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“Business,” I mumbled. I hate talking to people on planes. The chatty types know they’ve got you cornered and unless you pretend to be asleep, they abuse your captivity.
“Business,” he said, nodding and squinting a little. “By the way, I’m Mart Jarrett.” He shook my hand and fished in his suit pocket for a business card. “Here you go. What did you say your name was?”
“Emma.”
“Nice to meet you, Emma.”
“Likewise Mart.” I looked at his card. He was a Senior Managing Production Analyst. That sounded important, but not important to me.
“Let me guess,” he said, tapping my tray table, “you’re going to be an actress, right? You’re going to be on some new TV show.”
If we weren’t on our way to Los Angeles I might have been a little impressed. “Nope,” I said.
“Hmmm. You’re a pharmaceutical sales rep.”
“Close, but no. Good try though.”
“You’re in some kind of sales, though. Right?”
“What makes you say that?”
“Well, you’re attractive, and you like to drink.”
“Listen, I need to get some sleep. Nice talking to you.”
“Marketing?”
I shook my head, sliding my padded sleep mask that says Princess down over my eyes. Before I knew it, I was dreaming. Bellamy and I were shopping at an outdoor market. Only he kept turning into Pete. Somehow, they were the same person. My ears were hurting and I couldn’t choose whether I wanted to be with Bellamy or Pete, but since they were the same person, I realized I could have them both. Next we were on a bus. Bellamy had turned into Pete again, and I realized I was glad. I hoped he would stay Pete and not turn back into Bellamy. We were walking through the desert holding hands. I was so thirsty and my ears hurt so much! Then we were getting jostled around. We were back on a bus, rambling through the desert. We were going to crash!
I awoke to discover that we had landed and people were already standing up, gathering their luggage.
“You really passed out,” said Mart.
“I guess I did,” I said.
“You were mumbling. You sounded really distressed.”
“Oh, really? I’m fine now.” My head was swimming. How many drinks had I had? I started fixing my makeup since I’d been warned that I would be met at the airport by people from the show. I looked awful! The sleep mask had totally smooshed my eye shadow and mascara. I glanced up and saw the seats in front of me rapidly cleared out. Time was running out! I tried to discreetly pick some spices out of my teeth. Those must have been from way back at the airport bar where I got that really zesty Bloody Mary. Wow, was I a disaster. I popped a mint.
“Bye,” said Mart. “Have a good stay.”
“Thanks. You too,” I said, staying put, working a brush through my hair. “Go ahead,” I said to the people behind me. I spritzed on some perfume and touched up my lip gloss.
“I’m afraid we’re going to need you to clear out,” said a flight attendant when I was the last one remaining on the plane. I had just dumped out my purse onto the seat beside me in an effort to locate my face powder. I was also trying to gauge whether I had time to apply false eyelashes.
“Oh. Me? Oh. Yes, of course.” I stood up, gathered my purse contents, stuffed everything into my carry-on, and stumbled out of the plane. It wasn’t long before I saw an annoyed looking man standing beside two beautiful women, holding a sign with my name on it. I drew in a deep breath, trying to pull myself together.
“Hello,” I said, holding out my hand, smiling brightly. “I’m Emma.”
“Hello, Emma. I’m Mitch. I’ll be escorting you ladies to your new home. So,” he said, looking around him at the other women, “now that Emma has joined us, we’re ready to go.”
“Hi,” said one of the women. “I’m Cashmere. You can call me Caj. Are you from Chicago too?”
“Uh huh,” I said. “Were you on that flight?”
“Yes. We both were,” she said, nodding at the other woman, who still hadn’t spoken. “That’s Nickie. She’s from Rockford.”
“And you’re both on the show as well?” I asked.
