by Gail Haris
“Jealous, more like livid since I thought you were a lying cheater, and not just a liar. You know nothing.” I step back and force my voice to sound professional, “Now, if you’ll please take your seat, sir.”
“Oh, is that how you want to play it?”
I try to school my facial expressions and stand tall. I’m a professional, and I’d deal with him as I would any other passenger. “Sir, we need to get the plane loaded. Please take your seat.”
Instead, he takes a step toward me and whispers, “Not until I get one thing cleared up. I’m not involved with anyone, and I haven’t slept with anyone since you. You kind of ruined me for anyone else, if you must know. I can still smell you, taste you, still want you. And just to clarify, I have family, a lot of nosey, obnoxious family, but no wife and kids.”
I swallow hard and feel my knees about to buckle under his intense blue gaze. Attempting to take back some of my dignity, I respond, “I didn’t think about you at all.”
He grins and takes a step back. “It’s okay. You don’t have to admit it.” He turns his back on me and calls out, “You were always on my mind.” With that, he walks toward first class.
He actually quoted another Elvis song. That asshole.
Jimmy
I hum the hit song, “You Were Always on My Mind,” while I sit in my seat in first class. Fate is smiling down on me. What are the odds that we’d be on the same flight to Greece together?
“I thought I should let you know, since you are committed to this flight now, Thea has already informed the family in Greece that you’re coming to find a bride.”
I almost jump out of my seat. I couldn’t have heard Bianca correctly. “What? No, no, no. Ma promised me she would not play matchmaker. I told her it was the only way I’d go with you guys.”
“She’s not. She didn’t lie to you. The rest of the country is going to do it for her.”
I groan. I guess we know where I get my twisting of words and omitting the truth from. I try to figure out a way to enjoy my summer without having to deal with all the women in my life trying to marry me off.
Bianca shrugs and whispers. “A woman named Pamela is apparently the front runner so far, but I hear there’s other contenders.”
“Hell no to Pamela.”
“You know her?”
“Yes. She’s a royal bitch. At one time when I was younger I thought she was hot, but as soon as I got to know her, I started thinking with the right brain. No. Just no.”
“Hello. Anything I can get you to drink?” I look up into the flight attendant’s blue eyes, wishing they were Jolene’s brown eyes. For such an enclosed space, she sure has managed to avoid me.
Dex and Bianca give their orders while I scan for my sexy stewardess. When I spot her, an idea forms. A rather brilliant idea. Jolene could easily pass for a Greek woman. She could be my girlfriend for the trip, and then go back to hating me. Let’s be honest, there’s not much difference between love and hate, is there?
“Excuse me,” I leap from my chair and hurry toward the other section of the plane where I had spotted Jolene with her drink cart.
“I need to speak with you.”
“I’m busy, Jim,” she growls through her teeth.
“It’s important.”
“Sir, please, take your seat and I’ll have the first-class stewardess come to you in a moment.”
“I can’t take a seat, and I don’t want or need the other stewardess. I have to get this off my chest. Now.”
Jolene’s eyes widen as her smile remains plastered on her face, “Okay. Let me finish here and I’ll be right with you.”
I grin to the two elderly ladies who are in their seat waiting for their drink. Jolene hands one of the women her club soda. As she takes it, she blushes and says to me, “I wouldn’t keep you waiting, hot stuff.”
“Ummm, I appreciate that.” I give her a full smile and then turn to Jolene and wink before I turn around to go back to my seat.
My leg nervously bounces while I wait for Jolene. Bianca turns to look at me and frowns. “Are you okay? I didn’t peg you to be a nervous flyer, considering your profession.”
I chuckle and shake my head. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Is it Thea and Yia-Yia? You still have a couple of hours before you have to deal with them. At least they’re not seated with us.” She nudges me with her elbow. “You’re welcome.”
“Couple of more hours,” I mumble to myself.
Jolene
What the hell could Jim possibly need that’s an emergency? My stomach flips the closer I get to him. I plaster a smile on my face and in my most professional voice, say, “Sir, can I get you anything?”
