register. They weren’t the best quality, but it was late. He bought all they
had, hoping the roses would look good bundled together. Once in his car,
he tried to make them presentable before driving to Ben’s and Allison’s
duplex a few minutes away.
Checking his appearance in the rearview mirror, he took a deep
breath, put on a smile, and trotted up to the doorway. Allison answered,
and from her expression, Jace knew he was in the dog house.
“In the famous words of any guy who’s ever been in trouble,” he
said, “I can explain everything.”
“You being here is already good,” Allison said. “He’s really upset.”
“I know, I got the message.”
Allison grimaced. “Yeah, about that. We’re sort of drunk.”
Jace laughed. That was a relief, and went a long way toward
explaining how upset Ben had sounded. Still, those emotions didn’t
originate from the bottle. Jace told Allison the reason he’d been so busy.
This was enough for her to usher him in.
Ben was sitting at the kitchen table, an empty ice cream carton
before him. When he saw Jace, he wiped his mouth and patted at his hair,
like a sitcom housewife receiving unexpected company. Then he
slumped back in his chair and studied the table top.
“I’m sorry,” Jace said, holding out the roses. Ben glanced at them,
then away again. Jace had the feeling Ben was more embarrassed about
the message than anything. “Look, I’ve been an idiot, but I think you’ll
forgive me if you come with me.”
“I don’t know.” Ben frowned. “I just don’t understand what I did
wrong.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong. I was trying to be romantic and
surprise you, but I overdid it.”
“Overdid what?” Ben scowled. “Why haven’t you called?”
Jace tried not to laugh. With his hair messed up, and his eyes slightly
unfocused, Ben was hard to take seriously. Then again, Jace would take
him any way he could get him. He offered his hand. “Just come with me,
okay? There’s something I want to show you.”
Ben accepted his hand. As soon as Jace had pulled him to his feet, he
was surprised by the sloppiest kiss of his life, one full of high-octane
fumes.
“What have you been drinking?” Jace asked once the assault had
ended.
“Tequila,” Allison said from the doorway. “Sorry.”
Jace shook his head, leading Ben toward the door. “It’s all right. I’ll
try to have him back soon.”
“No, you won’t,” Allison said with a knowing expression.
Once they were in the car and traveling, Jace kept looking at his
passenger, who seemed a little green under the streetlights. Jace was
wishing he’d stolen some barf bags from the airline when he saw
realization dawning on Ben’s face.
“Wait a minute! This is your car! Did you drive out here?”
Jace nodded. “Yup.”
“Why?”
“You’ll find out in about two blocks.”
The car swung into an apartment complex, and then into an empty
space in the parking lot. After shutting off the engine, he turned to see if
Ben had figured it out. The tequila wasn’t doing him any favors, because
he hadn’t.
“What are we doing here?” he asked.
“You’ll find out soon enough.” Jace opened the car door. “Come
on.”
Ben seemed a little uneasy on his feet, so Jace put an arm around
him.
“I drank too much,” Ben said, stating the obvious.
Up two flights of stairs, Jace pulled out his keys and unlocked a
door.
“You’re staying here?” Ben asked.
“You could say that.” Jace opened the door and stood aside so Ben
could enter. Luckily he did so before Samson could get out.
Ben’s jaw dropped when he saw the cat. He crouched to offer his
hand. Jace flipped on the hallway light. There wasn’t much to see yet,
except for some unpacked boxes, but Jace had managed to hang a few
things that Ben was sure to recognize.
When Ben stood again, his eyes were wide. “No!” he said in
disbelief. “No freaking way! You live here now?”
“Since last week,” Jace admitted. “I wanted to have everything set up
to surprise you, but then I was called away for work and—”
“You’re so stupid!” Ben said, grinning at him. “I can’t believe you
moved here!”
“After this summer, I realized it would be too hard to be apart from
you.” Jace put an arm around Ben’s waist, bringing them together. “I
hope this doesn’t freak you out.”
“What about your work?”
“Well, you know. It doesn’t really matter where I live with my job.”
Ben shook his head. “It does if you want to fly international.”
