They got back to Jake’s plane just before noon. After checking the weather in the airport office and finding that skies were currently clear all along the Oregon coast, he turned to Laura, who was sitting next to him, still clutching the saxophone case.
“It’s VFR conditions all the way back,” he told her.
“VFR?”
“Visual flight rules,” he said. “That means I can just putter along where I want and whatever altitude I want once I get out of the Class B airspace around PDX.”
“Okay,” she said slowly. “And that’s good?”
“It means we can fly lower and do a little sightseeing if you want,” he said. “Feel like taking the long way home?”
“How long?”
“Maybe closer to two hours,” he said. “I was thinking of following the Columbia River to the ocean and then hanging a left and flying along the coastline back to North Bend. Once we’re over the water I can drop down to four thousand or so. I’ll burn more fuel but the scenery should be spectacular.”
She nodded. “That sounds like fun,” she said.
“Let’s do it then,” he said. “I’ll file the flight plan real quick. Be sure you go pee before we board.”
“Right,” she said. “Can you watch the sax while I pee?”
“I’m on it,” he told her.
They lifted off at 12:03 and climbed into the blue sky. By 12:20 they were out of the controlled airspace and flying sixty-five hundred feet over the Columbia River, heading west. Jake maintained manual control of the aircraft, giving the autopilot the day off so he could steer them along the course of the river.
“I had a good time today, Jake,” Laura told him, her voice coming through the headphones.
“Me too,” he said. “It was nice to get away from the studio and the house and all that for the day. And I’m glad we got the instrument you needed. It’s really going to enhance Island.”
“I still can’t believe you spent twenty-two hundred dollars on a sax we’re only going to need for one song. That’s crazy.”
“I’ve been accused of that.”
“What are we going to do with the sax when we’re done?” she asked. “Sell it back to them? Sell it to someone else?”
“It’s yours to keep,” Jake told her. “Do with it whatever you want.”
She looked at him. “Mine to keep? Jake, I can’t accept something this expensive.”
“Sure you can,” he assured her. “I sure as hell don’t have any use for it, and going to the trouble of selling it will be more trouble than it’s worth to me. You’re a saxophonist, and officially a professional one now. Use it in your future endeavors. Being able to play both the alto and the soprano is something else to add to that resume, right?”
“Well, yeah ... but...”
“No yeah-buts,” Jake said firmly. “The instrument is yours to keep. Consider it a bonus for doing such a good job.”
She was genuinely touched by this. “Thank you, Jake,” she said. “I’ll treasure it always.”
He reached over with his hand and rubbed her left shoulder. “It was worth it just to see you smile again,” he told her. “You’ve been kind of bummed out lately. I’m glad I was able to cheer you up some.”
She flushed a little, whether from his touch or his words he did not know, and looked down into her lap. “Yeah,” she said. “I guess I have been a little sour lately. I’m sorry. It wasn’t directed at any of you.”
“I don’t think anyone took it personally,” Jake assured her.
“No?”
“No. I think everyone kind of suspects what the issue is.”
She looked back up at him. “They do?”
He nodded. “It’s not hard to figure out, hon. You left to go visit your fiancé in a good mood. You came back in a bad mood that has been lingering for a few weeks now. It’s only logical that something happened during that visit to get you like that, right?”
She sighed. “Very perceptive,” she said bitterly.
Jake shrugged. “Like I said, it’s not rocket science. You want to talk about it?”
“No,” she said. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Suit yourself,” he said. “But it really does help to talk about these things. And I’m a good listener.”
“I appreciate the offer,” she said, “but it’s very personal.”
“More personal than the stuff I was telling you earlier?”
She giggled a little. “Maybe not that personal,” she said. “There are no butt cracks or cocaine in my story.” She hesitated for a moment, and then blurted, “Although there is an asshole.”
“I see,” Jake said. “That would be your dentist?”
She took a deep breath and then let it out slowly. She then tapped the headset on her ears. “Is everything we’re saying being recorded?”
“There’s no CVR on this aircraft,” he assured her. “It’s not required on a private plane. The only time anything is recorded is when I’m talking to ATC with the microphone keyed.”
She looked at him sternly. “You’re not bullshitting me, right?”
“I’m not bullshitting you,” he promised.
“All right,” she said. “What the hell? If you can tell your butt crack story, I guess I can tell mine. I went home because Dave—that’s my fiancé—had a week off from work. When I called about two weeks before, he told me that and that’s when I started asking if I could take a break, remember?”
“I remember,” Jake said.
“He owns a rental condo in Palm Springs. He told me that if I came home, we could spend the week there together. I’ve been there with him before, although usually only on the occasional weekend, and once you and Celia told me I could have the time off, he told me we were in. We were going to leave as soon as I got home and stay the whole week. I was really looking forward to it. After all the time we’ve been apart while I was working on the album, I really wanted to reconnect with him.”
“Understandable,” Jake said. “What happened?”
“When I got home, he was already in Palm Springs. He’d left the day before I arrived.” Another deep breath. “That bitch he’s still married to was there with him.”
“That bitch he’s still married to, huh?”
“Yeah,” she spat. “Apparently she insisted on going with him on the trip. He didn’t even tell me in person! He left a message with Phil. Can you believe that?”
“It’s a little unbelievable all right,” Jake said. “Do you mind if I make an observation here?”
“Sure,” she said.
“When you say, ‘that bitch he’s still married to’, you’re talking about his wife, correct?”
She shook her head sternly. “They’re only still married because of the kids,” she said. “Once they graduate high school, he’ll finally be able to divorce her.”
“But they’re still living together now?” Jake asked.
“Yes,” she said. “He has to keep letting her live there for now or she’ll take the whole house and get half of the profits from his practice. They’re mostly just roommates. They haven’t slept in the same bedroom for years and they don’t have sex anymore—at least not with each other. She’s always going out and sleeping around though. Dave says she’s a real slut.”
“I see,” Jake said. “And ... well ... have you ever actually met her before?”
“No,” she said, appalled. “Why the hell would I want to do that?”
“All right, different tack here,” Jake said. “You say that he can’t leave her now because of the kids and because she’ll take half of his practice and the house, right?”
“Right.”
“Why, once the kids are graduated, wouldn’t she still be able to take half the practice and the house?”
“Well ... she still will be able to do that,” Laura said, “but at least the kids will be on their own. It’ll be easier if she can’t use them as a weapon. He says the divorce will be more amicable that way and she won’t be able to get child support on top of everything else.”