Chapter 5
FIVE
Cora didn't know what to expect once they were boarded. There were a few spots open on the seating chart when she rebooked Vince's flight, so she was able to book them seats together.
She had given herself the window seat, but she'd offered it to Vince when they boarded, feeling more than a little embarrassed that she'd taken the seat for her comfort, but he didn't ask to change. He even made a little joke saying he "wasn't too thrilled about heights."
She didn't know if he'd said that just to be nice, or if he meant it. Either way it eased a little of her worries as they settled into their seats.
It also helped that the flight crew didn't know her.
Ticketing agents and flight crews didn't interact all that much as a necessity. If she'd been wearing her uniform, that might have been something, but she was just traveling for fun not for business, so she'd traveled in her 'street clothes."
As the plane began rolling down the runway, she drew in a long steadying breath.
With all of the excitement of meeting Vince and getting to know him during their coffee date, she'd almost forgotten how much take-offs and landings made her stomach clench and her nerves twist and tangle.
She wasn't about to panic in front of Vince. Okay, beside him, but it was the same thing in her book. They were just getting to know each other, the last thing she wanted him to think was that she was a complete scaredy cat about flying.
With what she hoped was a seemingly calm movement, she put her hands in her lap and twisted her fingers together, keeping her gaze out the window at the scenery below them.
It seemed counter-intuitive in a way, but seeing the ground below helped her. It was like she could see that they were in the air instead of imagining all sorts of things. Looking outside the window made things real... Concrete.
She'd be okay once things leveled out and the pilot turned off the seat belt sign above their heads.
Somehow that electronic PING of sound made her nerves relax and her muscles release. She just had to hold it together until then.
The wheels lifted off from the tarmac and she sucked in an involuntary breath as the plane felt like it bobbed in the air.
Before she could worry about Vince hearing her breath, she felt his hand cover hers in her lap.
Her shoulders tensed a little, but she didn't look at him.
She just couldn't as her cheeks heated up and tingled with shame.
"You okay?"
She nodded even though the answer was no.
This is why, she reminded herself, I don't fly if I can help it.
"I hate making a fool of myself." She dropped her gaze to the floor just beyond her knees glad that these rows had some extended leg room. It helped her nerves not to have the seat close to her knees in front of her. "You must think I'm a nut."
His hand squeezed gently around her own. "Hardly."
"I work for the airlines." She heard the slightly strident tone of her voice and knew it was because she was upset at herself.
She must really be making a great impression on Vince.
"I bet you're regretting this now."
"Hardly." She felt him turn in his seat and look at her.
When his other hand joined his first, cupping her hands between them, she snuck a glance in his direction. "You don't think I'm being a bit of a child about flying?"
"Child?" He chuckled, shaking his head. "No. Definitely not. There's nothing childish about being nervous about a plane lifting off of the ground."
One corner of her mouth twisted up. "Thanks for saying that, but I still feel a little silly for worrying."
"I feel it in my stomach," he replied. "It gives a big lurch every time I'm in a plane and it takes off."
She looked at him, wide-eyed. "Really?"
He grinned at her and her heart skipped in her chest.
He nodded. "That's one of the reasons I chose the Navy instead of something like the Air Force. Being a pilot was never in my cards."
They both chuckled together.
"Just one?"
"One. Another was that my dad and granddad were in the Navy, so I guess it's a family thing."
She nodded, appreciating the connection. "Cameron joined the Marines just because... You know, I don't know why he joined the Marines. We grew up in Alaska, so I don't even think we have a Marine base there."
"I don't think there's a Navy base there either."
"Really?" She stared at him in shock. "We're bordered by so much ocean, I guess I figured that we'd have a Navy base. Crazy..."
He nodded. "If there is a Navy base I haven't heard about it, but then again. I'm in the Navy and stationed in Chicago."
She laughed softly at that. "I know there's the river and the lake, but... yeah, I wouldn't think there'd be a Navy base in the area."
"Great Lakes Naval Station."
"Wow. I've been living in Chicago for a little over two years and I had no idea."
His laugh mingled with hers and she really liked the sound of it.
"And I've lived in Chicago for about three and this is the first time I was trying to fly out of it. I guess I picked the perfect time."
Her chin dropped a little in shock. "Perfect? With the storm and cancelled flights?"
"Well, I got to meet you."
Something warm spread through her chest as she looked at him and saw the earnest look in his eyes. "That's really sweet of you to say."
He shrugged. "I mean it, Cora."
She looked away for a moment, unsure of what he'd see in her eyes as she wasn't even sure how she was feeling about it.
Cora felt a soft touch against the back of her hand and she turned to see his thumb brushing a gentle arc over her skin.
"If you think a little hesitation over lift off is going to make me regret this," she looked up as he shook his head, "it won't, even if I didn't feel the same way. Even if I didn't, at least I got to hold your hand. It made me feel a little heroic."
She couldn't help but smile at that. "You were pretty handy to have around when I needed it." She felt her cheeks warm even more. "Needed you."
"Now I really feel like a hero."
They kept talking softly until it was time for the first beverage service.
Vince was kind of surprised at the alcoholic drinks that they had available on the plane. The last time he remembered flying anywhere, there were just the normal sodas, water, tea, and coffee. He took the offered cup of coffee and handed Cora the cup of ginger ale. Two packets of fancy trail mix came a moment later and he smiled at the way Cora's eye lit up as she opened the packet. "I love these."
He didn't even have to think about it. He put his packet of trail mix on her tray and saw her eager grin turn in his direction. "You can have mine," he assured her. "I don't eat a lot of snacks."