That was something Jace wanted very much. International flights had
a lot of benefits, but he’d need more experience and seniority to get those
routes. Still, he didn’t mind that Ben thought he was making a sacrifice.
“I’ll figure something out,” he said coolly.
Ben’s eyes were sparkling. “I love you!”
“I love you too. Sorry about being so dense.”
“It’s all right.” Ben took his hand, pulling him down the hallway.
“Show me everything!”
Jace had to admit that it lacked the charm of the previous apartment.
There was nothing outstanding about it. An entryway, a living room, a
couple of bedrooms… Of course having his living space divided into
actual rooms was novel, as was the balcony, which Samson adored. He
hung out there during the day, eyes on the trees in case any birds were
foolish enough to fly close. Jace had sat on the balcony on the first night,
imagining it had romantic potential. After showing it to Ben and catching
up a little, he led his boyfriend to the kitchen and poured him a large
glass of water.
“Got anything stronger?” Ben asked.
“My hand slapping your ass if you don’t sober up,” Jace said. “Or
coffee.”
“I’ll stick with the water,” Ben said. Then, with a mischievous smile,
he added, “Don’t be mad. You’re the one who drove me to drink.”
“It’s always my fault,” Jace moaned, playing along.
Ben nodded happily. “Always. Just think how much more trouble
you’ll get in with us seeing each other more.”
“I can’t wait,” Jace said, but not sarcastically. This was the next best
thing to moving in together. “Think you can take care of Samson when
I’m out of town?”
“Of course!” Ben said. “Were Michelle and Greg upset about you
moving away?”
Jace shook his head. “They’re so busy with the kids lately that
they’re probably relieved not having to think of Samson. The trade-off
was bad for them anyway, since I never babysat.”
“Ha! The poor fools.” Ben downed his water and went to the
refrigerator, examining the photos of their Italian trip, pinned to the door
by magnets. When he turned around, he was smiling. “This is big. You
moving here, I mean.”
Jace nodded, coming close. “Very big. The biggest thing I’ve done
for another guy.”
“And what will you do if we break up?” Ben asked.
Jace shook his head. “Stay right here. I’ll quit my job, enroll in your
school and take all the same classes as you.”
“To win me back?”
“Or to creep you out. And to scare away any other guys. You’ll
never date again. It’s me or nothing.”
Ben looked thoughtful. “I suppose I’ll stick with you. After all, you
are kind of cute. Even for an old guy.”
“Thanks,” Jace said, pretending he was going to bite Ben’s nose
before kissing him.
This was good. His job would still be crazy, his schedule
unpredictable, but when he came home at night, he would find a purring
cat, and with any luck, a cuddly college boy. Little by little, Jace was
building the family he dreamed of. The world was a very happy place.
* * * * *
Jace ducked into the galley so he could discreetly yawn without the
passengers seeing. On an early-morning flight like this, he’d probably
cause a chain reaction, a wave of yawns passing from row to row that
made the cabin pressure drop. He chuckled at this mental image and
checked his watch.
Four more hours until they landed in New York. From there he
would try to find a standby flight back to Austin to begin four days of
glorious time off. Of course he would still be on reserve, meaning he
could be called back into action, but if all went according to plan, the
days ahead would be serene bliss.
Barbara, an older flight attendant with so much seniority it made
Jace envious, poked her head into the galley. “The captain wants to see
us,” she said.
Jace straightened his uniform as he followed her down the aisle,
wondering what this was about. Maybe to alert them to a company
inspection—a rumor that had been circulating lately. If there was an
observer from the airline onboard, calling all the flight attendants to the
cockpit at once was hardly subtle.
Once they were gathered around the door, the captain faced them, his
expression grim. The first officer kept his focus on the controls, but his
profile revealed how pale he was. The captain glanced past them to make
sure no passengers were within hearing range. Then, in a low voice, he
said, “There’s been a hijacking.”
Jace’s stomach sank. A plane being hijacked was one of those fears
that seemed terribly unlikely, like being swept up by a tornado or losing
your house to a fire. And yet these things happened.
