Aiden didn’t look at me. He continued to glare at his phone for a moment before he shoved it back into his pocket and dropped his butt down in the seat beside me.
“It’s fine,” he said curtly.
Whatever it was, he clearly didn’t want to discuss it. All ideas of asking about Swedish Fish left my head, so I went with a subject change instead.
“So, what do you do for a living?”
“I’m in sales,” Aiden said.
“Right.” I nodded and fiddled with my hands in my la
p. “You said that, but you didn’t say what kind of sales.”
“Pharmaceuticals.”
My heart skipped a beat, and my palms began to sweat. I was right! He was a drug dealer! And here I was, about to get on a plane and head to Florida with him.
What the hell was I going to do?
Our zone was called, and Aiden stood and picked up our carry-on bags.
“Ready?” he asked.
I wanted to say no, I was not ready. I wanted to turn around and run as fast as I could back to my car in long-term parking. I wanted to tell him it was all a mistake and whatever desire I had for a week of beach-life had vanished.
I didn’t.
Aiden had paid for a plane ticket for me. We were here, and the plane was boarding. People were probably still watching him after his outburst on the phone. How would it look if I ran off now?
Instead of running, I simply nodded and joined him in line to get on the plane. I remained silent as the ticket agent checked our boarding passes, and the flight attendant led us to our seats. Aiden tucked our luggage into an overhead bin and handed me my trail mix before he sat down and buckled his seatbelt.
“Do you fly a lot?” I asked. I really wanted to return to normal conversation and forget his harsh words on the phone.
“Some,” he said.
“Do you travel to Ohio a lot?” I asked.
“Pretty often,” Aiden said. “I’m from the area, and I go back to visit friends and do a little business from time to time.”
“Is your family there?”
“My mom is around somewhere.” He turned toward me. “How about you? Have you always lived in the area?”
“Most of the time,” I said. “I went to school out of state, and my mom moved away to San Francisco last year after my father passed the year before.”
“Sorry to hear that.”
“It’s all right,” I replied quietly. “I’ve gotten used to the idea of him being gone. It was hard at first, but I’m coping with it.”
“Do you have siblings?” he asked.
“No, it’s just me. How about you?”
“None,” Aiden said.
“But your parents live in Cincinnati?”
“My mother does,” Aiden confirmed. “My father died when I was in high school.”