Chapter Twenty-Two Nathan #2
My goodness. Maybe she truly is a Southern belle, the kind who grew up wealthy, like Scarlett O’Hara—Gone with the Wind being the only other thing I know about the South besides the bullets in Shreveport.
So why is she a flight attendant now? “You went from vacationing all around the world to booking free flights for a place to sleep?”
She pauses. “Claire played matchmaker with the two of us so we could share our sad stories, but she doesn’t know mine yet the way she thinks she does.
” Angel presses her lips together. Her shoulders round, as if in subconscious protection.
“I dropped out of college to marry the heir to a hotel chain.”
Whoa. My eyes widen. I’m not even sure what question to ask next. Is she a widow? A divorcée? I’d never dated either before, but this must be a sign that I’m getting older.
She takes a deep breath. “We lived a pretty extravagant life for four years. We didn’t have jobs because we didn’t need them. Which is how Matt talked me into dropping out of college. I’d worked my butt off and had a full ride to Appalachian State, but I was tired. While he offered me the world.”
I just stare. This woman has lived three lives—at least.
“His parents paid for our wedding at Cape Hatteras. It was a fairy tale.”
I shake my head. Pilots earn a good income, but she’s talking about old money. “I’ll bet.”
She tilts her head, and her eyes wander away from mine.
“Matt was my best friend. We had a blast together. After an incredible four years, his parents took us to Aspen for New Year’s.
” She covers her mouth, and her cheeks puff.
If she was one of the guys, I’d assume she was belching.
She peers back toward me. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I have digestion problems, and I burp a lot. ”
I shrug with my eyebrows. “I wasn’t going to say anything . . .” I really want to return to her narrative.
She smiles, then settles back in. “I did visit doctors when I was filthy rich. Nobody could do anything for me. I tried pills, and they offered surgery, but I decided to simply quit drinking soda and consume Tums like after-dinner mints.”
“I’m sorry,” I offer. “That sounds painful.”
She reaches across the table to touch my hand. “Thank you for understanding.” She pulls away before it becomes weird. “My father-in-law wasn’t so understanding.”
I narrow my eyes. She’s not going to tell me her husband divorced her over a burp, is she?
“After the midnight champagne toast, I burped a little louder than normal. Matt’s dad said something rude, which I tried to laugh off.
He’s always had a bit of a temper when he drinks, and he’d break things everywhere we went.
” She takes a deep breath. “But I didn’t expect him to throw a chair at me. ”
I jolt back in my seat.
“Matt tried to excuse it as drunken behavior, but I was hurt my husband didn’t defend me. Little did I know that after the restaurant called the police and I gave a statement, Matt would never speak to me again.”
I freeze in shock. My brain is trying to comprehend, but it doesn’t make sense. “Your father-in-law assaulted you, then your husband ghosted you?” I’d always assumed the worst breakups were a result of infidelity, but this has to do with money. Her husband chose his inheritance over her.
“Pretty much.” She winces at the memory.
“My hotel room key didn’t work that night, so I couldn’t get into our room.
I figured it was a glitch and stayed across the hall with a friend since it was so late anyway.
But Matt checked out of the hotel without me, canceled my credit cards, and served me with divorce papers.
Since all our money was actually his dad’s, I was left with nothing. ”
And I’d thought breaking up with Joey had been tragic. At least she’d talked to me. She may have lied about cheating, but she’d said goodbye. “What did you do?”
“Oh, I cried a lot. And I was certain that when Matt saw me at the divorce hearing, he’d have a change of heart. I mean, how could anyone just throw away years of loving someone? I’d thought our relationship was rarer than his father’s millions.”
“And?”
“He did not.” She sighs and lifts a shoulder helplessly. “So I became a flight attendant to give myself the world.”
My jaw just hangs there. “That is the craziest story I’ve ever heard. I hope you get hired by your dream airline and make it to your thirty countries.”
“Thanks.” She smiles sweetly. “Though I didn’t tell you my sob story for sympathy.
I told you because it’s the reason I was dating that older pilot in the first place.
After my horrible divorce, I never want to get married again.
So I pick men who I know don’t want commitment.
