"Paths
cross
in
perfect
time."
Great info, Scarlett. I'll definitely be able to show Ace up at the launch meetings next week.
Scarlett made a face and deleted the text from Terrence.
She had given him the information she had memorized from the file on his desk when she was in Ace's office with Cassie.
Dan never did say much when she gave them information, so there was nothing she had gotten from him.
Something deep inside her heart twisted, but she pushed it down.
She tossed her phone on to the cabinet and looked down at her laptop screen when the door opened.
Ace's eyes searched the room and found her standing at her usual spot at the cabinet. He frowned. "How often do you go and stand there?" he asked.
Scarlett shrugged, "At least once every hour."
Ace gave a murmur of assent. "Come into my office. I have something to discuss with you."
Scarlett followed him out of her office and into his own. She smiled at Gretchen as they went in.
"Have a seat, Ambrose," Ace gestured to the chairs as he took a seat in his own, tall leather chair.
She sat at the edge of his desk and gazed at him.
Ace flicked his eyes on to her and sighed. "So, you're just going to continue to defy me?"
Scarlett gave him her smirk. "Just tell me what you want and don't question my seating choices."
Ace shook his head as the door opened and Gretchen walked in. "Mr. Hardwood, I brought you that file," she said, walking up to them.
She eyed Scarlett sitting on Ace's desk over her glasses as she handed him the file.
"Thank you, Gretchen."
"Mmm-hmmm," she hummed as she walked out.
"Ambrose," Ace said, making Scarlett turn to face him, "I think you're smarter than you give yourself credit for."
She raised her eyebrows. "Are you giving me a compliment?"
"Don't let it get to you," Ace flicked his hand, with a smirk, "But I think you can prove yourself to be more useful than someone who runs errands and makes schedules, don't you?"
His striking green eyes implored her.
Scarlett gulped and nodded. "I love a challenge."
Ace knocked his fist against the desk. "Great. I want you to come with me to the launch conference next week. It'll be your first work trip."
Scarlett cocked her head at him, with a hint of a smile. "Really?" she asked, genuinely surprised. She had worked for various people before, but none of them ever seemed to want her to do anything other make copies, get coffee and look pretty. "You want me to come?"
Ace nodded. "I like the insight you gave me the other day. Maybe these documents could use a fresh pair of eyes and the things that go on at the conference could use a fresh set of ears."
Scarlett's smile broadened and she stood, facing him. "You want me to come for this conference thing and give you my input about the proposals and stuff?"
Ace nodded, again and noticed that Scarlett's eyes were gleaming.
"When do we leave?" she asked, excitement riddled into her voice.
He raised his eyebrows and stood up with a smile. He walked over to her. "Calm down, Ambrose. I only said we're taking a work trip, not that you're getting another can of whipped cream."
"The only thing that could make this better is whipped cream!" Scarlett giggled, "When do we leave? When do we leave?"
"Saturday," Ace replied, "I plan to take an afternoon flight and we can get there and be well rested in time for the fellowship dinner on Sunday."
"We take a flight?" Scarlett asked, her voice filled with excitement.
Ace nodded. "Did you expect me to drive to Devon Falls, Ambrose?"
Scarlett let out a shriek of excitement and wrapped her arms around Ace and pulled him in for a hug. They were in such close proximity that Ace could smell the luscious scent of vanilla that was drifting off of Scarlett's skin.
He was startled, but he didn't move or say anything.
Scarlett pulled back as abruptly as she had hugged him, still smiling sweetly, but there was an air of nervousness in her. It had been so impulsive to hug him, and she was worried about what he would do. Her arms seemed like jelly to her.
Instead of addressing it, Ace cleared his throat. "Well, I'll get Gretchen to book the flights. Give her your passport details."
Scarlett nodded, taking a step back.
"The conference will go on for the entirety of next week, so you will have to pack for that long," Ace told her, going back to his seat.
"As your PA, do you need me to pack for you?" Scarlett asked, mischievously.
"No, Ambrose. I think I can manage that."
Scarlett walked away as she told him, "Don't come to me if you don't pack a toothbrush."
Two days later, Scarlett stood next to Ace in line at the airport, waiting to check-in for their flight.
