Hold My Breath(62)

“We’re traveling with his nephew,” I nod over her shoulder. Sandra glances and meets Tanya’s gaze, and they both nod. “It’s an incredibly important trip that Will didn’t want to miss. He isn’t in distress. He’s terrified. His heart is beating so fast that he may pass out from it. I can feel it…every time I hold his hand. But you know what keeps him from falling apart completely? Tearing up your shitty magazine. So rather than make us move and add fire to the flame sitting next to me, how about you take my five dollars, bring me a drink, and let my friend here have his way with your high-gloss propaganda.”

Her eyes shift from mine to Will’s hands, and I move my five-dollar bill into her line of sight. She takes it from my hand and stands, holding it at her hip, her mouth a straight line, and her lips puckered enough that I see the small lines along them that lead me to believe she smokes like a chimney.

“Wine is six dollars, ma’am,” she says.

Funny, her accent seems to have vanished.

I tilt my head to one side and let my top lip lift on the right.

“I think you’ll spot me that buck,” I say.

We face off for a few silent seconds, but eventually she runs my five between her fingers, folding it in half and rolling her eyes in the opposite direction her hips sway before she leaves.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper, leaning into Will. His hands continue to work the magazine, rolling and twisting it while pages tear. I settle into my seat and turn my wrist, checking the time on my watch. Seven more minutes have passed, so we’re almost to the hump.

“She’s totally going to spit in your wine.” I don’t look up, but I feel Will’s arm leaning into mine, and I smile.

“I would,” I shrug, and when I feel his arm twitch lightly with his laugh, I smile.

I never look him in the eye, but I keep the pressure of his arm next to mine for the rest of the flight. I drink my wine fast, too. It makes me a little buzzed, but it was also the best way to blow the last five dollars I had to my name.





Will




It’s like a switch flips the moment the plane tires skid across the runway. I know it isn’t possible, but I feel as though I’ve held my breath for an hour in the air. My uncle told me that each time I flew it would get better. I didn’t get threatened with a Taser this time, so I suppose, yeah…it was better…ish.

We hit the ground with little time to spare. Tanya manages Dylan, Maddy finds our luggage, and I do my best not to punch the obnoxious vehicle-registration man between the eyes. I’m starting to think we’re having two conversations—the one he’s in, where a midsize will work fine for our needs, especially since he just gave away our van—which I reserved—to a family of five who arrived right before us. And then there’s the conversation I’m in, where I’m trying not to punch him between his bloodshot, it’s not allergies, douchebag eyes.

“David,” I say, reading the name on his tag and running my hands along the smooth counter. It’s void of fingerprints. I bet that’s all David does is wipe down this counter all day. He clearly doesn’t check paperwork and registrations, otherwise the f*ckin’ * would not have given away our van. I breathe through my nose and flip my head up to face him, mouth tight, tongue held, jaw locked while I resolve myself to be civil. “I appreciate that you’re offering a discount. Really, I do. Or actually, no…f*ck your discount.”

So much for civil.

“I mean, we’ll take it, but it should really be bigger since you have just massively inconvenienced a family traveling with a disabled child who—I don’t care what you seem to believe, will not fit comfortably in a Jetta. Nobody fits comfortably in a Jetta, David. Have you actually ever seen a Jetta? It’s small. The seats are miserable. I’m six-four. Me, traveling alone, would not fit in your f*cking Jetta…”

“Hey, oh…okay…so, what’s going on here?” Maddy glides up next to me and weaves her arm through mine, placing her other hand on my bicep in an effort to calm me down. I jerk from her hold and twist to face her, drumming my fingers on the counter.

“David gave away our f*cking van.”

Mouth tight, I stare at her. While I grit my teeth she does her best to be my opposite. Moving her hands to mine slowly, running her fingers down my arms to my wrists and exhaling deliberately.

“Okay, well…let me handle this, okay?” she says.

“Have at it,” I say, rolling my eyes.

Maddy chuckles then turns to the counter, and the dumbass, leaning forward and resting her elbows on top of the paperwork for the Jetta, clasping her hands in front of her and bringing her knuckles to her lips.

“I’m not gonna lie here, David. This isn’t good,” she says.

David starts to explain, just as he did with me, but a few words in and Maddy cuts him off again.

“Here’s what needs to happen. You need to consult with your manager, quickly, and then you need to either find us the van we reserved, or you will give us two cars for the same price we agreed on for the van.”

“Ma’am, it doesn’t work that way…”

“Ah…thing is, David, we tried to do things your way. And your way kinda sucked and left us in this situation we’re in now. So now, we’re going to try our way…unless you would like me to go the way of explaining all of the ways you are breaking ADA compliance. I’m sure your local news would love to hear about that. Oh, and I could start talking about it real loud right here, too. You know, to make sure that all of the people in line to get their rental vehicles know about how you don’t accommodate for disabilities, and in fact go out of your way to make life harder…”