Free A Perfect Life nd Other Stories by Elaine Burnes Page A

home early, she
found Vanessa and a gallery owner engaged in a very inartistic activity. That
was after the fight about Alaska, when Denny was preparing to give in and stay.
    Alaska offered fresh horizons and no expectations. She wasn’t even
sure Alice was gay and she didn’t feel inclined to ask. She hadn’t decided
whether pursuing something was what she wanted, so it was best not to step onto
that trail of expectation with certain knowledge of Alice’s compatibility. Just
let it play out. See where this goes on its own. Maybe all it would become was
a friendship. Maybe even that was presumptuous.
     
    ALICE REMAINED QUIET on the flight back, and Denny spoke only into
her radio to the other pilots. She circled while Walt landed, then touched down
and taxied close to the fuel pump. Later, she would move her plane back to the
side. Till next week. She cut the engine and waited for the noise to leave her
head. Alice took off her headphones.
    “Did you have a good time?” Denny asked.
    Alice looked down and smiled. “Yes.” Then she looked at Denny. “Oh
yes.”
    Denny’s stomach dropped, like when the plane hits a down draft.
“I’m glad.” She forced herself to recover so she could help Alice. She ran
around the plane, opened the door, and held her hand out. Alice took it as she
stepped down but didn’t let go.
    “Thank you,” she said. Then she hugged Denny. Their bodies pressed
together. Denny swooned, suddenly weightless. She put her arms around Alice and
waited for whatever might come next, not daring to hope. She inhaled but the
air felt thin, ineffective, like high altitude. She might as well be on the top
of that mountain.
    Alice pulled away from her, but not far. Their eyes met and Alice
kissed her. Full on the lips, languorous and soft. This was no mere kiss of
thanks, but of desire. Denny’s knees weakened and she sagged against the plane,
holding onto Alice, suddenly aware of every part of their bodies that touched,
from knees, stomachs, and breasts to Alice’s hand at the back of her neck.
    Alice ended the kiss, but still leaned close, breathing heavily.
Denny couldn’t think of anything to say and was sure she had no voice to say it
if she could. The sounds of the airfield drifted into her consciousness.
Another plane landed. She needed to get hers refueled and out of the way, but
she didn’t want to break this moment.
    Josh must have wandered by. “Oh, sorry,” Denny heard. She looked
and saw him retreating. That did it. She took a deep breath.
    “I’m sorry,” Alice said, stepping back.
    “No. It’s okay. I just need to get the plane out of his way.”
    Alice looked at Denny with concern. “You sure I didn’t just get
you fired?”
    Denny chuckled. “I’m sure. He’s cool. Besides, it’s my day off.”
She ran a hand through her hair. “It’ll take me a few minutes here, though.”
    “I think I’ll start walking. Okay?”
    “Whatever you want.”
    Alice backed away and shoved her hands in her
pockets, transformed. No longer the retired schoolteacher, pretty but reserved,
now alarmingly sexy. The swell of her breasts, the curve of her hips. Her
camera strap crossed between her breasts and pulled her shirt open. Denny
wanted to kiss her throat.
    Alice turned and walked away, then looked back and smiled. “I’ll
see you.”
    Denny nodded, incapable of anything else. She spied the fuel hose
on the ground. Right. Move now. She forced herself to shake Alice out of her
thoughts and focus on her plane.
     
    DENNY SLUNG HER daypack on and broke into a run, hoping to catch
up to Alice, but she was probably already back to the lodge. It’d taken almost
an hour to gas up, clean out their trash, wipe the bug guts off the windshield,
then move the plane and tie it down. Denny was distracted, but not enough to
neglect her plane.
    She was reliving the feel of the kiss when she spotted Alice near
the turnoff to the lodge. Her back was to Denny but she was looking uncertainly
up and down