Page 2 of Buzzer Beater

A flight attendant stopped by and offered us a glass of champagne while we waited for the rest of the plane to board.

“Oh no, thank you.” I handed the glass back to the attendant.

She smiled. “Can I get you a Shirley Temple instead?”

I nodded. “Thank you.”

Elena leaned over me. “Actually, that sounds amazing.” She passed her glass over and the woman disappeared to the front of the plane. In an impossibly short time, she was back with two cute drinks.

“Thank you.” I smiled and popped the cherry in my mouth.

“So, this is how the other half lives?” Elena smirked over her glass and took a sip.

I shrugged. “I guess. It’s a little bit better than the economy seats.”

She swirled her drink in her glass and I caught that her nails perfectly matched her lipstick. That was a level of beauty preparation I’d never achieve. “I’m going to be paying off this trip for months, but might as well go big right?”

“I’ll toast to that.”

We clinked our glasses and settled in. She adjusted her seat and I reached into my bag for my phone.

I hadn’t looked at it for just a few minutes and I had nine emails. Great. At this rate I’d be buried by the time I got back to the office next week.

My assistant was checking my emails while I was gone, and he assured me several times he had a handle on everything. It’s not like we have earth changing jobs, but as a project manager I had many responsibilities . It was like conducting an orchestra, making sure each person was performing how and when they were supposed to.

“Hey, no more phones,” Elena said. “You’re on vacation.”

“Sorry.” I powered it off without reading a single email and dropped it back in my bag. “Work stuff.”

She nodded. “I understand. This is the first vacation I’ve taken in over four years, and my boss still had a fit about me leaving.”

“What do you do?”

“I’m a meteorologist.”

“Really?”

She laughed at my shock. “Yeah, I work for a network in LA.”

Of course, she did. Amber had always told me how smart her roommate was back in college and Elena was stunning. She was the perfect weather woman. It explained her perfect posture and the way her blonde hair fell around her shoulders like each strand knew exactly where it belonged.

Did I even brush my hair this morning?

I focused back on her. “That’s kind of amazing.”

She smiled. “Thanks. I really like it. I studied atmospheric science in school and no one understood why.” She shrugged. “I liked watching the weather channel when I was little and growing up in Texas was the best stage for seeing all the crazy, interesting weather patterns.”

I could picture her in front of a green screen elegantly explaining the sunny weather to Los Angeles. It fit.

“What about you? Where do you work?”

“Silicon Valley.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Tech company?”

“Yup. One of the thousands.”

Her lips turned into a grin. “I’m sure that’s interesting. Do you like living up north?”