“Today’s the day you get Addie,” I said. “Of course I’m planning to be there.”
“In time to go with me to pick her up, or in time for dinner?”
I looked at my watch. “In between those. With any luck, I’ll be at your house before you get her home.”
“I wish you were here already. I could sure use the emotional support.”
“I know, baby. I’m sorry.”
She sighed. “I know it’s all part of the job. Maybe we ought to re-think that job. It sure keeps us apart a lot.”
I didn’t respond to that. But I was beginning to see why a bright, beautiful girl like Kathleen was still on the market. In the few months we’d been dating, she’d added a child to our romantic dynamic, had plans to move closer to my work, disapproved of my traveling lifestyle, and wanted me to change professions.
“I know about the big dinner at Serendipity tonight,” I said. “But do you want me to arrange something special for afterward?”
“It’s already taken care of. After dinner we’re going back home. We’re going to get on the computer and go video house-hunting until it’s time to put her to bed.”
“Sounds great!” I said, putting what I hoped was the precise amount of enthusiasm into the response.
She paused. “You’re still all for this, aren’t you?”
“Of course.”
“I don’t want to push you,” she said. “I want you to want this as much as me and Addie.”
“I do,” I said, wondering if I was being honest.
“You sure?”
“Of course.” Still wondering.
“You promise?”
“Donovan?”
“Huh? Oh. Yes, of course I promise I’m sure!” At least that’s what I think she was asking me to say.
She kissed the air on her end of the line and giggled when I didn’t kiss her back.
“What,” I said.
“You always try to act so tough. It’s adorable.”
I couldn’t wait to tell Quinn how adorable I was.
After we hung up I sat in my chair by the gate that would have taken me to Nashville. Now I’d have to go all the way back to the main terminal, cancel the Nashville flight, and book the twelve-fifteen to New York City—which boards from the gate directly opposite the Nashville gate. On the bright side, I didn’t have to get any suitcases off the plane. The phony jewelry suitcase I’d booked on the trip down had long since been discarded.
I took a deep, cleansing breath and closed my eyes. When I opened them I saw a well-dressed guy, late- forties, checking into first class astride a stunning, long-legged beauty, roughly half his age. She was toned and tanned and ponytailed, with shiny pink lipstick and perfect white teeth, and that effusive, self-confident-yet-naive, perky quality that reminds every guy of the cheerleader from high school he loved from afar but could never approach.
In other words, she looked like half the hookers I’d taken on similar trips.
All of us in the waiting area stared at her like a kid trying to find Waldo in a picture book. Speaking only for myself, if Waldo had been hidden anywhere near her denim miniskirt or the pale pink panties we’d gotten a glimpse of, I’d have found him twenty