She wore a pair of charcoal grey wide-legged pants, with a royal blue turtle neck sweater tucked into it, making her bright blue eyes pop. Not that they needed any help in shining, when they already shone with the excitement within her. Her dark brown hair cascaded down her back, held out of her face with a matching blue butterfly clip. A few tendrils that framed her face kept swishing back and forth whenever she turned her head to look at something new.
She kept bouncing on the balls of her feet, looking around the airport like it was the most amazing thing she had ever seen.
Ace, who stood with one hand on the handle of his pull-along bag and his phone in the other, kept flicking his eyes over to her, with the smallest of smiles on his face. He wore light grey blazer and trousers, with a navy-blue shirt and no tie.
Scarlett began humming happily.
Ace wondered if she was aware that she was.
She turned her head to look behind them and saw an elderly couple standing in line behind them. The lady smiled with her and she smiled back.
"Would you like to go next?" Scarlett asked, gesturing for them to cut in line ahead of them.
The lady looked touched. "Oh, would you mind? I know Frank and I would really like to take a seat."
"No problem," Ace said and wheeled his bag behind the couple and they gratefully took the place Ace and Scarlett had occupied.
"That was nice of you, Ambrose," Ace leaned in and said to her, softly, scrolling through an email on his phone.
Scarlett shrugged, still beaming. "Waiting in line can be fun."
Ace scoffed. "There is nothing fun about waiting in line. There's nothing fun about waiting."
Scarlett looked over at him and the frown of concentration on his face. "If you put your phone down and looked around, you'd see how exciting it all is. Look, look at the world."
Ace sighed and slipped his phone into his pocket and looked in the direction Scarlett looked.
"All of these people are going somewhere," she said to him with thrill in her voice, "There's a reason they're going somewhere. Isn't it all so magical? Everyone in this airport right now at one point in their life decided that they had to go somewhere and here they are. Here we are with them. Airports are magical. You can make a guess at why everyone is here."
"Look at them." She nodded her head in the direction of two boys with surfboards slung over their shoulders. "They're off on an adventure to find the next big wave. Maybe they'll find Atlantis. And those dudes over there with the boxes. They could be international smugglers. What could they be smuggling? My guess is that one of them has a taste for salt-water taffy, so they're taking every box they can find, hoping that customs doesn't stop them."
Ace chuckled softly, shaking his head. "Look at that guy," he nodded to a man, standing near the information desk, contemplating on whether to ask something, "I bet he's wondering if airports have an equivalent of Platform Nine and Three Quarters."
That made Scarlett laugh. The sound of her laughter seemed to echo back to Ace, who smiled.
Scarlett then gasped. "Do you think airports have an equivalent of Platform Nine and Three Quarters? Like Gate Six and Two Thirds? That possibility makes airports even more magical."
Ace laughed.
It was only once they got checked in, went through security and were walking through the duty-free, where Scarlett marveled at everything when Ace realized something.
"Ambrose?"
"Hmm?" Scarlett didn't turn to him. She continued to look around her with wonder.
"Have you ever been on a plane before?"
A sheepish smile came over Scarlett's face and she looked at him through the corner of her eyes. She shook her head.
Ace nodded, slowly, realizing her enthusiasm. Then again, looking at her and how she saw magic in everything around her, he knew that even if Scarlett traveled for the first time or the hundredth time, she would be excited.
He motioned over to one of those shops you can find only in airports, which have anything and everything, from books to snacks to souvenirs to neck pillows.
Scarlett walked around, happily, gleaming like a child on Christmas day.
"Are you the only one going for this conference from here?" Scarlett asked, as they walked the crammed aisles of the shop.
"No, why?"
Scarlett stopped near the candy. "No one else you know seems to be flying out."
Ace nodded. "That's because almost all of them fly out tonight."
"Why aren't you flying out tonight?" she asked.
Ace sighed. "I'm going to be trapped in a hotel with them for the better part of a week. I'm going to be trapped in a conference room with most of them during that week, forced to endure dinner after dinner. I don't really want to be trapped in a metal tube thirty-six thousand feet in the air with them. This is the last moment of peace I get before all that."
"You like some of them," Scarlett said.
