Page 54 of Here We Go Again

My seat is the only empty one in first class—the aisle seat in the very last row. Fortunately, there’s still room in the overhead bin, so I shove my duffle inside and turn to sit down. But then I pause, heart climbing into my throat.

“Becca?” I say, and she looks up. She’s sitting a few rows back in Economy.

Her eyes widen. “Theo? What are you doing here?”

“You need to take your seat, sir,” the flight attendant says from behind me.

I nod and sit down, then twist around in my seat. It’s harder to see Becca from here, but then she leans into the aisle, hands lifted like she can’t quite believe we’re on the same plane.

That makes two of us.

“Why are you going to Tampa?” she asks.

“I’m going to see my⁠—”

The flight attendant clears her throat.

“I’m sorry,” I say, lifting my eyes to meet hers. I offer her my most charming smile. “Can I just step back there for a quick second?”

She gives me a look, like she’s considering against her better judgment, then she finally cracks and smiles. “Be quick,” she says. “We’re taking off soon.”

I stand and quickly move back to where Becca is sitting, then crouch down in the aisle.

“I saw what you did up there,” she says, giving me a teasing look. “Charming your way past the flight attendant.”

I grimace. “It was for a good cause?”

Becca chuckles. “Like charming your way out of your Spanish final was a good cause?”

“It’s not my fault I had a hockey tournament that weekend. Besides, Señora Adler knew I would have gotten an A on that test.”

“Right. And why is that? Oh wait. It’s because you had such a brilliant study partner. Funny, though. She still had to take the final.”

“And is still salty about it eight years later,” I say.

Becca rolls her eyes. “Okay, but for real, what are you doing here?”

Before I can answer, the man sitting next to Becca shifts and clears his throat, holding up his phone. “Do you mind?” he says rudely. “I’m on a call.” The man is in a business suit, his dress shirt cutting into his very generous neck, and he looks like he’s about to pop three different veins in his forehead.

Becca shifts a little closer to me, moving even more of her body into the aisle.

I don’t know who the guy thinks he is, expecting the entire airplane to quiet down for his phone call, but I lower my voice anyway. “I’m going to see my mom,” I say. “It’s a weird story, but basically, she wants me to meet a guy? Someone she met online.”

She frowns. “You’re going to see your mom? That’s weird because I’m also⁠—”

The man beside her clears his throat again, louder this time, exaggerating his movements as he shifts his phone from one hand to the other.

I stand to my full height and hold out my hand to Becca. “Come here for a sec?”

Wordlessly, she unbuckles her seatbelt and steps into the aisle. At the back of the plane, the flight attendants are moving through the cabin, closing the overhead bins, which means we’re almost out of time.

I walk her up to first class. “Here. Take my seat,” I say. “I’ll sit next to that guy.”

Her eyes widen. “No. Absolutely not. I can’t let you do that.”

“I’m not leaving you to sit with him, Bec.”

She bites her lip, glancing from my seat back to hers. “Then let’s give him your seat. And you can sit next to me.”