“I’ll wait for him,” I say, and the flight attendant nods.
“I’ll get Miss Webb settled and come back in a moment.”
He rushes to pull open the door for Angela as she fiddles with her phone. She heads, swinging her hips and grinning like she won the lottery. Before the door swooshes closed behind her and the flight attendant, I hear her ask him if he could film her.
I chuckle to myself.
“What’s so funny?”
I glance over my shoulder, and there’s Landon. He’s staring at me with those bright, intelligent blue eyes, and he’s wiping his hands on the sides of his dark blue pants. “Where’s Angie?”
He sounds instantly and completely panicked, and those eyes I love start darting around the small room. I reach out and grab his shoulder, giving it a gentle, friendly squeeze. “Relax, she already boarded.”
“She’s on the plane.” I can feel the tension dissipate under my palm, still on his shoulder. “Okay. Great.”
“You thought she would bail? Like a runaway bride or something?” I ask, half joking as I remove my hand from his shoulder. I realize this isn’t a laughing matter when he doesn’t even crack a smile.
“She totally lost it when the trade was announced,” Landon explains, lowering his voice to a whisper. “She doesn’t want to leave Los Angeles.”
“She is downright giddy about the plane ride,” I assure him. “She had the flight attendant help her make a reel.”
“Really?’ Landon blinks. He looks relieved.
The flight attendant reappears, holding open the door and motioning at us. “Are you ready?”
“Yeah.” I nod and follow Landon out the door.
I take a deep breath of California air for the last time, at least until we’re on a road trip back here. The air is gritty and warm, but there’s always something enjoyable in it, like jasmine or salt from the ocean. I’m gonna miss it. Los Angeles has been my favorite place to live so far. And my favorite team.
“She was really upset. I’ve never seen her that upset,” Landon tells me as we walk across the pavement to the stairs that lead to the jet. “Even when I had cancer, she was… I mean, she cried, but she was strong. Determined. But the trade had her… despondent. It freaked me out.”
“I think the jet has quelled some of her sadness,” I promise him as I climb the stairs and step into the private plane.
I’ve never been in one of these either, just like Angela. There’s plush seating and a mahogany bar, and even what looks like a king-size bed at the back of the plane. Clearly, it’s a lot for Landon too, because he stutter-steps, causing my front to smack into his back. The brief full-body contact makes a shimmer of electricity shoot through me. His body is warm and hard, and he’s the perfect height for me, about six-one-ish, I’d guess. Oh, who am I kidding? I don’t have to guess; it has his height listed as six-one on the official hockey website, and yeah, I looked. Six foot one and a hundred and ninety-one pounds. His cheat meal is a fried chicken sandwich with pickles, radish, and Calabrian chili mayo. His dirty secret is that he actually likes romcoms. Did I memorize his bio on the Quake site? Maybe.
“This plane is insane,” he remarks.
“It’s his nicest one,” the flight attendant replies.
“He has more than one?”
“Yeah, he has one for the team too, but it’s more… basic.” The flight attendant shrugs. “This is his personal plane.”
He’s referring to one of the Riptide owners. I don’t know which one. Both are local tech bros who invented an app and made millions. I’ve never met the team owners, but I have a feeling I’ll meet these two because they’re big fans of my family’s hockey legacy.
“Landy, can you take my pic? You always get my best angle,” Angela announces as she holds her phone out to her boyfriend and lifts a champagne flute with her other hand.
Landon blocks the aisle to get a couple of shots, and I wait patiently. They’re cute together. Have been since I met her, his third game back after his cancer. When he’s done, Landon hands her phone back and sits across from her in one of the plush swivel chairs, and I sit in one across the aisle from the two of them. The flight attendant brings two more champagne flutes and fills them. “Can I also get a water, please?”
“Not a problem. I’ll bring a carafe once we’re in the air. Please, everyone, buckle up. We’ll be pushing back imminently.” He disappears to the kitchen area by the cockpit, where I also saw a seat for him.
“This is wild,” Landon remarks. “Our new owners are rich.”
“Our last owners were rich too and got richer thanks to us,” I remind him.
“And they never even got us a jet,” Landon jokes, and our eyes lock. His eyes are a shade of blue I’ve never seen. They’re inky with a bright, light ring around the outer edge. My God, I have it bad.
I shift in my seat and move my gaze to Angela, who is gulping back her champagne pretty quickly. Her glass is already three-quarters empty. “Angie, you’re gonna love Maine. It’s the perfect time to be going too because it’s still warm and the leaves are about to change.”
