Thank you to Brett J for being my editor
This story was written with my brother in mind, however all events are fictional.
God, she hated flying. But this trip was essential to her job. If she landed this account she would get a healthy raise and the corner office. But almost 32 hours on a frickin' plane was ridiculous. Granted she had a 14 hour layover in Honolulu, so technically she would only be in the air for a little nearly seventeen hours {if you included the stops in Atlanta and LA}, but good gravy! She was going to sleep for a week when she got back! She had a three-hour time slot to deliver her presentation to Anderson and Associates in Sydney on Monday morning... local time. Which was... her brain hurt... around dinnertime Sunday back in Baltimore. She would leave her hometown on a Friday morning for a three-hour meeting and not be back for five and half days. God, she hated flying.
Sabrina had taken the window seat, as she always did. She would know exactly when they were about to taxi down the runway. She watched out the window as the plane reversed slowly and then proceeded at a crawl towards the runway. Her breath grew more labored and she knew the time was near. As the plane made its final turn and the engines roared to life she held onto the armrests with a death-like grip.
Matt watched the woman out of the corner of his eye. She was obviously terrified of flying, but wore a business suit of sorts. He could see her light blue silk blouse beneath the gray blazer and her short gray skirt to match was halfway up her thighs. He looked appreciatively at her long legs and then at her tiny feet encased in gray low-heeled pumps. Her auburn hair was loose in curls around her face and her eyes were shut tight. The grip she had on the armrest told him that she was not a seasoned traveler as he was. He felt the roar of the engines as they sped down the runway. He sincerely hoped she would be getting off in Atlanta and he wouldn't have to cringe at the thought of her perfectly manicured hands leaving dent marks in the steel armrests all the way to LA. Matt noticed however, that the higher the plane got, the blood returned to her face and her grip lightened. As the flight attendants began milling around in preparation for serving snacks, she let go completely, reached into her carry-on bag at her feet and retrieved a book. She began to read and she crossed her right knee over her left leg as if nothing was wrong.
He stood up himself and got out his laptop from the overhead bin. It was a short flight to their first stop in Atlanta, but there were things he could be doing.
Liar,
he told himself.
You're on vacation Matt!
He was going home for the first time in three years for his sister's 22nd birthday and his grandmother's eightieth. Tutu was advancing in years, but she was still spry in actions and had the mind of a woman a quarter of her age. She and Jennifer could debate anything from politics to religion to evolution. And usually Tutu won, Matt smiled softly to himself. It would be good to see his family again. He had been working too hard in New York these past few years, but it had paid off. He was a junior partner now in the advertising agency located in Manhattan, just blocks from his high-rise apartment. The bustle of the city was extremely different from his upbringing on Kauai. He thrived on the stress and high pace, which was why he had excelled in advertising. He had told his boss that he would stop in at the Baltimore office on Thursday to check things out there. Rumors were flying that Matt would soon be in control of that office at the young age of twenty-six. He wasn't sure if he wanted to leave the hustle and bustle of New York City. After his afternoon appearance at the Baltimore office, he grabbed a hotel room and then this morning flight: the official start of his vacation.
She noticed the young man sitting in the aisle seat only when he got up to get his laptop from the overhead compartment. He was young, twenty-five or so, with short light brown hair. His complexion was darkly tanned as if he spent a lot of time outdoors; or in this case, in the middle of winter, in a tanning bed. Sabrina kept reading her book, paying him no attention until he asked if he could use the center tray table since no one was between them. "Sure!" she said. "No problem." He wasn't dressed in business attire, but his laptop and files definitely gave her that impression. She turned back to her book and read for the rest of the two-hour flight to Atlanta.
As the flight attendants took their seats to prepare for landing, Sabrina tucked her book away in the pocket of the seat in front of her and prepared herself for terror once again. She hated flying. No. That wasn't really true. She didn't mind the in-the-air part. It was the take-offs and landings that scared her to death. She closed her eyes and held on for dear life as the plane touched down and the air brakes screamed.
Stop! STOP!
STOP!
She cried out internally.
The runway is ENDING!
Gradually the plane slowed to a crawl to taxi its way to the terminal. The layover here would be brief, so she retired to her book once again.
The plan was filling up with passengers and soon voices were permeating her mind, taking her away from her romance novel.
"Oh dear," a woman with a soft southern drawl stated. "It looks like we'll be separated."
"I'll take Maggie and Denny here with me," her husband said. "And you sit behind us in the middle seat there." Her husband was pointing to the middle seat next to Sabrina.