“Multiple hijackings,” the captain continued, checking the aisle once
more. “Planes have been crashing into New York.”
Jace and the other flight attendants all spoke at once, a million half-
formed questions on their lips. Jace’s thoughts were torn between
worrying for the victims of the hijacking and wondering if his own flight
was in danger. The captain raised his hand, silencing them.
“Keep calm,” he said meaningfully, harking back to their most basic
training. “The FAA has executed SCATANA. All air traffic is to be
grounded immediately. This flight has been diverted to MEM.”
Memphis International Airport. But all air traffic? That couldn’t be
right, could it? Jace glanced over at Barbara. In her twenty years, had she
ever seen something like this? From her expression of shock, he doubted
she had.
“Right now we’re not telling the passengers anything,” the captain
continued. “I’ll make an announcement as we begin our decent. Until
then, get back out there and stay vigilant. Keep smiling, but report any
suspicious behavior immediately.”
There were hushed questions, but if the captain knew anything more,
he wasn’t telling them. Jace returned to work with adrenaline shooting
through his system. Memphis was half an hour away, give or take. No
time at all. And yet, suddenly every face in the cabin was suspicious.
Why was the woman in the exit row eyeing him so carefully? Jace
noticed the muscular young man in the back row. Did he get those biceps
from playing sports or military training? The old man who hurried to the
bathroom—weak bladder, or a bomb that needed detonating?
Tension rose when the captain announced that they were making an
emergency landing due to equipment failure. The captain assured the
passengers of their safety, citing regulations more than anything. The
passengers groaned their annoyance, but Jace felt electrified. If hijackers
were aboard, this deviation would force them to act prematurely.
Jace fielded questions he couldn’t answer: layovers, compensation,
missed connections. He felt like screaming that people had died—were
dying—and that getting to a business meeting on time no longer
mattered. But he did his job, making sure his passengers were as safe and
calm as possible.
When the airplane landed, Jace glanced out at a runway overrun by
taxiing planes. A few of the most astute passengers commented on this,
just as the captain made another announcement.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the reason we needed to land this plane
wasn’t because of equipment failure. Due to a national emergency, the
FCC has grounded all air traffic. The United States is under attack.”
* * * * *
Jace stood in the airport lobby, shoulder to shoulder with passengers,
pilots, and airport staff. Together they watched the footage, looping
video of billowing smoke from the top of the first tower of the World
Trade Center, a place of business now resembling a monstrous, smoke-
belching crematorium. Even knowing what would come—having already
seen the footage—many gasped each time the plane smashed into the
second tower again.
They stood there for hours, not knowing what to do, or where to go
in this strange new world where the impossible could happen. Jace stared
at the screen, transfixed, tears running down his face. He wept for the
crew members onboard those planes, the passengers who had lost their
lives, the families that would never recover from the events of this day.
He wondered if anyone ever would. When the first tower collapsed, he
cried out. He wasn’t alone. They all felt a helpless desperation, an urge to
stop the horrible things from happening, but a powerlessness to act. All
they could do was look at each other with rapt horror at what was
unfolding. Strangers hugged, trying to comfort each other as they cried,
but there wasn’t anything they could do. Not here.
Throughout all of this, Jace tried calling his family, knowing they
would worry. And Ben, who no doubt would check the marker board
they had in the kitchen, the one where Jace wrote simplified versions of
his schedule. Denver, Ben would read, a cartoon airplane flying above an
arrow that led to the other side of the board where New York was written.
Even once Ben learned that the hijacked flights didn’t originate in
Denver, he would wonder if Jace’s schedule had shifted and changed, as
it so often did.
Every time he pressed the phone to his ear, all Jace got was a
message saying all lines were busy. All lines were busy. All lines were
busy. With each failed call, he knew the panic for his safety was
increasing. His family would be watching the same footage he was,
wondering if Jace’s plane had crashed into one of those towers.
Eventually the lobby began to clear as people sought landlines, or
fresh air to clear the nightmare images from their minds. The bars were
already overflowing. Jace decided he couldn’t stand there any longer.
