Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 49006 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 245(@200wpm)___ 196(@250wpm)___ 163(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49006 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 245(@200wpm)___ 196(@250wpm)___ 163(@300wpm)
“Then it’s a good thing I mapped it out and know exactly where it is and I’ve got the menu pulled up on my phone,” Samuel tosses over his shoulder. There’s a sway to his hips and a snap of his fingers. I love the flare he tosses around, always exuberant, happy go lucky, and while he can be dramatic in some moments, he’s a really great guy and has been since the moment we met during my training.
Imagine my surprise when we were paired up together on my first day, a rarity from what I’ve been told throughout the entire process. Maybe it’s to make sure you’re not dependent upon them. Whatever the case is, it works. It also helped calm my nerves down to see a familiar face.
What I wasn’t prepared for was my head being on a swivel to see if a certain man was anywhere in plain sight. He wasn’t, and I don’t know why I ever thought it could be a possibility. The Las Vegas airport is a lot bigger than the one I’m working at here in Florida. Now, to tell my heart to catch up with my head. Really, how silly is it of me to get my hopes up only for them to be crushed when Tysen never even called?
“You’re a godsend,” I say, pulling myself out of my head.
“That’s what all the men say, honey.” He pops a hip out to the side, drops the bag of trash in the container outside of the terminal, and I nod at the person behind the counter while she holds her hands out for the lost items. A phone is pressed to her ear and shoulder, clearly multi-tasking, and I don’t want to be a pest to try and introduce myself. I’ll save that for a later date.
“Thanks,” I say to her. She nods before going about her business and stashing everything behind the counter.
“Okay, hand over the phone. It’s time to salivate and figure out how not to eat everything in sight.”
“Try not to drool too much,” he says with a wink. We fall in step with one another, me staring down at his phone, salivating over the plethora of sandwiches, soup, and desserts. They even have a trio deal where you can get all three, which might put me in a food coma, until I see that you can do a half sandwich with soup, too.
“Samuel, you didn’t tell me trying to decide what to eat would be the hard part,” I tease him while handing his phone back. We walk through the terminals until we make it to the food court. The plus side to working on a smaller airline is that it seems more like a family, your home base is easy to get in and out of, and yet you still get to go the bigger airports and see other places. Today, we’re in Charlotte, a layover for the last passengers and for us to pick up new passengers to then head to another airport, this time to Texas, and then we’ll come back to North Carolina before heading back to Florida. This is all in one day, and that’s if there are no delays.
“The good news is, we’ll be here again, so you can work your way down the menu. Here we are.” We stop at the entrance to the restaurant, the cash I stowed in my pocket handy, just in case, and I take in the sights. La Belle looks like it’s been air dropped from another country. It’s cute and has the aura you’d find on a Parisian street; the only thing missing is a better view.
“My wallet might not think it’s great, but my stomach sure does. What are you getting?” I ask as we move into the restaurant. There’s a hostess where you can be seated inside or right outside to people watch, or you can get it to go. We’re doing the latter and will eat in the employee lounge since time is of the essence. I really do think I’ll be packing my lunch, especially if it’s going to be a longer one like today.
“The Croque Monsieur, of course. I’m going to skip the soup today and dive right into the crème brûlée. You?” Samuel has me second-guessing what I was going to order, but maybe I can snag a bite of his if he offers.
“The Pain Complet au Fromage,” I butcher what is essentially a grilled cheese. “I’m also going to try the soup, the one with the vegetables and beans. I’d say the name, except I’d slaughter the pronunciation worse than the other. I’m also going after the lemon soufflé.” I’m having serious FOMO, fear of missing out, and since I’m only going to allow myself to indulge sparingly, I may as well go big or go home today.