Hiatus

19 May

Yesterday was spent closing down the offices and shutting down the sets. Dismantling, packing, organizing for London; tying up loose ends and packing ourselves to leave. Hilly had everything planned out so well that they had gathered everyone's luggage early last evening and sent them on to where they needed to go. It was a great idea. We were to keep one bag back for what we'd need the night, minimal toiletries, and to wear home today. Somehow, in all this mix, what I had set aside had disappeared and all I was left with was a dress. A damned summer dress to wear for all those hours on a plane. Hopefully I would have time to go to a shop and pick up some jeans and a shirt, oh, and shoes. There was no way I was traveling for fifteen hours in various airports and on several aircraft.... in a dress. It was untenable and I had no clue when my things got switched. It also wasn't helpful in covering up the nice little mark Colin had left on my neck Thursday. Yesterday had been bad enough with the questions of my choice of attire for a work day, especially a closing shop day. I wore a blouse and kept the collar buttoned up. Too many questions from too many people made for a happy Diane when some of us were declared no longer useful and would we just get our bloody asses out of the way.

From appearances I was the last one to leave my room and make my way towards the meeting point, the hotel lobby. I was less than pleased having to wear this dress... and sandals. Seems my running shoes had done a disappearing act too. The only consolation was that it was my sandals and not heels. Someone was going to pay for this and I was positive I knew who. Hilly had everyone's boarding passes and would go over our 'assignments,' for the two week hiatus, one last time. Like I needed to be reminded I had two months work to accomplish in, actual time, ten work days.

I felt like I was carrying the plague when I walked into that lobby. I felt like everyone associated with this film turned in my direction; though I was probably just imagining it. I also got a little more perturbed noting that every other female in our company, no matter their department or status, was in jeans or trousers or some other form of pants. Not a one had a dress on. That, I surmised, had been reserved for me. It wouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure out this had been a conspiratorial act. I took a deep breath, sucked up and walked over to the group that was Hilly, Jack, Jess and Todd. Then it only took a few more seconds to realize, Colin wasn't down here yet either.

"Morning everyone."

"It's almost noon."

"Yes, thank you for that, Todd."

It was ten-thirty. Hardly almost noon but, I let it go.

Since I had the unenviable tasks of organizing our exodus from Monte Carlo, and Colin's covert side trip with Diane, I believe my head hit the pillow about three a.m. I'd sent Maggie off to secure my umpteenth cup of coffee in an effort to get my brain to engage in coherent thought processes. Even in my muddled state, though, there was no missing Diane's visible displeasure when she arrived in the lobby this morning. 

"Morning, Di?

"So where's everybody?"

Of course by everybody, she meant Colin.

"Tying up some loose ends. Nothing to worry about."

She gave me a long sigh and as she turned to take a seat I couldn't help but notice some concealer might be in order.

"Ah... Di, let's go the Ladies."

"I don't have to go."

"Yes, you do!"

I led her into the Ladies Room and opened my makeup bag, rooting through it to find something to cover Colin's "handiwork".

"Did you not see your neck today?"

"I did! But what the fuck was I to do since you have all my luggage!"

"Okay, well true enough."

"And who's idea was this?"

She took a step back, put her arms out to the side and twirled around.

"Don't know."

"I bet!"

A combination of a little foundation and some pressed powder accomplished the deed and Diane no longer looked as if she had been attacked by a horny, but toothless, vampire. As we emerged from the bathroom Maggie had returned and Ken had appeared as well. I thought it best to get the others out the door and on their way before Colin returned. I knew that he would not want an audience around when he told Diane of their change of plans. I took the coffee from Maggie, sat myself down on the couch, and began passing out boarding passes and the manila envelopes that contained everyone's duties for the next few weeks. Jack cornered the Bell Captain and secured a cab to make the trek to Nice airport. We sent off the first wave of Jess, Todd and Maggie. There was room for Ken, but he declined saying he wanted to wait as he needed to speak with Colin. I was confused on what could be so urgent that it couldn't wait. I let it go. Questioning him, I thought, would raise his suspicions and he seemed to have enough of those of late. Diane was watching my careful distribution, came over and stood in front of me with crossed arms and a cross expression.

"Do I get a boarding pass and one of your envelopes, Hil?"

"Yea... sure you do Di. Colin has them."

