“What do you want?”
“Do what you do.”
Roy stared.
“No.”
Danny’s face fell.
“I’m not ready.”
“Exactly.”
“What do I need?”
“Three more years in a real maintenance environment.”
“Different airframes.”
“No shortcuts.”
“Then call.”
Danny nodded.
He stayed three years.
Called.
Roy hired.
By then Machado Technical had five employees.
No marble lobby.
A clean rented hangar.
Good lighting.
Real coffee machine because Danny threatened revolt.
Clear billing.
A wall with certificates because Roy finally admitted clients were reasonable for wanting to see them.
Underneath certificates Hattie taped a handwritten sign:
PAPERWORK TELLS YOU WHAT WE’RE ALLOWED TO DO. ASK QUESTIONS ABOUT HOW WE DO IT.
Roy left it.
Adrienne remained a client.
Then a friend.
The distinction changed slowly.
She met Hattie first at hangar open house.
Hattie looked Adrienne over with unnerving seriousness.
“So you’re the jet lady.”
Adrienne removed sunglasses.
“So you’re the logo consultant.”
Hattie smiled.
Roy groaned.
They liked each other immediately.
Adrienne was not accustomed to children who questioned her.
Hattie was not accustomed to adults who answered.
At dinner afterward Hattie asked:
“Are you rich?”
Roy nearly choked.
Adrienne said:
“Yes.”
“How rich?”
“Hattie.”
Adrienne held up hand.
“Enough that your father refuses to let me pay for dinner because he thinks it creates a power imbalance.”
Hattie looked at Roy.
“That sounds like you.”
Then to Adrienne:
“Do you have kids?”
“No.”
“Want them?”
Roy dropped fork.
Adrienne burst out laughing.
“Hattie.”
“What?”
Adrienne said:
“I haven't decided.”
“Okay.”
Conversation moved.
Roy wanted to disappear.
Later, outside restaurant, Adrienne said:
“She’s extraordinary.”
“She’s interrogator.”
“She gets it from you.”
“No.”
“Her mother is worse.”
Adrienne smiled.
They stood beside van.
Not black sedan.
No jet.
Just parking lot.
She said:
“Can I ask you something?”
“Apparently this family is built on questions.”
“Why do you keep the van?”
Roy looked.
The magnetic sign was new.
The dent remained.
He had money to replace now.
Business did well.
He could buy whatever service vehicle he wanted.
“Habit.”
Adrienne waited.
Roy smiled.
“And reminder.”