Twenty-One
Taylor
Normally, I would’ve wondered if Theo was talking about me, but there’s nothing he can say to Jake that he doesn’t already know. Past drama is a bucket with a hole. It promises nothing but emptiness, and thank fuck Jake knows this. He doesn’t hold it against me, he doesn’t obsess over it and question it every chance he gets.
It’s after eight when my plane gets in which doesn’t give me a ton of time to catch up with my family. And just like always, when I make my way down to the exit of the Minneapolis airport, my dad is waiting for me with a huge smile on his face.
It’s something he has done ever since I showed an interest in flying at age ten. He took me to my first flight lesson and told me that day that once I became a pilot, he’d be waiting for me when I land. And it was not just in Minneapolis, but in plenty of other places I flew to. Sometimes he’d surprise me and other times he’d schedule it with me, but when he could, he would be there.
Today is no different, and as I ride the elevator down, I’m grateful for his dedication and his support all these years.
“Hey, Dad,” I call out, waving and suddenly feeling like I’m sixteen again. Being home makes me happy, and pair that with my new relationship with Jake and things feel like they’re going really well.
“Hey, Taylor,” my dad says, pulling me in for a hug as he grabs my bag. “Ten hours isn’t long. Where are we eating, and what are we doing?”
A conversation with Jake hits me and I smile.
“White Castle, and let’s just go home so I can see Mom too.”
“Sounds good.”
The car isn’t parked far, and we climb in, a comfortable silence taking over as we leave the garage. But it doesn’t take long for the conversation to turn toward what we both have in common: cars.
“I was hanging out with a guy who has a sixty Corvette, Dad.”
“Oh really?” The way his voice goes up at the end makes me wonder if he’s surprised by the Corvette or by the fact that I was spending time with a guy. “Tell me about it.”
“The car or the guy?”
“Both.”
I start with Jake because that will interest my dad less. Generally speaking, he doesn’t like the guys I date, because he mostly thinks they don’t deserve me. It’s sweet, but sometimes it feels like he puts me on an unnecessary pedestal. His expectations of the men I date are far higher than mine, and even those are pretty high already.
“He was my first officer, and we were on a flight to Sydney together. He grew up there and had the car in storage. Dad, you would’ve loved it. Mint condition, no mods…”
“No mods, huh? Sounds like a decent guy.”
I laugh out loud, loving that my dad judges someone by whether they’ve had work done to a classic car.
“He’s pretty good. Honestly, I think you’d like him. He was in the Air Force. Good work ethic.” I pause, and for a second, I wonder how much I really want to say. Things are so new, and it’s been a while since I’ve felt this way about someone. A part of me worries that if I say it out loud, it will all go to shit.
I lived in what I liked to call a surface relationship for so long. Everything looked good on the surface, but underneath it all, it was a big mess. Trent was cheating on me, and it felt like everyone but me knew it. He amassed a shitload of gambling debt on secret credit cards, and when our divorce was in mediation, he tried to get me to pay half. He went after Girls in the Sky, and it wasn’t until the shit hit the fan that what we projected on the surface crumbled.
It was embarrassing because we were known as a power couple at Crescent Airways, as a couple who were making things work despite the distance and the time we spent apart. It was all a lie, and to make up for it, I pretended our marriage ended because we both missed that single lifestyle. To make up for the time I missed and because I literally didn’t give a fuck about what people thought, I did what Trent did throughout our marriage. I slept with whoever I wanted.
“It’s new, though,” I add, and my dad nods his head.
“Sounds a helluva lot better than that prick Trent.” I can hear the harsh snap in my dad’s voice, still present after all these years. He’s been calling him “that prick” for as long as I can remember, and it still makes me chuckle. He’s obviously a better judge of character than me.
I shrug my shoulders. “He’s still a prick, but at least he’s not my problem anymore.”
My dad pulls into the White Castle drive-thru and orders far more food than necessary especially given it’s nearly nine p.m.
“Your mom doesn’t eat meat now,” my dad states, with an annoyance lingering in his tone. “She eats this plant-based burger from here. It’s actually really good, but don’t tell her I said that.”
“Your secret is safe with me and when you come visit, we can eat In-N-Out Burger every day.”
We pull into the driveway, and even though my parents don’t still live in the house I grew up in, it still feels like home when I come back. It’s quiet and away from the craziness of not really having a home. There’s stability here, there’s calm and there’s support.