"Pardon me, ma'am," the young man in the aisle seat in her row started. "If you want the aisle to be closer to your family, I'll sit in the middle."
"Oh, you're a doll!" she squealed and Sabrina internally rolled her eyes. "We're on our way to Disneyland and the children are so very excited!"
Indeed they looked it. Maggie, about four, was fighting with her brother Denny, probably six, about who would have the window seat. The father settled the argument by taking the window seat himself. The two young children sat silent and unmoving in their seats, more than likely fuming with anger and disappointment, which was a relief to Sabrina. She would have disliked hearing their fighting and feeling the cabin around her move with their tantrums in their seats.
Matt moved to the middle seat next to the auburn beauty, but she paid him no mind. She was immersed in her book.
Jane Feather,
he mused. She was a romantic. He took the opportunity to surreptitiously look at her face and could see her eyes were bright blue when they weren't clamped shut. She was a very attractive woman with her auburn curls and slim features. She was perhaps ten years or so older than he was. As the plane doors closed and it began its reverse roll towards the runway, Matt made sure his hands were in his lap. She had returned her book to the pocket in front of her. He feared she might grab onto him during takeoff as she had when they had taken off in Baltimore and when they had landed in Atlanta.
Sabrina watched through the window again and as the plane made its last turn, she leaned back, closed her eyes tightly and gripped the armrests once again. The engines roared in her ears trying to gain speed.
Get Up! GET UP!
GET UP!
The runway is ending!
Suddenly she felt a warm, large hand closing gently over her own and knew it was the young man in the middle seat. She didn't dare open her eyes just yet, but his hand over hers was alarmingly reassuring.
As the plane began to level off high in the air, she relaxed and opened her eyes. She turned towards the young man to offer her thanks. He glanced into her eyes and for the first time she saw his face clearly... it was Steven.
She tried to look away, but his eyes bore into her own, searing her soul. "Are you all right, miss?" he asked.
Sabrina couldn't breathe. "Y-you look like someone I used to know. I'm sorry."
"No worries," he flashed a brilliant smile at her. It was the same phrase her brother had used when he would chuck her on her chin and then gather her in a bear hug. Her eyes stung with unshed tears. Her older brother had always made her feel like there wasn't a care in the world... nothing would happen to her that he couldn't fix. Except when he had been killed in action in a useless war. Her heart broke, and Steven wasn't there to fix it. It was eerie how much this young man looked like her brother had the last time she had seen him.
She had seen him off at the airport that day in Denver. She was eighteen and in her freshman year of college. She expressed her concern about his going to Iraq. He chucked her on the chin, gathered her into his arms and hugged her tight as he had said "no worries." He released her and headed down the ramp to board the plane, waving and smiling back at her. They were the last words she'd ever heard from him. He was dead six days later when his helicopter had been shot down.
Her father had died of a broken heart less than a year later and her mother lost touch with reality. Mom had been hospitalized for five years before she too joined her husband and beloved son in death.
He could tell he had startled her and even as she retrieved her book again, she was still shaken. She said he had looked like someone else. He shouldn't take it personally and yet for some reason, Matt did. Whenever Matt tried to diffuse a tense situation at work he always used his humor and wit. Ninety-nine percent of the time it worked in his favor. Would it work now? He leaned over and whispered into her ear, "The butler did it."
Sabrina was startled again at his words and flushed. Then she laughed with him and stared into his pale blue eyes, so like her brother's. Her heart skipped a beat as she confessed, "I think you might be right." Her flirtatious wink was spontaneous and she blushed again.
He extended his hand, as he turned sideways to see her more clearly. "I'm Matt. Business taking you to LA?"
"Sabrina," she answered. As she took his hand, it was warm, soft and yet she felt a thrill at his touch. A sort of connection between them... like the sense of peace she had felt upon takeoff when his had had been placed reassuringly over her own. It was ridiculous, she knew. "Business yes, but I'm afraid I'm going a lot further than LA," she laughed. "I change plans in Los Angeles, hoping my connection is on time, and then head to Honolulu where I am detained for fourteen hours." At that thought she rolled her eyes. "From there I am on to Sydney for a nine am Monday morning business meeting."
Matt's eyes lit up with delight. His beautiful seat mate would be his traveling companion all the way home to Hawaii. That is, if they had they same connecting flight in Los Angeles. "What do you do that you are flying halfway around the world?"
"I-I'd rather not say," she stammered. She wasn't embarrassed by her job, she liked it very much, but her boss had told her specifically that this trip was on the QT. If they could land this account, her company would be one of the top ones in the country.
