Unforgettable (28 page)

In the distant future was a nearly signed deal to record two numbers on a future David Benoit project. But at present it looked like once she got to Rochester in mid-December to join Angel, she’d be able to stay through Christmas. The week between Christmas and New Year’s was booked solid with performances with Henry in New York.

It’ll work out, she told herself. You’ll see her again in January for at least a week. Maybe two. Just tell Naomi what dates you’re not available. You’re in a position to turn work away now.

“Don’t look like that,” Angel said. “You’re breaking my heart.”

“I’m sorry.” Rett pushed away her hardly touched burger. “I’m not succeeding at being cheerful.”

“Me neither. I’m going to miss you so much.”

“I’ll e-mail or call every day. We can chat-room while we watch our favorite shows.” They’d gone over it before. They’d be in close but nonphysical contact as often as possible.

They talked in fits and starts as they picked at their food. Then it was time to go. The drive to the airport was full of frustrating traffic delays, but eventually Rett found a spot in short-term parking. They each carried a small bag as they walked to Angel’s gate.

What was there to say? Rett kept reminding herself she was a big girl, but she couldn’t help the tears that formed as Angel strode down the jetway and out of sight. The tendrils of electricity between them were stretching. The sensation was agonizing.

She couldn’t watch anymore. Half-blinded by tears she wandered toward the terminal entrance. When her cell phone chirped she ignored it. A minute later it rang again, which meant it was Naomi. She answered with a sigh.

“How do you know a woman named Camille Masterson?” Naomi sounded both peeved and happy, a combination only Naomi could achieve.

“She was a D.J. at a charity event. Why?” Her sluggish mind couldn’t make the connection.

“You need to sit down. I’m serious.”

Rett dazedly found a hard plastic chair. “Yeah?”

“The woman Disney hired for the part Trish cost you? To make a long story short, she’s stuck on another movie that’s overtime and has commitments for something when that finishes. Basically, she can’t do the part now. Camille Masterson apparently moved into casting recently and put in a good word when they discussed how to replace her. A very good word.”

“You mean I’m going to get a callback?” The fog surrounding Rett lifted a little.

Naomi sounded like she was going to burst with excitement. “More than that — since you’re free the first week of December exactly when they need you, you’re hired. The contracts are on the way!” 

“You’re kidding.” Rett knew Naomi wasn’t making it up, but it was too much to absorb.

“Rett!”

“You’re not kidding. Oh, my God.” Her stomach felt as if it were high-fiving with her vocal cords. “I… I’m at a loss for words.”

“I expected a little more enthusiasm.” Naomi sounded hurt.

“I’m sorry.” Rett stood up and walked back toward the boarding area. Disney wanted her voice. Angel was leaving. She felt as if she were floating in a different dimension. The people hurrying and pushing around her didn’t seem real. “I just said good-bye to Angel.”

Naomi liked Angel, probably because Angel had no inclination to advise Rett about her career. “Well, you can be a little blue, then. But you have to be in a better mood if I’m going to take you out for a celebratory dinner. You name the place.”

Rett was halfway back to Angel’s boarding area. Naomi’s voice was coming from far away. They would be closing the gate soon. She knew she would feel it when the door shut.

“You still there?”

Rett broke into a run. “Sell the condo.”

“What!”

“Sell the condo. Or rent it out. I’m serious.”

“You’re nuts.”

“I don’t have to live in L.A.”

“You’ll miss out on the commercial work and cont —”

“Home is where the heart is, right? She has my heart.” She dodged suitcase-laden travelers and barely avoided knocking over a free-ranging toddler. “Just sell the thing. I’m moving. There are such things as airplanes. I can be anywhere in twelve hours.”

“We’ll talk this over at dinner.”

“I need my flight to Sarasota changed. I’ll be flying out of Rochester, Minnesota. Home of the Mayo Clinic.”

She cleared the last cluster of people. They were closing the door. With the cell phone in one hand she shouted, “Wait! Don’t leave without me!” She fumbled her wallet out of her slacks. “I need to get on this flight!”

People were staring. Naomi’s voice was gibbering out of the phone. “I have to go now or they won’t let me on the plane.” She clicked the phone shut and waved her American Express card at the flight attendant.

“Just get on,” the woman said. “They’ll settle up on board. All that’s left is first class, though. It’ll cost a fortune —”

Rett was already halfway down the jetway. They were swinging the cabin door shut. “Wait!”

Gasping for breath she careened across the threshold. The door whooshed shut behind her and the first class attendant — who looked as if she was trying really hard not to look annoyed — pointed at the nearest seat.

