First Class to Portland (15 page)

“Hello,” smiled Janie. “I’m here to see Matt.”

“Do you have an appointment?” she asked.

“I believe I do,” Janie giggled. “I’m Janie.”

“Oh my goodness! Yes you are! It is so lovely to
finally
meet you!” Angela held her hand for Janie to shake which she did. “I am Angela,
Mr. Lathem’s secretary. I’m sure we will get to know each other very well.”

Janie immediately liked this woman. “Thank you, Angela. I’m
sure we will.”

“Let me show you in,” Angela said and guided Janie through
the maze of building materials that infested her office.

She tapped lightly on the big wooden door and pushed it
open, ushering Janie inside and closing the door behind her.

Matt looked up from his desk and a huge smile appeared on
his face. He was on the phone and abruptly got rid of the person on the other
end.

“That was rude,” she laughed.

“I don’t care,” he grinned as he stood and walked to her,
pulling her into his arms and dipped her backwards, planting a kiss on her.

Janie giggled as he let her up.

“So this is your office.”

“Yep! The contractor is making all kinds of renovations to
the suite but my office remains as is.”

“I can see why,” she gasped as she walked to the window and
looked at the view. “This is spectacular!”

Matt walked to the door and locked it and turned and gazed
at his beautiful fiancée. Matt sauntered across his office and sat in his
chair. Janie stood next to him. She wore a multi-colored maxi dress that fell
almost to her ankles, with a short-sleeve shrug, her feet in bone wedges. She
turned and looked at Matt who was studying her.

“I like that you wore a dress today,” he grinned that grin
she had come to know well.

“Oh yes? And why is that Mr. Lathem?”

“Come here and I’ll show you,” he growled.

Janie closed the gap between them in two short steps and
Matt pulled her onto his lap.

“Do you have something in your pocket or are you just happy
to see me,” she winked.

“Very happy to see you,” he said as he pulled her dress up
her legs.

“Matt!” she gasped. “Are you serious?”

“Deadly,” he grinned.

“I’m game,” she giggled and leaned over and took off one
shoe and then the other. The she stood and shimmied her panties down her legs,
stepping out of them.  “I’ve never done this before,” she whispered.

“Nobody can hear you,” he whispered back. “And I haven’t
done this either.”

Janie undid his belt and his trouser button and zipper and
tugged them down his legs to his ankles.

“I should take a picture of this,” she laughed, and pulled
down his briefs. “It looks like you are ready for me, sir. Where’s a condom?”

“Oh, I don’t have one here,” he frowned. “Very bad
planning.”

Janie stood up and looked at Matt, sad that the opportunity
was blown.

“Janie?”

“Hmm?”

“Did you go on the pill like you said you were going to?”

“I did,” she replied.

“Then I guess we aren’t as out of luck as I thought,” he
grinned. “Come here beautiful.”

Janie hesitated, not sure she heard him right, but he
reached for her hand and pulled her down to him. Janie complied and sat on his
lap, searching his eyes for answers. He pulled her lips to his, his hands on
either side of her face, his fingers laced through her hair and kissed her.
Janie drowned in his kiss and sighed into his mouth.

With her knees on either side of his hips, Janie rose up and
slid down on to him, burying him deep inside her.

“Sweet Jesus!” Matt groaned. “You. Feel. Fucking.
Unbelievable!”

She rode him hard and fast and was thrilled with the pleasure
of it all, and the fact that Matt trusted her. He truly trusted her. Tension
built and built and soon she was cascading into the most amazing orgasm she had
ever experienced. It racked her entire body, heart and soul and a single tear
escaped and fell down her cheek.

Matt thrust into her one more time. “FUCK!” He gasped for
air, his body trembling. He opened his eyes to see the tear fall from her chin.

“Janie! What is it?”

“These are happy tears,” she whispered.

Sunday morning Matt walked Janie to the ticket agent at La
Guardia for her last trip back to Portland before their wedding in six days.
Once again, she choked up when they got to the security checkpoint.