Jim’s eyes widen, and he quickly looks at the woman sitting next to him holding the little girl. He turns back to me and whispers. “Let’s go somewhere more private?”
His cousin must’ve heard because she hisses. “You’re on a plane, Jimmy. Where do you think you’re going to go that’s private? The cargo hold?” I see the exact moment her mind wanders to the wrong idea. Her eyes widen in horror and her jaw drops. “You better not, Jimmy Georgakopolous!” The other gentleman with them snickers.
Jim rolls his eyes. “Not for that. Have you seen the size of lavatories on planes?” He stands and I follow him toward the back of the plane to where we keep our supplies. Two of my co-workers are standing back there, so Jim and I stand there awkwardly until they take the hint and walk away. I cross my arms and wait expectantly for him to tell me what it is he needed to speak to me so badly about.
“Fancy meeting you here. How ya been?” His playful smile gives him such a boyish charm…but I’m not falling for it again.
“Really? Cut to the chase. What is it?”
“Right.” Jim claps his hands and swallows. “I need you.”
I can’t deny that my heart skips a beat and I feel myself getting warm in all the right places just from his raspy voice saying those words to me.
Jim takes a step closer. “Stay in Greece with me. Spend nine days with me there…” he searches my eyes “…as my girlfriend.”
“Your girlfriend? Surely you’re joking. What part of me saying I wouldn’t date a pilot again did you not comprehend?” Is he serious about wanting to have a relationship? I want to scream right now. “Why now? Because you saw me and decided you needed a little extra fun while there?”
“Well, I saw you and decided I needed you to be my girlfriend. My Greek girlfriend, to be exact.”
“What? Go sit back down now, you asshole.” Did he just ask me to be his Greek girlfriend? Hellllooo, I’m not even one-tenth Greek. This is beginning to sound like he just wants to use me as a prop, and I’m not buying what he’s selling.
“Jo…hear me out.” Jim comes closer and places his hands on my shoulders. “My Ma and Yia-Yia–”
“You’re what?”
“My mother and grandmother. Anyway, please listen to what I’m asking of you.” I nod and he continues, “Those crazy Greek women are determined to try and get me to settle down. They’re also very Greek and…would love for me to marry a Greek girl and have little Greek babies. However, if I have a girlfriend with me…it would make them pairing me with someone in the Mother Land very difficult.”
“That all sounds horrible and completely inopportune for you, but I’m afraid I won’t be of any help for a variety of reasons. See, I’m not Greek. And you lied to me, so I don’t like you. Plus, I don’t date pilots, remember?”
“But you look Greek. Not all Greek Americans speak Greek. Bianca doesn’t. You don’t have to like me. And about the pilot thing, we wouldn’t actually be dating, just pretending.”
I don’t know why it stings that he’s only asking for me to be his pretend girlfriend. Why can’t he just want me to go because he’s missed me? Has he missed me? I know it was supposed to be a one-night stand and I know I left things between us in a very heated way, but after what we shared…
“You want to use me?” I cross my
arms.
“Only for a little while.”
“Are you kidding me right now?”
“That came out wrong.” Jim holds his hands up.
I think back to the woman who is sitting next to him. “The guy sitting with you. Is he Greek?”
“Dex? No. Bianca’s parents are more open than mine. I mean, they even got a divorce. My father only got away from my mother because he passed away by what we’re assuming were natural causes.” The way he says it has me more nervous to meet his mother. What does he mean they assume he died of natural causes? That little tidbit scares me more than the potential of being around this man for nine days. “My family is very traditional Greek. Whereas Bianca’s is more American Greek. My family in Greece are…” he sighs, “…they believe in older values. They hold on to the culture, traditions, and are old fashioned.”
“Is your Ma going to be there?”
“Yeah, yeah. She’s here on the plane with my Yia-Yia.” Jim waves his hand as though that’s not important, but clearly it is since this woman is the one who has him trying to con me into being his fake girlfriend.
