Page 48 of Save Me a Seat

Jane watched Austin reach up and stow her luggage in the overhead compartment. As he put his arms up, she noticed his sweatshirt rise up and a section of his torso was visible underneath. As nervous as she was at the moment, she couldn’t deny the zing that zipped through her body at seeing a part of his skin exposed.

Austin plopped back down in his seat and looked at Jane, seeing that she was visibly nervous. “Why don’t you look outside? That might help calm your nerves a bit.”

“I don’t know,” Jane answered, as she complied. “Watching them load the luggage might not be the best thing for me. I’ll start worrying that there are too many bags.”

Austin chuckled, “You know planes can handle a lot of weight, right?”

“I just don’t think I can watch that,” she replied, sensing her body tightening up.

Austin looked over at her and smiled, wishing he knew the best thing to say and to do. “Listen, you made it over here to L.A., so you can make it back, too,” he whispered, trying to be quiet.

“I know,” she breathed, closing her eyes and trying not to let herself get too worked up. “At least you’re here on time, and I’m not worried about where the hell you are,” she tried to smile.

“See?” he gushed, appreciating her attempt at a joke, “we’re already off to a good start.” Then, without a signal or a heads up, Austin stood up from his seat and walked over to where the flight attendants were standing in the galley. She saw him speaking to them and then gesture over to their seats. Both flight attendants looked over at her and smiled while nodding their heads. Jane wasn’t sure what he was asking them but knew he had something up his sleeve.

The next thing she knew, Austin was waving her over. She looked at him confused, which made him laugh, and he gestured again for her to come forward. Jane unbuckled her seatbelt and managed to get past the passengers who were still boarding.

“What’s going on?” she asked, wondering what Austin was doing.

“These nice flight attendants wanted to make sure you met the pilots,” he answered, smiling back at her.

“Pilots?” Jane asked with a slightly horrified smile.

“Yes,” one of the flight attendants answered. “And don’t worry, we do this all the time for fearful flyers. It really does help. We always like to know if someone is scared because we know to check in on them throughout the flight.”

Jane looked over at Austin, embarrassed, but also appreciative of the gesture. “You did this?” she asked.

“Either that or get you drunk,” he winked at the flight attendants who were chuckling and obviously enamored by the magic of Austin Drew.

“Come on, sweetie,” one of the flight attendants said. “I’ll bring you over real quick to meet them. We actually have three pilots in there right now.”

Jane went into the cockpit with one of the flight attendants, as Austin went back to their seats. He was happy to see that his plan was working because he knew Jane was more nervous on this flight than on the last one. She seemed preoccupied and stressed this morning, and he figured it had to do with her crazy work schedule, followed by this long flight home.

A few minutes later, he looked up to see Jane coming toward their seats with a smile on her face, holding up a pair of wings. “Look what I got,” she smiled. “I guess they normally give these to kids, but he made an exception for me.”

“Nice,” Austin nodded with a grin. “See, I told you wings would help. Feeling better?”

“A bit,” Jane said, getting herself situated back into her seat. She looked out the window and closed her eyes for a quick second while taking a deep breath. “I’ll bet you can hear my heart beating right now, huh?”

“Don’t worry, I don’t hear a thing,” Austin replied, leaning back in his seat as he tried to get comfortable. Then, without hesitation, he looked over at Jane and said softly, “If you need to hold my hand at all, it’s right here. It always works for my mother,” and he held it up for her to see that it was right next to her.

Jane sat back in her seat wanting nothing more than to hold his hand, but she knew if she did, there would be no turning back, and she wasn’t ready to go there.

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