Amazed - Chapter 4

1154 local
May's hotel room
Thursday November 14th 2002

May gets out of the bathroom drying her hair. She sits on her bed, dazed. She seems to be shocked. She shivers, trying to keep tears at bay. Then she falls on her back and cover her face with her hands. Suddenly, she lets her hands fall down and burst out laughing. A laugh of joy and true happiness. And she picks up the phone.

May - Hello, Val? It's May. How are you?

Val - Fine. And you? So?

May - We got the results this morning. And they are positive!

Val - Oh my God! That's great! And how is he?

May - He is just fantastic! And he is real handsome. I mean for a man who is almost forty. We talked a lot. He knows so many things. And I have a family! His mother and grandmother are still alive, as well as his step dad and half brother. Who is Russian, by the way.

Val - His mother married a Russian?

May - No, it's more complicated. His father was MIA during Vietnam. And he arrived in Russia, I don't know how, and there he met a woman, and he made a baby with her, Sergei. During this time, his mother, thinking he was dead, married this guy, Frank Burnett, who happens to be vice president of Chrysler.

Val - Wow!

May - And guess what...

Val - Come on, tell me!

May - My grand and great grand fathers were both fighter pilots! All three Navy pilots! I'm fourth generation !

Val - That's a stunning coincidence!

May - It's crazy! He told me we would go flying on Saturday.

Val - Really? He can borrow a tomcat?

May - No. He told me he repaired the Stearman his grand father had bought before the war. You know mom gave me the names of the two women that had been the most important in her life. Well, the second one is my great grand mother, Sarah Rabb, and that's also the Stearman's name!

Val - I can't believe it! What a small world!

May - And you don't know the name of the women dad is in love with?

Val - Would it be May?

May - No it's Sarah!

Val - My Goodness! And you have brothers and sisters?

May - No. In fact he has never been married. She is a Marine Lieutenant Colonel, and she works with him at JAG HQ. You should have seen the sparkles between them when we walked in her office! You could have light a fire with them!

Val - And he intends to marry her? That would be fun to have little bros' and sis' at your age!

May - To marry her, they should admit first that they are in love with each other. And according to what I saw and heard, it's not planned yet!

Val - What, he never told her anything? Is she married already?

May – No. In my opinion, he is afraid he'll blow it if he talks. Val, are you seated?

Val - Yes, why?

May - I met someone...

Val - A man?

May - Yes, a man. Do you believe in love at first sight?

Val - Well... I don't know... I never felt it. But I've heard of it. It happened to my cousin, with her fiance. She saw him once and... bam... she was in love.

May - That happened to me this morning.

Val - Tell me! And with the details!

May - Well... I came into his office with dad. He was sitting at his desk reading a paper. And when he looked up, our eyes met.

Her breath is short only with the memory of the emotion.

May - I never felt anything like that for anybody else. I was amazed by him. It was like... a piece of me was missing, and I never knew it. And suddenly, this emptiness was filled with him. It was a feeling so intense, Val, I thought my heart was going to explode.

Val - Wow! And what's his name? And how does he looks?

May - His name is AJ, and he's got the most beautiful blue eyes in the world.

Val - And what does he do?

May - He works at JAG, just like dad.

Val - A lawyer? Not really my fav'. And does he know you've fell for him?

May - I just know he felt the same I did. But as I don't know if he's married... I'll go in an internet cafe to check his military record. I should find something. And after that, we'll see.

Val - That was a big week!

May - Emotionally, it's not easy. I found a father and I fell in love.

Val - And what will Michael say?

May - You perfectly know I never fell in love with Michael. He took me to the movies twice, that doesn't make a love story. And I owe him nothing, even if he is in love with me.

Val - He won't take it very well...

May – I can't help it. If he wants something of me, he will have only what I can give him: piloting lessons.

Val - You're right, he would need it!

A silence.

Val - Speak to me, Birdie. Frankly. What's happening with your AJ? I can feel there's something wrong.

May sighs.

May - He is older than me. A lot older...

Val - How much? Ten years?

May - I don't know. Enough to show.

Val - That much?

May hesitates.

May – Yeah.

Val - Well Birdie, do you know where you're going?

May - Not really. The only thing I'm sure of is that I love him and that I'll do anything to win his love.

Val - Good luck, then!

May - Thanks, Val, I'm gonna need it! And how are things going at the Springs?

The conversation goes on few minutes, and they hang up. May stays a little while without moving, realizing the importance of the phone call. At last, she gets up, take her bag and step out for the internet cafe.

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JAG HQ
Thursday November 14th 2002
13h28

In his office, AJ is alone at last. He has worked all morning, although he doesn't remember what he has said or done since Rabb's daughter walked in. Leaning on his chair, he thinks of her. Impossible to get out of his mind the intensity of her gaze on him. As he was the center of her world, her hero or Prince Charming. As if she was telling him she loved him.

He gets up and put his forehead on the cold window. He closes his eyes. May... he makes the count. Knowing Rabb's age, his, she must be... Sweet Lord! at least forty years younger than him. AJ's knees are weakening. His breath is short, but this time with sadness. He sits again. It's impossible. Absolutely impossible. Out of question. How a girl in her twenties and a man in his sixties could have only a little affair? Oh, sure, it happens. In Hollywood, where old rich men got young starlets. But in his world, it does not happen. What would his friends say? All admirals, duly married, with children and sometimes even grandchildren. Of May's age... Moreover, what could she find in him? A twenty years old girl needs a twenty years old boy. Not a man growing older, only a few steps from retirement.

AJ shrinks in his chair. He thinks of what could have been... if he had been forty years younger. After wallowing a while, the admiral takes the lead. He buries his emotions deep in his heart, where nobody, not even himself, can dig them. As there is no chance she can be in love with him, why should he keep his feelings accessible? The admiral walks out of his office.

AJ - Tiner, I'm leaving for lunch.

And he leaves the building.