"And he's not here."

"Relax, there he is."

Colin came rushing into the lobby with wrapped package under his arm. He pulled Diane off to the side and I pulled Jack and Ken in the direction of the coffee to give them some privacy. 

"Come on fellas, buy me a cuppa."

This was no time for games or secrets and it certainly wasn't the place for us to be in conference alone, off to the side. I also wasn't thrilled about him holding a gift in his hands in front of me. I knew where we were both going and I was more than convinced this was a peace offering, not meant for me. It was wrapped in flowered paper. I hate flowered anything. I love flowers, but not as displayed on linens, towels, wallpaper, most clothing and yes, gift wrap. I made quick work of his hand being on my arm as we stood near the wall.

"Can I just have my boarding passes? We need to go."

"I've got them."

"I know and I'm a big girl, so fork mine over."

He turned us so my back was to the wall and he in front of me and put the box in my hand. It was, more or less, like a jewelry box for a necklace, but slightly wider.

"This is not a good idea. I already have a necklace from you."

"That you've not worn at all here."

"So you get me something else I can't wear?"

"Could you just open the bloody thing? We've got to go soon."

I ripped the paper off and slapped it warily into his hands. I realized it was too lightweight to have much more than a tremendously thin chain, until I opened it.

"My passes? Talk about dramatic. Let's go."

I sidestepped him and started walking as I examined the contents to make sure everything was correct on them. I didn't need to have problems boarding the two flights that would get me home. I stopped about three paces into my trek. I had three passes. I only needed two. I was going from Nice to Atlanta, but the first one had Nice to Heathrow. I pulled out the second. Heathrow to... Barbados. I tried to turn back. I was getting the full picture rather quickly. He was right behind me, allowing me to turn into him. I held them up in his face.

"No! I can't do this."

"It's all been arranged. We'll talk later."

I was fuming. I slapped the passes into my bag and tried to smile. The rest of the 'pull one over' gang was returning.

"Appears to me it's too late for talking."

When I returned Diane didn't look as happy as I thought she'd be. She started pacing in front of me with her hands on her hips, shaking her head from side-to-side.

"Hilly, you can't do all the work yourself, you'll have a melt-down."

"Di, I've worked it out. I'm only going home for a week, then to London. I'm bringing Maggie along. Between the two of us we can handle it."

"You're crazy, ya know."

"You already know that."

"Hil, I'm serious!"

Ken was watching our debate with great interest. He came over and put a hand on each of our shoulders.

"Maybe I can be of assistance?"

I looked at Diane and shrugged. Really, there was no reason in the world he couldn't give me a hand. He certainly knew what was involved and had the brains and know-how.

"I've got nothing else at the moment. I can be at Hilary's disposal."

"See Di, all settled. So... Bon Voyage!

Before she could protest any further I grabbed her gear, her hand, put her into the waiting cab and shut the door. Colin gave their destination to the driver and they were on their way. I got into another cab with Jack and Ken and headed there as well. Ken and I worked out a few logistics on the way over and agreed to talk further when I settled myself back home. As we separated at the airport and Ken shook my hand goodbye, before he went to locate his gate and said how he was looking forward to working with me, I was left with the most uneasy feeling. While I had readily agreed to Ken's generous, and seemingly innocent, offer of help; why did I feel that I had made a pact with the devil?

I barely looked at him the whole time to Nice. He'd get it from me later. No way was this argument going to manifest itself for our driver. I knew there'd be no chance to get to Hilly now, either. I had a few things I wanted to say to her for her part in this and there was no doubt in my mind she had played a big one. Going in separate directions meant separate terminals of departure. They were all going to terminal two, we were headed for one. I guess it would have been too easy, for me, for the flights to be out of the same one. Then again, what could I have done in front of the others? And what the hell was going to be the explanation to others of the film crew, heading back to Angleterre, for he and I to be on their flight... together? 

Once inside some of my fears were allayed when I found out that all the other British citizens amongst us were leaving on a flight ninety minutes ahead of us. So while they left at two, we would sit around until three-thirty. I could have stayed in bed. Well, okay, not really. We had to be out of the hotel by eleven. Don't misinterpret. We did converse once we were clear of the car and into the terminal, but I stayed on guard. There was always the chance of his being recognized. This was a small airport (compared to what I was used to) with small terminals and we were in the lesser of the two. No restaurants, no shops, no lounges. Those were all in other.

