Bidding War (38 page)

She sighed and began unbuttoning her blouse. She shrugged out of it. She wasn't wearing a bra, and I saw the scars. She had scars across her stomach and one breast.

"Do they hurt?" I asked after a moment?

"No."

"May I touch?"

She nodded.

I reached out and ran a finger along one of the scars. I avoided he
r breasts. We had an audience, after all. I looked at Sam. "You knew?" She nodded. So did Suzanne. I looked back at Moira. "What happened?"

"Crazed girlfriend. She was screaming 'bitch, bitch' at me while she was doing it."

"That's why you hate that word."

"Yes." Moira paused. "She nearly killed me. She is institutionalized now and probably will be for the rest of her life."

I looked up at her face. "I don't think you are hideous. I think you are beautiful. I wish this hadn't happened to you, but you will never hide this from me again. Do we understand each other?"

She smiled. She pulled her blouse back on and buttoned it slowly.

I looked between the three of them. "I'm such a drama queen."

"Not usually," Suzanne said. "This is the last time, I bet."

Sam pulled me to her and kissed my cheek. "All better?"

"I don't know." I looked at Moira. "Do you still want me in your life?"

"Hell, yes," she said. She stood up and held a hand out. "Let's go home."

It was
our six month anniversary, sort of. The first Saturday afterwards. I was still in a state of bliss from what Moira and I had been doing the night before. We were tangled together in the bed.

"What are we doing today?" I asked her. "Do you have to work?"

"Nope. I have a day scheduled with you. I have a few surprises for you."

"Really?"

"I bought you a present."

My face fell. "Oh. I didn't buy you anything."

She kissed me gently. "You are going to love it."

"What is it?" I asked.

"No prying. Get up and go shower."

"Come with me," I said, leering at her.

"If I do, we won't get out of the house until after lunch, and I don't want to wait. Go shower, then you will make us breakfast while I shower. Dress casual."

"Will we be outside?"

"Dress casual."

"Where are we going?"

"Pamela," Moira said. "If you ask one more question, I will.."

"You'll what?" I said, feeling very playful.

"Go to work."

"Oh hell," I said. I climbed out of bed and headed for the shower.

* * *

As she usually did, she held the door for me as I stepped into her car. Then she handed me a blindfold.

"Seriously?"

"Yes. Don't argue. You know you're going to wear it, because we won't go anywhere until you put it on."

I slipped it over my eyes. It was a proper blindfold, which meant I couldn't see a thing even out of the edges.

"You are in too playful of a mood. Promise me you won't cheat."

"I won't cheat, Moira."

"Pamela, I put an amazing amount of effort into this surprise, and you absolutely will not ruin it."

"I promised. Have I ever broken a promise to you?"

"No, you haven't." Then I felt her step closer. "This is my iPod. Put the ear buds in."

"All right," I said. "But why? I want to talk to you, not listen to music."

"I want to drown out the sounds, too."

"Seriously?"

"Yes. You are going to sit quietly and let me drive us where we are going.
You may wonder about where we're going all you want, but you will not peek and you will make sure the ear buds stay in. Slip them under the strap from the blindfold to be sure."

"I'll be able to hear during breaks," I said.

"I have a one hour sound sample of nighttime forest noises without a single break. There's a thunderstorm and other sounds, but no silence."

"You've thought of everything. Do I get a kiss first?"

I felt her hand on my chin, and she held me for a kiss. It was soft and sweet, but when I got playful, she pulled away.

"Aww..."

"Will you behave?"

"Yes, Moira. I'll behave."

"Put the ear buds in."

I reached out, and she put one ear bud into each hand. I adjusted my grip then slipped them into my ears, sliding them under the straps for the blindfold.

"All right, now, I am going to trust you. You know the controls on this. I will hit play, but then you will adjust the volume until you couldn't hear a lawn mower outside the car. Turn it up as loud as you can without it hurting."

"Yes, Moira," I said.

She hit play, and the sounds began right away. They were quiet, and as she'd ordered, I turned it up almost to a painful level, then backed it down just a tiny bit. She squeezed my hand for a moment before closing my door.

I felt the car shake when she got in, and I could hear the slam when she closed her door. I reached over and said in as normal a voice, "I could hear the door slam."

I couldn't hear any response, but she squeezed my hand once. And then I felt us rolling backwards.

I tried to pay attention to the turns. I know we got on the freeway, but she took a lot of turns, and I quickly became completely lost. Periodically she reached over and caressed my arm or clasped my hand, but as she always did, she primarily drove with both hands on the wheel. She hated my driving, as I was a one-handed driver, and always was using my right hand to touch her.

Twice we left the freeway but got back on after a few confusing turns. I decided she was deliberately making sure I didn't have a clue where we were.

Finally she left the freeway system entirely, and we drove on surface streets for a while. We came to a stop, and I thought we were there, but it must have just been a stop sign, as we started up again. There were more turns, but we were driving slower. Maybe we were in a park somewhere.

We came to a stop, and I felt the engine die. Wherever we were going, we were there.

She clasped my hand for a moment, then set my hand on my knee. I felt her climb out of the car and close her door. She left me sitting there alone.

I behaved. I didn't cheat. It would break my heart to disappoint her. That and she could be watching me to see if I cheated.

