“Wake up, Sunshine,” came Kurt’s warm voice in my ear the next morning.
Bolting upright, I asked, “What are we going to do today?”
I could tell that I’d startled Kurt. But I had a sense that our time together, at least here at the cabin, was coming to an end, and I wanted to make the most of it. Patting my back, Kurt said that he wanted to take me on another adventure. He put in a call to the driver and told him to be out front in an hour.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“Exploring,” was all that he’d said, a cat-who-ate-the-canary grin on his handsome, sure face. I was curious, but excited at the prospect of another adventure.
We got dressed in our costume garb and headed out to the car once it arrived. The driver looked slightly confused.
“Are you guys checking out?” he asked Kurt.
“No,” said Kurt, shortly. “We’re heading into town for a bit and then we’ll come back here to figure it out.”
The driver said okay and hesitantly got back into the car. I didn’t know what his confusion was about, but it made me slightly uneasy. I got into the car, anyway, and tried to relax. Kurt took my hand and held it in his. We drove on in silence, taking in the beautiful morning scenery.
Pulling up into town, Kurt told the driver to pull up to a coffee shop that had a giant cupcake on the roof.
“Now, this looks like it should be a very interesting adventure,” said Kurt hurrying out of the car almost before it came to a complete stop. His childlike excitement amused me. It made me feel like a big kid again, carefree and ready for some new, fun delight.
Kurt came around, giving me his arm, which I gladly took. He is such a gentleman. Walking into the coffee shop, arm-in-arm, we both gasped, taking in the pink scenery on the inside. Everything was some pattern of hot pink. Kurt laughed from deep inside of his belly, shaking his head. There were two baristas behind the counter, smiling from ear-to-ear.
“Welcome, friends,” said one of them, in the most sing-song voice I’d ever heard. I almost expected them to break out into a musical number with full song and dance. As corny as it was, I had to admit that it was a very warm atmosphere. It was empty except for a couple sitting in a booth chatting happily over giant cups of coffee near a big picture window.
We placed our orders for coffee and, upon the barista’s insistence, we both ordered vanilla cream cupcakes with pink sprinkles. I usually didn’t like to eat something so sweet so early in the morning, especially after the rich breakfast that Kurt had made the morning before, but the baristas told us that our trip would not be complete until we had one. So, Kurt obliged and got us one.
Before we’d had a chance to settle down at our table, I saw James, the pilot, walking into the shop. I was shocked to see him, but happy at the thought of possibly getting an update on when we would be able to leave.
“Hey, look, Kurt,” I exclaimed, pointing toward the door. “We should have him join us so that we can find out more about what’s going on with the plane.”
Kurt got nervous and began shifting in his seat.
“Uh, no, let’s not do that,” he said. “I usually don’t eat with my employees.” He immediately looked surprised and embarrassed and continued talking, hurriedly.
“Of course, I don’t mean you. This. This is different. And besides, we really should just let him enjoy his time in town here without bothering him. He has been working hard to get the plane back going. I would hate to bother him any more than I already have. I talked to him just yesterday and he seemed to be on top of things. He’s already shown his dedication by choosing to stay at the airport and be uncomfortable. I would hate to make him feel like I’m breathing down his neck, like I don’t think that he’s doing a good job.”
I tried to let it go and enjoy our delicious cupcakes and piping hot coffee.
James ordered a cup of coffee and sat on the other side of the coffee shop. In fact, he sat so far away, the farthest that he possibly could. He looked stressed and disheveled, like he hadn’t slept in a while.
Kurt talked fast, jumping from topic to topic, seeming to get louder each time I glanced in James’s general direction. I had never seen him so on edge. I asked him if he was okay. He told me that he was and not to worry.
When I couldn’t take it anymore, I interrupted Kurt and told him that I had to go speak with James.
“No! Don’t!” he all but yelled, firmly gripping my arm.
“You’re acting really weird,” I said, my arm hurting a little from his grip.
He seemed almost panicked. It was the first time I was getting a weird vibe from him.
“My God, Kurt! Relax!” I said. “I’m just going to say hi and then I’ll be right back.” I pulled away from Kurt’s tight grasp. He sank back down into his seat, looking like he’d lost his best friend. He stared down at the floor.
I walked over to where James sat and took a chair across from him.
“Hey, James! How’s it going? Everything okay?”
