I quickly glance at my watch and realize Rex won’t be here for a few more minutes, so I reach into one of my pockets and pull out the digital frame Jolie got me, power it up, and start showing him the pictures of my family, pointing out each member. “Do you want to see what the kittens did to my wife yesterday?” I ask, grinning at his mom. “You’ll want to see this too, hold on.”
I stand back up and motion to some chairs and as soon as we’re settled, I start the video, longing searing through my soul hearing Jolie’s voice as she sings along to the music she has playing in the background then she switches to talking to the kitties once she hears them. The little boy’s giggles as he watches make me want to have babies with Jolie. See, she found the other video from the camera she had already installed in the loft after she sent me her video, which is what has had me intermittently laughing this morning. Of course, her aftermath recording she made is just as funny, because she’s trying to fuss at the kittens while she’s laughing, but seeing the antics of the tiny animals is hysterical.
“Mommy, look at that!” he crows, smiling at his mom.
“I’d have died,” she admits, glancing at me. “Your wife definitely extended them a lot of grace because they made a heckuva mess.”
“That they did, but she said even as distressed as she was about the extra work, she was more worried that they might have licked the paint from themselves and gotten sick. The older cat is hers while the two little menaces are Arya’s, and right now, Jolie,my wife, is overseeing their care because all three kids are away at camp.”
“I’m going to a 4 H camp next week and I’ll get to ride horses!”
“You’re going to have a great time,” I reply, fondly remembering my days at camp. “I bet they take y’all fishing too.”
He nods and says, “We’re going to learn to kayak if we already know how to swim, which I do, my Daddy taught me, and do crafts and stuff.”
“Make sure you eat plenty of s’mores,” I reply. “Best snack ever.”
Of course, I don’t eat them all that often anymore, but I suspect, if the firepit that I spied on the patio that Jolie built is any indication, that’s going to change in the future and I’m looking forward to enjoying them once again.
“They’re so messy!” he chortles. “The last time Mommy made them for us, she ended up using the hose to spray me down because I had chocolate and melted marshmallows all over my face and hands. It wasawesome!”
I’m about to reply when I see Rex walk through the automatic doors and heading toward me. “Well, that’s my ride. I enjoyed talking to you, buddy. You take care now and behave for your mom, okay?”
“I will, Mister. Thanks for talking to me. Mommy says I never meet a stranger, but how am I supposed to make friends if I don’t talk to people?”
Shaking my head, I warn him. “Just be careful, Little Man, not everyone is a good person.” And for a boy as young as he is, he’ll have a hard time telling the difference.
“I only do it when she’s around, right, Mommy?” he replies, looking up at his mom for approval. “I learned about bad people in school and both Mommy and Daddy talked to me as well.”
Shouldering my duffel bag after tucking the things I showed him back into my pockets, I nod. “Glad to hear that. Again, I’m sorry you lost your dad.”
“I’m sorry yours is gone too, Mister,” he replies as we walk away. “Be careful! That’s what my grandma always tells me when I leave.”
I’m chuckling as I stride through the door as I reply, “So do mine, buddy, so do mine.”
“I see you’re making new friends,” Rex teases as we head to the airport. Sometimes, I’ll have another driver and meet Rex at the helicopter, but this time, he was already in town, so I told Bruce that we’d just ride in together.
I mean, over the years, we’ve become good friends. He’s someone I feel like I can count on. Not quite as close as Brock, of course, but we know enough about each other that whenever wedowork together, we’re able to catch up on things that’ve happened while we’ve been apart.
“The little guy saw me and started talking to me,” I reply. I then relay our conversation, making him laugh when I describe the video.
“I’ve gotta see both of them,” he finally gasps out, having laughed so hard his cheeks are ruddy and he has tears streaming down his face. “Poor Jolie.”
“Right? I don’t think she’s slept much since I’ve been gone, though,” I admit.
“What makes you say that?”
“Well, when I show you everything she’s built or has in progress, you be the judge. She probably only sleeps, at most, three or four hours a night. That isn’t healthy.”
He glances at me and nods. “What you do is an adjustment, man. I’m sure she’s feeling as though the weight of the world is resting on her shoulders, you know what I mean? Before you two got married, she only had to worry about herself, but now, she’s got two crazy ass senior citizens, three kids, a huge ass house, and a furred and finned menagerie to corral. Sounds like fucking heaven to me.”
“Still single, eh?” I question. These past few jobs I’ve had another pilot besides Rex, so I’m glad I have my friend alongside me.
“Actually, Emily and I are back together again,” he says. “We’ve been back together about three months or so. I take it that Brock’s still single as a pringle?”
I start laughing because they’re so on and off that I have a hard time keeping up with their relationship status. He pulls into the airport then turns right to go to the civilian plane sector where his helicopter is waiting for us. We still have to operate under the Federal Aviation Administration guidelines, of course, but we’ll be on a different flight path than the commercial airliners that steadily arrive and depart overhead since helicopters usually fly at a much lower altitude. Once we’re through the security check and park in the designated area, “Yeah. His folks are to the point they don’t feel he’s ever going to settle down.”
Grabbing our bags, we start walking across the tarmac to the Sikorsky S92 helicopter waiting on the pad, the gleaming paint with the company logo momentarily blinding me as I failed to put my sunglasses on, something I quickly rectify. We put our bags in the back and I strap them down before climbing into the passenger seat while Rex begins his pre-flight checks.
