“Who knows? Weather maybe,” his fellow traveler suggested.
“I guess. And I guess I’ll be cooling my heels in the USO for the next few hours.” With a sigh, he glanced up at the sign suspended from the terminal’s ceiling to get his bearings.
His companion smiled. “Sounds like a good plan. Noah Ziegler. Army.”
“Dean Sinclair. Navy. Hoping to make it to Albany, New York sometime today,” he said as they both spun and walked in the direction of the USO.
He’d been through Hartsfield-Jackson Airport enough times during his career in the military to know where the USO was located. Noah probably too.
Dean’s phone vibrated once as he walked. Incoming text. He ignored it.
What else could he do? He was walking through a crowded terminal, dodging crashing into distracted travelers, many wheeling more luggage than anyone should carry on a flight with them.
And he wasn’t alone. Walking next to Noah as they both headed to the same place, it would be ridiculous for Dean to step off to the side to check a damn text. Whoever it was could wait a few minutes until he was settled in a seat.
It was a hike to get to but not too much later the glass fronted USO came into view.
The two men stepped through the open doorway and headed toward the check-in desk. There, they stopped, waiting for the volunteer to turn around from where she was speaking to someone so they could check in.
Dean drew in a breath as his phone vibrated again.
Even on vibrate, Dean, Noah and probably the volunteer too could all hear it, clear as day. Why did the damn phone companies make cell phones so damn loud? If he set his cell on vibrate it was because he didn’t want anyone else to hear it. But that apparently was too much to ask of big tech.
“Your girl?” Noah asked, eyeing him.
“Nope,” Dean answered with certainty.
He’d blocked Lara’s number on his phone back in Norfolk. Even if she didn’t figure out he’d blocked her, she was still going to lose her damn mind that he wasn’t answering. No doubt she’d try to track him down in person once he returned. He knew that. But that was a problem for future Dean. For the next week and a half, he’d be safely hundreds of miles away.
But since it wasn’t Lara, the suspiciously numerous texts coming through were either from the guys, or from dear old mom. Unless—crap—maybe Lara had figured out he’d blocked her and she was calling him on someone else’s phone.
Dammit.
No matter. He definitely wasn’t checking his cell here and now. It didn’t matter who it was.
The volunteer finally turned around and smiled at him broadly. “That’ll be Mom checking on you,” she said, tipping her chin toward the source of the sound, the cell shoved in his pocket.
He returned her smile with a tight-lipped, less exuberant one of his own. “Good chance you’re right. She and my father are picking me up at the airport.”
Why he told her all that, he wasn’t sure. It was as if her open friendliness was an infectious disease that compelled him into oversharing. She had him talking more, revealing more, than he ever did in these kinds of situations.
It was hard to determine the volunteer’s age. She had one of those timeless faces, but he’d guess she was older than he was. Maybe a little younger than his mother’s age.
She kind of reminded him of his mother actually, with her dark chin-length hair and flawless skin marred only by smile lines. Maybe that was what made her too easy to talk to.
His cell vibrated again and he drew in a breath in hopes it would give him patience.
“Oh, my. She is anxious to talk to you. Let me get you signed in and seated so you can answer. Shouldn’t keep Mom waiting.” She smiled again broadly.
Overly familiar though she was and weirdly interested in being involved in his personal life, Dean was still grateful to get this sign-in process over with so he could go hide in a seat and deal with these texts.
He took the pen she handed him and happily filled in all the required information.
Meanwhile, the woman—Blessingaccording to her name tag—chatted away with Noah now. No doubt delving into his life as well.
Shaking his head, Dean laid the pen on the paper and pushed it toward Noah.
That prompted Blessing to return her hyper-focused attention to him. “Now there are exactly two empty seats in theLibraryjust waiting for you both. Those are thegood seats,” she said conspiratorially before adding, “The big leather chairs. It will be a perfect place to relax and wait for your flight. And for while you return those texts.”
