Page 3 of Not the Plan

Her gaze fell to the window, but she saw nothing. Pulling in a chestful of recycled air, she willed the tears back down. She pulled her phone out of her cardigan pocket, put the meditation playliston, and closed her eyes. About twenty minutes into zen, Karim startled her, brushing his fingertips along her arm. She took out her earbuds.

He nodded at the flight attendant, a row ahead of theirs, distributing beverages. “Would you like a drink, Isadora? I’m going to get a coffee, but I’ll do my best not to pay you back,” he said, smiling.

The depth of his voice sent pleasant tingles through her, the pain she’d dredged up washed away. Smiling, she let herself fall into a present that excluded the rest of the world.

“Guess I deserve that. A sparkling water would be good. It’s nice of you to offer.”

“My pleasure.” He asked the flight attendant for their drinks and handed Isadora’s to her with care. His casual way of ordering for her was a pleasant surprise. A touch of chivalry. She thanked him and started to put her earbuds back in, but he spoke again.

“These early flights are tough, huh?”

“Yeah.” She sipped.

“Do you usually fly business class?” He put his coffee down and caressed the edge of the tray with the pad of his thumb.

Lucky tray.

“I try. I like to get off as quickly as possible.” He raised his eyebrows and she caught how that had sounded. Face burning, she took a quick breath. “You know, um, I mean, the plane. Get off the plane.”

“Yeah,” he said, smiling a little. “I understand. Always seems to take forever when you’re at the rear.”

“Yeah,” she echoed.What to say?He was nice. She didn’t want to just pop her earbuds back in and seem rude.

“Um…do you like the rear of the plane?” she asked. “I’ve always had trouble sitting back there. It bounces around too much for me.”

He lowered his gaze a millisecond, lips curling in a tiny hesitation. Then he darted a quick glance at her, like he was trying to make a decision. “Really?” he finally asked, meeting her eyes. “I quite like the rear. The bouncier the better.”

Um…She swallowed. “Is that so?”

“It is.”

Is the demigod telling me he checked me out?

“I dunno.” She warmed her voice and leaned toward him. “I gotta disagree with you. I prefer it over the wings where you can feel thethrustof the airplane. You know? When it’s fast and strong and you can’t help but let yourself go.”

“Isthatso?”

“It is. You don’t like the thrust of takeoff?” she asked, eyes wide.

“Oh, I do,” he said. “It’s…exhilarating.” He smiled, drawing her attention to his lips. She ran the tip of her tongue along the inside of hers, imagining what his tasted like.

“Exhilarating. Good word choice,” she said.

“So, what do you do, Isadora?” he asked, raising his cup to his lips.

She frowned inside. Talking about work with strangers was almost always a mistake. She loved what she did, but politics rarely made for good small talk. After wrinkling her nose, she shook her head.

“Let’s not talk about work,” she said.

He smiled again and put his coffee on his tray.

“What if I guess?” he asked.

“Guess?”

“What you do. Will you tell me if I guess right?”

She folded her arms, turning toward him. Most people didn’t realize that her job even existed, so he’d never guess.

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