I heard her gasp, and then some light sobbing. After a bit she spoke, barely above a whisper, “I guess I deserve that, but I beg of you, please don’t. I love you with all my heart, and am so completely ashamed of what I’ve done to us. You have to believe me! I will regret my actions until the day I die.” She really broke down now.
“Caitlin, my love for you and what you did to me hurts a lot right now. That is part of my problem. I want to believe you, but don’t really know what to believe right now. My ENTIRE life has been flipped upside down, in a matter of a few DAYS!!” I took a deep breath, and laid into her. “HOW COULD YOU?? YOU DIDN’T EVEN THINK TO GIVE THE MAN YOU SAY YOU LOVE, A CHANCE TO EXPLAIN???!!”
I was red hot, and ready to explode again, so I paused to calm myself. Her crying had intensified to outright bawling, and I’m sure she was in a bit of shock as well. I never yelled at her like I just had, even during our worst fights.
Calmer, I went on, “I will be gone for a while, and will probably not be answering any calls from you during that time. If you feel the need to call someone, try calling your daughter. She is as much a victim in this as I am, and is feeling very hurt and abandoned right now. I have to go, but will probably call you later when I have come to some conclusions.”
“James,” she sniffled, “I’m scared. I love you so much, and don’t want to lose you… MY GOD I AM SO SORRY!!” at this she broke down again.
I had no pity left for her. “Bye Caitlin.”
And with that, I hung up on her. I turned my phone to vibrate, and put my Bluetooth headset in my pocket. All this completed just as I pulled up to the parking garage of the airport, so I quickly found a spot to park, and walked into the terminal. I checked my bag, got my tickets, and waited in a lounge to have a drink or two before my flight.
Surprisingly I didn’t think about my life imploding. I sat in silence, nursing my drink, and just people watched. It has always been one of my favorite pastimes; just imagining what other people are doing, thinking, and what it was like in their lives.
I saw an older couple, standing at the gate counter, looking like they were having trouble with their flight arrangements. Were they going on some kind of retreat? Were they going home, and had just been here visiting their family? How long had they been together, and were they as in love as they had been all those years ago?
I looked around me at the bar. I saw a young blonde woman, dressed in airline uniform, nursing a coffee. Was she working on the next flight, or was she returning home after a long day of flying? Did she have a boyfriend or husband waiting to see his love at the other end of that flight? How hard would that life be on a relationship, to be gone so often?
There were two middle-aged men sitting, drinking beer and lightly arguing about the game that was on the big screen. Were they traveling on business? Did they have wives at home waiting for them, and they were leaving them behind for work? How did anyone else make traveling for a living work? Somehow people do it all the time, but I don’t see how any relationship could truly last with constant travel. Had these two figured it out? I know it had put a huge strain on my marriage, and I would only spend a few days away from home, mostly. There were only two or three times that I had to stay away longer. Those times, Caitlin had joined me.
I finished off my second drink, set the glass down, and paid the tab. Right after getting down from my stool, my phone started buzzing in my pocket. Now I was rethinking the wisdom of leaving it on, versus just shutting it off completely. I checked the caller ID, and didn’t recognize the number. I thumbed the green answer button, and was connected.
“Hello, this is James.” My tone said fuck off, not intentionally of course.
“Mr. Holmes, this is Tony McGillian. Sorry to bother you, but I just got off the phone with a prospective buyer, if you’re interested.”
Now I felt a little bad for giving him shit. “Sorry Tony, it’s just been a very long day already. You have a buyer lined up already? It hasn’t even been a full day yet.”
“I know, but you pay me to work for you, so I do.” His explanation pretty much spoke for itself. “Apparently you have a twin company, out on the west coast, and they are looking to expand to this coast. I barely had a chance to put out some feelers about the sale, and they were offering to fly out tonight.”
“Ok, well I am going out of town for a while. I am actually at the airport right now, waiting for my flight.”
“As long as you agree to the sale, all I need from you is a limited special power of attorney, and I could sign for you on the sale agreements. Would you be ok with that, assuming you all come to an agreement on a dollar amount?”
“Sure. Listen, email me the document you need signed, and I will sign it and fax it to you if it looks kosher. Also, make sure they understand that we have staff already, and I would prefer not to have them out of jobs unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
“Fair enough James. I will send you a copy of the document, but in order for it to be official I will need you to get your signature notarized and send me the hard copy back. I will include the office mailing address in the email.”
“Alright, as long as the offer from them is enough, I will approve you to sell to them. Thanks for the help, and I will get it back to you as quickly as possible.”
With that, I hung up and finally decided to turn off my phone. I really didn’t want any more talking to people right now. Finally, my flight was being called for early boarding. Basically that almost always means either those people who are handicapped or ultra-rich and pay for the special privileges. I had gotten upgraded tickets to be on a window, but still in economy class, so I had to wait. Thankfully my section at the rear of the plane boarded next, so I didn’t have to wait too long.
I handed the agent my ticket, and walked down the boarding ramp, onto the plane. I found my seat fairly quickly, and stuffed my carryon bag under the seat in front of me. I sat, looking out the window at the flurry of ground activity around the plane. I looked up, and saw some other planes taxiing around, some taking off in the distance, some landing.
It took a few more minutes for everyone to shuffle to their seats, and then the usual flight announcements were made. I zoned out, leaned my head against the window, and just closed my eyes. As terrible as my life had turned, in the last few days, I was finally doing something about it.
I barely registered the pilot speaking about our flight to Hawaii as I fell into a peaceful, nightmare free, sleep. Hopefully, it will continue…