Page 35 of The Marriage Deal
"Fuck you. Just say you like my idea like a normal person and thank me."
"Except I don't think we can go with it. He will suspect something's up. I've used that excuse a few times before."
"Oh." Damn, we were shit out of luck.
"I know." Levi responded as though he could read my mind. He leaned back in his chair and crossed his hands at the back ofhis head. "I mean, it's just a weekend. What could happen in two days?"
15
Levi
TURNS OUT TWO DAYS could change a lot in two people's lives. Thompson was obsessed with the American Civil War, so what better place to go for an annual retreat than Gettysburg, Pennsylvania? I was looking forward to the trip even less now. Even the arrangements I made to make that much better did not make the trip worth it. The only silver lining was spending a weekend with Elle. As husband and wife. A thrill ran down my spine at the prospect.
Elle and I were the last to arrive at the hangar. And as we approached the other professors, all ten of them, we could hear them grumble about the trip.
"Gettysburg again?" Lily, the wife of the head of the Anthropology department, said in a not so loud whisper. Her blue and white floral dress flapped in the wind, and the straw hat she had on threatened to flee her head, if it weren't for the ribbon tied around her head. "Be glad," another petite older woman I didn't recognize said. "He wanted to go to Shiloh."
Lily visibly recoiled. "I would have killed myself if we had to go there again, Patty. I could never do that again."
"Look on the bright side," said Patty. "At least this time we're doing it in style." She darted her gaze to the plane that dwarfed them. "I don't think I've ever been on a private jet."
"Looks like you're not the only one who doesn't like the retreats," Elvira whispered beside me. I caught a whiff of hervanilla and citrus perfume, and I instantly felt my groin tighten. When I went to her place to pick her up, she was already waiting outside. Her landlord was fixing a broken pipe, she had said. She explained the issue, but I didn't hear anything beyond those few words. She was dressed modestly in jeans and a tank top that clung to her figure so well, but I could not stop thinking about tearing her clothes apart and having my way with her. The drive to the airport had been hard. All I could think of were the ways I could have sex with her in the car. This was going to be a long weekend.
The group was waiting for us at the hangar, all huddled around in groups of two or three. They all turned their gazes in our direction when they saw us arrive. Subconsciously, I took Elle's warm hand into mine — an act I was getting too comfortable doing. "They're looking at us like we're zoo animals," Elle whispered. "Why did you have to order the jet? We could have just flown there via commercial."
"You might be used to slumming it, but I'm not."
"I would hardly call a forty-five minute first class flight slumming it."
"It is when it's domestic travel."
Elle shook her head. "I had no idea I married a princess."
Professor Thompson was the first to approach us. He was wearing what I could best call a safari outfit. Khaki pants, a khaki shirt, and a bottle-green bucket hat that made him look like a discount version of Indiana Jones. He shook my hand. "I just want to thank you again for footing the bill. When you said travel would be included, I didn't think you meant, uh, this." He waved at the Gulfstream jet waiting in the wings.
"Everybody's bags have been stored?" I asked as one attendant passed by us with mine and Elle's luggage.
"Yes, but we didn't want to be too forward. You know, jumping in before the owner came," he chuckled nervously.
"It's fine. Tell the others to go on in."
"Sure." He turned to the group, clapped once to gain their attention and gave them instructions to get on the plane.
Two attendants greeted each passenger as they got in. Elle and I were the last to board, and the flight took off as soon as we sat down. I had organized the in-flight drinks, which were served soon after we were in the air. That lightened the stiff mood, and soon the geriatrics, as Elle called them, were relaxed and talking.
"If you thought he wanted your money then, imagine now," Elle said to me as she covertly gestured to Thompson, who was gesticulating animatedly to Patty and three other colleagues.
"I told you. I didn't want to fly commercial. It sounded like a hustle when you told me about it."
She bent her head in surprise. "Have you ever hung out with us plebs, or can you not travel over great distances without using a private jet or a helicopter?"
"Yes. Several times, if you must know."
She folded her arms. "Really? When?"
"A lot, actually. Only when I do, I don't have to take care of the flight details, someone usually does that for me."
She chuckled. "Let me guess, one of your many butlers."
