No one seems convinced. Gentry faces Sophie, clearly frustrated. “I’ll sit next to her. You can have my seat. It’s twelve B.”
“Good.” Sophie stomps to the seat without a thank you to her older sister.
“I don’t want to sit with you,” Emily says. “I hate you.”
“Emily,” Gentry says, her shoulders dropping still farther as she hangs her head.
“I’ll sit with her.” Yeah, I’m not going to be able to stay out of this. I ease past the two passengers between us and put a hand on Gentry’s elbow. She’s wearing a soft cotton sweater and corduroy pants that are the color of red wine. She is so huggable, it’s almost impossible to resist. “You can have my seat, Gentry.”
She looks at me, light green eyes wide. “Levi? I… No. It’s fine. She’ll get over it.”
Emily stares at me, her eyes so much like Gentry’s and just as wide. She’s only met me a couple of times and only briefly. I’m sure the last thing she wants is to sit next to a strange man, especially one her sister can’t stand, but I don’t really give a damn.
I slide my ticket to Gentry. “I’m in first class. Hurry before you miss the complimentary champagne.”
“Complimentary…? I’m not taking your seat, Levi.”
“Sure you are. I’m not such a monster that I’d make a child sit next to a sister she hates.” I look at Emily, who’s trying to catch Gentry’s attention. Probably to beg her not to leave her here with me. “And you’ll really love first class.” I give her elbow a squeeze and lean in close, breathing in the sweet, fruity scent of her shampoo as I whisper. “Go now before she works up the courage to argue.”
Gentry looks down at her sister, clearly torn.
“I promise,” I say. “I’ll be as nice to her as she deserves.”
Gentry’s expression shifts with new determination. “Be polite to Mr. Sullivan.”
“Gentry,” Emily says in a pleading tone. “You can’t—”
“I’m pretty sure I can. You’ve been telling me all day how much you’d rather have anyone but me as your guardian. Here’s your chance to try someone else.”
Emily’s pleading expression changes to one of pure rage, though there’s a bit of concern under the anger. “Fine. He can’t be any worse than you.”
Gentry pushes past me toward the front of the plane and first class. She pauses as she passes and leans in close to me. “If she’s too sick or if she’s mean to you, I’ll switch back.”
“I’m the youngest of seven brothers, sweetheart. I can handle one fourteen-year-old girl.”
She laughs, but there’s little joy in it. “Oh, this is going to be fun.”
I stow my bag in the overhead compartment, keeping only a paperback with me. I don’t need anything else and am, in fact, looking forward to a break from being always reachable by phone or computer.
I slide in next to Emily and offer my hand. “Levi Sullivan. I don’t think we’ve officially met.”
She shakes my hand and pulls hers away quickly. “Emily Lendew. You don’t have to talk to me. I’m fine.”
Now, I have two options. I could read my book and ignore Emily, which is clearly what she wants. Gentry will get an enjoyable break in first class, and maybe she’ll be feeling better when the plane lands.
But that doesn’t feel like enough.
“Oh, no. We’re definitely going to talk,” I say. “How long we talk depends on how forthcoming you are.”
She stuffs her earbuds in her ears, crosses her arms over her chest, and stares out the window as the plane starts to move. “You can talk. I don’t have to answer.”
This section of the plane is just two seats wide, so there’s no one directly next to me and no one else on the plane is paying attention to us. I pluck the earbud from one ear and, when she turns to look at me, mouth agape in shock, I pull out the other one. While she watches in utter disbelief, I stuff them in my pants pocket. “You can have these back when I’m done talking to you.”
“Those are mine,” she says, face twisting with a concern that’s bordering on tears. “You can’t do that.”
I shrug. “Looks like I just did.”
She glares at me so hard I’m pretty sure a few brain cells just keeled over and died. “I’m going to tell Gentry. She’s going to—”
