that bald-headed guy, uh, Johnson, was going to have a stroke,” Jeff said with a chuckle.

“He wasn’t nearly as upset as I was when you didn’t come back for our meeting that final afternoon. Then acted like you didn’t give a shit whether you sold your radar or not when I called you that night at home.”

“Later, I need to go into more detail about that afternoon and night, but not now. What...”

“Other than that afternoon, and the 911 incident when I went stupid, we’ve clicked.” Grinning, he said, “Maybe your harem has it right, the Alpha Male walked into that conference, and I sent everyone out, just like he told me to do.”

“No, you didn’t,” Jeff said. “Well, I guess you sent them, but Margaret didn’t go, and if I remember correctly, Tingle walked back in a couple of minutes later.”

“Yeah, well, I sleep with Margaret, and Tingle is running my company right now. He’s damn near as hardheaded as I am, and right almost as much as I am,” he kidded. “Tingle has the twenty million in an account ready for you. He faxed a contract that you need to get your lawyer to look over. If the contract doesn’t suit him, just tell him to fix it.”

“Frank, dammit, you don’t have to do that. You’re welcome here any time – for as long as you want to stay. Crap, we’ll stock an apartment for you two. Your guidance is invaluable to me, and...” Jeff’s voice got quieter. “You know that I’m still with the government. There’s always the possibility that I won’t come back one day...”