“Drew?” I asked. “Is that you?”
I started to get up from our blanket, but he held out his free hand, motioning for me to stay seated. His pace quickened, and in no time flat, he was sitting beside me, holding the flowers out like a peace offering. His eyes were wide and maybe even a little bit afraid. When he spoke, there was a tremor to his voice I hadn't heard before.
"I'm sorry that I'm late,” he said. “This is an awfully big park, and it took me longer to find you than I would have expected."
“Late?” I asked. “You can’t be late. As far as I knew, you weren’t coming at all. You told me last night.”
“I know,” he said. “I’m sorry about that.”
“I thought something came up,” I said.
"I thought so, too. I was wrong. Some things, some people, are worth canceling for. You're worth canceling for, Jess. I should have known that earlier. You aren't the kind of girl a man cancels on, not for anything."
Before I could answer, he was kissing me, right there in front of my sister and my daughter. It wasn't something I would usually have allowed, but at that moment, I didn't care who was watching. Even when Sophie and Emma both started clapping loudly, one of them making kissy noises as she did so, I didn't care at all.
Chapter 17: Drew
"Well, would you look at this?” Tony asked. He was one of Jess’s favorite flight attendants. “Another flight with the happy couple. I wonder how many of these we'll be graced with this month? I feel like every flight I was on last month had both of you on it. And there's no faster way to make a guy feel bad for missing out on the most handsome man in the universe than to flaunt the fact that he's straight, day in and day out."
Tony looked at me mournfully, but I knew he was joking. Or at least, I was pretty sure. There had been plenty of comments amongst our colleagues in the last month, ever since we put in our request to have our flight schedules match up. Those comments had ranged from happy to skeptical to scathing. Jess and I had done our best to ignore the bulk of them.
Statements like Tony's, though, those were just fine. Being inadvertently hit on by a dude might have bothered me at one point, but after such a strange couple of months, I didn't mind it at all. Besides, he had been one of the flight attendants who had been nothing but friendly with Jess, and my appreciation for it went a long way. Plus, I could see that he made her feel happy about things. As she put her arm around my waist, I offered him a smile.
"I didn't mean to break any hearts, Tony, I swear. Guess you should have gotten to me earlier. If anything, you have Jess to blame."
“Oh, honey,” Tony sighed, rolling his eyes in my direction dramatically as he offered the last stragglers of our flight fond farewells. “I appreciate the flattery, but we both know men were never going to be your thing. Besides, the two of you are just too dang cute to be mad at.”
“Thanks, Tony,” Jess said, laughing and blushing prettily and making me want to whisk her off somewhere so that the two of us could be alone. “That’s very sweet. At least I think it is.”
“It’s meant to be,” he said. “You guys are the best couple I’ve seen come out of a flight, and I’ve seen a lot. Just don’t fuck it up, darlings. We all know how easy that can be.”
He tipped his imaginary hat at us, let out one more forlorn sigh, and exited the plane. I turned to Jess and kissed her, pulling her in toward me so that I could feel her body pressing against the length of mine. I could feel myself stiffening right there, and the urge to take her only grew.
“Woah there, big boy,” Jess said, pulling away from me quickly. “I know it’s called the cockpit, but don’t get yourself too carried away, okay? Technically, we’re at work. Where it would be totally inappropriate for us to do anything close to what I can tell is on your mind.”
“All right, fine. Spoil my fun. But if we aren’t going to fool around, let’s get out of the airport, okay? You know how much I—”
“Hate to hang out in the airport during layovers?” she asked, finishing the thought for me. “I definitely do. I have to say, though, I’ve flown into Los Angeles before, but I haven’t ever spent any time in the city itself. I never bothered leaving airports unless I was spending the night. Not before I met you, that is.”
"Don't worry about it," I answered as I pulled her in for one more kiss. "I've got that covered. Just follow my lead, and everything will be fine."
“You sure about that? You promise?”
“I promise.”
That was how we wound up strolling through a little-frequented park in a part of Los Angeles not well-known by the majority of the tourists. It was one of those late afternoons, bleeding into the early evening, in which everything seemed to be perfect. The soft breeze had the faintest chill, making outside feel like the perfect place to be.
Because of the timing of our layover, we happened to hit the park right at sunset, and that only made things better. The entire sky looked like it was on fire, a fire suspended over our heads and making everything around us look slightly surreal. It was a little bit like stepping into a Dali painting, and it made my heartbeat speed up and my mind spin.
I put my arm around Jess's shoulders and pulled her closer to me, wishing I had the words to explain what was going on inside of me. I didn't. Not even close. But when she rested her head on my shoulders and sighed, I was filled with the certainty that she understood me, anyway.
“This is seriously beautiful, you know?” Jess said.
"I'm glad you think so. I try to come to this park anytime I have a layover in this city. I like to find the parts of a city that make it worth going to. It helps me remember that the places I'm flying to are real and not just blips on a map."
"I like that. No, I love that, actually. I love that idea. And you totally changed my opinion on Los Angeles. Emma has always wanted to come here for some reason, and I've always put her off. Maybe now, she'll get her wish."
I laughed. “I bet she’ll be over the moon about that,” I said, envisioning exactly what kind of reaction she would have. “You’ll be up for the mother of the year award.”