Page 77 of Plane Passion

What if Beth was right, and this was all about Barney? Millie thought she loved him, and he let her down. So publicly too.

What if Ernie did the same?

But he wouldn’t, would he?

She suspected him at first because of his behavior toward Vera, but at least he was honest with her. And he ended things before anything happened with Millie. There was no reason to think he’d been anything but true to her, and she didn’t doubt his love.

“Did I have this all wrong?” she asked in a quiet voice. “Did I hurt Ernie for no reason?”

Looking up in the eyes of her friends, she saw sympathy but also the truth.

“Oh, God. I’ve made a terrible mistake.”

She staggered to her feet, but her friends pulled her down again.

“Where do you think you’re going?” asked Gertie.

“I have to fix this. Right now.”

“No, darling. You’re drunk,” said Beth.

Come to think of it, she did feel a bit unsteady on her feet.

“Let us help you come up with a plan,” said Katherine with a kind smile.

“I need another martini,” Millie said, sitting down again.

“No, you don’t,” said Beth, becoming a little bit blurry at the edges as she shook her head. She signaled the waiter and asked for a glass of water for Millie.

There were not enough martinis in the world for this conversation, and Beth was cutting her off?

“I’ll deal with this myself,” Millie said, a little too defensively. “I messed things up. I’ll fix it. Now can I please have another drink?”

“No,” said Beth firmly. “But you can have our advice. Once you’re over your hangover tomorrow, you can decide whether or not to take it. Right now, you are not in a fit state.”

Millie let out an aggravated sigh. She loved her friends, but did they have to be so patronizing?

“It’s for your own good,” said Gertie, patting her hand.

Millie gave her a mutinous glare.

“So, ladies, what do we think she should do?” Beth asked, looking at everyone except Millie.

“Call him up and apologize,” said Gertie.

“Well, yes, she has to do that,” said Katherine, “but what else?”

As if calling him up on the phone was an easy thing to do after the way she’d left things.

“I think she should get him his job back,” Gertie said, then drank the dregs of her old-fashioned.

“I like that,” said Katherine.

“Me too,” said Beth.

“But how am I supposed to do that?” Millie asked. Obviously, they didn’t understand how badly she’d burned her bridges with the airmail.

“How did you get the job in the first place?” Katherine asked, turning her sweet pixie face on Millie.