“I’m meeting someone,” Rett gasped. She pointed toward the coach section.

“There’s nothing available in coach.”

“Then move her up here. I’ll pay the difference.” Naomi was going to skin her alive. But she’d have to come to Rochester to do it.

“No one is moving anywhere until we’re at cruising altitude. Please sit down and fasten your seatbelt.” The attendant’s voice took on a menacing quality.

There were only two people in all of first class. Rett took a seat in the last row, which was empty. Angel was somewhere behind her. She could feel it.

She kept her gaze fixed on the cabin indicators, waiting for the tiniest flicker in the fasten-seat-belts light. When it finally turned off, she bolted to her feet and through the curtain that separated first class from coach.

Angel was just a few rows back. She was resting her head on the cabin wall and gazing out the window.

Rett paused to take in the sight of her and let it calm her quivering nerves. She hadn’t exactly asked Angel if she really wanted to live together at this point. They’d both believed it wasn’t possible and hadn’t discussed it. Rett was going to make it possible. She just hoped she hadn’t assumed too much.

Angel suddenly lifted her head and turned her gaze to where Rett stood.

Rett’s stillness was beginning to attract the attention of other passengers. Angel’s sudden question, pitched loud enough to carry to Rett, startled several more. “What are you doing?”

Rett had to try three times before she found her voice. “Moving.”

“What?”

She doesn’t look glad, was all Rett could think. “I upgraded your ticket. There’s plenty of room up here.”

“Are you crazy?”

“Naomi thinks so. I’m sure the flight attendant thinks so. The people I ran over in the terminal probably think so too. I just couldn’t leave. I couldn’t do it.”

Angel’s chin was quivering. “Are you really going to move?”

“Yes. Right now.”

“You don’t even have a toothbrush.”

“I’ll buy one,” Rett said drily.

A man in a nearby seat snickered, then turned it into a cough when Rett glared at him. Why was Angel worrying about petty details when the real story was that they would be together?

Angel was breathing in short gasps and her eyes shimmered with tears. “Where are you going to live?”

“Where do you think?” Really, Rett thought. Dr. Angelica Martinetta was dense.

“With me?” Angel was climbing out of her seat. The people between her and the aisle belatedly realized they were hampering the course of true love, and Angel stepped over them until she reached the aisle and landed in Rett’s arms.

Rett filled her senses with the scent of Angel’s hair and the texture of her skin. She held her tight because it would have hurt not to.

“You have to take your seats now.” The menacing flight attendant was back. “We need to start the beverage service.”

The man who had laughed said, “If you two are only going to need one seat up there, I’ll be glad to take the other one.”

Rett rolled her eyes. The man helpfully passed Angel’s things to them, then Rett led Angel to the back row of first class. Angel moved like a sleepwalker, but her eyes were glowing with all the welcome Rett needed. 

The flight attendant appeared out of nowhere with two glasses of Champagne. All menace gone, she set the glasses down and winked conspiratorially. “Congratulations.”

Rett’s gaydar went ka-zing. “Thanks.”

Angel’s gaze never left Rett’s face. “I can’t believe you’re doing this.”

“I don’t know why it took me so long to realize how easy it would be. I’m not losing much, and I’m gaining everything.”

“…As we make our last turn to start our final descent, passengers on the right side of the plane can see Lake Superior and those on the left can easily make out the mighty Mississippi, America’s most loved waterway…”

Rett stirred out of sleep. She’d fallen asleep with her head on Angel’s excellent thigh. Gentle fingers were smoothing her hair.

“I love you,” Angel whispered.

It wasn’t a dream.

Karin Kallmaker admits that her first crush on a woman was the local librarian. Just remembering the pencil through the loose, attractive bun makes her warm. Maybe it was the librarian’s influence, but for whatever reason, at the age of 16, Karin fell into the arms of her first and only sweetheart.

There’s a certain symmetry to the fact that ten years later, after seeing the film Desert Hearts, her sweetheart descended on the Berkeley Public Library to find some of “those” books. “Rule, Jane” led to “Lesbianism—Fiction” and then on to book after self-affirming book by and about lesbians. These books were the encouragement Karin needed to forget the so-called “mainstream” and spin her first romance for lesbians. That manuscript became her first novel, In Every Port.

The happily-ever-after couple, mated since 1977, now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, and became Mom and Moogie to Kelson in 1995 and Eleanor in 1997.

All of Karin’s work can now be found at Bella Books. Details and background about her novels, and her other pen name, Laura Adams, can be found at her own website.