The Chocolatier's Secret (Magnolia Creek, Book 2) (11 page)

Chapter Sixteen

Molly

‘Molly?’ He scratched his chin, which was noticeably smooth. ‘I’m glad to see you. I thought you might change your mind.’

‘About meeting you?’

He nodded, smiled.

‘Bit difficult when we have the same flight number,’ she said.

‘You could’ve switched seats at check-in.’ He opened his blue holdall and pulled out a bottle of water. ‘Did you?’ His hands were steady, but his eyes had left hers as he waited for her answer, and she realised he was nervous about meeting her too.

‘Of course not. If we hate each other we can go our separate ways at Singapore.’

‘Yeah, well if you run away from me in Singapore don’t expect me to flirt with you online any more.’

Molly was glad her immediate physical attraction to Ben had been just the tonic for the dreaded flight she would soon be on. Who cared if it never went anywhere? A bit of flirting never hurt anyone, especially if it could get them through a stressful time.

‘So how are you feeling?’ Ben screwed the top back on his water and slotted it inside his bag. ‘I see you’ve already treated your fear with some retail therapy.’ He eyed the bag of duty-free on her lap.

‘Some perfume.’ She knew she was blushing.

‘Come on then, I’ll give you a bloke’s opinion. What, why are you grinning?’

‘I’ve not really heard an Aussie accent before, apart from on the TV.’

‘I think you’re going to hear plenty where you’re going.’ Impatiently he motioned for her to show him what she’d bought.

Molly handed him the perfume. ‘You can’t smell it. It’s still sealed.’

‘Ah, good point. Looks all right though.’

Molly put the perfume back in the bag.

‘What else did you buy?’

‘Don’t laugh, but I bought an adult colouring book.’

‘I was reading a newspaper article about those the other day. They’re supposed to quieten the brain or slow it down when you’re anxious, something like that.’ He nodded his approval and flicked through the book when Molly passed it to him.

Molly pulled out another bag. ‘I nearly forgot to buy these.’

‘Felt-tip pens…The colouring in could’ve been pretty tricky without them. Although I’m sure most airlines have kids’ packs.’ He winked at her.

Molly still hadn’t told her parents about the arrangement to fly with Ben. They’d have worried all the more if they knew she was meeting a total stranger. She had visions of her dad insisting he had to get through passport control to check who his daughter was going to sit with for the next thirteen hours.

Molly’s mind leapt when she saw the cabin crew filing past. Her heart thumped hard, everyone around her except for those staff disappeared into a blur. It was only when she felt Ben’s hand on her arm that the breath she was holding slowly left her body.

‘Keep looking at the crew,’ he said. ‘Look at how neat and tidy they are and how capable they look. They’re all smiling and chatting. They do this all the time. It’s another boring day at the office for them, remember.’

Molly did as she was told, and it helped. Her breath went in and out, normally.

When the crew disappeared through the doors to board the plane first and the airline staff busied around the gate preparing to greet passengers, Ben said, ‘It’s almost time.’

‘It’s almost time,’ Molly repeated.

Ben pulled out his phone from the front pocket of his bag. ‘I think this is the perfect time for a selfie.’

‘What?’

‘Come on, we need a picture before you get on this flight. For the group,’ he explained. ‘Everyone knows today is the day and they’ll be dying to know how you get on, so I’ll post this before we board.’

To do the selfie Molly squeezed next to Ben. He had a familiar male smell she struggled to describe. Fresh, perhaps shower gel or the lingering scent of shaving foam. Whatever it was, she hadn’t smelt it for a long time. Boyfriends had been few and far between and the closeness now made her giddy.

‘Smile for the camera,’ said Ben and she hoped he wouldn’t be able to tell from the picture the effect he was having on her.

She put out her hand for the phone. ‘I need to approve it first.’ And when he dropped it into her palm, his fingers lightly brushed against her skin, sending tingles right through her.

The picture was good. They looked happy, excited, her dark locks against his dark blond hair, his blue eyes alongside her hazel ones. She gave her approval to post it on the Facebook page, well aware he was the first man who’d made her think about dating again in a long time. She’d had a serious boyfriend in her early twenties, but it had fizzled out when he left to go and work up North, and since then she’d never really gelled with anyone enough to progress further than a couple of dates.

Seriously, what was she thinking? Ben was a no-go zone … he lived on the other side of the world, for goodness sake!

‘You’re making me break my rule, by the way,’ he said.

‘And what rule’s that?’

He wiggled his phone in the air after he’d posted to Facebook. ‘I don’t put pictures of me on the group page, but now everyone will know what I look like.’

‘Good job you’re leaving the country then.’

‘I suppose it is.’ He grinned. ‘Although I’m sure we have a few members from Australia.’

‘You might get a sexy blonde stalking you.’

‘I don’t go for blondes.’

His words hung in the air between them, but their antics had been the perfect distraction. Only now Molly looked over to see people jostling into a queue, as though the plane was going to leave without them.

‘Ready?’ Ben picked up his bag.

Molly nodded and they made their way over to join the end of the queue.

Fifteen minutes later they were on the plane, stopping and starting as they slowly progressed up the aisle while people climbed into their economy class seats and others tried to shove oversize bags into the overhead lockers. Molly followed Ben. She watched the way his shoulder blades moved and the muscles beneath his top as he made his way to their seats at the back of the plane. They’d have preferred seats nearer the front, which supposedly didn’t get such a bumpy ride, but those had been taken so they’d chosen two seats on their own next to a window at the rear.

When they reached the correct row, Ben removed a book and a bottle of water before shoving his holdall into the overhead locker. Molly took out her own water, the colouring book and pens and pushed everything else into her bag, zipped it up and let Ben do the honours for her. ‘Would you like the window seat or the aisle?’ he asked.

