Series: Snapshots of the Past
Story: The Nobel Laureate
Chapter 24
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1
Previously: Jed and his brother Jack talked about unpleasant issues stemming from their childhood while shopping for Jed's patent leather shoes
Summary: The trip to Sweden gets off to a rocky start
"Right there! Don't stop! Oh God!"
Standing against the metal door of the airplane lavatory, Abbey slid her hands under his collar and bore her nails into the skin on his back. She held him so tightly that the tips tracked across his flesh nearly drawing blood as she struggled to catch her breath. Jed's hot tongue vibrated all the way down her neck as his erection bulged against her belly.
He reached her waist then and in one fierce motion energized by raw erotic passion, he tugged on her brown suede skirt, ripping the button in the back and forcing it down her hips along with her panties. From the waist down, she was completely nude now except for those tall brown winter boots that covered her shapely calves all the way up to her knees.
Abbey kicked herself free of the pile of clothing when Jed lifted her up onto the cramped counter beside the sink. She held on tight, her fingers laced around his neck to keep her steady. He backed up, took a stiletto heel in each hand, and bent her knees before he plunged inside her.
It was bold, what they were doing, but they didn't care. So what if they were on a commercial flight to Stockholm? So what if dozens of people were lined up just outside the bathroom and dozens more filled the seats right across aisle? At the moment, they were just Jed and Abbey, lost in the heat of their love affair. And no one else mattered.
"Harder, Jed!" she cried as soon as he stroked that sensuous spot nestled deep inside her feminine walls, the spot that drove her out of her mind.
"Hold on, Babe!" Her legs were wrapped around his back. The heel of her suede boots scratched his skin. Her muscles tensed up and her response escalated. He thrust into her even faster, pounding her flesh as the friction between their sweaty bodies exploded into a wave of mind-numbing orgasms.
"Jed...God, Jed, right there...Jed!"
Her voice faded slowly, one syllable quieter than the last until suddenly, he was zapped back to reality. Like a bucket of cold water stinging his most intimate parts, Jed heard his name called in a different tone. A more serious one. A more demanding one. One that destroyed his fantasy with an alarming nudge to the arm to get his attention.
"Jed? Jed? Jed, did you bring Zoey's diaper bag?"
Talk about killing the mood. He used to think there was nothing Abbey could say that would ever turn him off. He was wrong. "What?"
"Zoey's diaper bag. Did you bring it like I asked you to?"
If he wasn't fully aware of his surroundings now, a bit of turbulence was enough to do the trick. He blinked through the haze that clouded his vision and turned his head to see Abbey sitting across the aisle with Ellie and Liz sitting on her other side. He looked over to his right where a sleeping Zoey was slumped in her seat.
It wasn't all a dream. They actually were soaring high above the clouds on the way to Stockholm. It's just that his imagination had veered off on a salacious detour with thoughts of unbridled sex immediately after take-off.
It took him a few seconds to shrug it off. With a deep breath, he replied, "She's potty trained. I didn't think we'd need it."
"I specifically asked you to bring it."
"For what?"
"She could still have an accident. Besides, I was going to use it to carry extra sweaters and jackets when we go sightseeing."
"Use a regular duffle bag."
"Am I supposed to close my eyes and blink to produce one?"
"You didn't bring one?"
"No because I assumed we'd use the diaper bag. You saw me lay it out last night so we wouldn't forget it. If you didn't think we needed it, then would have been a good time to say something."
"It didn't occur to me until this morning. We'll have to make do without it."
"And without the camera I put inside."
"Why would you put the camera inside the diaper bag?"
"Because we were going to TAKE the diaper bag! I figured it was as safe a place for it as any."
"Fine. We'll buy another camera."
"All because you didn't bother to tell me you left behind the diaper bag. I swear, I don't know where your head is sometimes."
The truth was, neither did he, though he wasn't about to admit it. Annoyed by her criticism, he refused to agree with her. Instead, he sat back and pretended to listen while he allowed himself to retrace the events of the day, from its calm and playful start to its more stressful climax.
