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Sam and Meg started a conversation about her part in the company.
“Sam knows how to fly.” Liam leaned closer to Callie, her perfume saturating the air between them with a woodland meadow of floral tones.
Sam’s head turned to Liam. “I used to fly.” He sighed and crossed his arms. “I work as little as possible now. Just enjoying my remaining days and trying to forget my troubles.”
It wasn’t untrue, but knowing what the women were probably thinking, Liam glared at his brother, and Sam raised and lowered his shoulders.
The waiter delivered their meals, and everyone tasted their initial bites. Liam’s beef medallions with porcini tortellini and chanterelle sauce danced flavors of savory and salty in perfect harmony across his tongue.
“Flying’s not really something you forget, Sam,” Callie said before taking a bite of her fish. “This is good. How’s yours?”
Liam swallowed another bite. Her sincerity and ease lowered his guard. He lifted a forkful. “It’s delicious. Would you like to try a bite?”
Leaning forward, she grabbed his fork and pulled it to her mouth. “Wow. You definitely picked the better dish.”
There was a tiny drop of sauce on her lip, and he wanted to kiss it off. “Callie, I’m sorry about today.”
She licked the sauce, and he was even more jealous of her mouth. “So am I. But now your brother’s here and you need to concentrate on him and I’ll concentrate on getting all of us home.”
Meg fed Sam a piece of her crab. His brother wasn’t the settling down type, but Meg didn’t strike him as Martha Stewart herself.
“Sam isn’t…”
Callie’s hand rested on his leg, making him swallow hard.
He covered it with his hand, his heart pounding in his chest. “He isn’t excited about the flight back,” he finished.
“We’ll make sure he has his something special on the flight to keep him occupied.”
Liam chuckled and leaned to her ear, his nose skimmed the outside, and she sucked in a quick breath. “That might be one spunky Megatron Gilberto.”
Callie looked across the table and nodded her head. “No lap dances though.”
Liam burst out laughing. “I certainly won’t be adding that to my review on Yelp.”
“And we at Hera Aviation greatly appreciate that.”
Soon their plates were clean and everyone but Callie was finishing up drinks.
“So, tell me, Meg, the travel magazines and the toffee, how’d you know?” Liam asked.
“Trade secret.”
“Come on. I rarely post on social media and I’m a pretty quiet guy, so how’d you find out those things? I won’t tell anyone, and I honestly think it’s kind of cool how you make the flight distinct and special for each client without asking a single question.”
Sam nudged his shoulder into his and teased her, “Come on, Meg. Please.” He batted his eyes, and Meg rolled hers.
“Fine.” She set her margarita down. “Maybe you don’t post, Liam, but your family sure does. Your sister’s page included pictures of you last Christmas opening gifts. There was a stack of three tins of toffee by your feet by the time you were finished. I found a confectioner in Denver and had him make some. Travel magazines because the last two pictures you posted looking happy on social media were one in Colorado this past spring and before that one in Germany, years ago. I figured it was a good bet that you’d like travel magazines to plan out your next adventure or at least dream of adventure.”
Looking happy? That was the only part of that whole examination of his life that amazed him. Did he look miserable in the other pictures, and were those really the only two pictures he’d added to his social media for family and friends to see? He’d had more living in the last twenty-four hours than the last ten years.
“Wow. That’s cool. Have you been looking me up?” Sam asked.
“Yes, and I can’t find anything about you. It’s like you’re a ghost.” Meg seemed truly worried about this.
“I’m not a ghost. I liked being on this plane of existence without the connections to my past or the future. Social media tears people apart. It’s not a true connection, at least not to me.”
A phone started buzzing, and it took a few moments for everyone in the room and at the table to start pulling theirs out in recognition of what the noise was. Or perhaps they really didn’t want contact to the outside world, like Sam. Liam had to admit he was very okay with how his life was, right here, right now. But the sound was coming from Liam’s. He stared at the contact’s name as it buzzed away in his hand.
