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12: Selene
The wheels on my rolling luggage keep getting stuck as I walk into the airport. I’m already flustered, and my stupid suitcase isn’t helping. I completely forgot I was scheduled to go to a conference in Denver this week. I got a reminder email to check in for my flight last night and had to scramble to pack. How I managed to miss putting a three-day out-of-town conference on my calendar, I have no idea, but I’ve been frazzled ever since I realized I forgot.
I try to get my boarding pass, but of course the kiosk isn’t working. It tells me to see a ticketing agent. I stand in line for a while, hoping this isn’t going to make me late for my flight. I wonder if anyone else from work is on the same flight with me. I think several other people from the office should be going. I would have chatted with them about it yesterday, if I’d had any idea this was coming up today. I wonder why no one else mentioned it.
The ticketing agent gets my boarding pass sorted. I glance at it before I head toward security. That’s odd—why am I in first class? Brad’s assistant Scott booked the travel arrangements before Ronan bought VI. I can’t imagine Brad would have asked him to book me a first class ticket. I must have been upgraded.
There’s a long holdup in security. The line literally stops moving. I glance at the time. I’m getting dangerously close to being late for my flight. I thought I left the house with plenty of time this morning, but Seattle traffic is absurd.
Since I’m just standing in one place, I give my brother a quick call.
“Morning,” he says when he answers. It sounds like I woke him.
“Hi, Brax,” I say. “Sorry to call so early. Listen, I just wanted to let you know I have to go out of town for a few days. I have a conference and I completely forgot about it until last night. I’m at the airport now.”
“You should have told me,” he says. “I’d have driven you.”
“It’s okay, I used Uber,” I say. “Tell Kylie I’ll talk to her when I get back.”
“Sure,” he says. “We should get together for drinks.”
“Definitely,” I say. “I’ll be home Saturday, but I think my flight is pretty late.”
“Cool,” he says. “Text me when you land, and let me know if you need a ride home.”
I smile. Braxton isn’t nearly as big of a jerk as he thinks he is. “I will.”
Security finally starts moving, and by the time I get to the gate the plane is already boarding. I breathe a sigh of relief. At least I made it.
I board the plane and look at my seat assignment again. It’s definitely first class—row two, seat A. I stop in my tracks, staring at the man seated in seat B. It’s Ronan.
He stands and takes my suitcase.
“I can get that,” I say.
“I know,” he says, but he puts it in the overhead bin anyway.
His seat is on the aisle, so he moves aside so I can get by him, then takes his seat next to me.
“Morning,” he says with a grin, his dimple puckering.
I put my purse under the seat in front of me. “Morning. I didn’t realize you were going on this trip.”
“And I only realized the other day that we both were,” he says.
I look at him. “Did you upgrade my seat?”
He just smiles.
I shake my head. “That’s not fair to everyone else who’s coming.”
“No one else is coming,” he says. “It’s just the two of us.”
“What?” I ask. “That’s not right, I know there were others.” He didn’t cancel their trips so he could be alone with me, did he? He wouldn’t go that far. Would he?
“Mary in Sales called me yesterday,” Ronan says. “Both her kids have the flu, so she had to cancel. And there was one other person scheduled to come, but he quit when Brad left. I already had plans to attend, even before the VI sale went through. So yes, it’s just you and me.”
Three days in Denver with Ronan. Alone. Well, not really alone. We’ll be at a conference with thousands of people.