Cora crunched into something that looked like a tiny pretzel. "We eat a lot of snacks at work. We have lunch times that we're scheduled for, but you probably wouldn't believe how many days we actually don't get a chance to eat an actual lunch. So we have a box of these things in the break room, and we probably eat our weight in these things every few days." She picked out a little thing that looked like a kind of a cracker. "I think it's safe to say we're all addicted so you just made me really happy."
Chuckling to himself, he had a thought that if she did eat her weight in the trail mix every few days it certainly didn't show, but he knew from listening to his mom and grandmother that weight was never something you should comment on with a woman. Well, besides hearing it from the favorite women in his life, it just made good sense.
Cora looked great to him. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.
He fought off a cheesy grin at the idea of her butt. He'd accidentally moved his hand over hers when he set her back down after spinning her around in the terminal hallway. It was hard to ignore how pretty she was when she was sitting right beside him.
And whatever she used as a perfume or body spray was mouth-wateringly delicious.
Calm the fuck down, Vince.
He took an extreme interest in his coffee for a moment and wished that he'd put down the tray in front of him.
"So," her soft voice reached his ears, "I should probably ask you if you're a meat eater or a veggie. Either way you'll have a great meal. From what Cameron told me, there's going to be something for everyone at the meal. He said there's a restaurant level kitchen at the bowling alley and Kawehi's uncle is an awesome cook."
He nodded. "I'm used to cooking that's prepared for a thousand plus plates a day. I'd be okay with a hot dog from the corner store as long as I don't have to cook it for myself." His smile broadened. "I'm really grateful for the offer to go with you, Cora. I hope you don't end up regretting the offer."
She shook her head. "I doubt it. I'm going to enjoy this trip, and I think you will, too."
"So far so good." He gave her a quick sideways look before deciding to ask her about what she'd been saying just a moment before. "You mentioned someone named Kawehi."
She covered her mouth as she swallowed down more of her trail mix.
Vince apologized for the interruption, but she waved it off. "It always happens," she cleared her throat. "I have something in my mouth, and someone asks me a question."
Oh boy. He really needed to focus. And not on the image that her words had put into his head.
Not only were they strangers a couple of hours before, but he was going to be around her older brother who was in the Marines. He knew that as a Navy man it was going to be difficult to get himself in her brother's good graces.
"You wanted to know something about Kawehi?"
He heard a slight hesitation in her voice, but she put a smile on her face that was pretty genuine knowing that he hadn't been specific enough in his question.
"I'm guessing that's a Hawaiian name?"
Her smile brightened. "Yeah! Her cousin, Maile, is going to be there, too. I don't know what Kawehi means, but it's a beautiful name."
"Is there a V in the middle of it?"
Her lips pressed together in a curious twist. "Not quite." Cora shifted in her chair, turning her body to face him as much as she could with the arm rest between them would allow. "I had to look up the pronunciation thing before heading to Hawaii. I didn't want to get there and sound like a complete tourist."
Vince felt half of his brow lift in question. "But you are a tourist."
"Hey!" She reached out and smacked his arm with the back of her hand. "Oops!" Cora winced and rubbed her hand gently over the spot where she'd hit him a moment before. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."
He shook his head and chuckled at the idea. "You didn't hurt me. You couldn't."
She stopped moving her hand over his arm in that soothing gesture of hers. "What?" Cora narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you saying that because I can't hurt you? Or are you saying that because you think I'm too nice."
Cora lifted up her chin so that her eyes met his in an open challenge.
"I'm stronger than I look, you know."
He gave her another look with a lifted brow.
She pulled back her left arm and socked him in the bicep.
"Ouch!" He clapped a hand over his arm where she'd nailed him with a well-placed jab.
Her mouth dropped open, and she reached out for his arm. "Oh my god. Did I really hurt you?"
He couldn't hold back his smile. "No, but only because I doubt you could get enough force behind a punch with the wall of the plane behind you." Vince reached out and wrapped his hand over her loose fist to keep her from trying again. He had a feeling that she could easily rise to the challenge, and he wasn't going to push her.
No, he didn't think she'd want to hurt him, but he didn't want to chance it knowing that she'd feel bad afterward. He had a feeling that life growing up with an older brother gave her some skills in defending herself and likely a good deal of skill in fighting even if it wasn't her brother who taught her.
Cora, as sweet and gorgeous as she was, had a fighting spirit. It was likely why she was so good at what she did. Not that she'd fight her customers, but she probably fought for them with equal measure.
"I'm not going to fight you," he tried to be as serious as he could and keep the smile off of his face. She was as impressive as she was beautiful. And that was a lot. "I bet you could do some serious damage if you got enough of a wind up. Still, you are going to be a tourist-"
"With a brother who lives there," she pointed out with a little satisfaction. "But you're right. I'm going to be a Malihini. And if you're good, you can be one, too."
"Mali... what?"
"Malihini." She repeated. "A foreigner. Tourist. Newcomer."
He narrowed his gaze at her.
Cora rolled her eyes. "Let me guess, you're going to tell me I just looked that up in a dictionary," she held up her hand, smiling, "so, I'll save you the time. Yes. I did look it up in a dictionary."
Vince leaned in. "That's great." He nodded to tell her he meant it. "If I'd known that I was going to Hawaii, I would have looked things up too, so I didn't stick out like a sore thumb or a stupid tourist."
He watched as she visibly relaxed and he smiled.
"Maybe you can teach me a few things before we get there so I don't look like a complete fool."
Cora nodded and her whole face lit up like the sun was shining just on her. He wanted to keep looking at her for days and days. He wanted that smile directed at him for as long as he could manage it.
“We have a little bit of time on our hands. Let’s get started.”