Page 24 of Fly with Me

Chapter 11

They were both breathless and laughing when they ran down the ramp. Olive rubbed a lingering sore spot on her leg and then looked up. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For coming with me on the roller coaster even though it’s not your thing.”

“So that was a gratitude kiss?” Stella’s eyes angled with something that looked like understanding. “To distract me from being scared.”

“It was…” Was she giving Olive an out, so Stella didn’t have to reject her? The honest answers were easy. Amazing? Earth-shattering? Life altering?

“It was…” Olive searched for a word that wouldn’t reveal too much.

“Olive?” Stella’s expression was unreadable.

“Yes. Um, I am very grateful. I—really appreciate everything you did. Hanging out with me today. With the interview this morning. And tonight. I’m having so much fun.”

Something was changing on Stella’s face, and Olive was struck by the terror that the kiss had made her uncomfortable. She’d thought it was romantic at the time, but she’d literally cornered a woman into kissing her. They had a rail over their legs, for Chrissakes. What if she didn’t feel she could say no? What the fuck, Olive? Before she could summon the courage to apologize, Stella was speaking again.

“It was nothing. I needed something to do tonight. I’d signed up to do that last flight down here, and I don’t have another flight tomorrow—like I said. I could’ve deadheaded back home and then come back, but I love the Food and Wine Festival. It was no big deal.”

“Do you want to go over to Epcot now?”

“You don’t want to stay here and see the fireworks and do more rides?”

“If you love the festival, I want to do what you love.” She checked her watch. “It’s open for three more hours. I’ll do whatever you want.”

“Really?” Stella grinned.

Olive’s own smile widened. “Yeah. Whatever you want.” Olive’s cheeks were cramping worse than her legs. She’d smiled so much today. More than she had in months.

Stella’s hand twitched as if a small part of her wanted to reach out and grab Olive’s, but she balled it into a fist and glued it to her side.

“So, we’d better…” Stella said as she pointed toward the park exit.

“Yeah. Let’s go.” Olive looked away to hide her disappointment.

They rushed through the park to the monorail. It was packed with bodies of every age and size. A stroller rammed the back of Olive’s aching legs, shoving her into Stella’s chest. She had to brace her hands on either side of Stella’s shoulders so she didn’t land face-first into her tits.

Oh, great, now Olive was mauling this poor woman. Fabulous.

Stella steadied her, with a delicate pressure on her shoulders. Damn, she had long eyelashes. They couldn’t be real, could they?

Stella scrunched her face. “They could kill someone with those things.”

“Strollers are deadly. My sister Heather’s got one of those double ones, and it’s like driving two grocery carts at once.”

“You’ve got nieces or nephews?”

Olive slid her phone out of her pocket. “Shit, my phone’s about to die again, but yeah. I’ve got one of each. Heather’s kids.” She swiped to a photo that used to be her lock screen. “Well, Fiona’s my sister’s oldest, and she turned four last month—wow—and Cody is eleven months.” She hadn’t been on Facebook much, so she hadn’t seen any recent photos of the kids. The last photo she had of them on her phone was from the week before Jake’s accident. Cody was practically a newborn in it.

Stella squealed and grabbed the phone from Olive to get a better look at the photo. “They’re adorable.” She held her finger over the phone. “Are there more photos of them?”

“Yeah, you can swipe. I keep all my compromising nudies on a burner.”

“You never want to swipe without permission. Never know what you might come across.” Laughing, Stella browsed through the photos.

Was Olive imagining it or had Stella’s cheeks gone pinker? Maybe joking about naked pictures wasn’t something a normal human did like ten freaking minutes after possibly coercing someone into a romantic almost-make-out session on a roller coaster.

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