Despite the awkwardness of the situation, it was understandable they would show up. Marcia probably really had not been able to keep them away, and Camilla was glad, as ever, to see them. Some of the life-and-death patina of the last day had slipped away, but not so much that she didn’t remember how lucky she was to have survived, to have family like this.
The pilots, easily identifiable by their uniforms, no matter how dirty, were ambling into the lobby, and her dad followed them, calling out, “Hang on there. Are you the two who landed that plane?”
“Yes, sir,” Boyd said. Or maybe it was Ray. She’d lost track.
Her dad clapped each of them on the back and shook their hands. “I just want to say you have a fan for life. Delivering our Cammy safely out of that storm. My God, words don’t even express how thankful her mother and I are.”
The pilots accepted the thanks with more of the “just doing their jobs” talk and finally managed to extract themselves to move on to check in as they all entered the lobby. Her mom clutched Camilla as tightly as if they were both still on that plane and in the middle of a crash landing and led her to one of the leather sofas in front of a stone fireplace.
Mason stood off to the side, hands in pockets, examining the lobby tile, not joining them, not checking in, though he was off the phone.
Her dad went over to him. “And are you the boss, young man? Because I want to thank you, too, for getting us here and for taking care of our girl.”
They shook hands as Camilla gently pulled away from her mother to get up and introduce Mason, but never got there. Joey and her sister, it was Brandy, came over with big hugs for her.
“I thought we’d let Mom and Dad have a private moment with you first, but we’re so relieved, Camilla.” Brandy kissed her cheek as Joey hovered. “My God! What a story you’ll have to tell.”
Not all of it unfortunately, at least not in front of her protective parents.
“It was something,” she said. “And Joey! Aren’t you going to give me a hug?”
“I was waiting, Cammy, because Brandy said we had to.”
He held his arms wide to her, and she went into them, giving her tall, stocky brother the vigorous hug he always demanded, almost tearing up again at the sight of his sweet face, a grown man’s face that behind his black-rimmed glasses had the most beautiful wide eyes and underneath it all the most pure heart. The heart of a child. In some ways, most ways really, the mind of a child. Such a special child. A special man.
“I was so worried, Cammy, because Mom said you were on a plane, and it got in a storm, and maybe you were scared, so we all wanted to come and give you hugs so you won’t be scared.”
“I’m not scared anymore, Joey.”
“Because we came?” he asked.
She glanced over to where her parents appeared to be trying to make conversation with Mason, who was staring at her. Staring at Joey.
“Yes.” She patted her brother on the shoulder. “And now you get to stay at a hotel!”
Brandy took Joey’s hand and said, “Let’s go to that gift shop over there and get a cookie.”
His face lit up, and Brandy led him away.
Camilla hurried over to where her mother and father were in front of Mason. “Mom, Dad, looks like I missed the introductions, but this is Mason Talbot, my boss. Mason, my parents, Jack and Ann Anderson.”
“We were just saying to Mr. Talbot what a good lawyer you are and how lucky he is to have you.”
“Dad!”
He laughed and hugged her shoulders tight, then loose as they faced Mason. “I’m just kidding, sweetie. We were asking Mr. Talbot if he arranges such an exciting first day for all his employees.”
“And that would be a no,” she said with a smile. Like, a double and triple no.
Mason said nothing, shifting his attention from Camilla to her mom only briefly, her dad even less, and then back again, catching Camilla’s eyes and swallowing hard. Suddenly, she was terrified at what he might say. As normal—and she hated to use the word—as he had seemed when he was alone with her, or after a while anyway, in front of her parents he appeared to be regressing to the way he was at the meeting in New York, apart despite being right beside them, shifting from foot to foot. Awkward.
She sympathized with Mason. The Anderson family, even a small subset, could be overwhelming and probably even more so to somebody like Mason, who wasn’t used to any family it sounded like, let alone a family like hers, where humor and unquestionable acceptance and love were so much in the mix. And the Andersons had never been a picnic for boyfriends in any case, unless they became son-in-laws eventually. They’d never met a boss to her knowledge. And one who was a messy combination of the two… Well, that was a real worry.