Leonard nodded and held his cocktail up. Glasses clinked and there were rumbles of agreement as Ruby moved toward the aisle. Leonard held out a hand to her and she stopped for a moment before coming to sit down beside me.
I glanced back to see Hollis clapping, her brow furrowed and her lips parted, like there were endless words on the tip of her tongue. At the back of the room, Eli nodded to himself and walked back out into the hallway.
As another person stepped up to the podium, I leaned over to Ruby. “That was good of you.”
She sighed. “It’s a start, and at our age, that’s the best we can hope for.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
“And this is free?” I asked the flight attendant as he set down two mimosas between Ruby and me.
He nodded and smiled. “Complimentary.”
Once he had stepped back to the front of the plane while boarding continued, I leaned over to Ruby. “And we’re not supposed to tip?”
She rolled her eyes. “It’s as though you’ve never flown business class.”
“Um, that’s because I haven’t.” Because Brody never upgraded me.
“Well, you could stand to at least pretend like you belong here.” She glanced down at my pants. “I still can’t believe you woreathletic pants.”
“I like to be comfy on a flight. Plus, I expected to be smooshed into a middle seat in coach. And those seats are not meant for my hips, especially in pants that have zippers and buttons.”
She sighed.
“We are nearing the end of our boarding process,” said a voice over the loudspeaker. “If you are unable to find overhead space, please alert a flight attendant so that we can facilitate gate-checking your bag.”
I took a sip of my mimosa and began to settle in. I dug out my headphones and e-reader. There had never been a time when I was actually looking forward to a four-hour flight, but I was more excited for the next few hours in business class than I was for New Orleans itself. It had been a chaotic morning dropping Marlon off at the pet hotel and then trying to get Ruby out the door. We had to turn back twice. Once for the shoesshe planned on wearing to the awards banquet and then a second time for her wallet, which actually turned out to be packed in her checked baggage instead of her purse.
But we were on the plane. We’d made it. I was going to sleep in a bed I didn’t have to make myself in the morning and apparently I was also going to sipcomplimentarymimosas for the next four hours.
“You’re my last passenger,” the flight attendant said to the incoming person walking down the jet bridge.
I looked up just in time to see Eli turn the corner and search the boarding pass on his phone before his gaze landed on the open seat across from Ruby and then on me.
My jaw dropped, and I had to ignore my instinct to slither down into my seat and disappear.
“Dr. Buckley! I’m so glad you could make it.” Ruby unbuckled her seat belt and took her time standing up. “Here, here. You and Vera sit together.”
I gripped my grandmother’s wrist and, through gritted teeth, asked, “What’s going on?”
She shrugged. “I had a third ticket and a second hotel room. I ran into Dr. Buckley—”
“Eli,” he insisted as he put his bag into the compartment above us.
Her lips spread into a grin and she winked at him. “I told him all about our trip. When he told me he’d done his residency in New Orleans, I insisted on him joining us as our own personal tour guide.”
Ruby stepped into the aisle and swapped places with Eli.
“I have a very hard time saying no to beautiful women,” he explained as he buckled his seat belt.
That warranted an eye roll.
Ruby chuckled and swatted his chest before taking her new seat across the aisle. “Dr. Buckley, you flatter me.”
I let out a long breath and then chugged the rest of my mimosa.
Maybe I could just pretend to sleep.