Free Not Quite Dating by Catherine Bybee

she knew he had been riding in limos since before he was born? His dad couldn’t be there for him all the time, and he’d needed to get back and forth to school. A driver had been assigned to him and Katie at an early age. When junior high started, Jack asked his dad if the driver could drive a “normal” car so the kids wouldn’t get on him at school. Gaylord told himto cowboy up and set the kids right himself. He was a Morrison, and Morrisons had money. They spent it, too.
    Jack took it upon himself to offer other kids rides all the time, ending the teasing and starting the party. In high school, Jack learned who his true friends were and who the moochers were. Mike, Tom, and Dean stuck; the others fell through the cracks.
    “I guess anyone could get used to this. Lord knows I could.”
    Jack smiled and wished he could record her words to use later, when he could tell her the truth about himself. “Is there wine back there?”
    “Champagne.”
    “If it’s OK with you, I can park by the runways and we can watch the jets take off through the moonroof.” The Morrison Hotel sat on the edge of the convention center, which was no more than four miles from the airport.
    “Don’t you have to get this back?”
    “No, there’s no one to drive her.” Jack pulled down the dark street where other people parked to watch the jets take off. Ontario still wasn’t overpopulated around the airport to the point where you couldn’t watch.
    He found a good spot, killed the engine, and joined Jessie in the back. Once seated, he flipped the switch and opened the roof.
    “Wow.” Her eyes sparkled.
    Jack found the champagne and twisted off the metal covering. “Here,” he said, standing up to poke his head through the roof. He popped the cork and it flew into the bush. The sparkling wine started to bubble over, and Jessie let out a tiny scream.
    “Here.” She thrust a towel at him before the beverage could spill onto the floor.
    “Thank ya kindly, ma’am.”
    Jessie laughed again and handed him a couple of glassesonce he sat back down.
    Jack poured her a glass, then filled his own before returning the bottle to the chilled bucket. He lifted his glass and said, “To new friends.”
    “I can drink to that,” Jessie said before clicking her glass to his. She sipped the wine and relaxed back into the seat next to him. Her gaze moved to the roof to catch the bottom view of a jet taking off. “You know, I’ve seen people park here all the time, but I never once thought to do it myself.”
    “It’s amazing how they keep those hunks of metal up in the air.”
    “I don’t get it, either. I’m surprised there aren’t more problems with them.”
    “It’s still the safest way to travel,” Jack said.
    “I wouldn’t know. I’ve only been on a plane once.”
    “Really?” That was hard to believe.
    “I was twelve; Monica, my sister, was nine. Mom met some guy who told her he was visiting from Seattle. She’d fallen head over heels for him in the course of two weeks during the summer.”
    “I take it your mom’s divorced.”
    “A few times over,” Jessie told him, without even a hint of a frown on her face. She was obviously used to her mom’s ways. “Anyway, this guy gave her a line about how he’d love to be with her and us kids, but he couldn’t live in Southern California. He had a business in Seattle to run anyway. He couldn’t ask her to leave here and drag us girls up north…blah, blah, blah.”
    “Then what?”
    “Mom bought us tickets, packed our bags, and took us to Seattle.” She shook her head at the memory.
    “I take it that didn’t go over with Mr. Blowhard.”
    “No. Mr. Blowhard’s wife wasn’t too fondof opening the door and finding us there.”
    “Ouch.”
    “Monica and I never even had a chance to feel the Pacific Northwest rain they always complain about. Mom took us to the airport, where we stayed for nearly two days until we could get a flight home.”
    “Two days? Why so