Moore to Lose (33 page)

Putting his Tumi bag in the overhead bin, the smartly dressed businesswoman gladly moved her laptop case off of the aisle seat — Schooner’s seat.

As soon as he sat, she began talking, “I’m venturing a guess that New York is not home for you.”

Schooner smiled politely, “No, it isn’t.”

The flight attendant interrupted, “What can I get you to drink, Mr. Moore?”

“What kind of scotch do you have?”

“We’ve got Dewar’s White Label and Glenlivet Single Malt.”

“I’ll take a double Glenlivet on the rocks.” He hit her with his All-American boy smile. Unfortunately, for his seatmate, the flight attendant totally ignored her and did not bother to remove her already empty glass, or ask her if she would like another drink.

Schooner dug out his phone, ready to call Mia while they loaded the rest of the plane, but was immediately interrupted by the woman next to him.

“Are you on business or pleasure?” She was crowding him, even though his first class seat was quite spacious.

Schooner hit her with the full mega-watt smile, “Pure pleasure,” he could hear her breath hitch, and now it was time to shut her flirting down with the killing blow, “The love of my life is a New Yorker and I cannot wait to have her back in my arms,” and with another smile, “excuse me,” and he hit dial on his cell phone.

The woman put on a pair of Bose noise canceling headphones, plugged them into her phone and accessed her iTunes list. Hallelujah, Schooner thought, some quiet and privacy.

“Hey, Baby Girl,” he was finally wearing his real smile.

“Are you on the plane?”

“I am. They’re boarding now, so we have a few minutes,” he paused. “Mia, Mia, Mia.”

Mia laughed, “What?”

“You know what?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“How the hell did this happen?” He laughed.

“Unbelievable, right?”

“I feel like I have a new lease on life,” his voice just slightly more than a whisper. The flight attendant put down his scotch and he nodded and smiled at her.

“I can’t believe that I am going to see you in a few hours.”

“I know,” he smiled, thinking about it.

“I never thought I’d see you again in my life,” Mia was getting choked up just expressing that.

“Oh, Baby Girl, I know that feeling. When you didn’t come back that fall, I knew I had to let my dream go.”

“I wish I’d known you loved me, I would’ve been on the next plane,” she sighed.

“Well, you know now and I’m not waiting for the next plane, I’m on this one.”

They closed the cabin door and dimmed the lights for takeoff. As they lifted off the runway, Schooner reclined his seat and closed his eyes, knowing that sleep was not in the cards. On the other side of this flight, a car would be waiting to take him to Mia.

He couldn’t get the picture out of his mind of rushing all over campus that first day back sophomore year, trying to find her. Her dorm, the dining hall. Everywhere he turned had been a dead end, and those first few weeks, letting it really sink in that the dream he held the entire time he was in Zambia, the dream that she would be back in his arms again, was not going to come true. Not that day. Not the next week. Not the next semester.

The light had gone out in his world. A light he had not previously known existed, and when he was thrust back into darkness, it was actually a safe place for him. Schooner Moore knew how to operate in darkness. He knew how to shut everything down and how to protect himself. In doing so, he maintained absolute control. Control equaled protection. Protection meant he couldn’t be gutted again. Slipping back into the pre-Mia world was easy, he knew the rules — it was a very comfortable playing field. And he knew how to keep himself safe.

Jolted awake when the 767 slammed down onto the runway, Schooner realized he must’ve dozed for a few minutes. His first thought upon the hard, abrupt landing was, “Navy Pilot.” His second thought was, “Finally, our New York dream happens. Finally.”

His seatmate had thankfully been asleep the entire flight, saving him from having to put up with twenty questions. She stretched and opened the window shade, letting in the bright morning sunlight.

