Fly Away Read Online Free PDF Page B

eaves outside
     and softened the view. In the kitchen, he found the counter covered in carefully washed
     and dried dishes that had been placed on dish towels and a garbage can full of paper
     plates and brightly colored napkins. The refrigerator and freezer were both filled
     with foil-covered containers. His mother-in-law had done what needed to be done, while
     he had hidden outside in the dark, alone.
    As he made a pot of coffee, he tried to imagine the new version of his life. All he
     saw were empty spaces at the dining room table, a car pool with the wrong driver,
     a breakfast made by the wrong hands.
    Be a good dad. Help them deal with this.
    He leaned against the counter, drinking coffee. As he poured the third cup, he felt
     an adrenaline spike of caffeine. His hands started to shake, so he got himself some
     orange juice instead.
    Sugar on top of caffeine. What was next, tequila? He didn’t really make a decision
     to move. Rather, he just drifted away from the kitchen, where every square inch held
     a reminder of his wife—the lavender hand lotion she loved, the YOU ARE SPECIAL plate she pulled out at the smallest of their children’s achievements, the water
     pitcher she’d inherited from her grandmother and used on special occasions.
    He felt someone touch his shoulder and he flinched.
    Margie, his mother-in-law, stood beside him. She was dressed for the day in high-waisted
     jeans, tennis shoes, and a black turtleneck. She smiled tiredly.
    Bud came up beside his wife. He looked ten years older than Margie. He had grown quieter
     in the past year, although none would have called him a chatty man before. He’d begun
     his goodbyes to Katie long before the rest of them had accepted the inevitable, and
     now that she was gone, he seemed to have lost his voice. Like his wife, he was dressed
     in his customary style—Wrangler jeans that accentuated both his thinning legs and
     straining paunch, a checked brown and white western shirt, and a big silver-buckled
     belt. His hair had checked out a long time ago, but he had enough growing in the arch
     of his brows to compensate.
    Without words, they all walked back into the kitchen, where Johnny poured them each
     a cup of coffee.
    “Coffee. Thank God,” Bud said gruffly, taking the cup in his work-gnarled hand.
    They looked at each other.
    “We need to take Sean to the airport in an hour, but after that we can come back here
     and help,” Margie said at last. “For as long as you need us.”
    Johnny loved her for the offer. She was closer to him than his own mother had ever
     been, but he had to stand on his own now.
    The airport . That was the answer.
    This wasn’t just another day, and as sure as he stood here, he couldn’t manage the pretense that
     it was. He couldn’t feed his kids and drive them to school and then go to work at
     the station, producing some cheesy entertainment or lifestyle segment that wouldn’t
     change anyone’s life.
    “I’m getting us the hell out of here,” he said.
    “Oh?” Margie said. “Where to?”
    He said the first thing that came into his head. “Kauai.” Katie had loved it there.
     They’d always meant to take the kids.
    Margie peered up at him through her new rimless eyeglasses.
    “Runnin’ away doesn’t change a thing,” Bud said gruffly.
    “I know that, Bud. But I’m drowning here. Everywhere I look…”
    “Yeah,” his father-in-law said.
    Margie touched Johnny’s arm. “What can we do to help?”
    Now that Johnny had a plan—however imperfect and temporary—he felt better. “I’ll go
     get started on reservations. Don’t tell the kids. Let them sleep.”
    “When will you leave?”
    “Hopefully today.”
    “You’d better call Tully and tell her. She’s planning to be back here at eleven.”
    Johnny nodded, but Tully was the least of his concerns right now.
    “Okay,” Margie said, clapping her hands. “I’ll clean out the fridge and move all the
     casseroles to the freezer in the