“Everything is just peachy,” said James, rolling his eyes.
“Well, obviously, that’s not true or else you wouldn’t be so upset. What’s the deal?”
“I’m just ready to get out of here,” he exploded. “We’ve been here for days, waiting for the plane to get going. And while you’ve been living it up on your amazing getaway, I’ve been working around the clock with a ratty, old chair for my bed. I’ve skipped meals and have had to tell my wife ‘I’ll be home soon’ too many times for her not to think that I’m out here banging a chick. I’m just over all of this. That’s all.”
I felt a pang of guilt. I had been really enjoying my stay in the cabin with Kurt. Only briefly had I even considered what type of conditions James had been forced to endure. And I understood his frustration even more at the thought of him being so far from home away from his wife. Even though we were technically stranded, too, Kurt and I at least had each other to keep us company and entertained, in more ways than one.
“Well, what’s going on with the plane? I didn’t think that we’d be here this long. There must be a major problem with the plane because you made it seem like it was something that could easily be fixed. Maybe it’s a good idea for us to look at other options for getting home. It might not be very safe, anyway, to take the plane up in the air if it’s having big problems like this.”
James gave me a confused look, then looked angry.
“Are you trying to be funny or something?”
“Uh…no…I’m just…” I didn’t know what to say or think. I hadn’t expected that response. “What do you mean?”
“We can leave whenever you guys are ready.”
What good news, I thought. Kurt would be so happy that we could finally get back home and back to our lives.
“Wait,” said James. Kurt didn’t tell you?” It was my turn to be confused.
“Tell me what?”
Taking a deep breath, James continued, “I told Kurt that the plane had been fixed yesterday. As a matter of fact, I actually called in the middle of the night, night before last, as soon as we’d put the finishing touches on the repairs and told him that we could leave whenever he was ready. I was prepared to leave and told him that I’d send the car around to bring you guys to the airport. He yelled at me and told me that he would let me know when you guys would be ready. So, I’ve been sitting around, waiting for his call. When he called the driver this morning, we all assumed that it was because he was ready to go. But then the driver called me a little bit ago talking something about sightseeing.”
Just then, a plate crashed to the floor. I looked over to see that it had come from our table. A nervous Kurt was apologizing to the barista, who was already halfway across the café, broom in hand. She told Kurt not to worry about it. He and I locked eyes. He looked away quickly.
I was still trying to understand what James was saying.
“You mean to tell me that the plane has been fixed for almost two days now and this is the first that I’m hearing about it?”
“Yeah. Sorry you had to find out this way, but the only reason that we’re still here is because Kurt hasn’t given the word on when we could leave.” I sat back in the chair, reeling from the news. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. But, more than that, I felt completely naïve and stupid for having trusted Kurt, only to find out that he’d been lying to me the whole time.
Once I’d had a chance to let things process, I looked over in Kurt’s direction. He was facing the window, stock still. I knew that he knew that I knew. And if he thought that I wasn’t going to say anything to him about it, he had another thing coming.
I marched over to the table where we’d just shared friendly conversation over pastries and coffee and stood next to him. I was so angry and I was shaking so much that I didn’t even sit down.
“Kurt Roberts, turn around and look at me!” I demanded.
Without turning around or really moving at all, very calmly, he said, “I’m sorry that you’re upset, but let’s not do this here. Let’s go back to the cabin and we can sort everything out there.”
The last thing that I wanted to do was go back to the cabin with him. We had shared so many great times, created such wonderful memories. Now, finding out that he had been lying to me for almost two days made all of it seem like a lie.
Had it just been a game, I wondered. Was this all some big joke played at my expense? To think that my overactive imagination had hoped, even dreamed, that this could be the beginning of something new, something real. I cursed my childish thoughts and marched wordlessly out the door to the car. After a few minutes, Kurt joined me.
I couldn’t even say anything to him yet. I spent that whole car ride milling everything over in my head. I decided that I would wait until we got back to the cabin before talking to him. And he didn’t bother trying to apologize or explain anything.
When we got to the cabin, I took off ahead of him, making a bee line for our room. The room that’d we’d shared, had passionate sex in, laughed in, now felt like a prison, a chamber of confinement meant only to mock my foolish heart.
I wiped away the tears that began to fall. I was hurt that he’d lied to me, but I almost felt like I was mourning the end of one of the best experiences of my life.