Page 79 of Fly with Me

Stella handed her keys over to a valet, and they both walked up the steps into the hotel lobby. The drive had taken an hour and thirty minutes, so Olive was attempting to smooth the wrinkles from her dress. Stella reached over and squeezed her hand, offering a smile.

An Asian woman in a classic black dress held a clipboard in her hand. “Hello, Stella. This must be one of our guests of honor tonight. I’m Ruth, the director of our corporate social responsibility office.”

“Olive Murphy.” Olive shook her hand. “Thank you so much for the invitation.”

“You’ll be seated at the front table. Stella will be beside you. She’s also being honored tonight because she did the most hours of community service of any of our employees last year.”

Olive gave Stella a quizzical expression. “You didn’t tell me.”

She shrugged.

“The bar is right through there to your left,” Ruth said, gesturing to the door.

Thank god.

“Dinner is first and then the award presentation. Your award is last, and then we’ll get several photos of you with our executive team.”

“Okay. Thank you.” Olive exhaled like a runner at the starting line of a race.

Stella’s hand tightened on Olive’s, helping still the shaking. “I’ll take her to get a drink.” Stella flashed Ruth a smile.

“The best words I’ve ever heard.”

“What do you want?” Stella asked as they approached the bar.

“White wine is fine.”

“Coming right up.” She turned toward the bar and ran into two women, one in uniform and the other in a lovely purple dress. “Hi!” Stella wrapped her arms around the woman in purple and shook hands with the one in uniform. She gestured behind her to Olive. “This is my girlfriend, Olive.”

The white woman in uniform wore a small trans flag pin on her lapel beneath her captain’s wings. It said MY PRONOUNS ARE SHE/HER. She extended a hand to Olive. “I’m Esther. It’s wonderful to meet you. I’ve heard so much about you. Though I suppose we’ve all seen the video. Mickey Mouse, huh?”

Olive’s cheeks burned. “It wasn’t Mickey Mouse.”

“This is my wife, Margaret.” Esther gestured to the elegant Black woman at her side.

Margaret was smiling. “What a beautiful romantic story. Esther told me all about it last week. You both were wonderful on TODAY.”

“Nice to meet you both.”

Stella’s eyebrows furrowed for a moment. “I’m going to get Olive her drink. I think she’s going to need it tonight. Can I get either of you anything?”

“No, we’re good. We’ll guard her for you.” Esther winked at Stella.

“Thank you.” She rushed off toward the bar.

Olive swallowed. “Guard me?”

Esther grinned. “Oh, you know. People talk. And people are excited to meet you. It’s not every day the airline has something go viral. And with the story about you and Stella… it’s exciting stuff.”

Margaret nodded. “Stella told Esther you’re afraid of flying.”

Olive grimaced. “Yeah. I am. But it’s not rational. I know the statistics.”

Margaret cupped her hands around her mouth as if she were a child whispering a secret on the playground. “I was afraid of flying for many years too.”

“You’re not anymore?”

“When Esther was deployed, I could either get on a plane or I wouldn’t get to see her. I figured out how to manage it because I was more scared of not seeing her than the thought of crashing. I was worried some other girl would catch her fancy.”