Free Crash by Vanessa Waltz Page B

ten-hour flight, so that’ll suck.” He sniggered.
    Another flare shot up my face. “It’s not a problem when you’re short. Coach suits me just fine.”
    Will’s jaw went slack.
    I expected a crowd of paparazzi to follow us around, but Will parked us in the long-term parking lot and we took the train to the international terminal. I had never flown out of the country before and couldn’t keep my excitement from ramping up.
    After we shot through the airport security, we were ushered through a series of corridors while I wondered what the hell was going on. Why weren’t we going to one of the airport terminals? Delta, US Airways, whatever?
    It was only when we were walking across the tarmac and I saw the white jet, stamped in bold, gold letters with his name that I realized Will had been joking about flying me in coach.
    He smiled at my wide-eyed expression. “Ladies first.” He swept his arm towards the staircase leading to the airplane.
    My hair whipped around my head as I bounded up the steps. I felt like a little kid with a shiny, new toy. There were rows of plush, white leather seats and flat screen TVs.
    “YOW!”
    A tabby cat sat on the table in his blue cage, his yellow eyes extremely round.
    “What the hell? What’s a cat doing here?”
    “Kitty!” he exclaimed.
    I almost laughed at the delight transporting William’s face. He rushed past me to unlock the cage and a handsome cat with dark tiger stripes immediately walked out, stretching his back legs.
    The stewardess pursed her lips reprovingly. I had a feeling that animals were required to stay inside their cages at all times, but she wasn’t going to argue with the man giving her paychecks.
    “This is Tom,” Will said with his hand on the cat’s back.
    The cat head-butted his hand, purring loudly.
    “You brought a cat to Europe,” I deadpanned. “Do these bed and breakfasts even take pets?”
    “They’ll do as I ask.” He glowered at me as if to add: Or else.
    He sat down on one of the chairs and Tom the cat immediately jumped on his lap, settling in for a nice, long nap. Will talked to the cat in a baby, singsong voice. My head was ringing with the strangeness of it.
    “Tom follows me everywhere. Isn’t that right, baby boy?”
    The cat closed his eyes and lifted his white chin as Will scratched his fur. His black lips rounded in a soft mow.
    He’s crazy. I opened my phone and texted to Jessica: He brought a cat on the plane. He’s singing to it now. I’m scared.
    She replied. Get out while you still can.
    I stifled laughter from her text and was distracted by Will’s high-pitched voice. Now, he was kissing the top of the cat’s head.
    “Seriously, what’s the deal with the cat?”
    I didn’t have anything against cats. I even liked them, but I couldn’t imagine how he was going to take care of him for three weeks.
    He stood up with the cat over his shoulder, almost as if he was burping a baby. The cat licked his lips and stared at me through yellow slits as Will rubbed his back. He stopped in front of me and I yelped as he deposited him in my lap.
    “Tom is my therapy. He goes wherever I go. Think of him as a service animal.”
    Tom stood and faced me, his whiskers fanning out and his tail curled in the air like a question mark. Then he head-butted my face, rubbing his cheeks hard against my nose as a line of cat drool smeared my face.
    “Urgh.” I spat out the cat hair.
    “He really likes you. That’s good,” he said, as if his cat was a good judge of character. He sat down and looked at us with his head in his hand, smiling faintly with a bit of sadness in his eyes.
    “You seem different. A lot more mellow.” I held Tom against me, feeling his little heartbeat hammer against mine. Petting him over and over with his reassuring, motor-like purr vibrating in my stomach made me feel lighter. Happier. Maybe he was right about the cat.
    He frowned, not angrily. “When I take these pills, I feel like a robot. I don’t like