Nervous Flier Read Online Free Page A

eyes got a little squinty. Would you like to know where the toilet is in case you need to throw up?"
    "No. I'm fine." Noel frowned.
    Right now, the only thing she wanted to do was throw a plate.

Chapter Three
    Jackpot, Noel thought as she sat in the back office of the coffee shop she had eaten chocolate cake with Dawson at the night before. Sure, the dusty back office made her eyes water, but that was okay. Maybe working a coffee machine wasn't worthy of her art degree, but she thought it was far better than scrubbing out grease vats. She could save painting portraits by the Rhine river for another day. As Noel squirmed in excitement as the manager—an old, feeble man with a bald head—gazed down at her with intense eyes, she tried to fight down her smile. The man had a nametag that said, 'Mr. Smithfield.'
    "So you've never worked in a coffee shop before?" Mr. Smithfield asked.
    "Never, sir." Noel shook her head. "I'm open to learning, though."
    "I'm sure you are." Mr. Smithfield had a deep, raspy voice that was not unpleasant. "And you had perfect timing with approaching me about a job. One of my boys quit. I'm glad you aren't a high school student. They work three months out of the year, then pack in their bags the moment you tell them they can't go to a party because they didn't ask for the night off in the schedule book."
    Noel didn't say anything. She had met plenty of responsible high school students who wouldn't do that, but she didn't feel it was best to antagonize the boss just as she was hired. Plus, she had the distinct feeling that she wouldn't be dealing with Mr. Smithfield much on the floor of the coffee shop. Half of the coffee shop was outside, and Mr. Smithfield's bleach skin suggested that he might use an umbrella to protect his head from the sunlight as he walked to his car.
    "All right." Mr. Smithfield glowered at some paperwork on his desk. "I'll put you into the schedule and will have you trained with Lisa Clark. Can you come in Thursday night?"
    "Yes." Noel had to fight down the excited squeak in her voice at the thought that she wasn't going to be living in a cardboard box by the side of the road. "Thursday night will be great."
    "Good. I like you already. I'll see you then." Mr. Smithfield grinned at her.
    Beaming, Noel stood up, then offered her hand for Mr. Smithfield to shake. After he grabbed her hand and shook it with a firm grip, he released her. Noel left the back office and stumbled into the main part of the coffee shop. The smell of coffee greeted her, a pleasant but not overwhelming scent, and she breathed in deep, enjoying it. A dark-haired girl with a blue streak in her bangs grinned and waved at her, and Noel waved back. At least the people here were pleasant, way more pleasant than anybody she had worked with at her last job at an art firm. She had been the secretary under the CEO, and the man had been as crotchety as a horse with a thorn in its rump.
    As Noel whistled as she hit Main Street, the feeling of her phone buzzing in her pocket caused her to pause and dig in her pants. For a moment her mind flashed to Peter and all of the joy she felt depleted like a pool with a hole at the bottom of it. When Noel saw it was Dawson, not Peter, who called her, her heart picked right up but then fell again. It felt as though her heart was on a roller coaster. She couldn't not think about the fact that Dawson hadn't made a move on her last night. Dawson had not even given her a single peck. She was probably barking up the wrong tree, but she answered her phone anyway, just to share her exciting news.
    "Hello, Dawson," Noel said.
    "Hi, Noel." Dawson's voice sounded as bubbly as ever. "Do you want to hear something idiotic of me? Last night, we spent the whole evening together but I completely forgot to ask what the favor you wanted was. That was the point of the whole night, wasn't it?"
    "Not the whole point, exactly." Noel smiled. "At least, not at the end. I had a great time."
    "Well maybe