Lingering Kiss

Chapter 33

"Good Evening Mr. Zahn." The flight attendant greeted as Mia and Fred stepped into the private jet.

Fred gave him a curt nod and a smile not taking his hand off the small of her back as he walked her to their seats. He helped her get buckled in before he took the seat opposite hers. Mia watched him watch her for a moment before she looked away, her face heating up from his intense stare. Fred smirked at her sudden shyness.

"Mr. Zahn."

Fred looked up, behind Mia, at the pilot as he walked towards them.
"Octavio."

"Evening ma'am." Octavio greeted Mia as he stood near their seats on the aisle.

"Hello." Mia smiled at him.

"Octavio is the Pilot."

Mia glanced from Fred and to Octavio.
"It's nice to meet you."

"Same ma'am."

"Mia, please."

Octavio smiled at her before he turned his attention back to Fred.

"Trust all is clear."

Octavio nodded.
"We'll be up in ten."

"Good," Fred said.

Octavio gave him a curt nod before he left for the cockpit.

"Are you always this cold with your employees?"

"Only when they're interrupting my time with you."

"He wasn't interrupting anything."

"I think otherwise."

Mia shook her head with a roll of her eyes. Fred opened his mouth to say something but then the sound of his phone interrupted them. Mia smiled at him.

"And there's another one," Fred said as he took out his phone from his pocket. "Probably Vincent or Theo."

Mia watched Fred as he glanced at his phone and his mood dropped before he placed his phone to his ear.

"Marty?" Fred's voice had dropped and was filled with a hint of fear and lots of questions.

Fred's lids were lowered, so Mia couldn't see into his eyes to see if he was ok. He had gone quiet after he had said that one name and he didn't say anything for what felt like an eternity to Mia but was actually a few seconds long.

When Fred finally lowered the hand clutching his phone, he twirled the phone with his thumb on the screen and his middle finger at the back as his eyes stared at nothing in particular on his knee.

Mia was now very concerned.
"Fred." She leaned away from her seat and placed a hand on the knee he was staring at.

Fred looked up at her, his eyes had gone cold. She waited for him to say something, trying not to push for information even though she wanted to do nothing but.

"Is it..." Fred swallowed. "Is it alright if we head to my dad's before heading to Chicago?"

She looked into his eyes searching for reasons for the sudden change in plans. She nodded.
"Yea, it's fine."

He looked at her without really looking at her. He turned his gaze to someone behind her.
"Get Octavio to change course to my dad's."

Mia leaned back into her seat when she realized Fred wasn't going to say anything. He had closed off after that phone call.

Half an hour after take-off, Mia lifted her hand to check her watch; it was a few minutes after eight. As she lowered her hand, she noticed a small screen on her armrest. She looked closer at it and saw it was the course pathed to their destination – Iceland. Well, it looked like a small island outside Iceland and they had two and a half hours left before they arrived.

Fred paid more attention to his phone as he tried to find out more about what was happening. Marty had told him so little about what had happened. He had called his dad's doctor to find out what the problem was but Dr. Campbell hadn't responded to his calls or his texts which was making him more anxious.

Sometime around nine, Fred looked up from his phone and found Mia looking out the window. He had forgotten she was sitting right across from him with the unexpected news that had shaken him. He looked behind her to the flight attendant who was patiently waiting to be summoned. Fred signaled for him to come.

"What can I get you, sir?"

Mia looked at the flight attendant and at Fred who was waiting for her.

"What would you like to have?"

"I'm ok," Mia said. "Well, maybe a bottle of water." She said to the flight attendant.

Fred watched her for a while.
"And a chocolate shake."

The attendant left and arrived a while later with a bottle of water and a bottle of chocolate shake. Fred took both bottles and nodded at him to take his leave. Fred placed the water in the seat next to him as he uncapped the chocolate shake and handed it to Mia.

Mia looked from him to his hand that was offering the shake. She glanced at the bottle of water in the seat next to him before taking the chocolate shake from him. She drank the cold liquid and her eyes shut at the taste and feel of it in her mouth.

It was like nothing she ever tasted.

She glanced at the bottle and wondered where the drink had been all her life. It was her new favorite thing and she made a mental note to add it to her grocery list when she got back to Chicago.

Fred had come across the chocolate shake on an ad when he was in Seattle. The ad reminded him of Mia's love for the café's cocoa latte. He got the housekeeper to get the drink and his reaction was pretty much the same as Mia's when he tasted it. He knew he just had to stock up on it regardless of Mia's absence in his life at that time. He hadn't counted on her ever being in his company, enjoying the drink. But here they were.

Mia kicked her shoes off and lifted her legs onto the seat as she stared out the window. It was so peaceful to be so high up in the air and the view was just amazing. Fred's mood was making her nervous and anxious. She leaned her head back against the headrest and let her heavy eyelids drift shut.