Mile High (Up in the Air #2)(6)

I heard a familiar voice behind me. “These are Mr. Cavendish’s guests. I’ll walk them in.”

I turned, giving a surprised smile to Clark. I inwardly cringed, thinking of the last time he’d seen me.

I’d been a complete mess, running into traffic like a maniac. But it wasn’t his fault he’d seen me in that state, so I tried to greet him as though it hadn’t happened. “How are you, Clark?” I asked.

He smiled at me warmly. He seemed genuinely pleased to see me. “Just great, Ms. Karlsson. I’m very happy to see you looking so well.”

I just nodded, automatically shying away from the subject of what had made me so un well recently.

Clark led us through the dimly lit lounge, heading straight to the small VIP section.

I sighed.

Of course James would be in VIP, but it kind of defeated the whole purpose of us being here, socializing with co-workers.

Sure enough, we were no sooner seated than Stephan was bouncing back up, spotting a friend of ours across the room. It was our friend, Jessa. I hadn’t seen her in over a month, and I really did want to say hi.

I saw quickly that James was nowhere to be seen.

I sent Clark an apologetic glance. “Thanks for showing us to the table, Clark, but I see someone I want to chat with. Where is James?”

Clark looked uncomfortable. He was even fidgeting with his tie. The nervous gesture seemed very uncharacteristic for him. “In the car, finishing up some phone calls. I’m pretty sure he didn’t think you’d be so prompt, or I know he would have wrapped his business up by now.”

I just nodded and headed over to where Stephan and Jessa were hugging in greeting. She saw me and gasped. She gave me a hug that was hard enough that I had to hide a little gasp. My ribs were still a little tender, if they were pressed just wrong. She’d hit just the wrong spot with her exuberant squeeze. I hid my reaction and returned her hug.

“It’s so good to see you looking better,” Jessa gushed. “I’m sorry I couldn’t come by the hospital or visit you before. Thing’s have been crazy lately, and I didn’t hear about anything until you were leaving the hospital. And I was out of town at the time.” She glared at Stephan. “Stephan here kept it under wraps. Even from me.”

“Please, don’t give it a thought. In fact, let’s never talk about it again. How’ve you been? Where have you been flying this month?” I asked her.

Jessa was from our flight attendant class. She was a tall brunette, nearly my height, with lovely brown eyes and the warmest smile. She was one of my favorite people. When possible, we tried to meet up with her at least twice a month to catch up. She had a great sense of humor, and loved to go out. Even Stephan was a homebody compared to her.

She was flipping her thick, curly hair behind her shoulders as she told us a story about some passenger on her last flight who’d tried to smoke in the bathroom and then lie about it. She was getting agitated just relating the story about the shameless lies the old man had tried to get away with.

I had to hide a smile. She was always getting agitated with the crazies. And her sassy way of dealing with them was just good comedy.

A cocktail waitress in a mini skirt and corset promptly approached us and got our drink orders. Stephan was drinking house cabernet. I stuck with water. I was off of alcohol, especially if James was attending.

He abhorred the stuff.

I spotted Brenda by the bar, and waved. She joined us, smiling.

“We missed you guys this week,” she said in greeting.

“Cindy and Lars are great, though, right?” I asked, smiling. The couple we had traded with were notoriously fun to work with.

“Oh, yeah, those two are a blast. We still missed you, though.” She pursed her lips. “Jake and I, I mean.”

We shared a wry smile. I didn’t have to ask why she had left out Melissa’s name. The other girl was acting more and more unhinged every time I dealt with her. I had known she wouldn’t miss us.

She noticed my jewelry. “That is the loveliest necklace and earrings. So unique.”

I fingered my choker, thanking her.

“Did your husband come?” I asked, glancing around. He often came with her to work functions, and sometimes even joined her on layovers.

“No, he didn’t get off of work until six, and he says he’s beat. I probably won’t stay long. It’s just so hard to miss out on an opportunity to see so many of the flight attendants that I rarely get to see. We should organize these parties more often.”

Jessa agreed with her heartily, and they chatted about trying to do just that for a solid ten minutes.

Jake joined us amidst their plans, hugging everyone while managing to seem interested in the current conversation. I hugged him back lightly. I had had a hard time with the flight attendant hugging situation right at first, but the custom had grown on me. When you had close friends that you only got to see once a month in passing, a hug seemed appropriate. Though everyone, even not so close friends, seemed to insist on the habit. I just went with it now. No one else understood my hangup, I knew. So I had just learned to keep it to myself.

A tall, slender, dark-haired man approached Stephan from behind, clapping him on the shoulder in greeting. The man leaned in close to Stephan’s ear, whispering something. Stephan seemed to blush down to his toes.

I watched the whole thing as if in slow-motion, my jaw dropping in shock.