Bidding War (18 page)

We both stared forward for a couple of minutes. Then Moira tapped the compass thing on the panel. We had drifted off course. I did a right turn until we were back on course again.

"Good," she said. Then she taped the altimeter. We were five hundred feet low.

"You didn't teach me how to fix that."

"My airplane," she said, putting her hands on the controls. I released them. She gave the engine more power and lifted the nose. When we were back to our assigned altitude and everything was settled out, she said, "Your airplane."

I took the controls again.

"I'm really flying."

"Yes, honey, you are."

I glanced over at her. "How many other women have you flown to Chicago?"

"Are you sure you want to know?"

"More than five?"

"No."

"Three?"

"Fewer."

"Two?"

"Fewer?"

"One?"

"So far, about one half," she said. "We're not there yet."

"I'm the first?"

"Yes." She paused. "However, in all honesty, I took one woman on a vacation to New Orleans and another one to Key West. I've taken a few flying, but not that many. This is special to me."

"But you're sharing it with me."

"You're special to me."

"Cause you're hoping to win that toaster oven?"

She looked over at me and gave me The Look. "Don't trivialize this."

"I'm sorry."

"If I wanted to get laid, I could have bid on Bonnie."

"I'm sorry."

"You're special, Pamela."

"I don't understand that. Bonnie is at least as smart as I am, and probably has more street smarts."

"Bonnie has spent several nights with Gwendolyn. Do you think you know things about Gwendolyn that Bonnie doesn't even suspect?"

"We talked about that."

"Gwendolyn is a friend of mine," Moira said. "We've never slept together. We would fight horribly. But we're friends. Do you know things about her I don't?"

I nodded.

"Have I made my point?"

"No."

She sighed.

"Maybe," I said. "I don't know. It doesn't seem special. We talked. I listened. I asked questions. She trusted me."

Moira smiled hugely. "Exactly. She trusted you."

I thought about it. "We can't talk about that."

"I know. But you understand now? You're special."

"Thank you."

She paused. "I was watching you when you figured out it was an LGBT event."

"I made a fool of myself."

"No, you didn't." She paused. "It was funny watching Bernard try to calm you down."

"He was very sweet."

"Bernard is amazing. That's why Sam assigned him to you. The point is, I figured out what had happened. You were so angry, and you had every right to be. I watched you exchange words with Bonnie and figured out she was involved. Then you disappeared into the back room. It made me sad to think you'd be leaving."

"You just wanted me in that gown."

"I admit you were ravishing," she said. "But I liked your passion."

"Anyone can get angry."

"And then after fifteen minutes, you reappeared. I could tell you had been crying, but you lifted your head and were very gracious to everyone. I followed you around."

"I didn't notice. We didn't talk until you asked your questions." I glanced over at her. "When did you decide to bid on me?"

"The instant I saw the gown. But then I saw you hadn't come there with full knowledge, so I needed to know if your participation would be full hearted or if you would just go through the motions."

"You bid too much for me. You both did."

"Are you kidding? I got a steal. I saw the look in Gwendolyn's eyes. I could have bid your price up a lot higher than I could have paid, and she would have kept raising me. I wasn't going to win. So I made the proposal I did."

"Did I really cost you the commission on three houses?"

"
No. I was trying to bluff Gwendolyn."

I did another course correction before Moira could point it out to me, then noticed we were low again. "Why do I keep losing altitude?"

"You're probably putting just a tiny bit of forward pressure on the yoke."

As soon as she said it, I knew she was right. I relaxed the forward pressure and pulled backwards just a little. We began climbing again. When we reached our altitude, I released the pressure.

"Good," she said. "The standard for brand new pilots is plus or minus two hundred feet. You are more likely to lose it during maneuvers than when going straight, but on a long flight, it's easy to lose track."

"You're spoiling me," I said. "I could never afford to fly on my own."

"Whether or not we enter into a romantic relationship, Pamela, I will happily take you flying, with or without kisses afterwards."

"You must have so many friends already."

"Acquaintances," she said. "Not that many friends."

We flew along for a while. I glanced down and saw the wrinkled countryside of Wisconsin passing along below us. I reached over and put my left hand on Moira's leg. She immediately covered my hand with hers.

We didn't talk for a while, then I felt her stir. She was reaching into the side pocket and pulled out a map. I glanced at it. It looked weird.

"Keep flying," she said. "I want you to fly us most of the way there. I'll manage the radios and tell you what to do. I'll take over when we get close to the airport."

"Don't let me crash us!"

"Have no fear."

She opened the map, then glancing between both the map and the panel, she adjusted the radios. A voice came over the speakers with more recorded information. She listened for a minute, adjusting more things on the panel, and suddenly we were two hundred feet two high.

"Did I do that?"

"No. Different air pressure. Let her come down, but no rush."

She changed the radios again and the recording went away, but after a moment I heard a live voice. There was an exchange between two people.

"That was an airliner talking to Chicago approach," she said. "We'll start talking to them soon. You'll need to be quiet."

I nodded.

We talked for a little bit further. Moira was watching the panels, then held up a finger for me to be silent. She keyed the radio and began talking to Chicago approach. When she was done, she said, "We're going to start descending. I'm going to adjust the trim. Let the plane come down the way it wants."

