Page 8 of The Plus-One Deal

“Yeah, I could eat.” Conrad pressed his call button and leaned back in his seat. “How does brunch sound? Couple of mimosas? Lobster scrambled eggs and sour cream pancakes? Those, what do you call them, with the herbs in their crusts?”

I snickered. “Quiches?”

“Yeah, maybe. Those.” He rubbed his belly, groaning. “I could eat about fifty. And a whole buttered lobster.”

Sunny’s text bubbled up in the back of my mind —lobster and oysters on a private jet. Her silly predictions were coming true. If she’d jinxed our conference, I’d wring her fool neck. Well, not really. Jinxes weren’t real. Still, nervous bubbles rose in my gut. I shook my head to clear it and smiled at our stewardess.

“We were hoping for brunch. You got something like that?”

“Brunch? Yeah, we’ve got that. Can I get you a menu?”

“No need,” said Conrad. “Just bring us the works. And make sure there’s quiches. And something sweet for dessert.”

“Of course, sir. I’ll start you off with some drinks, then.” She turned to go, and Conrad’s face fell.

“Sorry, that was rude. Claire, I didn’t even ask you, did you want anything special? I’m used to flying alone, or with Joe and the guys.”

I brushed off his apology. “Brunch stuff is good.”

Quicker than I’d have thought possible, we were drowning in brunch stuff, syrupy French toast, fluffy lobster scrambled eggs. Three kinds of quiches and little quince tarts. More food than two people could hope to eat, but we made a stab at it, diving on in. I moaned at my first forkful of scrambled eggs.

“Mmm. So luscious.”

“Yeah, I love those.” Conrad bit into a quiche and sagged back himself, his eyes rolling up as he savored the taste. “Try these next, the ham ones, not the spinach and parm.”

I did as he said, and the flavor rocked my world. It was just cream and eggs, as far as I could tell, and some tangy cheese, and the richness of ham, but it flooded my tongue like nothing on earth, sending my tastebuds reeling with pleasure.

Conrad smirked. “Good right?”

“Sofreakin’ good.”

“It’s like tomato juice,” said Conrad. “Ever notice no one drinks that down on the ground, but you get on a plane and everyone wants some?”

Now he mentioned tomato juice, I reallydidwant some. I poured myself a tall glass, and even that was exquisite.

“It’s because it tastes better up in the air. I can’t remember the ins and outs of it, what makes it taste better, but some flavors get sharper. Some fade away. The taste that you’re left with is thebestof tomato. I think it’s the same thing with ham and cheese quiche.”

I made afftsound, trying to hold in my laughter. Spraying Conrad with crumbs would be bad table manners. I’d almost forgotten how silly he could be, delivering the most ridiculous of statements with a straight face.

“Remember in college, those bagel melts at Gold’s?”

I sighed at the memory. “Those were so good.”

“What was even on them, tomato and avocado? A bit of red onion? That weird cashew cheese with the peppercorns in it? I had my chef toast one up one time, but it wasn’t the same.”

I’d tried that too, making my own. They’d come out soggy, all mush and wet onion. “I think the secret washowthey madethem, not what they put in them. But, yeah, I never sussed that out either.”

Conrad’s brows twitched up. “You tried?”

“Nostalgia, you know. The good old days.”

“We’ve come a long way since then. From bagels to brunch.”

I took another delicious bite of my quiche, prepared by a private chef on a private plane. We’d come so far I wouldn’t have believed it, if someone had told college Claire this would be her life. But when was the last time I’d gone for a bagel? Sat and enjoyed a meal and a good conversation, not a work lunch or something quick on the go? Not counting this, here, I couldn’t remember.

I frowned over at Conrad. “You ever miss college?”

“Some parts,” he said, and licked sauce off his lip. “Those bagel melts, yeah, and sleeping in Sundays. Playing Xbox with whatzername, remember my roommate?” He poured himself some tomato juice and took a sip. “I wouldn’t go back, though. Life was still so uncertain.”

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