Chapter 37
Exiting Mei-Ling’s corporate office, I exhale a bittersweet sigh and amble toward the elevator. This may be my final parade through Aether’s professional plaza. Every step is heavy and slow. I’ve made my peace with Flight Club, that’s true, but losing Aether hurts somewhere down deep and sacred inside me like a medieval spear’s been driven through my heart. I know I’ll carry it with me—the wound, the scar. Hurts worse knowing I did it to myself. I guess wisdom can be both heavy and enlightening. Pam was right—telling all was the only way to resume control of my life Maybe I’m no better off now than I was before, but I’ve got my exit, and I’m waltzing out of here with all the integrity I can scrape together.
I’d hoped Mei-Ling would fight for me, or stand behind me in some way. But I put her in a crummy position. Sure, right now it’s only a suspension, but I can read between the lines. Although Mei-Ling will soon take away my most prized possession, she’s also given me something priceless: perspective.
I think it’s what Grady was trying to give me on the way to Zurich, but what I was still to blind to see. What Mama and Pam have always tried telling me but I refused to believe. Funny it took something this catastrophic for my vision to clear.
Ah, Zurich. I heave another sigh. At least I got to see it. I have so many places I still want to see. I do have over a month’s worth of bonuses left—maybe I can squeeze in another trip before I’m terminated.
First things first.
I step inside the elevator and call Mama. “Hey, it’s me.”
“Where y’at, cher?” Her voice is light and sweet. “I miss you.”
“DC. Pretty sure I’m about to lose my job.”
“What?” Her voice drops. “I don’t understand?”
Suddenly, I want to curl up at her side and tell her every last detail. The idea of going home now feels like something important. Like an identity, and I ain’t never felt that before.
“It’s a crazy story, Mama. You’ll die when you hear it. But I wanna come home first.”
“Okay, tell me when and I’ll pick you up at the airport. Home is where you’re always welcome, cher, you know that. When are you thinking?”
“Uh, today, actually.”
Thoughts of Nana’s house, and Mama’s home-cooked chicken-fried steak and corn pudding dance through my head. I almost can’t wait to get there. To think, all the years I’d held my hometown responsible for something only I had the power to determine. I shoulda stood up to them a long time ago.
The elevator doors open and I head through the lobby for the front of the building, passing through a giant skylit atrium.
“Mama,” I say into the phone. “Thanks for standing up for me back then. I used to blame you, but I don’t no more.”
“‘Where is this coming from?” she asks.
“Just been thinking about it. About you.”
“Aw, you’re having a crappy day, I know. But you can be sure I’ll never let no one push you around. Geez Louise, you think I didn’t deal with my own share of bullies and gossip in my day? Pam used to say rumors around the swampland scattered ‘cause people here are closed-minded. Maybe you did, too, for a while? Simple truth is, some folks so full of life, other people can’t help thinking about them and talking about them every free chance they get. But I did my best to make sure every one of our neighbors knew the Peagram-Silver women wouldn’t be pushed around.”
My Mama—she’s one of a kind—has her own special view of the world. All this time I was so eager to be like Pam and get out into the world, because I believed it would be bigger and better. And it was! Just not like I expected. Leaving home helped me see what I never could while I was there. Like not seeing the forest for the trees, I couldn’t see my roots, because I was always looking toward the sky.
“You’re gonna be just fine, cher. I’ve always known that. Have you told Pam?”
“Not yet. I wanted to tell you first.”
“Get your butt on a plane and come on home then.”
A simple contentment blankets me from head to toe. The girl’s headed back to the swamp.
At the building’s front, I push open one of the glass double doors and knock right into someone entering.
Oof!
My phone flies from my hand to the pavement outside. Dang, not again. I work up a glare for the bastard who probably just busted my phone.
My heart screeches to a halt.
Bright blue eyes stare back at me. That face! That beautiful man face tucked away in my memory vault.
In a light gray V-neck tee and dark green khakis, his longish hair combed to one side of his stubbled face. Chandler Graves.
“Zanne!” he says. “I’m so sorry, you okay?”
I gasp, because I can’t seem to recall the basics of the English language.
Chandler reaches down and picks up my phone, hands it to me.
