*
The confidence I had a few days earlier when I was organizing my things seemed to evaporate as soon as Tuesday morning arrived. I was told a car would come to pick me up at eight, and that I was to pack anything I wanted to take with me while we travelled on the road.
Everything I wanted fit into the duffel bag, I had nothing worth storing. I decided to take Kiegan’s advice and live out of a suitcase for a while. Leaving my landlord a note that I was moving out and he could keep the damage deposit as a month’s rent, it felt somehow relaxing to leave behind the stressful life I’d been leaving for years.
Still, standing on the corner outside my apartment, the nerves began to come back. When the sleek white car pulled up to the curb, I was reminded that Kiegan was still really part of the Hunt family. Was I making a mistake? On the bright side, this was an M3 convertible, more of a sports car than anything else.
The driver got out, dressed in slacks and a hoodie.
“Hey Tina, I’m Josh. Kiegan wanted me to come pick you up. Need a hand with anything?”
“I’m good, thanks,” I told him, putting my bag in the trunk he’d opened and getting into the car.
I hopped into the back seat and watched as the city I’d called my home for two years whizzed past me. It became pretty obvious we were heading to Sea-Tac airport, Kiegan must have had another publicity stunt scheduled somewhere else.
Before I knew it I could see the planes on the runway, but instead of going to the departure terminal, Josh drove down a side road and towards a hangar.
Holy shit, is this actually happening?
Growing up the Hunt family had been super rich, but the time my mom let me go to Mexico with friends at spring break I flew commercial. First class, but still commercial. As we pulled into the hangar and the sleek white jet with gold stripes became bigger and bigger, I just stared. I don’t know why, but I hadn’t expected Kiegan to have his own private jet.
“So where are we going?” I asked Josh as he turned off the car and unbuckled his seatbelt.
“Vegas, today,” he answered. “We’re there for three days, then San Francisco, then LA for the show’s premiere night.”
“Wow, he wasn’t kidding when he said he travelled a lot,” I muttered as Josh grabbed my bag and we headed towards the plane, Josh in front and me behind.
As I climbed up the steps I was definitely tempted to stop at the top, turn and wave to the crowd like I was the president, then I realized I was an adult, and that’s not what adults do.
You know what? Adults do whatever they want, I thought to myself as I reached the top step of the staircase. I stopped, turned, and waved to the imaginary crowd with both hands.
I heard laughter coming from inside the plane, and turned to see Kiegan watching me from one of the windows.
Blushing, I quickly put my hands down and made my way into the Gulfstream.
“The day you become President is the day I definitely move to Canada,” Kiegan grinned at me as I came in.
“Whatever, don’t pretend you’ve never thought of doing it.”
“I have done it,” he replied honestly. “First thing I did when I bought the plane. But I probably looked far less ridiculous than you did just then.”
“Remind me again why I took this job,” I muttered to myself. I’d barely been in his presence thirty seconds and Kiegan Hunt was already giving me shit.
I heard the plane door close behind me and sat down in one of the amazing leather seats. I strapped in, but it barely felt like being in a plane at all. Josh was in the seat next to Kiegan, and across from him sat a woman in her thirties, with curly blonde shoulder length hair and an obvious no-bullshit attitude. She had a laptop open in front of her and was typing dutifully into it, ignoring both the conversation between Kiegan and Josh, and the waitress who came out with fresh lattes and a tray of muffins, which she placed on the table in front of the row of seats.
As the plane took off, Kiegan looked over at me.
“So, Tina. You met Josh already. He’s one of the producers over at NBC, basically he’s in charge of Kiegan Versus the World. You haven’t met Leanne yet, she’s my secretary. I noticed Leanne look up and smile at me for a split second before her eyes shot back to her screen.
“She works so hard, I could never do what I do without her.”
“So where do I fit in?” I asked. I honestly couldn’t see why someone needed both a personal assistant and a secretary.
“You’re in charge of basically my entire personal life. Everything that isn’t related to my business.”
“I thought you sold your business.”
“I did. I started a new one. I’m a venture capitalist now. But your job is bigger, since my personal assistant has to organize all of the stuff related to my new celebrity job.”