Authors: Tracy Cottingham
“Hi,” Cassie’s voice was unusually high as she rushed towards her daughter and
swept her off the floor, blocking any view of Gunnar behind her. “I
missed you so much,” She squeezed her tight and turned around just long enough
to throw the dog’s head in Gunnar’s direction.
“You’re silly mommy,” Abby was squirming out of her grasp. “We only went
to eat,” she wriggled down and pushed by Cassie.
“Abby, I-” Cassie was going to try and come up with some grand explanation, but
instead she ended up staring along with the others in Gunnar’s direction.
If she hadn’t been so frightened by the possible outcome of the situation, she
would have been on the floor laughing.
“Mommy?”
“Yes dear?”
“What happened to Goofy? He’s all turned around.”
“Well, it’s part of a surprise,” she blundered. “Yeah, that’s it. I
was on my way back up here when I saw Goofy, and when I told him I had a little
girl that would just love to meet him, he agreed to a visit,” she smiled and
waited to see if she was off the hook. She wasn’t.
“But why is his tail on the front? Is he sick or something?”
“No, not exactly,” Cassie’s mind was racing but she wasn’t coming up with
anything. “Sometimes dogs just get tired of having their tails follow
them around all the time, so they switch it, sometimes.” She saw Lonnie
wince out of the corner of her eye and almost kicked her. “Ask Lonnie if
you don’t believe me.”
“I don’t think so,” Lonnie laughed her off.
“Well don’t ask Lonnie then,” she’d tried and failed miserably. “I know,
why don’t you ask Goofy yourself?” She smiled openly in Gunnar’s
direction and mentally patted herself on the back for passing the buck.
“Mommy has to go now, you three have fun,” she spouted, and moved as quickly as
her feet would go.
Cassie caught up with John at the bar. She could tell by the number of
empty glasses and broken peanut shells that he’d definitely been waiting the
entire time, and she hoped he wouldn’t be too cross. After all, he’d come
a long way to help her with her plan, and she’d basically repaid him by making
him search all over Disneyland to find her, and then by standing him up.
“I’m so sorry,” she sat down on the empty stool beside him, and searched his
face to see what kind of reaction she’d get.
“No problem,” John winked at her, and motioned for the bar tender to get his
bill. “Let me just
pay this man, and we’ll go find a table.”
Cassie couldn’t believe she was going to get off so easily. “Here,” she
reached out and nabbed the bill before he could get it. “I’ll take care
of that,” she smiled, “I mean, it may not be a problem for you my being over a
half hour late for our meeting, but this will at least make me feel better.”
“I never argue with the boss,” he smiled lazily, and picked up the set of blue
prints by his feet. “After you,” he motioned for her to head into the
restaurant first. “I took the liberty of pushing our reservation back a
bit, so we ought to be right on time.”
Cassie mentally thanked the heavens for such a laid back man. John had
always been so easy going and supportive, it was one of the reasons her husband
had let him in on so much of the business. That and the fact that he was
the best in his field, and yet working for their small company seemed to make
him happier than the idea of taking a more lucrative job at one of the bigger
commuter firms. “Are those for me?” Cassie asked as soon as they
were seated. She didn’t want to waste any more time, and she also wasn’t
up for having anyone see them talking.
“Okay,” John unrolled the large blueprints and urged Cassie to scoot around so
she could see them from the top. “Here’s the new plane.”
Cassie was stunned by the attention to detail. She knew her plan was a
little out there, but she didn’t realize how well John must have understood
what she was aiming for. “My partners are going to kill me,” she bit the
end of her nail, and looked over at John.
“It’s never been done before, that’s for sure.”
“This looks fantastic,” Cassie was
having trouble feeling bad about her idea when the plans looked so
marvelous. “Do you think the idea of romantic getaway flights will go?”
“As I said before, I just build it, you’re the one that makes the ideas fly or
not. No pun intended,” he leaned forward and nudged her arm, but she
wasn’t having any of it.
“I’m serious John, stop straddling the fence. Do you think this is a
disaster, or not?”
She watched him take a deep breath before choosing his words carefully.
“In Oregon, no way. But in California? I think once you put the
word out there’s going to be plenty of people who will want to try it just for
the sake of trying it. Weather it will catch on for the long haul really
is a gamble.”
Cassie listened intently. She wasn’t used to launching new ideas by
herself without anyone to bounce them off of, and the more she thought about
it, the more she wished she had let Gunnar and Wes in on it before she decided
to go off the deep end on a hunch. “It’s ironic really,” she laughed
nervously. “At first this was just a way to get back at my partner, you
know the one you met earlier. You see, when we first started at Community
College, we had to do a term paper for the business class we had taken
together. I put this idea together about a small airline that specialized
in romantic fantasy flights. You know, something unique and different to
do with a lover, or a significant other. I had it all planned.
First a driver would take the unsuspecting party to the landing strip where the
plane would be waiting.” She leaned in close, getting more and more excited as
she told him the full story. “Nothing would be spared,” she
continued. “Chocolate covered strawberries, champagne, soft music, the
works.”
“What was the response?” John shot in when she paused long enough for him
to get a word in
edge wise.
“Well that’s that thing,” her smile dropped. “It was the laughing stock
of the class,” she admitted reluctantly. “The teacher gave me a C for my
effort, but used my idea as an example of an idealistic fantasy business that
wasn’t rooted in reality.”
“What did Gunnar have to say?” When Cassie nodded he continued.
“What did he think?”
“Well,” Cassie’s smile was back. “He’s the only reason I didn’t trash the
idea. He convinced me to research it further, and to believe in my
ideas. He told me he thought it was brilliant, but it didn’t really count
you see, ‘cause he always said that about anything I did.”
