First Class to Portland

http://www.firstclassnovels.com

First Kindle Edition,
December 2012

Copyright 2012 by
ABCs Legacy, LLC

All rights reserved.
This book may not be reproduced in any form, in whole or in part, without
written permission from the author.

Chapter

1.
4

2.
10

3.
16

4.
21

5.
33

6.
52

7.
65

8.
73

9.
79

10.
82

11.
86

12.
91

13.
103

14.
108

EPILOGUE
.
117

The flight to Portland from Denver was only about two hours.
It went by relatively quickly. Janie recognized the Columbia River as the plane
slowly descended and she felt relief to be home. She could be back in her own
bed in just a few hours where she could put this trip behind her, and somehow
let Matt become a fond memory instead of feeling the pain in her heart every
time she thought of him.

She walked down the concourse and headed for baggage claim.
It was only two o’clock local time, but she felt as though she’d been up for
days. She was
so
tired, physically and emotionally. Standing at the
conveyor belt, she waited for the bell to sound and the suitcases to appear.
People began filling up the area and Janie moved over to have a better view of
the suitcases rolling by. Several bags came and went, and Janie waited. Her dad
had taught her to wrap yarn around the handles to help identify her bags and
she watched for the pale green color to catch her eye. Other passengers were
grabbing bags and leaving and she took a step closer to see if hers were
coming.

I thought first class bags were supposed to come off
first,
she thought.
Katy will be waiting
.

More passengers left and Janie looked over to the where the
belt ended
. I can still smell him
. Tears immediately filled her eyes and
spilled over as she turned to walk in the other direction to the beginning of
the conveyor belt. She looked down and wiped her cheek with the back of her
hand. Taking another step she ran into somebody in front of her.

“Excuse me. Sorry,” she choked, not looking up.

“No problem,” came the voice.

Janie froze. His smell was strong, the voice deep and silky.
Janie peaked up to see dark blue eyes focused on her.

“Matt,” she mouthed, her chin quivering, tears flowing down
her cheeks.

“Janie,” he whispered. “Janie.” He tenderly held her face in
his hands and wiped her tears with his thumbs. “You left me.”

“You asked me to go,” she sobbed.

“I’m an idiot,” he grinned. “I love you Janie. Don’t leave
me again. I couldn’t bear it.”

Janie’s mouth gaped open and she gazed into his eyes. “I
love you,” she said.

Matt lowered his lips to hers and kissed her with all the
love he felt for her, tasting her salty tears.

“You didn’t look back,” he whispered. “I willed you to look
back so I would know you wanted me and you didn’t look back.”

“Matt,” she sobbed. “I thought that’s what you wanted.”

“I want
you.
I love you.” And he kissed her again.

Feeling very aware they were being watched, Janie pulled
back and took a deep breath. Then, questions formed in her head, her forehead
wrinkling.

“How are you here? I left you in New York and you’re here.
How…”

Matt chuckled. “I tried to get on another flight but nothing
would get me here quick enough so I chartered a plane. I knew you had a three
hour layover in Denver.” He seemed quite pleased with himself.

“It turned out to be four,” Janie muttered. Then with
cautious eyes, she asked him the hardest question. “Beth?”

“Janie, no, Beth is nothing. What you overheard was not what
you think. Please believe that. I am so sorry you heard it. Why didn’t you tell
me?”

Janie knew he was telling her the truth. She saw the pain
and the love in his eyes and she knew she had been right that it was out of
character for him. He was all that she imagined him to be and he loved her.

“It doesn’t matter now, does it?” she smiled.

“No, it doesn’t matter at all. Come on. Katy’s here with the
car and you wouldn’t want me to deal with cabs on my first day in Portland,
would you?” Matt grinned.

“My bags!”

“I’ve got them”, Matt smiled and winked at her.

“Oh.”

Matt held out his arm, offering Janie the lead through the
giant revolving doors, pulling her suitcase behind him.

“What have you got in here? Bricks?”

Janie smiled. She blinked, and slowly opened her eyes,
startled as darkness enveloped her. She was in her bed, in her house, alone.
She sat up and looked through the darkness, the realization dawning on her. It
had all just been a dream. She was back in Portland and Matt had let her go.
She laid back down and curled her knees to her chest and cried herself back to
sleep.

*****

May was Janie’s favorite month of the year for a myriad of
reasons. Her boys arrived home from college and she got to play ‘mom’ again.
The flowers were all staring to bloom. The weather was perfect in Portland. And
it was her birthday month. Yes, she was happy it was finally May.

Since the day she returned from New York, she had been fully
occupied with emptying closets, cupboards and the attic, creating three massive
piles in the garage. There was the garbage pile that grew increasingly with
each new box she sorted. There was the donation pile that she would need a
receipt for because this was going to make a difference on her taxes this year.
And the last pile was to keep. It was the smallest pile but the most important.
There were photos and memorabilia from the boy’s childhood and a box that held
the few treasures of Robert’s that she was going to keep.

Amanda, her realtor, had been by earlier in the week and the
house would be listed as soon as the painters had finished the last bedroom, in
a day or so. Where she would go, she hadn’t decided, but she was moving forward
with the list she had made in New York as planned.

