I told Silas I was nearly broke, waiting for pay day, he would pay for me and I couldn’t have that. It was humiliating. As much as I wanted a burger and fries, it wasn’t happening.
“It’s plenty,” I said lightly.
But when our food came, Silas silently cut off the end of his chicken breast and placed it on my salad, then kept eating as if he hadn’t done it.
“Thanks,” I grumbled. But when he shot me a glance, I smiled and took a huge bite for him.
We were just finishing our meals when a cacophony of voices came from down the long hallway. My nerves ratcheted up as our captain placed his napkin on his plate and said, “I do believe those are the Marines on our flight. Silas.” He looked at his co-pilot, who nodded and stood. It was time for them to do the pre-flight checks, and for Marcelle and me to get the beverages in order.
I’m not going to lie. As we crossed the hall to the doors, my shoulders were back, and my hips sashayed like the four of us were walking in slow-mo for a movie. We looked straight ahead, giving off an air of importance, and I never glanced toward the soldiers. That was…until they all hooted at top volume and yelled, “Hey Harlow!” “Wassup Miss Robinson!”
Oh, my freaking gosh. I flushed from toes to scalp, and the whole crew looked over at the smiling soldiers, then at me. The captain’s eyebrow went up and I felt very judged. Marcelle laughed and shook her head at the captain as if it were no biggie. Then she winked at me and I gave her a grateful look.
Before we passed through the gate, I glanced back at the soldiers in their tan camo and black boots. Sure enough, Captain Shawn Fowler was front and center, big grin and blue eyes aimed right at me. I sent a shy smile and dorky wave before I slipped through the doors, feeling suddenly nervous about the flight. So much for playing it cool.
The ramp was freezing. We rushed down and onto the plane. I kept my jacket on through all of the preflight checks until it was time for passengers to begin boarding.
“Hey, Marcelle,” I said. “Do you mind if I do the announcements and you can do the presentation?”
She eyed me hard. As the senior flight attendant, she was supposed to have the cool job while I showed everyone how to buckle a seatbelt and put on the life vest and blow into the tube. I never minded because literally nobody watched, but I had a feeling I’d be getting plenty of attention today.
Marcelle shook her head with a teasing smile. “You’ve got this.”
“Pretty please?” I begged.
“Nope. Your fans want to see you.”
I groaned. “You’re so mean!” But it only made her laugh. She was still laughing as she took her place at the door to greet passengers. And I was still frowning as I scooped ice into the top container on the cart and filled the coffee carafe. It smelled heavenly, which slightly helped my nerves.
For the first time ever, I worried about how I looked as I did all of my duties. Was I slouching when I refilled the napkins? How big did my ass look when I bent down to get two trash bags out? Was my resting bitch face in full effect with a double-chin bonus? I plastered a smile on my face, feeling like a stiff, scary clown.
“Ay!” I stood too quickly, making the room spin when I heard Jerome’s voice. I raised my chin and smiled for real as he passed with his camo duffle bag.
I stood at Marcelle’s shoulder and greeted the soldiers as they boarded, but it was time for me to move to the back and make sure everyone was making smart use of overhead bin space. Some things seemed like they’d be common sense but trust me. They weren’t.
I slid into a space between two soldiers and made my way through, stopping to help an older man lift his roller bag and adjust it in the bin, then letting a woman know that she could not, in fact, hold her roller bag on the floor between her knees. I ignored the stink-eye she gave me and kept my fake smile plastered on.
“It has to go up, ma’am. Nothing can obstruct the walkways.”
“Walkways? What walkways?” she all but screeched. “There’s barely room for my own legs here!”
“Exactly, ma’am.” I