“Fine. I’m game.” She put the can of soup down on the counter by the register. “I’m not buying this,” she told the Korean man, who just stared.
Red walked her outside. The little bell chimed on the door as they left.
His car was parked across the street. It was still misty out, but the rain had mostly stopped.
“Your chariot awaits,” he said, opening the passenger door of the car. She slid into the seat. The inside of the car smelled fresh, as if it had only just been cleaned. And it also smelled of his cologne, which she now associated with pleasure, with passion.
He got in the driver’s seat and they took off to an unknown destination together.
***
They drove for a long time. Nearly forty-five minutes, and a lot of it on the highway. She tried questioning him, but Red refused to say where they were going. At first, she’d been convinced he was going to take her to that Club Dominion place, but obviously not.
“Relax,” he laughed, when she got frustrated with his refusal to tell her where they were headed. “The surprise is part of it.”
So she switched gears and asked him about work.
“Do you still enjoy it?”
He thought for a while, maneuvering easily between two cars and then giving the Bentley some extra gas so they shot ahead and into a new lane. His driving was so fast and daring, yet she never felt in any danger from what he did.
“I do enjoy it,” he said. “But things are different now that we’re so established. I really loved it when the odds were stacked against me. When everyone said I would fail, that I couldn’t land the big account. That I was growing too fast.”
“And now?”
He shrugged. “Now everyone expects us to win.”
“I wish I knew what that felt like.”
He glanced at her. “Someday you will, Nicole. And you’ll realize it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. Coming up is the fun part.”
Eventually he exited the highway.
She noticed a few signs for Teterboro Airport and began wondering if it was a coincidence. But as they continued, the signs grew closer together and he continued to follow them, and soon it was clear they were actually going there.
“Where on earth are we going?” she cried, when she saw the glowing landing strip lights, and a plane flew overhead.
“I haven’t quite decided.”
“We need a plane to get there?”
“Do you not like flying?”
“Only when I need to get somewhere far away. And last I checked, we’re going on a date.”
“Right.” He smiled at her. “Glad we’re in agreement.”
They parked and he led her into the airport, where he was treated like a king. No standing in lines, no waiting. The two of them were escorted immediately onto the tarmac, where a private jet was waiting.
The pilot personally greeted Red and Nicole as they climbed the steps to board it.
“Evening Mister Jameson,” the pilot said, his voice betraying a distinctive Southern twang. “Evening, ma’am.”
“Good evening, Will,” Red said, shaking his hand. “How are the kids?”
“Great, sir. Oldest just had his eighteenth birthday.”
“Does he like basketball?”
“That he does.”
“What’s his favorite team?”
“He’s actually a Kentucky fan.”
“I’m going to have Lacy send him four tickets to the NCAA tournament as a gift.”
The pilot shook his head. “No way. I can’t accept that.” But he was smiling.
“You will,” Red laughed as they climbed aboard.
The interior of the jet was less like any plane she’d ever been on, and more like some kind of futuristic living room.
There were plush chairs, a long couch, a flat screen television, a full bar. The only thing that proved she was still on a plane was the entrance to the cockpit and the little circular windows that only planes had. Everything was very classy, cream colored, none of the gaudy red and black stuff.
“Now will you tell me where we’re going?” she asked him when they’d sat in two of the seats and buckled themselves in for takeoff.
The plane began taxying down the runway.
He held her hand and looked in her eyes. “Florida.”
“Florida?”
“I didn’t want to take you too far from home, but just far enough away to be romantic. We’ll be there in under three hours if the wind stays in this direction.”
“What are you, a pilot too? You know the wind direction?”
“Will told me.” He grins. “Let’s have a drink to celebrate our escape from New York.” He buzzed for the stewardess, a beautiful woman who batted her eyes and flirted shamelessly with Red right in front of Nicole.
But Red clearly had no interest in her. She brought them two glasses of champagne as the plane soared into the night skies. Nicole looked out the windows and watched the tiny bright lights of the city grow smaller and smaller beneath them.
She felt really happy for the first time in a long time.
“Here’s to a beautiful night,” Red said, raising his glass, “and the woman who captured my heart.”