Then she rotated a wheel, and I felt the pressure on the yoke change. I left off the pressure, and the nose dropped a little. The altimeter started slowly winding down.

I stayed at the controls for another twenty minutes before Moira said, "There's the airport." She pointed straight ahead. "Can you see it?"

I looked, then suddenly I saw the runways. I nodded.

"Head straight towards the middle." She paused. "I am adjusting the trim again. Hold this altitude."

The trim changed again, and the plane leveled out. I didn't need to do much.

"My airplane for just a moment," she said. She took the controls, adjusted the wheel again, then said, "Your airplane. Next time we do this, I'll teach you what I just did, but not today."

The airport grew closer. Moira talked on the radio.

"All right, Pamela. You're going to fly the plane most of the way to the ground, but I'm going to ride along on the controls and fix things for you."

"I'm scared."

"We're fine. You're doing really well." She paused. "Right turn now, we want to be parallel to the runways with the runway out my window."

I started a right turn. I saw Moira pull back on the yoke a little. "Level out," she said. And I straightened the wings.

"Look over my window. See the runway?"

I glanced over. "Yes."

"Fly parallel to it, right at this distance, and hold this altitude."

"I can't." I said after a minute. I had the plane all over the sky.

"Calm down," she said. "You're doing great."

"Moira..."

"You're doing great, Pamela. Have faith."

We reached the end of the runway and I guessed about a mile away from it. "I'm going to lower the power. Hold the nose up and let the plane slow down."

She pulled the power and the nose dropped. I pulled back until we were level.

"Moira-"

"You're doing great. I'm going to help with the next turn. Let the nose drop now, we're doing good." She did something with the wheel between us. I let the nose drop until there wasn't any pressure.

She looked over her shoulder.

"Okay, left turn, perpendicular with the runway."

I started the turn, and I felt Moira helping me. "Perfect. Pull up the nose a little bit."

She played with the power setting and continued to guide me.

"Start another left turn now," she said. "And line us up with the runway."

"Moira, please."

"Start turning, Pamela."

I started the turn and straightened us out when we were facing the runway, more or less.

"Good job," she said. She paused then said, "My airplane. Ride along lightly on the controls so you can feel it."

Immediately the plane settled down. I'd been yanking it all over, or so it seemed, but under her touch, it smoothed out. Then we were over the runway, the ground rushing up to us. Moira pulled up on the nose, slowing our descent, and a siren started to sound.

"Ignore that," she said.

Over the next several seconds, she worked the controls, and then I realized we were down without so much as a bump. The plane's nose was in the air, and I could feel when the front wheel settled onto the runway. Then we were slowing down until finally we turned off the runway and came to a stop.

"No talking now until we're parked." And she was immediately talking to someone on the radio.

She drove us along the taxiway for a while, then turned us around, fiddled with some switches, then, with a small coughing sound, killed the engine. She flipped more switches, and it was quiet. I watched as she removed her headset.

I was sweating like a pig.

She reached over and took my headset off for me.

"You were great!" she said. "I've never let a first time pilot fly us that low. You were amazing." She put her arm around my shoulder and gave me a shoulder-to-shoulder hug.

"I'm all sticky now. That was hard!"

She smiled and helped me out of my seat belt, then reached past me and opened the door. Cool air came wafting into the plane, chilling the sweat on my skin. "Climb on out," Moira said. "Remember where it's safe to hold and to step."

I crawled out onto the wing before standing up, then slowly climbed down onto the ground. I turned around and waited for her. She crawled out, then closed the door and locked it before joining me on the ground. I immediately threw my arms around her.

"Eww! Sticky hugs!" but she was laughing and hugged me back.

"That was so much fun! Scary but fun! Will I get to fly us home?"

"If you want," she
said. "But you're going to be worn out. We may let the auto pilot fly us there." She paused. "I won't let you help with the landing. Night landings are harder. But you'll do our take off."

"I couldn't!"

"Take offs are easy. I'll ride along on the controls and override you if I need to."

"Where is our stuff?" I asked.

"In back," she said. She turned to the plane and opened a small door in the side. She reached in and started handing things out to me. I ended up with my garment bag and small suitcase, and she had the same.

"Now we find our ride," she said. She led the way to a nearby building.

"Don't you have to put the plane away?"

"No. If we were staying overnight, or if it was windy, we would tie it down." She held the door to the building for me and I stepped inside. I looked around.

It was a modest building, about the size of a college classroom. There was a desk with someone waiting behind it, talking to a customer, and a corridor directly opposite us leading to other offices. There were a few people milling around or sitting on a sofa, most of them men of varying ages.

"Andi!" Moira said.

She stepped forward, and a slender woman with sharp features, a dark complexion, and black hair enveloped Moira in a deep hug that was passionately returned.

I was immediately jealous, and my back stiffened. It wasn't helped when I saw them kiss each other's cheeks.

"You look great," Moira told the other woman.

"So do you. How was the flight?"

"Fabulous." She pulled away and said, "Andi, this is Pamela. Pamela, Andi."