We'd gotten here at half past twelve. We cleared all the hurdles and got to our gate before half past one. It was now two-thirty and all the others were gone. One of those flights was at two, the other two-ten and I was still aggravated, though less so than before. There wasn't much to do except sit and wait, or stand and wait, or pace, or stare out the windows at the other jetliners coming and going. I had gotten to the fourth phase of leaning on the glass staring out.

"Colin?"

I almost glued my eyes on what I was seeing. He didn't answer, so I turned back and tried to get his attention again.

"Colin! Come here."

Then turned back until I felt his hand light on my shoulder.

"What did you need?"

"Look over there."

"In particular?"

"Look at the sky, the clouds."

"Crikey."

"At least. That looks worse than the one that rolled into Eze. Do you think?"

"I don't know it's worse. Perhaps comparable."

Why was I getting a bad feeling about this?

"Come sit with me. It's just a passing storm. Rain is hardly a deterrent."

"I know. I just don't like the looks of it."

I complied with his request and re-found my seat next to him, but not for long. I had no more than settled in and rested my head on his shoulder than the skies opened up, causing me to sit up straight.

"I knew it."

Not only was it raining as hard as I've seen in my day, there was thunder and lightening and you could see there were swirls of a heavy wind in the mix. I turned and looked Colin in the face.

"This is your fault, you know."

"I'm not surprised."

"Well, it is. If I was going home I'd have been one my way already. They got off just before this started to come in. Instead I'm sitting here watching the skies open up."

"Do you not want to go to Palm Island?"

"Not a matter of not wanting to go. It's the timing."

"I see."

"Do you?"

Right now we should have been boarding. We weren't and they weren't calling for anyone to do so either. That feeling of dread was starting to wind its way back into me and it manifested itself when the announcement came over the PA system in our gate. I didn't have to wait for the English translation. I caught the native tongue.

"What's wrong?"

"They just cancelled our flight Colin. You have to go to the check-in desk for further instructions."

"I do?"

"You set this up. You deal with it."

I sat mesmerized by the storm. I was also in a fog of disbelief over what was happening here. I supposed time passed me by during my almost catatonic state. I was oblivious to things going on around me until Colin came back. He didn't even sit down. He just picked up both our carry ons and took my hand.

"We've a new flight. We have to go."

"Go? Go where?"

"The other terminal."

"What? Why and what flight? Explain please."

"We're out at six. Smaller jet and we have to fly into Luton."

"Luton? Where the hell is Luton? What happened to Heathrow?"

"It's a bit north of London."

"How far is this bit? And does this mean we have to go through the whole process again?"

"Approximately sixty kilometers. As for the other, I'm afraid so."

"You better be.... afraid, that is."

I let him lug my carry-on as we exited terminal one.

"The shuttle should be here shortly."

"I'm walking. This is a cigarette moment."

"We can wait or did you really care to walk in this?"

He had a point, though by now it had let up some. It was just my 'luck' the storm was bad enough and lasted long enough to send the arrivals and departures into a tailspin and forcing us to a new flight. The short ride to terminal two was also silent. I was more than aware there was something he wasn't telling me. I could sense it and I was almost afraid to ask. I wasn't sure I could handle another 'surprise' today, so I kept my mouth shut until we reached our gate.

It was five, I was hungry and we were boarding in less than thirty minutes. We'd picked up a snack and a soda on our way, but it wasn't exactly filling as in a meal. As far as I knew it would be slightly longer than two hours to London, then there was customs and getting out of Luton to Heathrow. I could not see any time to stop anywhere for a meal. Our flight out from there was scheduled for nine-thirty. It would be a rush job, at best, to make it. From my calculations we'd have two hours, tops.

"This is a smaller airliner, isn't it?"

"That's more than obvious."

Then it hit me.

"Their air speed isn't as fast as the others is it?"

He was almost avoiding my question as I had my head turned towards him waiting for a response. He fiddled with his seat belt, but finally gave in.

"No."

"How long is this flight? I mean, what is our arrival time at Luton?"

"Eight."

"Eight? We'll miss our flight out of Heathrow!"

"We'll book anew."

"Swell."

I sat back as we took off. This was going to be a long flight.