I sigh. I’d love to go. I glance at Jack. “New York?” I’m not clarifying the location, I’m just asking Jack if he thinks I could do it. I’m asking myself.
“Would it be too difficult?” he asks. “We don’t have to go.” He pulls me closer, shielding me, keeping me safe from my own thoughts.
Although thoughts of going to the ballet aren’t difficult. Not tonight, anyway. I don’t allow myself to think about ballet much between visits because it’s too painful, but lying here with Jack, talking about going to the ballet so soon after the last trip, seems exciting.
Maybe Jack is helping me leave my past in my past.
“I’d love to go to the ballet with you, Jack.”
He grins, flips me to my back, and presses a kiss to my lips. It’s like I’ve just done him a favor, rather than the other way around.
TWENTY-TWO
Iris
I couldn’t say no to New York with Jack. I cling to the hope being with him will override any painful memories. So, a week after he presented me with the tickets, I glance around at the sleek walnut finishes and cream leather of not just the chairs but the walls too. This is no commercial airplane.
“You okay?” Jack asks from where he sits opposite me. “You want to sit next to me?”
I shake my head. “I’m fine. This is… different to how I normally fly.”
“Yeah,” he says. “But this will mean we can get there quicker. And come back quicker.”
The helicopter ride from the Club to the airport—which, I never knew existed—started off our journey differently. I always knew that this wouldn’t be an ordinary trip to New York, but this? It’s just me and Jack on this plane. The plane wouldn’t be flying at all if we weren’t on it. It feels… a little uncomfortable, to be honest. I don’t fit here.
My cheap suitcase got loaded into the plane alongside Jack’s leather weekender that looked like it was straight out of Milan,and Jack’s denim jeans and t-shirt have been replaced with blue slacks and a crisp white shirt. I’m sitting opposite New York Jack now. We’re still in Colorado but we’re on different territory.
“Sure,” I say.
“You seem jumpy,” he says.
I pull in a breath. “I feel jumpy. Or out of place or something.”
He nods and reaches for my hand. “Let me give you an insight into the people I grew up with. There’s no doubt that many wealthy people are snobs. They like to pass judgment on others. But what’s interesting is they don’t care in the slightest what people think about them. That’s what separates the wealthy from everyone else. When we went to the Club, you didn’t feel out of place, did you?”
I shake my head. “It was very relaxed.”
“Right. Everywhere you go is very relaxed ifyou’rerelaxed. If you don’t care what people think of you.”
The plane starts to move, and I reach to get my purse from where it’s sitting beside me. I need to stow it away. And shouldn’t someone have come around to check that we had our seat belts on?
“Your purse is fine there beside you,” Jack says, reading my mind.
“Really? I could move it.”
“You move it on a commercial airliner in case it stops other people getting out. It’s just us. The purse is fine where it is.” He smiles at me, trying to be reassuring, but I don’t feel reassured. I don’t move in these circles. This is not where I feel comfortable.
“I’m just a hick,” I say. “Not used to private planes.”
At that moment, the nose of the plane lifts and we’re flying away from Star Falls and safe ground.
“Well, you’ll be used to them after this. And you’re not a hick. You’re a beautiful, intelligent, graceful woman. And I’m…”He stops himself before he finishes the sentence, and something inside me tells me not to press him on what he was about to say. “We’re going to have a wonderful evening at the ballet.” His eyebrows pull tight together and he tries to take a breath.
“What?” I ask him, squeezing his hand.
“I have something to tell you and I don’t want you to… I thought it would be a nice surprise, but now I’m thinking you might see it differently.”
“What?” I ask him. “Tell me.”
