Chapter 14

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Leesha let out a shaky sigh as their car pulled up to the jet and clutched onto David's arm. "Remember, not one word about the tests to either of them." She curled her arms around her stomach. "Fuck, I'm hungry," she pouted.

"Darlin', you need to calm down. Don't get yourself worked up into an anxiety attack," David said calmly, pulling her into a hug. "Let's get you on the plane and settled. See what you feel like eating." Leesha nodded and they climbed out onto the tarmac.

She and Julie embraced each other in a show of solidarity between mothers while the men stood silent. Jon gave David a deathly stare, the latter balling his hands into fists and fighting the urge to break Jon's nose. "Guess we'd better get this show on the road," Jon relented, grabbing Julie away from Leesha.

Both couples boarded in the jet without a word, David and Leesha taking seats down two rows and across the aisle. Leesha pulled out her laptop and took the purple throw blanket from the stewardess, Natalie. "Hey, Nat?" She said quickly. "Thanks for getting the kids to California safely."

"It's my pleasure, Mrs. Bryan. Can I get you something to eat or drink?" Natalie asked with a genuine smile.

"Ginger ale and crackers. I'm..." she lowered her voice. "I'm not feeling great."

Natalie nodded and turned to Jon and Julie. "May I get you two anything?" Jon ordered a Jack Daniels straight and Julie shook her head at him.

The plane started off down the runway and slowly raised up, leaving New Jersey in the distance. Higher and higher they climbed. At 30,000 feet, the seatbelt sign was turned off and Natalie came around with their drinks.

Jon smiled as his wife and reached over for her hand, kissing her wedding band. "Everything ok, sweetheart?"

"Hmm? Yeah, a little nervous about all of this but I'm okay," Julie replied. She glanced over at Leesha, who was typing away on her laptop and curled into David's side.

"I just wanna get this over with," Leesha confessed, a little louder than intended, "I hate the tension this is causing our families."

Jon peered around his seat and snorted, "You're the ones that came up with this brilliant idea."

"Don't blame me for this. It was my husband's idea," Leesha snipped, feeling her hormones kicking in. David rolled his eyes and leaned over to whisper something in his wife's ear. She rubbed her eyes and slammed her computer shut.

"Hey! Can we dial down the snark for at least the next couple of days?" Julie snapped at them both, "Whether we all agree on what the kids are doing or not, we should all at least put up a united front."

"Yeah well I don't like it," Jon replied and took a healthy swallow from his glass, glaring at David. "Or him..."

"I'm not gonna be in any mood to be dealing with a bunch of whining toddlers," Julie said, "which is what you two are behaving like."

David sighed heavily. "Jules, how about you sit down and be quiet for once?"

"Says a lot from the biggest mouth here," she replied.

"You'd know all about that, wouldn't you?" David smirked, pulling his now crying wife into his chest.

"Your mind's always in the gutter, isn't it?" Julie noted, "Is it lonely there, mate?" Her accent always broadened back to true Australian when she was angry.

Leesha stood up abruptly and threw David's whiskey glass into the wall, storming off towards the back bedroom. David went to follow and tossed over his shoulder at Jon, "Of all the blondes backstage and you chose this one. 18 years gone...I'd go look for an upgrade if I were you," before slamming and locking the door.

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