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Besides, I had the means and money to do more than plain old courtesy. My version of plain old courtesy was sweeping us off for a private flight, a night in Austin, and a stay in a five-star hotel with an airtight confidentiality agreement.
“It’s the least I can do,” I replied. “Besides, I’ve wanted to get out of the city for a while, and what better way to do it than with company?”
She gave me a dry look, but the corner of her mouth twitching up gave her dead away; I held her arms. “Let a southern gentleman do what a southern gentleman does.”
“And what’s that?” She swayed closer, lashes fluttering seductively.
“Take you out to eat,” I replied, then tacked on, “…In a place where the thousand-count napkin cost more than Louboutin shoes.”
Rayna shook her head. “All right, cowboy, you can take me out in your fancy white jet.”
“Yeah,” I replied as I looped my arm with hers. “Cinderella’s white carriage got a major upgrade.”
Arm in arm, we took the stairs up to the plane, and when I reached the top step, I paused and pivoted to look over the tarmac. Something about this vantage point still got to me after ten years. It still felt like I was walking through a dream in many ways.
“…John?” Rayna’s voice was quiet and questioning.
I turned back, “Yeah.”
Her eyes darted to me and then out to Bennie, my pilot, standing still in her dark uniform at the doorway. Bennie, short Bettina Bongiovanni, smiled. “Hello, John.”
Even after fifteen years in the Airforce, her accent was still as thick as if she had stepped out of Sicily. I kissed her cheek. “Hello, Bennie, and thanks for coming up so soon. This is Rayna. Rayna, my pilot Bettina Bongiovanni, retired US Airforce and decorated veteran from the wars in Iraq.”
Rayna’s eyes widened. “Oh, my God. That’s…unspeakably impressive.”
“Thank you, dear,” Bennie replied. “And before you ask, because I can see it on your face, I am not back in the dear Mediterranean sipping cocktails and marinating in the sun because I’d go stark crazy doing nothing.”
Giggling, Rayna nodded. “I know the feeling.”
“Please,” Bennie said. “We’re all ready to fly.”
As we entered the plane, I watched Rayna look over the plush cream leather seat, the couch further down, and the bar fitted with deep mahogany wood and chrome lining. With the glass coffee table before it, the cabin looked more like a living room than a plane. As we sat, Frank, the sole flight attendant, came with a tray of two champagne flutes.
“May I offer you anything else before we depart?” he asked.
“Thank you, but no,” I said, taking one and then handing the other to Rayna. “We’re all set.”
She was looking everywhere and now was overwhelmed at the same time. “Thank you,” Rayna said softly. “This is all so incredibly beautiful.”
The seatbelt sign flashed overhead, and Bennie’s voice came through the speakers, rattling off the weather facts, flight time, and countdown to take off. I had told her not to mention the destination, something Rayna picked up and looked at me as we taxied down the runway.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
I sipped my champagne. “Trust me?”
“Yes,” she replied.
“Then lean back and enjoy the ride,” I said, kissing her cheek. “Believe me. You won’t be disappointed.”
* * *
The moon wasn’t high over Austin, but it didn’t matter. The sky was peppered with lights of every size and color, from the streetlights to the long strands of red rear view lights on the highways to the large golden ones on skyscrapers.
As we lowered to the airport, Rayna turned to me. “We’re in Austin, aren’t we?”
“Bingo.” I smiled while the plane taxied to a stop. “And we’re going to RibEye.”
“The most famous steakhouse in the county,” she replied. “No wonder you said their napkins cost more than Red Bottoms.”
