Jack Carter was furious. As the bustle of the other people in JFK went about their business of business or as is so often the case pleasure, Jack could feel himself scowling, showing the signs of someone who'd had a really, really bad day. Here he was at 42 years old, successful in business, healthy, a multimillionaire sure but facing a divorce, facing sharing his hard gotten gains for god knows how long with his gold digging soon to be ex-wife.
He'd met up with Melody and her advisors in Manhattan, her home field to thrash out more details of the separation and it hadn't gone well. It looked like he'd have to let her keep the Central Park apartment, the Aston Martin, his favourite painting and the rest of the designer furnishings she'd insisted be used in the remodelling but they still hadn't gotten down to just how much else she'd want or indeed take. All he knew it'd be a lot. He didn't find the designer furnishings, but he really loved that Aston Martin...
"Oh don't pull that face," said the soft, cheerful voice of Abbie, "if the wind changes you'll stay like that."
Abbie could always be guaranteed to break a mood. Abbie was Melody's daughter from her first marriage. 19 years old, and the only part of the relationship with Melody Jack now looked upon fondly. She was to return with him to Colorado to continue her studies at Denver State and he was today a reluctant chaperone for the journey that coincided with the Manhattan murder that was the meeting with Melody.
"Today was an expensive day Abbie. You might excuse me for not feeling my best," was Jack's sullen reply.
In his navy Hugo Boss suit with open collar white shirt, athletic figure and angled features Jack had always had fortune attracting women. The problem had come that with his success in business was also the attention of those who perhaps didn't see him in the way he saw them. You might say not the right kind of women. Melody had been such an attachment. Five years ago he'd met her on a guy's weekend in Vegas where she was "visiting with friends", they'd hit it off in one of the bars in the Aria resort and then hit it off more in an Aria penthouse for another 24 hours. A whirlwind romance was bypassed for a "it seemed fun at the time" but perhaps not the wisest chapel on the strip wedding. Now fast forward several years to her cheating on him with her personal trainer, her Pilates instructor, a girl from the coffee shop who doubled as a personal trainer and Pilates instructor and that was just the ones he knew of.
Melody's appetite for sex was insatiable and though originally he knew he'd been enough to satisfy her (several registered noise complaints from the neighbours attesting to that), she was not one to be pinned down, well not just be pinned down by him! A separation was agreed in the wake of the new year after they'd spent the best part of the pandemic in different states. He in Colorado, she in New York. He didn't miss the city, he didn't miss her.
After checking in to premium economy Abbie couldn't resist a dig, pointing at the class on the ticket:
"I didn't think it'd gotten this bad!" She laughed and Jack smiled a reluctant smile, "We're lucky it's premium" he replied, "Five more minutes with her lawyer and we'd have been in a UPS box in the hold". With that they went through security and sat mostly in silence as Jack stewed with his thoughts and Abbie enjoyed whatever was entertaining her on her phone.
Jack had always gotten on well with Abbie. Of course she was a surprise, something Melody revealed the morning after that shotgun wedding. But after meeting her and finding her great company Jack didn't mind one bit. She was fun, smart. She could take care of herself and was above all independent. She had part time work and refused to let Jack support her as much as he financially could and that's why she'd ended up in Denver but with a scholarship rather than letting Jack pull strings to get her into NYU. In the end it didn't matter, after getting himself a second home in the mountains overlooking Denver in 2019 he found himself setting himself up there full time, rounding out the pandemic in a great big house with great views with Abbie living with him as a freshman in a guest quarters while campus was closed. They'd spent a lot of time together, watching movies, hiking, playing board games and were very close. It has never gone further than that, and the thought of going further had never crossed Jack's mind, though to the outsider Abbie would have been quite an attraction. She was very pretty. 5'5, slender build but with a little more curve than perhaps the text book cute stepdaughter might expect. She was outdoorsy and athletic as a result and unlike her mother's bleached long blonde hair, kept her natural dark brown usually in a ponytail. He enjoyed her company. She made him laugh and she certainly had little affection for her mother whose escapades were not well hidden, her infidelities an open secret.
"It sucks what she's done to you"
Abbie broke the silence an hour into the flight. It was getting late and the flight though delayed they were now cruising in the night sky at 20,000 feet. Abbie had the window seat on his right, him the aisle. Food had been served and the sparse number of passengers were starting to settle in preparation for the cabin lights to dim for some sleep.
"You shouldn't worry Abbie, I'm just fine."