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“How long is the flight?”
“About seven hours.”
“What do you do up there in the cockpit the whole time? I mean, I know you fly the plane…but seven hours is a long time staring out at the sky.”
He shrugged. “I like it. It’s the only place I’ve ever really felt relaxed.”
“You must do a lot of thinking.”
“Sometimes. It depends on who I’m flying with. Some co-pilots are like me and keep it quiet. Others talk non-stop. When I get one of those, I usually take a nap.”
My eyes bulged. “You nap while flying the plane?”
Carter chuckled. “I do. But don’t worry. We take turns. The airline frowns upon both pilots sleeping at the same time.”
“Can I see the cockpit?”
“There’s nothing more that I would rather do than show you my cockpit. I thought you’d never ask.”
Carter had my boarding pass on his iPhone along with his orders, so we didn’t need to stop for check-in. We breezed through the employee security line and stopped at the food court for some coffee and breakfast. I gave Carter my order and went to the ladies room.
When I came back, I found Carter sitting at a table with a tray. Only he wasn’t alone. A gorgeous brunette was sitting across from him. Figures. She was wearing the same navy colors as he was, another flight attendant groupie I assumed.
She looked me up and down when I arrived at the table, blatantly sizing me up. Carter stood and pulled out my chair. “Kendall, this is Alexa Purdy. We work at International Airlines together.”
The woman showed me her perfect teeth. Considering my parents had also spent a fortune in endodontic care; I smiled bigger. “Nice to meet you, Alexa. Are you on Carter’s flight today?”
“I am. But it’s actually my flight Carter’s on, not the other way around.”
Carter explained. “I’ll be the co-pilot today. Alexa is captain, the pilot in charge. It’s her route I’m filling in on today.”
“Oh.” I wasn’t crazy about the woman when I thought she was a gorgeous flight attendant. Knowing that she was smart and going to be locked in a small room with Carter today, I immediately disliked her.
Carter was watching me. “I didn’t know Alexa had relocated and moved out of the states. We haven’t flown together in years.”
He might have been trying to reassure me, but Captain Purdy clearly had other ideas. She batted her eyelashes at Carter. “It’s been too long. We have a lot to catch up on. Remember how much fun we used to have on long flights together when we were reserve pilots?”
Carter coughed. “Alexa and I started out as reserve pilots, taking whatever flights we could get. So did her husband, Trent. How is Trent? Been a long time since I ran into him.”
“He’s great. Last I heard he was doing the Milan route and sleeping with a ninety-pound model he met on a flight.”
“You’re separated?”
“Divorced.”
“Sorry to hear that,” Carter said.
Alexa touched his arm and cooed, “Don’t be. The divorce was my idea. I like my freedom. Being tied down made flying the friendly skies drastically unfriendly.”
Luckily, we didn’t have too much time to waste over breakfast, because if I had to witness one more flirtation, or hear one more story of their good old times, I might have lost it. I wasn’t generally a jealous person by nature. I always felt like it was a waste of time and energy to worry about
what others had and I didn’t. But for the first time, I was thinking maybe the reason for my lack of jealousy before was there was nothing I really wanted enough to be jealous of.
We didn’t shake off Alexa until we were almost at the gate. Luckily, she got a call and told Carter she’d meet him on board before excusing herself. Still being careful to discreetly touch me in public, Carter steered me down a hallway near the bathroom for some privacy.
He raked his fingers through his hair. “I’m sorry about that. I had no idea she was my co-pilot. I haven’t seen her in years.”
It was masochistic for me to ask the question, but I couldn’t stop myself. “Did you two, used to…”
