Different Circles

“I’m sure you did,” she said, finishing her business and standing up. She wiped and then pushed the flush button on the toilet. It gave a noisy whoosh like an airplane toilet and then silenced. “Anyway, since the plane is going into escrow today, I’m assuming you finally nailed down the final price?”

Fuck! Jake thought miserably. I thought the cockpit joke might steer her away from this. “Uh ... yeah,” he said softly, trying to find a way out of sharing the information and failing. “We did.”

“How much was it?” she asked, turning on the sink to wash her hands.

“Well ... uh ... it was a little more expensive than I thought when I first started looking into this whole thing.”

“How much more?” she asked, soaping up her hands. “You said you could probably get one for around half a million, right?”

“Yeah,” he said slowly. “That’s what I thought at first. It turns out I underestimated the value to some degree.”

“That’s a bummer,” she said, now rinsing. “How much more? Like eight hundred thousand or so?”

“Uh ... well ... I sent Jill with an authorization to wire nine hundred and fifty thousand dollars into the escrow account.”

“Nine hundred and fifty?” she asked, surprised. “That is quite a bit more than half a million.”

“Yeah,” Jake said miserably.

“But still, I guess it’s not that bad. I mean, you really love the plane, right?”

“I do,” he admitted.

“And it does have a bathroom, like I asked.”

“Yes, it certainly does,” Jake agreed.

“And it’s not like we can’t afford nine hundred and fifty.” She turned off the sink and reached for the towel hanging on the rack.

Jake sighed. “Actually, babe, there is one thing I really think I need to confess right now.”

“What’s that?” she asked.

“Well ... the fact of the matter is that ... uh ... you know ... that that nine hundred and fifty thousand is really only ... uh ... the down payment.”

Her hands stopped the motion of drying. She slowly turned and looked at her husband. “The down payment?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he said, fighting to keep his eyes on hers. “It’s uh ... twenty percent of the agreed upon price.”

Her eyes widened and then bored into him. “Nine hundred and fifty thousand is only twenty percent of what the plane costs?” she asked him, a little steel in her tone. “Is that what you’re telling me?”

He nodded. “Yeah,” he admitted. “That’s what I’m telling you.”

“Then the actual price of the plane is ... is...” She could not do the math in her head. “How much is it, Jake?”

“Uh ... four million, seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars,” he said.

“Four million, seven hundred and fifty thousand?” she nearly screamed. “Please tell me you’re kidding, Jake! Please tell me this is a fucking joke!”

“Well, it was originally priced at four million, eight hundred thousand,” he said, “but I won a bet with the owner playing darts and got fifty thousand off.”

This time she did scream. “Darts! You gambled fifty thousand dollars playing darts?!”

“I won,” he said defensively.

She shook her head rapidly. “Forget the darts,” she said. “That doesn’t matter. What does matter is that you agreed to pay almost five million dollars for an airplane you told me would cost around half a million and you didn’t talk to me about it! How long have you known it was going to cost that much?”

“Well ... uh ... pretty much since I heard about the plane from Jill in the first place,” he admitted.

“That was months ago!” she said. “Months! And you never mentioned it to me a single time!”

“You were on tour for most of...”

“We talked on the phone all the time, Jake!” she yelled. “At least three times a week! And I did ask you about it multiple times if you’ll recall! And every time I did, you said the price wasn’t decided yet and changed the subject. What the fuck, Jake?”

“I’m sorry, hon,” he told her, “it’s just that ... well ... you know?”

“I do not know,” she said. “You lied to me! You knew the whole time it was going to cost almost five million and you lied when I asked you about it!”

“Uh ... yeah,” he said miserably. “I guess I did.”

“Why, Jake?” she asked. “I know you are the one who makes the money around here. I know that! The only money I make is what KVA pays me for touring and recording and royalties and KVA is owned by you, so even my money originally comes from you, but we are married! Aren’t married people supposed to talk about things like five-million-dollar purchases before they happen?”

“Yes,” he said softly. “They are.”

“Then why didn’t you?”

“Well ... truthfully, because I thought you might try to talk me out of buying it.”

Her eyes continued to glare into him for a few moments and then softened a bit. “You decided it was better to ask for forgiveness than permission?”

He nodded. “That’s as good a way as any to put it,” he agreed.

She shook her head again, this time seemingly in bewilderment instead of anger. “I probably would have tried to talk you out of it,” she said. “Five million is a lot of money.”

“Four point eight million,” he corrected.