Spring Break Secret by Holly Rayner
Halle
“Oh, no.” Halle Johnson’s friend and fellow flight attendant, Dina, stood in the middle of the plane’s aisle, blocking her path. “Absolutely not. You’re taking the first-class cabin on this flight. I’ve earned a break.”
Halle groaned. “It’s Thursday,” she pointed out. “Thursdays are your day to work in the first-class cabin.”
“Yeah, I know,” Dina said. “But I worked the red-eye from New York last night, and you’re just coming on shift. I need this, Halle. If I have to deal with one more pretentious, entitled guest telling me that I put the wrong number of ice cubes in their scotch, or calling me missy, or slapping me on the ass while I’m trying to work—”
“Did that really happen?” Halle asked.
“It just happened on this last haul from New York!” Dina said. “I swear to God, these Fortune 500 guys think they’re entitled to put their hands wherever they want to. I can’t stand it. Give me coach any day. There may be three times as many guests back there, but at least they’re normal people.”
Halle nodded. Her friend was right. Flying first class had always sounded like fun, but working in the first-class cabin was an ordeal. The people who shelled out the kind of money it took to get those seats weren’t people who were accustomed to hearing the word no.
Still, Halle could see that Dina needed the break. “Okay,” she said. “I’ll take first class.”
“You will?” Dina grabbed her arm. “You’re a lifesaver.”
“Yeah, I am,” Halle said. “San Diego to La Vega, Florida. Five hours in the air.”
“Yeah, I’ll definitely owe you after this,” Dina said. “The La Vega crew make the New York to San Diego travelers look laid-back by comparison.”
“What do you mean?” Halle asked.
“Oh, you know what they’re like,” Dina said. “The kind of people who fly first class into La Vega. Almost all of them are the kind of multi-millionaire jerks who spend their lives on their yachts surrounded by bottles of expensive champagne while their lawyers look for tax loopholes for them. I don’t want anything to do with them.”
Halle groaned. It was true. Her hometown had changed a lot in recent years. It wasn’t the kind of thing you noticed if you lived in the part of town where Halle had spent her whole life. That area was still thoroughly middle class. But Dina was right. “You’re really throwing me in with the vipers,” she said.
“I love you, Halle. Seriously.”
“You’re taking me out for a drink when we land,” she said. “I’m going to need to vent about this afterward.”
“Yes,” Dina said. “Absolutely. I can’t wait to hear your stories.”
“I’d better go get ready,” Halle said. “They’ll be boarding in a few moments, and if I don’t have their hot towels waiting for them, I’m sure there’ll be hell to pay.”
She returned to the front of the plane, opened a bottle of white wine, and began to pour it into some chilled glasses. As she arranged the glasses on a tray, she heard the telltale sound of voices that let her know the boarding process had begun.
She peeked around the corner and saw the passengers taking their seats.
At least it’s a small plane. She would be able to give each passenger a lot of attention, so there wouldn’t be too much cause for them to complain.
As she took the drinks around to the passengers, she took special note of the people she had on board. There was one elderly woman who was flying alone—she would likely be either the easiest person to deal with or else the most difficult. Three couples were flying together—two in their forties and one a bit older. Halle didn’t expect too much trouble from any of them.
But at the back of the first-class cabin there was one man who was traveling alone. He was the youngest person in the cabin, too—he couldn’t have been much older than Halle herself. Mid-thirties, perhaps. She took the tray over to him when only one drink remained.
We’ll see how he responds to being served last. That will be pretty telling when it comes to how difficult he’s planning to be.
“Welcome aboard, sir,” she said, holding the tray out to him. “A glass of white wine?”
He glanced up at her.
He looked her up and down.
Halle didn’t know what to make of that. It almost seemed as though he was checking her out. But would he really be so blatant about it?
She’d had her fair share of guests hitting on her, of course. It was a common problem among flight attendants, especially younger female flight attendants. And Halle knew men found her attractive. She was tall and slim and physically fit, and she always conformed to the fresh-faced, well-groomed standard of appearance that was expected of someone in her job.
But even so, most guys at least tried to be sort of subtle about checking her out.
This one wasn’t trying to hide it.
Halle didn’t know what to do. She wanted to turn and walk away, but she was still holding the drink. He hadn’t indicated whether or not he wanted it.
Finally, he spoke. “Hello,” he said. “What’s your name?”
