At least a little less encumbered, Misty rushed through the terminal, wishing for time to pick up some magazines for the flight, or at least get breakfast.Instead, her eyes kept darting to the clocks throughout the airport.They were all ticking, and there was a BOARDING notification by her flight.
As soon as she got through a mercifully short security line, she started to breathe easier.She sent Tish a text as she ran down the moving sidewalk.
Misty:On my way.
Tish:Thank God.
Misty made her way forward just as the signs flashed to LAST CALL.She showed her e-ticket to the official, and they let her on.Her breathing finally evened out as she stepped forward, and they closed the door behind her.
On the small plane, she found her friend in the window seat and a middle-aged woman with an “I’d like to talk to the manager” haircut sitting next to her.“I don’t think you understand.I can’t leave two children under four unsupervised.”
“And no one is asking you to,” Tish said more calmly than Misty would have.“But there’s someone else coming who should be here any minute, and she has a ticket for this seat.”
“And since this person hasn’t shown up yet, and may not, I don’t see why you can’t clear out this row and let the three of us sit together.”
“Excuse me,” Misty said, edging closer with her luggage.
Tish looked up.“Here she is!”
The older woman shuffled aside, but didn’t look assuaged.“You still don’t need all these seats,” she huffed as Misty put her tote in the overhead rack.
“I’m glad you held mine for me,honey.”Misty emphasized the last word and took her seat, squeezing Tish’s hand and kissing her cheek near her lips as she did.It seemed to do the trick because the woman huffed off with a “Well, I never!”look on her face.One hand was at her chest, and she used the other to try to shield her kids’ eyes.
Tish kept her hand in Misty’s as she nudged her with her elbow.“What were youdoing?”
“Everything I could to get rid of her.Yeah, she’ll probably tattle on us to the flight attendant, but I’ve got my ticket to back you up.”
“Thanks, but that’s not what I meant.We were supposed to get breakfast at Billy’s before we left, and you missed it.”
“Overslept.”It was the truth, but Misty didn’t feel like telling the whole truth.
Tish raised an eyebrow, a move Misty knew she’d practiced in front of a mirror.They both had as tweens until they’d gotten it right.“That doesn’t sound like the woman who was so excited for that one concert that she didn’t sleep the night before.”
“I wasn’t exercising before that concert, and I had quite a workout yesterday.”
Another truth that hid so much.Or maybe not as much as she thought.She felt her cheeks flush and her mouth turn up.Tish must have noticed, because her eyes narrowed.“What kind of workout?”
“Spencer and I went for a run, and then spent the rest of the day together.”She left out everything else they’d done.It felt too precious to share, almost sacred.She didn’t usually think of sex that way, but it was the closest she could come up with for their last session.
Now that the plane was here with her successfully on it, she was starting to feel bad about how she’d left things with Spencer.He’d know from his Uber notifications that she’d gotten to the airport, but she still turned away from Tish’s raised eyebrow to send him a text before it was time to turn off her phone.
Misty:Made it.Thanks again for everything.
She meant every word, but it didn’t feel like enough.Just like that hasty hug on the sidewalk hadn’t felt like enough, and she felt like crap for snapping at him as he’d done nothing but help her get ready.She wasn’t going to see him for weeks, and she’d wasted their last minutes together too stressed out to enjoy them.
The reminder that she hadn’t made it to the beloved bakery and had totally skipped breakfast didn’t help her mood.“Are they serving snacks on this flight?I didn’t have time for a Cinnabon.”
Or coffee.Misty hadn’t had airplane coffee ever since those horror stories her flight attendant roommates had shared about how it was made, and yet it was either get poisoned from that swill or risk a headache from a day without caffeine.Which would hurt the least?
“Better.”Tish handed her a cup with a stopper and a paper bag.“I got you a cupcake from Billy’s and a latte before they announced boarding.”
“I could kiss you for real.”Misty took a much-appreciated sip of lukewarm yet ambrosial coffee before peeking in the bag.“This is a muffin.”
Tish scoffed.“There’s so much sugar in those that they might as well be cupcakes.”
Misty held out the pastry.“No icing.Icing equals cupcake.”
“But that shit”—Tish pointed to the streusel topping—“has about as much butter and sugar as icing.”
