Not Quite Dating(19)

Jessie plastered a forced smile on her lips and quickly slid into the backseat of the stretch limo.
Bedded lighting roped around the doors and seats. Eight or nine people could easily fit into the space. A minibar sat below a flat-screen television; a moonroof displayed the stars twinkling above.
When the front door closed and Jack pushed a button, lowering the glass separating her space from his, Jessie hopped into the seat closer to him. “You know, Jack, you’re crazy.”
“Nice, isn’t it?”
“Nice? It’s amazing.”
Jack pulled out of the drive and into what traffic milled about this late on a Saturday night.
“You were a guest at the hotel, and The Morrison takes care of their guests.”
“I was an impostor, and you know it,” she scolded as she ran her hand along the soft leather interior with a sigh.
“Darlin’, there is nothing about you that’s fake. Nothing!”


Chapter Five


Jack watched her from the rearview mirror. Jessie was grinning from ear to ear, pressing buttons and checking out the luxuries a limo provided. Adorable, there was no other way to describe it.
“Have you ever ridden in a limo before?” he asked, turning toward the airport.
“No, can’t say as I have. I can’t believe people live this way all the time.”
“Some do.”
“Can you imagine being able to do this anytime you wanted a ride?”
Jack swallowed and kept his eyes on the road. “I’ve met my share of silver-spooned kids…adults who have had access to limos all their lives. You’d be surprised how many of them are a lot like you and me.” He glanced in the rearview mirror to gauge Jessie’s reaction.
She shrugged her shoulders and petted the leather as if it were fur.
What would she think if she knew he had been riding in limos since before he was born? His dad couldn’t be there for him all the time, and he’d needed to get back and forth to school. A driver had been assigned to him and Katie at an early age. When junior high started, Jack asked his dad if the driver could drive a “normal” car so the kids wouldn’t get on him at school. Gaylord told him to cowboy up and set the kids right himself. He was a Morrison, and Morrisons had money. They spent it, too.
Jack took it upon himself to offer other kids rides all the time, ending the teasing and starting the party. In high school, Jack learned who his true friends were and who the moochers were. Mike, Tom, and Dean stuck; the others fell through the cracks.
“I guess anyone could get used to this. Lord knows I could.”
Jack smiled and wished he could record her words to use later, when he could tell her the truth about himself. “Is there wine back there?”
“Champagne.”
“If it’s OK with you, I can park by the runways and we can watch the jets take off through the moonroof.” The Morrison Hotel sat on the edge of the convention center, which was no more than four miles from the airport.
“Don’t you have to get this back?”
“No, there’s no one to drive her.” Jack pulled down the dark street where other people parked to watch the jets take off. Ontario still wasn’t overpopulated around the airport to the point where you couldn’t watch.
He found a good spot, killed the engine, and joined Jessie in the back. Once seated, he flipped the switch and opened the roof.
“Wow.” Her eyes sparkled.
Jack found the champagne and twisted off the metal covering. “Here,” he said, standing up to poke his head through the roof. He popped the cork and it flew into the bush. The sparkling wine started to bubble over, and Jessie let out a tiny scream.
“Here.” She thrust a towel at him before the beverage could spill onto the floor.
“Thank ya kindly, ma’am.”
Jessie laughed again and handed him a couple of glasses once he sat back down.
Jack poured her a glass, then filled his own before returning the bottle to the chilled bucket. He lifted his glass and said, “To new friends.”
“I can drink to that,” Jessie said before clicking her glass to his. She sipped the wine and relaxed back into the seat next to him. Her gaze moved to the roof to catch the bottom view of a jet taking off. “You know, I’ve seen people park here all the time, but I never once thought to do it myself.”
“It’s amazing how they keep those hunks of metal up in the air.”
“I don’t get it, either. I’m surprised there aren’t more problems with them.”
“It’s still the safest way to travel,” Jack said.
“I wouldn’t know. I’ve only been on a plane once.”
“Really?” That was hard to believe.
“I was twelve; Monica, my sister, was nine. Mom met some guy who told her he was visiting from Seattle. She’d fallen head over heels for him in the course of two weeks during the summer.”
“I take it your mom’s divorced.”
“A few times over,” Jessie told him, without even a hint of a frown on her face. She was obviously used to her mom’s ways. “Anyway, this guy gave her a line about how he’d love to be with her and us kids, but he couldn’t live in Southern California. He had a business in Seattle to run anyway. He couldn’t ask her to leave here and drag us girls up north…blah, blah, blah.”
“Then what?”
“Mom bought us tickets, packed our bags, and took us to Seattle.” She shook her head at the memory.
“I take it that didn’t go over with Mr. Blowhard.”