Chapter Four
"Little bro, I'm telling you I think I may have found the one."
"Sure. You mean the next one."
"No way. I mean The One."
"So what's different about this girl?"
"You know I flew to Columbus on Drummond Airlines yesterday, right?"
"Yeah. Why, I can't imagine, not when we have three luxury private jets at our disposal. I call that masochism at best, stupidity at worst."
"It's a good airline, Sebastian. You should step outside your comfort zone sometime and try it."
"There's stepping outside your comfort zone and then there's stepping into pure hell."
"Well, if that was hell then, why did I meet an angel there?"
His brother guffawed on other end of the line.
"What are you doing? Trying to get into bed with me? Even if I was one of your girlfriends, do you think I'd fall for a corny line like that?"
"I'm serious Sebastian, you and I have been looking in all the wrong places. These socialites and debutantes are all just about appearances, money, what you have, and what your family does. I don't know why I didn't think of it before. There's a whole world out there of normal, ordinary people who don't live life from one gala dinner to the next."
“Okay, so go on then, tell me. You met some cute girl at the Burger King in the airport and she was so down to earth, you took her home with you?"
"It was a flight attendant."
“Okay, I'll admit I've done my fair share of those."
"With Drummond Airlines."
There was a silence on the other end of the line.
"Please tell me you're not serious big bro. Please, because you know if you did anything with her and it gets back to the old man, then you are in big trouble."
"I'm serious."
"Oh Jesus Christ, Alex. Come on. You're a big boy. What the hell are you doing? The world is full of gorgeous women and you have to pick the one, single class of female that is forbidden to you by our extremely wealthy, extremely powerful, and extremely irrational father?"
"That last one is the key: irrational."
"No way. It's the first two that count and if he finds out you did anything, I mean if you even thought about it in your dreams, then you can kiss your share of $35 billion goodbye."
Alex took a deep breath.
"I know the risks. You don't have to tell me."
"I'm not so sure. It seems like that's exactly what you need for me to do, because it looks like you just don't get it."
"I get it, I get it. Now stop lecturing me."
"Weird, huh? Normally I'm the one doing the crazy stuff and you're the one lecturing. How does it feel?"
"If you could feel what I'm feeling now, you'd be the happiest guy on Earth."
"Did you fu--"
"Don't say it. And no, I didn't. Nothing happened."
"Thank God for that. You aren't a complete fool. Now just consider yourself lucky and never take that route again for any reason. Go hang out at one of the airport hotels and have some fun with the crew of Swedish National Airlines--"
"I asked her out on a date."
"Oh, Jesus Christ."
"But she point-blank refused."
"Huh? I mean, thank God for that, but also, huh? Did she even know who you are?"
"No. No one did."
"It was Drummond Airlines, right?"
"Sure, but I bought the ticket with my British passport under Mom's maiden name, so no one knew I was a Drummond. I was doing field work, you know; checking out the quality of service undercover."
"Undercover field work. So that's what you call it these days?"
"Trust me, all I wanted to do was check out the customer service but when I saw Melanie--"
Sebastian snorted a guffaw into the phone. "Awesome name. Now I get the down to earth bit. Was she chewing tobacco as well?"
"What the hell is wrong with the name Melanie?"
"Can't you see it? Jesus, you really are love struck."
"Melanie Hutchinson."
"It only gets better. Melanie Hutchinson. Just rolls off the tongue -- like a fur-ball."
"Shut up, you dick. This girl could be your sister-in-law one day."
"You shut up. Stop right there. That will not happen. Ever. But tell me anyway, why did Melanie Hutchinson turn LA's second most eligible bachelor down?"
"Well, it may have been my fault."
"Impossible." Sebastian said ironically.
"We got into a conversation and she told me some things about herself that I kind of tried to use to make her go on a date with me. I thought it would be just fun."
"Amateur. Even after all these years. One day you will follow the master, Sebastian Drummond, and learn the true art of seduction."
"She told me some of her personal problems and then she felt embarrassed, as though she had acted unprofessionally."
"Which she clearly did."
"Don't be so officious Sebastian; it was just two people sharing. So what if I own the company she works for?"
"HR doesn't see it that way. The labor courts probably wouldn't see it that way, and sure as hell the old man won't see it that way."
"She asked me to keep it between me and her, and I said I would, but only on the condition that she has dinner with me back in LA."
"When will you ever learn?"
"She said she didn't want to make things worse. She was sorry she had been so unprofessional and that she had to decline."
"Great. End of a sad and clumsy story."
"So I upped the ante."
"Oh crap. What did you do? Tell Sebastian."
"I offered to pay for her mother's medical bills if she would have dinner with me."
"Whoa, didn't see that one coming. Was it a wild guess on your part? A stab in the dark kind of thing?"
"That was some of the personal stuff she told me. Her mother is being evicted from a nursing home and she needs $10,000 by the end of the month. On Drummond Airlines flight attendant salary, she'd need ten years to put that much together."
"There are other jobs out there if you're qualified."
"So I offered to pay it."
"And did she make you a member of the Melanie Hutchinson Mile High Club?"
"Are you kidding me? I thought she was going to throw me out of the plane. I'm lucky she didn't set the Air Marshal on me."
"I'm not surprised. What a sap. I keep telling you that you don't need to ask, you need to take. Why can't you get it into your head that people like us don't have to play by the rules that other people do?"
"I know you don't believe that Sebastian, so come on. Stop pretending to be the arrogant rich kid and give me some advice here. There's no one I trust in the whole world more than you."
Sebastian sighed.
"It's true, Big Brother. That's one thing that'll never change. Now you have to trust me on this one. Just let this Mildred--"
"Melanie."
"Melanie Huddersfield."
"Melanie Hutchinson."
"Yeah, on LA to Cincinnati--"
"Columbus. What the hell is wrong with you today?"
"With me? It's you who's about to throw away $10 billion on a fling with a flight attendant. Take my advice and forget about it."
Alex gave a long, resigned sigh.
“Okay, little bro. I guess you're right. I'll see you tomorrow in the executive lounge. Maybe Tahiti will help get this off my mind."
"You betcha. Those island beauties will cure anything that ails you."
"Why don't you swing by later and stay over at my place? We can have a few beers and get into vacation mode."
"Sounds good, little bro. I'll see you about 8:00 or so."
"It's a date." He laughed.
Alex put his phone down and opened the folder on his lap. The file inside was marked with the Drummond Corporation logo, Human Resources Department. He opened the file and looked at the digital picture of Melanie Hutchinson printed on the upper-left corner of the resume.
"No one says no to me, Melanie Hutchinson." He mumbled and then took in a deep breath. "That's not how things work in Alex Drummond's world."