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“Fine, I’ve had some bad flying experiences I’d rather not relive,” she said through clenched teeth. Then she nervously bit her lip.
“I can understand that. Want to hear about my experiences? You know, as a distraction?” I offered.
I didn’t normally speak about my time in the service with civilians; most would never be able to understand what I did, and a lot of it I couldn’t discuss with them anyways. But I’d talk about almost anything if she’d train those piercing blue eyes on me. I’d like to distract her from her fear.
“Go ahead, gentle giant,” she said. She continued to look straight ahead at the back of the seat in front of her. The nickname she gave me was eerily similar to what Christine and occasionally Jasmine called me. It made my heart ache and my chest flutter at the same time.
I didn’t know what came over me, but I said the most suggestive thing I could before I stopped myself. “Hah, I see what you did there. Trust me, I am far from gentle,” I said with a wink. I knew she saw it out of the corner of her eye because her face tinged slightly pink.
“One time I was in a helicopter, don’t ask where, I can’t tell you, and it was falling from the sky. The pilot was struggling to gain control after a malfunction. Want to talk about white knuckling it? The pilot regained control only ten seconds before we would have had to bail in order to stand a chance at surviving. This was in a hostile territory, so there was always the chance of getting shot right out of the sky as we were maneuvering.”
“Wow,” she said, her eyes wide like she had imagined the whole scene in her head. Like she wasn’t in this plane experiencing minor turbulence, but in a helicopter quickly losing control.
“Yeah, I said a lot more in the moment, but I don’t think other passengers would appreciate my reenactment. I have a very large vocabulary of curse words, and man did they come flying out during that free fall, and most of the rest of our mission.”
She chuckled at my words. I saw some of the tension leave her hands and her neck, which had been strained with tension. Her shoulders lowered just slightly, which told me that laughter had helped her. I could certainly keep her laughing, although I was no Yates. He’d have had her laughing so hard that she cried.
“There’s no way you’d survive something like that to perish in some minor wind, right?” she asked.
“Not without a hell of a fight,” I said with a wink.
“And you know how to parachute from this thing?” She sounded skeptical.
“Of course I do.” I pretended to be insulted that she questioned that.
“Okay, good. If this bitch goes down, I call dibs on you as my jump partner,” she said. The woman on the other side of the aisle shot her a look because of her language. I laughed at the eavesdropper’s shrewd face.
“Yes, we’ll buddy up.”
Just then the turbulence stopped, and the seatbelt light turned off.
Abby ordered a drink from the stewardess who came back up the aisle, and I passed. I needed to keep a clear head going into this assignment. I’d allow myself tomorrow night, and the night after, but I’d keep a clear head for the rest of the trip, and that meant today. I had planned on scoping out the island once we landed, before I checked in. I always liked to know my surroundings, and Google Maps couldn’t replace having your feet on the streets. Abby had me reconsidering my plans for the last thirty minutes.
“So what do you do for a living now?” Abby asked after the stewardess brought her drink. She sipped on it as she waited for my answer.
“I’m kind of between jobs right now,” I answered. I hoped she’d accept the half truth and let it go, but I doubted I’d be that lucky.
“Boo. What kind of jobs do you normally work?” she asked with another raised eyebrow. Those things had been getting a workout during our conversation.
“Uh, private security,” I answered.
“Oh, for anyone I’d know?” she asked me.
I simply shook my head. I was not opening any cans of worms with this woman. She was way too nosy for her own good, but that did nothing to squash my attraction to her.
“That’s a shame,” she said with a tsk, then she took another sip of her drink.
“What do you do for a living?” I asked.
“I’m a fitness instructor,” she said, almost too quickly. It was as if she had expected me to ask her, so she could give her pre-planned response. Most people did that when they lied, but who was I to judge? I was withholding my current job. Neither of us really owed the other the truth.
“Is that fun?” I asked her.
“Lots.”
I felt my phone vibrate in my hand. I had paid for the inflight wifi.
“Excuse me, I need to take this call,” I said to Abby as I stuck my earbud back in.
