“If you would,” the clerk said as he finally ended the call, “the Patek Headquarters in Geneva would like to see you.”
“But Grant needs a watch,” Kate said.
“They are expecting you.”
“What’s wrong?” Grant asked, concerned.
“I don’t know where you got this watch or how you got it. It was presumed missing for the past eighty years or so, and now it has resurfaced. It is”—he pulled at his collar—“a most rare find. Please go. They are expecting you.”
Miffed, Grant held the door open for Kate as they left the jewelry shop. He put his old watch back on as Kate called for a plane.
“We’re going to fly to Switzerland, just like that?” he asked.
“How else would we travel there?” Kate said absently. “A boat?”
Grant wasn’t sure he would ever get used to this. He had never been on a plane until he joined the military. Even then, it was cramped charter flights or stressful flights on commercial airlines. He never thought he would fly in a private jet.
A car met them at the airport with their suitcases.
Kate told him, “I always keep a suitcase packed for these occasions when emergency travel crops up. Stefan packed one for you.”
Grant opened the suitcase while they waited for the plane to taxi over to them. It looked as if Stefan had packed several outfits, shoes, and toiletries.
“I wish we had gotten you a suit made,” Kate said and sighed after ending a phone conversation in which she’d been speaking French with someone. It sounded like a woman.
“I don’t understand,” Grant said as he picked up the suitcases to board the plane. Kate greeted the captain and flight attendants, who welcomed them into the sumptuous interior of the private jet. Then she took a seat and tapped her fingers in annoyance.
“Apparently, you are walking around with one of the rarest watches in the world. A similar one sold for close to two million dollars several years ago,” she told him as she sat down.
“Two million!” Grant’s eyes bugged out. He looked down at his watch. It was a bit smudged but seemed in pretty good shape. Still, it did not look like a multimillion-dollar watch.
“Your father has gotten wind of it. He’s a bit of a watch fanboy. He’ll want to show you his collection when you return. It is quite impressive. He’s going to get a kick out of your watch, though.” She giggled.
“How long is this flight?” Grant asked as the flight attendants prepared for takeoff.
“Eight hours. We’ll arrive there early in the morning and go straight to the company’s main headquarters. They have their historian in until tomorrow, then she’s out on holiday. Hence the rush,” Kate said.
Grant was feeling a little overwhelmed.Who just picks up to go to Europe?he thought as the plane took off. He had been too tired to take it all in when Kate first brought him to New England. Now he looked around the plane. It was nothing like being on a commercial flight. The lighting was subdued; there wasn’t a sense of suppressed irritation—no screaming babies, no bad smells. The chairs were large and soft, and he could stretch out his long legs.
“My passport!” he sat up, panicked.
Kate smiled and pulled two passports out of her bag. “Stefan sent them. I’ve got everything covered. We’ll go to Geneva, spend the night so the flight crew can rest, then come back. It will be a short trip, unless you want to stay longer when we land, of course. We’ll see how you feel.”
Grant nodded and looked out the window. The sun was setting over the Atlantic. He wasn’t tired but felt as if he should sleep, anyway.
The flight attendant came over to him. “We have some choices for dinner. Would you like pasta or steak or both?” She winked at him.
“I guess both,” he said. He was suddenly hungry.
“I want the steak,” Kate said. “I’m trying to not eat so many carbs. You know how the Swiss are.”
Grant felt alarmed. “I don’t understand.” In the military, they loaded them up on cheap carbs.
“You’ve never been to Switzerland before?” Kate asked him.
He shook his head.
“The German Swiss are cool. I went to Barcelona this one time in college and randomly met a bunch of German Swiss girls. We went clubbing all night and went to the beach during the day. They were so chill. The French Swiss? The people in the part of the country we’re going to? They despise Americans. They’ll look at you like a fly that laid an egg on their plate.” She looked at him and sighed. “I really wish we had gotten you some better clothes.”