“They’re on the plane?”
“Yeah.”
“Think they’re not going to notice? How you magically pop up with a girlfriend? Come on.” I start to walk away, but Jim steps in front of me.
“I plan on surprising them with the news. Anyway, Ma has been on me about marrying a Greek and continuing Greek traditions for as long as I can remember. I don’t want to bore you with all that. In fact, I don’t want to bore you at all. We can have a very exciting time in Greece. I can show you all the beautiful sights that regular tourists don’t get to experience.” Jim takes a loose strand of my hair and twirls it around his finger. “Drinking coffee on the beach, dancing into the morning hours, and eating some of the best food you’ll ever have in your life. Doesn’t sound too bad, does it?”
No, actually it sounds kind of nice. “I’ll need to think about it. I have a job. I can’t take a full week off. I was going to stay a couple of days on my own, but nine days?”
“Sure, you can. Just don’t get back on the plane…” When I scowl at him, he holds his hands up. “I’m kidding. Have someone cover your shifts.” I roll my eyes and start to step around him. He hurries to say, “I’ll pay for all of your expenses and ticket back. Seven days, full expenses paid in one of the top destinations in the world. All you have to do is to pretend to be in love with me. Come on. What do you have to lose?”What’s left of my heart. That’s all. “I’ll have to think about it.”
“Great, you have nine hours. That should be enough time, right?”
Wrong. I only needed nine seconds to know there’s no way I’m spending nine days with him and his crazy family.
While all the passengers drift off to sleep, I can’t help but think about his offer. Seven days as Jim’s girlfriend. Correction—his pretend girlfriend. I haven’t been in a fully committed relationship to even know how to pretend. Not only do I have to pretend to be his girlfriend, but his Greek girlfriend. It’s so absurd. I plan to avoid him for the rest of this flight, when we land, and hopefully, the rest of my life.
As Jim walks by to exit the plane, Trip pats his shoulder and shakes his hand again. “Thanks for the info, man. I’ll definitely look into it.”
Jim smiles broadly. “Yeah, you should. I love being a contract pilot. You get to do what you love, but on your own schedule.” He leans toward Trip. “It’s great. Especially for a family man.” He smiles at Kendall and then exits the plane.
A family. I turn to look at Kendall holding their son while smiling at Trip. So much love between those two. I try to swallow the lump in my throat and ignore the ache in my heart. Once all the passengers have left the plane, everyone discusses what they’re going to do for our layover, and just then, something inside of me clicks.
“What about you, Jolene?”
I look over my shoulder from picking up some trash left in a seat. All eyes are on me. Not wanting to admit that I have no plans, or anyone to spend this time with, I straighten my back and smile. “I’m actually spending some time here in Greece.”
“How long?”
“I’m spending nine days with a friend and their family.” I blush and give a small smile.
“Wow!” I can’t help but like how, for once, people are envious of me and that I have a life outside of work. Now I need to rush off and find him before my vacation in Greece is nothing more than a myth.
Jolene
My nerves are a mess as I quickly scan the baggage claim for Jim. Shit, what if I missed him? “Looking for someone?”
I jump at the low voice in my ear from behind. Spinning around, I come face to face with Jim’s cat-that-swallowed-the-canary smirk. “No.” Not anymore.
Of course, it’s clear that Jim can see right through my lie the way he keeps smiling. He’s so damn arrogant. “Search no more, gorgeous, your Greek lover has arrived.”
“I’m already starting to regret this.”
“I don’t think you’re going to regret having me whenever you want for nine days straight. In fact, you may not know how to live without me once this is over.”
“Wow. Your ego is…I don’t even have words.”
“Don’t worry. It’s not the first time I’ve made you speechless, and it won’t be the last.”
Jim’s phone buzzes. He swipes the screen, “Hello? No, I didn’t run off. Bianca, I’m coming right now. I’m coming. Yeah. Has Ma and Yia-Yia gotten their luggage? Okay. We’re coming. Yes, we.” His eyes brighten as he smiles at me. His voice drips with mischief. “You’ll see,” he says into the phone.