“This is the same person who I tried to introduce myself unsuccessfully to
earlier?”
“I know,” Cassie held out her hand to stop him. “He’s changed a great
deal since then, but he’s also not as rude as he was today either. We’re
having sort of a hard time defining our boundaries after all these years,” she
explained. “Besides, he thought you and I were lovers.”
John threw his head back and laughed. “Now I understand. Did you
tell him that although I hold you in the highest of regard, that he would
probably come closer to catching my eye than you ever would?”
Cassie pretended to be hurt. “I told him no such thing. I told him
you had always been in love with me, and that we’d been secretly meeting in
front of the carousel at Disneyland for several years now.” She flipped her
hand at him. “Just kidding, I got it all straightened out, although he’s
the reason I was so late.”
“Oh, I see.” He raised his
eyebrows.
“Well I’m glad you do, because I’m still completely baffled.” She sat
back in her chair. “The thing is, I really think we could have something,
but between his getting over the past, me trying to figure out how to move on
after losing Ben, and the fact that I have no idea if he’s even looking for a
serious relationship now it’s pretty much just your average mess.”
“Cassie,” John rolled up the plans and moved them out of the way. “I know
you miss Ben,” he sat forward and put his hand on hers. “Hell, I miss him
and I certainly didn’t have a child with him, or spend eight years in a healthy
marriage.” He leaned in closer. “I do know, however, that he would
want you to be happy, and if this guy does that for you then don’t spend your
free time trying to second guess it.”
“I know you’re right, it’s just more complicated than I thought it would be to
put my feelings back out there, especially with someone who may not be at the
same place I am.”
“Well I’m certainly no expert on love, but think how boring it would get if
everything just fell into place too easily.” He looked at his watch, and
pointed to the plans. “Listen, I hate to run out on you, but I have to be
back to take care of the final touches before I head back up to Portland
tomorrow.”
“Oh, it’s okay, really. I’m the one that was so late.” Cassie stood
up and shook his hand. “Thank you so much for going out of your way on
this one, and for the pep talk. It means a lot to me.”
“It’s no problem,” he gave her a quick hug. “Besides, don’t thank me yet,
you haven’t seen my bill.” he winked at her, and left before she retaliate.
Cassie was waiting for her food when the waiter came up to her table with a
bottle of wine and a glass. “Oh, I didn’t order this.”
“I think the gentleman over at the bar meant it as a gift,” he pointed to were
Gunnar was sitting, holding up a matching glass to the one that had been
delivered.
Cassie’s heart almost stopped. She didn’t know how long he’d been there,
but she hoped it wasn’t long enough to see her meeting. She folded the
plans and stuffed them quickly into her briefcase.
Gunnar smiled and held his glass up, but when Cassie didn’t make any move to
invite him over, he decided to take matters into his own hands. With
easy, gradual strides he closed the distance between them. “Most of the
time, when a man sends an expensive bottle of wine over to a lady, he’s
secretly hoping to get to share it with her.,” his eyes were sparkling.
“Is that how the story goes?” Cassie couldn’t tell if he really hadn’t
seen her, or if was just waiting to launch an attack once she let her guard
down. In the end she decided to just play along and see where it
lead. “I always thought that when a man bought a bottle of wine for a woman,
it was an open invitation for other things.”
“Are you implying that I may have a hidden agenda here?” He reached out
and stroked her bare arm seductively.
“I don’t know, do you?” She looked up, loving him with her eyes.
“Maybe so, at least where you’re concerned,” he led a trail up to her lips,
then planted a gentle kiss where his fingers had just been. “May
I?” He gestured to the empty seat beside her.
“Oh yes,” she whispered, still dazed by the response his simple touch inspired.
“Actually, I bought this to celebrate.”
“Celebrate what?” She watched as he poured her glass first, then his.
“Come on, raise that glass.” When she finally consented, he
continued. “Here’s to our new client, Nakamoto Industries, Inc.”
He got it,
Cassie’s stomach lurched. “Oh Gunnar, that’s
wonderful,” she finally managed in a shaky voice.
What have I done?
“You don’t sound very excited,” he put his glass down and searched her
face. “Do you realize what this means? Hell, by the time we service
all the local routes he intends to use, we’ll probably have to but another
plane just to keep up.”
“Another plane?” Cassie smiled nervously. “Imagine that.” She
sat back in her chair when the waiter brought her food. “You know,” she
said when they were alone again. “I know you told me it was a big
corporation, but I really had no idea how serious you were. You must
really care about this business to have pushed a deal like this through.”
She picked up her glass of wine and tipped it towards him. “Thank you.”
“Your very welcome,” he picked up a fork and took a bite of her salad.
When Cassie opened her mouth to protest, he filled it with a bite for
her. “Thing is, I don’t believe that Wes thought I could really get Mr.
Nakamoto to come on board, he’s notoriously picky about who he works with, but
he’s extremely loyal once he’s signed on.” He took another bite and
paused to swallow. “I think Wes was hoping I’d retire from stunt flying
and take over some of the commutes myself, but I told him before we ever
started this how much I liked things just the way they were,” he paused again
to wash his food down. “Stunt flying is who I am, it’s a part of me, and
there’s no way I’m going to give up my lifestyle to scurry a bunch of nine to
fivers back and forth to their power lunches.”
Cassie was sure that the crouton she’d just eaten was stuck in her throat.
She couldn’t swallow, or force herself to move for that matter. She just
sat there motionless, realizing for the first time just how little she really
knew about the man sitting across from her. With each spoken word he
became less and less the type of man she wanted to know for that matter.