That morning, as the first hint of sunlight streamed through the gauzy bedroom curtains, Jed glanced over at Abbey. She was sound asleep on her back, a halo of dark auburn tresses fanning out over her pillow. He pulled back the covers and straddled her legs, knowing how much she enjoyed waking up with a gentle kiss to her lips.
"Hey." He smiled when she opened her eyes.
"Hey yourself."
"I know I've told you this before, but you're never more beautiful than first thing in the morning. So sweet and innocent. No makeup. No fancy hairdo. Just you."
His finger found her jawline and he traced it to her chin, his thumb lingering there for a moment.
"You don't fool me with the sweet talk. I know what you're after," she teased him.
"I'm hurt that you would think my motives are anything less than genuine." Though the sentiment was sincere, it couldn't be denied that Abbey was right and Jed was indeed hoping for a little action before they headed to the airport.
"You know, I'd be tempted to believe you except for this little guy right here." Abbey reached between them and curled her hand gently around his swollen penis. "He'll always give you away."
"Hey, you can't touch him like that and then not follow through."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
Jed framed her face in his hands, leaning forward to kiss her. And if they had more time, Abbey probably would have responded exactly the way he wanted her to, but just as his mouth made contact with hers, they heard Liz and Ellie bickering so loud that the echo threatened to wake the entire house. Jed was forced to move so Abbey could crawl out of bed and traipse down the hall to Liz's room.
"But you said I can borrow it sometimes," Ellie whined as she stared at the red purse Liz had just snatched out of her hands.
"This isn't one of those times! I told you, I don't want to bring it to Stockholm with me. I want it to be brand new when we go back to school."
"But I need a purse!"
"Then bring your own!"
"Your Aunt Kellie and Uncle Jack are still asleep so can we try to keep it down?" Both girls turned towards their mother's voice. "Ellie, why can't you use your own purse?"
"I like Lizzie's more. I wanna take it to Sweden, but she says I can't."
"Well, that's up to Lizzie. If she says no, then you'll have to bring yours. Now go get your suitcase out of your room so I can take it downstairs."
"It's not ready yet."
"Of course it is. I packed it last night." Ellie lowered her head, ashamed to confess she had unpacked her bags after Abbey had gone to bed. "Ellie?" Abbey scanned the room when Liz hurried to block her own luggage. "What in the world have you girls done?"
"We didn't like the way you packed our stuff," Liz boldly informed her mother. "You left out a bunch of things, like the diffuser for my blowdryer and my purple sweater and my hairspray and also my journal."
"Elizabeth, you were sitting right here with me when I packed your suitcase. You should have added those things."
"I forgot until later."
"I forgot too," Ellie added.
"Is your mess as bad as hers?" Abbey asked her middle daughter, her head tilting to reference the mound of clothes that surrounded Liz's bag.
"It's worse. I took everything out because I was looking for my soccer medal, but I think you forgot to pack it. I wanna take it with me!"
"Yeah and I wanna take my silver hoop earrings, but I already have so much jewelry that I have to take my jewelry box."
"I wanna take my jewelry box too then!"
"You don't have that much jewelry, Ellie. You don't need it."
"Uh huh!"
Abbey silently counted to ten before she bothered to respond. "I've been harping on you both for days to get your things together so we could pack for Sweden. Since you didn't, I had to stay up late last night to do it myself. So guess what. Everything I packed is going with us to Sweden and everything else is staying here."
"But..." Liz started.
"But nothing. If you wanted your silver earrings and your diffuser, you should have brought them to me. We don't have time to do this today. Now zip up your bag. Ellie, the same goes for you. Go to your room and get your suitcase ready. I'll meet you both in the hall in ten minutes to take the bags downstairs."
Abbey spun around and left her daughters, unaware that the adventures of the day were just beginning. She made her way to Zoey's room where, among the two dozen toys spread out on the floor, she found the three-year-old clutching the arms of the brand new shiny red tricycle Jed had given to her at her birthday party the day before.
"Zoey, I told you the tricycle stays outside. How did you get it up here?"
"Ellie."
"Ellie brought it up?" Zoey nodded. "Why?"