Ending the call, he wraps an arm around me. “Now you won’t even have to act when convincing everyone you’re in love with me…but we do need to be on the same page about when our relationship began. I say we just stick to the truth, we met on a layover two months ago and had an instant connection.”
“Won’t it look suspicious you never told them I was joining you?”
“It’s a surprise. You weren’t sure you could get off work until the last minute. And I didn’t want my family harassing you while you worked.”
“Speaking of,” I open my phone to go to our online schedule. I check to see who’s working and around the area to trade shifts with. I quickly shoot some messages to get shifts swapped.
“By the way, what’s your last name?”
“All this time and you don’t know my last name? What kind of shoddy boyfriend are you?”
Jim shrugs. “You never told me.”
“It’s Tanner.”
“Now it’s Tannerelos. You’re Greek-American.”
Tannerelos? Nobody is going to buy that. This is going to be all one big lie after another. Over a week of lying to his family and of us pretending to be committed to one another. God, we’re both going to hell. Jim must notice me second-guessing myself because he wraps his arms around me again.
“Think about it, you will be saving me and some other poor woman from being shoved in each other’s faces. Everyone will be able to enjoy their vacation because they won’t be worrying about me being a bachelor forever. Even though, that’s the plan.”
“You really don’t mind lying, do you? Don’t answer that. So, you don’t think you’ll ever settle down?”
“Not you, too…” He sighs. “I’m sure I will eventually, but right now I like traveling the world and having my freedom. There’s time. This isn’t like when my grandparents and parents were growing up. People are living longer and people have options and careers. I’ve got time.”
“But do you want to be an old man when your child wants to play baseball?”
“Soccer. My child will play soccer. We’re Greek.” He holds me tighter to his firm body. “And I’ll show you old man. Just wait until we get to the house…”
I break free from his hold and smirk. “Who said you were getting those perks on this trip? You only said to pretend to be your girlfriend. So we can pretend t
o have sex while sleeping in separate beds.”
“No, no. You’re to be my real girlfriend for this trip. Only pretend you love me. Do I need to remind you about that amazing connection we shared? Would that help?” Jim gives me a lopsided smile and leans closer to me. “And I aim to be the best boyfriend you’ve ever had.”
That shouldn’t be hard to do. My history of boyfriends is nothing to brag about. Jim’s phone buzzes again. He groans and hooks his arm over my shoulder. “We need to get to the others. They’re growing impatient and ready to get home.”
“Well, we did just get off a really long flight. They’re exhausted.”
“I hope you’re not too exhausted.” He winks.
Standing next to the door that leads outside the airport are Bianca, her husband whom I believe Jim said was Dex, their daughter Georgina, an older woman, and an elderly woman.
“Ma and Yia-Yia, your hunt for me to be with someone can end. Everyone, this is Jo! We met a couple of months ago, and now we’re official. I’m bringing her to meet the family.”
His mother’s eyes go wide as she looks me up and down. She tilts her head and asks Bianca. “Joe? Did he say Joe?”
The grandmother pinches her pointer and middle fingers together to her thumb and makes the motion of a cross three times touching her forehead, shoulders, and chest. She begins mumbling some words in Greek.
Bianca shakes her head and rolls her eyes as the other woman studies me. She stops the elderly woman and I hear her whisper, “She’s a woman, Yia-Yia.”
“Jo-lene. Jo is a nickname,” Jim emphasizes. He turns to me and gives me a sheepish smile. “Yia-Yia can’t see very well and she thought I was calling you Joe, as in with an ‘e.’ And, anyway, let’s get going.” Jim lets out a nervous chuckle and I force a smile. Well, this is already off to a great start.
Jim clears his throat, “Jolene, you’ve sort of met my cousin Bianca, her husband Dex, and their daughter Georgina, whom you’ve already met. This stunning goddess here is my mother Martha and my grandmother Patty. Everyone Jolene Tannerelos.”