Pretending He’s Mine
Nash
As I walk through the airport, I smile. I don’t miss the hustle and bustle of daily travel like I thought I would.
“Nash?”
“I wish. But today, I’m heading north — to Alaska.”
I chuckle. “And by that frown, I’m guessing you have a stopover.”
Jason’s a SoCal boy, born and raised. He hates cold weather so much that he doesn’t even ski, only surfs.
“It’s raining in Anchorage,” he grumbles.
“You’ll be fine. You packed your parka?”
“Shut up. It’s going to get down into the low twenties tonight. Low twenties, Nash.”
I shrug. “Maybe you should consider moving to corporate jets.”
“And lose my seniority?”
I laugh. “A lot of good that seniority is doing for you.”
“I get holidays off. I’ve worked long and hard for that.”
“I generally do too. Plus, longer stopovers. Like today. I’m flying down to Cancun three days before my client so that I can accept his aircraft and have it ready to take him to Brazil.”
“He’s paying you to go on vacation?”
I shrug. “I have to be at the airport to accept the aircraft, but other than that? Yep.”
He rolls his eyes, but I can tell he’s thinking about it. He confirms that when he says, “Send me that recruiting email again. I might actually read it this time.”
With a wave, I make my way to the gate. In the last eighteen months since changing jobs, I’ve travelled commercial more than ever before. I no longer have to bite my nails and keep refreshing the standby list. I get to fly confirmed. And today, like most days, they booked me first class.
When I reach the gate, I wave at the gate agent, Dylan. I worked with him a lot when I was a pilot for the airline. I scan the seating area for an empty chair when I see another familiar face, one I didn’t expect to see today in the airport.
“Luna?”
She turns to face me fully, her long black hair swirls around like ebony liquid. I’m surprised I recognize her. She looks so grown-up.
“Nash. Oh my God. Are you the pilot on this flight?”
I shake my head. “I’m no longer flying commercial.”
“Since when?”
“About a year and a half now.”
“Dad didn’t tell me that.”
“Does he tell you about all my life changes?” I tease.
Her cheeks pinken and her gaze darts away. “He told me you got divorced.”
“Yeah, well, I imagine he would since he still works with Rea.”
My ex is a flight attendant, and part of the reason I decided to change jobs. We met while working on a lot of the same routes. What I didn’t know is that I wasn’t the first — or the last — pilot to fall for her sexy accent and exotic looks. But I was the only one stupid enough to marry her.
Once I found out, I didn’t want to work the same flights as Rea. Or even for the same airline. I’ve only seen her once in the last eighteen months. That was enough.
“I’m sorry about how all that went down,” Luna says.
“You couldn’t have known it would devolve into that.”
When she finally looks up at me, I give her an encouraging smile. She gives me a skeptical look.
“I had an idea,” she admits.
A few friends tried to warn me about Rea before we got married. A few tried to tell me about her after we were married. I figured they were jealous, or they wanted her for themselves.
Clint was the one who gave me the wake-up call I needed, but I found out later that Luna was the one who put everything in motion. He showed me some sexy text messages that my wife sent to another pilot when they were on stopovers together.
Then I asked around. I figured the pilots who told me they didn’t know what I was talking about are the ones who were fucking my wife. The honest ones showed me her text messages that included their polite declines.
When I checked Rea’s phone, that’s when I realized I was right. She didn’t even bother to delete the evidence. I was smart enough to send the backup files of her texts to myself. In some of the text exchanges, Luna’s mom Maria was trying to tell her that I was going to find out.
Luna saw you kissing another man. Nash is going to find out, and it’s going to hurt him. You need to tell him or I will. Maria had texted.
How dare you get involved in my marriage. You won’t say a word to Nash.
If I don’t, Luna will. She looks up to him. She won’t let him be made a fool of, Maria had replied.
You don’t think he’s got a woman in every city? Rea had volleyed back.
No, I don’t. He’s not like you. He has integrity, Maria told her.
Those words were my comfort as I filed for divorce. As I sold the house we’d bought together. As I changed jobs so that I wouldn’t have to watch my ex-wife flirt with other pilots and passengers. All the time wondering if they were new conquests or men she’d slept with while we’d been married.
I did also get some comfort in the fact that Rea almost got fired.
I turned over all her text messages to HR.
She was put on strict probation for sexual harassment and fraternizing.
I had told HR that we were dating. She didn’t let them know she was fucking anyone who said yes.
And now, she’s being watched like a hawk by her superiors and HR.
“I’m glad I found out,” I tell Luna.
She gives me a small smile. The shyness of the teenager I knew is gone. There’s mischief in her eyes now, and I’m surprised how intriguing I find it. Her lips are naked, just a few shades darker than her skin. Her dark eyes twinkle as she shakes her head.
“I don’t know how you can be so positive. I was ready to kill my boyfriend when I found out?—”
She’s cut off by someone calling her name. Luna’s eyes flare wide, then narrow to slits. Her mouth tightens, pulling her lush lips into a thin line. I look over my shoulder and see a man and a woman approaching.