TO DO:

1.            Donate Robert’s clothes to Goodwill

2.            Sell Robert’s truck

3.            Find a realtor and put the house up for sale

4.            PURGE!
Go through everything and get rid of stuff I don’t use. SIMPLIFY!

5.            Join a gym

6.            Get a new wardrobe – Katy will help

7.           
BE OPEN TO ALL POSSIBILITIES!

Robert’s clothes were all boxed and in the donation pile and
his truck had been bought by one of her best friend Katy’s co-workers at the
hospital. Janie was at the end of her sorting and purging and actually enjoying
the release of letting go of all the stuff that helped to weigh her down. It
was all very liberating for her.

Numbers five and six on the list hadn’t been started yet,
but number seven was at the forefront of her mind. She needed to be open and
receptive to all good things that came her way. Like Matt. Yes, she thought of
Matt as a good thing, even though her heart was still broken. It had only been
ten days after all; ten days and ten long nights. It really was the nights that
were the hardest. Dreaming was the worst. During the day she stayed busy with the
painters and the sorting, but at night it was quiet and she was left alone with
her thoughts and the memories of one Matthew E. Lathem.

He had texted her the day after she got home. It was brief,
‘Hope you made it home okay’. She had sent an equally brief response, ‘Yes.
Home and unpacking.’ It had taken her three hours to come up with those four
simple words. And since then? Nothing.

Trying not to think about him only seemed to make her think
about him more. Even though she was no longer in New York, everything she did
reminded her of him. She was in the grocery store and she walked past the wines
and decided to pick up a Cabernet, like the one they had drunk in his
apartment. She had been at the gas station and saw a BMW. It was difficult to
take a shower without several memories flooding her mind; the shower in his
apartment, making love with him in the shower, Matt finding her huddled in the
corner of the shower and comforting her. But the days kept coming and she
managed to make it through each one and for that she was grateful.

Saturdays were usually spent with Katy and they had made
plans for today to go shopping at the mall. Janie hadn’t spent any time with
her since she’d been home, except the drive back from the airport where Katy
had been unusually quiet and a tad irritable. She hadn’t asked at all about her
trip and didn’t want to talk about Matt either. After asking repeatedly if she
was okay, Katy had said she thought she had picked up a bug, an occupational
hazard working as a nurse. So Janie was pleased to be finally spending the day
with her best friend.

In the driveway moving boxes when Katy arrived, Janie abused
their friendship and got her to help pull down the small kayak from the rafters
of the garage.

“Is this going too?” she asked.

“Danny from next door likes it so I’m giving it to him. He
had gone with Robert a few times out on the river so I figured he’d appreciate
it.” Janie was pleased with the progress she had made cleansing her life, so to
speak.

“Speak of the devil,” muttered Katy as Danny walked across
the lawn.

“Why Katy! So nice to run into you. How are you?”

“Danny... I’m fine. Janie and I were just leaving.”

Janie shoved the stack of boxes into the garage and pushed numbers
into the key pad to close the door. “There it is Danny.” She pointed to the
kayak lying on the lawn. “All yours.” Janie smiled and grabbed her purse from
the small bench in front of the flowerbed. She and Katy got into Katy’s Subaru
and Danny waved.

Backing out of the driveway, Katy grimaced, “He’s weird
Janie. I’m glad you’ll be moving. I don’t like you here by yourself with him
around.”

Janie laughed, “He has been our neighbor for five or six
years Katy. He’s alright. He has been nothing but kind since Robert died and
before that he and Robert hung out quite often.”

“Well he gives me the creeps.”

“That’s because he likes you and you won’t talk to him, let
alone go out with him,’ Janie smiled.

“I don’t want to talk about Danny! Let’s go do some damage
at the mall.” And they pulled onto the I-205 and headed for Clackamas Town
Center.

*****

“Mom! He doesn’t care!” Matt stated for the third time in
the last half hour.

Maureen stood in the kitchen with her hands on her hips
frustrated with her sons. “I know this wedding is a ten minute visit to City
Hall. And I know they are having a small group of friends over next weekend to
celebrate, but I thought it might be nice to do
something
after they are
officially married.”

Matt’s younger brother Andrew was finally marrying his
long-time partner Rory on Tuesday and his mother was bound and determined to
turn it into something Andrew would abhor.

“Mom, I know you want to make this special for them, but all
they want is a simple ceremony with immediate family and then dinner at home.
Please, let them have it their way,” Mark, another one of Matt’s brothers,
pleaded.

“How is it that I have seven sons and not one of you have
had a
real
wedding?”

Matt rolled his eyes, knowing she was talking about him,
seeing as though he’d been the only one of the brothers to get married, the
first time at City Hall just like Andrew was doing, and the second, a three-day
trip to Las Vegas, neither one pleasing his mother. But then they both ended in
divorce so it didn’t matter anyway.

“Fine!” muttered Maureen. She headed upstairs leaving the
two brothers to their beer and a ball game on the TV.

“So,” began Mark, “how are you doing?”

“Fine.” Matt took a drink from the bottle.

“You’re not fine,” Mark sighed. “You had one of the accountant’s
almost in tears on Thursday and Angela says you cancelled the trip to Buenos
Aries.”

“I don’t want to go. Ben can go instead,” Matt shrugged.