... continued

Although a potential ulterior motive remains the matter of some debate, Keesha was the first to open conversation by asking Mike if they were still loading bags. Since the plane was about to pull back from the gate, Mike is convinced that the question was a blatantly flirtatious attempt to start conversation, but Keesha doesn’t share his interpretation. Yet, regardless of motive, start a conversation it did. Mike likes to say he’d never talked to people on airplanes, but that is easy to say when you are usually sitting beside middle-aged salesmen who’ve been on the road for a week and are hogging the armrest. Before they knew it they’d landed in Orlando after talking for the entire flight.

Demonstrating his usual smoothness, Mike stammered on like a bit of a fool as they stood, preparing to disembark from the plane, until Keesha finally took control of the situation and suggested they exchange numbers since they’d both be in Orlando for a few days.

They spent much of those next few days together in the land of Disney, just the… three of them, as Lauren was always in tow. Mike was able to work enough charm with Lauren to get an important ally on his side and by day 2 got the sisterly stamp of approval as Lauren’s “second favorite white boy.” High praise indeed! And, enough for Keesha to consider going on a first real date once they were back in New York City. Lauren stayed home.

The moral of the story is that Orlando smells like a basement that got damp in 1957 and never dried out, not a lot of work gets accomplished at work conferences, and that sometimes being late turns out to be perfect timing.