Departures (25 page)

“As they say in show biz,” Gregg said, “thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you. Thank you very much.”

“You know what else they say in show biz?” Sierra asked, moving closer.

“No, what?” Gregg said, giving her one of his “I’m so cool” smiles.

“Don’t they also say, ‘In the event of a water landing …’ ” Sierra didn’t need to finish her line. Her one solid push had worked easily, and Gregg’s big splash was too loud to hear the part about the seat cushion being used as a flotation device.

Gregg surfaced laughing and tried to splash Sierra, but it didn’t work. “One of these days, Sierra!” he threatened.

“Yes,” Sierra murmured to herself while laughing with the others. “One of these days I’ll stop acting like a freckle-faced tomboy and start acting more like a woman. But not today.”