Chapter 12
The Flight
Everyone with the exception of Gene was openly impressed with the jet. True to his word, their escort to the jet introduced Victor to the pilots who were more than happy to show him the cockpit of the jet. For once, Victor was speechless as he looked at all of the controls longing to touch them.
"Come on up here little man!" the pilot named Bruce said with a smile. "You can't see anything from back there!"
Victor started to go, and then stopped to look back at Juliette.
"Mom?" he asked begging with his eyes.
"Just don't touch anything." Juliette said her throat tight. She wiped away a tear as she watched Victor's excitement at being in the cockpit of a real jet. She looked back at Celeste who was still in Leon's arms. Her eyes were glued on the pilots and when Bruce turned to look at her, she smiled.
Juliette almost fainted. Celeste rarely smiled and when she did, Louise or Leon were usually somewhere near by.
"Aren't you a cutie pie?" Bruce asked and winked at her.
Celeste responded by smiling again and hiding her face in Leon's shoulder.
Wanda seemed as intrigued by the pilots as Celeste had been. Ben, the co-pilot looked at her and smiled.
"Would you like to see too?"
Wanda didn't waste anytime in going up to the cockpit.
"This is so cool!" she said as she looked at all of the controls wondering what their functions were.
"Ok," Bruce announced, "time to get buckled in so we can take off on time."
"I'll show you to your seats." a soft female voice said.
They turned to face the speaker.
"My name is Dee, and I'll be taking care of your needs during the flight. If you will follow me."
"Damn!" Leon said, and then whistled as he looked around the cabin of the plane.
"You can sit anywhere you like but the seats to the left have DVD players and movies for both children and adults." Dee said. "Once we take off and the seatbelt sign is turned off you may leave your seats to use the restroom which is located in the back inside of the small bedroom to the left. There is also one across the aisle from the bedroom. I will also be offering beverages and sandwiches when the seatbelt light goes off."
Dee went through the emergency exit, oxygen and floatation device spiel before asking them to buckle up.
"Oh, and please no electronic devices or cell phones for the time being."
She smiled at Leon who was taking pictures of the jet and frowned at Gene. Her dislike of him had been instant and strong. As she passed by Juliette who was now holding Celeste in her lap, she stopped and knelt down beside her.
"Do you think that you can be a big girl and sit in the seat next to your mommy?"
Celeste hesitated, and for the third time that night smiled.
"I thought so." Dee said smiling at her.
A few minutes later, they were all strapped in and preparing for takeoff. Victor leaned over as far as he could so that he could see as they left the ground.
"Mom!" he called out excitedly, "This is awesome!"
Juliette could only smile as she tried to ignore her queasy stomach. She hated flying.
"Here's an icepack for your neck." Dee said. "You're looking a little green."
"Thanks... how long until we land?" Juliet asked.
"A few hours." Dee replied. "If you'd like to lie down, I can watch the children."
"I couldn't...."
"Sure you could" Leon chimed in. "I'm here too. Go on, me and Gene got this."
"Ok... but call me if you need anything." Juliette said getting out of her seat as soon as the seat belt light went off.
Juliette was waiting for Celeste to start crying, and was surprised when she didn't. She looked back to see Celeste sitting next to Dee looking at a book.
*****
Leon got up and sat next to Gene who was looking at the proposals he planned to present to Patrick and Nathan.
"They did good didn't they?" he asked.
"It's alright." Gene grumbled.
"Alright?" Leon asked. "This is fucking awesome!" he exclaimed, and then looked around to see if the kids heard him curse. "What are you working on? I thought you were suspended." he said when he noticed the open folder.
"Just some proposals." Gene replied evasively.
"Proposals for....you're joking right?" Leon asked. "Please tell me that you aren't using our sisters' wedding to get their husbands to invest with you."
"What if I am?" Gene asked defensively. "Who knows when I'll get another chance like this? It could get me out of the hole and a promotion!"
"But at their wedding? What the fuck is wrong with you? This isn't a time for business! Now put that shit away and don't bring it up!"
"You can't tell me what to do!" Gene hissed.
"No? Then let me tell you this, if I even hear a hint about proposals I'll kick your ass." Leon said. "If you were really interested in them as clients, why didn't you call them before this? I think that instead of seeing this as a good time, you're seeing it as dollar signs."
"You don't know what you're talking about..."
"Look, I know that you've had it rough since Dana left, and god knows it's been hard losing mom and dad but Gene its time to man up and move on. I know that it'll be hard but using your sisters isn't the way to do it...."
"I'm not ..."
"The hell you aren't! You want what you want without working for it. Why did you get suspended?" Leon asked. "Let me guess, they told you about yourself and you blew up. Am I right?"
Gene didn't reply.
"So what have you been doing besides trying to find a way to take advantage of our sisters? Have you taken advantage of your company's EPA program?" Leon pressed.
"What?" Gene snapped. "Do you think that you know it all because you climbed out of the ashes? Fuck you Leon and leave me the hell alone!"
Gene had raised his voice without being aware of it. It wasn't until he felt Dee's cold stare that he realized how loud he had gotten.
"Sorry." he muttered and turned away.
