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Ihadn’t been on aplane in over two years. Flying was a relic of my old life, something I did in New York, but hadn’t needed to do since moving back to Cincinnati and adopting my work-from-home-and-also-my-own-boss entrepreneurial lifestyle. Technology simply filled the void, allowing me to conduct interviews and create content without having to be in-person for the assignment. While that was good, it had also given me a smidge of anxiety—I wanted everything about this trip to go right.
Neededit to go right.
I shifted my weight in the cramped seat in the main cabin of the airplane. According to the flight tracker app on the screen in front of me, the plane would land in less than ten minutes, dropping me in Florida for the first time since my childhood. As we neared the ground, anticipation grew in my stomach. There was so much riding on this.
Almost too much.
“What brings you to the Sunshine State?” asked the white-haired man seated next to me. He wore a green polo shirt, a pair of khaki pants, and a navy blazer. I wondered if he planned to head to the golf course after the plane arrived in West Palm Beach. If so, he was lucky. It would be nice to have a life of leisure like that.
“Business,” I mumbled through my mask. After wavering on the drive to the airport, I decided to wear one of the surgical ones I kept in the glove box of my Toyota Corolla. Getting sick was one of the last things I wanted to happen on this trip—there was too much at stake, and this was too big of an opportunity. Besides, I didn’t feel 100 percent comfortable on planes, despite what studies and airlines said about cleanliness and recirculated air. “Just business.”
“Well, hopefully, you get to have some fun while you’re here. There’s no place like South Florida.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. Florida was almost always in the news, but never for good reasons. Sky-high rent, crazy criminals, and overall strangeness dominated the headlines about the state, and the southern tip of it seemed like a catchall for most of the nutcases. “Haven’t been to Florida in...forever.”
I wasn’t sure a trip to Disney World counted as real Florida. Still, I enjoyed that vacation, and it was one of the better memories I had with my parents, right down to the pineapple whip and the numerous rides on Space Mountain. They made a lot of effort, booking a hotel at the resort, Dad making sure I got autographs from all my favorite characters. I smiled at the memory.
“We’re happy to have you back,” the man said.
“Thanks,” I replied. “I’ve read Palm Beach is really nice.”
“Believe me, I...” His jaw went slack and he leaned forward so he could see outside the window next to my seat. Unlike me, he did not wear a mask. “There it is.”
“What?”
“That. Check it out.”
I turned to the window in time to see the coastline coming into view as the plane approached the airport on a path from the Atlantic Ocean. A stunning seaside of beachfront homes came into view, their candy-colored roofs painting the shore as the frothy surf lapped the sand. Each one was larger than the last, and even from above, the extravagant display of wealth was obvious. This wasn’t the usual beach town.
“See?” The man pointed at a sweeping property next to one of the bridges uniting the beachfront with what I guessed counted as downtown West Palm Beach. “I wondered what it looked like. Damn, it’s huge from up here.”
“What is?” I turned back to the view, but by then the seashore had passed underneath us.
“Landon Sparks’s new place.” He jerked his chin in the direction of the window. “Got it a year ago, I think. One of the biggest places on the island.”
“I read that.”
“Sea to lake. Not many of those. He had to buy a couple of properties to pull that off and go through the town council. Big fight.”
“You sound like you know a lot about it.”
He laughed. “They’re particular. Didn’t like the plans.”
“Is that so?”
“It was a big to-do down here. He got his way, though.”
“Why am I not surprised? He’s one of the richest men in the world.”
“He’ll betherichest soon enough.” The man took his phone from the seat pocket in front of him. “Never thought I’d join Chatter, but after Landon bought it and said he wanted to make the platform more inclusive, I did.”
I was thankful for the cloth hiding the automatic, reflexive sneer that drifted across my face. This was one of the things I planned to address during the trip—Landon’s uncanny ability to attract a certain number of “fans,” people who seemed to idolize him because of the mythology surrounding Sparks Innovation. The man sitting next to me was obviously one of those.Yes, I need Landon’s take on this aspect of his life.
“Chatter is aninterestingplace,” I tried.
“You’re on there too?”
I gave a reluctant nod.