She was gone for several minutes. I listened to the thunderstorm in the iPod. I couldn't hear anything else at all. Then there was a gentle tap on my window before the door opened. I knew her touch, and then she reached past me and unbuckled the seat belt before taking my hands and directing me from the car. I climbed out
, and she pressed me against the car before closing the door. Then she took me by the arm and started me walking forward.

We were on pavement, but that's all I could have told you.

Then she stopped and turned me around several times. When we were done, I had no idea which direction we were facing in relationship to the car. She led me forward another dozen steps, then stopped.

She moved behind me and adjusted the direction I was standing, then she reached for the iPod in my hand and began turning it down.

"Can you hear me over the sound?" she asked?

"Yes."

"Adjust the volume until you can understand me but try to drown out background noises." She handed the iPod back and kept talking to me. I turned the volume up, then nodded. I could tell she was talking in a firm voice from right behind me, and I couldn't hear anything else.

"I bought us something," she said. "It's in my name, but I really bought it for you."

I leaned back against her.

"I really hope you like it. When you are ready, you may remove the ear buds and pull off the blindfold. Do you understand?"

I nodded.

I took a breath, then, in one motion, I tugged the ear buds out of my ears with their cord while using my other hand to remove the blindfold from my eyes.

Directly in front of me was an airplane. I looked around, and to my left was Moira's airplane, her beloved Mooney. I turned to face it.

"No, no," she said. She turned me back to the first airplane.

"Why am I looking at your hanger mate's Cessna?"

She sighed. "That's not even the same color or model that was in here last week," she said.

Then I realized I was looking at a small, white and blue, two seat Cessna. I looked over my shoulder. "That's a 152."

She nodded. She was grinning. "You bought me an airplane? Oh my god, you bought me an airplane?" I spun to face her and couldn't decide if I should hug her or kiss her. So I did both, laughing at the same time.

Finally she pushed me away and turned me back. "It's a suitable trainer," she said.

"I already fly yours so well," I told her.

"I know. I'm so proud of you. But there is no way you are soloing a one hundred fifty knot airplane with retracts, honey."

I looked over my shoulder at her. "I suppose that would be foolish." I looked back at the Cessna.

"It's a trainer," she said. "You will learn to fly it. You will build hours in it. Once you are licensed, you can be my safety pilot for instrument practice." Then she turned me to face her. "You will make promises to me, right now. You will never fly in bad weather without me."

"I promise."

"Two thousand feet and five miles. Do you understand? Until you have your instrument rating."

I nodded.

"You will never engage in foolish stunts or fly close to the ground."

I nodded.

"You will never push your fuel limits. In this airplane, you will fly no longer than two and a half hours between fill ups. That does not mean two hours and thirty five minutes. Do I make myself clear?"

I nodded.

"At six gallons per hour, you can fly four hours with full tanks. Do you know why I put a shorter limit on?"

"Because I might burn more than six an hour, and it looks like it has small tanks."

She smiled. "Right. Two and a half hours and you better be wheels down, or I will take it away. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Moira."

"Honey, I almost ran out of gas once. In a 152. That's why I'm so paranoid. It was three hours and ten minutes, and the engine almost died when I turned to final."

"Oh god. I won't push it. That's conservative, but I won't push it."

"Good. Thank you."

She turned me back to look at my plane. "It's beautiful, Moira."

"I know." She paused. "It was inexpensive. It has a freshly overhauled engine. I bought it and had it overhauled. Eight hours since overhaul. But the panel is kind of crappy, and I don't want you ever taking this plane into instrument conditions."

I nodded.

"When it's time to get your instrument rating, you'll use the Mooney or we'll sell this for something with a proper panel."

"You bought me a plane." I kept staring at it.

"Yes, I bought you a plane." She paused. "Remember my favorite house?"

"The one on Lake Minnetonka?"

"Yes. They moved into a bigger house on Lake Minnetonka. I closed six weeks ago on both the sale of theirs and the buy of the new one."

I turned to her. "Right on the lake?" She nodded. "Oh shit, I bet that was a couple of nice checks." She nodded. "You didn't tell me."

"I wanted this surprise."

I hugged her.

"There are three more surprises."

"This wasn't enough?"

She reached into her purse and handed me a credit card. "That's for fuel and other expenses. It's not for anything except flying." The card had my name on it. "Should we take it up?"

"Yes!"

"I already pre-flighted," she said. "After this flight, it will be your responsibility. Do you think you can pull it out yourself?"

I nodded. She stepped back, and I stepped up to the plane and pulled it carefully from the hangar, turning it down the taxiway.
Then I helped her close the hangar door. We stepped outside, and I walked to the right door.

"Uh uh," she said. "Other side."

"You hate flying from the right," I told her.

"Other side."

"That's the pilot's side."

"Damnit, Pamela. Other side."

"Sorry," I said meekly and walked around to the other side, but I was grinning by the time I arrived. I climbed in. She was at her door but wasn't in yet, and she explained how to properly close my door. I adjusted my seat and buckled up. Then she climbed in and did the same thing.

She handed me a piece of paper. I looked at it.

"What is this?"

"It's a pilot's license."

"I haven't earned one yet."

She laughed. "Whose name is on it?"