Chapter 26
“Hey, beautiful, can I buy you a drink?”
The man had blond hair and brown eyes, just like Ernie, except not quite the same shade. The ache Millie had felt ever since she cut things off with him sharpened.
She glared at the stranger until he went away, leaving her alone at the bar with her second martini.
It was early, and the Blind Pig wasn’t too busy yet.
Beth was already dancing. Of course. Millie tried desperately not to think of the last time she’d seen Ernie here or the feeling of their bodies moving together on the dance floor.
Where were the girls? They should be here by now.
The door opened, and the diminutive frame of Katherine Stinson came into view. Millie waved. Katherine waved back and hurried over for a hug.
“It’s good to see you again so soon! Is everything all right? I was worried when I got your message. What’s so urgent that you need to talk to us about? Not that I mind.”
“I’ll tell you everything as soon as everyone’s here.”
The door opened again, and in came Gertie. The troops were assembled. After hugs and cheek kisses, they settled down at a table together and ordered drinks. Beth joined them when the dance ended.
“Ladies, good to see you all,” said Beth, giving them a salute.
“You too, Beth. You may not be an aviatrix, but you are a part of this club,” said Gertie. “We women have to stick together.”
“Yes, we do,” said Millie, “and that’s why I’ve called you all here. I need your advice.”
“What can we do for you?” asked Katherine, sipping a Manhattan.
“I need to make amends,” Millie said, folding her hands in her lap.
“What on earth for?” Gertie asked, putting down her old-fashioned.
Millie took a deep breath. It was time to confess. “I lost my job at the airmail and ruined our chances of opening it to other women for God knows how long.”
There. She said it.
“Oh, no,” said Katherine. “What flimsy excuse did they use this time?”
Sucking her breath in through her teeth, Millie confessed, “It was my own fault. A tabloid reporter caught me out on a date with another airmail pilot. They fired us both for fraternization.”
She stared at her drink, waiting for her friends’ condemnation.
Instead, Katherine put her hand on hers. “Oh, sweetie, I’m so sorry to hear that. It shouldn’t be any of their business who you date. They really do find the flimsiest excuses.”
“They definitely wanted me out,” Millie said, looking up from her martini. “But it’s my own fault for giving them an excuse. I should never have gone out with Ernie in the first place.”
“Ernie?” asked Gertie. “Isn’t he the one we met in Philadelphia?”
Oh, God. Gertie remembered. This was embarrassing. “Yes. That’s him.”
Gertie laughed. “I can’t say I’m surprised. You had it bad for him. It was obvious.”
Millie could feel her cheeks heating and took a big gulp of her drink.
“Well at least now you and he are free to have as much fun as you’d like,” said Gertie.
“Oh, I ended things with him. Obviously, the cost was too high, and we should never have gone out together in the first place. What I wanted your advice on is how to make this better.”
“With him?” asked Gertie. “I would think that would be self-evident.”
“No, not with him,” Millie said quickly. “With you. With women aviators. I’ve let you all down. What can I do to undo the damage? Should I attempt a cross-country flight? Should I try to join the Air Force?”
They stared at her over their drinks as if she’d lost her mind.
“Darling, what are you talking about?” Beth asked after a long awkward silence.
Katherine patted Millie’s hand. “I don’t know why you think you owe us something, but you don’t. I hope you didn’t break things off with Ernie for our sakes.”
Millie froze. This wasn’t going as she expected. Why were they confused by this? Weren’t they all trying to break barriers too? Didn’t they feel the overwhelming weight of responsibility she felt every time she went up in a plane?
“You don’t understand. I should never have gone out with him. It was a mistake from the start.”
She took another deep drink, emptying her glass. Damn. She signaled the waiter for another.
“Millie, darling, you were head over heels for him from the very beginning. It was clear to all of us,” said Beth.
“It really was,” Gertie chimed in.
They weren’t wrong. She was mad for Ernie. None of her good intentions had changed that. Her heart felt like a hollowed-out shell ever since she ended things with him. But that wasn’t the point.
“Fine. I was head over heels for him. And to be honest, I still am. But I can’t afford to let my feelings for a man wreck women’s prospects to become professional pilots.”
Katherine squeezed her hand. “Sweetie, don’t blame yourself for the impossible standard they held you to. They wanted you out. They found an excuse. You didn’t wreck anyone’s prospects. They were already wrecked.”
Millie tried to absorb what she was hearing but couldn’t. If she didn’t wreck anyone’s prospects, then she broke up with Ernie over nothing, and she couldn’t possibly have done that.
The waiter arrived with another martini for her, and not a moment too soon. She drank half of it in one go, grateful for the icy burn as it went down her throat. Maybe it would help her make sense of what she was hearing.
“Men are dangerous,” she murmured. “I should never have let him near me.”
“Did he do something to upset you?” Gertie asked. “I’ll gladly sock him in the face for you if he did.”
“He said he loved me.”
And there went the other half of her martini.
Beth narrowed her eyes. “Is this about Barney?”
“No,” Millie answered a little too loudly.
But was it? Barney broke her heart, humiliated her. When Ernie said he loved her, she was terrified. What if it happened all over again?
Beth raised an eyebrow.
“Maybe,” Millie said at last. It must have been the gin talking. This didn’t seem like something she’d admit out loud to anyone.