“This is the last time,” he whispered in her ear as he held
her tightly.

“I know,” she said. “All my stuff should arrive on Tuesday
and then I arrive back on Thursday, Katy and mom in tow.”

“It’s only four days.”

“I know, but I will still miss you every minute of those
four long days. I love you,” she smiled, and she turned and walked to the TSA
agent sitting on the stool.

“Janie!” Matt yelled.

Janie swung around to see him smiling. “I love you!” he
screamed through the airport.

*****

Janie arrived at PDX on time. And this trip she only had
carry-on luggage, so she raced through the airport to Katy who would be waiting
for her. The excitement she felt was palpable and she was so excited to share
it with her friend. Standing on the curb, she pulled her phone and texted Katy
to let her know she was ready, in case she was sitting in the waiting area half
a mile down the road.

After several more minutes, Janie decided to call Katy but
it went straight to voicemail.
Odd,
thought Janie.

By the time thirty minutes had ticked by, Janie was worried.

She called her mom to come and get her and in the meantime
she called Matt to let him know she had arrived safely.

"I don't understand why she's not even answering her
phone," she worried.

"I'm sure everything is fine. Maybe she just got held
up at work," Matt tried to allay her fears.

"Yeah, you're probably right. Maybe I'll try the
hospital."

Janie hung up from Matt and dialed the hospital. They
transferred her to the floor Katy was currently assigned to and she asked for
Katy.

"May I ask who's calling?" asked the voice on the
other end.

"This is her friend, Janie Anderson."

"Oh Janie, hi! This is Ted."

"Hi Ted! How are you? How's the truck working out for
you?"

"Love it! Thanks so much for the great deal."

"You're welcome," she smiled. "Hey, I was
looking for Katy. Is she working today?"

 "Well she was supposed to be, but she didn't show up
this morning. Everyone has tried calling her but nobody's gotten through."

"Oh!" Janie was now really worried. "Well she
must be sick or something. I'm heading over to her place now. I'll tell her to
give you a call."

"Good idea. It was nice to talk to you. Bye," said
Ted.

Patty pulled up to the curb and Janie threw her bag in the
backseat and slid in the front next to her mom.

"Where's Katy?" Patty asked.

"Don’t know," Janie frowned. "Could you just
take me to her place, please? That's where all my stuff is anyway."

"Sure, honey." And they pulled out of the airport
and headed for Katy's house in southeast Portland.

Patty dropped off Janie at Katy's and pulled out of the
driveway. Katy had given Janie a key, so she was able to let herself in. She
dropped her bag on the dining room table and yelled for Katy. There was no
response. Janie checked the bedrooms and outside and there was no sign of her.
Her purse was gone and so was her car.

"I don't get this," she said out loud. "Where
is she?"

Janie paced around the house not knowing what to do. Should
she be worried? Really worried? Katy had never gone more than a couple of hours
before returning a text, email, or phone call. Janie wanted to call Matt but
decided she should wait a bit longer.

Trying to keep busy, Janie went to the guest room, where she
stayed when in Portland the last few weeks, and pulled the large suitcase from
the closet. She may as well start packing up all the stuff she wasn't going to
need again.

*****

 By seven o'clock that night, Janie was frantic. She had
called Matt twice and in the second call he suggested she call the police, just
to make sure she hadn't been in an accident or anything. Janie did just that
and after being transferred three times, she was able to speak to a kind
officer who listened to her story and did a little checking for her.

"I don't have any reports with that name attached to
it. And unfortunately, you can't file a missing persons report until she has
been missing for twenty-four hours."

"Stupid rule," she muttered.

Officer Robbins agreed with her but said there was nothing
he could do until tomorrow. Janie thanked him for his help, relieved there were
no accident reports, but still very worried about her friend.

She took a long hot shower and tried to calm her nerves.
Maybe
she's with a new guy,
thought Janie. They hadn't spent a lot of time
talking about what was going on in Katy's life recently. Everything was about
her wedding. Janie suddenly felt quite guilty that she had been so
self-absorbed that she hadn't really asked Katy anything about her work, about
Derek her son, or about her social life.