"Because I wanna take it and you forgot it."
"I did not forget it. We're not taking it with us."
"Why?"
"We went over this last night. We're not doing it again. Now where's your suitcase?" Zoey pointed to the pink Barbie backpack sitting on her bed. Her real clothes would travel with her parents, but in order for Zoey to feel as grown up as her sisters, Abbey helped her pack her own bag.
"I'm not finished! I wanna take more toys!"
"We're not going to take any more toys. We already packed enough."
"Uh uh! I want ALL my toys!"
"That's too bad because there's no more room." Abbey walked over to the white chest in the corner of the room. "Let's get you dressed so we can go down and have breakfast. Grandma and Grandpa are going to be expecting us soon." She pulled out a blue sweater and held it out for her daughter. "Do you want to wear this?"
Pouting, Zoey threw her backpack across the room, jumped on her bed, and kicked her little feet. "NO! I wanna take my toys!"
"That's enough! You're either going to change your attitude right this minute or you're going to eat your breakfast in time-out. What's it going to be?"
Surprised that Abbey kneeled to the ground to face her squarely in the eye, Zoey backed down and softened her plea. "But I want them."
"I'm sorry, you can't have them. We don't have the room. So how about we get you dressed?"
Zoey weighed her options and reluctantly stood so Abbey could get her ready as Jed approached the duo after hearing the tantrum down the hall. Once dressed, the bubbling toddler picked up her backpack and threw it over her shoulder, forgetting all about the tricycle and the toys strewn across the floor. The piece of leftover birthday cake Jed promised her probably had more to do with it than anything else, but an exhausted Abbey didn't fight him.
If he wanted to offer her cake after breakfast, she told him, then it would be up to him to tire her out when it was time to prepare for an international flight with a grumpy three-year-old on a sugar high. But tiring her out couldn't be that hard, Jed thought. And so, without reservation, he agreed.
After granting several press interviews at the airport, Jed chased Zoey around for a solid hour before they boarded the plane and, just as he suspected it would, the exercise squelched her energy. What he hadn't predicted was that the layover in Amsterdam would recharge her batteries just as quickly.
When she bounced out of her chair at the gate, he put her back where she belonged. When she ran up the aisle of the plane, he reigned her in. And when she insisted on standing in her seat mid-flight on the way to Stockholm so she could talk to her grandparents sitting behind them, Jed pulled her down and strapped her in, provoking a flood of tears that dried only after she cried herself to sleep.
Liz and Ellie, who had seemingly worked out their problems during a tour of the Amsterdam airport, were taking a break from playing Hangman and travel-sized Connect Four because Ellie had sniped at Liz about that abandoned red purse less than an hour after take-off. They were both reading now, ignoring each other except for the dirty looks they exchanged every once in a while.
And Jed, who was still fantasizing about what it would be like to push Abbey into the lavatory and have his way with her in a crowded airplane flying high over the Atlantic, was getting more and more frustrated that all she could do was scold him for forgetting that damn diaper bag.
"All I'm saying is when I ask you to do something, if you're not going to do it, I'd appreciate it if you'd tell me so I can do it myself instead of arbitrarily deciding we don't need it."
"I didn't know it was this big a deal."
"It's the principal of it, Jed. I've been trying to get everything packed for days with no help from you and the girls."
"That is so far from the truth, Abbey. Since we got back from Washington, we've been too busy planning for Thanksgiving and for Zoey's birthday to do anything else. You didn't start the actual process of packing until yesterday and may I remind you, I stayed up to help you last night."
"All you did was sit there and keep me company."
"That's something. And I would have done more if you had let me, but you had to do it all. You always have to control what everyone packs. You never trust anyone else do it."
"Gee, I wonder why. I tried to let you do something today. I asked you to bring the diaper bag, but you chose not to do that."
He couldn't help but snap back at her. "I didn't bring it, all right? You're right. You're always right. Even when the rest of the world disagrees, you will always be right, Abbey. Okay? Are you going to bite my head off for the rest of the trip?"
"Yes," she answered flatly. "Jackass."
The romance of flight was definitely overrated.
TBC