She wasn’t overly interested in giving him her name, but the last thing she wanted was for him to complain about her after the flight was over. “I’m Halle,” she said, giving him her best customer-service smile. “I’ll be taking care of you during today’s flight. Would you like a complimentary glass of white wine?”
Again, he ignored the offer. “I’m Grayson Bloom,” he said. “I don’t know whether or not you’ve heard of me, Haley. I’m the owner of Bloom Resorts.”
“Oh, yes, I’m familiar with that chain,” Halle said, ignoring the fact that he’d gotten her name wrong. “Those are very nice resorts.”
“Have you ever stayed with us?”
“I can’t say that I have.” As if! Bloom Resorts was a ridiculously expensive chain. Halle could never have afforded it in a million years. It was outside the realm of what she even fantasized about.
“Perhaps you should,” he said. “There’s really no place that compares to a Bloom Resort.”
Perhaps you should price your rooms so that working-class people can afford them.
“Would you like a glass of wine?” she asked again.
“Red,” he said.
Halle looked at the white in her hand, then back at him. He had already turned his attention away from her and toward his phone.
She turned and went back to the little galley at the front of the plane. Of course, dozens of people had asked her for something other than what she was offering before. She had even had passengers insist on something other than what was being offered. There was nothing inherently surprising about that.
But there was something about the way he had just said the word red and then turned away from her. It hadn’t been a request. It hadn’t even been a demand. It had been a presumption.
This man really thinks I’m going to open a whole new bottle of wine just to pour him a few ounces of it.
And it was a free drink, for God’s sake! He really couldn’t just take what was being offered?
But it had been drilled into her during her time as a flight attendant. In first class, the customer was always right. She poured out a glass of red and hurried back to him.
“That took you long enough,” he said with a little smirk. “Couldn’t find the bottle? I guess you must be new to the job, hmm?”
She was itching to retort that, actually, she had been a flight attendant for almost ten years, but she couldn’t let herself become argumentative with him. “Is there anything else I can do for you?”
“I wouldn’t say no to a snack. Do you have a charcuterie tray? Something along those lines?”
Why did she have the feeling he was deliberately asking for difficult things? Surely a man as important as he was had flown before in his life. He must know that she couldn’t put together any snacks that weren’t on the menu.
“I’ll see what I can do,” she managed, and hurried away.
If only he wasn’t so important! If a passenger in the coach-class cabin had made such a silly request, she could have just politely said no and moved on. But first-class passengers had to be babied.
She was forced to take her seat as the plane took off, but as she felt it rise into the air, she pondered. They did have cheese in one of their snack packs. And the plane had plenty of complimentary nuts. As for meats—one of today’s lunch options was a deli sandwich. There might be something she could do…
As soon as they had reached cruising altitude, she got to her feet and began arranging the items on a plate. She grabbed a napkin and the bottle of red wine and made her way down the aisle to Mr. Bloom.
He was looking at his phone again. He glanced up at her as she approached, but quickly returned his gaze to his phone. He hadn’t pulled out his seat table yet, so she had nowhere to set the plate.
“Mr. Bloom?”
He held up a finger.
Halle refused to let her frustration show on her face. It seemed to her that he was trying to get a rise out of her, but she wasn’t going to take the bait.
At last, he looked up. Halle felt a brief surge of satisfaction at the look on his face. He was surprised that she had managed to put a charcuterie plate together. He might be trying to hide it now, but he couldn’t fool her.
She waited while he pulled out his tray, then set down the plate. “I hope you enjoy it,” she said, smiling. “Would you like a refill on your wine?”
“That would be nice,” he said.
She poured him a bit more and then returned to the front of the cabin.
The rest of the flight passed in much the same fashion. She couldn’t shake the feeling that Mr. Bloom was trying to trip her up, trying to get her to make a mistake. But it seemed to be a game to him. She could see the amusement on his face, though she didn’t know quite what to make of it. Halle took pleasure in meeting all his requests flawlessly. She was a good flight attendant and she knew it, and a difficult passenger wasn’t going to get the better of her.
Five hours later, the plane put down in La Vega. Halle stood by the door and bid farewell to the first-class passengers as they disembarked. She felt the hot, humid Florida air coming in through the jetway and wondered if she’d have time for a few hours’ detour to a beach before her flight out in the morning.
Grayson Bloom was the last off the plane. He caught her arm as he was passing.
“I’d like to speak with you, Halle, if you have a moment,” he said. “Will you join me at the bar?”
I knew he knew my real name!
Curiosity getting the better of her, she followed.
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