Great friend I am,
she thought.

Because of the fact her body was completely screwed up from
flying between time zones every week, Janie was exhausted. She pulled the
t-shirt she stole from Matt’s drawer over her head and crawled into bed.
Hopefully by morning, Katy would appear and tell her all about her adventures,
or at least text her to let her know she was okay.

*****

The sun streaming through the window woke Janie at seven the
next morning. She had surprisingly slept remarkably well. She jumped from the
bed and ran to Katy's room, but the bed had not been disturbed and her car
still wasn't there.

Janie grabbed her phone and dialed Matt.

"She's still not here. There's something wrong, I'm
sure of it!" she said the second Matt said hello.

"Okay, take a deep breath," he soothed. "Call
the police officer you spoke to yesterday and file the report. I'm on my way.
I'll be there as soon as I can."

Janie hung up the phone relieved he was coming but scared to
death by the unknown whereabouts of Katy.

As soon as Matt hung up from Janie, Mark, who was sitting in
Matt's office asked what was wrong. Matt filled him in and called in Angela.

"I need to get to Portland ASAP. Chartered plane will
probably be quickest. And I want to leave in thirty minutes."

"I'm coming with you," Mark said as they both
stood and headed to pack a bag.

*****

Instead of calling the police, Janie drove to the station
and sat with Officer Robbins and filled out the report. She had casually texted
Katy's son to see if he had heard from his mom but Derek hadn't talked to her
since the previous week. Janie's hands were shaking as she wrote her contact
information down so the police could get a hold if her if they found Katy.

It took much longer than she had thought it would. Janie
walked out of the station to her car, desperately trying to think of anywhere
she might have gone. In a daze, she drove out of the parking lot and headed for
the freeway out of habit.

When Janie pulled into her old driveway, she had no
recollection of how she got there or why she was there. This was her old house;
her home with Robert. The house she had sold two months ago.
Why on earth
did I drive here?
she thought and put the car in reverse. As she started to
back out of the driveway something caught her eye next door. Danny's garage
door was two-thirds down but Janie caught a glimpse of a black car under the
door.
He drives a red car, not a black one… Unless of course he bought a new
one, he certainly could have,
she thought.

But, it didn't sit right. She put the car back in park and
ran across the lawn to his door, noticing the corner of a bumper sticker on the
black car that looked an awful lot like Katy’s. She knocked on his door.

"Danny? Danny! Are you home?" Janie pounded on the
door. After a few minutes he opened the door wearing shorts and a wife beater.

"Uh, hi Janie. What are you doing here?" He
stuttered.

"Can I come in for a minute? Did you get a new
car?"

"Uh, no, why?"

"I thought I saw a black car in your garage," she
said, studying his weird reaction.

"Oh, yeah, well, a friend of mine was going out of town
for a while and so she, uh, they are keeping their car here."

Janie looked around the living room. The curtains were drawn
and no lights were on.

"Did I interrupt something?" she asked
suspiciously.

Danny took a step towards Janie and she sidestepped him,
noticing a pair if women's sunglasses on the coffee table.

Oh shit! They look like Katy's
. Bile rose up in her
throat and she started sweating, subconsciously knowing that Danny had her
friend in the house.

Remain calm
, she told herself over and over again.

"Danny?" she smiled. "Could I use your
bathroom please?"

"Umm," he was obviously thinking, "Okay. Just
let me make sure my clothes aren't in there," and he disappeared down the
hall.

Janie grabbed for her phone and only got one word of the
text message typed in before he returned. She hoped it would be enough.

*****

It was the longest flight Matt had ever been on. Angela had
miraculously got them a chartered flight out of New York in record time and he
and Mark sat on the plane; Mark working on his laptop, Matt rubbing his
forehead, his nervous habit.

"I'm sure everything's fine," assured Mark.
"By the time we get there those women will be sunning themselves on the
deck with a drink in their hands."

Matt sighed and hoped his brother was right.