Annnnndno.
She heard one of the panels of the business class seats slide open behind her the moment she handed the captain his fresh cup of coffee. It was as if the hair on her arms stood on end in that split second because she knew without looking who it probably was.
“Ten minutes or less,” the captain muttered, slurping a quick sip as if to test the coffee and whether he would deem it ‘palatable.’ “Handle that,” he pointed. “I’m closing the doors.”
“Yes, sir.”
And before she finished speaking, the captain slammed the flight deck door almost in her face. The two metal bifold panels were so precariously close to pinching the tip of her nose that she jumped. Thankfully, she had enough self-preservation to back up a step before the doors shut.
As she turned, she saw the handsome blond man staring at the doorway over her shoulder, shocked and dismayed. She cleared her throat, angled her chin upward slightly, and smoothed her uniform.
“Can I help you, sir?” she asked coolly.
“Did he just… are you… I’m not married,” he finished, strangling on the words – and then winced.
“Look,” Ashley began, feeling heat rising up her neck in embarrassment and could feel all eyes on her. The plane was almost full, and they would be taking off within minutes – and this was not exactly a perfect start to her workday so far. “I apologize for my coworker for making you feel uncomfortable or…”
“Are you…are you married?”he interrupted in a hushed voice, his eyes holding hers with something almost akin to hope in those golden-brown depths… and she swallowed, shoving down the awareness that seemed to perk up suddenly from out of nowhere.
“My life is a hot mess,” she whispered in a panicked hushed voice. “I’m gone all the time, I’ve got issues, and I’m not married for a reason… okay? I’m the reason for the ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ cliché’. You seem nice, but this isn’t appropriate right now. We are about to take off.”
“Could we talk, maybe over a drink?”
“Sure,” she replied numbly, seeing Adrian in the distance giving her a shocked look mixed with a proud smile as his mouth hung open in surprise with a hand on his hip. “I need to check in with my coworker. Did you need something?”
“N-Never mind,” he whispered, looking away – and sighed.
“If you need something, just press the attendant button, and we’ll be right over,” she offered, feeling unsure and a little curious about their brief conversation. She would not be opposed to getting a drink with this handsome man when they landed in Quebec.
Not. At. All.
“I’ll check on you in a few minutes,” she offered, moving away – and nearly stumbled as she heard his voice behind her.
“My name is Liam.”
Oh man, today was just going to be one of those days – wasn’t it?
Less than a minute later, Ashley was no longer wondering about that – but horribly positive that someone had punched her karma-ticket at some point during the night while she was sleeping. She was listening to a voicemail on her phone while Adrian was closing up the airplane door. Her neighbor had left her a message, hollering about how it her truck had been repossessed already.
Ashley, I drove over to your place to take the trash can to the street for trash pick up - and they were pulling out with your truck on the back! I couldn’t believe it! I was honking and… and waving at them… but they took your truck! I got the guy’s license plate number…
Yep. That is usually how repos work. Pop in, hook up, take off with the car. It had happened once to her mother when she was a child, and she had no clue what was happening then, but she did now.
They took her truck, and she had ninety-seven bucks in her account after settling up her hotel bill this morning. She needed two days – one if she wanted to chance ‘floating’ an e-check… if that was even possible.
“Are you okay?” Adrian asked warily. “Problems?”
“Ninety-nine of them,” she muttered. “But money is my biggest one.”
“Gurrrl, I hear you on that one. Let’s get this done, and we’ll chat, gossip, and do all the things, okay?”
Ashley nodded numbly, her mind racing as she stood up in the aisle – held up the mock seatbelt regally, and showed the operation. She hoped things clicked for hersomeday, because she needed a break or for something to go her way… soon.
2
LIAM
Omigosh, omigosh, omigosh.