The flight attendant announced that it was a “balmy 18 degrees” at New York’s Kennedy International Airport. Just hearing that made Schooner smile as he gazed out the window. Eighteen degrees. He really was in New York. The thing that grabbed his attention immediately was the sky. It was so clear right down to the horizon, there was no smoggy brown haze hanging along the edge. And the color, it was mesmerizing. Just a clear, beautiful blue illuminated by bright sunshine on this cloudless day. It was picture perfect — a picture he had held in his mind’s eye for over two decades.

Powering up his cell phone, he dialed Mia, “We’re on the tarmac.”

“Welcome to New York,” she sounded exuberant.

He could not contain his smile. He was so close. So, so close. “I’ll see you in few.”

“Oh my God, Schooner.” Her tone and sentiment exactly matched what he was feeling.

“I know, Baby Girl. I’ll see you soon.” As he hit end on the call, he realized two things; he was smiling ear-to-ear and his right leg was bouncing uncontrollably with nervous energy.

Schooner could feel his heart racing, exhilarated, as the plane continued to slowly taxi along the runway toward the terminal. He could not tear his focus away from the beautiful, sunlit winter sky. It was so blue. So clear. He wanted to get out of the plane and the terminal and feel the eighteen degree air on his cheeks as he basked in the abundant sunshine.

After twenty-four years of being shrouded in darkness, Schooner Moore could not wait one more minute to meet the light again. He was fully ready to embrace the light and shed the comfort he had built in the darkness.

Mia crawled back into bed next to Schooner, spooning up behind him.

“How does your head feel?” He rolled over and pulled her onto his chest.

“It hurts tonight. I just had to get some more Ibuprophen from the kitchen.”

“I would’ve gotten it for you,” he gently stroked her hair.

“I was trying not to wake you, Mr. Moore, but now that I have,” she softly rubbed his chest, her hand moving in circles slowly down his flat stomach.

Schooner laughed and kissed her forehead, then grabbed her hand as it was rapidly heading south and brought it to his lips, where he kissed her palm.

“Ms. Silver, I give you my word that once we get the go-ahead after Nathaniel’s birth, we will get your mom or my mom or both of them to come and watch him for a few days, and we are going to be holed up at either The Four Seasons or out at the beach house, and I promise to spend the entire time making you come and listening to you scream my name. But until that time, my sweet Baby Mama, no nookie.”

“I hate you.”

“Get over it,” he wrapped his arms around her tighter and kissed the top of her head.

Mia was smiling in the dark. She had once told her mother that she thought that she and Schooner were one being, in two separate bodies. And here she was, years later, wrapped up in his big, protective arms, with their son growing stronger and bigger every day inside of her. Never, in her wildest dreams, through all the years that loneliness was her best friend and darkness her closest ally, did she ever think this could be a reality, much less her reality. She was resigned to thinking that this was a lifetime where she was meant to learn lessons (and she certainly had, the hard way), but she was certain that it was not a lifetime that she would share with another for more than a season.

“I need you to meet me when she takes her nap this afternoon. Text me when she falls asleep.” Schooner said quietly to Seth.

“What’s up?” Seth was surprised and intrigued. Schooner never asked him to meet up with him during the day, especially when he was staying with Mia.

Hitting him with his All-American Boy smile, Schooner cryptically called over his shoulder, “You’ll see,” as he headed out the door.

It was 2:30 P.M. when Mia was finally wiped out from hours of working from her bed. As she curled up to take an afternoon nap, Seth told her that he would be out running some errands while she slept, but that he would be back in a little while.

As he walked out of the bedroom, he texted Schooner.

Seth: BBC in dreamland

Schooner: Meet me at the corner of Mercer & Grand

As Seth headed down to SoHo in a cab, he could not fathom what Schooner had in store. Seth was amused as his cab pulled up and he saw women doing double-takes to stare at Schooner, who stood there oblivious, clad in jeans and a cream double cable knit sweater, looking every inch the male model. Seth just shook his head, what a waste — the man should never have given up that childhood modeling career.

