Page 59 of Marry Me, Right Now

“Of course.” As soon as we were spotted, assistants from my private jet ran toward us.

“Mr. Stoneburrowes, we could have met you at the door,” a young man said apologetically, as he and a young lady quickly took our luggage.

“No worries,” I said, “We were running early.” Mia looked confused, but I took her hand and led her through a series of doors, then outside to the waiting jet.

A tall, dark-haired woman was waiting by the steps. “Hello, Mr. Stoneburrowes.”

“Hello, Marie. Nice to see you again.”

“Mrs. Stoneburrowes, so lovely to meet you,” she said graciously.

“Hi. It’s Mia.”

“Welcome to the Flying Stone,” Marie said with a wide smile. “Don’t worry, we’ll be taking excellent care of you. Your bags are being stowed now, and Captain Nick will be flying you today.”

Mia looked a little out of sorts, not used to having people wait on her.

“He’s the best,” I said, giving her hand a little squeeze. “He’ll even let you go up and check out the controls if you like.”

She shook her head. “No thanks. I’d be too afraid to even breathe on anything wrong.”

Marie smiled warmly, guiding us up the steps and into the plane. “Are you a nervous flyer, Mia?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never flown before.”

My head swiveled. “Ever? Why didn’t you tell me?”

She laughed lightly. “You have enough to deal with. I didn’t want you worrying about me. They do this all day long, right? I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

Marie guided us into buttery soft leather seats. “Be sure to swallow several times on takeoff and landing to clear your ears,” she said kindly. “There’s gum available if you like, or peppermints. Those are also good for calming the flutters if your stomach is sensitive. However, I find a glass of wine is the best medicine.”

“Yes, please,” Mia said.

Marie quickly served us each a half-glass of wine. “I don’t mean to be pushy, but chug those, and after takeoff I’ll serve champagne and snacks. We’ll be taking off in about three minutes.”

I held up my glass to Mia’s. “To our honeymoon.”

“To finally relaxing together,” she grinned.

We both drained our glasses and Marie cleared things away, I was pleased to see that Mia didn’t seem nervous exactly, just curious.

Takeoff went smoothly, and Mia laughed like crazy when Captain Nick announced “Parts Unknown” as our destination.

An hour later, after champagne and mini sandwiches, she was reading a book on her new e-reader, one of the very few things I’d noticed that she’d purchased for herself with her new credit card.

“Hey,” I asked. “Do you prefer e-books to paper books?”

“I like them both,” she said. “But this is handier for carrying a hundred books in my purse. Also, overall e-books are cheaper, so I’ll be saving money in the long run. I ran the numbers, and taking in the cost of the reader and my usual book consumption, it will pay for itself within a year.”

“And here I thought you were treating yourself.”

Mia shrugged. “I’m always looking to save money.” Then she gave me a very odd look. “No offense, but that’s one thing that I know that you could never quite understand. You’ve never stood in the grocery store agonizing over whether to buy your favorite soup, or the slightly sour one that’s on sale if you buy five of them. That’s your whole budget, but that way you have five days of food taken care of.”

I probably looked horrified. “You can’t possibly tell me that a can of soup is a whole day’s worth of food?”

She looked very uncomfortable. “In university, several times, yes.”

“Wow.” I couldn’t help taking her hand. “I’m so sorry.”

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