The agent smiles at that and prints out new boarding passes. “Okay, I’ve moved her so you’re both in first class. 2A and 2B.”
“You’re a lifesaver.”
“Just don’t tell my boss I did this.” She winks. “And tell your girlfriend she’s lucky too.”
“Will do. Thank you so much.”
I walk back to Juliette and hand her the new boarding pass. She looks at it. Looks at me. “This is first class.”
“Yep.”
“I didn’t book first class.”
“I know. Come on, security’s going to be a nightmare.”
“Rodriguez—”
“JuJu. Let me do nice things for you. It’s part of the boyfriend package.”
She opens her mouth like she wants to argue, then closes it. “Fine. But you didn’t have to do that.”
“I know. I wanted to.”
At security, I let her go first and watch the TSA agent do a double-take when he sees her. Yeah, buddy. I know. She’s gorgeous.
Once we’re through, I steer us toward a coffee shop. “You want anything?”
“Coffee. Largest they have and as much cream and sugar as you can fit.”
I order two large coffees and pay before she can even think about arguing about it. When I hand her the cup, our fingers brush and she takes it like it’s a lifeline.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.” I check my phone. “We’ve got about forty-five minutes before boarding. Want to sit or?—”
“We should probably talk about our story. Get it straight before we land.”
Right. The story. I’ve been so focused on just getting her to say yes that I haven’t actually thought about the details.
“Okay. How did we meet?”
“At the facility. That’s true enough.”
“When did we start dating?”
She thinks about it. “January. Recently enough that my family won’t be surprised they haven’t heard about you, but long enough that bringing you to the wedding isn’t weird.”
“Works for me. And what time’s your return flight? I should book the same one so we fly back together.”
She pulls out her phone and shows me her itinerary. “This one. Leaves at noon.”
I look at the date.
Then I look again.
“JuJu.”
“What?”
