Suddenly I understood everything, and all I could do was nod to let her know that I received her message, loud and clear. “That sounds interesting,” I said. “A lot to think about.”
She was telling me, in no uncertain terms, that I would be rewarded for making Oscar Hamilton’s daughter happy. Or the opposite could happen. Caroline was a ruthless businesswoman. She wouldn’t think twice about throwing me under the bus if I got in the way of her lofty ambitions.
Something in me grew weary. There I was, again at the mercy of a woman who wanted something from me. And again, I was handed the responsibility and pressure to make someone happy.
Caroline moved to the door. “Sounds like it’s going to be a fun weekend for you.” She winked at me. “You lucky devil. I’ll want to hear all about that private jet on Monday.”
I didn’t comment on that. I simply gathered up my things and tried to focus on Olivia and nothing else as I walked out. All I wanted was to be with her again so I could feel the euphoria. I didn’t care if we were on a luxury jet or sleeping in a dumpster. Anything would be better than this hell I was living.
CHAPTER 21
OLIVIA
New York, 1986
It had been almost a full week since I had kissed Dean Robinson goodbye in my apartment stairwell after our cruise up the Hudson River and our romantic spaghetti dinner afterward. I’d had a student film to edit by the due date, so I had forced myself to stay focused and get the job done, when all I wanted was to see Dean again. I couldn’t even begin to fathom my delight when my mother finally consented to let me invite him to join us in Miami for the weekend.
Dean had agreed to meet us on the jet, where I sat in breathless anticipation. The pilots were doing their safety checks, and the flight attendant had already served drinks. She would be closing the main cabin door in the next few minutes. I was seated at a window, watching for Dean and praying that he hadn’t changed his mind and wasn’t running late for some reason. We were scheduled to depart at 9:15 p.m., and once the doors were closed, that would be it. We would leave without him.
Finally, I spotted him walking toward the airplane with that attractive manly swagger, a blue Adidas duffel bag slung over his shoulder. A shiver of elation tingled through my body, and I turned to my mother, who was seated in the white leather seat across from me. “I see him. He’s coming.”
“Well, that’s what I call cutting it close,” she replied, flipping through a glossy magazine and reaching for her glass of chilled pinot grigio.
I still wasn’t entirely sure that she and my father approved of my budding relationship with Dean. They had always liked Gabriel, and for a while they assumed we would get engaged. For that reason, they had opened their hearts to him and considered him part of the family. When we broke up, they were surprised and dismayed. My mother cried actual tears and said I had just tossed a match into my beautiful house and burned it down.
Indeed, it was a painful breakup. To soften the blow, I had told Gabriel to give me six months on my own to figure things out. But six months had passed quite some time ago. Then Dean appeared—the most attractive man I’d ever met, exactly my type with golden hair and blue eyes, an athletic build, and a smile that made my heart bounce around inside my chest like a soft rubber ball. But it wasn’t just his looks. Whenever I was with him, I felt a perfect sense of harmony, and all seemed right with the world.
It was still early days, of course, and I knew he had feelings for me, but I wasn’t entirely confident that the depth of his passion equaled mine. I was ready and eager to leap fearlessly into a committed relationship with him, but I sensed something was holding him back from that sort of impulsiveness. I suspected it stemmed from his upbringing. More specifically, the death of his mother and a deep-rooted fear of future abandonment. But who was I to make such judgments? I wasn’t a psychologist. That was his department.
I continued to watch out the window as he climbed the gangway steps and entered the plane. Our flight attendant, Serena, met him at the door.
“Welcome aboard, Dr. Robinson,” she said. “May I stow your bag for you? And would you like anything to drink?”
“Do you have orange juice?” he asked.
“We have everything.”
Serena disappeared into the galley while I stood up and kissed Dean on the cheek. “I’m so glad you made it. I was starting to worry.”
“Sorry about that. Traffic was bad.” He followed me to the pair of leather seats across from my mother, who sat in a single.
“Hello, Dean,” she said. “It’s nice to see you again.”
“It’s nice to see you too,” he replied, then looked all around the cabin. “This is really something.”
My mother ignored his comment while I breathed in the scent of him and admired the way his open collar stood up at his neck and how his wavy hair curled around it. My whole being seemed to lift off the chair and float, and we hadn’t even taken off yet.
I linked my arm through his and asked how his day had gone.
“It was all right,” he replied, sitting forward and looking down at his shoes.
I felt a twinge of unease, a sense that something was off. But then he looked into my eyes and said, “I’m so happy to see you. You have no idea.”
My heart swelled at the intimacy I felt when he spoke to me, and I felt warm all over.
Serena appeared with a glass of orange juice on a tray. Then she closed the cabin door, and the captain spoke over the intercom.
“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. It should be a smooth flight to Miami. Clear skies all the way. Please go ahead and get comfortable and prepare for takeoff.”
We all buckled our seat belts, the engine roared beneath us, and the plane began taxiing toward the runway.
Not long after we reached cruising altitude, I leaned close to Dean and whispered in his ear, “I have a surprise for you.”
Our faces were mere inches apart, and all I wanted to do was kiss those beautiful, soft lips. I was dizzy with desire, but I resisted the urge because my mother sat two feet away, looking bored with her magazine. She would certainly notice if we started making out like lovesick teenagers.
“What’s the surprise?” he asked. The small space between us seemed electrified.
“You told me on the boat last week that you had an obsession with airplanes when you were a child and that you once thought about becoming a pilot.”
“Yes.”
“Before you got here, I asked the captain if you could check out the cockpit, and he said yes. He even said you could sit in the copilot’s chair if you want to.”
Dean shook his head with disbelief. “Seriously?”
“Yes. Do you want to do that?”
“Do you even have to ask?”
I laughed and turned in my seat to wave at Serena.
She approached and leaned close. “What can I get for you?”
“Nothing, but could you let Captain Taylor know that Dean would like to visit the cockpit and ask when it’s okay for him to do that?”
“Certainly.” She went forward to speak to him.
A moment later, she returned. “The captain says now is a good time. I can take you, if you’d like?”
Dean turned to me. “You’re amazing. Do you know that? I feel like I’m living in a fantasy world.”