The saddest part of this story is that I didn’t know he was already married to someone else. ”
I try to ignore the fact that she’s telling me this while on a date with me.
I absolutely want commitment, so it’s good to know up front that I won’t get it from her.
Note taken. More importantly, when Claire told me Angel’s relationship had ended because of cheating, I’d never expected her to be the “other woman.”
Rather than hurt for the pilot’s wife—though I do feel bad for her—I wish I could help Angel. She’s still broken, and that’s leading her to other broken relationships.
“Angel, you absolutely did not deserve to be treated that way.”
She shrugs off my condolences. “I was young and infatuated. I thought I was in love, but maybe I just loved the attention.”
I shake my head and lean forward to argue. “That definitely wasn’t love.”
She pauses in unfolding her napkin. Uncertainty flickers like lightning in her stormy eyes. “Then tell me, what is love?”
I’m the last person she should ask. The woman I’d thought I loved apparently loved someone else more.
I lift a hand as if I can pull an answer out of the sky. And maybe I can. Vincent and I were in an airplane when he defined the concept for me.
What did he say again? I remember his words convicted me. Maybe they can do the opposite for Angel. Maybe they can set her free. “Love means you’d rather lose someone than harm them.”
Angel plants an elbow on the table and rests her cheek in her palm to study me. “I’m not sure what you’re saying. Matt left me. I didn’t really have a choice.”
She’d made a healthy choice without realizing it.
Maybe even regretted it. “I think with Matt it was about keeping boundaries. When his dad threw a chair at you, the restaurant considered it harmful behavior and called the police. You gave a statement about what happened to prevent any more harm from being done. That was the loving thing to do. Would you still have done that if you’d known Matt would never talk to you again? ”
She blinks. Looks away. “I’ve often wished I could have taken it back. Then I’d still have a husband.” Her voice is soft and hard to hear above the din around us. But her words have impact.
I knew she’d feel this way, because my dad felt this way about my mom.
I even felt this way about my mom. Like maybe she would have stayed if we’d sold Dad’s family orchard and moved to the city so she wouldn’t have had to help with physical labor in order to make a profit.
Or if Dad had bought her that sports car she’d wanted, even though it wouldn’t be able to drive through snow in the harsh mountain winters.
Or if I hadn’t asked for money for flying lessons.
Then we’d possibly still have those relationships. Though they wouldn’t be healthy. They’d be harmful.
Thankfully, I learned this well before I caught Joey cheating on me. Otherwise I might have let her get away with it just to keep her in my life. I wouldn’t be single, but I’d still be unloved.
“You’re not alone, Angel.” I don’t know her well enough to tell her my story, so I don’t make my understanding about me. “People do it all the time. That’s exactly what Matt is doing with his father. He’s afraid of losing his dad—or maybe just his dad’s money—so he’s enabling him.”
She picks up her fork and scoots food around her plate. “It hurts to let go.”
“I know.” I nod and dig into my own tangy dish.
Eating out of a pineapple bowl makes having hard conversations a little easier.
Kind of like when Dad would take me for ice cream after I got shots at the doctor.
Vaccinations and difficult conversations may hurt, but they don’t harm.
“I’ve been thinking about pain a lot lately.
It’s not pleasant but is a pretty important part of life. ”
Angel’s cheeks soften into a smile. “Is that what you do up in the flight deck while we’re running around serving pretzels to salty passengers? You’re having deep thoughts about pain?”
I picture Vincent in his aviator’s cap, offering wisdom before I’m even aware I need it. “Flying is pretty much my therapy.”
She chuckles. “Meanwhile, we flight attendants need therapy to recover from our flights.”
I point my fork at her. “At least you’re not stuck in the same seat for hours. You get your steps in.”
She wrinkles her nose before scooping up a bite, and I wonder if I’m going to hear her burp before the night is over. I kind of hope so. Just so I can not throw a chair at her.
I won’t be taking her on any more dates, but we can be friends. In fact . . .
“If you ever want to meet the therapist I fly with, we go to church together on Sundays. You’re welcome to join us.”
“Thank you. I might.” She arches an eyebrow. “Now that I’ve told my sad story, do you want to talk about your ex-girlfriend or your crush on Claire?”