I take it, still blinking. “Chandler… What… are you doing here?”
My pulse trots up my neck to my ears and breaks into full stampede.
“This is unbelievable.” Chandler’s Aussie voice filters in, along with that same woodsy cologne that jolts me with good vibes and internal organ acrobatics. “I’m here on a professional level, to get their permission to work with you, if you’re interested, that is. Never expected you’d actually be here.”
“You came all the way to Aether headquarters to find me?” My voice sounds less pleasantly surprised, and more, WTF is going on?
Chandler shrugs casually. “Yeah, wanted to go about it the right way. Thought this was less weird, and… I wasn’t sure if maybe you were a little creeped out by my personal commitment.”
“What?” He thought I was the one creeped out? “How would it?”
“Dunno, maybe it’s me who was spooked. Spooked by how much I wanted…” He blinks, swallows.
And I couldn’t possibly admire him more in this moment.
“It was unexpected,” I admit.
He half smiles and it’s hard to believe he’s as famous as he is.
“I can understand that.” He nods. “So remember the show idea I told you about? My board of producers want to explore it. Do you have some time to chat?”
Are you kidding me, universe? Now he wants to pursue this? Now that I’m about to be fired?
I gesture for him to move to the far end of the sidewalk. Chandler follows me to a small tree planted inside a black iron grate. My body’s buzzing with energy.
“Great to see you, by the way.” He briefly grazes my arm.
“Thanks, but your timing couldn’t be worse. I probably won’t have a job after today.”
“Get outta here, why?” His head tilts with concern.
“Geez, how long do you have?” I roll my eyes. Where would I even begin?
“I’ve got all day.” His brows arch.
And my shoulders fall with relief. “Really?”
“It’s what I came here for.” A grin stretches across Chandler’s suntanned face. “Not that I expected to actually run into you here, but since I did, I’m not about to ignore the stroke of luck.”
I search his face. Kismet, maybe? I can’t ignore that neither. “Sure, but if I’m about to be fired…”
“Zanne, this is even better.” Chandler squeezes my arm this time, staring as if waiting for something to dawn on me.
Pretty sure I’ve got nothing but butterflies.
“Look,” he continues, “if you don’t work for Aether anymore, you can come work with me.”
“What?” Hashtag: mind blown.
“On the show,” he says. “As a consultant. Full time, even. If you want. I’ll need someone to bounce ideas off of, and who better to work on a show about flight attendants than someone with behind-the-scenes experience. Your company won’t be liable if you don’t work there anymore.”
“Are you serious?”
Chandler nods slowly. “Totally. And, in all honesty, I may have a slight personal interest as well.” His smile gets all shy and boyish like. “But more than anything, I wanna hear your story.”
“My story?” I laugh. “My story might scare you.”
“You’re talking to a guy who dives with great whites. I don’t scare easily.”
I blink away a surge of excitement. My pulse is in my ears. What could a guy like Chandler do with a scandalous story like Flight Club? I suppose I don’t have to give him every single detail, but wouldn’t it be mind-boggling if somehow it opened up a new opportunity?
My eyes remain glued onto him like he may evaporate any moment.
“What d’ya say?” he asks. “Join me for coffee and a chat? You can, uh, let me know what it’ll take to convince you.”
I force down a rugged swallow. I did not miss his sexy innuendo. Seeing someone like him without sex would be new for me. But fact is, I ain’t never been one to shy away from adventure. It’s true there’s a lot Chandler don’t know, and a short time ago, I may’ve worried about what he’d think of me. Now, though, I know it only matters what I think of me, and I think I’d be a total moron to assume he and I are anything but like-minded equals. Kismet for the win.
“Point is,” he continues, “I’m here, so what have you got to lose?”
I can’t argue with that. I smile.
“Spend the day with me?” he asks, beaming.
I link my arm in his and we head down the sidewalk. “From one adventurer to another, my experience may be a little juicier than what you had in mind for a show—maybe it could even be a show in itself.”
“Juicy, eh?” Chandler’s voice lowers. “Tell me more. The juicier the content, the better the ratings.”
“Well, ratings are one thing I do know something about,” I say. “Apparently, this secret society has been around forever, but nowadays, a few crew members in the know call it Flight Club.”