“I’ll speak with them,” I said. “But first, I want to speak with Marcus.”
Dưới đây là nội dung chương 3 từ đường link bạn cung cấp:
Flight attendant had no idea #DramaAlert #DramaSeries #flight - Chapter 3
I tried to read during the flight.
The same paragraph waited on the page for nearly an hour.
Every time someone walked down the aisle, I remembered Rachel standing beside me, telling me I was in the wrong place. I knew my seat was mine. I still caught myself checking the number above it.
Denise noticed. She brought tea and asked if I wanted her to move my handbag into the overhead bin so I had more room.
“No, thank you.”
I wanted it beside me. Inside was a small envelope I had carried from home, though I hadn’t decided whether to give it to Marcus. His father had written his name on the front.
Samuel had been gone for four years.
Marcus and I had spoken about him often enough to keep his memory close, but there were things we avoided. The last argument between father and son was one of them.
I touched the envelope through the handbag and left it there.
David, across the aisle, closed his laptop.
“I sent the video,” he said. “You can look whenever you’re ready.”
“Thank you for keeping it private.”
“You asked me to.”
He went back to his work. I appreciated that he didn’t expect a conversation in return.
An hour before landing, Rachel came through the cabin with a tray. She offered drinks to two passengers ahead of me. When she reached my row, she stopped.
“I can take care of Ms. Carter,” Denise said from behind her.
Rachel moved on.
I watched her walk away. Part of me wanted her to come back and explain herself. Another part was relieved she hadn’t tried while Marcus was in the cockpit and I had nowhere else to go.
The plane descended through pale clouds. I saw the city come into view, then felt the wheels touch the runway.
A few passengers applauded. I smiled before I could stop myself. Marcus would have rolled his eyes at the applause, but I had always loved hearing it.
We parked at the gate. Denise asked whether I wanted to leave with the first passengers or wait until the aisle cleared.
“I’ll wait for Marcus.”
As people passed, several looked at me. One woman squeezed my shoulder and said she was glad I hadn’t moved. I thanked her.
David paused long enough to give me his card. “If you need a witness, call me.”
Then the cabin emptied.
Marcus came out of the cockpit carrying his flight bag. The moment he saw me, his expression softened.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“You didn’t do it.”
“I brought you on this flight because I wanted you to enjoy it.”
“I saw Chicago from your plane. I did enjoy that part.”
He sat across from me, where David had been. For a moment, he looked too tired to speak.
“Denise told me the booking was correct,” he said. “There wasn’t another passenger assigned to your seat.”
“I know.”
“I filed an operational report before we took off. I’ll add my account now.”
“You had time for that?”
“We had a short delay while they verified the seat. I wasn’t going to leave it unexplained.”
I studied him. He looked like his father when he was trying to keep anger from showing.
“Marcus, I don’t want you risking your job for me.”
“I’m reporting what happened on my flight. That’s part of my job.”
The cabin door opened. A woman in a navy suit stepped in and introduced herself as Lila Brooks from customer care. She asked whether I would meet with her in a private room near the gate.
I agreed, but Marcus asked another pilot to take his next assignment before he came with me. I knew it cost him something to change his schedule. He said the company had arranged coverage.
In the small room, Lila listened while I described Rachel’s words. She didn’t interrupt. When I finished, she asked to see my boarding pass and whether anyone else had witnessed the exchange.
“Several people,” I said. “One recorded it.”
Lila asked if I would share the recording when I had seen it. I told her I would decide after watching it myself.
She gave me a case number and explained that the airline would review the cabin list, booking history, crew accounts, and any statements passengers chose to provide.
I wanted to ask whether Rachel would lose her job. I didn’t. I wanted someone to understand what she had done before anyone decided the consequence.
Marcus walked me through the airport afterward. Zoe was waiting beyond security with her mother, Dana.
“Grandma!”
Zoe ran toward me, graduation gown still pictured on her phone screen. She hugged me so tightly my handbag slipped from my shoulder.
Dana took one look at Marcus.
“What happened?”
“Let’s get her home first,” he said.