"Some. Get yourself some snacks and things, Ambrose. I know how much you like your snacks," he said, gesturing to the candies.
"Which ones do you like?" she asked, picking up some sour worms and Maltesers.
Ace picked up a small pack of pop rocks and shook it at her, before tearing it open and pouring some into his mouth. Scarlett watched as he closed his mouth and squinted as the sour taste and the popping sensation got to him. She laughed and reached for the packet and poured some into her own mouth.
Both of them stood there, their eyes twitching and laughing at each other.
The cashier eyed their taste for sour candies when they emptied their findings on to the counter.
"Hey, Ambrose, you want one of those crossword books to keep yourself busy this week?" Ace asked, pointing to them.
Scarlett's eyes lit up. "Yes! I totally want a book of crosswords! Why do they only have these at airports?"
She slapped one down on to the counter, happily and Ace refused to let her pay.
He then led her to the lounge for their wait.
Until they were allowed to board, Scarlett stood at the window in the lounge, gazing out at the planes and took off or landed. She seemed immensely at peace and Ace didn't dare try to disturb her, until it was time for them to leave.
"I'm almost sad to leave," she said, as they stood on the travellator, going towards the gate.
Ace wasn't familiar with standing still on the travellator; he generally used it to get where he was going faster, but he stood still and watched Scarlett enjoy it as elderly people, who preferred not to step on to the travellator passed them.
"This place is just so cool," Scarlett went on, looking up at the ceiling, "Have you noticed those things before?"
Ace looked up, too and realized that as much as he had been in this airport, he had never bothered to look up at the ceiling, designed with geometric shapes made of metal.
Walking through the metal detector and not setting it off was such a rush to Scarlett, who giggled under her breath.
She marveled at the metal bars of the aerobridge as they walked down the hall to the plane.
Just before they stepped in, Scarlett reached over and touched the exterior of the plane and sighed, happily.
"That's the first time I touched a plane," she whispered to Ace, who showed their boarding passes to the stewardesses. He smiled and shook his head as they were led to their seats.
Scarlett looked around the first-class cabin and all its luxury.
The two of them sat in the second row and Ace offered Scarlett the window seat, which she took gladly. She sank into the seat and sighed.
"I know that this isn't how normal people fly usually, but it's so nice," she cooed.
She took the bubbling champagne that was offered, while Ace opted for orange juice.
When the plane pushed back, Scarlett fidgeted in her seat, excitedly. "Ooh, we're moving," she said, looking out the window at the air traffic marshal, who was directing the plane.
"We'll be in the air soon," Ace said, bending and looking out on to the sunny tarmac.
He watched as Scarlett's fingers drummed on the wide armrest between them, next to his hand, in anticipation as the plane taxied on to the runway.
She let out a gasp of anticipation as the aircraft gathered speed, preparing for takeoff. Every movement that the cabin crew made, Scarlett followed with her eyes.
Ace watched her profile as she looked out of the window, smiling wildly.
The moment that the aircraft was airborne, Scarlett gasped again and reached out her hand, clutching Ace's hand in the process. "Does your stomach always flip over like that when you takeoff?" she asked, giggling madly, but trying to subdue it.
Her fingers gripped his tightly and she looked at him.
Ace couldn't help the smile that overcame his face and nodded with the slightest chuckle. "Yeah, I think so."
He rubbed his thumb over her hand and she squeezed his fingers, excitedly. "I want to do this every day!"
Hello, you lovely readers of mine,
I have barely got any time to write these past two or three days. I keep thinking of you guys waiting for updates and I don't want to disappoint you.
It's been a tiring couple of days with work and my assignment that is due in three days time and making sure that you wonderful people have a little piece of Ace and Scarlett each day to make you smile.
I'll try to keep up the daily upload as long as I can.
Do you remember the first time you were on a plane?
Are you like Ace and flying is almost second nature to you?
Or, like Scarlett have you never been?
I love flying and I got to experience the magic of the first time through Scarlett's eyes and it made me miss going to an airport and going to a whole new place.
If any of us end up flying any time soon, I'll meet you all at Gate Six and Two-Thirds.
Don't forget to look for the magic.
And don't forget to let me know what you think of our two young kids who aren't really in love - are they?
Much love ❤