The Glass Doors

THE GLASS DOORS.

Lily felt her heart flutter as her suitcase disappeared through the rubber flaps.

No turning back now.

She knew she wouldn’t ask for the bag to be retrieved, even if she changed her mind – Lily didn’t like to make a fuss.

Everything essential had been packed in that bag - everything irrelevant she’d left back at her flat.

She made her way to the departure lounge. A man, who had checked in earlier, looked over the top of his coffee cup as she sat down.

Her casual elegance often drew a second glance, even though all she wore today were jeans and a pale blue top skimming against her narrow hips. Her long blonde hair had been caught at the nape with a single elastic band. The other passengers hadn’t noticed her; they sat quietly reading newspapers, or stared with indifference through the large viewing windows.

She sat down and gazed at the empty apron and the clear runway beyond.
With not much activity in a rural airport Lily relaxed – not being in any hurry herself.

People and planes could take all the time in the world.

With thirty minutes until her flight, Lily prayed for a delay - prayed for some sort of engine trouble, even a storm.

Something - anything?

She glanced behind her at the glass entrance doors, hoping to see someone she knew. No-one familiar - just a porter wheeling two small suitcases.

Before long, and maddeningly on time, the familiar drone of a small twin-engine plane made an unwelcome intrusion in her thoughts. It taxied uninvited – in her mind – to the front of the large glass windows, the smell of aviation fuel irritating Lily’s nose.

She watched with wretched misery as the suitcases for her flight were loaded on the plane.

Take your time. What’s the damn rush?

A monotone voice called her flight and everyone queued at the glass doors with boarding passes in hand, kissing family and friend’s goodbye.

Lily stood and nervously smoothed down her jeans, then glanced with a sinking heart at the airports’ entrance doors - still empty. Nobody running through them to stop her. No-one pleading or crying for her to stay.

Lily waited at the end of the line so she would be the last one to board. Thankful she’d booked a window seat, thankful she’d at least get to see the town she loved as it disappeared beneath the planes wings.

One last hopeful glance at those damn empty entrance doors. Now she had to show the girl at the glass exit door her boarding pass - only a few more seconds before it’s too late.


******



Lily sat with a sense of hard won peace at the bay window, watching snow flakes struggle to attach themselves to the cold glass.

Jack had found her - four months after she’d left. She’d been surprised at his persistence - hadn’t realised how he felt about her - or realised he’d missed her flight by ten minutes. She pulled her knees up as high as her thickened waist would allow and hugged her knees.

Yesterday Lily had seen him at a party, unaware he also knew her friend Olivia – oblivious in the knowledge that Olivia had put their two stories together and had been shrewd in arranging for them to meet up. Lily had stared at him open mouthed, yet he’d shown no reaction until she’d tried to leave. He had followed her to the car and called her name just as she’d put the key in the door.

They had stood staring at each other for a full minute, and when she got in her car and drove off he had followed her home in his car.

Lily had told Jack the baby wasn’t his - as she’d been instructed to do.
At first he hadn’t believed her, until she explained the dates didn’t match. He’d been disappointed, then angry - and then he’d left. That had been yesterday.

Today her peace hadn’t lasted long, when a loud knock on the door pitched her from her abstract thoughts at the window.
She walked with cumbersome steps towards the door and peeked through the spy hole.

“Jack”, she breathed.

He knocked again. “I know you’re in there Lily.”

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and blew it out through rounded lips, “What do you want?”

“Are you going to let me in?”

She leant her forehead against the door, alarmed at his return, then opened the door a fraction.

“It’s cold out here.”

Lily opened the door wider and gestured wearily for him to come in with a wave of her hand. He entered the room and waited for her to close the door.

“I thought you’d gone home,” She said.

“I did. We need to talk— please?”

She remained silent and stared at the buttons on his shirt, not wanting to look into his eyes.

“I spoke to my sister Pippa,” he said.

“Oh?” she looked up - met his eyes for a few brief seconds before looking away.

“She remembered something. Something that happened not long after you came to live with me,” he said.

Her eyes fixed on his shirt again, noting a button hanging by a few threads.

That’ll probably come off in the next wash and he’ll be hunting around for a new one. It’ll probably fall on the grass when he hangs it on the line. He won’t notice until he irons it, or maybe when he goes to put it on and sees the button is missing.

She wondered why the button seemed so important - his laundry wasn’t her problem anymore.

“Lily?” his voice forced her to look up, “Pippa did your laundry, remember?”

She frowned, wondering how he’d read her thoughts.

“She remembered something that happened not long after you arrived at my flat… just after your accident,” he continued.

“She did my laundry. So what,” Lily said, her mouth twisted sideways. She thought back to the time she’d stayed at his house after her accident – the accident that had left her in a wheelchair for two months.

Jack sighed and rubbed his temples, “How can I put this delicately? You had a little accident… then you asked Pippa to get you some female necessities from the chemist?”

Oh God. Pippa would remember something like that.

“I did the sums Lily. We were together after that happened, you couldn’t have already been pregnant.”

She began to sway, so he led her to the sofa. She sat down and her hands began to tremble.

“Tell me Lily.” Jack took her hands and held them.

She shook her head and looked down.

“Whatever it is, just tell me.” His voice calm yet insistent.

For several minutes Lily said nothing, and then she took a deep breath.

“If I tell you the truth—” she stopped and looked at him, her face a picture of misery.

He gripped her hands tighter, urging her to continue.

She untangled her hands from his and reached for a tissue to blow her nose. It seemed to strengthen her resolve and she took a deep breath.

“It was your ex wife Margaret. She guessed I was pregnant— told me that if I didn’t leave she’d take the children to the States and you’d never see them again.”

Jack sat up straight, his jaw tightened, his pupils enlarged, and then he laughed.

“She told you that?”

He stood up and thrust his hands into his pockets. “Margaret can’t leave the country. She can’t get a passport, let alone one each for the children. She has a criminal record and she’s on a good behaviour bond. You knew that.”

Lily shook her head. She’d known about the criminal record, though not about the passports. Now she felt like a fool, as if she’d wasted months of time with her loneliness and despair.

“But what about you? You were doing exactly what she threatened. You were going to keep this baby from me anyway.”

“No! No... I was going to tell you.”

“When? Months from now? years from now?” Jack got up from the sofa and began to pace. He sat back down when he noticed tears spilling down her cheeks.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that.”

“I was just so afraid she’d do it.”

“I know, you couldn’t have known.”

Lily began to weep and Jack realised the huge sacrifice she’d made for him.

He tilted her chin and made her look at him. “I’m staying here tonight, it’s too far to drive back now and you’re coming home with me.

Megan shuddered and took a deep sighing breath.

He really had come through those glass doors after all.