“Then it’s clear what you really need our help with,” said Katherine, swirling her half-drunk Manhattan in its glass. “You need to get Ernie back.”
“What? No. I can’t—”
“Yes, you can,” Katherine said. “And you should. You said yourself you still have feelings for him. We can’t let a fellow aviatrix walk out on love just because some mean old bureaucrats disapprove. Do you agree, ladies?”
They all raised their glasses and smiled. All except Millie, that was.
“Then it’s settled,” Katherine continued. “I think she needs to do something big to win him back, something to prove beyond a doubt she’s still in love with him.”
“Isn’t the man supposed to make the grand gesture?” Gertie asked.
“I’m sure he will once he has some hope,” Katherine answered, sipping her drink. “But first she has to give him a reason to be hopeful.”
“Millie, darling, you look like a startled deer,” said Beth, gently taking Millie’s empty glass away.
The martinis were making it hard to string together thoughts, but they’d done nothing to ease the roiling pain in her gut at the thought of Ernie.
If Millie accepted what her friends were saying, she’d wronged Ernie. And badly. But how could she do that? Didn’t she love Ernie?
The pain spiked.
What if Beth was right, and this was all about Barney? Millie thought she loved him, and he let her down. So publicly too.
What if Ernie did the same?
But he wouldn’t, would he?
She suspected him at first because of his behavior toward Vera, but at least he was honest with her. And he ended things before anything happened with Millie. There was no reason to think he’d been anything but true to her, and she didn’t doubt his love.
“Did I have this all wrong?” she asked in a quiet voice. “Did I hurt Ernie for no reason?”
Looking up in the eyes of her friends, she saw sympathy but also the truth.
“Oh, God. I’ve made a terrible mistake.”
She staggered to her feet, but her friends pulled her down again.
“Where do you think you’re going?” asked Gertie.
“I have to fix this. Right now.”
“No, darling. You’re drunk,” said Beth.
Come to think of it, she did feel a bit unsteady on her feet.
“Let us help you come up with a plan,” said Katherine with a kind smile.
“I need another martini,” Millie said, sitting down again.
“No, you don’t,” said Beth, becoming a little bit blurry at the edges as she shook her head. She signaled the waiter and asked for a glass of water for Millie.
There were not enough martinis in the world for this conversation, and Beth was cutting her off?
“I’ll deal with this myself,” Millie said, a little too defensively. “I messed things up. I’ll fix it. Now can I please have another drink?”
“No,” said Beth firmly. “But you can have our advice. Once you’re over your hangover tomorrow, you can decide whether or not to take it. Right now, you are not in a fit state.”
Millie let out an aggravated sigh. She loved her friends, but did they have to be so patronizing?
“It’s for your own good,” said Gertie, patting her hand.
Millie gave her a mutinous glare.
“So, ladies, what do we think she should do?” Beth asked, looking at everyone except Millie.
“Call him up and apologize,” said Gertie.
“Well, yes, she has to do that,” said Katherine, “but what else?”
As if calling him up on the phone was an easy thing to do after the way she’d left things.
“I think she should get him his job back,” Gertie said, then drank the dregs of her old-fashioned.
“I like that,” said Katherine.
“Me too,” said Beth.
“But how am I supposed to do that?” Millie asked. Obviously, they didn’t understand how badly she’d burned her bridges with the airmail.
“How did you get the job in the first place?” Katherine asked, turning her sweet pixie face on Millie.
“I went to the Postmaster General,” Millie answered.
Katherine nodded. “Then you’ll just have to go back.”
“He’s not going to listen to me after what just happened.” This was a ridiculous plan.
“That depends on who you bring with you. Do you think you could win over a few members of Congress?” asked Katherine.
“Weren’t you going to do an air show for them or something?
What if we did an air show with you? Three lady pilots together should be enough of a spectacle to draw their interest. And I know several prominent ladies from the suffrage movement—Rory Hawley and her aunt, Alva Belmont.
I could invite them to join as special guests to help advocate for our cause. ”
Oh, God. The last thing she wanted to do was court politicians and society ladies, but maybe Katherine had a point. Maybe together, they could save the airmail operation and get Ernie’s job back even if she wasn’t flying the mail herself.
“I agree,” said Beth. “Bring a few senators to your side. Mr. Burleson can’t ignore them.”
“And when have I ever been good at winning people over?”
“You’ll figure it out,” said Beth. “I have faith in you. And this time, you’ll have help.”
Was there anything more irritating than Beth’s smug smile when she was right?
This was a ridiculous, brilliant plan, and her friends were the very best in the world.
The whole idea made her want to hide in a cave and never come out, but she was going to have to go along with it, wasn’t she?
She owed it to Ernie. It was the least she could do after how she’d hurt him.
“Fine, let’s do it,” Millie said at last. A knot in her stomach untied after she agreed. She didn’t want to do it, but at least it was action. It made her feel better to have something to do, even if she didn’t like it.
“Excellent, darling,” said Beth.
Katherine squeezed her hand, then clinked glasses with Gertie.
“Now, enough about men,” said Katherine. “Gertie, tell me about this new trick you’ve been doing.”
Millie settled back in her chair and listened blearily, a new sense of peace and determination growing within her.