Chapter 1 - Welcome Aboard
The moment I boarded Flight 912 with my mistress on my arm, I believed my wife thought I was hundreds of miles away in Nashville. Then I looked up and saw Dakota standing at the aircraft door in a flight attendant’s uniform, smiling so calmly that I knew my affair was no longer the worst thing waiting for me.
“Welcome aboard,” she said.
Trinity’s hand was still looped through my arm.
Dakota looked at it.
Then she looked at me.
“Would you like champagne to celebrate that business meeting you invented?”
My entire body went cold.
That morning, I had kissed Dakota goodbye in our kitchen.
I told her I was flying to Nashville.
At 9:12 a.m., I even texted her.
Love, I just arrived in Nashville.
She replied with a heart.
Now she was standing three feet away from me on a plane bound for Florence.
Trinity tightened her grip.
She had never met Dakota.
At least, that was what I believed.
Then the gate attendant checked my boarding pass, glanced at Dakota’s name badge, and looked at Trinity.
“Sir, your wife just welcomed you aboard, and you’re traveling with another woman.”
The boarding line went silent.
Trinity slowly let go of my arm.
“What did he just say?”
I couldn’t answer.
Dakota could have screamed.
She could have slapped me.
Instead, she stepped aside.
“Your seats are in the front cabin.”
“Dakota…”
“Passengers are waiting, sir.”
Sir.
My own wife called me sir.
That frightened me more than anger.
At our seats, Trinity leaned toward me.
“You said she wasn’t flying internationally yet.”
“She wasn’t.”
“You didn’t know?”
No.
I didn’t.
Dakota had talked about international certification for months.
She practiced announcements in our bedroom and studied service procedures at the kitchen counter.
She had once told me Florence was her dream route.
I barely listened.
A week earlier, she asked whether I would be home Friday night.
I said no.
She smiled and told me she would have to save her surprise.
Now I understood.
Flight 912.
Florence.
Her dream route.
And I had boarded it with my mistress.
Trinity looked at the wedding ring still on my hand.
“You said you’d take that off.”
“I forgot.”
She gave a bitter laugh.
“You remembered two passports. You remembered the hotel. You remembered to tell your wife you were in Nashville.”
“Keep your voice down.”
Something broke in her expression.
A few minutes later, Dakota appeared with the beverage cart.
She served everyone normally.
Then she reached us.
“Champagne,” Trinity said.
Dakota poured it.
“And for you, sir?”
“Water.”
Dakota placed the drinks down.
“Champagne to celebrate your business meeting in Nashville?”
Trinity turned toward me.
“Nashville?”
Dakota walked away.
Then my phone vibrated.
URGENT: REVIEW OF EXECUTIVE TRAVEL EXPENSES.
My corporate card had been suspended.
The message requested records involving international travel, hotels, entertainment expenses, and consultant expenditures.
Consultant expenditures.
Trinity noticed my face.
“What happened?”
“Work.”
I looked toward the galley.
The senior flight attendant handed Dakota a sealed envelope.
Dakota took it.
Then looked directly at me.
She walked down the aisle and placed it on my tray table.
My full name was written across the front in her handwriting.
Her initials crossed the sealed flap.
“What’s inside?”
“Not yet.”
“What does that mean?”
Her expression never changed.
“You’ll need a witness when you open it.”
May you like
Then she walked away.
And for the first time in eight months, I realized I had no idea how much my wife knew.
