Corporate Secrets

Chapter 16: Back

"Ma'am. Ma'am." I looked up and saw the flight attendant speaking to me. "Please put your purse under the seat in front of you. We are preparing for landing." She smiled as I did what I was told and placed my purse under the seat in front of me. I looked at the seat next to me, Jake wasn't there.

"Had a good sleep?" He kissed the top of my forehead when he returned and buckled himself in.

"Yeah." I nodded as he told me about an interesting article he read in the paper.

"So, will Frank be picking you up?" He asked as he looked out the window.

"Yes." I said solemnly.

"Ok. So that means after immigration I can't kiss you in public anymore."

I nodded.

He threw his head back and sighed. He held my hand and kissed it lovingly.

"I meant every word I told you. Every word, Liz."

"I know." I responded as I kissed him lightly on the mouth.

"Will you let me know when you're home?" I squeezed his hand gently and smiled.

The pre-check immigration line was short and only took about five minutes to get through. We kissed one more time before I walked towards the arrival area. Jake gave me a two-minute head start.

Frank was waiting with a bouquet of red roses, my favorite. He smiled as soon as he spotted me. I smiled back and waved at him. He walked up to me and took my carry on as he gave me a quick kiss.

"Welcome home, hon."  He handed the bouquet to me.

"You're so sweet." I said smelling the bouquet.

I love the smell of roses.

The doors swung open as other travelers exited the immigration area. I looked back at the doors which were now behind me. There, a few feet away, was Jake looking directly at me. The doors started to close hiding him from my sight.

Just then, the doors opened again. This time, Jake walked through and was walking straight towards us. My heart started to beat faster. He stopped when reached us.

"Hi Frank. Hi again, Elizabeth." He said shaking Frank's hand.

"Doctor Clarke," Frank said shaking his hand. "You're on the same flight back?" He looked amused with the new piece of information.

"Yes, we apparently were. Although, I will have to apologize to Liz-a-beth here for mostly sleeping during most of the flight. Long flights are not my thing." Jake said without looking at me. He surreptitiously winked as I looked at Frank.

My eyes widened as I looked at Frank hoping he didn't see it.

"Oh, I totally understand," Frank adjusted my carry on in his hand as he looked at Edward's suitcase then at mine. "Your luggages look very similar. Did you know that?" Frank said pointing at Edward's suitcase then holding up mine. They were both black Samsonite travel cases. Frank looked at the tag then smiled. "I think you guys just picked up each other's by mistake. This one says J.C." He said holding it up.

Jake inspected the tag of the suitcase he was holding, then looked at me. He smiled and sighed.

"That is odd. Here you go." He said as they switched suitcases.

"It's a good thing you found us." I said to Jake as both of them looked at me at the same exact time.

"Oh, you're hard to miss. You, kind of, stand out in the crowd." Jake smirked.