Page 52 of Too Much In Common
“Why?”
“Because you have been with me off and on for the last two years, and I have never seen you so—I’m not sure of the word...smitten? —as I did in Spokane when you arranged things for Tian. Everyone deserves a chance at a relationship. It would be a shame if you didn’t get one. Maybe you can do something for Valentine’s Day.”
“She’ll be in Paris.” The most romantic place in the world on the day of romance. The irony that it would be a long-distance holiday for them stung.
“Work?”
“Yes.”
“Well, that doesn’t help, does it?” Candace released the hold button and stepped out of the elevator.
Chris tapped his on-call status into the Hastings app.
A text from the dispatcher popped up:
Go to C&O and relieve Ben, please.
Chris: Crawford?
Dispatch: Yes.
So much for a quiet afternoon.
15
With last night’sconversation in mind, Tian entered the pilot’s lounge at LAX. All conversation stopped. At midday, she expected a few more pilots to be in the room. Instead, five from different airlines looked up from the table where they sat.
Just her luck, one was the pilot from the other airlines she’d vowed to avoid. If Chris were there, she would show him exhibit “A” for why she kept her defenses up all the time. The man sneered at her. Tian took a seat at the farthest computer and pulled up the weather information for her next destination.
Dad had mentioned switching airlines. Glancing at the pilots around the table, she eliminated two airlines from her list. Every pilot she’d met from either of the airlines had been rude and full of themselves. The handful of female pilots she’d met from those airlines looked down on everyone. She’d heard the benefits weren’t as good as Legacy Air’s either. Her fingers hovered over the keys, a job search only a stroke away, but no telling who might walk in and see over her shoulder.
Captain Rochester complained off and on during their flight from Chicago. After redoing her hair, he should have beat her to the lounge. If he didn’t come in soon she’d need to send someone to find him.
She finished her prep work, but still no other Legacy pilots entered the lounge. Tian was about to call Rochester when whispers at the table alerted her to a change in the room. Not wanting to draw any attention to herself, Tian waited before looking up. Not one, but two female pilots had entered the lounge.
Four bars on the older woman’s epaulets indicated her status as a captain. She glared at the men. “Gentlemen, the FO you are ogling is my daughter. Get your minds out of the 70s.”
Two of the men looked somewhat penitent.
The women joined Tian at the computer banks.
“Have they been like that for long?” asked the captain.
“Since I got here.”
“I’ve been flying for over thirty years. Every time I think we’ve made progress, I run into a group like that. I’m Marta; this is my daughter Megan. We rarely fly together, but our airlines wanted some female publicity. You know the drill. I liked the article on Legacy last fall. Good job.”
“I see my photographs precede me. I go by Tian, by the way.”
“That and the videos,” said Megan.
“I’m afraid they gave me more attention than I wanted.”
Marta sat at the computer next to Tian. “Get used to it. Every four years or so, someone gets it in their mind to feature woman pilots in an effort to recruit. Doesn’t do much good. I have to congratulate Legacy though. They’re the first airline to make truly significant changes to their benefits to attract females. I wish I’d had maternity leave and work options like you have.”
“I’m hoping to transfer to Legacy if our carrier doesn’t change things.” Megan turned the ring on her left hand around to show a small round cut diamond. “We want a family, but it is so hard with this job.
Tian nodded her agreement and removed a third major carrier from her list, leaving cargo and corporate as options.