“I’m tempted to throw my arms around you and kiss you just to keep the bitches away.” Seth greeted him. “You know you’re really too pretty to be straight.”

Schooner just laughed, “C’mon, I want to show you something.” Seth followed Schooner through the columned entrance of 100 Grand Street. Crossing the lobby to the elevator, Schooner pulled a key out of his wallet and inserted it into a slot on the elevator panel. The elevator car slowly ascended and opened.

Seth gasped and smacked Schooner on his muscular upper arm. “You didn’t!”

Laughing, “Yeah, I did. Think she’ll like it?”

Seth stood there, speechless, taking in the forty foot by forty foot living room set in an open loft space. Sun drenched by a wall of southern facing windows, the room retained all of its original charm, a tin panel ceiling, ornate Corinthian columns separating spaces and polished hardwood floors.

“Is it the whole floor of the building?” Seth’s mouth was hanging open.

“It is.” Schooner was anxious to show him around.

Seth wandered through the spacious loft, marveling at the chef’s kitchen, the three bedrooms (a true luxury in New York), a huge marble walk-in shower in the master bath, and a library with floor to ceiling bookcases.

“I think this should be the nursery.” Schooner was saying as they walked into the second bedroom. “And I’d like to make the library into a guest room, a place for my parents or Mia’s parents to stay.”

Seth nodded. He still could not speak and then finally, “BBC is going to be so pissed that she didn’t get to pick this out.”

Schooner smiled, “Yeah, I know. But she was in no condition to and we really need the space before Nathaniel is born. Her apartment has been fine for the two of us, but it is not nearly big enough for the three of us, and I know both of our parents are going to want to come and spend time. Holly will also always have a place to stay.”

“You are both such control freaks, how does it work?”

Schooner’s eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled, “We truly get each other. Honestly, Seth, I don’t know where I end and she begins. I would do anything for that woman,” he paused, “and what I need you to do for me is to decorate this nursery. Theme, furniture, walls, blankets, stuffed animals, whatever — just do it.”

Seth’s eyes were wide. “Heaven,” he sang, “I’m in heaven.”

Schooner stood in the doorway while Seth stalked around the room. He looked at the walls, inside the closet, up at the ceiling. “Jungle safari,” he finally announced. “Palm trees, grass huts, giraffes, lions, monkeys hanging from the trees. Greens, yellows, blues and browns. I have a friend who can do the painting and I will find all the accessories. I’ll probably have him do a hand painted crib, dresser and armoire. And maybe a rocker, too.” Seth turned to Schooner, “Are you scared? You should be scared. I’m going to spend a lot of your money.”

“Fine with me.” Schooner shrugged his shoulders, “As long as Mia likes it. She’s the one you’ve got to please.”

“BBC will love whatever I do.” Seth rolled his eyes, “After the makeover I had to do on her, this is a breeze.”

“Hello? Hello?” Mia repeated into her cell, but no one answered. “Who’s there?” Somewhere in the distance she heard Schooner answering his phone and then his voice, loud and sharp, broke into her dream. It was his cell that had actually been ringing, not hers. Hers was only a dream.

Rolling over in the darkness of their room, she looked at the clock, 5:12 A.M. Something was wrong.

Schooner was sitting up in bed, “Is he alright? … Where did they take him? … Well, what are the doctors saying? … Do they know what he took? … Damn it, CJ, what was he doing out on a school night? … Do you even have any idea of what is going on in his life? … Yeah, yeah, yeah, I will … I’ll get the first flight out … No, you don’t need to come get me. I’ll just rent a car and go straight to Hoag Hospital … Yes, I’ll call you when I have my flight info.”

Mia was sitting up next to Schooner with an arm around him. Kissing his shoulder softly, “Why don’t you go shower and pack and I’ll find you a flight and a rental car.”

Schooner nodded.

“Is he ok? Do they know what he took?”

“They’ve pumped his stomach and he’s stable.” Schooner sighed deeply and rested his head on Mia’s.