Saudade | ✓

apparition

DECEMBER 1962.

"So has the captain proposed yet?" Vas asked me with a wriggle of her eyebrows.

I took a sip of the frozen margarita, and cringed at the taste. I nearly spat it out. Why did this taste nasty? I quickly grabbed a glass of water and gulped it down.

"I'm not even sure what we are yet. So has a proposal is a far vision," I answered, trying to erase the taste from my tongue.

She stared at me and laughed. "You're an idiot, Annie. Of course you are dating. You guys swap spit in the cockpit!"

That didn't make me blush. It made me grin. "You saw that, didn't you?"

She and the girls looked at each other with sly looks on their faces. "It's kind of entertaining, really."

I bit my lip and smiled. "He hasn't said anything. I don't want to assume. We're probably still in the verge of deciding."

"Girl, don't settle for that," advised Kara with a shake of her head. She had a book on her lap and nursed a margarita at the same time.

"Never ends well," Daf said, shaking her head. A far off look was in her eyes.

I grabbed her hands and squeezed them. She had previously been with one man too rich for his own good. They were the best of friends before that, but when he ended things, well, Daf had already been attached by then.

She gave me a grateful smile. "Seriously, Annie. We care about you. I don't want you to repeat my history."

"What's wrong with hook ups?" Vas said defensively, picking on the cherry on the tray from the top of the ice-cream.

"What K's trying to say," Daf intervened, getting up to sit on the arm chair of my seat. She wrapped an arm around my shoulders, and gave it a squeeze.

"..Is that our girl here is the type to get attached. Not everyone is blessed with the blissful detachment we all wish we had like you do, Vas."

Vas smiled, looking relieved. "Of course. This gift is rare."

I laughed. "That much is true. Now enough about my love life. On to more important things such as, is it just me or does this Margarita taste disgusting to you?"

"Just you," they echoed.

Huh. I blinked. I might have been more nervous than I thought about this.

"You are nervous obviously," piped in Vas.

I didn't realize I was thinking out loud.

"And," adds Daf with a pointed look. "He's like the only guy you've ever dated, Annie. Since we knew you. I mean you have boys on your sleeve every now and then."

"But all they get is a kiss and goodbye," added Vas with an impressed smile.

"Well she is quite choosy," commented Kara.

"As she should be," said Vas, bumping her shoulder with mine.

"So anyway, Dean is the relationship type, you know. He's one of the good guys out there," reassured Kara. "We knew him for years and he'd been faithful to Bridget while they were together."

"Yeah," Daf said with a wrinkle of her nose. "It was that cow who let him down. Good thing he has you now, Annie."

I nod. "I do the best that I can to make him happy."