Page 81 of Fly with Me

“Cake for dinner is perfectly acceptable on special occasions.” Their fingers touched as Olive handed her the cake.

“I think cake for dinner is always acceptable, but I didn’t think I’d get the chance to eat anything as delicious as this tonight.” Stella gave the Tupperware a tiny hug. “I’d feel ruder about eating outside food if they hadn’t failed to accommodate me at the last few events.”

“But that really is unacceptable. You should say something.”

“I don’t want to stir up trouble. It’s easy to get labeled.” A few older white men joined the table, every single one of them rocking the slightly cliché, 1980s-style mustache that really only looked good on Goose in Top Gun (R.I.P. Goose). All of them wore crisp uniforms with polished captain’s wings gleaming on their chests. Stella shook hands all around, and they introduced themselves. Olive was thankful when the servers began passing out salad bowls because it gave her an excuse to take a minute to breathe. Stella was oddly silent.

The men continued their conversation, content to talk shop without attempting to include either Stella or Olive in the conversation. A group of women arrived at the table. They looked like they were also in uniform, but theirs consisted of a different colored long-sleeved dress for each, with a scarf and pin. All of them had their hair coiffed into identical French twists.

The choreography began again, handshakes, introductions, etc. Olive gleaned from their conversation that all the men were also being honored tonight for various achievements. The last to sit at the table was an ancient man. All heads in the room had seemed to follow him as he walked through the room. He walked straight up to Olive.

“Now here’s the little lady who’s gotten everyone talking about our airline again,” he said in an aristocratic Southern accent.

Olive stood and extended a hand, her fingers aching from the number of handshakes she’d had so far. He didn’t shake it, though. He brought it to his mouth and kissed her knuckle.

“I’m honored to meet you.”

She’d never had her hand kissed. And as a nurse, she didn’t even like the germ-sharing aspect of a handshake. This was so much worse. She suppressed a gag.

“Please sit, Miss Murphy.” He came behind her chair and pulled it out for her.

“Oh, I don’t need—”

“Nonsense. We treat our honored guests well at Allied.”

Olive reached a hand behind her to find Stella’s with the one that wasn’t covered by this stranger’s mouth germs. “This is my girlfriend, Stella. She’s one of your pilots.”

“Ah yes, I heard about your little love connection. Anything to keep us in the press. Delightful.”

“She’s being honored tonight too.” Olive forced a smile.

Stella tensed beside her.

“Oh? Is she?”

“Yes. For community service.”

“That’s wonderful. It’s important for the community to see all of our philanthropic efforts.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name, sir,” Olive said. She knew his name, of course. There had been an entire tab dedicated to him in Stella’s binder.

Stella coughed.

“I’m Jack O’Halloran. CEO of Allied Airlines.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“The pleasure is all mine, I assure you.”

The servers came to the table with trays of food. Olive took advantage of Jack O’Halloran’s distraction and reached inside her purse and rubbed hand sanitizer all over her hands. The salad came, each with a pile of crumbling croutons on top. It tasted amazing, but Olive’s guilt grew as she saw Stella poking at hers. O’Halloran had been going around the table talking to the menfolk and asking them about their golf game and investments. He hadn’t said anything to Stella.

Olive cleared her throat. “I don’t know much about what’s involved in running an airline, Mr. O’Halloran, but it must be tough.”

“Call me Jack, and you’re correct. It’s tough to make any money these days. Competition is fierce in this industry. Times are tough.”

“I’m sure. Must have to be picky about your team members. I’m an assistant manager in the emergency department, which is nothing like this, but I know that having a good, diverse team is really important.”

“One hundred percent. I make sure we only hire the best. Excellence in the air. I wrote that motto in 1976.”

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