‘I really don’t mind.’

‘Take the window then. If you’re tired you can lean against it and sleep.’

‘I should’ve taken ultra-strong sleeping pills,’ said Molly.

‘Ah, but then, could you trust me alone with you?’

The butterflies already residing in her tummy were suddenly replaced by panic thanks to a thumping sound coming from beneath the plane. Immediately she was on edge.

‘It’s the bags being slung into the hold,’ said Ben, as he waited for her to move across to her seat so he could sit in his.

Molly relaxed again, as much as she could when she knew before long they’d be up in the air. ‘I can’t believe we each have one of these.’ She pointed to the TV screen in the back of the seat in front of her.

‘Yes, we all get a TV.’ Amused by her reaction, he told her, ‘I’ll even let you watch it for thirteen whole hours. As much screen time as you like.’

‘Thanks, Dad.’ She slotted her colouring book, pens and water into the back of the seat in front, and following Ben’s lead, looked at her copy of the inflight magazine with the TV guide inside. There were plenty of movies she’d not seen, plenty she wanted to watch again. Her mounting excitement took her completely by surprise.

‘What are they doing?’ Molly watched the cabin crew position themselves along the aisle.

‘Safety demo, nothing to worry about. You know about these, we’ve talked about them on Facebook.’

Molly focused. She watched the cabin crew all the time, listening to their every word. Other passengers didn’t seem to be taking much notice. She wanted to call over to them and tell them to listen, this might save their life! She wondered how many of them had done this so many times they’d become blasé about it all.

The cabin crew were professional, well-presented and in control, and although Molly felt herself draw a big inward breath when they demonstrated how to do up a lifejacket, which made her think about the plane that had landed in the Hudson, and although she felt her palms sweat and wished she’d layered on more deodorant when they showed how to pull on an oxygen mask, she knew having someone sitting there beside her was the best thing right now.

Everyone around them fastened their seatbelts – Molly had had hers on from the moment she sat in her seat. She knew from talking to the group to expect strange noises, unfamiliar sounds as the aircraft did what it needed to do to get into the air into the first place and then stay there.

‘All machines make noises, remember.’ Ben must have seen her close her eyes, sit back in her seat and do her best to remain calm when the plane released its brakes and reversed from its parking space. As the giant aircraft moved it made whooshing noises, it sounded like something being sucked in, the engines groaned, there were weird whizzing and whirring noises.

Breathe, Molly, breathe.

‘My mum’s old washing machine used to move across the floor on its own,’ said Ben.

Molly opened her eyes and looked across at him. ‘I’m thirty, not five. You don’t have to make up stories for me.’

‘I’m not joking. It was a beast. I was scared of it. I wouldn’t put my dirty socks in the laundry in case it got me.’

‘Poor excuse,’ Molly smiled. She looked out of the tiny oval window. They were still taxiing down the runway, slowly, calmly.

‘So how are you feeling about meeting your birth father?’ asked Ben.

Molly turned back to him appreciating his efforts to distract her. ‘I’m not really sure, now I’m on my way.’ Part of her had been on a high thinking she’d find him and get answers. The other part of her was worried he’d tell her to go away.

‘I think you’re doing the right thing.’

‘Really? You don’t think this is totally crazy?’

‘Don’t get me wrong, what you’re doing is pretty out there and a bold move, but under the circumstances I can see why. You want answers and you’re taking control to see you get them.’

‘My family are worried,’ she said.

‘Do they mind you getting on a plane with a strange man?’

She looked at him and smiled. ‘You’re joking. I didn’t tell them. A long distance trip they can cope with, doing it with a stranger would’ve been unimaginable to them.’

She turned back to look out of the window again, watched a plane take off in the opposite direction to where their plane was taking them. It was pretty uneventful.

Molly considered the likely impact of her sudden and unannounced arrival in Australia, and what it would do to Andrew Bennett. She was going to be one hell of a surprise. But she wasn’t about to back out now. 

Her thoughts shifted as she tried not to get too wound up about confronting her birth father. She thought about how happy Isaac would be now she was able to get on a plane. She’d make his wedding, and perhaps this flight could be the first step in having a whole new lease of life. She’d be able to holiday with friends, experience the big, wide world out there.

‘I wonder if he’s fat,’ said Ben.

‘What?’ He’d distracted her from looking out over the wing as bits of metal moved and flapped, and engines produced steam as they prepared for take-off.

‘I can’t imagine a skinny chocolatier, can you?’

‘He didn’t look fat in his photograph.’

‘What did he look like?’

She thought about it. The only words that came to mind were, ‘he looks like me’, but she didn’t say it. When she’d first seen a photograph of him, she’d been shocked. Funny, you never expected to look like your birth father. Your birth mother, yes, but not the birth father. She wondered if it was different if you were a boy. Maybe then you assumed you’d look more like the male part of the puzzle.

‘He’s got dark hair, a little bit grey,’ she answered. ‘He looks normal.’

‘Didn’t have two heads then?’

She laughed. ‘No, didn’t have two heads.’

Her smile faded as the plane came to a standstill. ‘Why are we stopping?’ She peered over the top of the seat in front to see if there was anything going on.

Ben’s voice softened. ‘We’re not.’ And then the engines rumbled, long and deep, and it was like releasing a pinball from the flippers at the bottom of the machine as the plane sped off down the runway.

‘I’m right here, Molly. Right here.’ Ben’s voice came from beside her as she gripped her armrests and shut her eyes, her body pinned back in her seat.

Without thinking, her hand shot out to find his. She adjusted her grip as she felt the ground disappear from beneath the plane, felt the unsteady movement as they left the tarmac and the plane changed its angle to climb up into the sky. The higher the plane climbed, the harder she gripped, his voice with her every now and then assuring her she was okay.