Page 7 of Room One Hundred and Twenty

A lot of famous killers were good looking, weren’t they?

She squints in his direction. “If what he’s offering is true, are you going to take it?”

Yes.No.I don’t know.

My struggle is written all over my face because she chuckles. “I guess I should be asking if I should actually look into getting a new job.”

“No.” The answer comes immediately. I can’t run this business without her. I’ll figure something out to make things work out.

Before I start making plans, I need to see this place first. Sure, Jake might be real, but everything he’s offering can stay make-believe until I see it with my own eyes.

“Let me go with him first and if I die, you can have the bakery. If I live, I’ll get back to you.” Grabbing her hand and giving it a squeeze, I thank her.

I can only imagine how long the list is of things I owe her at this point. Swearing I’ll make it up to her another time, I abandon my apron and head back toward the front with what feels like the start of hope forming in the pit of my stomach.

I don’t want to get ahead of myself. Not when anything can happen.

Eloise

A helicopter. This man flew here in a helicopter. No wonder why his hair has a flip to it.

“Ever flown?” He sweeps his arm to encourage me to keep moving. We’re gathering quite the attention here seeing he’s parked this thing in an open field.

There’s a pilot, a man talking in the microphone next to his lips.

“Uh, commercially only, I’m afraid.” Taken back, my mind is struggling to keep up with everything that is happening. None of this feels real. After sitting through a ten-minute drive, I wasn’t exactly sure what tricks he had up his sleeve. A helicopter wasn’t anywhere near my list of possibilities here.

“Then I am delighted to take a first.” Looking satisfied with my reaction, he helps me inside.

I’m doing this. I’m really doing this. Charity will never believe me when I tell her. Even if I took a picture of myself,I’dstruggle to believe this is happening.

“Rick is a great pilot. He’ll have us there in no time. I’ll get you back in a matter of a couple of hours. I don’t want to take too much of your time.” He continues to reassure me as if he thinks I’m going to suddenly get cold feet.

In truth, I’m all in. I’m going with the flow on this one. This is an opportunity of a lifetime. No way am I going to start questioning it now. No point in accidentally ruining something great.

Thewhooshof the blades is deafening once they start rotating. Lifting from the ground, loose strands of hair whip my cheeks. In a matter of minutes, we’re in the air. I can’t take my eyes off of the view, it’s incredible. When fear isn’t nipping at my chest, other emotions come creeping in. This is amazing.

“Handling yourself?”

Looking next to me, Jake is watching closely. Like he’s feeding off my responses, his grin grows when I tell him the truth.

“This feels like a once-in-a-lifetime sort of opportunity.” Unable to beat away my smile, I shake my head. “Mr. McCoy–”

“Jake,” he insists, making it hard to make this feel like a professional setting. I mean, this man is trying to convince me to accept his business proposal.

“Jake, this is incredible.” The fact that this man can fly around so casually at his disposal, I can hardly wrap my mind around it. “Do you do this a lot?”

“Only when I desperately need to see someone,” he confesses with ease. “Or, when I’m trying to impress them. You happen to be both.”

Sputtering out a laugh at that, I struggle between looking at him and the view.

I might not understand why he’s so determined to win me over, but I won’t admit that I’m one stop away from agreeing to whatever he wants. Call it my desperation or his charisma.

“Now, I do have a question.” Jake continues looking in my direction, his voice carried through the headset we’re wearing. “Tell me about the video.”

Oh god. Of course, he’d wait until there was no place to run and hide. I don’t need to think twice about which video he’s referring to. If this man wants my business as badly as he claims, then I do not doubt that he knows of my reputation.

“You watched it?” Grimacing, the heat of embarrassment returns in full force. “Despite that clip, you still want me?”

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