Meeting Max Read Free Page A

mother and father, on the other hand, didn’t lead the exciting lives that yours did.”
    “That’s okay.” She placed a soft hand on his, causing a tremble to pass through his body. “Sometimes it’s good to be average,” she added, withdrawing her hand and sipping her wine again. “Tell me about them.”
    “There’s not much to tell.” Rick shifted in his seat. “They weren’t fighters or idealists, just normal people, but my dad was a criminal lawyer.”
    “That can be exciting.”
    “You’re right, depending on the case. My parents preferred a quiet life, though.”
    Rick looked at her with admiration. “I can sense that activist spirit in you, Elena.”
    “Oh?” She smirked.
    Rick felt there was something else behind her expression, something he couldn’t quite name.
    “Maybe we could meet in Delhi and have lunch,” Rick suggested. “I know I have a couple of years on you, but not that many.” Rick laughed and added, “I hope you have a soft spot for older gentlemen. I’m in my late forties.”
    “A gentleman, are you now?” She purred with a flirtatious glance. “I was forty-one on July thirtieth. There’s not much difference in our ages, and besides, those things don’t matter to me. Lunch would be fine.”
    Rick’s imagination ran off with him again as he imagined them together in India, visiting the Taj, the Gandhi Museum, the Red Fort, and all the other wonderful places he’d read about in Lonely Planet .
    Rick had only just met Elena. He didn’t know much about her, and yet the romantic images in his head were undeniable. He knew he had to ground them. He didn’t know if she had a boyfriend or even a husband. It didn’t matter for now. All he knew was that he had sixteen hours to be with her, alone in their private paradise, thirty-thousand feet in the air.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 2
     
     
    An Indian flight attendant, dressed in a flaming red uniform and a white blouse, came by to offer additional beverages. She retrieved two small bottles of Cabernet from her cart and presented a dinner menu. They put the menus aside as Elena noticed the flight attendant’s name tag, which simply said ‘Bubli.’
    “Where are you from, Ms. Bubli?” Elena asked politely.
    “I am from Munnar, madam. Do you know it?”
    “Oh, yes, I do.” Elena turned to Rick. “It’s a wonderful hill station high in the mountains with lots of tea plantations. When I was in Cochin, the heat was unbearable and I ran off to the cooler, spice scented mountain air, where I found Munnar and fell in love with it instantly.” She turned back to Bubli. “Did you go to school there?”
    “Yes, madam. I went to the High Range High School at Mattupatti, just a few kilometers from Munnar. It was a wonderful school, the best in all of the state of Kerala. We had the mountains behind us and a large lake in front of the school. In my time away from school, I worked at a tea plantation, cutting tea leaves.”
    “You are fortunate to have gone to a school high in the hills. Munnar is a special place for me. It was very nice meeting you.”
    “ Nanni , madam. It was my pleasure.”
    Elena turned toward Rick. “What a nice young lady. Munnar is one of the most beautiful places, springtime days and cold nights. During the Raj, the British officers spent a lot of time in the hill stations to enjoy the mountain air and get away from the heat.”
    “I have to remember that,” Rick said. “Maybe I’ll go there while I’m in India. I used to fantasize that, in my next life, I would come back as a British officer in the Raj and live like a king! Either that, or be a Sultan in Istanbul with a harem of beautiful women at my beck and call.”
    Elena shook her head from side to side, rolled her eyes, and laughed. “You men.”
    “What was that Nanni word that Bubli used? Did she call you grandmother?”
    “Ha ha, funny, Rick. She used a word in Malayalam, a language used in Kerala in the southern part of